Commentaries, Commentary on Judges · Chapter 3 · Excursus 6
¶Whither it be lawful for Subiectes to ryſe agaynſt their Princes.
BVt leauing theſe thinges, let vsus come vntounto the third queſtion, wherof for as much as I hauehave ſomwhat before ſpoken, I thinke not to ſpeake of it aboundantly in this place, leaſt I ſhould be more ful of wordes than is needeful.
Let vsus deuide ſubiects, as we hauehave before deuided them, ſo that ſome of them are mere priuate men, & others are in ſuch ſort inferiors, that the ſuperiour power in a maner dependeth of them, as among the Lacedemonians wer the foreign, and at Rome the Tribunes of the people. Thoſe which onelyonly are ſubiect, & counted altogether priuate, ought not to riſe againſt their Princes & Lordes, to dyſplace them of their dignity or degree. The two Apoſtles Peter & Paul hauehave commaunded the ſame, namely that ſeruants ſhould obey their Lordes, how rough & hard ſoeuer they be. Farther, the ſword (as it is written to the Romanes) is geuen onelyonly to the powers. And they which reſiſt the power, are ſayde to reſiſt the ordinance of god. God would that the Iewes ſhould obey Nabuchad-nezar, & he was angry with Zedechias the king, bicauſe he fell from hym. Yea, & Ieremy by the cōmaundement of God admoniſhed and exhorted the people to pray for the health of the king of Babilon. Dauid alſo would not ſtretch forth his hād againſt the anointed of the Lord: when he might hauehave done it with out any difficulty, & to his great cōmodity. The godly ſoldiours of Iulianus the Apoſtata, obeyed the ſame Iulianus in fighting and pitching their campes: nether did they at any time (being alſo armed) rebel againſt that moſt cruel tyran. Phocas whē he had ſlaine Mauricius, poſſeſſed the Empire by great violence & vniuſtice, & wrote to Rome to Gregory, who obeyed him as his Prince, and gaue vntounto him great reuerence.
But ther are in publike weales other, which in place & dignity are lower than Princes, & yet in very dede they elect the ſuperior power, & by certaine lawes do gouern the publike wealth, as at this day we ſee in done by the Electors of the Empire, and peraduenture the ſame alſo is done in other kingdomes. To theſe vndoubtedly (if the Prince performe not his couenants & promiſes) it is lawfull to conſtrain & to bring him into order, & by force to compel him to fulfil the conditions & couenants whiche he had promiſed, and that by warre when it cā not otherwiſe be done. By this meanes the Romanes ſomtimes compelled the Conſul, whom they themſelues had created, to go out of their offices. The Danes in our time did put down their king, & held him long in priſon.Polidorus. Virgilius. Polidorus Virgilius writeth, yt the Engliſhmen ſomtimes cōpelled their kings to render accompt of the mony which they had noughtely conſumed. Neither are we ignoraunt that Tarquinius the proud,Of Brutus and Caſſius. was by the Romanes for his ouermuch cruelty & arrogancy put out of his kingdome. I wil not ſpeake of Brutus & Caſſius, which ſlew Caeſar: but whether they did it iuſtly or otherwiſe, moſt graue mē vary in the opinions. And I in examining their enterpriſe by the rule of the ſcriptures, do not allow it. Bicauſe they gaue not vntounto him the tyranny or Empire of Rome, but he vſurped it himſelf by violence and power. And God (as Daniel teſtifieth) tranſferreth Empires & kingdoms. And although it be lawful to reſiſt tirānes which inuade a kingdome, yet when they hauehave obtayned the Empire, and that they do gouerne, it ſemeth not to belong to priuate men to put them downe. Wherfore foraſmuch as the kingdome of the Iewes was ſuche a kingdome, that in it al men depended of the king (for they were not choſen by the noble men, but by ſucceſſion the poſterity of that family gouerned, which God had alſo cōmaūded) & therfore in the lawes in Deut. & in the .1. booke of Sam. wherein the ryght of a king is conſtituted, ther is no liberty graunted to any to reſiſt them. Yea & ſomtimes it happeneth that ſome of them wer killed. But yet we neuer reade ye god allowed the murther of them: yea he puniſhed the murtherers. When God at any time would trouble the kings of Iuda: he did it by the Babilonians, Aſſirians, & Egiptians, but not the Iewes. He onelyonly armed Iehu againſt his Lorde: whyche thing as it was peculiar, ſo alſo muſt not wee take example by it. Hee deſtroyed Saul alſo by the handes of the Philiſtians, and not by Dauid.
Neither am I ignorant how manye thinges are decreed of this matter in the Code, & in the digeſt in ye law Iuliā maieſtatis. But I ſtudieng to be brief do of purpoſe ouerpaſſe theſe things. And although I know right wel yt the Ethniks in the old time appointed rewardes for ſuch as killed Tirannes, yet I hauehave anſwered that godlines & the holy ſcriptures do not allow the ſame. Vndoubtedly if it be lawful for the people to put down kings that raigne vniuſtly, no kinges or Princes ſhould at any time be in ſafety. For although they raygne iuſtly and holily, yet they cannot ſatiſfy the people. And ſo much of this queſtion.