First, Some approven examples, and imitable in the like circumstances,
will clear and confirm the lawfulness of this extraordinary work of
judgment executed by private persons, upon notorious incendiaries,
firebrands, and murderers, guilty of death by the law of God,
1. Moses spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren; and
he looked this way, and that way, and when he saw that there was no man,
he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand, Exod. ii. 11, 12. Here is
an uncondemned example: whereof the actor who was the relater did not
condemn himself, though he condemns himself for faults that seem less
odious; yea, in effect, he is rather condemned by Stephen the Martyr,
Acts vii. And though it be extraordinary, in that it was done by private
authority, not by a judge, as it was objected to him the second day: yet
it was not unimitable; because that action, though heroical, whereof the
ground was ordinary, the rule moral, the circumstances commonly
incident, the management directed by human prudence, cannot be
unimitable; but such was this action, though heroical. The ground was
ordinary, spying his brother in hazard, whose murder he would have
prevented. The rule was moral, being according to that moral precept in
rescuing our brother in hazard, Prov. xxiv. 11, 12. The circumstances
were incident in a case of extreme necessity, which he managed very
prudently, looking this way, and that way, and hiding him in the sand.
Therefore it may be imitated in the like case. It signifies nothing to
say that he was moved by the Spirit of God thereto: for unto every
righteous performance the motion of the Spirit of God is requisite. This
impulse that Moses had and others after-mentioned, was nothing but a
greater measure of that assisting grace, which the extraordinariness of
the case, and the difficulties therein occurring did call for; but the
interveening of such motions, do not alter the rule, so as to make the
action unimitable. Impulses are not the rule of duty, either under an
ordinary or extraordinary exigence; but when they are subsequent and
subservient both to the rule of duty, and to a man's call in his present
circumstances, they clearly determine to the species of an heroic
enterprise; in so much that it is not only the particular deed that we
are to heed for our imitation, but we are to emulate the grace and
principle of zeal which produced it, and is thereby so conspicuously
relucent for our upstirring to acts in like manner, as God may give
opportunity, as is observed by the true non-conformist, Dial. 7. pag.
392, &c.
2. When Israel joined himself unto Baal-Peor, the Lord said unto Moses,
'Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord
against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away
from Israel.' And Moses said unto the judges, 'Slay every one his men
that were joined unto Ball-Peor.' And when Zimri brought the Midianitish
Cozbi in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation,
who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle; and when Phineas saw
it, he rose up,----and took the javelin in his hand, and he went after
the men of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through,----So
the plague was stayed,----And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
'Phineas hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel, while he
was zealous for my sake among them,----I give unto him my covenant of
peace,----because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for
the children of Israel.' Numb. xxv. 3.-13. This action is here much
commended, and recorded to his commendation, Psal. cvi. 30, 31. Then
stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed;
and that was counted to him for righteousness, unto all generations;
that is,----Into justice of the deed before men, who otherwise might
have put a bad construction upon it, as rash, out of season, committed
against a magistrate by a private person, too cruel by cutting them off
from repentance; but God esteemed it as extraordinary just. Pool's
Synops. Critic. in Locum. It is certain, this action was some way
extraordinary; because Phinehas was not a magistrate, nor one of the
judges whom Moses commanded to slay every one his men, ver. 5.
Otherwise, if this had been only an ordinary execution of the judgment
by the authority of Moses, Phinehas' action would not have been taken so
much notice of, nor so signally rewarded; but here it is noted as a
singular act of zeal, which it could not have been, if it was only an
ordinary execution of the magistrate's command: yet, though this action
was signally heroical, proceeding from a principle of pure zeal for God,
and prompted by a powerful motion of the Spirit of God to that
extraordinary execution of judgment: it is notwithstanding imitable in
the like circumstances. For, the matter is ordinary, being neither
preternatural, nor supernatural, but just and necessary. The end was
ordinary, to turn away the wrath of God, which all were obliged to
endeavour. The principle was ordinary, (though at the time he had an
extraordinary measure of it) being zealous for the Lord, as all were
obliged to be. The rule was ordinary, to wit, the command of slaying
every man that was joined to Baal Peor, ver. 5. only this was
extraordinary, that the zeal of God called him to his heroical action,
though he was not a magistrate, in this extraordinary exigent, to avert
the wrath of God; which was neither by Moses's command, nor by the
judges obedience, turned away only by Phinehas' act of another nature,
and his zeal appearing therein, and prompting him thereto, the Lord was
appeased, and the plague slayed. In which fervour of zeal, transporting
him to the omission of the ordinary solemnities of judgment, the Spirit
of the Lord places the righteousness and praise of the action. Yet the
same call and motion of zeal might have impowered others to do the like:
the text speaks of no other call he had, but that of zeal, ver. 11, 12,
13. yea, another was obliged to do the same, upon the ground of that
moral command, Deut. xiii. 6.-9. having the ground of God's ordinary
judgment, which commandeth the idolater to die the death; and therefore
to be imitate of all that prefer the true honour and glory of God to the
affection of flesh and wicked princes, as Mr. Knox affirmeth in his
conference with Lethingtoun, rehearsed before, per. 3. Further, let it
be enquired, What makes it unimitable? Certainly it was not so, because
he had the motion and direction of God's Spirit; for men have that to
all duties. It was not, because he was raised and stirred up of God to
do it; for God may raise up spirits to imitable actions. It was not,
because he had an extraordinary call, for men have an extraordinary
call, to imitable actions, as the apostles had to preach. We grant these
actions are extraordinary and unimitable; which, first, do deviate from
the rule of common virtue, and transcend all rules of common reason and
divine word; but this was not such, but an heroic act of zeal and
fortitude: Next these actions, which are contrary to a moral ordinary
command are unimitable, as the Israelites robbing the Egyptians,
borrowing, and not paying again, Abraham's offering his son Isaac; but
this was not such: next those actions, which are done upon some special
mandate of God, and are not within the compass of ordinary obedience to
the ordinary rule, are unimitable; but is not such: as also miraculous
actions, and such as are done by the extraordinary inspiration of the
Spirit of God, as Elias's killing the captains with their fifties by
fire from heaven; but none can reckon this among these. See Jus Populi
at length discussing this point, and pleading for the suitableness of
this action, cap. 20. If therefore the Lord did not only raise up this
Phinehas to that particular act of justice, but also so warrant and
accept him therein, and reward him therefore, upon the account of his
zeal, when there was a godly and zealous magistrate, able, and whom we
cannot without breach of charity presume, but also willing to execute
justice; how much more may it be pleaded, that the Lord, who is the same
yesterday, to day and forever, will not only pour out of that same
spirit upon others; but also when he gives it, both allow them, though
they be but private persons, and also call them, being otherwise in a
physical and probable capacity to do these things in an extremely
necessitous, and otherwise irrecoverable state of the church, to which
in a more intire condition he doth not call them? And particularly, when
there is not only the like or worse provocations, the like necessity of
execution of justice and of reformation, for the turning away of wrath,
and removing of judgments, that was in Phinehas's case, but also, when
the supreme civil magistrate, the nobles of the kingdom, and other
inferior rulers, are not only unwilling to do their duty, but so far
corrupted and perverted, that they are become the authors and
patronizers of these abominations, Naph. prior Edit. p. 23.
3. When the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab, and they
cried unto the Lord, he raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of
Gera, who made a dagger, and brought a present unto Eglon, and put forth
his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it
into his belly, Judg. iii. 21. That this action was approven will not be
doubted, since the Lord raised him up as a deliverer who by this
heroical action commenced it; ond since it was a message from God, and
that it was extraordinary, were ridiculous to deny: for sure this was
not the judicial action of a magistrate, neither was Ehud a magistrate
at this time, but only the messenger of the people sent with a present.
Yet it is imitable in the like case, as from hence many grave authors
concluded the lawfulness of killing a tyrant without a title.
4. When the Lord discomfitted the host of Jabin, and Sifera his captain
fled into the house of Heber the Kenite, Jael Heber's wife took a nail
of the tent, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his
temples, Judg, iv. 21. of which the prophetess Deborah says, chap. v.
24. "Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be
above women in the tent." Yet not only was Jael no magistrate, but in
subjection to and at peace with Jabin, though she killed his captain.
But there was no injustice here, when he was declared a public enemy,
the war was just, he was an oppressor of the people of God, it became
Jael, as a member of the commonwealth, to betray and cut off the common
enemy. Therefore Jael had sinned, if she had not killed him. Martyr and
others cited in Pool. Synops. Critic. upon the place, albeit that author
himself, in his English annotations, does cut the knot, instead of
loosing it, in denying Deborah's song to be divinely inspired in its
first composure, but only recorded as a history by divine inspiration,
as other historical passages not approven, only because this heroic fact
of Jael is there recommended, which is too bold an attempt upon this
part of the holy canon of the scripture: whence we see what
inconveniences they are driven to, that deny this principle of natural
justice, the lawfulness of cutting off public enemies, to procure the
deliverance of the Lord's people. Hence, If it be lawful for private
persons, under subjection to, and at peace with the public enemies of
the Lord's people to take all advantages to break their yoke, and
deliver the oppressed from their bondage, by killing their oppressors;
it must be much more lawful for such as acknowledge no such subjection
or agreement, to attempt the same in extreme necessity; but the former
is true: therefore the latter.
5. When Samson married the Timnite, and obliged himself by compact, to
give them thirty sheets and thirty change of garments, upon their
solving his riddle, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went
down to Askelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil,
Judg. xiv. 19. And afterwards, when he lost his wife by the cruelty and
treachery of those Philistines, he said unto them, 'Though you have done
this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. And he
smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter,' chap. xv. 7, 8. And
when the Jews, who acknowledged the Philistines for rulers, came to Etam
to expostulate with him, all the satisfaction he gave them was to
avouch, that as they had done unto him, so he had done unto them, and to
kill a thousand more of them, ver. 11. &c. These were extraordinary
heroic facts, not only because they flowed from an extraordinary power
wherewith he was endued, and from an extraordinary motion and call; but
because of his avenging his own private injuries for the public good, in
a way both of fortitude and prudence, without a declared war, provoking
the enemies against himself, and diverting from the people, and
converting against himself, all their fury, in which also he acted as a
type of Christ; and also because he acted not as a magistrate at this
time, for by whom was he called or counted a magistrate? not by the
Philistines, nor by the men of Judah, for they tell him that the
Philistines were their lords, and they bound him and delivered him up to
them: yet in his private capacity, in that extraordinary exigence, he
avenged himself and his country against his public enemies, by a
clandestine war, which is imitable in the like case, when a prevailing
faction of murdering enemies domineer over and destroy the people of
God, and there is no other way to be delivered from them; for his
ground was moral, because they were public enemies, to whom he might do
as they did to him. Hence, if saints sometimes, in cases of necessity,
may do unto their public enemies, as they have done unto them, in
prosecuting a war not declared against them; then much more may they do
so in cases of necessity, to deliver themselves from their murdering
violence, when a war is declared; but here is an example of the former:
ergo
6. When these same Philistines again invaded and over-ran the land in
the time of Saul, Jonathan his son, and his armour bearer, fell upon the
garrison of these uncircumcised, and killed them, 1 Sam. xiv. 6. 13.
This was an heroic action, without public authority; for he told not his
father, ver. 1. And singular indeed, in respect of the effect, and were
a tempting of the Lord, for so few to assault such a multitude, as it
were to imitate Samson in his exploits; but in this respect, these
actions are unimitable in consideration of prudence, not of conscience,
or as to the lawfulness of the thing: their ground was moral, to cut off
public enemies. Hence, If it be lawful to fall upon a garrison of public
enemies, oppressing the country, then it must be lawful to fall upon one
or two, that are the ring leaders of public enemies, and main promoters
of their destruction, that are as pernicious, and have no more right or
power, than the Philistines; but such is the case of those about whom
the question is.
7. When David dwelt in the country of the Philistines, he and his men
went up and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the
Amalekites; and David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman
alive, 1 Sam. xxvii. 8, 9. This was without public authority, having
none from Saul, none from Achish, in whose country he dwelt, and none of
his own, being no magistrate. We deny not the divine motion, but plead,
that it is imitable from its moral ground, which was that command to
cut off the Amalekites, Exod. xvii. and the Amorites, whose relicts
these nations were; the same ground that Saul the magistrate had to
destroy them. Whence it is lawful sometimes for others than magistrates
to do that which is incumbent to magistrates, when they neglect their
duty. All I plead for from it is, If it be lawful for private persons,
upon the call of God, to cut off their public enemies, when they are
obliged by the command of God to destroy them, though they be living
quietly and peaceably in the country; then may it be lawful, in cases of
necessity, for private persons to cut off their public enemies, whom
they are obliged, by the covenant of God, to bring to condign
punishment, and to extirpate them, (as the covenant obliges in reference
to malignant incendiaries) when they are ravening like lions for their
prey.
8. In the days of Ahab and Jezebel's tyranny, whereby the idolatrous
prophets of Baal were not punished according to the law, Elijah said
unto the people, 'Take the prophets of Baal, let none of them escape;
and they took them to the brook Kishon, and slew them there,' 1 Kings
xviii. 40. How Mr. Knox improved this passage we heard before, in the
historical representation, Per, 3. and Jus pop. vindicates it, that in
some cases private persons may execute judgment on malefactors, after
the example of Elias here. Which fact, Peter Martyr, in locum, defendeth
thus: 'I say it was done by the law of God; for, Deut. xviii. 20. God
decerned that the false prophet should die; and chap. xvii. the same is
said of private men and women, who would worship idols; but, chap. xiii.
not only is death threatened against a seducing prophet, but a command
is added, That no man should spare his brethren.--3dly, It is commanded,
that the whole city, when it becometh idolatrous, should be cut off by
fire and sword:' And, Lev. xxiv. 14. 16. it is statute, that the
blasphemer should not live: 'to which we may add the law or equity of
taliation: for these prophets of Baal caused Jezebel and Ahab kill the
servants of the Lord.' See Jus pop. cap. 20. pag. 425. Upon this also
Mr. Mitchel defends his fact, as above,--'Also Elijah, by virtue of that
precept, Deut. xiii. gave commandment to the people to destroy Baal's
priests, contrary to the command of the seducing magistrate, who was not
only remiss and negligent in executing justice, but became a protector
and defender of the seducers; then and in that case, I suppose the
Christians duty not to be very dark.'
9. This idolatrous and tyrannical house was afterwards condignly
punished by Jehu, 2 Kings ix. x. chap. who destroyed all the idolaters,
who were before encouraged and protected by that court, chap. x. 25.
This extraordinary fact was not justified by his magistratical
authority; for that was as extraordinary as the fact itself, and
conferred as a mean to accomplish the fact. He had no authority by the
people's suffrages, nor was he acknowledged as such by the court or body
of the people, only the Lord gave it extraordinarily. But it is not the
imitation of his assumption of authority that is here pleaded for, but
the imitation of his fact in extraordinary cases, when not only tyrants
and idolaters pass unpunished, but their insolency in murdering the
innocent is intolerable. Mr. Knox vindicates this at length, as before,
and shews, that it had the ground of God's ordinary judgment, which
commands the idolater to die the death; and that though we must not
indeed follow extraordinary examples, if the example repugn to the law,
but where it agrees with and is the execution of the law, an example
uncondemned stands for a command; for God is constant, and will not
condemn in ages subsequent what he hath approved in his servants before.
See the Testimony of Period 3. above, and Jus pop. cap. 20. pag. 418.
10. When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, had tyrannized six years, at
length Jehoiada, with others, made a conspiracy against her, to depose
her, and make Joash king; which when it was discovered, she cried
treason, treason, as indeed it would have been so, if she had been the
lawful magistrate; for it was an attempt of subjects against her that
had the possession of the sovereign power. But Jehoiada commanded the
captains to heave her forth without the ranges, and him that followeth
her kill with the sword; and they laid hands on her, and she was slain,
2 Kings xii. 14,--16. That this is imitable in the punishment of
tyrants, is cleared above. If therefore it be lawful for subjects to
kill usurping tyrants, and such as follow them to help them, under whom
nevertheless people might have a life; then it must be lawful for
private persons to put forth their hand against their cut-throat
emissaries, in a case of necessity, when there is no living for them.
11. When Amaziah turned idolater and tyrant, after the time that he
turned away from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in
Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent to Lachish after him
and slew him there, Chron. xxv. 37. This fact is before vindicated by
Mr. Knox, Period 3. afterward Head 2. and Head 5.
12. When Esther made suit to reverse Haman's letters, the king granted
the Jews in every city, not only to gather themselves together, and to
stand for their lives, but also to destroy, to slay, and to cause to
perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault
them, both little ones and women,--and to avenge themselves on their
enemies. And accordingly in the day that their enemies hoped to have
power over them, the Jews gathered themselves to lay hand on such as
sought their hurt, and smote all their enemies with the stroke of the
sword, Esth. viii. 11, 13, chap. ix, 1-5, &c. They had indeed that law
of nature fortified by the king's accessary authority, as Valentinian,
by his edict, granted the like liberty, to resist any unjust invader to
depopulate the lands of his subjects, that he might be forthwith liable
to a deserved punishment, and suffer that death which he threatned.--And
the like of Arcadius is extant, in the Justinian Cod. Tit. How it may be
lawful for every man to vindicate himself and the public, without the
concurrence of a judge. But that doth not exclude the lawfulness of such
resistances in case of necessity, without public authority; so here, it
was not the king's commandment that made the Jews avenging themselves
lawful, if it had not been lawful before and without it; it gave them
only liberty to improve that privilege, which they had from God and
nature. Surely their power of resisting did not depend on the king's
commandment, as is proven, Head 5. Ergo, neither their power of avenging
themselves, to prevent their murder by their enemies, which they could
and were obliged to do, if there had been no such authority: Ergo, it
was not only suspended upon the king's authority. And as for Haman's
sons and adherents, being Agagites, they were obliged, by a prior
command, to avenge themselves on them, on all occasions, by that command
to destroy Amalek: therefore it must be lawful, even without public
authority, in some cases of necessity, to prevent the murder of public
enemies, by laying hands on them that seek the hurt of all the people of
God.
Secondly, There are some precepts from which the same may be concluded.
1. There is a command, and the first penal statute against murderers, we
read, Gen. ix. 6. 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be
shed.' Here the command is given in general to punish capitally all
murderers; but there may be some that no magistrate can punish, who are
not here exempted, to wit, they that are in supreme authority, and turn
murderers, as was said above. Again, the command is given in general to
man involving all the community (where the murderer is) in guilt, if
his blood be not shed; as we find in the scripture, all the people were
threatned and punished because judgment was not executed; and when it
was executed even by these who were no magistrates, the wrath of God was
turned away, whereof there are many examples above. Further, if the
command to shed the blood of murderers be given before the institution
of magistracy, then, in case of necessity, to stop the course of
murderers, it may be obeyed, when there is no magistrate to execute it:
but here it is given before the first institution of magistracy, when
now there was no government in the world, but family government, as
Grotius on the place saith, 'When this law was given, public judgment
was not yet constitute, therefore the natural right and law of taliation
is here held forth, which when mankind was increased and divided into
several nations, was justly permitted only to judges, some cases
excepted, in which that primeve right did remain.' And if in any, then
in this case in question. Hence, Lex Rex answereth the p. prelate,
essaying to prove, that a magistracy is established in the text denies
that Ba Adam, by man, must signify a magistrate, for then there was but
family government, and cites Calvin, of the same mind, that the
magistrate is not spoken of here. Though this command afterwards was
given to the magistrate, Numb. xxxv. 30. yet in a case of necessity, we
must recur to the original command.
2. This same command of punishing murdering enemies, is even, after the
institution of magistrates, in several cases not astricted to them, but
permitted to the people, yea enjoined to them. As, (1.) Not only
magistrates, but the people, are commanded to avenge themselves on their
public enemies, as the Israelites, after their being ensnared in the
matter of Peor, are commanded to vex the Midianites, and smite them,
because they beguiled them, and brought a plague upon them, Numb. xxv.
17, 18. and Numb. xxxi. 2. to avenge themselves on them, and for this
end to arm themselves, and go against them, and avenge the Lord of
Midian: which they executed with the slaughter of all the males. So
likewise are they commanded to destroy Amalek. It is true these commands
are given primarily and principally to magistrates, as there to Moses,
and afterwards to Saul: yet afterwards we find others than magistrates,
upon this moral ground, having the call of God, did execute judgment
upon them, as Gideon and David, before they were magistrates, did avenge
themselves and the Lord upon them, as is before cleared. It is also
true, that there was some holy severity then to be extended against
particular nations as such, peculiar to that dispensation, which is not
pleaded as imitable; but the ground was moral, and the right of a
people's saving themselves by the destruction of their enemies; when
there is no other way for it, is natural. And this is all we plead for
here. If people may vex their enemies, and avenge themselves against
them, even without public authority, when ensnared by their craftiness;
much more may they put a stop to their insolency, by cutting off their
principle and most pernicious instruments, in case of necessity, when
invaded by their cruelty; but here a people is commanded to vex their
enemies, and avenge themselves on them, and accordingly Gideon and David
did so, without public authority, and that upon a ground which is moral
and natural: Ergo--(2.) The execution of the punishment of murderers is
committed to the people: 'The revenger of blood, himself shall slay the
murderer, when he meeteth him, he shall slay him,' Numb. xxxv. 19, 21.
So that if he met him before he got into any city of refuge, he might
lawfully slay him, and if he did flee to any, he was to be rendered up
to the avengers hands, Deut. xix. 12. that the guilt of innocent blood
may be put away from Israel, ver. 23. This revenger of blood was not the
magistrate: for he was the party pursuing, Numb. xxxv. 24. Between whom
and the murderer the congregation was to judge: he was only the next in
blood or kindred. In the original he is called Goel, the redeemer, or he
to whom the right of redemption belongs, and very properly so called,
both because he seeks redemption and compensation for the blood of his
brother, and because he redeems the land from blood guiltiness, in which
otherwise it would be involved. I do not plead that this is always to be
imitated, as neither it was always practised in Israel; but if a private
man, in a hot pursuit of his brother's murderer, might be his avenger,
before he could be brought to judgment, then much more may this power be
assumed, in a case of necessity, when there is no judgment to be
expected by law, and when not only our brethren have been murdered by
them that profess a trade of it, but others also and ourselves are daily
in hazard of it, which may be prevented in cutting them off. I do not
see what is here merely judicial, so as to be rejected as Judaical: for
sure murderers must be slain now as well as then, and there is the same
hazard of their escaping now as then: murder involves the land in guilt,
now as well as then, and in this case of necessity especially, that law
that gives a man right to preserve himself, gives him also right to be
his own avenger, if he cannot otherwise defend himself. (3.) Not only
the execution, the decision of matters of life and death, is committed
to them; as in the case of blasphemy and cursing, 'All that heard were
to lay their hands upon his head, and all the congregation was to stone
him,' Lev. xxiv. 14, 16. 'The man-slayer was to stand before the
congregation in judgment. Then the congregation shall judge between the
slayer and avenger of blood,' Numb. xxxv. 12, 24. The people claimed the
power of life and death, in seeking to execute judgment upon those that
had spoken treason against Saul, Bring the men (say they) that we may
put them to death, 1. Sam. xi. 12. Especially in the case of punishing
tyrants, as they did with Amaziah. Certainly this is not so judicial or
judaical, as that in no case it may be imitated; for that can never be
abrogated altogether, which in many cases is absolutely necessary; but
that the people, without public authority, should take the power of life
and death, and of putting a stop to the insolency of destroyers, by
putting them to death, is in many cases absolutely necessary; for
without this they cannot preserve themselves against grassant tyrants,
nor the fury of public enemies or firebrands within themselves, in case
they have no public authority, or none but such as are on their
destroyers side. (4.) Not only the power of purging the land, by divine
precept, is incumbent on the people, that it may not ly under blood
guiltiness; but also the power of reforming the courts of kings, by
taking course with their wicked abetters and evil instruments, is
committed to him, with a promise that if this be done, it shall tend to
the establishment of their throne; which is not only a supposition in
case it be done, but a supposed precept to do it, with an insinuation of
the necessity and expediency of it, that it is as suitable as the taking
away of the dross from silver, in order to the production of a vessel,
Prov. xxv. 4, 5. 'Take away the wicked from before the king, and his
throne shall be established in righteousness;' which is not only there
given to kings, for then it would be in the second person spoken to
them, but to the people to do it before them, as the people did with
Baal's prophets from before Ahab. And our progenitors many times have
done with wicked counsellors, as may be seen in the foregoing
representation, and more fully in the history of the Douglasses, and in
Knox's and Calderwood's histories. Hence, if it be duty to reform the
court, and to take away a king's wicked sycophants, counsellors, agents,
and instigators to tyranny; then it must be lawful, in some cases of
necessity, to restrain their insolency, and repress their tyranny, in
executing judgment upon such of them as are most insupportable, who are
made drunk with the blood of innocents; but the former is true:
therefore----(5.) For the omission of the executing of this judgment on
oppressors and murderers, involving the whole land in blood guiltiness,
which cannot be expiated but by the blood of them that are so criminal;
not only magistrates, but the whole people have been plagued. As for
Saul's murdering the Gibeonites, the whole land was plagued, until the
man that consumed them, and devised against them to destroy them, seven
of his sons were delivered unto them, to be hanged up before the Lord, 2
Sam. xxi. 5, 6. So also for the sins of Manasseh. The reason was,
because if the magistrate would not excute judgment, the people should
have done it: for not only to the king, but also to his servants, and to
the people that entered in by the gates, the command is, excute ye
judgment, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, Jer.
xxii. 2, 3. though it be true, this is to be done by every one in their
station, justice and order being preserved, and according to the measure
of their office, and it chiefly belongs to judges and magistrates: yet
this is no wrong to justice, nor breach of order, nor sinful
transgression of people's vocation, not only to hinder the shedding of
innocent blood, to prevent God's executing of what he there threatens,
but also to execute judgment on the shedders, to prevent their progress
in murdering villany, when inferior as well as superior magistrates are
oppressing and tyrannizing: therefore this seeking, and doing, and
executing judgment, is so often required of the people, in such a case,
when princes are rebellious and companions of thieves, and in the city
where judgment used to be, now murderers bear sway, Isa. i. 17. 21. the
Lord is displeased where there is none, Isa. lix. 15, 16. Jer. v. 1. See
this vindicated in Lex Rex, quest. 34. p. 367. and in Jus popul. cap.
10. p. 237.
3. That command concludes the same against idolaters, apostates, and
enticers thereunto, Deut. xiii. 6. &c. 'If thy brother----or thy
friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, let us
go and serve other gods----thou shalt not spare nor conceal him, but
thou shalt surely kill him----because he sought to thrust thee away from
the Lord thy God----And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and do no more
any such wickedness.' And ver. 13. &c. 'If thou shall hear say in one of
thy cities----saying, Certain men the children of Belial, are gone
out----and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, let us
go to serve other gods----Then shalt thou enquire----and behold if it be
truth, and the thing certain----thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants
of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly.'----This
cause of the open enticers to idolatry was not brought to the judges, as
common idolaters, and such who were enticed to serve other gods, and
worship them, were to be brought to the gates, and to be stoned first by
the hands of witnesses, and afterwards by all the people, Deut. xvii. 3,
5, 7. But this is another law; of which the Jewish antiquaries, and
particularly Grotius out of Philo and the Rabb. upon the place, saith,
'Whereas in other crimes the guilty used to be kept after the sentence a
night and a day, that if he could say any more for himself he might,
these were excepted from this benefit; and not only so, but it was
permitted to any to execute judgment upon them (viz. Enticers to
idolatry) without waiting for a judge. The like was used against
sacrilegious robbers of the temple, and priests who sacrificed when they
were polluted, and those who cursed God by the name of an idol, and
those who lay with an idolatress: chiefly those who denied the divine
authority of the law: and this behoved to be before the people, at least
ten, which in Hebrew they called Hheda.----Neither is this to be
admitted in so grievous a crime, when even the man-slayer without the
place of refuge might have been killed by the kinsman of the defunct.'
And upon Numb. xv. 30. the punishment of presumptuous blasphemers, he
says, 'But here these are to be understood thus, that the guilty shall
not be brought to the judges, but be killed by them that deprehended
them in the crime, as Phinehas did to Zimri;' and proves it out of
Maimonides, Pool. Synop. Critic. on the place. And it must be so; for in
this case no mention is made either of judges, or witnesses, or further
judgment about it, than that he that was tempted by the enticer should
fall upon him, and let the people know it, that they might lay hands on
him also; otherwise evil men might pretend such a thing when it was not
true.
But in case of a city's apostacy, and hearkning to enticers, the thing
was only to be solicitously enquired into, and then though it was
chiefly incumbent upon the magistrate to punish it, yet it was not all
astricted to him, but that the people might do it without him. As upon
this moral ground, was Israel's war stated against Benjamin, Judg. xx.
13. When there was no king nor judge, and also when there were kings
that turned idolaters and tyrants, they served them so, as here is
commanded: witness Amaziah, as is shewed above. Hence not only Moses,
upon the people's defection into idolatry in the wilderness, commanded
all on the Lord's side, every man to put his sword by his side,--and
slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man
his neighbour, whereby three thousand fell at that time by the sword of
the Levites, Exod. xxxii. 27, 28. But also Joash, Gideon's father, upon
the same moral ground, though he was no magistrate, could say to the
Abiezrites, will ye plead for Baal--he that will plead for him, let him
be put to death while it is yet morning.--Judg. vi. 31. Moreover, (as
Mr. Mitchel adduces the example very pertinently), we see that the
people of Israel destroyed idolatry, not only in Judah wherein the king
concurred, but in Ephraim, and in Manasseh, where the king himself was
an idolater; and albeit, they were but private persons, without public
authority: for what all the people was bound to do by the law of God,
every one was bound to do it to the uttermost of his power and capacity.
Mr. Mitchel offers this place to vindicate his fact of shooting at the
prelate, Deut. xiii. 9. 'Wherein, (says he) it is manifest, That the
idolater or enticer to worship a false god, is to be put to death by the
hand of those whom he seeks to turn away from the Lord: which precept I
humbly take to be moral, and not merely judicial, and that it is not at
all ceremonial or levitical. And as every moral precept is universal, as
to the extent of place, so also as to the extent of time, and persons.'
The chief thing objected here is, that this is judicial precept,
peculiarly suited to the old dispensation; which to plead for as a rule
under the New Testament, would favour of Jewish rigidity inconsistent
with a gospel Spirit. Ans. How Mr. Knox refels this, and clears that the
command here is given to all the people, needs not be here repeated; but
it were sufficient to read it in the foregoing representation, Period 3.
Pag. 24. As it is also cited by Jus Pop. pag. 212. &c. But these general
truths may be added, concerning the judicial laws, 1. None can say, that
none of the judicial laws, concerning political constitutions, is to be
observed in the New Testament: for then many special rules of natural
and necessary equity would be rejected, which are contained in the
judicial laws of God: yea, all the laws of equity in the world would be
so cast: for none can be instanced, which may not be reduced to some of
the judicial laws: and if any of them are to be observed, certainly
these penal statutes, so necessary for the preservation of policies,
must be binding. 2. If we take not our measures from the judicial laws
of God, we shall have no laws for punishment of any malefactors by
death, of divine right, in the New Testament. And so all capital
punishments must be only human constitutions; and consequently they must
be all murders: for to take away the life of man, except for such causes
as the Lord of our life (to whose arbitriment it is only subject) hath
not approven, is murder, as Dr. Ames saith, De homicidio Conscienc. Lib.
5. Cap. 31. Quest. 2. For in the New Testament, though in the general,
the power of punishing is given to the magistrate, yet it is no where
determined, neither what, nor how crimes are to be punished. If
therefore penal laws must be taken from the Old Testament; the subject
of executing them, as well as the object, must be thence deduced; that
is, what is there astricted to the magistrate must be so still, and what
is permitted to the people must remain in like manner their privilege;
since it is certain, the New-Testament liberty is not more restricted as
to penal laws than the old. 3. Those judicial laws, which had either
somewhat typical, or pedagogical, or peculiar to the then judaical
state, are indeed not binding to us under that formality; though even
these doctrinally are very useful, in so far as in their general nature,
or equity of proportion, they exhibit to us some documents of duty; but
those penal judgments, which in the matter of them are appended to the
moral law, and are, in effect, but accurate determinations and
accommodations of the law of nature, which may suit our circumstances as
well as the Jews, do oblige us as well as them. And such are these penal
statutes I adduce; for, that blasphemy, murder, and idolatry, are
heinous crimes, and that they are to be punished, the law of nature
dictates: and how, and by whom, in several cases, they are to be
punished, the law judicial determines. Concerning the moral equity even
of the strictest of them, Amesius de Conscien. Lib. 5. Mosaical appendix
of precepts, doth very learnedly assert their binding force: 4. Those
judicial laws, which are but positive in their form, yet if their
special, internal, and proper reason and ground be moral, which
pertains to all nations, which is necessary and useful to mankind, which
is rooted in, and may be fortified by human reason, and as to the
substance of them approven by the more intelligent heathens; those are
moral, and oblige all Christians as well as Jews: and such are these
laws of punishing idolaters, &c. founded upon moral grounds, pertaining
to all nations, necessary and useful to mankind, rooted in, and
fortified by human reason; to wit, that the wrath of God may be averted,
and that all may hear and fear, and do no more so wickedly; especially
if this reason be superadded, when the case is such, that innocent and
honest people cannot be preserved, if such wicked persons be not taken
order with. 5. Those judicial laws, which being given by the Lord's
immediate authority, though not so solemnly as the moral decalogue, are
neither as to their end, dead, nor as to their use, deadly, nor as to
their nature, indifferent, nor in any peculiar respect restringible only
to the Jews, but the transgressions whereof both by omission and
commission are still sins, and were never abolished neither formally nor
consequentially in the New Testament, must be moral; but such, as these
penal laws I am speaking of, they cannot be reputed among the ceremonial
laws, dead as to their end, and deadly as to their use, or indifferent
in their nature: for sure, to punish the innocent upon the account of
these crimes, were still sin, now as well as under the Old Testament;
and not punish the guilty, were likewise sin now as well as then. If
then the matter be moral and not abolished, the execution of it by
private persons, in some cases when there is no access to public
authority, must be lawful also. Or if it be indifferent, that which is
in its own nature indifferent, cannot be in a case of extreme necessity
unlawful, when otherwise the destruction of ourselves and brethren is in
all human consideration inevitable. That which God hath once commanded,
and never expresly forbidden, cannot be unlawful, in extraordinary
cases, but such are these precepts we speak of: therefore they cannot be
in every case unlawful. Concerning this case of the obligation of
judicial laws, Ames. de Conscienc. Lib. 5. Cap. 1. Quest. 9. 6. Those
laws which are predicted to be observed and executed in the New
Testament, cannot be judicial or judaical, restricted to the old: but
such is this. In the day, that a fountain shall be opened for the house
of David for sin, and for uncleanness; which clearly points at gospel
times; it is said, "The Lord will cause the prophets and the unclean
spirits to pass out of the land: and it shall come to pass, that when
any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him
shall say unto him, thou shalt not live----and shall thrust him through
when he prophesieth," Zech. xiii. 3. Which cannot be meant of a
spiritual penetration of the heart: for it is said, he shall not live;
and the wounds of such as might escape, by resistance or flight, are
visible in his hands, ver. 6. It is therefore to be understood of
corporal killing inticers to idolatry, according to the law, Deut. xii.
9. either by delivering them up to the judges, as Piscator on the place
says, or as Grotius saith, they shall run through, as Phinehas did
Zimri, Numb. xxv. Understand this of a false prophet, desiring to intice
the people to the worship of false gods; for the law impowered every Jew
to proceed against such----which law expressly adds, that they should
not spare their son, if guilty of such a crime. From all which I
conclude, if people are to bring to condign punishment idolatrous
apostates, seeking to intice them; then may oppressed people, daily in
hazard of the death of their souls by compliance; or of their bodies, by
their constancy in duty, put forth their hand to execute judgment, in
case of necessity, upon idolatrous apostates and incendiaries, and the
principal murdering emissaries of tyrants, that seek to destroy people,
or enforce them to the same apostacy; but the former is true: therefore,
&c.
4. The same may be inferred from that command of rescuing and delivering
our brother, when in hazard of his life; for omitting which duty, no
pretence, even of ignorance, will excuse us, Prov. xxiv. 11, 12. If thou
forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are
ready to be slain; if thou sayest, behold we knew it not: doth not he
that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul doth
not he know it, and shall not he render to every man according to his
works? That is, 'Rescue out out of the hand of the invader, robber,
unjust magistrate, &c. and that either by defending him with your hand,
or tongue, or any other lawful way: men use to make a great many
excuses, either that they know not his danger nor his innocence, nor
that they were possessed of so great authority that they might relieve
him, that they have enough to do to mind their own affairs, and not
concern themselves with others, &c. He proposes and redargues here, for
examples sake, one excuse, comprehending all the rest.' As commentators
say, Pool. Syn. Crit. in loc. This precept is indefinitely given to all:
principally indeed belonging to righteous magistrates; but in case of
their omission, and if, instead of defending them, they be the persons
that draw or send out their destroying emissaries to draw them to death,
then the precept is no more to be restricted to them, than that verse.
1. not to be envious against evil men, or vers. 10. If thou faint in the
day of adversity, thy strength is small, can be said to be spoken only
to magistrates. Hence, if it be a duty to rescue our brethren from any
prevailing power that would take their lives unjustly, and no pretence
even of ignorance will excuse the forbearance of it, then it must be
lawful, in some extraordinary cases, to prevent the murdering violence
of public incendiaries, by killing them, rather than to suffer
ourselves or our brethren to be killed, when there is no other way, in
probability, either of saving ourselves, or rescuing them; but here the
former is commanded as a duty: therefore the latter also must be
justified, when the duty cannot otherwise be discharged.
Now, having thus at some length endeavoured to discuss this some way odd
and esteemed odious head, to which task I have been as unwillingly
drawn, as the actors here pleaded for were driven to the occasion
thereof, whom only the necessity of danger did force to such
atchievements, to preserve their own and brethren's lives, in
prosecuting the cause; and nothing but the necessity of duty did force
me to this undertaking, to defend their name from reproach, and the
cause from calumnies. I shall conclude with a humble protestation, that
what I have said be not stretched further than my obvious and declared
design doth aim at; which is not to press a practice from these
precedents, but to vindicate a scripture truth from invidious or
ignorant obloquies, and not to specify what may or must be done in such
cases hereafter, but to justify what hath been done in such
circumstances before. Wherein I acknowledge, that though the truth be
certain, such things may be done, yet the duty is most difficult to be
done with approbation. Such is the fury of corrupt passion, far more
fierce in all than the pure zeal of God is to be found fervent in any,
that too much caution, tenderness, and fear, can scarce be adhibit in a
subject, wherein even the most warrantable provocation of holy zeal is
ordinarily attended with such a concurrence of self-interest, and other
carnal temptations, as it is impossible, without the signal assistance
of special grace, to have its exercise in any notable measure or manner,
without the mixture of sinful allay; as the true nonconformist doth
truly observe as above. Yet this doctrine, though in its defined and
uncautioned latitude be obnoxious to accidental abuses (as all
doctrines may be abused by men's corruption or ignorance, misapplying
the same) is nevertheless built upon such foundations, that religion
will own to be firm, and reason will ratify their force. And I hope it
is here so circumscribed with scripture boundaries, and restricted in
the narrow circumstantiation of the case, that as the ungodly cannot
captate advantage from it, to encourage themselves in their murdering
villanies, seeing they never were, never can be so circumstantiate, as
the exigence here defined requires; so as for the godly, I may presume
upon their tenderness, and the conduct of that Spirit that is promised
to lead them, and the zeal they have for the honour of holiness, with
which all real cruelty is inconsistent, to promise in their name, that
if their enemies will repent of their wickedness, and so far at least
reform themselves, as to surcease from their cruel murdering violence,
in persecuting them to the death, and devouring them as a prey, then
they shall not need to fear from the danger of this doctrine, but as
saith the proverb of the ancients, wickedness proceedeth from the
wicked, but their hand shall not be upon them. But if they shall still
proceed to murder the innocent, they must understand, they that hold
this truth in theory, will also reduce it to practice. And bloody
papists must know, that Christians now are more men, than either
stupidly to surrender their throats to their murdering swords, or
supinely to suffer their villany to pass unpunished; and though their
favours have flattered many, and their fury hath forced others, into a
faint succumbing and superseding from all action against them; yet all
are not asleep; and I hope there are some, who will never enter into any
terms of peace with them, against whom the Mediator hath declared, and
will prosecute a war for ever, but will still own and aim at this, as
the highest pitch of their ambition, to be found among his chosen,
called, and faithful ones, who maintain a constant opposition against
them. However, though the Lord seems, in his providence, to put a bar
upon all public appearances under a display of open war against them;
and it is not the design of what is said here on this and the foregoing
head, to incite or invite to any: yet certainly, even at this present
time, all that have the zeal of God, and love to his righteous cause
rightly stated in their hearts, will find themselves called not to
supersede altogether from all actions, of avowed and even violent
opposition against them, whom we are all bound both by the morality of
the duty, and the formality of solemn and sacred covenants, to hold out
from a violent intrusion into, and peaceable possession of this land
devoted to God, and to put them out when they are got in either by fraud
or force; and this plea, now brought to an end, will oblige all the
loyal lovers of Christ to an endeavour of these, 1. To take alarms, and
to be fore-warned and fore-armed, resolute and ready to withstand the
invasion of popery; that it be neither established by law, through the
supineness of such, who should stand in the gap, and resolve rather to
be sacrificed in the spot by a valiant resisting, than see such an
abomination set up again; nor introduced by this liberty, through the
wiles of such, whose chiefest principle of policy is perfidy, who design
by this wide gate, and in the womb of the wooden horse of this
toleration, to bring it in peaceably; nor intruded by force and fury,
fire and sword, if they shall fall upon their old game of murders and
massacres. It concerns all to be upon their guard, and not only to come
out of Babylon, but to be making ready to go against it, when the Lord
shall give the call. 2. To resist the beginnings of their invasions,
before they be past remedy; and for this effect, to oppose their gradual
erections of their idolatrous monuments, and not suffer them to set up
the idol of the mass in city or country, without attempting, if they
have any force, to overthrow the same. 3. In the mean time, to defend
themselves and the gospel, against all their assaults, and to rescue
any out of their hands, upon all occasions, that for the cause of Christ
they have caught as a prey, and to oppose and prevent their own and the
nation's ruin and slavery.
But to conclude: as it will be now expected, in justice and charity,
that all the vassals and votaries, subjects and servants, of the one
common Lord and King, Christ Jesus, every where throughout his
dominions, who may see this representation of the case, and vindication
of the cause of a poor wasted and wounded, persecuted and reproached,
remnant of the now declining, sometimes renowned church of Scotland,
will be so far from standing Esau like on the other side, either as
enemies, rejoicing to look on their affliction in the day of their
calamity; or as neutral, unconcerned with their distressed conditions;
or as strangers, without the knowledge or sense of their sorrows and
difficulties; or as Gallio's caring for none of these things, or
thinking their case not worthy of compassion, or their cause of
consideration; or possibly condemning their sufferings, as at best but
started upon slender, subtile, and nice points, that are odd and odious,
and invidiously represented: it is now expected, I say, that Christians,
not possessed with prejudice, (which is very improper for any that bear
that holy and honourable signature) and not willing to be imposed on by
misinformations, will be so far from that unchristian temper towards
them, as to be easily biassed with all reports and reproaches to their
disadvantage, that if they weigh what is in this treatise offered, and
truly I may say candidly represented, without any design of
prevarication, or painting or daubing, to make the matter either better
or worse than it will seem to any impartial observer; they will admit
and entertain a more charitable construction of them, and not deny them
brotherly sympathy and Christian compassion, nor be wanting in the duty
of prayer and supplication for them; at length the Lord would turn his
hand upon the little ones, and bring at least a third part, a remnant
of mourners, through the fire. So, to that little flock, the poor of the
flock, that wait upon the Lord, and desire to keep his way, I shall only
say, though I judged necessity was laid upon me, instead of a better, to
essay this vindication of your cause, as stated betwixt you and your
Lord's enemies, the men that now ride over your heads, that say to your
soul, Bow down that we may go over you, I desire not that you should,
yea I obtest that you may not lay any stress on the strength of what I
have said; but let its weight ly where it must be laid, on that firm
foundation that will bear you and it both, that stone, that tried stone,
that precious corner-stone, that sure foundation Christ Jesus; and
search the scriptures of truth to see whether these things be so or not:
and I doubt not, but by that touchstone if these precious truths be
tried, they will be found neither hay nor stubble, that cannot abide the
fire, but as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. Be
not offended, that they are contemned as small, and contradicted as
odious, but look to the importance of his glory, whose truths and
concerns they are, and from whom they are seeking to draw or drive you,
who oppose and oppugn these truths. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made you free, and hold fast every word of his
patience, that you may be kept in this hour of tentation. Let no man
take your crown, or pull you down from your excellency, which is always
the design of your wicked enemies, in all their several shapes nd shews,
both of force and fraud, craft and cruelty. Beware of their snares, and
of their tender mercies, for they are cruel; and when they speak fair,
believe them not, for there are seven abominations in their hearts. "Say
ye not a confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say a
confederacy, neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid; sanctify the
Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your
dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a
snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Wait upon the Lord who hideth his
face from the house of Jacob, and look for him among his children,"
though now you be reputed for signs and wonders in Israel, from the Lord
of hosts which dwelleth in mount Zion. "Who knows, but therefore will
the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he
be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you, for the Lord is a God of
judgment, blessed are all they that wait for him." To whom be all the
glory, Amen.
* * * * *
Having come to a conclusion of the six heads proposed to be treated of,
I judged it conducing, by way of a postscript, to subjoin a seventh, in
vindication of these conscientious and truly tender sufferers, who, in
the dread and awe of the holy, sovereign, and supreme law-giver, who
commandeth his subjects and followers, to abstain from all appearance of
evil, did in obedience to him and his royal law, choose rather to suffer
the rage, robberies, and violence of cruel and bloody enemies, together
with censures, reproaches, obloquies, and contempt of apostatising
professors, than to give any aid or encouragement to the avowed and
declared enemies of Christ, that might contribute to the promoving their
sacrilegious, tyrannical, and hellish projects and practices, calculate
and prosecute against the gospel and kingdom of Christ, the covenanted
reformed religion of the church, the rights, laws, and liberties of the
people, and to the introducing of antichristian idolatry, tyranny and
slavery, by paying any of their wicked and wickedly imposed exactions,
raised for furthering their hellish designs, of which none that pays
them can be innocent.