Majesty fill all places with Slaughters Burnings of Towns and Robberies and run headlong into the contempt of all things Civil and Sacred to omit other Writers when I seriously reflected upon the tumultuary reformations in many Countries and the seditious Writings of Buchanan Knox Goodman Whittingham Junius Brutus and others I saw reason to cease my wonder at the accusation tho I can never enough admire the forehead of the Accusers who at the same time that they impeach'd the Protestants were themselves guilty of Writing most Traiterous Libels and promoting Sedition and Rebellion as much as in them lay against their lawful Sovereign But whomsoever this accusation might concern in those days I am sure it did not touch the Church of England of whose Loyalty her adversary Christopher Goodman gives a fair testimony Of Obed. ch 3. p. 30. Prat Gen. 1558. even when he complains of it The most part of Men says he yea and of those who have been both Learned and Godly and have given worthy testimony of their Profession to the Glory of God have thought and taught by the permission of God for our Sins that it is not lawful in any case to resist and disobey the Superior Powers but rather to lay down their Heads and submit themselves to all kinds of Punishment and Tyranny and in the Margin he sets this note this is dangerous Doctrin And tho it may be expected that every Age will produce such Boutefeau 's yet the Doctrin of the Cross and the benefits of a patient suffering of injuries will I hope be always so well understood in the World that all the attempts of the Jesuits and their Journeymen for it is from their shop that these Wares come will prove vain and the true Catholick Doctrin of Passive Obedience will be still owned still honored and when God calls to the performance of is practised the Christian Religion is soft and gentle its Foundation was laid in the blood of its institutor and our Holy Saviour the superstructure cemented with the blood of an innumerable Army of Martyrs and adorn'd with the patience of the Saints and the more truly reformed Christianity is the more like it grows to those admirable examples the more meek and humble it is and the better prepared for a state of suffering but when Mammon finds a way into the House of God and the Baptismal Vow is forgotten when Men depend on their own Arts and distrust Gods Providence when they dare fight for Religion because they are afraid to dye for it and can allow themselves to do evil that good may come thereof it is no wonder if Christianity be blended with the World and made a pretence to serve the ends of pride and covetousness of ambition and revenge Sir Will. Temple's Obs on the Netherl c. 1. p. 57. according to the observation of a wise Statesman with respect to the Netherlands that whereas the Spanish and Italian Writers attribute the Revolutions in the Low Countries to the change of Religion c. That Religion without mixtures of ambition and interest works no such violent effects and produces rather the examples of constant sufferings than of desperate actions How truly Ancient and Primitive the Doctrin of Passive Obedience is comes not within the limits of this present History but may be hereafter considered by deducing it through the Writings and Practices of the earliest Christians down to the days of King Henry VIII But those times in the esteem of John Goodwin were times of ignorance and the truth was but in its dawn and by a glimmering light Men were easily led out of their way for he says that the Primitive Christians and among them he must include the Apostles Anti-Cavalerism Sect. 6. tho guided by the Spirit of God which led them into all truth knew nothing of this useful Doctrin of Resistance that God had hid this liberty from the Primitive Christians of the Subjects Power and right to resist their Superiors which he hath manifested to us the commonalty of Christians doing contrary to the will of their Superiors being the Men that must have the Principal hand in executing God's judgments upon the Whore. Rev. 18 4 5. and as John Goodwin slanders the Ancient Fathers as a company of ignorant Men so John Milton accuses the first Reformers as the genuine assertors of the Doctrin of Resistance for Salmasius having truly alledged that the Doctrin of the Sacred and Inviolable Authority of Princes was preserved pure and uncorrupt in the Church till the Bishops of Rome attempted to set up a Kingdom in this World Paramount to all Kings and Emperors Milton replies Defens pro pop Angli p. 33. that Salmasius strove in vain to transfer the guilt upon the Pope which all free Nations every Religion all the Orthodox take upon themselves and that he had as many Adversaries in this point as there were most excellent Doctors of the Reformed Church While a third Writer boldly affirms Author of plain English p. 7. that the Doctrin of Non-Resistance is contrary to the Fundamental Liberties of the Nation and that they undid the Kingdom who required the Oath contrary to the Fundamental Liberty of the Nation whereby they would make the King and them who are commissioned by him to be as irresistible as there severity against Dissenters would argue the imposers infallible Thus in the Opinion of such Writers Passive Obedience was the weakness of the Ancient Christians and a sign they were under a lower dispensation and that to assert it necessary in this more inlightned Age is to contradict the most eminent Reformers and the Fundamental Liberties of Nature and if after all this some Men should be so resty as to quote St. Paul to the Romans for their submission to Princes Ubi sup p. 38. Goodman says that Men are deceived into this submission by misunderstanding this place of St. Paul and such like It behoveth every Soul to be subject to superior Powers because there is no Power but of God for the Powers that be are ordained of God and therefore he that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God which words he elsewhere thus comments Ch. 9. p. 410 c. that they require Obedience only to such Magistrates whom God hath ordained over us lawfully according to his word which rule in his fear according to their Office as God hath appointed and that Tyrants Idolaters Papists and Oppressors are not God's Ordinance if so Satan must be obeyed and his Infernal Powers for they are Powers and have their Powers also from God and yet we must resist the Devil for the Magistrate is ordained for good and to such only must every Person be subject and Obedient Such unhappy Commentaries do some Men write even on Holy Scripture it self when their Interests incline their minds to wrest the Sacred Oracles it were easie to prove this from Pope Hildebrand down through the School-men to the present time
affirm'd by many others of their Writers Thus we find P. 1â— the most mischievous Commonwealth Principles have been very well entertain'd at Rome as long as they are subservient to the Pope's deposing Power and if we inquire further into the reason of these pretences we shall find them alike on both sides the Commonwealth's Men when they are askt how the People having once parted with their Power come to resume it they presently run to an implicite contract between the Prince and the People by virtue whereof the People have a Fundamental Power left in themselves which they are not to exercise but upon Princes violation of the Trust committed to them ☞ the very same ground is made the Foundation of the Pope's deposing Power viz. an implicite contract that all Princes made when they were Christians to submit their Scepters to the Pope's Authority which is so implicite P. 13. that very few Princes in the World ever heard of it it is declared in the Case of King John that the resignation of the Crown to the Pope is a void Act. And so consequently will the Imposing any such condition be as inconsistent with the Rights of Sovereignty if they plead an implicite contract who made such conditional settlements of Civil Power upon Princes ☞ who keeps the ancient Deeds and Records of them for all the first Ages of the Christian Church this conditional Power and Obedience was never heard of not when Emperors were open and declared Infidels or Hereticks what reason can be supposed more now than was in the times of Constantius and Valens that were Arian Hereticks Yet the most Learned Zealous and Orthodox Bishops of that time never once thought of their losing their Authority by it as I could easily prove if the design of this Preface would permit me If Christ and his Apostles were the best Teachers of Christianity P. 15 this is certainly no part of it for the Religion they taught never meddled with Crowns and Scepters but left to Caesar the things that were Caesar's and never gave the least intimation to Princes of any forfeiture of their Authority if they did not reader to God the things that are God's it requires all Men of what rank or order soever to be subject to the Higher Powers P. 16. because they are the Ordinance of God and to pray for them that are in Authority c. Thus far the Christian Religion goes in these matters and thus the Primitive Christians believed and practised when their Religion was pure and free from the Corruptions and Usurpations which the Interests and Passions of Men introduced in the following Ages and how then come Princes in these later times to be Christians upon worse and harder terms than in the best Ages of it in my mind there is very little difference between Dominion being founded in grace and being forfeited for want of it and so we are come about to the Fanatick Principles of Government again which this deposing Power in the Pope doth naturally lead Men to but this is not all the mischief of this Doctrin For 2. It breaks all Bonds and Oaths of Obedience how sacred and solemn soever they have been P. 17. there being an obligation to Obedience on the Subjects part which doth naturally arise from the relation between them and their Prince when Subjects are absolved from their Oaths of Allegiance they are thereby declared free from that natural duty they were obliged to before this is nulling the obligation to a natural duty and taking away the force of Oaths and Promises this is turning Evil into Good and Good into Evil that can make Civil Obedience to Princes to be a Crime ☞ and Perjury to be none this is a greater Power than the Schoolmen will allow to God himself where there is intrinsick goodness in the nature of the thing and inseparable evil from the contrary to it P. 18. for tho it be granted that God may after the matter or circumstances of things our Question is only about dispensing with the force and obligation of a Law of Nature such as keeping our Oaths undoubtedly is this he illustrates very Learnedly and at large in some following Paragraphs asking how comes the Pope to have power to give away another Man 's natural right a Man swears Allegiance to his Prince by virtue of which Oath the Prince challenges his Allegiance as a sworn duty the Pope dispenseth with this Oath i.e. gives away the Princes right whether he will or no. but how came the Pope by that right of the Prince which he gives away P. 19 20 21. may he not as well give away all the just rights of Men to their Estates as those of Princes to their Crowns Cajetan lays down a good rule about dispensing with Oaths that in them we ought to see that no prejudice be done to the Person to whom and for whose sake they are made he afterwards cites the several distinctions which the Roman Casuists use to vindicate this Power of dispensing with Oaths particularly Laymen that a promising Oath made to a Man cannot ordinarily be relax'd p. 24. without the consent of the Person to whom it is made except it be for the publick good of the Church ☜ as tho evil might be done for the good of the Church but woe be to them that make good evil and evil good when it serves their turn for this is plainly setting up a particular Interest under the name of the good of the Church and violating the Laws of Righteousness to advance it if Men break through Oaths and the most solemn Engagements and Promises ☜ and regard no bonds of justice and honesty to compass their ends let them call them by what specious names they please p. 25. the good Old Cause or the good of the Church it matters not which there can be no greater sign of Hypocrisie and real Wickedness than this for the main part of true Religion doth not lye in caâ—ting Phrases or mystical Notions neither in specious shews of devotion nor so zeal for the true Church but in Faith as it implies the performance of our promises as well as belief of the Christian Doctrin and in Obedience or a careful observance of the Laws of Christ among which Obedience to the King as Supreme is one which they can never pretend to be an inviolable duty who make it in the Power of another Person to absolve them from the most solemn Oaths of Allegiance and consequently suppose that to keep their Oaths in such a case would be a sin and to violate them may become a duty which is in effect to overturn the natural differences of good and evil to set up a controuling Sovereign Power above that of their Prince and to lay a perpetual Foundation for Faction and Rebellion which nothing can keep Men from If Conscience and their Solemn Oaths cannot Therefore 3. The third
defensive ☜ against his Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors Neither is the King accountable to them or to any other besides God These are the Essentials of Sovereignty There is but one Case wherein a good and loyal Subject will refuse to obey his Prince and that is p. 60 61 v. p. 66 96 97 119 120 154. when such Obedience will by no means consist with his Obedience to God But there is no Case whatsoever wherein he dares either to resist or reproach the Person or Authority of the King or to offer any Indignity to him To fight against him is to fight against God whom the King represents upon any pretence whatsoever it cannot be done without open Perfidiousness and Rebellion Such are Monsters of Men and are as natural brute Beasts made to be taken and destroyed So S. Peter describes them 2 Pet. 2.10 12. Mr. David Jenner in his Prerogative of Primogenitures * Lond 1635 P. 48. asserts the same Cause Altho the Law of God is indeed above all Kings and if they wilfully transgress the same they are all accountable unto God and unto God only for the same yet in this Kingdom of England no Statute Law is or can be above the King because it was the King that first gave life and being to the Law of the Land the King by his Royal Assent made the Law to be what it is viz. a Law But the Law of the Land did not make the King to be what he is viz. a King for the King was King before the Law. That the Doctrin and Practice of Deposing lawful Kings P. 122. and Excluding the right Heir from succeeding in the Throne for his being an Heretick Idolater ☜ tyrannical and wicked is grounded upon nothing but Popery and Fanaticism Mr. Hancock in his Answer to the Viscount Stafford's Memoires Lond. 1682. p. 31. I could make it evident that the same Maxims of Political Divinity the same Arguments and many times the same Phrases and Expressions are to be found in the Heads of both Factions I know 't is disputed whether the Ring-Leaders of Sedition among us poyson'd the Jesuits or the Jesuits them but I do not envy the Bishops of Rome the Honor of having first poyson'd them both with Antimonarchical Doctrins If Milton the great Oracle of one of the Factions had own'd himself to be a Papist there had been no reason to wonder at the Impiety of his Doctrins which he either did or might have learnt from the Popes and greatest Divines of the Roman Church It was truly alledg'd by Salmasius that the Doctrin of the sacred and inviolable Authority of Princes was preserved pure and uncorrupt in the Church till the Bishops of Rome attempted to set up a Kingdom in this World paramount to all Kings and Emperors but he with his usual Confidence acquits the Popes and charges his Antimonarchical Principles on Luther Zuinglius Calvin Bucer Martyr Parcus and all the Reformed Divines Bellarmine P. 50. Parsons Creswel Suarez c. are the Men that furnish'd the leading Faction among us with Principles and Precedents with Arguments and Texts of Scripture ☞ out of whom they either did or might have derived the Grounds of the War against the King of erecting an High Court of Justice and of bringing him to the Block John Goodwin P. 53. in one of his Pamphlets hath this remarkable Expression As for offering Violence to the Person of a King or attempting to take away his Life we leave the Proof of the lawfulness of it to those profound Disputers the Jesuits P. 166 c. I have fairly represented those Doctrins and Principles which strike at the very root of our establish'd Religion and Government with the Arts and Instruments which have been used by the prevailing Faction of the Roman Church for the Subversion of them ☞ And I know no stronger Argument against the truth and goodness of any Religion than that it supplants moral Righteousness and serves to be a Bond of Conspiracy allowes of Sedition and Treachery Injustice and Cruelty for how can that Religion be from God which maketh Men unlike to God as had or worse than if they were left to the Principles and Inclinations of their own Natures Of the Church of England I will only say It hath establish'd the Right of Kings upon such sure and unalterable Foundations that it is the Interest as well as the Duty of the Civil Power to support and defend it Mr. Animadv on Ob. Ch. Govern. Preface Smalridge Certainly that Doctrin which invades the just Rights of Princes can hope but for few Proselytes among those who have constantly defended them in their Writings asserted them in their Decrees and upon all occasions vindicated them with their Swords For we do not lye open to the imputation of a condition'd and distinguishing Loyalty who have shewed our readiness to imitate the glorious Examples of our Fathers and were prepar'd had not God's good Providence prevented our Service to have transcribed that Copy lately at Sedgmore which they set us formerly at Edg-hill And in truth our steady Fidelity to the Prince is so unquestionable that our Enemies have been pleased to ridicule what they could not deny and have made Passive Obedience bear a part in our Character when the Muse hath been enclin'd to Satyr Thus also the Person of Quality who wrote the Reasons Why a Protestant should not turn Papist P. 30 31. I am then quite out of conceit with your Religion since I cannot embrace it without endangering my Loyalty by reason of the Deposing Doctrin in case I live up to the pitch of its real Principles But 't is all one to me so long as I remain a Protestant what Religion my Prince is of tho I could wish he were of the same I profess because his Authority over me and my indispensible Obligation to submit to him do not depend upon his Opinion or Religion but upon his Birth-right yet have we not reason to doubt if the zealous sort of Roman Catholicks would not think it lawful to take Arms against their Prince turn'd a Heretick since the French League against Henry the 4th was upon this very account styled Holy and had I not been particularly acquainted with the Principles of the Church of Rome I had never conceived how it came to pass that such great Numbers of learned and well-meaning Men too could be guilty of such a horrible wickedness as that was and forget themselves so far as to pretend Holiness in an open Rebellion against their lawful Prince I am then more satisfied with the Loyalty of a Protestant especially of the Church of England who acknowledgeth the Prince to be a Supreme Governour over all his Subjects and Sovereign Judg in all Cases than with that of a Roman Catholick who seems to set limits to his Power by such restrictions as neither Reason nor Scripture can warrant Mr. Pomfret
first brought from another Country and is no way natural to our own tho the Infection hath been taken by too many who had an ill Temper prepared for it Cons Dr. Jackson's Works Tom. 3. l. 12. ch 8. p. 978. their Loyalty and Peaceableness may be the Fruits of their Education or their good temper but not of their Faith or as Dr. Sherlock says they may be loyal as Englishmen but they cannot be so as Papists Would we therefore judge of the Doctrine of our Church we must consult her Articles Canons publick Homilies publick Offices of Devotion General Orders of her Bishops Censures of her Universities and Writings of her greatest Men who have vindicated her Doctrine and explained her Belief and this Method I shall use to discover what hath been owned by the Church of England as to the Doctrine of Non-resistance or Passive Obedience CHAP. I. The Doctrine of the Thirty nine Articles THE Articles of our Church have been always looked upon as the stated Doctrine of our whole Church to which all her Priests are obliged to make their Subscriptions they are allowed a place in the Body of the Confessions of the Protestant Churches and are highly commended by Foreigners as well as by our own Writers for * Bishop Ridley's Farewel Letter apud Fox tom 3. p. 506. this Church hath in matters of Controversie Articles so penned and framed after the Holy Scriptures and grounded upon the true understanding of God's Word that in short time if they had been universally received says Bishop Ridley the Martyr they should have been able to have set in Christ's Church much concord and unity in Christ's true Religion and to have expelled many false Errors and Heresies wherewith this Church alas was almost overgone Nor is this that excellent Prelate's peculiar Opinion but of the whole Church which ordains †Can. 3. an 1604. That whosoever shall affirm that the Church of England by Law establish'd under the King's Majesty is not a true and Apostolical Church teaching and maintaining the Doctrine of the Apostles let him be excommunicated ipso facto And Can. 5. Whosoever shall affirm that any of the thirty nine Articles agreed in the Synod 1562 are in any part superstitious or erroneous let him be excommunicate ipso facto Anno 1552. In the Convocation held at London Articles of Religion were agreed upon of which the Thirty sixth runs thus The Civil Magistrate is ordained and allowed of God and therefore is to be obeyed not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake And expresly asserts That the Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England In the Articles of our Church under Queen Elisabeth anno 1562. it runs thus and so continues to this day The Queens Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Cases doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any Foreign Jurisdiction And it is remarkable ‖ Rogers's Praef. to the 39th Artic. that these Articles of 1562. were published in the same year in which the Massacre at Vassey in France was committed by the Duke of Guise and when all the Protestants in the Country were sentenced to Death by the Parliament of Paris It is true this Doctrine is not limited to the particular Case of Subjects taking up Arms but it seems to me by two necessary Consequences to be deduc'd from it 1. Because if the Pope who pretended by a Divine Right had no power over Kings much less have the People any power who pretend to an inferior Right that of Compact 2. Because the Article makes no distinction but excludes all other Power as well as that of the Pope And in truth the Plea is the same on either side the Pope says as long as the Prince governs according to the Laws of God and the Church of which he is the Interpreter so long the Censures of the Church do not reach him and say the People as long as the Prince governs according to the Laws of the Land and of the meaning of those Laws themselves are the Interpreters so long are they bound to be obedient but as soon as the King doth any thing that may contradict the Pope then he is deservedly say the Romanists excommunicate deposed and murdered and when he usurps upon the Peoples Liberties then he ought to be deposed by the Peoples the Arguments on either side are the same and for the most part the Authorities for as * Moderat of the Church of England ann 17. §. 19. p. 481. Dr. Puller well observes both Papists and Dissenters deny the Supremacy of the King one attributes it to the Pope originally the other to the People and the same Arguments that the Pope useth for his Supremacy over Kings the Disciplinarians use for establishing their Sovereignty CHAP. II. The Doctrine of the Injunctions and Canons IN the Infancy of the Reformation under Henry the Eighth for there I begin the Restoration of Religion to her Purity in this Kingdom as Dr. Burnet does †Burnet hist Reform l. 3. p. 226. tom 1. And Fox tom 2. p. 387. Anno 1536. Injunctions were issued out the first of which is That every Man that hath Cure of Souls shall for the Establishment and Confirmation of the King's Authority and Jurisdiction sincerely declare manifest and open for the space of one quarter of a year next ensuing once every Sunday and after that at the least wise twice every Quarter in their Sermons and other Collations that the Bishop of Rome 's usurp'd Power and Jurisdiction having no Establishment or Ground in the Law of God was of most just Causes taken away and abolish'd and that the King's Power is in his Dominions the highest Power and Potentate under God to whom all men within the same Dominions by God's Commandment owe most Loyalty and Obedience afore and above all other Potentates in Earth Now if a King be above all other Powers then he cannot be accountable to any other Power and so ought not to be resisted Anno * Burnet's Collect. of Records p. 181. 1538. came out the Lord Cromwel's Injunctions as they were called wherein the same Duty is injoyned in the same Words This also is the first of the Injunctions of Edw. the Sixth †Sparr Collect. p. 1 2. An. 1547. the Preface to which Injunctions acknowledges that part of them were formerly set out by Henry the Eighth and the rest added by King Edward the Sixth This also was the first of the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth with a very little variation and accordingly in the Articles of Enquiry of Archbishop Cranmer in the Diocess of Canterbury under Edward the Sixth the first is Whether all Persons c. have preach'd against the usurp'd Power of the Bishop of Rome Secondly Whether they have preach'd and
unto the Papists who mutatis mutandis could apply their own arguments against Princes of the Religion ‖ p. 7◠In that Book it is asserted that if Kings observe not those compacts to which they were Sworn Subordinate Magistrates have powet to oppose them and to punish them till all things be restored to their former State that what Power a General Council hath to Depose a Pope for Haeresie the same the People over Kings that are turn'd Tyrants And it is worth the notice that King James when the Prince Palatine his son in law had axcepted of the Crown of Bohemia did not only dissuade him from * Rushus Collect. p. 12. it it being an usurpation upon the Rights of the Emperor but disavowed the Act and would never style him himself by that Title nor suffer his Chaplains so to do And the defeat of that unhappy Prince near Prague is very remarkable it happening on Sunday Novemb. 8. Anno 1620. when part of the Gospel for the Day was Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's SECT VI. Under a learned King the Arts flourish and therefore many eminent Authorities appear in this Reign to the vindication of the truth Dr. Buckeridge Bishop of Rochester in his Sermon on Rom. 13.5 before the King Sept. 23.1606 says ‖ p. 16. there is no resistance either thou must obey good Princes willingly or endure evil Tyrants patiently †p. 3. If they command any thing against God their Authority comes too short in such cases it is better to obey God than Men and yet in these things tho we may not obey yet we may not resist but suffer * p. 13. Subjection to higher Powers is necessary in Christians Necessitate praecepti Finis by the necessity of the end Peace and Tranquillity and Religion in this Life and Life Everlasting after Death And by necessity of the Precept Honor thy Father and Mother in which number all Kings and Fathers of Countries and Princes must have the Honor of Reverence to their Persons of obedience to their Laws of patience to their Punishments of maintenance to their Estates and of fidelity to their Crowns thus saith Arch-Bishop Laud's Tutor for so was Bishop Buckeridge Tho. Cartwright also notwithstanding his other heterodox Opinions and Practcies seems in this to be Orthodox * Confut. of the Rhem. Test in Rom. 13.4 p. 968. V. p. 58. V. Arch-Bishop Bramhal We praise God that our sworn Enemies are constrained to give us the testimony of sound Doctrine in all duties toward Princes both good and bad Fathers and Tyrants for our practice accordingly we are content to rest in equal and indifferent judgment this one thing we may boldly say that we seek not to betray our native Princes nor to lie in wait for their Lives as the Jesuits most wickedly and unnaturally do These were Mr. Cartwright's cool thoughts in his old age whatever his former Sentiments might have been Arch-bishop Whitgift also herein agrees with T. C. for when he says * Def. of the Admonit p. 4. Ibid. Indeed the Doctrine of the Gospel ' which is the Doctrine of Salvation hath been is and will be a friend to Princes and Magistrates yea tho they persecute the same T.C. re-joins If it be ask'd of the Obedience due unto the Prince and unto the Magistrate it answereth that all obedience in the Lord is to be rendred and if it come to pass that any other be asked it so refuseth that it disobeyeth not in preferring obedience to the great God before that which is to be given to mortal man. It so resisteth that it submitteth the body and goods of those that profess it to abide that which God will have them suffer in that case And to this the Arch-bishop subjoins All this is truly spoken of the Doctrine of the Gospel Dr. Fulke * In 1 Pet. 2.18 on the Rhemish Testament It is a lewd Slander against Wicklif that Magistrates lost their Authority if once they were in deadly sin he obeyed and taught obedience to the Kings Edw. III. and Rich. II. in whose time he lived which two Princes all men know to have committed deadly sin yea some heinous and notorious sins So it is a detestable slander against us whom you call followers of Wicklif for none of us ever held or taught any such Seditious or traiterous Opinions but your Heresie commeth nearest to this Opinion which holdeth that the Pope hath Authority to depose lawful Kings from their Thrones at his pleasure c. Anno 1610. Bishop Carlton printed his Book of the Jurisdiction of Princes wherein he affirms * Ch. 1. p. 4. That in external coactive jurisdiction the King hath Supreme Authority in all Causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical as well as Civil and that this is that that hath been publish'd by divers Writings and Ordinances * P. 12. Ch. 2. Some of the Pope's Flatterers of late as also others to open a wide gap to Rebellion have written That the power of Government by the Law of Nature is in the multitude but the first Government was in a Family it is absurd to think and impossible to prove that the power of Government was in the Multitude and what is a King by nature but a Father of a great Family SECT VII I am now enter'd into a vast Ocean where Writers are every where to be found and I resolve to examine them as they occur without adjusting with a too curious niceness the exact Chronology * Ser. 1. on Gowrey's Conspir p. 781. And I begin with Bishop Andrews the smartest Adversary that ever the great Card. Bellarmine met with A King is Al Rum no rising against him or if any man rise they had better sit still for Kings begin from God we cannot set our selves against them saith Gamaliel but we must be found to fight against God being ordain'd of God saith S. Paul Gamaliel's Scholar to resist them is to resist the Ordinance of God none might better say it than he it was told him from Heaven when he was about such another business persecuting Christ in his Church * Ser. 2. p. 791. and having quoted the example of David toward Saul he adds I verily think God in this first Example of his first King over his own people hath purposely suffer'd them all i.e. all the faults of Governours to fall out and to be found in him even all that should fall out in any King after him 1. His Government was tyrannical 2. He usurp'd a Power in things spiritual taking upon him to sacrifice in person 3. He dip'd his hands in the bloud of God's Priests 4. Was possess'd by God with an evil spirit a case beyond all other cases and yet destroy him not Abishai * Ser. 3. on the 5. August p. 800. Kings are God's Anointed to the superseding of two Claims meos saith the Pope another Claim hath of late begun to
Letters Nolite tangere Christos meos In the subsequent Chapters he considers the other Examples of Rebellion and resistance in the old Testament and Ch. 14. the Example of our Saviour who patiently submitted to all injustice though he could have called for more than twelve Legions of Angels And when Pilate was a most profligate Man and no one could be worse than the Pharisees and High-Priests and Tiberius the Emperour was infamous for his perjuries his lusts and murthers yet even then so did our Saviour demean himself and every action of his is our instruction towards the Magistrates of his time who were Infidels Barbarians and Tyrants And in the second Book he considers the obedience of the antient Christians to Nero and other Persecutors under Julian and the Arian Emperours when they were punish'd contrary to Law deriving the History down to the times of Pope Gregory the Great and the Emperour Focas from whence we date the Papal Tyranny On Epist for the fourth Sunday after Epiph. Dr. Bois the Dean of Canterbury says the same on those Words Let every Soul be subject c. The Proposition is peremptory deliver'd not narratively what others hold meet but positively importing what God would have done not advised only by Paul but devised also by Christ as a Command in imperative terms expresly Let every Soul be subject Every Soul is every Man and this universal Note confutes as well the seditious Papist as the tumultuous Anabaptist To be subject is to suffer the Prince's Will to be done aut à nobis aut de nobis either of us or on us of us when he commands for Truth on us when he commands against the Truth either we must be Patients or Agents Agents when he is good and godly Patients when he is tyrannous and wicked we must not use a Sword but a Buckler against a bad Prince St. Paul doth not here say Let every soul be subject to Virtuous and Christian Governors ☞ but indefinitely to Potentates I have read and heard that the Jesuits are desirous to purge St. Paul's Epistles especially this to the Romans as being herein more Lutheran than Catholick This Text of all other Let every Soul be subject c. is much against their humor and honor The exempting Clergy-men from the Obedience to secular Powers Ep. Rom. 13.1 is a Doctrine not heard in the Church a thousand years after Christ p. 159. Bishop Bilson against the Jesuits p. 128. Whosoever therefore resisteth If there be no power but of God and nothing done by God but in order he that resisteth Authority resisteth God's Ordinance so the Lord himself said to Samuel 1 Sam. 8.7 They have not cast thee away but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them As God is a great King so a King is as it were a little God he therefore that resisteth the Prince resisteth him that sent him Almighty God is King of kings and Lord of lords 1 Tim. 6.15 pag. 161. He is the Minister of God for thy wealth * D. Buckeridg Sermon upon the fifth Verse of this Chap. If he be a good Prince causa est he is the Cause of thy Good temporal and eternal if an evil Prince he is an occasion of thy eternal Good by thy temporal evil †August Serm. 6. de verbis Dom. secundum Matt. Si bonus nutritor est tuus si malus tentator tuus est If a good King he is thy Nurse receive thy nourishment with obedience if evil he is thy tempter receive thy trial with patience So there is no resistance either thou must obey good Governors willingly or endure bad Tyrants patiently pag. 162. As all power is from God so for God and therefore when the Prince commands against truth it is our Duty to be patient and not agent Ib. 162. 23 d. Sunday after Trin. Mat. 25.15 ‖ ‖ Zepper Aretius Aquin. 22. quaest 10.4 Art. 6. This Scripture sheweth evidently that the Kingdom of Christ abrogateth not the Kingdom of Caesar but that the Gospel is a good Friend unto Common-weals in teaching Princes how to govern and the People how to be subject unto the higher Powers It is not Christ and his Word but Antichrist and the Pope who deny to Caesar the things which are Caesar 's absolving the Subject from his Allegiance to his Sovereign This Intrusion upon the things of Caesar is thought unjust and uncouth even by the Sorbon and Parliament of Paris in France by the Commonwealth of Venice by the Seminary Priests in England in a word distasted of all Popelings in the world except the Serpentine Brood hatch'd of the Spanish Egg Ignatius Loyola Read the Books of Watson especially Quodlibet 8. Art. 7 8. Barclai of the Authority of the Pope Roger. Widdrington Apolog. pro Jure Principum Sheldon's general Reasons proving the Lawfulness of the Oath of Allegeance The ready Pens of our accurately learned Caesar and his judicious Divines have foiled in this Argument the Popes Bull-beggar Cardinal Bellarmine p. 550. As for the Tributes of Caesar if they be just and reasonable we must pay them as his Wages if unjust and unreasonable we must bear them as rur punishment We may rofel his Arguments in Parliament and repel his Oppression according to courses of Law but we may not in any case rebel with the Sword. Ib. On S. Peter's Day Act. 12.1 p. 725. Prayer was made without ceasing of the Congregation Prayers and Tears are the Churches Armor and therefore when Peter was imprisoned by cruel Herod the Congregation cometh unto prayer and not unto powder for his deliverance they did not assault the Prison nor kill the Soldiers ◠Salmeron tract 35. in Act. nor break the Chains only prayer and patience were their Weapons Arma Christianorum in adversis alia esse non debent quam patientia precatio Dr. Donne the Dean of S. Pauls * Pseudomart ch 6. § 10. p. 172. Tho some ancient Greek States which are called Regna Laconica because they were shortened and limited to certain Laws and some States in our time seem to have conditional and provisional Princes between whom and Subjects there are mutual and reciprocal Obligations which if one side break they fall on the other yet that Sovereignty which is a power to do all things available to the main ends resides somewhere which if it be in the Hands of one Man erects and perfects that Pambasilia of which we speak * Id. § 11. God inanimates every State with one power as every Man with one Soul when therefore People concur in the desire of such a King they cannot contract nor limit his power no more than Parents can condition with God ☞ or preclude or withdraw any Faculty from that Soul with God hath infused into the Body which they prepared and presented to him c. And upon this Principle of the Sovereignty and unaccountableness of Kings he shews
nevertheless he sat up and dictated his sense of it but the Earl was on a sudden by reason of the fight hurried away and whether the King had the Paper or no I cannot learn but the original or a Copy of it was by some zealous Man supprest no doubt because it condemn'd taking up Arms on the specious pretences of Religion and Liberty And according to his Sentiments was his usage he being plundred by the Parliament Army as well as the other so called Malignants SECT XI There was no little Clash between Arch-Bishop Laud and Bishop Davenant about other points but in this they agreed * Davenant deter qu. 4. p. 22. He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword i. e. He that usurps the Sword he that uses it without permission from the King who by God's Ordinance bears the Sword now who can believe that a Prince will give leave to draw his own Sword against himself all others ought to abstain from laying hands on him whose punishment God hath by a certain special priviledg reserv'd to himself the antient Christians being harass'd with most grievous persecutions never fled to these indirect means Pag. 23. but defended the Church by those means which God hath appointed viz. by the tears of her Christians the preachings of her Priests and the sufferings of her Martyrs and what Suarez say * V. p. 24. That there is no need of a Superiour Power to keep the Pope in order because Christ will in an especial manner in this case provide for his Church may be with much greater reason said of Kings Christ himself will in a more Eminent manner defend his Church not onely against the cruelty of persecutors but also against the gates of Hell. Resistance is unlawful and contrary to God's Ordinance for St. Paul says it is a sin and worthy of eternal damnation to resist the Powers ordained of God. Put the case that Princes will not only not purge the Church of Heresies and false worship but what is worse * Id. qu. 12. p. 58. will defend those corruptions by their Authority yet in this case the people ought not to reform 1. Because God requires from Subjects to suffer whatsoever the Magistrate can inflict rather than desert the true Religion but not to compel the Magistrate for Religion is to be defended not by killing others but by dying for it our selves not by cruelty but by patience not by wickedness but by fidelity says Lactantius 2. When the people undertake such an action without the Prince's consent it is Rebellion now evil is not to be done that good may come thereof let such Men take to themselves whatever Names they please they are Traytors not Christians L. there will be great danger in so doing for should they get the Power they cannot make Laws * Qu. 17. What shall be able to keep a Man within the duty of a good Subject who will not be bound by Oaths †Qu. 30. Criminals of the Superiour Order i.e. Kings c. God hath reserv'd to his own Court and Judgment SECT XII I will not quote Arch-Bishop Laud because the Adversaries to this Doctrine aver that it was of his inventing but instead of him I will call for an unquestionable witness Arch-Bishop Usher who expresly order'd * Clavi Trabales p. 52. That Loyalty should according to the Canon be four times every year preach'd to the people while his actions were a plain Comment upon his Opinions I need not mention the regard the forein Protestant Divines had to him and the Romanists too especially Cardinal Richelieu as well as those of our own Country * Apud eund Sanders pref to the Bishop's Book While I inform the Reader that in the beginning of our most unhappy Commotions the Lord Deputy of Ireland Strafford desired the Primate Usher to declare his judgment publickly concerning those Tumults which he did in two Sermons at Christ-Church in Dublin on Eccles 7.2 Whereupon the Deputy signified it would be acceptable to the King to print the Sermons or to write a Treatise on the Subject the latter the Arch-Bishop made choice of and sent it into England with an intent to have it printed as the Martyr Charles design'd that his Subjects might receive the satisfaction from the same as himself had done In the time of the Usurper Cromwel it was not thought fit to be printed lest it might have been perverted to the support of his Power For by this time the flatterers of that great Tyrant had learn'd by a new device upon the bare account of Providence without respect to the justice of the Title the only right and proper foundation to interpret and apply to his advantage whatsoever they found either in the Scriptures or in other Writings concerning the Power of Princes or the duty of Subjects profanely and sacrilegiously taking the Name of that holy Providence of God in vain and using it onely as a stalking Horse to serve the lusts and interests of ambitious Men. In the first part of that learned Treatise the Bishop proves that the Power of the Prince is from God and that * Part. 1. §. vi p. vi Our Government is a free Monarchy because the Authority resteth solely in the person of the King whereupon it is declar'd that the King is the onely Supreme Governour of these Realms in all Causes whatsoever which could not stand if either the Court of Parliament it self or any other power upon Earth might in any cause over-rule him I say any Power whither forein or domestick and then * §. 28. He discourses at large as of the original of Regal power from Heaven so of the Law of the King proceeding in the second part to treat of the Obedience of the Subject * V. p. 109. 111 134 c. In which he plainly shews that whither the Power be good or bad whosoever does resist it by withdrawing his service from it or denying Tribute or not giving that honour to it which he ought to give resisteth the Ordinance and disposition of God by whose appointment they bear Rule * P. 145. 146. Quest But how are Subjects to carry themselves when such things are enjoined as cannot or ought not to be done R. surely not to accuse the Commander but humbly to avoid the command and when nothing else will serve the turn as in things that may be done we are to express our subjection by active so in things that cannot be done we are to declare the same by passive obedience without resistance and repugnancy such a kind of suffering being as sure a sign of subjection as any thing else whatsoever He P. 147 c. that consults with flesh and bloud will hardly be induc'd to admit this Doctrine of passive Obedience and therefore if he will learn this Lesson he must make choice of better Masters and listen in the first place to Solomon Prov. 3.5
he be never so true a Subject and all unlikely to make any resistance or to think any evil unto your Grace P. 184. Whereas it is they that go about to make Insurrection to the maintaining of their worldly pomp and pride and not the true Preacher Who is he that would be a Traitor or maintain a Traitor against your most excellent and noble Grace I think no Man yea and I know surely that no Man can do it without the great displeasure of the eternal God. For S. Paul commandeth straitly unto all Christians to be obedient in all things Rom. 13. on this manner Let every man submit himself to the authority of the higher power for whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation 1 Pet. 2. Also S. Peter confirmeth this saying Submit your selves unto all manner of ordinance of man c. Wherefore if every man had the Scriptures as I would to God they had to judge every Man's Doctrine ☞ then were it out of question that the Preachers thereof either would or could make or cause to be made any Insurrection against their Prince seeing the self same Scripture straitly commandeth all Subjects to be obedient unto their Princes as Paul witnesseth saying Warn them saith he that they submit themselves to princes and to powers and to obey the officers Now how can they that preach and exhort all Men to this Doctrine cause any Insurrection or Disobedience against their Prince Call to mind the old Prophets and with a single eye judge if any of them either privily or apertly stirred up the People against their Princes P. 185. Look on Christ if he submitted not himself to the high powers paid he not Tribute for all he was free and caused Peter likewise to pay Suffered not he with all patience the punishments of the Princes Yea Death most cruel altho they did him open wrong and could find him guilty in no Cause Look also on the Apostles and if ever they stirred by any occasion the People against their Princes yea if they themselves obeyed not to all Princes altho the most part of them were Tyrants and Infidels Consider likewise those Doctors which purely and sincerely have handled the Word of God either in Preaching or Writing if ever by their means any Insurrection or Disobedience rise among the People against their Princes but you shall rather find that they have been rather ready to lay down their own Heads to suffer with all patience whatsoever Tyranny any Power would minister unto them giving all People example to do the same Now to conclude if neither the Scripture neither the Practice of the Preachers thereof teacheth nor affirmeth that the People may disobey their Princes or their Ordinances but contrariwise teacheth all Obedience to be done unto them it is plain that those Bishops or rather Papists do falsly accuse those true Preachers and Subjects which thing would appear in every Man's sight if by their violence the Word of God were not kept under Now is this the Doctrin that I do Preach and Teach ☜ and none other as concerning this matter God I take to record and all my Books and Writings that ever I wrote or made and only I allow and favor them which further this Doctrine of Christ and of this I am sure mine Adversaries or rather Adversaries to Christ's Doctrin must bear me witness After this he proceeds to demonstrate that the Pope and the Papistical Bishops are they who Preach to the People the contrary Doctrin as that St. Peter exempts himself and his Successors from being subject to Superiors that Subjects may be disobedient to their own Lords and that the Pope may Depose Kings that he hath autority to break all Oaths Bonds and Obligations and other such like positions and then adds there is no Officer that hath need to be afraid of Christ's Gospel nor yet of the Preachers thereof ☜ but of those privy Traitors can no Man be too wary the Scripture commandeth us to obey to wicked Princes and giveth us none autority to Depose them who was more wicked than Herod and yet St. John suffer'd Death under him Who was wickeder than Pilate and yet Christ did not put him down but was Crucified under him Briefly which of all the Princes were good in the Apostles days and yet they deposed none So that God's word and their own learning and the Practice of our Master Christ and his Holy Apostles are openly against them p. 190. there is no People under Heaven that more abhors and with earnester heart resisteth and more diligently doth Preach against Disobedience than we do Yea I dare say boldly let all your Books be search'd that were written this 500 Years and all they shall not declare the autority of a Prince and the true obedience toward him as one of our little Books shall do that be condemn'd by you for Heresie p. 202. 204. And then he impeacheth them of denying that the King's Power is immediatly of God while it can never be proved that ever we spake against God or our King. The same Learned and Holy Martyr in his Discourse that Mens Constitutions not grounded in Scripture bind not the Conscience is of the same mind If the power command any thing of Tyranny against Right and Law always provided that it repugn not against the Gospel p. 292. 293. 294. nor destroy our Faith our Charity must needs suffer it for as St. Paul saith Charity suffereth all things also our Master Christ If a man strike thee on the one Cheek turn him the other For if he doth exercise Tyranny if he command thee any thing against right or do thee any wrong as for an example cast thee in Prison wrongfully if thou canst by any reasonable and quiet means without Sedition Insurrection or breaking of the common Peace save thy self or avoid his Tyranny thou may'st do it with a good Conscience but in no wise ☞ be it right or wrong may'st thou make any resistance with a Sword or with Hand but obey except thou canst avoid as I have shewed thee but if the Cause be right lawful or profitable to the Common-wealth thou must obey and thou must not sly without sin But suppose the King should condemn the New Testament in England and command that none of his Subjects should have it is he to be obeyed or not this will be a great Scourge and an intolerable plague My Lords the Popish Bishops would depose him with short deliberation and make no Conscience of it they have Deposed Princes for lesser Causes than this is a great deal But against them will I always lay Christ's Fact and his Holy Apostles and the Word of God. If the King forbid the New Testament c. under a temporal pain or else under the pain of Death Men shall first make faithful Prayers to God and then diligent
resisteth the Ordinance of God. These are our Institutions these Doctrins are illustrious in our Books in our Sermons and in the manners and modesty of our People The same admirable Prelate in his Epistle Dedicatory to Queen Elizabeth before his defence of the Apology is still of the same mind blaming his Adversary Harding for debasing the Majesty of Kings ‖ sol 318.6 Mr. Harding concerning the Majesty and Right of Kings tells us they have their first authority by the positive Law of Nations and can have no more power than the People hath of whom they take their Temporal Jurisdiction as if he would say Emperors and Kings have none other Right of Government than it hath pleased their Subjects by composition to allow unto them thus he says and says it boldly as if God himself had never said per me Reges regnant by me and mine authority Kings bear rule over their Subjects or as if Christ our Saviour had never said unto Pilate the Lord Lieutenant thou shouldst have no power over me were it not given thee from above or as if St. Paul had not said there is no power but only from God they also hold that the Pope is the Head and Kings and Emperors the Feet If this Doctrine may once take root ☜ and be freely received amongst the Subjects it shall be hard for any Prince to hold his Right And in his Defence he declareth himself to be of the same mind part 1. p. 15. Mr. Harding knoweth right well we never Armed the People ☜ nor taught them to rebel for Religion against the Prince if any thing have at any time happen'd otherwise it was either some wilful rage or some fatal fury it was not our counsel it was not our Doctrine we teach the People as St. Paul doth To be subject to the higher powers not only for fear but also for conscience we teach them that whoso striketh with the sword by private authority shall perish with the sword if the Prince happen to be wicked or cruel or burthenous we teach them to say with St. Ambrose Arma nostra sunt preces lacrymae tears and prayers be our weapons and when ‖ p. 16. Harding himself had said that he condemn'd all such attempts that any Subject or Subjects whatsoever of their own private authority should take Arms against their Prince for matters of Religion why replies Jewel except you only the case of Religion Is it lawful by your Grant for the Subject in any other case either of Life or of Government to Arm himself against his Prince and would you thus perswade the People Is this your Religion Is this your Doctrine Anno 1565. Alexander Nowel Dean of St. Pauls set forth his reproof of Mr. Dorman 's proof and in it vindicates the Church of England from the scandalous imputation pr. at Lond. 4 to p. 94 95. that it taught Men to be Rebels Corah Dathan and Abyron rebelled against Moses and Aaron who were specially by God appointed to be their Governors and his Ministers but what appertaineth that to us who do obey our natural Prince appointed by God to be our Governor and all as well Civil Magistrates as Ecclesiastical Ministers of God under our Prince And therefore do we as we must needs renounce the authority of that foreign Usurper of Rome it is you Papists that are the Successors of the Rebels Corah c. who leaving the Obedience due to your own natural Princes for the serving of a Foreign false Usurper of Rome do rebel not only against Moses that is to say your Governor by God appointed but against God himself also we acknowledg that as Moses and Aaron were Gods Ministers by him appointed to govern his peculiar People Israel so hath God likewise appointed to every several Country their Moses and Aaron their Princes and Pastors or Bishops which ought likewise to be obeyed as Moses and Aaron were to be obey'd of the Israelites and that those who do disobey them do sin by Rebellion ☞ p. 96. as did Corah c as we are most far from Rebelling against our natural Sovereign and other of God's Ministers appointed to govern us and therefore no partakers of Corah and his fellows Rebellion so trust we in God to be most far from their most horrible destruction and we give warning to Mr. Dorman c. who for maintenance of a Forein Pharaoh against their conscience as is to be feared do disobey their own natural Prince and that upon a pretence of holiness and spirituality and are therein most like to Corah c. rebelling against their own special Governors by God appointed as they did that they make speed by unfeigned repentance to mollifie God's most just wrath that they follow not Corah c. in horrible damnation as they have followed them in damnable Rebellion Anno 1569. an exhortation to the Queens Majesties poor deceived Subjects of the North drawn into Rebellion by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland was printed by allowance and in it they are thus accosted Christians I cannot term you that have defac'd the Communion of Christians and in destroying the Book of Christ's most Holy Testament renounced your parts by his Testament bequeath'd unto you their pretences were the foul disorder of the Realm much impoverish'd far indebted the defrauding of due execution of Justice that no Subject can have his Right by Law but falsly whereas they are better taught far doth the proportion of duty of Subjects to the Prince exceed the duty of Servants to Masters or Children to Parents yea or of Wives to their Husbands the very nearest conjoyning in humane fellowship even so far as a Realm exceeds a private Family but if one of your own Servants Children or Wives should do that without your will nay against your will and express commandment that your Captains and you have attempted without and against the Queens Highness pleasure would you account them good Servants good Children or good Wives if they shall put on armour and weapon and become terrible or threaten force to the Master Father Husband or the rest of the Family if the case were your own you would more mislike it The Prince is the Husband of the Common wealth married to the Realm and the same by ceremony of a ring shall you resist her authority and refuse her blessing and say you be her good children Shall your Captains forsake her Service and say they are good Servants note withal how likely they are to profess a true Religion that hold this Principle ☜ to keep no faith use no loyalty regard no oaths and promises made with attestation of God and avowing themselves to renouncing of Heaven and to eternal damnation they regard no Religion that go so irreligiously to work all is but show and hypocrisie Reed I beseech you the excellent Treatise of Sir John Cheek Knight of the hurt of Sedition there see as in a glass
it was too great for him to wield and too high also for him to aspire unto Such was the Humility of this excellent Man the Friend of God to the utter Condemnation and Confusion of all those whose whole study and endeavour evermore hath been and is at this day to undermine those which be in authority to invade and occupy other mens Kingdoms to wring the Scepter and Sword out of Princes hands This is a Vice never enough to be detested considering the manifold and great Mischiefs which have come thereby to Heaven to Earth to Angels to Men to all Kingdoms and Commonwealths to the whole World. This ambitious Man is a Thief is a Homicide if it lye in his power he is a Regicide he is the Parricide of his Countrey I will only put you in mind of one only Lesson which we are taught by this Verse which is this that it is much better for us sperare quà m aspirare to trust in Almighty God than to aspire for in aspiring there be many Inconveniences but the anchor-hold of Hope is firm and sure c. Bartholomew Clerk Fidelis servi subdito inside'i responsie Lond. 1573. anno 1573 writing against that virulent tho learned Rebel Saunders avers That the Majesty of Princes is by no means to be violated if they are good we are to thank God who hath bless'd his People with so divine a Benefit but if they are evil we are to submit our Necks to their Tyranny or to fly to another City we must at no time make resistance by Force and Arms by Tumult and Slaughter For this we ought to believe that evil Kings are appointed by God for the punishment of our Sins and are sent into the World as God's Scourges SECT III. Anno 1590. Dr. Babington printed his Questions and Answers upon the Commandments he being the Year after made B. of Landaffe and saccessively of Exon and Worcester and on the Fifth Commandment he says p. 2â—2 That by Parents are meant such as are so by Dignity and Office such as are Magistrates over the People Masters over their Servants p. 203. c. Magistrates are only to be obey'd in the Lord p. 208. contrary to Prety and Charity must neither they command nor we do Many Servants take their Masters Unkindness for an excuse of their Disobedience or Infidelity in their Services which indeed must not be so saith S. Peter but be they never so froward yet we must do all Duty if we be Servants and even joy heartily in that Cross that notwithstanding our faithful and painful Duty we suffer for we serve not them but God in them And whereas some may be apt to limit this Doctrine to Servants and to exempt Subjects who are by parity of reason obliged the same Bishop in his Notes on Exodus 18. says p. 27. â— ed. Lond. fol. 1637. The Duty of Subjects toward their Governours is 1. To think most reverently of their Places as an Authority appointed of God for our good and not as some Men do outwardly to obey them and inwardly to think them but necessary Evils For S. Peter's words teach more when he saith Honor the King and Solomon when he biddeth Fear God and the King for in the word Honor Peter includeth sinceram candidam existimationem a sincere and unfeigned reverence of them and Solomon joyning the King with God sheweth a holy and reverent regard of him to be due to him from men subject to him that also in S. Paul hath great efficacy in it not for fear but for Conscience sake as if he should say even what duty is done ☜ or left undone to him is done or left undone to God himself from whom their Authority and Power is whosoever therefore the person is the calling is of God. Agian after this inward reverend Conceit must follow outward Obedience to their Laws in paying Tribute c. Let every Soul be subject to the high Powers saith the Apostle because he that resisteth ☜ resisteth to his own damnation The Magistrate may sometime be weak but God will ever be strong to punish any Contempt of his Ordinance In no case therefore may we intrude our selves into their Offices and meddle with publick matters without a calling For this is not to obey them but to rule with them what is amiss to them must be signified and their help expected unless they appoint us and then we are not private Persons any more but publick for such business be they never so evil yet their place is of God by whom only Kings do rule Dan. 2.23.37 either to our good in his Mercy or to our punishment in his Justice Tyrants are suffer'd sometimes to rule for the punishment of the evil and the reward of the good saith S. Ambrose but how will you think l. 2. de Cain Abel c. â— for the reard of the good The same Ambrose notably saith for answer Never did the Gentiles more for the Church than when they commanded the Christians to be beaten proscribed and killed for than did Religion make that a Reward an Honor and a Crown which infidelity reputed a Punishment S. Austin saith There is no Power but of God and therefore our Saviour told Pilate He could have no Power at all over him except it were given him from the Father but God doth suffer the Hypocrite to rule for the Sin of the People and therefore that Sin must be taken away that the Plague of having a Tyrant Ruler may cease What manner of King was Nez buchadnezzar c. if a King shall do as it is said 1 Sam. 8.11 c. he is God's Instrument thus to chasten us and tho things do not shew what he ought to do yet they shew what Subjects ought to suffer without Disloyalty if they be done Read Jerem. 29.7 God forbid saith David that I should lay my hand on the Lord 's Anointed and yet Saul sought his Life Who shall lay his hand on the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless c. The Wife is not freed from her Husband when he is ill nor the Child from his Father no more are Subjects from their Prince But in such cases God the only Helper is to be thought of and prayed unto who can give a Moses for a Pharoah an Othniel for a Cushan who can bring down the Pride of Tyrus by the Egyptians and then of the Egyptians by the Assyrians the Assyrians again by the Chaldeans by the Medes and Persions c. yet carrying a gracious Ear and Eye to Prayer proceeding from a penitent Heart 〈◊〉 Not. 〈◊〉 Gen. 14. page 43 44. c. Rebellion is a bad course to get Liberty where Subjection is due For Rebellion God never loved never prospered but ever plagued and the fearful destruction of Corah and his Company Absalom and his Company c. say as much Papists charge us that we are no good Friends to Princes and
Father at his Devotions instead of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Sons in the Original we find the Vowels set in the Teâ—â— which is somewhat strange in that tongue without their Consonants ☞ perhaps to intimate closely that so many Circumstances concurring otherwise for the aggravation of the offence as Subjects to lay violent hands on a King and that in the Temple and that at his Devotions to add further that it was done by his own Sons however it be more vocal than the Blood of Abel yet the manner of setting it down should shew it also to be scelus infandum a Wickedness too monstruous to be fully express'd Two Sons there were that David had whom he especially as it were doated upon above the rest of his Children Absalom and Adonijah and both of these take their advantages as far as in them lay to tumble their aged Father down from his Throne and bury him alive to make way for their prodigious and preposterous Purposes the former by the Peoples favor which he had gotten by his Hypocritical Popularity the latter by his Fathers Feebleness backing himself by the countenance of wicked Joab and disloyal Abiathar this hard measure received good King David at the hands of those of whom he best deserved He saw the Law of Nature violated Conscience of so heinous a Fact contemn'd his Indulgence repaid with monstrous Ingratitude his try'd Valour outbrav'd by his own Subjects Pag. 8. But the Judg of all the World is not subject to like Passions with us none shall touch his Anointed for evil but evil shall hunt those wicked Persons to destroy them P. 10. Godoliah was too confident on his own Innocency and the Loyalty of those that spake him fair but the event proved it too true for his security gave the advantage which the Traytor taking performed that most wicked Design which made all the miserable remnant of Israel to smart for it P. 11 12. They who hold such Grounds in their Schools that the Pope may make void the Oath of Allegiance that Subjects have taken to their lawful Princes that upon a pretence they are faln from the Church and turn'd Hereticks he may depose them and that being so deposed they may be lawfully murthered by their Subjects What hope may remain that such so bred so taught so believing will ever prove loyal A Traytor is a man of Belial P. 16 18. who to the disgrace of himself and his whole Family impiously conceivs and rebelliously vents his Hatred and Disloyalty against his lawful Sovereign Treason is of a deeper tincture than other Sins deserving a heavier doom and therrfore of all true Christians the more earnestly to be detested P. 22 23. Had these Men remembred what the wise King Solomon had left them for a better direction Prov. 8. By me Kings reign c. they might have found that the bond of Obedience to Princes is not so loosly knit by God that Subjects may dissolve it at their pleasure or upon any Discontent or Injury whatsoever cry we have no part and renounce our Inheritance for as a Head never so rheumatick and the fountain of all Diseases in the rest of the Members may not be therefore parted from them for fear of a worse inconvenience neither can the Members upbraid it as the Apostle and Nature teach us with these contemptuous Words ☜ I have no need of thee So the Head in the Body politick must keep his place howsoever till that highest Authority take it off who first set it on to change it for a better the more pernicious in reformed States and Commonwealths is the wicked band of Antichrist who take upon them to sever those whom God hath so linked together What other conclusion do they drive at in all their Volumes against the King's Supremacy and Subjects Oath of Allegiance but to make their Followers conceit that they have no part in King James SECT X. William Barclay tho a Romanist having written Six Books against the Enemies of Monarchy Buchanan Junius Brutus Boucher and others Cardinal Bellarmine thought himself so nearly concerned in the Controversie as to write an Answer to the learned Scotchman Barclay being dead Dr. Buckeridge Bishop of Rochester undertook the Papal Champion Lond. 1614. and in Two Books fully handles the Power of the Pope in deposing Kings and having asserted * Lib. 1. c. 1. p. 11. That Authority and Obedience are Relatives grounded on the Commandment of Honouring our Parents and †Câ—p 8 p. 1â—0 c. that all the Ancients were of this opinion that Kings were inferior only to God and superior to all other Persons and therefore could be deposed only by God because Inferiors have no Authority over their Superiors and that their Misdemeanours are not punishable by their Subjects since they have no Judg but God alone he cites S. ‖ Lib. 2. c. 3. p. 217. Paul Rom. 13.1 that there is no power but of God and that this is a general Sentence and that therefore the Power of Kings is from God and not from the People He that resists resists the ordinance of God this also is a general Sentence and binds all Traytors and Parricides who conspire against the Lord 's Anointed who raise Seditions and Tumults take Arms and muster Forces against Kings tho they be excommunicated and deposed Lib. 2. c. 6. p. 281. And when Bellarmine had objected that the Power of Kings is not immediately from God because Men by a certain natural instinct choose themselves Magistrates by whom they are governed He proves at large that tho the form of Government i. e. whether it be a Monarchy Aristocracy or Democracy be from Men yet the Power is alone and immediately from God. Every King sits on his Throne as a God I have said ye are gods but can the People choose and constitute a Deputy in God's stead Can they erect God's Throne and communicate his Power to Men without his consent Power therefore is immediately from God altho it be given to this or that particular Person by the mediation of the People P. 282. Paternal and regal Power are the same in essence tho they differ in extent what a Father is in one Family that a is King in many Families what then Did the Power of Adam over his Sons and Nephews and all mankind depend on their consent or did it flow from God and Nature ☞ And are hereditary Princes who are not made but born so made Kings by the consent of the People when in the same instant in which the Father dyes the Son is King P. 289. If the Power of Kings be not instituted by men without God neither can it be destroyed by men without God Grant we the Proposition true that God doth give Kingdoms to the Subjects with the consent of their Subjects P. 290. for God can confer and transfer Kingdoms by Men and without
Puritan against Scripture Fathers Councils and other Orthodoxal Writers for the Coercion deposition and killing of Kings and the Title is a sufficient declaration what the Author's judgment was the Book it self being in many places both as to Argument and Style very agreeable to the Treatise called Deus Rex set forth by the King's Order he proves in the First Chapter that Kings are not punishable by man but reserv'd to the Judgment of God by the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures and in the subsequent Chapters he proves the same by the Testimony of the Fathers and other ancient Writers and he briefly gives his Opinion * P. 24. Chap. 4. but very fully Be the King for his Religion impious for his Government unjust for his Life licentious the Subject must endure him the Bishop must reprove him the Counsellor must advise him all must pray for him and no mortal man hath Authority to disturb or displace him The same Author Ann. 1622. printed at Cambridg his Anti-Paraeus in confutation of †Ambergae 1612. David Paraeus's Book De Jure Regum Brincipum contra Bellarminum Becanum c. who disallowing the Pope's Claim invested the Power over Princes in the People In the Preface of this Book the Dr. shews the consonancy and agreeableness of the Popish and Disciplinarian Principles and in the Book refutes from the dictates of nature Thes 1. p. 3 c. the laws of Nations Civil and Canon Scriptures Fathers and most eminent Reformed Divines that the Power and Jurisdiction of Kings is not founded in compact as if the Majesty of Princes were derived from the People and limited by them but that P. 16 17. as God is the Supreme Lord of all who judges all his Creatures and is judged of none so Kings and Princes who judge and punish others can be judg'd and punish'd by no one save God alone to whose only power they are subject this David understanding though guilty of Adultery and Murder implores the divine mercy against thee only have I sinned for I acknowledg no other Superior on Earth but thee who can call me to account give sentence against me or punish me for my sin the reason is the King is the head of the body politick but the members ought not to judge the head because they are subject nor to cut it off for then they cease to be members and this the Heathen Poet knew and averred that Kings have a power over their several Subjects but God only hath an Empire and Authority over Kings Nor will the publick safety and tranquillity be maintain'd without such an unaccountable power in Kings for the Monarch who is opposed by his rebellious Subjects although they are much too strong for him will call to his assistance all his neighbouring Kings and Confederates will list Foreign Forces to vindicate himself and the miseries of such a War will be a poor comfort to such an infatuated Nation P. 18. but suppose there were such a power in the People to call their Kings to account which we ought not to grant ☞ Nero perish'd but the case of Rome was not better'd by it for in the next year after his death it felt more calamities and was imbrued in more blood than in the whole nine years of Nero 's Tyranny Rome when she cast off her Kings did not abrogate p. 19. but change the Tyranny and Athens drove out one Tyrant and brought in thirty ☞ I do confidently assert that all Tyranny whether it uses violence against God or Man ought to be suffer'd ought not to be abrogated till he puts an end to it who alone girds and ungirds the loins of Kings p. 20. Solomon was guilty of Polygamy and Idolatry but lost not his Crown and Dignity Ahab slew Naboth Tyrannically Banished and put to death the Prophets persecuted the true Religion and established the Worship of Baal by his Authority but neither the inferior Magistrate nor the People presumed to resist his Tyranny it is true Jehu did so but it was not by any power that the Laws gave him but by an extraordinary Commission from Heaven and that which could not then be done without an Oracle from Heaven cannot now be done without the contempt of God's Majesty the contumely of Kingly Power and the ruin of the Commonwealth Christ who lived under the Empire of Tiberius the Authority of Herod and Government of Pilate p. 22. the Apostles who flourish'd under Caligula Claudius Nero and Domitian the Primitive Christians who lived under Persecutors for three hundred years Liberius Hosius Athanasius Nazianzen and many other Fathers who for a thousand years after the Birth of Christ watered the Church with their holy Lives and sound Doctrine were all ignorant of this Mystery that Princes may be resisted by their Subjects if they are blessed who suffer persecution for righteousness sake p. 25. then they undoubtedly shall not be blessed who refuse to suffer persecution for righteousness sake for in that they will not suffer but rise against their Persecutors they are convinc'd of sin and acquire to themselves damnation But are not Princes under the power of the Law Yes P. 41. under the directive not under the compulsive power of the Law. P. 43. but have not Princes given their Subjects many and must they be suffered to invade them it is very hard that Princes own voluntary concessions should be made use of to their detriment to encourage their Subjects to Rebellion and Parricide but whatever Princes do as the Laws are derived from them and they are the interpreters of them so though they voluntarily submit to their direction they cannot be compell'd so to do the concessions of a Prince to his Subjects P. 55. do not give them a right to call him to account Tyrants who are in possession of lawful power over us we are commanded to obey forbidden to resist ☜ for in the Holy Scripture we find no distinction between a good Prince and an evil Tyrant as to the honour reverence and obedience that is due to them it is not lawful therefore to draw the Sword against them because they that resist resist God and shall receive to themselves damnation but no law of God or Man hath set over us private Tyrants Usurpers or Domestick Thieves we are under no obligations to them we owe them no obedience nor are we any way either out of reverence to their power or necessity of submission but that we may repel force by force P. 65. one Apostle forbids all resistance another commands obedience to Superiors neither of them make any distinction between good and bad and they speak to all Inferiors indifferently to Lay and Clergy to Men of all Orders Degrees and Dignities that Man therefore distinguishes ill where the Law of God admits of no distinction in such a case God allows us flight P. 80. and patience and prayers and tears
of the King. P. 20. David spake by the Spirit of God to the Amalekite wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thy hand against the Lord 's Anointed What! afraid of a conquer'd King unable to defend himself much less afford protection to any Subject is not that enough to Unking him yes if we owe him least assistance when he needs it most tho flying nigh breathless panting and gazing round to beg his death of some friendly hand he was formidable he was sacred still P. 23 24. for still he had a signal impress of the Deity upon him I will only put the case of Julian the Apostate Emperor after so clear conviction after so full instruction as he had in the Christian Religion having as some Historians report taken one of the lower Orders in the Clergy before he came to the Throne after all this he renounc'd his Baptism he turn'd a very plague to the Church he proved the most formidable Persecutor that is a tempter of his Christian Subjects to Apostasie he offended with that malicious wickedness that the Catholick Church and all her guides justly supposed he had committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost they look'd upon him as one that had cut himself off from their body with the greatest Excommunication even to Anathema Maranatha i. e. till the Lord come to judgment now in this case was it lawful for Christians to cast him off that had so openly and maliciously cast off his Christianity We have the judgment of the whole Church to the contrary they thought themselves obliged by St. Paul 's Apostolical Canon to make prayers and supplications even for him that whatsoever he was and howsoever he behav'd himself towards them they might still lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty and they had the Grace they pray'd for they did live peaceably under him they never took upon them to Unking him they drew out no Forces against him but only their thundring Legion of prayers and tears St. Paul exhorting to make prayers for all Men Id. Serm. before L. Mayor May 7. 1682. p. 10 P. 11 12. for Kings c. has left no room for any to evade it as if he had foreseen there would be a sort of Men and they lived within our memories Men who instead of praying for their King would learn to pray against him there is a sin unt o death saith St. John I do not say that ye shall pray for it but St. Paul in my text hath provided even against this supposition tho the charity that hopeth all things were overcome so that the spiritual welfare of a Nero c. were in a manner despair'd of yet such Provision is made that as their Prince he was to be pray'd for still that they might lead a peaceable and quiet life thus it was in the case of that impious Wretch Licinius P. 13 14 15. c. and if our lives ought to be answerable to our prayers since praying for peace is but mocking of God without keeping the King's peace too then let not any pretend to be good Christians and sound Members of Christ's Church unless they be also good Subjects my aim is against the Power of Deposing Kings that has been often claimed by the Bishops of Rome and there is another Party of Men who have introduc'd a distinction of taking Arms by the Kings Authority against his Person whereas wheresoever the King's Person is P. 16 17. there is also his greatest Authority but they tell us the Primitive Christians wanted not Authority and Right but strength to resist the civil Powers but did our Saviour want Power when he controuled evil spirits and cast out devils did he want Power then when he commanded Universal nature when even the Winds and Seas obey'd him c. he had more than twelve Legions of Angels at his call why did he not strike Herod or Pilate but that he confesses himself Subject to him the Men P. 30 31. that first broke the Peace of the Church were the first that gave the leading foul example of waging War against their lawful Prince as did the Novatians of Paphlagonia who fought with the Arian Emperor Constantius 's Forces sent against them to compel them to receive the Arian confession Such as will not trust in God Id. Serm. Sept. 9. 1683. p. 10 P. 17. as a deliverer from any dangers they fear but will take the Sword against their lawful Prince upon any pretence whatsoever their sentence is read in the words of our Blessed Saviour they that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword the Jews shedding innocent blood brought upon them a deluge of blood and their second desolation under Titus says Josephus came upon them in the same month on the same day of the month that the former fell upon and when by the same division of Priests and Levites the same Divine Service was reading in course viz. that Psalm P. 24. which was written in admiration of God's vindictive justice O God to whom vengeance belongeth c. there are complying Men who resolve to thrive under all Governments they are animals incombustible for Religion as one defines them and whatever interest prevails in the State they laugh at the notion of being State-Martyrs honesty is true policy unless Men mean to revive that old abominable Gnostick Principle of complying with any Usurpations or Impositions for fear of suffering St. Paul declares their damnation is just and righteous Id. Serm. Nov. 5. 1684. p. 5 6. who persevere in charging the Blessed Gospel with admitting so cursed a Principle as if it were lawful to do any one known evil tho with an eye to the best and noblest designs and with an aim at no other consequences but such as were most beneficial to the publick for this was no Apostolical Canon but a maxim from Hell. such Men are apt to conceit P. 10. that they have made themselves necessary as if God Almighty could not do his work without them I have heard that the case of Jacob's wrestling with God was Preach'd upon to our late Great Usurper and this Doctrin raised that God's Jacobs or glorious Wrestlers with God ☜ might for great ends do some things contrary to his declared Will which things might yet be acceptable to his secret Will and procure a blessing 't is a Jesuit's Salvo P. 20. P. 27. that a Man of wit never sins against his conscience we believe it a preposterous way of securing our Religion by giving up the peculiar Doctrin of our Church the Doctrin of Obedience unto Kings and we judge it a strange means of barring out Popery by letting in the Doctrin of translating and disposing of Kingdoms For a King and People to be happy Id. Coron Ser. April 23. 1685. p. 15 16. the King must have a right to his Kingdom for how can an Usurper expect to reign prosperly how mise
rable is a King and Kingdom when every Man that is but audacious enough has a fair pretence if he can but gather force to overturn any settlement that can be in such a case such a Pirate Prince must be always exposed to Tempests King Stephen was none of our worst Princes and one of the most valiant but an Intruder he was and he sped accordingly his reign was the most turbulent of any except that of King John another Usurper c. But be the title of a King P. 18. as good as a Warrant from Heaven can make it be it so undoubted as Hell it self can find no pretence to question it be the King like an Angel of God yet if his Subjects will be Sons of Belial Sons of the Devil so Rebels are called in Scripture Men that will bear no yoke 't is still in their power to be as miserable as they please therefore I commend your strict adherence to your former Protestations P. 27. and to your Oaths of Allegiance take heed of destroying your Country to build your own House destruction and death is not all you are like to get by it take heed of that which follows there is another death to come after ☜ God has warn'd you of it they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation as you would avoid this take heed of that which leads to it thus that great Prelate who as it is justly said of him ‖ Thom. Brown. Ep. praefi conc Jun. 11. 1687. in the whole course of his life and in all the varieties of times and fortune still maintain'd his fidelity to his Prince in an illustrious manner SECT VII And of this opinion was that great promoter of piety and learning Bishop Fell who having in his †On 2 Pet. 3.3 Anno 1675. p. 21 22. Ox. 1675. Sermon before the King asserted that nothing can be so unhappy as Authority when baffled that the Coffee-house rebel is more mischievous than he that takes the Field and that a Prince is sooner murdered with a Label than a Sword and in his * Dec. 22. 1680. p. 3 4. on Mat. 12 25. Oxf. 1680. Sermon before the Lords exprest his astonishment by what Enchantment but that Rebellion is the sin of Witchcraft Men should be perswaded to disturb their own and the publick Peace forfeit all the advantages they enjoy in a settled Government which cannot be so bad as not to be much better than the confusion which sedition brings and run upon that sudden destruction which the Wiseman says is the end of those who are given to change he continues to give the same advice in his Sermon before the Sons of the Clergy wherein having told them that a great part of them present were the Sons of the persecuted Clergy ‖ On Act. 3.16 p. 61 63 68 69. a sort of Men that hazarded their lives unto the death and their Estates to the greater cruelty and grave of sequestration for the cause of God and of their Prince He adds 't is their glory that in the day of trial they did all they pretended to they forsook Father and Mother Houses Brethren and Sisters and those more endearing names of Wife and Children let it therefore be the strict concern of every one here present to maintain a faithful Loyalty to his Prince and Sovereign It is the peculiar glory of the Church of England ☞ that She above all others Principles her Children in Obedience to Superiors and most supports the ends and interests of Government which had so visible an effect in the late unhappy revolutions that the Royal Martyr who fell a Sacrifice to the misguided zeal of his rebellious Subjects ☞ made it his observation that none forfeited their duty to him who had not first deserted their Obedience to the Church nor can you any way more remarkably approve your selves to be Orthodox in your Religion and good Sons of the Church than if you are Loyal in your Principles and good Subjects to the King. On the 23. of June of the same year Dr. Thomas Bishop of Worcester dyed having two days before sent for a Reverend Divine to whom after he had discours'd an hour about the new Oath of Allegiance which he thought altogether inconsistent with the Doctrin of the Church and his former Oaths he said if my own heart deceive me not and God's grace fail me not I think I could dye at a Stake rather than take this Oath The Earl of Clarendon in his Animadversions on Mr. Cressy 's answer to the Dean of St. Paul's P. 72. as a very competent witness avers that there were very few who did so much as pretend to have a reverence for the Church of England that were ever active in the late Rebellion and that it were to be wish'd rather than hop'd that the Profession of Christian Religion in any Church had that impulsion in it as it ought to have that it preserv'd the Professors of it from entring into Rebellion and the practice of any other iniquity and speaking of Archbishop Cranmer who sign'd King Edward the Sixth's Will he adds if that unhappy P. 80. and ill advised Queen who had just reason to be offended highly with that Archbishop could have found that the Law would have condemn'd him for Treason she rather desired to have had him hang'd for a Traytor than to have him burnt for his Religion but the Law would not extend to serve her turn that way if it would no body would have blamed her for having prosecuted him with the utmost rigor whereas many good Men then did and since have for proceeding the other way with him The Popes who have assumed Authority to depose Princes P. 151 152. have caused more Christian blood to have been spilt more horrible Massacres of Kings and Princes and People than all the Heresies in the World and all other politick differences have produced much the greatest part of this destruction ☜ and ruin proceeded from the perjury of Popes themselves after they had promis'd and sworn to observe such parts and agreements voluntarily entred into by themselves or from the dispensation they granted to others to break their faith and not to perform the contracts they had entred into The same noble Person even when under the displeasure of his Prince and in Banishment thought himself still obliged to be unalterably Loyal as he professes in his Epistle to the King I thank God from the time I found my self under the insupportable burthen of your Majesties displeasure and under the infamous brand of Banishment I have not thought my self one minute absolved in the least degree from the strictest duty to your Person And whereas T. H. in his Leviath p. 114. had affirm'd that the obligation of Subjects to their Sovereign is understood to last as long and no longer than the Power lasts to protect them he rejoins P. 90. hereby he gives
Party have been the great cause of all these inhumane Butcheries yet they have not been the only Actors in them there are another sort of Men who have had their Hands stained with blood and upon what Motives and Principles and to what degrees they have proceeded I refer the Reader to Archbishop Bancroft's dangerous Positions and to the History of Presbytery to satisfic himself Ch. 2 p. 7. 8. But tho several Murders and Rebellions have been carryed on by those that call themselves Christians yet neither the Christian Religion nor the Church it self did ever teach any such Doctrin or encourage any such Practice nay there are such Evidences against it that no rational Man that does rightly consider the matter can ever doubt but that she in her judgment and belief wholly condemns all such wicked and ungodly designs And for further satisfaction I will inquire into the flate of the matter P. 9. that all Power and Dominion is Originally from God is not to be doubted but by Atheists and that Governors act in his Name and by his Authority is as unquestionable among Christians now this Power is derived to them either from the Law of Nature which is common to all Mankind or else from positive Revelation and Assignment the first and highest fountain of Supreme Power is founded in that natural Dominion that God hath given Parents over their Children insomuch that if either Adam or Noah who were the common Fathers of us all were now alive P. 10. they ought to be the Universal Monarchs of the World but when the Father dyes and Brothers are scatter'd up and down the World and live independently one of another there can be no natural pretence for one to have Dominion over the other yet the necessity of forming themselves into Societies for mutual defence and traffick will oblige them to enter into Covenants and tho while they are free they may chuse different forms as they shall see best for themselves yet having once chosen and accepted of a Supreme Power they are not at liberty to cast it off again when they please but all the Rights Prerogatives and Jurisdictions which belong to Sovereign Authority are presently by God invested on it who does ratifie all lawful pacts and agreements and requires us strictly and inviolably to observe them tho it may fall out P. 11. that the Person somtime may be chosen by the People or Nobility or Senate yet the Power and Office it self was not made is not given nor can it be limited or bounded by them so as to destroy the Office it self or make it become no Supreme Power one Prerogative whereof is to be irresistible P. 1â— and not to be called to account by any but God. a Prince must use his Subjects as Freemen and not Slaves but if Princes do not their duty we must not revenge our selves for we ought not to be Judges in our own case for God hath told us that Vengeance is his and he will repay P. 13. therefore we must go for vengeance to those whom God hath appointed to execute vengeance in his stead if then our inferior Governors do us wrong we must go to the Superior who are made Revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil But if the Supreme Powers themselves oppress us they cannot be judg'd by their Inferiors and there will be no other remedy but to leave them to the judgment of God who hath reserved their punishment to himself but tells us he that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation and 't is better to suffer unjustly in this World than to suffer justly in the World to come for since the last judgment in this World must be somewhere 't is fitter that Children should be committed to the judgment of their Parents and Inferiors to the Supreme than any other way P. 14 15. tho Princes are the Instruments yet it is God's purposes or commands that they put in execution whether they be for good or evil he inclines them to favor and mercy when he is pleas'd to try us with prosperity and kindness again when our sins call for judgment and indignation then he sends forth evil Governors or else permits wicked Men to act according to their own cruel and ambitious minds and the insâ—igation of the Devil but yet in the midst of judgment he does remember mercy they shall not do any harm further than God in his Wisdom shall give them leave and that is no more than is needful for our good so that we are to look upon evil Governors and Superiors that oppress us no other than plagues or violent Storms or Earthquakes sent from God from whence we may run and hide our selves if it be possible and use all reasonable means to save our lives by flight or the like but they are no more to be resisted by violence than any of those natural Evils we must by humiliation and prayer implore God's mercy to us in turning their hearts or some other way sending us deliverance as we do to avert a Plague or an Earthquake P. 16. but God hath given us no natural strength to secure our selves and thereupon will defend us himself and have us wholly therein depend upon his own care this belief it was that filled the World with Martyrs c. this made our Saviour confess to Pilate that he had Power given him from above to crucifie him c. it was upon this account that St. Paul said let every Soul be subject c. and in this sense those Texts and the Authority of Governors were vouched by the Antient Fathers and Councils and there is not one Writer for a Thousand years of any credit in the Church that did ever doubt of P. 17. or question this Doctrin but many of them have declared themselves fully for it that Sovereign Princes had their Authority immediatly from God and were accountable to none but him if they did use it amiss and therefore could not be deposed by any Authority upon Earth whether of Pope or People neither ought they to be resisted by open violence or have their Power wrested out of their hands by any of their rebellious Subjects those also that act in a War without the Commission of the Supreme Power or of the King where he is Supreme have not the Sword given them by God but take it themselves and therefore shall perish with the same And this he confirms as from Scripture so from the Doctrin of the Church and the sense of the Holy Fathers about it P. 40 41. and concludes It were casie to carry the same Doctrin through all Ages of the Church and to produce testimonies especially from the Articles and Canons of the Church of England and the Writings of our Learned Bishops and other Eminent Defenders of our Church but these shall suffice for the present and they are
Gun-powder nay the Religion of Mahomet is in this respect to be very much preferr'd before the Christian c. And having mention'd Hobbs how am I asham'd to find that his Authority and the Reasons which he derived from Milton and both from Doleman i. e. Parsons the Jesuite are of a sudden so generally received as if the Doctrine were Apostolical and ought to be preached in all the World That Power is originally in the Body of the People that the Foundation of all Government is laid in compact and that the breach of Conditions by one Party dispenses with the Duty of the other tho confirmed by Sacraments Oaths B. Saunderson's Case of a rash Vow §. 9. The several Duties that by Gods Ordinance are to be performed by Persons that stand in mutual relation either to other are not pactional or conditional as are the Leagues and Agreements made between Princes but are absolute and independent wherein each Person is to look to himself and to the performance of the Duty that lies upon him tho the other Party should fail in the performance of his Cons Praelect 5. de Juram and reiterated Promises that a Prince may be opposed in his Politick tho not in his personal Capacity that when Religion is a part of our Property it may be defended and that the Determinations of Providence are to be followed or that the Prosperity of a Cause is a Mark of its goodness And what encouragement hath the owning and complying with such Principles given to many weak and ignorant Persons who cannot distinguish between the steady Doctrines of a Church and the Opinions and Practices of some of her Members to embrace the Roman Faith and Communion I need not declare the Matter of Fact is visible while we are accused that all our former Declarations have been only pretence and juggle and that we have been Loyal no longer than we could get by it I speak this God knows not to upbraid but to deplore and if I could to confute the Calumny and with the deepest sense of the Interests of a poor despised Church which is still and will be the best the most Orthodox and most Primitive of all Christendom Nor is this Account strange and new any otherwise than as it concerns the Church of England as distinct from other Protestants since a Exomologes cap. 12. I confess I wondered that they could hope to make any Christians believe that their Reformation came from the Spirit of Christ when instead of those spiritual Arms of Charity Humility Patience and most indispensible Obedience even to Nero himself by which Christ enabled his Apostles to conquer the World to the belief of the Gospel Calvin and Luther put into the hands of their Sectaries Malice Pride Hatred to suffer for Conscience sake active Resistance against all Authority in a word the very same Weapons which the Devil suggested to Mahomet After the best enquiry I could make I could not find or hear of during our bloody Civil War so much as one single Person of the Presbyterian Calvinist Party but did actively oppose his King nor one single Minister of that Party but was a Trumpet to incite to war. Cons Loc. Cressy makes it one of the most cogent Reasons why he when he vainly thought the Church of England quite destroyed so as never to be restored could not communicate with other Protestant Churches because they tho in that Accusation he falsifies and calumniates as I shall make it appear in the following Discourse taught men That it was lawful to take Arms in defence of Religion and that when Princes persecuted the Truth their Subjects were no longer bound to obey them Nor is Cressy the only Person of the Popish Communion who hath laid this Imputation at the door of the Protestants tho without Reason or Justice while the Romish Church in one of her General Councils determins the Deposition of Princes who are not in all things obedient to her Injunctions And I hope no man can imagin that I intend to promote any disturbance by this Writing 1. Because I only do the office of an Historian not wilfully misquoting any Passage nor citing it contrary to the Authors intention and meaning as far as I understand it and this also must excuse me from being obliged to make good every Argument from Authority or Reason which my Authors use for that Province those of my Authors which are alive are obliged to manage or to acknowledg their Mistakes I intending only to shew the concurrent Testimony of our greatest Men in this momentous Point 2. Because I am told a Dr. Burnet's Royal Martyr page 6. that the Incendiary and Incendiarism were among the much abused words of the late times yet those were the great Incendiaries who kindled God's wrath and that it is from such that we may justly fear the like or rather severer Judgments if our Sins be greater than they were then i. e. When under the specious Pretexts of Liberty and Religion they first opposed and then murdered the Lord 's Anointed 3. Because he who preaches up the Necessity of Suffering and the Unlawfulness of Resisting Superiors and who avers that the Gospel teaches the followers of our Blessed Saviour to dye but not to fight for Religion is little likely to be a Disturber of Government whose Original he acknowledges to be only from Heaven and accountable only to that Tribunal For at last it will be found true that no Government can be safe while those who live under it do not own this Principle That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against our Lawful Sovereign since he who is Obedient and Loyal only because his Compliance advances his Designs either of Profit Pleasure Honor Revenge or any other Lust as soon as his Point is gained his Duty ceases but he who is obedient to his Sovereign Dr. Tennison Hobbs's Creed p. 159. Except a Man obey for Conscience sake all the Cords of outward Pacts and Covenants will not hold him when he dreams that the Philistines are upon him and that he can deliver himself by force from the power of his Enemies in which number the Prince himself is reckoned by ambitious Subjects out of favor Mr. Pelling's Sermon Jan. 30. 1683. p. 43. Some are for the King as long as he is rich powerful able to maintain their Interest this is the Loyalty of the Leviathan c. because he is God's Vicegerent and because God hath obliged him to be subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake can never be shook from his good resolutions and will be unalterably true to his Oaths and his Duty And when so many Men eminent for their Piety Learning and Station have unanimously agreed in delivering their Sentiments in this Point to say that whatever they said or did was to gratifie or advance their ambitious or covetous Appetites as if their Honesty like Quicksilver in a Weather-glass rose
higher or sunk lower as the day proved clear or cloudy is to bring an unjust Scandal on the Church and her most illustrious Champions Men of great Probity and Wisdom as the greatest Hypocrites and Time-servers in the World who sacrificed their Consciences to their Desires of growing rich and powerful while had the Times been contrary to them they would have owned other Principles This Imputation I shall wipe off and shew that even in the worst of times in the Marian Persecution this Doctrine was publickly own'd and asserted when contrary to the Laws of Nature and Humanity and the Rules of Christian Equity the Protestants were most cruelly harras'd 'T is true the Devil said to God of Job Turn thy hand against him and he will curse thee to thy face but it was the Devil that said it and he was a Lyar from the beginning and so it proved in the Case of Job for when God altered his Methods and treated the good Man as if he had been his Enemy Job was always the same perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil In this Catalogue I purposely omit Bishop Manwaring and Sibthorp in the Reign of CHARLES I. and Bish Parker Cartwright c. in the Reign of JAMES II. because their Authorities were in their own times excepted against as of Men that did not write soberly on the Subject resolving for the most part to appeal to the Writings of such Men who have been and are esteemed the unquestionable true and orthodox Defenders of the Protestant Religion against her Romish Adversaries and if such Authorities will not encline and the Reasons of such eminent Authors perswade the Reader to be of my Opinion I shall only say I am sorry that I have lost my labor THE AUTHORS THE Articles Page 3 Injunctions and Canons Page 4 The Homilies Page 7 The Liturgy Page 10 The Orders of Bishops Page 12 University Censures Page 13 The Institution of a Christan Man Page 19 Bishops Tonstal Stokesly and Bonner Page 20 Tyndal the Martyr ibid. Bishop Latimer Page 21 Arch-Bishop Cranmer ibid. Sir John Cheek Page 22 Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Marys Reign Page 23 Arch-Bishop Sandys Page 26 Bishop Jewel ibid. Bishop Bison Page 27 Mr. Perkins Page 29 Mr. Hooker ibid. Arch-Bishop Bancroft Page 30 Adrian Saravia ibid. King James I. Page 32 Bishop Buckeridge Page 33 Mr. Tho. Cartwright ibid. Arch-Bishop Whitgift Page 34 Dr. Fulke ibid. Bishop Carlton Page 34 Bishop Andrews Page 35 Bishop King ibid. Dr. Jackson Page 36 Dr. Hakewil Page 37 Dr. Bois Page 38 Dr. Donne Page 40 Arch-Bishop of Spalata Page 41 Arch-Bishop Montagu Page 42 Bishop Lake ibid. Mr. Dod Page 43 Bishop Hall ibid. Bishop Davenant Page 47 Arch-Bishop Usher Page 48 Arch-Bishop Bramhal Page 50 Bishop Brownrig Page 52 King Charles I. Page 53 Dr. Hammond ibid. Bishop Ferne Page 54 Mr. Chillingworth Page 55 Dudley Diggs ibid. Sir Edw. Coke Page 58 Dr. Gerhard Longbaine ibid. Ric. Overton Page 59 Bishop Saunderson Page 60 Dr. Bernard Page 63 Mr. Symmons Page 64 Bishop Taylor Page 65 Bishop Kenn Page 66 Dr. Seth Ward B. of Sarum ib. Dr. Lamplu Bishop of Exon Page 70 Bishop Hacket Page 71 Dr. Sharp Page 72 Bishop of Lincoln ibid. Dr. Burnet Page 73 Bishop of S. Asaph Page 78 Dr. Sprat B. of Rochester ib. Mr. Thorndyke Page 79 Dr. Spencer Dean of Ely ib. Dr. Tillotson Page 80 Dr. Stillingfleet Page 81 Dr. Patrick Page 84 Dr. Towerson Page 86 Mr. Scrivener Page 88 Mr. Glanvil Page 91 Dr. Horneck Page 93 Dr. Tennison ib. Dr. Hooper Page 94 Dr. Hascard Page 95 Dr. Falkner ib. Dr. Hicks Page 97 Dr. South ib. Dr. John Moor Page 98 Jeremiah in Baca or a Fast-days Work c. Page 99 Mr. Wake Page 100 Dr. Beveridge Page 102 Dr. Ironside ib. Dr. Isaac Barrow Page 103 Dr. Cave ib. Dr. Dove Page 104 D. Puller ib. Dr. Scott Page 105 University Address presented by Dr. Gower Page 108 Dr. Grove Page 109 Mr. Hesketh Page 110 Dr. Freeman Page 111 Dr. Littleton Page 112 Dr. Morrice ib. Dr. Lake ib. Mr. Lynford Page 113 Mr. Long Page 115 Dr. Fowler Page 116 The Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man Page 117 Mr. Payn Page 118 J. Kettlewell Page 119 Mr. Belling Page 121 Dr. Calamy Page 122 The whole Duty of Man Page 125 Erasmus ib. Grotius Page 126 Beza ib. Luther ib. Calvin ib. Camero Page 127 Is Casaubon ib. Peter du Moulin Page 128 Mons Bochart Page 129 David Blondel ib. Sam. Petit Page 130 Mons Allix ib. Dr. Bourdieu ib. Le droit Souverain c. ib. THE HISTORY OF Passive Obedience Since the REFORMATION INTRODUCTION WHen Judicious Men undertake to determine what are the Doctrines of any Church they do not guide themselves by the Practices nor the Writings of some of her Members but by the Positions which she hath publickly owned and asserted and the Practices that are consonant thereunto this being agreeable to the Counsel of our holy Saviour who when he bids us * Mat. 7.15 16. To beware of false Prophets who came in Sheeps Cloathing but inwardly are ravening Wolves cautions us that we shall know them by their fruits i.e. Not by the Fruits of their Lives but of their Doctrines So does †Serm. Bishop Sanderson interpret the Words and so also does the Dean ‖ Serm. on Nov. 5.1673 p. 28 29. of S. Paul 's We think it most convenient to follow our Saviour's Rules to judge of Mens Pretences how great and haughty soever by the Fruits they produce which Rule is not to be understood concerning the particular Actions of Men which have no respect to their Doctrines for as S. Chrysostom observes many Hereticks have been Men of excellent Lives ' and so on the contrary but we are to understand it of those Fruits which their Doctrines have a direct influence upon and therefore the Rule hath a particular respect to two things by which we are to examine the fairest Pretences 1. The Design they end to 2. The Means made use of for the accomplishing this Design If therefore the Design be quite of another Nature from that of the Gospel if the means be such as are directly contrary to it we may from thence justly infer that how plausible soever the pretences are how fine and soft soever the Sheeps cloathing be that inwardly they are ravening wolves Thus that great Man determines it against the Jesuits in the very case of resisting excommunicating deposing and murdering Princes and so do we all judge concerning the Church of Rome many of her Members are doubtless loyal and peaceable but their Church teaches them otherwise in the famous Lateran Council * M. Payn 's Sermon Sept. 9.1683 pag. 20. Treason in Papists is like original sin to mankind they all have it in their Natures tho many may deny it or not know it But in Protestants it is like the Italian Distemper it was
declared at the least four times in the year That the King's Majesties Power Authority and Preheminence within his Realms and Dominions is the highest Power under God Here the Injunction plainly distinguishes the claim of the Pope from other claims implying that our Church always believed that her Prince's Power was derived immediately from God and that they were superior to all their Subjects either singly or collectively and so were not accountable to them but only to God and among Bishop Ridley's Articles of Visitation An. 1550. one is Whether any do preach or defend that private persons may make Insurrection stir Sedition or compel Men to give them their Goods Anno 1564. being the seventh Year of Queen Elizabeth in the ‖ Sparr Collect. p. 123. Articles for Preaching it is injoyn'd That the Minister move all People to Obedience as well in observation of the Orders appointed in the Book of Common Service as in the Queen's Majesty's Injunctions as also of all other civil Duties due for Subjects to do and that all Preachers Preaching Matters tending to Dissention c. shall be complained At last the Injunctions were called Canons and the first Canon An. 1603. in the first Year of King James is the same in substance with the Injunction of Henry the Eighth Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth and for this reason Can. 55. it is ordained That every Minister should before his Sermon acknowledge the King to be in all Causes and over all Persons supreme Head and Governor in more express terms than were formerly used But particularly I look upon the Canons of the Year 1640. to be a full Explanation of the belief of our Church in this point Now Can. 1. injoyns all former Laws Ordinances and Constitutions formerly made for the acknowledgment and profession of the most lawful and independent Authority of our dread Sovereign Lord the King 's most excellent Majesty to be carefully observed and then descends to give an Explanation of the Royal Power and Authority That the most sacred Order of Kings is of divine Right being the Ordinance of God himself founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly establish'd by express Texts both of the Old and New Testament and for any Person or Persons to set up maintain or allow in any their said Realms or Territories respectively under any pretence whatsoever any independent coactive Power either Papal or Popular whether directly or indirectly is to undermine their great Royal Office and cunningly to overthrow that most Sacred Offfice which God himself hath establish'd and so is treasonable against God as well as against the King. For Subjects to bear Arms against their Kings See the Doctrine of these Canons vindicated in Dr. Puller's Moderat of the Ch. of Engl. c. 12. §. 6. p. 34. offensive or defensive upon any Pretence whatsoever is at least to resist the Powers which are ordained of God and though they do not invade but only resist St. Paul tells them plainly They shall receive to themselves Damnation while in the next Paragraph they shew that this Doctrine does not intitle the King to every Man's Estate But against the Synod that made these Canons lies a great Objection tho I should have thought that the hard Censures of it might have been spar'd because no Synod of our Church and perhaps none of any other Protestant Church hath so expresly condemn'd Popery and Socinianism the great Enemies of true Reformed Christianity as this Synod hath done ‖ V. Art. 3.4 that it was not a Lawful Synod because it was continued and sat after the Parliament was Dissolved and was by another Parliament Condemn'd not to answer that that very Parliament that first Condemn'd this Synod ruin'd even the Monarchy it self nor that the Synods of old Provincial or General were not dependent on the meeting of the States at the same time I answer First that these Canons were made and confirm'd in full Convocation of both Provinces of Canterbury and York and the making of Canons being a work properly Ecclesiastical these Canons were made by the Representatives of the whole Clergy of this Kingdom 2. The Canons were confirm'd by the King which was all that was of old required in such Cases and tho the Convocation sat after the Dissolution of the Parliament yet 1. This is not without President even in the happy Days of Queen Elizabeth not to look back into Henry VIII or the primitive Times And 2. the Persons who condemn'd this Synod are well known to have done it to justifie their own Proceedings being resolved to ruine Episcopacy and with it the Monarchy and afterward by their own power they called an Assembly of Divines and What a Confession of Faith what Discipline Rites and Methods did they Establish a Directory among other things out of which they left the Lord's Prayer perhaps because it 't was a Form the Apostles Creed because themselves thought they could make a better and the Ten Commandments because the fifth plainly accused them of Rebellion against their Lawful Prince And it is worth the observing that Sr. Edward Deering's Speeches that were spoken with so much Virulence against this Synod and afterwards Printed were by the Order of the same House who first applauded them decreed to be Burnt by the hand of the Common Hang-man And if it be still objected that the Canons were Reprobated since the Restitution of Charles II. I say that I quote them not as a Law that obliges the Church but as the known Sense of the Church of England at that time CHAP. III. The Doctrine of the Homilies THough the name of Homily hath been look'd upon and censured by unthinking People as ridiculous yet those admirable Sermons made by our first Reformers as a body of practical Divinity and a Confutation of the Errors and Idolatries of the Church of Rome are as Bishop Ridley said of the first Tome of them * Apud Fox To. 3. p. 506. Holy and wholsome Homilies Recommendations of the principal Virtues which are commended in Scripture and against the most pernicious and capital Vices that so alas do reign in this Realm of England These we subscribe to as containing wholsome Doctrine †Dr. Stanley's Faith and Pract. c. 7. p. 192. and every Man hereby sees what Opinions the Clergy are of for they subscribe and assent to the Book of Articles and Homilies and to the Book of Common Prayer Many also have some regard to the Articles of An 1640. They take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test c. and Johnson says That the Book of Homilies is the best Book in the World next the Bible And since a ‖ D. Welw Letter to M. March p. 10. late Author is so bold to say that Passive Obedience in the narrow sense we take it in was not so much as thought on at the time of the publishing the Homilies I must first ask him How he came to be so
well acquainted with the Thoughts of those venerable Men who wrote the Homilies at this distance of time What Communication hath he with the other World or what peculiar Memoirs that have scap'd all the wise Men of our Church who have been conversant with her Records have fallen into his hands And then I will shew that the Expressions of the Homilies are very full and plain and exclusive of all Pretences to take up Arms against our lawful Superiors The Homily or Exhortation to Obedience Burnet's Hist Ref. part 2. l. 1. c. 6. was made An. 1547. in the Reign of K. Edward the Sixth in the second part of which Sermon of Obedience we are told that it is the calling of God's People to be patient and on the suffering side and to render Obedience to Governors although they be wicked and wrong doers and in no case to resist and stand against them Subjects are bound to obey them i. e. Governors as God's Ministers although they be evil not only for fear but also for conscience sake and here good People let us mark diligently that it is not lawful for Inferiors and Subjects in any case to resist and stand against the superior Powers for St. Paul 's words be plain That whoso withstandeth shall get to themselves Damnation Our Saviour Christ and his Apostles received many and divers Injuries of the unfaithful and wicked men in Authority yet we never read that they or any of them caused any Sedition or Rebellion against Authority we read oftne that they patiently suffer'd all Troubles Vexations Slanders Pangs Pains and Death it self obediently without Tumult or Resistance Christ taught us plainly that even the wicked Rulers have their Power and Authority from God and therefore it is not lawful for their Subjects to withstand them although they abuse their Power Let us believe undoubtedly good Christian People that we may not obey Kings if they command us to do any thing contrary to God's Commandments in such a case we ought to say with the Apostle We must rather obey God than Man but nevertheless in that case we may not in any wise withstand violently or rebel against Rulers or make any Insurrection Sedition or Tumults either by force of Arms or otherwise against the Anointed of the Lord or any of his appointed Officers but we must in such case patiently suffer all wrongs and injuries referring the judgment of our Cause only to God and Part 3. of the same Homily Ye have heard before of this Sermon of good Order and Obedience manifestly proved both by Scriptures and Examples that all Subjects are bound to obey their Magistrates and for no cause to resist or withstand or rebel or make any Sedition against them yea although they be wicked men The second Book of Homilies was compiled in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and among them the Homily against Disobedience and wilful Rebellion is full to this purpose * Part. 1. In reading the holy Scriptures we shall find in very many and almost infinite places as well of the Old Testament as of the New that Kings and Princes as well the evil as the good do reign by God's Ordinance and that Subjects are bounden to obey them The further and further any Earthly Prince doth swerve from the Example of the Heavenly Government the greater plague he is of God's Wrath and Punishment by God's Justice unto the Country and People over whom God for their Sins hath placed such a Prince and Governor What shall Subjects do then What a perillous thing were it to commit to Subjects the Judgment which Prince is wise and godly and his Government good and which otherwise as though the Foot must judge of the Head an Enterprize very heinous and which must needs breed Rebellion and is not Rebellion the greatest of all mischiefs A Rebel is worse than the worst Prince and Rebellion worse than the worst Government of the worst Prince that hitherto hath been If we will have an evil Prince when God shall send such a one taken away and a good one in his place let us take away our Wickedness which provoketh God to place such a one over us Shall the Subjects both by their Wickedness provoke God for their deserved punishment to give them an undiscreet and evil Prince and also rebel against him and withal against God who for the punishment of their Sins did give them such a Prince And this Doctrine is excellently inforc'd in the second part of that Homily from the Example of King David in his Carriage towards Saul And one reason perhaps why these old plain Sermons are by some men despised and evil spoken of is because they so heartily recommend this Doctrine of Non-resistance CHAP. IV. The Doctrine of the Liturgy TO our Homilies I subjoin the Liturgy of our Church the most excellent body of publick Prayers that the World owns In the Morning and Evening Service for every day God is said to be the only Ruler of Princes exclusive of both Pope and People To the understanding of which Collect I shall give you the Paraphrase of Dr. Cumber * Compan to the Temple part 1. § 23. p. 171. Ed. Fol. The Church of England is famous above all other Churches for her entire Loyalty to the King which may be seen not only in the Lives of the true Sons thereof but in their Prayers c. †Id. p. 173. God is the only Judge of the Actions of Princes since they are his Servants and Substitutes to their own Master they must stand or fall and are only accountable to his Tribunal and therefore we have so much the more need to pray for them to their great Lord that he would direct them to do well and guide them who are to rule us that this their mighty Prince may be in safety and in peace for if it should be otherwise which God forbid we neither will nor can oppose them having no other Arms against our Prince but Prayers and Tears ‖ Id. p. 174. If he were a Saul or a Nero we should sin in ceasing to pray for him ‡ Id. p. 176. v. p. 225. It is natural to the true Sons of the Church of England to love the King. If a foreign Prince opposes our King he is a Robber if * P. 177. he be a Subject who rises against his Sovereign he hath renounc'd Christianity with his Allegiance ☞ and is to be esteem'd a Troubler of our Israel Therefore whosoever they be that are Enemies to the King and whatsoever the pretence be we wish they may never prosper In the Litany we pray God to deliver us from all Sedition privy Conspiracy and Rebellion and Dr. Cumber †Part 2. § 2. p. 225. says That the Words Rebellion and Schism were put into the Litany since our late unhappy Civil Wars that have given us reason to pray From all Sedition c. In the Greek Liturgies he says it
is thus express'd From Civil Wars c. ☜ but not one Word of this could he ever find in the Roman Missals that have come to his hands it being the peculiar Glory of the Church of England that her Prayers and Practices have always been eminently loyal and Enemies to Treason and Rebellion And he says farther * Ib. p. 226 227. That Rebellion is a sin so contrary to Christianity that though the Primitive Christians had all the Provocations imaginable and Force sufficient they never offer'd to rebel So that they who do rebel have divested themselves of the Christian Principles and almost of their Humanity too In the Prayer for the Parliament We may say of our Princes as Pliny said of the good Emperor Trajan they have freely yielded to rule by those Laws to which nothing but their own goodness could oblige them and doubtless the People of England ought to take it as an Act of Grace that their Kings have consented to govern them on this manner In the Prayer after the Commandments the King is said to be God's Minister and we beg God that all his Subjects duly considering that he hath God's Authority may faithfully serve honor and humbly obey him according to God's blessed Word and Ordinance And this is admirably commented †Id. part 3. §. 4. p. 20. We are to consider that Kings bear God's Name and act by his Power and such as rebel do fight against God oppose his Word and resist his Ordinance c. In the occasional Office for Nov. 5. we pray God That the King may cut off all such workers of Iniquity as turn Religion into Rebellion and Faith into Faction And in the Office for May 29. when we thank God for the Restoration of the Royal Family we beseech God to accept of our unfeigned Oblation of our selves vowing all holy Obedience in Thought Word and Work unto the Divine Majesty and promising in him and for him all dutiful Allegiance to his anointed Servant and to his Heirs for ever And it is also observable the Proclamations relating to those solemn times are appointed to be read which are as full to this purpose as any thing can be and by our Canons when the Minister bids Prayer before his Sermon to continue the belief of this Truth he is bound to exhort the People when they pray to acknowledge the King to be in all Causes and over all Persons next and immediately under God supreme c. CHAP. V. The Orders of our Bishops BY the Orders of our Bishops I mean not so much the particular Injunctions or Enquiries of our Prelates within their own particular Dioceses though of such instances there is no want as I have shewn Chap. 2. from the Articles of Inquiry of Archbishop Cranmer and the Articles of Visitation of Bishop Ridley and could prove from many other such Instances but the general Orders which have been sent from the Metropolitan to the whole Church such Injunctions when obey'd ought to be look'd on as the sense of the whole Church unless we shall impeach either the Makers or the Complyers of dishonest Practices especially when the Adversaries of the Church have given occasion to such Injunctions thus when Knight of whom I shall treat in the next Chapter was censured at Oxford the same Year some Cautions concerning Preachers and Preaching were by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York with the King's Consent as the Law required sent to the several Bishops of their Provinces to be put in execution in their several Dioceses The Directions are dated Aug. 4. 1622. of which the first requires That no Preacher c. shall fall into any set course or common place otherwise than by opening the Coherence and division of his Text which shall not be comprehended and warranted in essence substance effect or natural inference within some one of the Articles of Religion set forth Ann. 1562. or in some one of the Homilies set forth by Authority c. The fourth is That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall presume from henceforth in any Auditory within this Kingdom to declare limit or bound out by way of positive Doctrine in any Lecture or Sermon the Power Prerogative Jurisdiction Authority or duty of Sovereign Princes or therein meddle with Matters of State and Reference between Princes and People than as they are instructed in the Homily of Obedience and in the rest of the Homilies and Articles of Religion set forth by Publick Authority These Injunctions were again renew'd and reinforc'd in the days of King Charles the Second and in the next Reign and in the Articles of the present Archbishop of Canterbury * July 16. 1638. Art. 7. the Clergy are expresly enjoyn'd That in their Sermons they should four times in the Year at least teach the People That the Kings Power being in his Dominions highest under God all Priests should upon all occasions persuade the People to Loyalty and Obedience to his Majesty in all things lawful and to patient Submission in the rest promoting as far as in them lies the publick Peace and Quiet of the World. And agreeably to this Doctrine were the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy especially the later framed which though particularly made against the Papists yet as Bishop Sanderson well observes where the Reason of making and imposing an Oath is particular Praelect 7. de juram but the words of the Oath are general there the Oath obliges according to the sense of the words in their utmost latitude as says he for Example in the Oath of Supremacy to the making of which the Usurpation of the Pope gave occasion the words being all general do exclude all Persons from exercising that Supreme Power in this Kingdom And every Clergy-man especially ought to reflect how often he hath solemnly profess'd and averr'd That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King or any commissioned by him c. and to remember that that Declaration was injoyned in opposition to the Doctrines of the year 1641 the Men of which age asserted That the Power of Kings was given them by the People and might be resumed by the Donors that the King was co-ordinate with the States and that his Politick differ'd from his personal Capacity Now the occasion of the making a Law and the preamble of it are look'd on as the best Interpreters of the words of a Law. CHAP. VI. The Censures of our Universities NOR are the Censures of our most famous Universities in this case to be neglected or look'd on slightly it is well known what a Repute the Judgment of the single College of the Sorbone hath at Paris and how much the Authority of the Foreign Universities together with our own sway'd with King Henry the Eighth and persuaded the Christian World to credit the Justice of his Divorce Now I shall not mention the Censure of the Mille manus Petition as it
was call'd in which both the Universities most amicably agreed resolving only to give an account of the Proceedings at Oxford in the Years 1â—22 1647 and 1683 the Decree of 1622 was made the 25th of June in full Convocation on this occasion †Antiqu. Oxon. l. 1. p. 326 327 c. Mr. Knight of Broadgate Hall now Pembroke College preaching at S. Peter's in the East on Palm-Sunday upon 1 Kings 19.9 What dost thou here Elijah started this Question Whether it were lawful for Subjects in the defence of themselves when persecuted for Religion to take Arms against their Prince which he held in the Affirmative for which Doctrine when he was convened by the Vice-Chancellor he pleaded the Authority of Paraeus in his Commentary on the xiii to the Romans and the Example of King James who assisted the Rochellers against their King and was for that reason sent to Prison the Vice-Chancellor making the Bishop of St. David's Laud who in May of the same Year had his Conference with Fisher the Jesuit acquainted with it from whom the King was inform'd who ordered Knight and his Sermon to be sent up the Author being committed a Prisoner to the Gate-house in Westminster where he lay two Years and at last by the intercession of one of his Fellow Prisoners with Bishop Williams was releas'd and having ask'd the King's Pardon went into Holland where in a short time he died When Knight was complain'd of the King sent to the Vice-Chancellor to injoin the Students of Divinity to lay the Foundation of their Studies next to the holy Scriptures in the Fathers and Councils and to abstain from the Writings of either Jesuits or Puritans and accordingly the Heads of Colleges the Professors c. met in Convocation the Bishops that were then about the Court having condemn'd the Doctrine and the Books that contain'd it as seditious and contrary to the holy Scriptures the Decrees of Councils and Dictates of the Fathers and to the Doctrine and Constitutions of the Church of England and censur'd among others this Proposition * Proposit 2. v. Antiqu. Oxon. p. 327. That Subjects not private Persons but inferior Magistrates may take Arms to defend themselves the Commonwealth the Church and true Religion against their Sovereign or the superior Magistrate upon these Conditions If 1. The Prince turn Tyrant 2. If he compel his Subjects to commit Idolatry or to blaspheme 3. When any great injury is done 4. If they cannot otherwise be safe in their Fortunes their Lives and Consciences upon condition also 5. That under the pretext of Religion or Justice they do not seek their own advantage and 6. That their Arms be managed with much moderation Moderamine inculpatae tutelae These are the Terms of the Proposition and the Censure of the University runs thus This Proposition is false and seditious and so craftily restrain'd under such Conditions annex'd as every seditious Person may make use of to vindicate himself And the third Proposition which is of the same kind is alike condemn'd so that it is no wonder that Gillespy in the Preface to his Sermon calls this Doctrine the new Oxford Divinity and I wish no worse had been ever broach'd or owned there Nor did the University rest here but withal decreed and declared That according to the Canon of the holy Scriptures Subjects ought by no means forcibly to resist their Prince and that it is not lawful to take Arms either offensive or defensive against the King upon the account of Religion or any other Pretence requiring all the Members of the Convocation to subscribe the Censures and enjoyning all that should be admitted to any Degrees to take an Oath to consent to the determinations of that Convocation while the Commentary of Paraeus was burn'd in the Church-yard of St. Mary's at Oxford at Paul's Cross in London as it was likewise burn'd at Cambridge that University joyning with her Sister of Oxford in the Condemnation of those seditious Doctrines For as a * Doublet Ep. ad Gerh. Voss learned Foreigner who at that time was upon the spot informs that Knight citing for his Opinion the Authority not only of Paraeus but also of Bucanus and Junius Brutus affirming further that it was the Opinion of all the Reformed Divines and illustrating it by this instance that If the King of France should while his Army laid Siege to any Town of the Protestants his Subjects happen to fall by the hand of any of the besieged he was justly slain nor was he that killed him guilty of any crime both the Universities condemn'd the Doctrine and though at Oxford only Paraeus's Book was burn'd yet at Cambridge they also burn'd Bucanus's Common places and Junius Brutus or Hubert Languet's Vindiciae and damn'd the Authors to perpetual Infamy my Author adding that the Cambridge Doctors were the more fierce of the two whether because they hated the Puritans or were the Majority of them at least Remonstrants the Censure of that University Doublet saw when he was at the Commencement it being put into his Hands by him who drew it up upon his promise not to transcribe it What hinder'd it's publication I know not while the same year Dr. David Owen publish'd his Anti-Paraeus seu Determinat de Jure Regio adv David Paraeum at Cambridge anno sc 1622. Octavo in which the Doctrine of Resistance is throughly confuted This Censure and the Execution done upon his Book much troubled the old Paraeus And his Son * Append. in Comment ad Rom 13.5 vit Paraei says that his Father meant what he wrote not of Kings endowed with an absolute power but of such as were admitted to their Crowns upon condition while the illustrious Hugo Grotius thought so well of it that he hath inserted it at large in his Works †Vot pro pace ad Art. 16. p. 661. with a high commendation affirming That the Reverend Memory of King James the first the wisest King of Great Britain and the honor which he owed to the University of Oxford which at that time foresaw the Calamities which England afterward suffered and a just fear lest the pernicious Doctrine might do more mischief ingaged him to reprint the Censure To which Determination Dr. Prideaux Dr. Abbot and the other eminent Men of that time gave their suffrage Anno 1647 June 1. The same famous Academy met in Convocation and declared their Judgment concerning the Solemn League and Covenant and a few of their Reasons why they could not take that Covenant I shall transcribe * Ad calc vit Sanderson p. 174. as they were drawn up by Bishop Sanderson 1. We cannot take the Oath without acknowledging in the Imposers a greater power than for ought appeareth to us hath been in former times challenged †P. 181. 3. We cannot take the Oath without manifest danger of Perjury ‖ P. 182. the Oath being contrary to the Oath of Supremacy by us taken
‡ P. 201 202. We are not satified in being obliged to preserve the King's person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and the Liberties of the Kingdom forasmuch as 1. No such limitation of our Duty in that behalf is to be found either in the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which no Papist would refuse to take with such a Limitation nor in the Protestation nor in the Word of God. 3. Such a Limitation leaves the Duty of the Subject at so much loosness and the safety of the King at so great uncertainty ☞ that whensoever the People shall have a mind to withdraw their Obedience they cannot want a pretence from the same for so doing 4. Hereby we make our selves guilty of an actual and real diminution of his Majesties Power and Greatness which in the same Breath we call the World to witness with our Consciences that we had no thought to diminish c. P. 210 211. The Tyranny and Yoke of Antichrist if laid upon the Necks of Subjects by their lawful Sovereigns ☜ is to be thrown off by Christian Boldness in confessing the truth and patient suffering for it not by taking up Arms or violent resisting the higher Powers Pag. 217 Because some have inferred from the very Order that the Defence of the King's Person and Authority ought to be with subordination to the preservation of the Rights and Privileges of Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdom therefore we cannot take this Oath Especially being told in a late Pamphlet P. 219. that the King not having preserved the Liberties of the Kingdom c. as of duty he ought is thereby become a Tyrant and so ceaseth to be a King and consequently that his Subjects cease to be Subjects and ow him no longer Subjection which Assertion since we heartily detest as false and scandalous in the Supposition and in the Inference seditious and devilish we dare not by subscribing this Article give the least countenance thereto And that we may take the Covenant in our own sense is contrary to the nature and end of an Oath which must be full of simplicity P. 223. contrary to the end of Speech c. and will bring a scandal upon our Religion that we practise that our selves that we condemn in the Paqists viz. Swearing with Jesuitical Equivocations and mental Reservations that we play fast and loose with God in as much as what we swear to day in one sense we may swear the direct contrary to morrow in another P. 225. And if this would fatisfie the Conscience we might with a good Conscience not only take the Covenant but even subscribe to the Council of Trent also yea and to the Turkish Alcoran P. 229. if the King should not protect us but neglect his part too having power and ability to perform it his voluntary neglect ought not to free us from the faithful performance of what is to be done on our part Ann. 1683. July 21. in a full Convocation many opinions were condemn'd that had been publish'd in diverse Books and writings in English and also in the Latin tongue P. 2. repugnant to the holy Scriptures decrees of Councils writings of the Fathers the Faith and profession of the Primitive Church and also destructive of the Kingly Government the safety of his Majesties Person the publick Peace the Laws of Nature and Bonds of Humane Society as Proposition 1. All civil Authority is derived originally from the People Proposition 2. There is a mutual compact tacit or express between a Prince and his Subjects and if he perform not his Duty they are discharged from theirs Proposition 3. P. 3. that if Lawful Governours become Tyrants or Govern otherwise than by the Laws of God and Man they ought to do they forfeit the Right they had unto their Government Prop. 7. Self-preservation is the Fundamental Law of Nature and supersedes the Obligation of all others when they stand in competition with it Prop. 8. The Doctrine of the Gospel concerning patient suffering of Injuries is not inconsistent with violent resisting of the higher Powers in case of Persecution for Religion Pr. 9. P. 4. There lies no obligation upon Christians to Passive Obedience when the Prince commands any thing against the Laws of our Country and the Primitive Christians chose rather to die than to resist because Christianity was not yet settled by the Laws of the Empire And besides the Condemnation of the Doctrines the Books of Milton P. 7. Baxter Goodwin Owen Johnson c. were ordered to be publickly burnt by the Hand of the Marshal in the Court of the Schools as Books that were fitted to deprave Mens Manners stir up Seditions and Tumults overthrow States and Kingdoms and lead to Rebellion Murther of Princes and Atheism it self And a Prohibition issued forbidding the Reading any of the said Books under great Penalties This Decree was drawn up by Dr. Jane Dean of Glocester and the King's Professor of Divinity at Oxon and subscribed by the Vicechancellor other Professors and the whole Convocation And pursuant to this Decree Parkinson a Fellow of Lincoln-College for maintaining that the Right and Foundation of all Power was in the People that Kings are accountable for their Maleadministration c. And particularly that King Charles the First was justly put to death for making War upon his Subjects was an 1684. expelled the University And it is observable that our excellent Homilies that so expresly require Obedience to Princes and condemn Rebellion and Resistance upon any pretence whatsoever were Printed at the Theatre the same year that the abovementioned Decree was made CHAP. VII The Opinions of Learned Men. WHen Men would know what are the Sentiments of any Church in her Articles or Sanctions the most rational Course is to make inquiry among those who were concern'd in making them or those who may be presumed best to understand them by reason of their nearness to the time their acquaintance with the Compilers or their extraordinary Sagacity and Honesty and of suchpersons in the Church of England must we make Inquiry concerning the Doctrine of Obedience and Non-resistance In * Burn. hist Ref. part 1. l. 3. p. 245. the Days of Henry the Eighth when the Reformation began to dawn an 1537. a Convocation was held upon the Conclusion of which there was Printed an Explanation of the chief Points of Religion signed by nineteen Bishops eight Arch-Deacons and seventeen Doctors of Divinity and Law in which there was an Exposition of the Creed the Ten Commandments c But this was but a rude Draught the beauteous Stroaks were given it †Id. p. 286. anno 1540. when a select number of Bishops sate by Virtue of a Commission from the King confirm'd in Parliament among which were Cranmer Ridley Redman and other extraordinary men their first work was to draw up a Declaration of the Christian Doctrine for the
Man was for the Lady Jane but besides his Temper I have this to say for him that the several and contrary Acts of Parliament limiting and changing the Succession according to the King's Pleasure in the latter end of Henry the Eighth's Reign might very well in such a juncture of Affairs as happen'd on the Death of Edward the Sixth stagger a wise Man and incline him to believe that the Son had the same Right that his Father had as unquestionably he had if it were a Right of the Crown especially while that Right was recogniz'd and confirm'd in Parliament To this excellent Prince was Sir John Cheek a Tutor as he also was the Restorer of the Greek Tongue in England he in his Advice of the True Subject to the Rebel Ed. Oxon. 1641. p. 2 3 4. or the hurt of Sedition thus bespeaks the Rebels of that Age For our selves we have great cause to thank God by whose Religion and holy Word daily taught us we learn not only to fear him truly but also to obey our King faithfully and to serve in our own Vocation like Subjects honestly ye which be bound by God's Word not to obey for fear like Men-pleasers but for conscience sake like Christians have contrary to God's holy will whose Offence is everlasting Death and contrary to the godly Order of Quietness set out by the King's Majesty's Laws the breach whereof is not unknown to you taken in hand uncalled of God unsent by Men unfit by reason to cast away your bounden Duties of Obedience c. yet ye pretend that partly for God's sake partly for the Commonwealth's sake ye do rise How do you take in hand to reform Be you Kings by what Authority or by what Succession Be you the King's Officers by what Commission Be you called by God by what Tokens declare you that Ye rise for Religion what Religion taught you that If you were offer'd Persecution for Religion you ought to fly so Christ teacheth you and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth you ought to suffer like Martyrs and you slay like Tyrants thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Counsel of Christ nor the constancy of Martyrs whatever the Causes be that have moved your wicked Affections herein Pag. 11. as they be unjust Causes and increase your Faults much the thing it self the Rising I mean must needs be wicked and horrible before God and the usurping of Authority and taking in hand rule which is the sitting in God's Seat of Justice a proud climbing up into God's high Throne must needs be not only cursed newly by him but also hath been often punished afore of him and that which is done to God's Officers Pag. 12. God accounteth it done to him Ye be bound in God's Word to obey your King and is it no Breach of Duty to withstand your King See also Bishop Hooper's Comment on the Fifth Commandment SECT III. But the outward Felicity of the Church as it was very great under Edward the Sixth so it was short-lived a black Storm gathering under Queen Mary and at last falling severely upon her Protestant Subjects who dealt with her as they were in duty bound they assisted her chearfully till she got her Crown and when contrary to her Duty and her Promises she persecuted them some of them resolutely suffered Martyrdom others as our Saviour advises fled into Foreign Countries for Protection the great Men of that Party solemnly disowning the Principle of taking up Arms against their Sovereign even when she had falsified her promises to them And this is attested by more than a few of the greatest Men of that Reign ‖ Burn. Hist Res part l. 2. p. 285. the Bishops of Exeter S. Davids and Glocester Taylor Philpot Bradford Crome Sanders Rogers Laurence and others who having given an account of their Principles conclude thus as the Historian says These things they declared that they were ready to defend as they often had before offered and concluded charging all People to enter into no Rebellion against the Queen but to obey her in all points except where her Commands were contrary to the Law of God. But their own words will most properly give us their meaning as * Tom. 3. p. 100 c. Fox records Because we hear that it is determined to send us speedily out of the Prisons of the King's Bench c. where at present we are and of a long time some of us have been not as Rebels Traitors seditious persons Thieves or Transgressors of any Laws of this Realm Inhibitions Proclamations or Commandments of the Queen's Highness or of any of the Councils God's Name be praised therefore but only for the Conscience we have to God and to his most holy Word and Truth to one of the Universities there to dispute We write and send abroad this our Faith humbly requiring and in the Bowels of our Saviour Christ beseeching all that fear God to behave themselves as obedient Subjects to the Queen's Highness and the superior Powers which are ordained of God under her rather after our Example to give their Heads to the Block than in any point to rebel or once to mutter against the Lord's anointed we mean our Sovereign Lady Queen Mary into whose Heart we beseech the Lord of Mercy plentifully to pour the Wisdom and Grace of his Holy Spirit now and for ever Amen First we confess and believe all the Canonical Books of the Old Testament c. And having reckoned up what Doctrines they owned and what they condemned they go on thus And we doubt not but we shall be able to prove all our Confessions here to be most true by the Verity of God's Word and Consent of the Catholick Church In the mean season as obedient Subjects we shall behave our selves towards all that be in Authority and not cease to pray to God for them that he would govern them all generally and particularly with the Spirit of Wisdom and Grace and so we heartily desire and humbly pray all Men to do ☞ in no point consenting to any kind of Rebellion or Sedition against our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Highness but where they cannot obey but they must disobey God then to submit themselves with all patience and humility to suffer as the will and pleasure of the highest powers shall adjudge as we are ready through the goodness of the Lord to suffer whatsoever they shall adjudge us unto rather than we will consent to any Doctrine contrary to this which we here confess unless we shall be convinced thereof either by Writing or by Word c. and the Lord of Mercy endue us all with the Spirit of his Truth and Grace of Perseverance therein unto the end Amen May 8 Anno Dom. 1554. This Letter was subscribed by Bishop Ferrar Bishop Hooper and Bishop Coverdale and by nine others who were the Flower of Confessors at that time
And if it be objected that Wyat's Rebellion happened the same year and that he took Arms upon the Account of Religion I answer 1. Were it so this was the fault of but a few discontented Protestants not the fault of their Religion and Principles but of their Passions 2. Nor did those Discontents take Arms for Religion as the Historian says expresly * Burn. ubi supra p. 269. For when Wyat made his Proclamation at Maidstone he professed that he intended nothing but to preserve the Liberty of the Nation and keep it from coming under the Yoke of Strangers which he said all the Council except one or two were against and assured the People that all the Nobility and chief Men of England would concur with him Now the Generality of the Nation was then Papist the Nobility and Gentry especially and so could not be presumed to take Arms for the Protestant Religion He said nothing of Religion but in private assured those that were for the Reformation that he would declare for them And his Demands †P. 270. have no relation to Religion but to the Command of the Tower and that the Queen should be under his Guard c. The same ‖ Ibid. Historian affirming that the Rebellion was not at all raised upon the pretence of Religion which according to the Printed Account set out by the Queen's Order was not so much as once named and that Poynet Bishop of Winchester was not in it P. 171. c. and that Christopherson's Book on this Subject was but a Flourish of his Wit and no decisive proof And I cannot learn but that Wyat as well as Dudley died a Papist 'T is true some of his Adherents pretended Religion as there are and will be wicked Men of all Persuasions but they did but pretend Religion as Mr. Bradford one of the Writers of the aforementioned Letter said of them in his Exhortation to the Professors of the Gospel in England but ☜ as he adds they were Hypocrites and under the Cloak of the Gospel would have debarred the Queen's Highness of her Right but God would not so cloak them This therefore was the Sentiment of our Confessors at home during the Reign of Queen Mary and I doubt not but it was the Sense of their Brethren the Confessors abroad as I shall make it appear from the Writings of the Bishops Jewel and Sandys whatever the Author of the History of the Troubles at Francfort says to the contrary who was well known to be a party and for that reason not fit to give such evidence * P. 195. as he does that the greatest Traitors and Rebels King Edward had in the West Parts were Priests and such as had subscribed to the Book or whatsoever by Law was then in force But in all the Stirs which have happened either since the Queen's Majesty came to the Crown or before I have not heard of so much as one Minister or other that hath lifted up his hand against her Majesty or State whom it pleaseth the malicious Man to term Precisian and Puritan Traitor and Rebel While this Author hath forgot what before he recorded * Pag. 44 45. That Knox their Patriarch was banished from Francfort for High Treason against the Emperor of Germany And not long after the History was written Hacket and his Companions would have convinced him that the Men of his Party can be Rebels SECT IV. Under Queen Elisabeth the Truth broke from behind the Cloud and shone triumphantly and as Truth is always the same so it appeared in this particular Doctrine Archbishop Sandys was one of the Confessors of that Age and from him we learn †Serm. 3. p. 51. That if we despise Government and speak evil of them that be in Authority if we mutter and murmur against the Principality of Moses and Aaron if we loath the present State and seek after Alterations then shall the Blessings of God turn into Cursings ‖ Id. Ser. 4. p. 67. As we should pray for all Men so chiefly for Kings and undoubtedly it is unlawful to rebel against those whom we are bound to pray for In Paul 's time the Kings and Rulers of the People were Ethnicks Tyrants Enemies to Christ and cruel Persecutors of the Gospel whereupon some thought it not convenient for the Church to pray for them who sought to destroy it S. Paul abateth this Opinion teaching them that they should chiefly pray for such as for Men in greatest danger and most needing the help of their Prayers pray for him that prayeth not for himself We must pray for ill Princes because the King's Heart is in God's Hand that he may turn their minds and stay their Persecutions c. to pour out Supplications Pag. 68. that God would grant them a long life a safe Government a sure dwelling Tertull. valiant Soldiers faithful Counsellors a good People and a quiet world and whatsoever the Hearts of Men or Kings do desire and I am sure such a Prayer is not reconcileable with resistance and let all such as will not say Amen to this Prayer assure themselves that they are neither dutiful Christians nor faithful Subjects Thus also speaks Bishop Jewel * Def. of the Apol p. 15. We teach the People as S. Paul doth to be subject to the highest Powers not only for fear but also for conscience we teach them that whosoever striketh with the Sword by private Authority shall perish with the Sword if the Prince happen to be wicked or cruel or burthensome we teach them to say with S. Ambrose Tears and Prayers be our Weapons ☜ Anno 1586. Bishop Bilson Printed his Book of the true difference between Christian Subjection and unchristian Rebellion And therein says * P. 260. Deliverance if you would have obtain it by prayer and expect it in peace P. 262. these be Weapons for Christians the Subject hath no refuge against his Sovereign but only to God by prayer and patience Christ fore-teaching his Disciples P. 256. that they should be brought before Kings and Rulers and put to death and hated of all Men for his Names sake addeth not as you would have it he that first rebels but he that endureth to the end shall be saved P. 278. Your Spanish Inquisitions and French Massacres are able to set grave and good Men at their wits end and to make them justly doubt since you refuse the course of all divine and human Laws with them whether by the Law of Nature they may not defend themselves from such barbarous Blood-suckers if the Laws of the Land where they do converse do permit them c. This last Quotation I have transcribed that I might answer the Authority which some Men use to prove that it is lawful in some Cases for Subjects to resist For were this true yet 1. This is but one Doctor 's Opinion contrary to the Doctrine of the Church and
so much was expunged he knows not he fully declares his mind †Pag. 93 94. In the mighty upon earth which are not always so virtuous and holy that their own good minds will bridle them what may we look for considering the Frailty of Man's Nature if the World do once hold it for a Maxim that Kings ought to live in no Subjection that how grievous disorder soever they fall into none may have coercive power over them Yet so it is that this we must necessarily admit as a number of right well learned Men are persuaded c. Inducements leading Men to think the highest Magistrate should not be judged of any saving God alone are especially these 1. As in natural Bodies there could be no motion unless there were something that moves all things and it self continueth immoveable so there must be a supreme Head of Justice whereunto all are subject but it self in subjection to none which kind of preheminence if some ought to have in a Kingdom ☞ who but the King shall have it Kings therefore no Man can have lawful power and authority to judge if private Men offend there is the Magistrate over them which judgeth if Magistrates they have their Prince if Princes there is Heaven a Tribunal before which they shall appear on earth they are not accountable to any And here this admirable Discourse breaks off abruptly which is a great pity There is no need to give Arch-Bishop Bancroft a place in this Catalogue the naming of his Books of dangerous Positions c and the Survey of the pretended holy Discipline are a sufficient Proof of his Sentiments and by his Directions if I mistake not was the account of Hacket Coppinger and Arthington drawn up called Conspiracy for Pretended Reformation the Design of which Books is expresly against the Doctrine of taking up Arms against the Lords Anointed especially on the account of Religion Near Mr. Hooker therefore I shall place his dear Friend Adrian Saravia as the Ancients frequently quote St Basil and St Gregory of Nazianzen together who tho a Forreiner better understood both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity of these Kingdoms than some Natives And he thus pronounces in the behalf of truth ‖ Epist ante libr. de Imperandi autorit Christianâ obedient At this time the Authority of Kings is called in Question and many men Dispute that the Authority of the People or of the Senate the States is above the King and that from Reasons of Humane not of Christian and Divine Philosophy and what is much to be lamented not without great Scandall of the Church of Christ they having got by reading the Roman and Greek Historians Philosophers and Orators an Admiration and liking of their Manners and Laws so as to think that all other Governments ought to be Modell'd like them Many Books are written by our own Men and by the Papists on this Subject which incite the Nobility and Commons to take Arms whensoever Kings turn Tyrants which Doctrine since it is contrary to the Principles of Christianity which our Saviour and his Apostles deliver'd to the Church and brings ruine and desolation to Kingdoms and Commonwealths I have thought my self bound to confute And see the Madness of these People who write on this Subject the Papists oblige all Subjects to take Arms against an Heretical Prince i. e. one whom they call so and others they oblige Subjects to take Arms against a Prince that is a Papist and therefore refuses to Establish or Defend the Pretestant Religion so that of whatsoever persuasion a Prince be by some part of his Subjects he must be accounted a Tyrant while a true Christian is a Good Subject let his Prince be of what Religion he pleases It is Intolerable Impiety to abuse the Testimony of Holy Scripture to the Confirmation of so Pestilent an error while no Pagan Laws no institutes of the Philosophers can enjoin Subjects a more perfect and strict Obedience than the Doctrine of the Gospel c after this in the Book he shews that the Original of Government is from God and not from the People that the People when they have chosen a King have no Authority over him afterwards that a King is as much a King before his Coronation Oath as after it and many other such things he concludes his fourth Book ‖ p. 314. Ed. 1610. and it is great pity the other three Books are lost with this excellent passage Since God is the preserver of Mankind he cannot suffer a Tyrant longer to Reign than it is necessary for the punishment of the Sins of Men wherefore the best remedy against a Tyrant is the amendment of our Lives and constant Prayers to God. A serious Meditation upon the precepts of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ will easily teach us what is the Duty of Good Men toward evil Kings and Princes he who shall revolve with himself the precepts of loving Enemies can be no Mans Enemy much less his Kings he who is prepared to Bless them that Curse him and is resolved not to return rayling for rayling nor to pursue revenge of injuries will never speak irreverently nor Curse Crowned Heads nor lye in wait for their Life he who hath learnt that we must not resist evil but overcome evil with Good with Forbearance and Patience can never be a Rebel never be a Traytor These things the Apostles taught us these things the Fathers have deliver'd down to us and being bred up under these institutions they patiently suffer'd the most cruel Torments and by suffering overcame and to us their Posterity they have left this Example in whose steps it is much safer for us to tread than to give credit to the Authors of the new Doctrine that is contrary to it SECT V. King James when he came to the Crown brought learning enough with him to Vindicate his own Right and the Rights of other Princes and without vanity it may be Affirm'd that he hath managed that subject to Admiration in his Writings the greatest part of which were opposed to the Doctrines of the Romanists tho his Basilicon Doron smartly chastises the Disciplinarains This King in the Hampton-Court * p. 47 48. Conference severely Condemn'd some of the notes of the Geneva Bible as partial untrue seditious and savoring too much of dangerous and Trayterous Conceits as for Example the Marginal Note on 1. Exod. 19. alloweth disobedience to Kings on 2. Chron. 15.16 the Note taxeth Asa for deposing his Mother only and not killing her And to shew the agreement between Papists †P. 49 50. and some others in these Doctrines wereas Dr. Reynolds complain'd of a seditious Book written by one Ficlerus a Papist in behalf of the Pope against Queen Elizabeth called De jure Magistratûs in subditos the Bishop of London said that the Author of that Book was a great Disciplinarian whereby it did appear what advantage that sort of People gave
far as they command lawful things but if it so fall out that the Prince or any in Authority under him command things unlawful against the Commandment of God then it is better to obey God than Man yet so that we be content to bear any punishment that shall be laid upon us even to death it self as Daniel when the King made a wicked Edict would not yield unto it but yet was content to yield unto the punishment with patience and never went about to gather a Power against the King in his own Defence c. so that if the Magistrates Command be lawful the Subject must obey if he require an unlawful Obedience he must not rebel but suffer the punishment without grudging ☜ even in heart Eccl. 10.20 If the King be unjust and wicked we must pray God to convert him that as our Sins have brought an ill Governor over us so our Prayers may either remove or better him Bishop Hall's Contemplations The Inauguration of Saul 1 Vol. fol. p. 1029. Earthly Monarchs must walk by a Rule which if they transgress they shall be accountable to him that is higher than the highest who hath deputed them Not out of care of Civility so much as Conscience must every Samuel labour to keep eaven terms betwixt Kings and Subjects prescribing just moderation to the one to the other Obedience and Loyalty which whoever endeavours to trouble is none of the Friends of God or his Church The Death of Saul Lib. 14. p. 1084. Saul was none of the best Kings yet so impatient are his Subjects of the Indignity offered to his dead Corps that they will rather leave their own bones amongst the Philistins than the Carcass of Saul Such a close Relation there is betwixt a Prince and Subject that the dishonour of either is inseparable from both but how unnatural is the Villany of those Miscreants that can be content to be Actors in the Capital Wrong offered to Sovereign Authority Page 1085. Every drop of Royal Bloud is Sacred for a Man to say that he hath shed it is mortal The Death of Absalom Lib. 16. 1128. Strangers shall relieve him whom his own Son persecutes Page 1129. O holy David what means this ill-placed love this unjust mercy deal gently with a Traytor but of all Trayors with a Son Who can want courage to fight for a righteous Sovereign and Father against the Conspiracy of a wicked Son The God of Hosts with whom it is all one to save with many or with few takes part with Justice and lets Israel feel what it is to bear Arms for a traiterous Usurper Let no Man look to prosper by Rebellion the very thickets and stakes and pits and wild Beasts of the Wood shall conspire to the punishment of Traytors Page 1131. Even at this day very Pagans and Pilgrims that pass that way cast each man a stone into that heap and are wont to say in a solemn Execution Cursed be the Parricide Absalom and cursed be all unjust persecutors of their Parents for ever Fasten your Eyes upon this woful Spectacle O all ye rebellious and ungracious Children which rise up against the loins and thighs from which you fell and know that it is the least part of your punishment that your Carcasses rot on the Earth and your Name in Ignominy these do but shadow out those Eternal sufferings of your Souls for your full and unnatural disobedience Sheba's Rebellion Page 1132. That a lewd Conspirator should breath Treason is no wonder but is it not wonder and shame that upon every mutinous blast Israel should turn Traytor to God's anointed Contemplations Lib. 18. p. 1171. In the Case of Succession into Kingdoms we may not look into the Qualities of the Person but into the Right No Bond can be surer than the natural Allegiance of Subjects I do not find that the following Kings stood upon the Confirmation of the People but as those that knew the way to their Throne ascended their steps without aid Page 1174. How durst these seditious Mouths mention David in defiance One would have thought that very Name had been bale to have temper'd their fury and to have contained them within the limits off Obedience Blessed be God for lawful Government Even a mutinous Body cannot want a Head If the Rebellious Israelites have cast of their true Sovereign they must chuse a false Jeroboam Page 1175. The Civil defection was soon follow'd by the Spiritual As there are near respects betwixt God and his Anointed so there is great Affinity betwixt Treason and Idolatry They cannot return to God and hold off from their lawful Sovereign They cannot return to Jerusalem and keep off from God from their Loyalty How can they be mine whiles the Priests and Levites shall preach to them the necessity of their due obedience and the abomination of their Sacrifices in their wilful disobedience Bishop Hall's second Vol. Christ and Caesar p. 416. It is Religion that teacheth us that God hath ordained Kingly Sovereignty Rom. 13.1 ordain'd it immediately That Position was worthy of a Red-hat Potestas Principis dimanavit à Populo Pontificis à Deo. Bellar. Recog What need I persuade Christian Kings and Princes that they hold their Crowns and Scepters as in fee from the God of Heaven Cyrus himself had so much Divinity Ezra 1.2 It is Religion that teaches us that the same Power which ordained Caesar enjoins all faithful subjection to Caesar Not for fear but for Conscience Bishop Hall's third Vol. Pag. 118. 3. A promissory Oath which is to the certain prejudice of another Man 's Right cannot be attended with Justice 4. No prejudice of another Man's right can be so dangerous and sinful as that prejudice which is done to the right of publick and Sovereign Authority 5. The right of Sovereign Authority is highly prejudiced when private Subjects encroach upon it and shall upon suspicion of the diavowed intentions or actions of their Princes combine and bind themselves to enact establish or alter any matters concerning Religion without and therefore much more if against the Authority of their Lawful Sovereign 6. A Man is bound in Conscience to reverse and disclaim that which he was induced unlawfully to engage himself by Oath to perform 7. No Oath is or can be of force that is made against a lawful Oath formerly taken so that he that hath sworn Allegiance to his Sovereign and thereby bound himself to maintain the Right Power and Authority of his said Sovereign cannot by any second Oath be tied to do ought that may tend to the infringement thereof and if he have so tied himself the Obligation is ipso facto void and frustrate And according to this Doctrine was Mr. Dod's practice * Sir H. Yelverton's Pref. to Bishop Moreton of Episc for a little before Naseby fight King Charles of blessed memory sent the Earl of Lindsey to Mr. Dod to know his opinion of the War his Lordship found him ill
as much as to say do what they would have him * Id. on v. 4. p. 221. Who may say unto the King What dost thou i. e. first who hath any Authority to call him to an Account As much as to say none hath but God alone according to that of an eminent Rabbi No Creature may judge the King but the holy and blessed God alone To allow the People either collective or representative to have Power to do it is to make them Accusers Judges and Executioners also in their own Cause and that against their Sovereign nor secondly can any Man safely attempt it but he shall meet with Punishment either here or hereafter which is no new Doctrine but the same with that of S. Paul as Luther here honestly notes They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation which none shall be able to avoid Thus much the Author of Nature's Dowry is forced to acknowledge from the evident Light he saw in this place It is Wisdom saith he out of Elisha Gallico an Hebrew Interpreter in a private man when the Magistrate enjoins what is repugnant to God's Will to remove out of his Dominions rather than contest with him †Id. p. 223. The wisest thing we can do when Princes require any thing grievous unto us is not to rebel but to watch the fittest opportunities to petition for redress and that after such a manner as may not give offence V. 7. P. 224. Luther refers wholly to the miserable Condition of a Rebel in this manner He desires various things and hopes for mighty matters by his Disobedience but is mightily deceiv'd for of the very impunity which he promis'd himself he cannot be secure c. ‖ Id. in Eccles x. 20. Paraph. p. 277. Curse not the King c. but notwithstanding all this viz. consuming the publick Treasure c. as I advised thee before not to rise in Rebellion against thy Sovereign so now let me add that it is very foolish as well as wicked to be provoked by this ill management so much as to speak an opprobrious Word of him or his Ministers c. ‡ Annot. in loc p. 302. But whatsoever negligence or profuseness and waste there be it should not provoke any wise or good man to speak contemptuously of his Sovereign or of his Ministers * P. 306. It will not be unuseful much less unseasonable in such an unruly Age as this to let the Reader understand how deeply the first Reformers of Religion laid this Precept to heart by transcribing some of Luther's Admonitions in his Annotations on this Verse The worse and the more malignant says he the World is the more studious and laborious Solomon teaches us to be in the doing of our duty particularly in honoring Magistracy because it is a divine Ordinance and the better part of the World by which God manages all things under the Sun. But the Ungodly begin their Wickedness chiefly in the Contempt of Magistrates when they hear how God blames and reproves them in the holy Scriptures but it belongs to the divine Office to find fault with Magistrates and to rebuke them and therefore tho thou hearest it yet do not imitate it for thou art not God nor the Ordainer no nor the Reformer nor the Restorer of the divine Ordinance but as God reproves them so thee also in the holy Scriptures that thou may'st do thy duty and not meddle with what belongs to them The meaning therefore of Solomon is I have spoken much of Princes how they undo the World but do thou reverence them notwithstanding that for they are not an humane Ordinance but a divine St. Peter indeed calls the King an Humane Creature because he is assumed from among men but his Authority is divine and tho Princes be bad they are to be honored because of this Ordinance of God. Why then wilt thou speak evil of those who are vexed with so many and great cares and labours for thy Peace if they be good And if they be bad and foolish their own Impiety is mischief enough to them and brings them into sufficient danger Bear with them then and compassionate them rather than rail upon them and revile them c. Dr. Towerson on the fifth Commandment Those Powers are to be look'd upon as ordained by God which came to that Power they have as without any fraud or violence so by the ordinary Course of God's Providence Upon which account all those Powers must be look'd upon as ordain'd by God that either come to the Throne by a lineal Descent from former Kings where the Kingdom is Hereditary or by a free and unconstrained choice where it is Elective Part 5. p. 241. Pag. 251. There is no doubt it is in the Power of the Subject who conceives himself not to have deserv'd it so by flight to avoid if he can the falling under the Power of it the Sword Our Saviour having expresly given leave that if we be persecuted in one City we should to save our selves flee from that to another As little difficulty should I find if that were the thing in question to license the avoiding the Prince's Severity by appealing to his own Courts of Judicature where that is by Law so allowed as it is in several Cases here that being not to be looked upon as a Resistance much less an injurious one which is with the leave of him against whom it is directed But if the Question be concerning resisting by force of Arms and so avoiding the severity of the Prince so it is as certain both from the Scripture and Reason that we ought not to avoid it but rather with all readiness submit to the strokes of it Pag. 253. For tho it be true that a Prince hath no Authority to inflict an unjust Punishment yet he is privileg'd by the place he holds under God from being subjected unto Man and ought not therefore by any force to be brought into Subjection to him Pag. 254. Whosoever resisteth evil Powers must be thought in a particular manner to fight against God. What a disappointment must needs have been to the Counsels of the Almighty if it had been permitted Christians to resist Part 7. An Answer to several Pleas which are made in behalf of Resistance c. Pag. 257 258. That which generally draws Princes to the persecuting of those that are of a different Religion from themselves being not so much any hatred of their Religion as the Jealousie they have lest under the Pretences of that and the Assemblies which are made for it some secret Design against the State should lurk which Jealousie must needs be taken away when it appears to them from undoubted Experiments that they who do profess it will not attempt any thing against them how severely soever they may be handled by them To all which if we add the story of primitive Times too we shall not need to doubt of Religion's being more than
Spoil and Robbery of the Subjects may no less considering the nature of the Crime deserve such Punishment of Princes as they do 〈◊〉 People But because there is none in such Cases that can or ought duely and regularly to execute such Laws because there can be no such Execution without the Power of the Sword and there can be but one proper Subject of that Power in any Republick And of all guilt I know not whether any be greater than the assuming of such a Power which no ways belongs to a Man for better it were to take away ones Horse or to ravish another Man's Wife or to extort unjustly anothers Estate than to divest a Prince of his Right of Rule and usurp it to himself and that first because no Man's Estate or any thing that is his doth descend to him or otherways become his by the like divine Title as the Supream Power rightly posited and possessed doth to the Owner thereof and therefore this being more sacred the Invasion of this Right is much more wicked and unjust Secondly because a publick mischief and of general influence upon all is much more intolerable than a private But such a Violation of Princely Rights must of necessity draw a publick mischief on the whole civil Body I mean all the Subjects in such a Nation who shall be distracted between the sense of Obedience known otherwise to be due and the terror of usurped Power threatning ruine to such as comply not with their Injustice Pag. 104. Some late Demagogues have written for the promotion of Religion forsooth as well as Civil Liberty that to kill Tyrants and here I will not shew who they call Tyrants is as good an act as to slay Wolves Lions and Bears But I would fain know whence such a Law proceeded if not from Tyranny it self Even such persons who under colour of natural Law of returning evil for evil and self-preservation have done the greatest injustice imaginable not only against the person persecuted but the people who never at any time had power so to deliver themselves nor if they had did generally and unanimously or could confer the same on the new Pretenders to it That Law therefore of killing Tyrants invented by Tyrants taketh place on the Authors of it as much as any body else and where the like Power can be snatched up may have the same event on popular Statesmen as well as Kings and Princes For they are Tyrants too Mr. Jos Glanvil's Sermon of Christian Loyalty published by Anth. Horneck D. D. on Rom. 13.2 They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Pag. 153 154. Which words were spoken in the days of Nero who besides that he was an Heathen was a Persecutor and a Tyrant and the most infamous instance in Nature and yet this Monster is not excepted as to the tribute of Obedience Whereas had this been said in the days of such a Prince as our Charles the First it might have been suppos'd that the vertue of the Person claim'd the reverence and subjection and not the Character of the Prince And that 't was damnable to resist because he was good not because he was supreme because he was a Nursing-father of the Church not because the ruling Father of his Countrey 'T was an happy Coincidence therefore to secure the Authority of the Magistrate which answers the greatest pretensions of Rebellion If Religion be pretended an Heathen must not be resisted If Tyranny 't is damnation to oppose a Nero. Pag. 156. Kings wear God's Image and Authority but besides there is evidence enough in the nature of the thing to prove that Kings have their Power and Authority from God and are no Substitutes of the People Pag. 157 158 159. They that Rule are God's Substitutes and no Creatures of the People for the People have no power to govern themselves and consequently cannot devolve any upon another Resistance is opposite to the Spirit of Religion Religion is of a calm and pacifick temper like that of its Author whose voice was not heard in the street He commands the payment of all Duties to Cesar He acknowledgeth Pilates Power to be from above He commands his Disciples to pray for their Persecutors He permits them to fly not to oppose He rebukes Peter 's violence to the High Priests Servant and the revenge of the Disciples when they called for fire from Heaven He paid Tribute submitted to the Laws of the Sanhedrim and to that unjust sentence against his life This was his temper and the Apostles who liv'd among his Enemies and theirs and met with severity enough to have soured their spirits and exasperated their Pens to contrary resolutions and instructions yet as true followers of their dear Lord they faithfully transmit to us what they had learn'd from him viz. That we should obey those that have the rule over us submit to every Ordinance of Man pray for Kings and all in Authority submit to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates And those Noble Spirits of the first Ages after who began to be Martyrs as soon as to be Christians who lived in the Fire and went to Heaven wrap'd in those flames that had less arder than their love These I say amidst the greatest and fiercest fires that cruelty and barbarism had kindled paid the tribute of a peaceable and quiet subjection to their Murtherers and made unforced acknowledgments of the right they had to their obedience Pag. 157 158 159. Nor do we ever read of any attempts they made to free themselves by resistance though as Tertullian saith they were in powerful numbers mingled in their Villages and in their Cities yea in their Castles and in their Armies Yea there is an illustrious instance of Passive Obedience in the Thebean Legion whose tenth Man being executed for not offering sacrifice to Idols they quietly submitted to the Cruelty And a second Dicimation being commanded by Maximinian the Author of the first one of their great Commanders an excellent Christian persuades them to suffer it with the same patience because it was not with their Swords they could make their way to the Kingdom of Heaven but by another kind of Warfare Pag. 163. By a dear experience we have learned that 't is better to endure any inconveniences in a setled Government than to endeavour violent alterations Doctor Anth. The Letter he makes his own p. 478. and advises others to follow the Example of these Primitive Christians p. 541. Horneck's Letter to a Person of quality at the end of his best Exercise speaking of the heavenly Lives of the Primitive Christians he saith Pag. 496. They looked upon Christianity as a Religion that taught them to suffer valiantly Pag. 534. 535. To their Princes and Magistrates they were ever very submissive and in all lawful things obedient to a tittle In their Prayers they always remembred them and though they persecuted and afflicted them yet that did not abate their Zeal and Vows for their
may excuse themselves from their obligations to all the rest Will they plead that the Gospel is not a perfect Rule of Duty and that the inspired Writers did not foresee and provide for all cases c. Upon the same ground they dispense with one Law of Christ they may dispense with as many as they please P. 29. If the Magistrates be Ordained of God then it is no more lawful for an hundred thousand Men to resist him than for twelve and if we are bound to submit for Conscience sake no increase of our numbers or strength can alter the Rule of our Duty or take off the Obligation of Conscience ☜ So that had the Primitive Christians had more potent Arms than Nero or Julian yet no right ever could have accured to them thereby to oppose Gods Ordinance or to proceed against their Conscience P. 30. The Popes of Rome were the first pretenders from Scripture to a right not only of Resisting c. but of Deposing Kings Knox Milton Rutherford c. P. 40. could not have spit ranker venom at Kings or spoke with greater contempt of their Authority than Hildebrand And in another place thus P. 15. It always holds true with respect to the Sovereign Power in any Country what was said by Judge Creshald Legacy p. 5. both like a pious Christian and an able Lawyer concerning the Royal Authority of our Nation that the Jura Regalia of our Kings are holden of Heaven and cannot for any Cause Escheat to their Subjects nor they for any Cause make any positive or actual forcible resistance against them but that we ought to yield to them Passive Obedience by suffering the punishment albeit their commands should be against the Divine Law and that in such Case Arma nostra sunt preces nostrae nec possumus nec debemus aliter resistere for who can lift up his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless And thus the Author of Jeremiah in Baca or a Fast-days Work Published for the Devout Members of the Church of England as a Preservative for all them against Perjury and Rebellion speaks Rebellious Perjuries pag. 40 41 42 43 44. A further branch of Perjury there is which in the late Rebellious days involved a great part of the three Nations over and over Some Popular wicked Men Sons of Belial contrary to the Oath of the Lord upon them rose up against the Lords Anointed drew in against their Allegiance also many and many thousands of the People into that Rebellion and bloody War and when through thy just judgment upon the three Kingdoms for former sins those Perjured Rebellious Men had very far prevailed and imbrued their Hands not only in the common blood of their fellow Subjects but also in the sacred blood of their Sovereign and driven all the Royal Family into Foreign parts the dayly practice was making and taking new Oaths and imposing them upon the People and then both breaking them themselves and compelling others to break them O God! ☜ how many Rebellious Oaths were there framed contrary to that one rightful Oath of Allegiance every of which later Oaths were direct and solemn Perjury The dreadful effects of that Rebellion and those Perjuries we now see and we have all reason to fear the guilt of them will not cease operating to further vengeance upon the Nations for that there are still left therein Men of like wicked Principles But O God! when thou makest inquisition for blood shut not up the innocent with the guilty The Established Church thou knowest all along abhorred and withstood unanimously as one Man those false Treasonable and bloody practices and chose the utmost sufferings rather than joyn therein or in the least comply therewith Notwithstanding we acknowledge the multitude of the Offenders was so great that both the Rebellion and the Perjuries may affect the whole Body of the Nation For if thou wilt by no means hold them guiltless who take thy name in vain what may we all expect SECT XXX Mr. Wake * Serm. at Paris Jan. 30. 1684 / 5. p. 3. Speaking of the Murder of Charles the Marty◠Had an Infidel Nation risen up against him or the chance of War cut him off we should soon have turned our sorrow into joy But that we who were obliged by all the tyes of God and Men to obey him should destroy that life for which we ought not to have refused any hazard of our own that we who were certainly his Subjects and pretend to be Christians too should violate all the Rights of Majesty trample under feet all the Laws of the Gospel this raises those Clouds that obscure so bright a Day P. 10. Long had the Trumpet been blown to War and to Rebellion the Church become Militant and our Pulpits instead of setting forth the Gospel of Peace spoke nothing but Wars and Seditions and Tumults to the People Is there any one among us that by the malignity of his Nature the desperateness of his Fortunes or a misguided Zeal hath been actually concerned in this guilt P. 17 18. Is there any one now present who though unconcerned in that black Parricide is yet involved in any of those Principles that lead to it ☞ hath assisted approved or encouraged those new Rebels the Progeny of the same Old Cause that have again so lately endeavoured to Crown the Son with the like Glory their Ancestors did the Father let me beseech them either to sanctifie the Fast with us or not to join in the Celebration A Crime Pag. 22. which I should doubt had exceeded the Power of any Repentance to expiate had not the Apostles left us an Example by exhorting the Jews to labor for a Forgiveness Pag. 29. even of their crucifying the Lord of Glory Was there ever Villany like this that a Christian Kingdom should break through all those Bonds of Duty and Obedience which the more righteous Heathens have reverenced as sacred and inviolable ☜ that so many Oaths and Vows repeated with that frequency taken with that solemnity should all be insufficient to preserve our Fidelity that Religion and Reformation two things than which none can be more excellent in themselves nor are any more easily and more dangerously abused should be able to cheat us into wickedness which the barbarous Scythians never heard of Wake 's Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux c. Licensed by C. Alston The Peace and Liberty which we enjoy Pag. 88. The Close we do not ascribe to their i. e. the Papists Civility it is God's Providence and our Sovereign's Bounty whom the Church of England has ever so Loyally served whose Rights she asserted in the worst of times When to use our Author 's own words Perjury and Faction for this very cause loaded her with all the Injuries Hell it self could invent But we gloried to
suffer for our Duty to him then ☜ and shall not fail should there ever be occasion to do it again And we have this Testimony from our King which no time nor malice shall be able to obliterate That the Church of England is by Principle a Friend to Monarchy and I think cannot be charged to have ever been defective in any thing that might serve to strengthen and support it And in the Tract It is said in the Gospel Pag. 72. that Michael the Archangel disputing with the Devil would not bring any railing Accusation against him but was content to say to him only The Lord rebuke thee Because he looked upon God as him to whom Judgment and Vengeance belonged and yet we see that the Sons of Adam are bold and desperate enough not only to condemn but to destroy Dignities which they ought to reverence and to ruin them together with whole States as their fancy leads them Agreeable to what Dr. Dr. Beveridge's Serm concerning the Excellency and Usefulness of the Common Prayer Nov. 27. 1681. Pag. 34. l Beveridge hath upon the like occasion What our grand Adversary had done before by the Papists he afterwards brought about again by other means in the Reign of King Charles the First For by what kind of Spirit the Common Prayer was then cast out you all know and some of you found by woful experience All that I shall say of it is only this That the same Spirit that then stirred up them so violently against the Common Prayer stirred them up at the same time to rebel against their King contrary to all Law and Justice And whether that was the Spirit of Christ or Antichrist God or the Devil judge you Dr. Ironside * Serm. at Court Nov. 23. on 1 Pet. 4.15 p. 1 6. P. 8 9. S. Peter gives this Injunction as an Apostle not as a Statesman Of all Principles Obedience to Magistrates the great Eye-sore and the Execution of Justice the Support of the World will be always necessary to be taught and pressed upon the Conscience We are forbidden all kind of Revenge when others injure us in our Names Goods or Persons This was the Doctrine of our Saviour and this was the Practice of our Saviour Revenge is God's and he executes it 1. Immediately by himself and that sometime in this World always in the next 2. Mediately by the Power deputed to Men and the Magistrates are called Gods in that respect pag. 21. Suffer we must for Truth not defend or propagate it by violence and in this agree the Harmony of Confessions in all Reformed Churches whatsoever some turbulent Spirits of Scotland have written to the contrary pag. 27. Inferiors have no Right to meddle with Superiors at all unless it be to defend and obey nothing else no not so much as to counsel unless called to it much less to reprove sawcily pag. 32. or contumeliously to expose c. It is very observable how particular the Apostles are in laying out the respective Duties of Inferiors Obedience in this World is the great thing the Sins of Superiors are remitted to the other World ☞ and then great Men shall be greatly tormented p. 35 36 37 38. The Acts of the Apostles and the Life and Death of Christ are perfect submission to the Imperial Laws It is therefore a true and wise saying ☞ Sedition is worse than Murther and it is pity the Saying is found so often in the Alcoran and so seldom to be met with in the Practice of Christians There be three sins in the New Testament which are threatened with signal Judgments in this Life 1. The first is doing evil that good may come thereof such men's damnation saith the Apostle is just 2. Profaning the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 3. Profaning the Supreme Powers they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation That is these three sins make men liable not only to the Divine Wrath hereafter for so all sins without repentance expose to damnation but usually they are also attended with signal Judgments in this life and so let it be upon all the Troublers of the Earth that our Kings may be at rest and that we may lead a quiet life in all Godliness and Honesty SECT XXXI Dr. Isaac Barrow †Vol. 1. Serm. 10. p. 135. Are Princes bad or do they misdemean themselves in their Administration of Government or Justice We may not by any violent or rough way attempt to reclaim them for they are not accountable to us or liable to our Correction Do they oppress us or abuse us do they treat us harshly or cruelly persecute us We must not kick against them nor strive to right our selves by resistance We must not so much as rail or inveigh against them we must not be bold or free in taxing their Actions we must forbear even complaining and murmuring against them ☜ we must not so much as curse them in our thoughts To do these things is flat impiety against God and an invasion of his Authority who is the King of Kings and hath reserved to himself the prerogative of judging of rebuking of punishing Kings when he findeth Cause These were the Misdemeanors of those in the late times discovering therein great profaneness of mind and distrust of God's Providence as if God being implored by Prayer could not or would not had it been needful without such irregular Courses have redressed those Evils in Church or State which they pretended to feel or fear Pag. 136. In the primitive times prayers and tears were the only Arms of the Church whereby they long defended it from ruin and at last advanced it to a most glorious prosperity So Dr. Cave ‖ Primitive Christian part 3. ch 4. p. 321. There is scarce any particular instance wherein the primitive Christianity did more triumph in the World than in their exemplary Obedience to the Powers and Magistrates under which they lived honoring their persons revering their power paying their Tribute obeying their Laws wherein they were not evidently contrary to the Laws of Christ and when they were submitting to the most cruel Penalties they laid upon them with the greatest calmness and serenity of Soul Pag. 329 330. c. They were not patient for want of Power and because they knew not how to help it Julian's Army which was almost wholly made up of Christians ☞ withstood him only with prayers and tears accounting this saith S. Greg. Naz. to be the only Remedy against Persecution Pag. 351. I verily believe that had the Primitive Christians been no better Subjects than their Emperors were Princes had they practised on them those bloody Artifices which have been common among those that call themselves the only Catholicks that barbarous Dealing would have been a greater Curb to the flourishing of the Gospel ☞ than all the ten Persecutions for how could an impartial Heathen ever have believed
their Doctrine to have been of God had their Actions been so contrary to all the Precepts of Natural Divinity And in this matter does the Learned Dr. Dr. Dove's Serm. before the Sons of the Clergy 1687. Dove vindicate the Integrity of our Church in a few but as significant Words as any of his Brethren when speaking of some who suffered much for their Constancy to the Faith and their Fidelity to the Crown he terms them Two inseparable Notes of a genuine Son of the Church of England Dr. Puller * Moderat of the Ch. of Engl. ch 12. § 5. Other Sects deny the King's Supremacy in Matters Ecclesiastical either claiming a Power of Jurisdiction over him or pleading a Privilege of Exemption from under him where as the Clergy of the Church of England like good Christians and good Subjects neither pretend to any Jurisdiction over the Kings of England nor withdraw their Subjection from them †Sect. 6 7. And then he vindicates that Expression of Can. 1. of the Synod 1640. That the Order of Kings is most high and sacred The Moderation of our Church doth not favour any Doctrines or Practices which are prejudicial to the safety of human Society in general It doth no where pretend to remit the Divine Laws or dispense with Oaths or transfer the Rights of Kingdoms c. Contrariwise it requires of all of its Communion to give the King such Security of their Allegeance and Fealty as may be a sufficient Security to his Government ‖ Chap. 17. The Romanists and Separatists extremely agree in their Principles against the Civil Magistrate according to that of Bishop Lany * Bishop Lany's Serm. on 1 Thess 4.11 The Papists and Presbyterians hunt in Couples against the King's Power and Supremacy It is admirable to see how the Commonwealths Men in the times of the late Rebellion received their Principles from the ancient and modern Writers of the Jesuits and other Papists and still agree with them in most of the Republican Doctrines and Tendencies of them to the like Practices Both deny the Supremacy of the King one attributes it to the Pope originally the other to the People and the same Arguments which the Pope useth for his Supremacy over Kings the Disciplinarians use for establishing their Sovereignty The Pretence of the King's Authority against his Person was hatch'd under the Roman Territories and was made use of in the Holy League of France The Rules for making a King to be a Tyrant and then ceasing to be a King that it may be lawful to attempt any thing against his Person and Life are so much the same §. 20. that they cannot be more I need not here relate how many Doctrines of the Romanists tend to dissolve the very Bonds of relative Duty one towards another absolving People from their Oaths and Allegiance No Faith to be kept with Hereticks c. How do many Principles of our Enthusiasts and Separatists tend to destroy the Relations of King and Subject Bishop and People c. SECT XXXII Dr. Scott * Serm. July 26. 1685. p. 2. P. 13 14. Absalom accomplish'd his design partly by declaiming against the Maleadministrations of his Father's Government partly by promising them a thorough Reformation if ever he arrived to be a Judge in Israel Every Man knows or might easily know if he were not extremely wanting to himself that his King is the Vicegerent of his God and that being so he is indispensibly obliged by all the ties of Reason and Religion to submit to his Will and reverence his Person and bow to his Authority and that he cannot lift up his hand against him without fighting against God himself the Truth of which is as obvious to our natural Reason and as plainly asserted in holy Scripture as of any Proposition in Religion ☜ so that I dare boldly affirm a Man may find as many Pretexts for any Vice whatsoever even for Drunkenness Whoredom or Perjury as ever were made for Rebellion and were I to set up for a publick Patron of Wickedness I hardly know a Villany in nature so black and monstrous which I could not more plausibly recommend to Mens Reason and Consciences than this of Resistance against lawful Authority which is such a complication of Villanies such a loathsome mixture of hellish Ingredients as is enough to nauseate any Conscience but a Devil 's And tho Conscience and Religion are the Colors it usually marches under yet is the imposture of this Pretence so fulsome and bare-fac'd that no Man in his Wits can be innocently abused by it for certainly that Man must have a great mind to rebel his Will must have a strong Byass of Pride or Discontent Faction or Ambition in it that in despite of all the evidence from Reason and Scripture to the contrary can persuade himself that it is lawful for him and much less P. 15 16. that it is his duty to lift up his hand against his Sovereign And therefore for Men to appeal to God in a Cause so apparently wicked is not submissively to refer themselves to him but openly to mock and affront him and to make a vexatious Appeal to God's Judgment again in a Case which he hath so often and so expresly judged already is a common Barretry 't is not to consult but to tempt him and under pretence of submitting to his determinations openly to defie his Authority in effect it is to appeal from his Will to his Providence and to bespeak him to declare himself against his own Declarations In the case of Rebellion there is not only a peremptory Disobedience to those Laws of God which require our dutiful Submission to our lawful Superiors ☞ but also a direct Renuntiation of the divine Authority it self for all Sovereign Power is immediately founded in the Dominion of God who being the supreme Lord of the World no person can have right to govern in his Kingdom under him but by Commission from him Kings therefore are only accountable to him P. 17.18 and if so then for any of their Subjects to presume to call them to account by a publick form'd resistance is to arraign God's own Authority and invade his peculiar it is to thrust him out of his Throne and set themselves down in it and then to summon his Authority before them and require it to submit its awful Head to their imperious doom and sentence While therefore we behave our selves factiously and rebelliously towards those whom God hath set over us we live as Out-laws in the Kingdom of God without any respect to that visible Authority by which he governs the World and if this be so then for Subjects to rebel against their Prince is neither better nor worse than to appeal to God against his own Authority and to put this impious Case to him Whether it be he or they that have the Right of Governing the World. I profess * Id. Serm.
old saying Let us do evil that good may come thereof cries out that they speak Blasphemy and that such mens damnation is just as if he were pronouncing an Anathema Maranatha against such profane Men. But our modern Zelots how contrary are they to St. Paul They seem to have minded that one thing that they might exclude the King from his rightful Succession due to him by Inheritance and by the Laws of the Land c. Peter du Moulin * Vit. Molinaei Lond. 4◠p. 707. When he returned into France from England with much grief saw the Protestants ingaged in the Party of the Prince of Conde against the Queen Mother which War was indeed raised against the King himself and endeavoured both by his Sermons and his Letters to remove them from so unlawful a design †V. Du Moulin answ to Philan. Angl. p. 37. and the King's Party owes it to him that not one Protestant Town on this side the Loire joyned it self to the Prince of Condé And when he was forc'd to leave France and fix at Sedan the first Letter that he wrote was to the Commonwealth of Rochel as it was then called ' To persuade them to Peace to dissolve their Covnention and to throw themselves as they ought on the Kings Mercy advising them to obey the King and thereby to take away all pretence from their Enemies And if God saw fit that they should suffer extremity for every one that feared God would be sure to suffer for no other cause but for the Profession of the Gospel c. Nay du Moulin the Son says Ubi Supr p. 45. that the actions of the Men of Rochel were disallowed by the best and the most of their Church That they were exhorted to their Duty by their Divines And that this was the Sense of the National Synod of which du Moulin was the President but two months before he wrote his Letter This also is du Moulin's Doctrine * P. 795 c. Ed. Genev. 1635. in his Buckler of Faith That the Government of Kings is by Divine Right and founded upon the Ordinance of God and that God hath required Obedience to Magistrates as to those whom he hath established and that whosoever resisteth them resisteth God and that those who affirm that the Authority of Kings is of Human Institution put Kings upon maintaining their Interests by force c. That that Allegiance of Subjects is firm which is incorporated in Piety and is esteemed a part of Religion and of the service which we owe to God. And whatever the learned Hugo Grotius might have said in his Books de Jure Belli Grot. in Mat. xxvi 52. Pacis in his later Works wherein it may presumed he speaks his truest Sense he asserts this Doctrine which it appears he had well studied as if he had been a Member of the English Church whose Articles and Politie he so well understood and in whose Communion he resolved to have lived had not God in his Providence ordered it otherwise If it be once admitted says he that private Men when they are injured by the Magistrate may forceably resist him all places would be full of Tumults and no Laws or Judicatures would have any Authority since there is no Man who is not inclined to favour himself To this purpose * Vot pro pace ad art 16. pag. 66 〈◊〉 662. he censures the Practices and Writings of many of the French Church still excepting Camero confirming his Opinion by the Authority of King James and the Reasons of the University of Oxford that condemned Paraeus's Book †Animadver in animadv Riveti art 16. p. 644. For both Christ and his Apostles Peter and Paul have Preached the Doctrine that no force is to be opposed to the Supreme Power and that we ought to own and retain the Doctrine to be of Divine Right and Institution The Opinion of Monsieur Bochart the glory of the French Churche sis fully seen in his Epistle to Bishop Morley who among other reasons refused to Communicate with the Reformed Church in France because he thought they asserted the Doctrine of Resisting and Deposing Kings but Bochart expresly avers That the King is Gods Anointed and Lieutenant and so not in any case to be Resisted since he is accountable to none but God. That he who rises against his Prince is one of those Giants that fight against God. That David could not take away the Wife of Uriah Nor Ahab seize Naboth's Vineyard without being guilty of great sin but that when Samuel 1 Sam. viii 9. says of the King He shall take your sons and your daughters c. He means that when Kings commit such transgressions they are as uncontrolable as if the Actions had been lawful That in such cases a Nation ought to call upon God since there are no Human remedies against the force of a King for if a King may be resisted he cannot be a Sovereign for where Subjects may Resist they may Judge and consequently the Sovereignty is in them That when Julian Persecuted contrary to Law none of his Soldiers rose up against him though nothing was more easie would they have undertaken it since at his death it was plain that almost the whole Army was Christian David Blondel * De Formula Regnante Christo Sect. 2. §. 16. p. 172. p. 184. chastises Pope Gregory VII as for many other Usurpations upon Princes so for this among the rest for saying That a Prince hath his Power from the People contrary to what S. Paul says expresly of Nero that he was ordained of God affirming further that lawful Kings being guilty of ill management of their Power are accountable to and shall be punished by God who gave them that Power Pag. 187 but not to Men. That this Opinion that Kings were subject to any human Authority was brought into the Church near 1100 years after our Saviour came into the World when the Church could not be presumed to be in a better condition than it was when it flourished in the former Ages of Christianity And that no Man before Greg. VII ever owned the Power of any Man over Kings And this he proves from the Testimonies of Tertullian Pag. 188. Hosius of Corduba Basil Ambrose Hierom Arnobius junior Cassiodore and others who say That King David was above the coercive power of the Law nor could be called to account for his Faults And therefore says in his Confession to God Against thee only have I sinned If Subjects offend against the Laws of Justice the King corrects them but if the King offends who shall correct him None but he who is Justice it self all other persons are under the Restraint of Laws but Kings only are reserved to the Tribunal of God and therefore while according to the Apostle it is a terrible thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God it will be more terrible to Kings who have none on
Bishop Hacket P. 135 Dr. Plume ibid. Archbishop Sandcroft P. 136 Bishop Morley ibid. Bishop Wren P. 140 Bishop Laney ibid. Bishop Pearson ibid. Bishop Turner P. 141 Bishop Fell. P. 144 Bishop Thomas ibid. Earl of Clarendon ibid. Sir Robert Filmer P. 146 Sir Wid. Dugdale ibid. Dr. Lake Bishop of Chichester ibid. Dr. Allestrey P. 147 Dr. Sherlock ibid. Dr. H. Bâ—â—shaw P. 148 Dr. Falkner P. 149 Bishop Crofts P. 150 Dr. Griffith ibid. Dr. Jane P. 151 Dr. Outrant ibid. Sir Orlando Bridgman ibid. Sir Hencage Finch P. 152 The Harmony of Divinity and Law. ibid. Mr. Foulit ibid. Bishop Spratt ibid. Dr. Pâ—â—â—ck ibid. Dr. Fitz-Williams P. 153 Mr. Wagstaffe P. 154 Dr. Bisby ibid. Dr. Bernard ibid. Oxford notes on Josephus ibid. Dr. South P. 155 Several Addresses P. 156 Dr. Stillingfleet P. 157 Dr. Tennison P. 163 Dr. Patrick P. 166 Dr. Tillotson P. 167 Dr. Meggot P. 168 Dr. Hardy ibid. Dr. Goodman ibid. Dr. Burnet P. 169 Dr. Littleton P. 172 Dr. Will. Saywell ibid. Dr. Dove P. 174 Dr. Maurice P. 175 Dr. Williams P. 176 Dr. Grove P. 177 Dr. Staince ibid. Dr. Wake P. 180 Dr. Fowler P. 181 Mr. Evans ibid. Dr. Comber ibid. Dr. Pelling P. 182 Dr. Pierce P. 184 Dr. Whitby ibid. Mr. Lâ—ng P. 185 Dr. Fuller ibid. Dr. Sclater ibid. Dr. Hickman P. 186 Mr. Jos Pleydall ibid. Mr. Jemmat ibid. Mr. Stainforth ibid. Mr. David Jenner P. 187 Mr. Hancock ibid. John Goodwin P. 188 Mr. Smalridge ibid. Mr. Graile ibid. Mr. Pomfret P. 189 Mr. Nicholas Claget ibid. Dr. Carswell Vic. of Bray P. 190 CHAP. I. The Doctrine of Passive Obedience in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth when the Reformation of Religion was begun SECT I. THe two Hinges upon which the Papal Grandeur moves are the Supremacy and the Infallibility of S. Peter's Successor by the first they affright Princes from attempting a Reformation since no Man ought to controul his Superior who could excommunicate and depose him and by the second they exclude all complaints of inferior persons for what alterations ought to be made in a Church that cannot err Hereby they formerly kept the world in ignorance and a blind subjection for many Ages till it pleased God in great mercy to instruct the world that Princes were accountable to God alone whose Vicegerents they were and that all Bishops were in spiritual matters equally the Successors of our holy Saviour and his Apostles that no Man was free either from Vice or Error and that the Popes in a more especial manner had been guilty of both Idolatry and Heresie as well as gross and notorious Immoralities Among the Princes of Christendom King Henry the Eighth of England begun very early to assert his Rights and the he made not a complete Reformation himself dying in the Romish Communion as great Designs cannot be perfected in a moment yet the present Age owes to that great Prince its thanks for his abandoning the Peope his allowing the holy Scriptures in the English Tongue his abolishing many Shrines and Images to which the common People paid Idolatrous Worship and many other such Blessings In his days * Ann. 1536. Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester wrote his Book De Verâ Obedientiâ to which Bonner wrote a Preface a Book so well thought of by the eminent Protestants beyond Sea Printed in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Melchior Goldâ—sâ—us hath given it a place in his accurate Collection of Writers for the Power of Kings against the Papal Usurpations which Book was translated into English anno 1553. and therein we are taught this Doctrine In that place God hath set Princes whom as Representers of his Image unto men he would have to be reputed in the supreme and most high room and to excel among all other human Creatures as S. Peter writeth and that the same Princes reign by his Authority as the holy Proverbs make report By me saith God Kings reign insomuch that after Paul 's saying Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God. Which Paul opening that plainly unto Titus which he speaketh here generally commanded him to warn all men to obey their Princes Paul without difference biddeth men obey those Princes that bear the Sword. S. Peter speaketh of Kings by name Christ himself commandeth tribute to be paid unto Caesar and checked his Disciples for striving who should be the greatest Kings of the Nations quoth he bear rule over them declaring plainly in so great variety of Degrees and Orders which God doth garnish this world withal that the Dominion and Authority pertaineth to none but to Princes But here some man will say to me you travail about that that no man is in doubt of for who ever denied that the Prince ought to be obeyed It is most certain that he that will not obey the Prince is worthy to die for it as it is comprehended in the Old Law and also confirmed in the New Law. Obj. But we must see will he say that the King do not pass the Limits appointed him ☞ as tho there must be an Arbiter for the ordering of his Limits for it is certain that Obedience is due but how far the Limits of requiring Obedience extend that is all the whole Question that can be demanded What manner of Limits are those that ye tell me of Sol. seeing the Scripture hath none such but generally speaking of Obedience which the Subject is bounden to do unto the Prince the Wife unto the Husband or the Servant to the Master it hath not added so much as one syllable of Exception but only hath preserved the Obedience due to God safe and whole ☞ that we should not hearken unto any man's word in all the world against God else the Sentences that command Obedience are indefinite or without exception but are of indifferent force universally so that it is but lost labor for you to tell me of Limits which cannot be proved by any Testimony of Scripture We are commanded doubtless to obey in that consisteth our Office which if we mind to go about with the favour of God and man we must needs shew humbleness of heart in obeying authority how grievous soever it be for God's sake not questioning nor enquiring what the King what the Master or what the Husband ought or may command others to do and if they take upon them either of their own head or when it is offered them more than right and reason is they have a Lord unto whom they either stand or fall and that shall one day sit in Judgment even of them We have by testimony of God's Word shewn that a Prince's mighty Power is not gotten by flattery or by privilege of the people but given of God. Christ sought not an earthly Kingdom but the state of Orders remaining still he set forth and taught the Form of Heavenly Conversation which he by his own doings declared to consist in humility and contempt of worldly things when
he suffered the most bitter and cruel kind of Death for our sakes and the points of Office of him that is his Vicar are to be in subjection not to command Princes but to acknowledge himself to be under their power and commandment not only when they command things indifferent and easily to be done but also when they command things not indifferent so they be not wicked in checks in scourgings and beatings unto death yea even unto the death of the Cross Indeed these are Christs footsteps Now if it be objected against what hath been said that the Author of the Treatise Gardiner was a virulent Papist I answer this strengthens the Authority for the Testimony of an Enemy to the Truth of Religion is worth an hundred other Witnesses and it is very remarkable that a Romish Bishop should assert the Divine Right and unaccountableness of Kings when his Church teacheth him to believe that the Pope hath power to depose Princes and many of their eminent Writers affirm that all power is originally in and derived from the people And if it be further objected that Gardiner retracted and disowned this Doctrine in the Reign of Queen Mary I grant it and I wish that he and Bonner had been the only men in the world who had altered their Opinions for the worse being prevailed upon by the love of the world which is the root of all evil But Truth is never the less venerable because some Professors of it have turned Apostates Gardiner 's and Bonner 's Reasons * Vide Cranmer's Translat in praef before his Book of unwritten Verities being so pithy and Arguments so strong as neither they themselves nor any other after them shall be able at any time rightly to assoil and answer And it must be observed that before they condemned these their Orthodox Tenets they wilfully broke the Oaths which they had taken in the Days of Henry the Eighth and the venerable Dean * Reproof of Dorman p. 1.6 Lond. 1565. Nowel thus urges the Argument Ask your forsworn Fathers with what face they did give to the King the Title of Supreme Head did swear it to him and so long time continued so calling him If they did not so think as they said and had sworn but dissembled deeply ask of them with what face they played so false dissembling Hypocrites with their Sovereign Lord Ask of them what manner of Subjects they were all that while feigning in face in word in writing yea and taking a Solemn Oath to be with their Prince therein and being in heart and deed on his sworn Enemy his side But if they thought indeed as they pretended in words then ask of them with what face they did change their Copy ☞ and forswear the same and themselves withal so easily afterward yea and compelled all others to be forsworn with them for company Then you shall find who they were that changed their Copy and turned with the Wind as the Weather-cock that so falsly swear reswear trieswear and forswear themselves and not content therewith did by all most terrible Torments and dreadful Deaths compel others to Perjury with them And whoso considers Bonner's juggling Fox Martyrs To. 2. p. 1192 1193. Edit 1610. anno 1547. with King Edward the Sixth's Commissioners about the Injunctions at one time protesting against them at another recanting that his Protestation swearing Obedience to the King receiving his Injunctions giving his assent and consent to the State of Religion then established to the abolishing Images abrogation of the Mass setting up of Bibles in Churches giving the Sacrament in both kinds and such like And then two years afterward anno 1549. on the Death of the Lord High Admiral and the many tumultuous Insurrections of the King's Subjects neglecting to be present or to officiate in his Cathedral at Divine Service and permitting others to frequent the Mass may see his temper throughly and be convinced that his Authority is of no worth while his Reasonings are unanswerable it being unjust that his personal Faults should make void the weight of his Arguments especially when he spake not his own sense but the sense of the whole Church of England which will undeniably appear by the continuation of his story For when Bonner was for his prevarication suspected and complained of and convened before the King's Council among other Injunctions then given him one was that he should personally preach within three weeks after at Paul's Cross And among the special points and Articles that were to be treated of by him in his Sermon this was the first 1. That all such as rebel against their Prince get unto them damnation and those that resist the higher Powers resist the Ordinance of God and he that dieth therefore in Rebellion by the word of God is utterly damned and so loseth both body and soul and therefore those Rebels in Devonshire and Cornwal in Norfolk or elsewhere who take upon them to assemble a Power and Force against their King and Prince against the Laws and Statutes of the Realm and go about to subvert the State and Order of the Commonwealth not only to deserve therefore death as Traitors and Rebels but do accumulate to themselves eternal damnation even to be in the burning Fire of Hell with Lucifer the Father and first Author of Pride Disobedience and Rebellion what pretence soever they have as Corah Dathan and Abirom for Rebellion against Moses were swallowed down alive into Hell altho they pretended to sacrifice unto God. And 4. That our Authority of Royal Power is as of truth it is of no less authority and force in this our young Age than is or was of any of our Predecessors tho the same were much elder as may appear by example of Josias c. How Bonner discharged his Obedience to these Injunctions is not my present Province the Martyrology will inform the Reader but what is already related undeniably proves what was the Doctrine of the Church of England in those Days Anno 1541. was Dr. Robert Barnes martyred Vide his Life prefixed to his Works and at the stake he professed That he never to his knowledge taught any erroneous Doctrine but only those things which the Scripture led him unto and that in his Sermons he never maintain'd any Error nor gave occasion of any Insurrection but with all diligence did study evermore to set forth the Glory of God the Obedience to our Sovereign Lord the King and the true and sincere Religion of Christ desiring the People to bear witness that he detested and abhorred all evil Opinions and Doctrines against the Word of God. And his Writings are agreeable to his dying Protestation In his Supplication to King Henry the Eighth when condemned to die treating of the Cruelties of the Popish Clergy among other things he says If they cannot make a Man a Heretick P. 183. to colour and maintain their Oppression they add Treason against your Grace tho
☜ Moreover no Subjects may draw their Swords against their Prince for any Cause whatsoever it be nor against any other saving for lawful defence without their Prince's licence and it is their Duty to draw their Swords in defence of their Prince and Realm whensoever the Prince shall command them so to do And although Princes which be the Chief and Supreme Heads of their Realms do otherwise than they ought to do ☜ yet God hath assigned no Judges over them in this World but will have the Judgment of them reserved to himself and will punish them when he seeth his time and for amendment of such Princes that do otherwise than they should do the Subjects may not rebel but must pray to God which hath the Hearts of Princes in his Hands that he so turn their Hearts to him that they may use the Sword which he hath given them unto his pleasure SECT III. * viz. Oct. 2. A. 1528. as Jo. Fox informs us in his Edition of the Works of Tindal Berns and Frith An. 1573. p. 97. Long before this time did the Martyr William Tyndale otherwise as he says himself called William Hychins or Hitchins publish his Book of the Obedience of a Christian Man and in it asserts the same Doctrine notwithstanding his many personal Sufferings the Censure of his Books and the publick Condemnation of his Translation of the Holy Bible * viz. Oct. 2. A. 1528. as Jo. Fox informs us in his Edition of the Works of Tindal Berns and Frith An. 1573. p. 97. and it is worth nothing that the Doctrine of this Book relating to Non resistance was censur'd by the Romish Priests of that time In his Epistle to the Reader he says †Vid. 1st Part of Hist of Pas Obed. p. 20. Let us therefore look diligently whereunto we are called we are called not to dispute as the Pope's Disciples do but to dye with Christ that we may live with him and to suffer with him that we may reign with him We be called to a Kingdom that must be won with Suffering only as a sick Man winneth Health Tribulation is our right Baptism and is signified by plunging into the water we ‡ p. 98 99 100. that are baptized into the Name of Christ saith S. Paul are baptized to dye with him â—om 6. And this is the difference between the Children of God and of Salvation and between the Children of the Devil and Damnation that the Children of God have power in their Hearts to suffer for God's Word which is their life and salvation their hope and trust And the Children of the Devil in time of adversity flee from Christ whom they followed feignedly God is ever at hand in time of need to help us Tyrants and Persecutors are but God's Scourge to chastise us and he lets them do not whatsoever they would but as much only as he appointeth them to do and as far forth as is necessary for us let us therefore arm our selves with the promises both of help and assistance and also of the glorious reward that follows The same Martyr in his Prologue unto the Book saith pag. 104 105 106. I have made this little Treatise that followeth containing all Obedience that is of God. Now as ever the most part seek Liberty they be glad when they hear the unsatiable Covetousness of the Spirituality rebuked When Tyranny and and Oppression is preach'd against And therefore because the Heads will not so rule will they also no longer obey but resist and rise against their evil Heads And one wicked destroyeth another yet is God's Word not the cause of this neither yet the Preachers for tho that Christ himself taught all Obedience how that it is not lawful to resist wrong but for the Officer that is appointed thereto and how a Man must love his Enemy and pray for them that persecute him and how that all Vengeance must be remitted to God Yet the People for the most part received it not ☞ they were ever ready to rise and to fight Thus seest thou that it is the bloody Doctrine of the Pope that causeth Disobedience Rebellion and Insurrection for he teacheth to fight and to defend his Traditions and to disobey Father Mother Master Lord King and Emperor where the peaceable Doctrine of Christ teacheth to obey and to suffer for the Word of God and to remit the Vengeance and defence of the Word to God which is mighty and able to defend it And in the Treatise it self Tyndale having first treated of the Duties of Children Wives and Servants proceeds to discourse of the Obedience of Subjects unto Kings pag. 109 110. Princes and Rulers out of Rom. 13. averring That as a Father over his Children is both Lord and Judg forbidding that one Brother revenge himself of another but if any cause of Strife be between them will have it brought to himself or his Assigns So God forbiddeth all men to avenge themselves and taketh the Authority of avenging to himself saying Vengeance is mine I will reward For it is impossible that a Man should be a righteous an equal or indifferent Judge in his own Cause Lusts and Appetites so blind us God therefore hath given Laws to all Nations and in all Lands hath put Kings Governours and Rulers in his own stead to rule the World through them and hath commanded all Causes to be brought before them as thou readest Exod. 22. where the Judges are called Gods because they are in God's room and execute the Commandments of God And in another place of the said Chapter Moses chargeth saying See that thou rail not on the Gods c. Whosoever therefore resisteth them resisteth God for they are in the room of God and they that resist shall receive their damnation Tho no man punish the breakers of the Law yet shall God send his Curses upon them till they be utterly brought to nought Neither may the inferior person avenge himself upon the superior or violently resist him for whatsoever wrong it be ☜ if he do he is condemn'd in the deed doing in as much as he taketh upon him that which belongeth to God only when he saith Vengeance is mine c. and Christ saith All they that take the Sword shall perish by the sword Takest thou a Sword to avenge thy self So givest thou not room to God to avenge thee but robb'st him of his most high Honor in that thou willt not let him be Judg over thee If any man might have avenged himself upon his Superior that might David most righteously have done upon King Saul which so wrongfully persecuted David even for no other cause than that God anointed him King. Yet * 1 Reg. 24. when God had deliver'd Saul into the hands of David and his Men encouraged him to slay him he answered The Lord forbid it me that I should lay my hand on him And †Cap. 26. when Abishat would have nailed
Saul with his Spear to the ground David forbad him saying Kill him not for who shall lay his hands on the Lord's anointed and not be guilty c. * Pag. 111. Why did not David slay Saul seeing he was so wicked not in persecuting David only but in disobeying God's Commandments and in that he had slain Eighty five of the Priests wrongfully Verily for it was not lawful for if he had done it he must have sinned against God for God hath made the King in every Realm Judg over all and over him is there no Judg He that judgeth the King judgeth God and he that layeth hands on the King layeth hands on God and he that resisteth the King resisteth God and damneth God's Laws and Ordinance If the Subjects sin they must be brought to the King's Judgment if the King sin he must be reserved to the Judgment Wrath and Vengeance of God And as it is to resist the King so is it to resist his Officer which is set or sent to execute the King's Commandment When * Luk. 13. they shewed Christ of the Galileans whose Blood Pilate mingled with their own Sacrifice he answered Suppose ye that those Galileans were greater Sinners c. this was told Christ no doubt of such an intent as they asked him Matt. 22. Whether it were lawful to give Tribute to Cesar For they thought it was no sin to resist a Heathen Prince as few of us would think if we were under the Turk that it were Sin to rise against him and to rid our selves from under his Dominion so sore have our Bishops robb'd us of the true Doctrine of Christ But Christ condemn'd their Deeds and also the secret Thoughts of all others that consented thereto saying Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish as who should say I know that you are within your Hearts such they were outward in their Deeds and under the same Damnation except therefore ye repent betimes ye shall break out at the last into like Deeds and likewise perish as it came afterwards to pass Hereby seest thou that the King is in this World without Law and may at his lust do right or wrong and shall give Accounts but to God only The same Martyr in his Preface to the Practice of Popish Prelates set forth An. Dom. 1530. Unto all Subjects be it said if they profess the Law of God Pag. 342. and Faith of the Lord Jesus and will be Christ's Disciples then let them remember that there was never any Man so great a Subject as Christ was There was never Creature that suffer'd so great Unright so patiently and so meekly as he Therefore whatsoever they have been in times past let them now think that it is their parts to be subject in the lowest kind of Subjection and to suffer all things patiently If the High Powers be cruel unto you with natural Cruelty then with softness and patience ye shall either win them or mitigate their fierceness If they joyn them unto the Pope and persecute you for your Faith then call to mind that ye be chosen to suffer here with Christ that you may joy with him in the Life to come If they command that God forbiddeth or forbid that God commandeth then answer as the Apostles did That God must be obey'd more than man. Act. 5. If they compel you to suffer unright then Christ shall help you to bear and his Spirit shall comfort you But only see ☞ that neither they put you from God's Word nor ye resist them with bodily Violence but abide patiently c. And as for Wickedness whence it springeth and who is the cause of all Insurrection and of the fall of Princes and of the shortning of their days upon the Earth thou shalt see in the Glass following CHAP. II. The Doctrine of Passive Obedience in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth SECT I. IN the beginning of this pious Prince's Reign the Homily of Obedience was publish'd and in his Second Year Ann. 1548. the King Ch. Hist Cent. 16. lib. 7. pag. 38 8 / 9. says Fuller by his Proclamation did for a while prohibit all sort of Preaching that the Clergy might apply themselves to Prayer and the Layity to Prayer and hearing the Homilies So venerable an esteem had the wise and good Men of that Age of the now so much despised Homilies and I am enclinable to believe one great reason why they have since faln into Contempt is because they so earnestly press Subjection to Authority and forbid Sedition and Resistance Ann. 1550. Because of the scarcity of Preachers it was ordain'd Heyl. Hist of the Reform An. 1550. pag. 94. That of the King 's Six Chaplains two should be always about the Court the other four travelling abroad the first Year two in Wales and two in Lincolnshire the second Year two in the Marches of Scotland and two in Yorkshire the third Year two in Devonshire and two in Hamshire the fourth Year two in Norfolk and two in Essex c. and so till they had gone through the whole Kingdom so rare was Preaching in those days To supply the want of which the same Year a Postil or Collection of most godly Doctrin upon every Gospel through the Year was printed cum privilegio and in the Sermon on the Gospel for the Twenty third Sunday after Trinity the People are thus instructed in their Duty Here is to be noted the Difference that Christ maketh between the Kingdom of God and this World for he doth not only approve and allow this high Power and politick Life but also confirmeth it for the Kingdom of God or of Christ is spiritual and contrariwise the Kingdom of the Emperor is worldly it is visible in which the Emperor himself governeth and beareth rule mightily with his Lords and Princes Luc. 22. as the Scripture witnesseth in another place The Kings of the World have dominion over the People and they that bear rule over them are called Gracious Lords Nevertheless that Kingdom is of God and established by God's Ordinance in such wise that he that resisteth this Ordinance Rom. 13. resisteth God himself Thinkest thou that Princes and great Lords in the Scripture are called God's in vain and without a cause Psal 81. For if they be Gods and are made by God Partakers of his Magnificence then must they needs be in God's stead whose room they bear therefore seeing they rule in God's stead it is both meet and convenient to give them that we are bound to give them but what are those things S. Paul setteth them forth Rom. 13. and saith Give unto every Man his Duty Tribute to whom Tribute belongeth c. Here thou hearest what thou art bound to give to high Powers But peradventure thou wilt say Shall I give Obedience unto a Tyrant ☞ or to an ungracious Prince or Lord Yea truly thou art bound both to give and obey him for what
trouble than Christ himself hath appointed us In St. Luke he giveth us this commandment ye shall possess your lives in patience saith he in the which words he giveth us both commandment what to do and also great consolation and comfort in all troubles he sheweth also what is to be done and what is to be hoped for in troubles and when troubles happen he biddeth us be patient and in no case violently ☜ nor seditiously to resist our persecutors because God hath such care and charge of us that he will keep in the midst of all troubles the very hairs of our heads so that not one of them shall fall away without the will and pleasure of our Heavenly Father Wherefore the Christian Man's Faith must be always upon the Resurrection of Christ p. 150. when he is in trouble and in that glorious Resurrection he shall not only see continual and perpetual joy and consolation but also the victory and triumph of all persecution trouble sin death hell c. the pains also they vex us withal for the time if they tarry with us as long as we live p. 153. yet when death cometh they shall avoid and give place to such joys as be prepared for us in Christ for no pains of the World be perpetual and whether they shall afflict us for all the time of our mortal life we know not for they be the Servants of God to go and to come as he commandeth them But we must take heed we meddle not forcibly nor seditiously to put away the persecution appointed unto us by God ☞ but remember Christ's saying possess your lives by your patience and in this commandment God requireth in every Man and Woman this patient obedience He saith not it is sufficient that other Holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Evangelists and Martyrs continued their lives in patience and patient suffering the troubles of this World but Christ saith to every one of his People by your own patience ye shall continue your life Now therefore as our Profession and Religion requireth patience outwardly without resistance and force so requireth it patience of the mind and not to be angry with God although he use us that be his own creatures as him listeth c. Nor is it to be pretermitted that Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon who published the Letters of Bishop Hooper and other the Martyrs in his Epistle to the Christian Reader praiseth God for these and such other Monuments which he had preserved and brought to light by his singular great providence because the more nigh that mens words and works approach unto the most wholsom sayings and fruitful doings of the old ancient Saints and chosen Children of God which loved not only to hear his word but also to live thereafter the more worthy are they to be esteemed embraced and followed and we have just cause to rejoyce that we have been familiar and acquainted with some of those which walked in the trade of their footsteps for the which cause it doth us good to read and hear not the lying Legends of feigned false counterfeited and Popish Canonized Saints but such true holy and approved Histories Monuments Orations Epistles and Letters as do set forth unto us the blessed behavior of God's dear Servants By which it appears that he was of their opinion in this as well as other Primitive Doctrins of the Reformed Church of England in opposition to the Novel and false assertions of the Church of Rome and so we have another eminent Confessor of those early days of the Reformation attesting the truth in the point of Non-resistance It is also remarkable that at that time the Protestants were no contemptible party of Men in the Nation that Queen Mary had been disinherited by Act of Parliament a Bill of Exclusion past into the formality of a Law and that for illegitimacy as it is their declared that the Crown was given to another by the Will of Edward VI. that Queen Mary was both a Papist and a Persecutor and turn'd the Protestant Bishops out of their Sees even before a Parliament made it Law and yet the Holy Men of those days in their Letters to their Friends and Followers treat only of Patience and Submission to Providence of looking to our Blessed Saviour and suffering without Murmuring as he did and that to resist even the Queen was a damnable sin when they wanted not abettors nor opportunities of conveying their thoughts privately to them and I am sure they were not to seek for courage and resolution who so frankly and undauntedly condemn'd the Popish Superstitions and Idolatries when they had nothing in prospect but Prisons and Executions nay those Protestants who had given their Votes for her Exclusion repented of their crimes while others of the same belief stood by her in her distress and placed her on her Throne SECT III. In the Reign of this Pious and Learned Prince Edward VI. Old Father Latimer * In Coverdale's Collect. of Letters p. 56. that Old True Apostle of our English Nation and of Christ as Bishop Ridley his Fellow Prisoner and Companion in Martyrdom calls him that generous and honest Man who when the Parliament Anno 1539. had confirmed the Six Articles the Whip with Six Cords as they were justly called voluntarily chose to abandon his Bishoprick Godwin's Annals p. 172 173. 229. rather than conform to so unjust a Law and abstained Ten years from Preaching till after the death of Henry VIII he was restored did notwithstanding his great plainness dominari in concionibus filling the Pulpit with a mighty Grace nor was he wanting in those days to bear witness to this Doctrin for in his explanation of that Petition of Our Holy Saviours Prayer Thy will be done he says Our Rebels 4th Serm. on the Lord's Prayer p. 142. Lond. 1635. which rose about two years ago in Norfolk and Devonshire they consider not this Petition they said it with their lips only but not with their hearts Almighty God hath reveal'd his will as concerning Magistrates how he will have them to be honour'd and obey'd they were utterly against it he revealed this his will in many places of the Scripture but especially by St. Peter where he saith 1 Pet. 2.13 subditi estote omni humanae creaturae that is to say in effect be subject to all the common Laws made by Men of Autority by the King's Majesty c. be subject unto them and obey them saith God and here is but one exception that is against God when Laws are made against God and his word then I ought more to obey God than Man ☞ then I may refuse to obey with a good Conscience yet for all that I may not rise up against the Magistrates nor make any uproar for if I do so I sin damnably I must be content to suffer whatsoever God shall lay upon me yet I may not obey their wicked Laws to do them only in
such a case Men may refuse to obey else in all other matters we ought to obey what Laws soever they make as concerning outward things we ought to obey and in no wise to rebel though they be never so hard noysom and hurtful Our duty is to obey and to commit all the matters to God not doubting but that God will punish them when they do contrary to their office and calling therefore tarry till God correct them we may not take upon us to reform them ☞ for it is no part of our duty If the Robels I say had consider'd this think you they would have preferr'd their own will before God's will for doing as they did they prayed against themselves * Id. Serm. on Ep 21. Sund after Trinity p. 196 197 Subjects may not of their own private autority take the sword or rebel against their King for when they rebel they serve the Devil for they have no commission of God so to do but of their own head they rise against God that is against the King to whom they owe obedience and so worthily be punish'd therefore good Christian People beware of rebelling against our Sovereign Lord the King. ‖ Id. 24. Sund after Trin. p. 216. The calling of the Subjects is to be obedient unto the Magistrates not to rebel against them for if they do they strive against God himself and shall be punish'd of him Another cause why Christ was circumcised is Id. Serm. on the Twelfth day p. 291. to be obedient unto common orders therefore he would suffer rather to be circumcised than to give occasion of hurly burly or uproar for the will of the Father was that Subjects should obey Magistrates and keep orders Subjecti estote cuivis potestati be obedient unto them c. look what Laws and Ordinances are made by the Magistrates we ought to obey them and this is to be understood as well in spiritual matters as temporal matters so far forth as the Laws be not against God and his Word When they will move us to do any thing against God then we must say Oportet magis obedire Deo quam hominibus we must be more obedient unto God than Man ☞ yet we may not withstand them with stoutness or rise up against them but suffer whatsoever they shall do unto us for we may for nothing in the World rebel against the Office of God that is to say against the Magistrate CHAP. III. The Doctrine of Passive Obedience in the Reign of Queen Mary SECT I. UPon the Death of King Edward VI. so prevalent were the two Families of Northumberland and Suffolk that they made a great Party to oppose the legal Succession of the Right Heir their abettors being countenanc'd and encouraged by the last Testament of King Edward but as * Cent. 16. p. 1. Fuller rightly observes the Will of the Duke of Northumberland but whatever was done in defence of the Lady Jane Grey was contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England which taught her Children better and more wholsom Doctrine and though Archbishop Cranmer were one of the Subscribers to that Will and to the Letter sent after Edward the sixth's Death to Queen Mary yet there is much to be said in Apology for him For first Cranmer ‖ Heyl. Hist of the Refor p. 152. Fox Burnet and Godwin c. of all the Privy Council was the last that stood out having at first positively refused to sign the Will and after much reasoning and many arguments urged for the Queens Illegitimation required a longer time of deliberation and at last could be overcome by nothing but the King 's own restless importunity To whom the Archbishop had as he ought a great regard and this his resolution so prevail'd upon his Judges that though at first they committed him to the Tower with the Lady Jane Fox tom 2. p. 1289. and the Duke of Northumberland's Sons for High Treason yet though they prosecuted his Fellow Prisoners on that Statute they let fall their Action against him and prosecuted him only for Heresie to his great joy as Fox relates it The same ‖ p 1698. Author assuring us that Dr. Heath afterwards Archbishop of York did affirm to one of Archbishop Cranmer's Friends that notwithstanding his Attainder of Treason the Queens Determination at that time was that Cranmer should only have been deprived of his Archbishoprick and had a sufficient Living assign'd him with commandment to keep his House without meddling in matters of Religion Secondly that the Archbishop was encouraged so to do * Id. ibid. by the Example of all the Nobles of the Realm and the States and Judges Sir James Hales only excepted for the Lord Chief Justice Mountague had after much ado subscribed the Lawyers especially assuring him that it was no breach of his former Oath so to do And it is well known that if any thing exasperated Queen Mary against him it was not the signing of King Edward's Will but her Mother's Divorce which Cranmer so actively promoted Thirdly The Reasons were specious both from * Hâ—yl Hist Reform ann 1553. p. 151 152. Burn. par 2. p 223. Law and Policy as they were then stiled that both the Sisters were declared illegitimate and that by Act of Parliament and that were they not so yet being but of the half Blood to the King by the Law they could not succeed nor could any Foreigner by the same Law. And that the Duchess of Suffolk had waved her Title and then the Right was in the Lady Jane that this was the only way to preserve the Nation from the Vassalage and Servitude of the Bishop of Rome and from subjecting the Realm to Foreigners if the Sisters should marry out of it Fourthly Par 2 hist l. 1. p. 224. Dr. Burnet affirms that as nothing but the King 's own importunities could prevail on the Archbishop so it 's probable that he signed it only as a Witness and not as Counsellor according to a Distinction then found out by Sir William Cecil Secretary of State. But lastly This act was no Declaration of the Archbishop's Judgment in the Case of the Deprivation Deposition or resisting of Kings against which he protested through the whole tenor of his life He it was that was if not the Author * Fox p. 1697. yet the main Contriver Approver and Publisher of the Book of the Reformation the Catechism with the Book of Homilies as also of the Necessary Erudition of a Christian Man. In which Books the Power of Kings and the Necessity of Obedience together with the wretched Estate of Rebels and such as resist Authority is plainly set forth He calls the Insurrection against †Vide Herbert Hâ—â—â— 3. p. 457 King John as much as others magnifie it and what followed it plain Rebellion And having contrary to that Truth suffered himself to be over-persuaded in this one particular he publickly
to draw it up nor would at last be brought to a compliance till he had his pardon sign'd for so doing and had been called Traitor by the Duke of Northumberland for his refusal his own Narrative which Fuller hath published declares That being an old weak man and without comfort in great fear and dread as were his Brethren with weeping eyes and sorrowful hearts they devised the said Book according to such Articles as were devised with the King 's proper hand above and beneath and on every side he thinking in his Conscience that the King never invented this matter of himself but by some wonderful false compass Montague determining with himself to be no Executor of the said Device whatsoever should chance of it Nor did he ever execute any Commission Proclamation or other Commandment from the Lady Jane or her Council but commanded his Son and Heir with twenty Men to join himself with the Buckinghamshire Men for the Defence of Queen Mary By this it appears that it was fear that swayed the greatest part of the Council and Judges at that time I say the greatest part of the Judges because * Sir James Hales one of the Justices of the Common Pleas Heyl. ubi supr ann 1553. p. 192 193. Fuller ubi supr p. 6. Bâ—unet par â— l. 1. p. 223. Fox tom 2. p. 1392. carried the Honor of a resolute and constant Man a Man both religious and upright whom no importunity could prevail upon to subscribe contrary to both Law and Conscience and tho he was afterward most unworthily requited by Queen Mary for it yet the Council would not find a Bill against him for High Treason upon this very account He was a Man * Tom. 2. p. 1278 1282. says Fox both favouring true Religion and also an upright Judge as any hath been noted in this Realm Of both which excellent Qualifications he gave a publick demonstration in that after the Queen's countenancing and establishing of the Mass he at a publick Assize in Kent gave Charge upon the Statutes made in the time of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth for the Supremacy and Religion for which notwithstanding he had adventured his Life in Queen Mary's Cause in that he would not subscribe to the disheriting of her by the King's Will he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea Counter and Fleet and cruelly handled It is true the Severities of his Usage in Prison and the frightful Accounts which the Warden of the Fleet gave him of the Tortures appointed for Hereticks made him very melancholy in as much as he was as Fox continues his Story being perverted by Dr. Day Bishop of Chichester * Fox tom 2. p. 1331 1393. c. contented to say as they willed him or as Bishop Ridley in his Letter to Archbishop Cranmer words it he recanted perverted by Dr. Moreman And so just sometimes are God's proceedings with even a good man when he forsakes the ways of Truth as to leave him to walk in the paths of his own chusing to his ruin †Cons Bradfords Letter in Coverdale's Collect. p. 312. for the Consideration of this Apostacy so wrought upon him that he attempted in Prison to dispatch himself with a Pen-knife and after his Releasement was found drowned in a small River SECT III. And having entered into this Story I shall proceed a little further to shew how the Protestants of * Id. ibid. p. 1279 1280. Heyl. Bar. Full. ubi supra Suffolk were the Men who first resorted to Queen Mary when she was at Fremlingham Castle and gave her such aid and assistance as dispirited Northumberland and his Army and baffled all the Designs of her Adversaries And that it may be fully known what Principles swayed those good Men to assist their lawful Prince tho a known Papist and of a severe temper against an Usurper a profest Protestant and of other most amiable Qualifications it is worth the considering * Fox tom 2. p. 1726 1727. that when about the latter end of 1555 or the beginning of 1556 Commissioners were sent by Queen Mary and the Council into Norfolk and Suffolk among other Counties to enquire of matters of Religion an humble Supplication was exhibited by certain Inhabitants of the County of Norfolk wherein they profess ' That they were poor men but true faithful and obedient Subjects who as we have ever heretofore so intend we with God's Grace to continue in Christian Obedience unto the end and according to the word of God with all reverend fear of God to do our bounden duty to all those superior Powers whom God hath appointed over us doing as S. Paul saith Rom. 13. Let every soul be subject c. These Lessons right honorable Commissioners we have learned of the holy Word of God in our Mother Tongue 1. That the Authority of a King Queen c. is no tyrannical Usurpation but a just holy lawful and necessary Estate for man to be gâ—verned by and that the same is of God the Fountain and Author of Righteousness 2. That to obey the some in all things not against God is to obey God and to resist them is to resist God ☜ therefore as to obey God in his Ministers and Magistrates bringeth life so to resist God in them bringeth punishment and death The same Lesson have we learn'd of S. Peter saying Be ye subject to all human Ordinances c. 1 Pet. 2. After which with the Resolution and Courage of true Christian Confessors they profess That the Religion lately set forth by King Edward is such in our Consciences as every Christian Man is bound to confess to be the Truth of God to embrace the same in heart to confess it with mouth and if need require lose and forsake not only House and Land c. but also if God will so call them gladly to suffer all manner of Persecution and to lose their Lives in the Defence of God's Word and Truth We have learned the holy Prayer made for the Queen's Majesty wherein we learn that her Power and Authority is of God therefore we pray to God for her that she and all Magistrates under her may rule according to God's Word We think at present the unquiet multitude had more need to have these things more often and earnestly beaten and driven into them especially given in many places to stir and trouble than to take from them that blessed Doctrin whereby only they may to their Salvation be kept in quiet After which reflecting upon the Assistance which they and the Suffolk Men gave the Queen against the Lady Jane Grey they subjoin We protest before God we think P. 1728. if the holy Word of God had not taken some root among us ☜ we could not in times past have done that poor Duty of ours which we did in assisting the Queen our most dear Sovereign against her Grace's mortal Foe that then sought her Destruction It was our
the deformity of your fault c. an unnatural hope it is and a beastly to joyn with any strangers to the spoil of their own Country but such is the nature of that false Religion to regard no Country faith nature or common honesty SECT II. Antonius Corranus of Sevil a Learned Spaniard an excellent Person as Dr. Patrick with reason calls him spent much of his time in England and as appears by his Writings very well understood our Doctrine after he left his Country for the sake of a good Conscience he Preach'd ten years in France as he did also for some time in Flanders still reserving himself when God should give him an opportunity to Preach to his own Countrymen which he afterwards did for two years in London till that Congregation of Exil'd Spaniards was dissolv'd after which an 1571. he was chosen by the Templers to read his Lectures among them and their choice was confirm'd by Edwin Lord Bishop of London In the first year of his Ministry he expounded the Epistle to the Romans and out of that larger Commentary he Printed an 1574. a Theological Dialogue between St. Paul and one of his Roman auditors for this among other reasons that it might witness the purity of his Doctrine and how much he abhorr'd the Opinions of the Sectaries that then disturb'd the Church In this Dialogue having shown from the close of the 12th Chap. that we ought to overcome our Enemies perversness and malign temper by our goodness and patience he continues to Paraphrase the 13th Chapter thus Rom. I could wish from my Soul that this Doctrine so useful and necessary to our quiet were embrac'd by all Men but O horrid wickedness many of our Church begin not only to revenge themselves on their Persecutors but dare take Arms and resist the Magistrates and Judges that hinder the Preaching of the Gospel Paul They who think that the sufferings of Christians hinder the propagation of the Gospel are extreamly deceived for the blood of the Martyrs waters the Garden of the Church but do you who love Religion mind this Precept that every one that hath given up his name to Christ be subject to the higher Powers for why are they placed in a superior Station but that their inferiors may be subject unto them Rom. But what if Princes either Hereditary or Elective be evil or cruel must we obey them Paul What should hinder for we are not to consider our Rulers as private Men but to reverence them as constituted by God for there is no power but what is of God if they inclined by the fear of God promote piety their example does great good but if they do otherwise we ought to consider the Vengeance of God who for the Sins of a Nation sets over them Hypocrites and Dissemblers But even this Dispensation of God brings with it advantage to the godly Rom. Then you S. Paul are of that opinion that it is not lawful to take Arms against Princes and Magistrates tho they hinder the Gospel and would Murther and destroy us Paul That is my opinion and this I add as a conclusion Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation and that justly for since God is the Author of this Order they who rebel against the Magistrates wage War against God himself and shall bring upon themselves great Calamities Rom. O the deplorable state of this Age In which we see so many civil Wars popular Seditions Treasons cruel Murthers of Princes and more than barbarous Massacres perpetrated on Subjects Paul All these things probably fall out for the Sins both of the People and Rulers The People forgetting their Duty despise the Authority of the Prince and the King on the contrary forgets his Obligations and rages like a cruel Tyrant Wouldest then therefore and when I speak to you I speak to all Men not dread the Power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise and a reward from it so far oughtest thou to be from opposing it Rom. A most excellent method of bearing this Yoak which would otherwise be insupportable but men are wise too late Would to God this Doctrine were as much engraven on Mens Hearts as it finds a place on their Tongues for by this means it would soon come to pass that the Minds of Christians would enjoy much inward Peace and the Commonweal much Advantage Paul Wheresoever you are inculcate this Sentence in season out of season beseech reprove and teach that the Magistrate is God's chosen Minister appointed and preferr'd by him to the Office of governing for the punishment of them that do evil and for the comfort of them that do well If therefore thou do evil fear for he bears not the Sword in vain for God who hath advanc'd those Powers hath arm'd them with the Sword of Justice That I may sum up all in a few words we ought to be subject to the Powers not only for wrath but for Conscience sake for it is the Duty of a Christian to be subject to his Superiors Rom. You therefore believe that we must obey Magistrates not only for fear of Punishment but for greater Reasons because tho the Magistrate have no power over Conscience yet because he is the Minister of God no one with a good Conscience can resist him Paul That is my Opinion and for this Reason to shew the inward Obedience of your Mind do you pay Tribute c. So that learned and pious Paraphrast in opposition to the many false Glosses put upon the Words of the holy Apostle John Young Doctor of Divinity preach'd before the Queen the Second of March 1575. on Psal 131. Lord I am not high minded and he tells us the occasion of writing the Psalm was That there were certain Parasites and Flatterers attending upon King Saul who maligning David because that by Almighty God's special appointment he was anointed King over Israel and seeking to bring him into discredit and into hatred with his Prince did insinuate that he did secretly practise the Deposing him from the Kingdom and the Advanceing of himself ambitiously to the same Therefore the Prophet declares their Suggestions to be most false and slanderous and himself to be innocent from that great Offence S. Austin saith He that will go about to satifie and fulfil as all other so that ambitious and arrogant desire shall find it a Toyl of all Toyls such a Labor as Samson or Hercules never atchiev'd This desire of Honor Rule Principality worldly Glory and Renown is in the Heart of Man if it be once possessed therewithal a Worm that dyeth not c. Now David when he saith He did not exercise himself in such great matters c. his meaning was that he did never seek as he was most falsly and unjustly charged by some to advance himself ambitiously to the Kingdom King Saul his Master being alive because he knew well enough that
When the People set one over them Sert. 4. p. 17. reserving to themselves Authority either to displace or controul him or if need be to rise up in arms against him and to lay violent hands upon him they give unto him but improperly the name of a King. Obj. Sert. 5. p. 18. But was there no authority to restrain a King if at any time he should be impious or unjust in his Government otherwise the People might be miserably oppress'd Religion defac'd yea all things turn'd upside down and in the end the Commonwealth utterly overthrown Wisdom therefore Reason and Necessity the Glory of God and the good of Men required that there should be in Israel some Authority either in the People Priests Senate or inferior Magistrates against those Kings who did degenerate into violent and bloody Tyrants Answ This reason hath carried many headlong in heat to condemn and reject utterly these absolute Monarchies as Tyrannical and Barbarous c. but we ought not to suffer our selves to be deceived by any appearance to judge that to be unlawful and profane ☞ which God by establishing it in his Church p. 19. hath showed to be holy and lawful the authority of a King over his People was no less than is the authority of a Father in his Family in respect of his Children who if he do injuriously intreat any of them or live any way disorderly it is the duty of his Children if not with silence to suffer it yet with great modesty to admonish him of it but if they should joyn together and offer any violence unto him especially if they should throw him out of his house all Men would count them rebellious and ungracious Children ☞ but if they should take his life from him they were to be esteemed notoriously wicked yea rather as Monsters p. 20. worthy to be abhorr'd of all Men no Subject of what place soever no not the whole People jointly could lawfully use any violence against the King's Person or proceedings and that the King might tho not lawfully in respect of the law of God of Men or of Nature yet safely and freely in respect of his Subjects p. 21. do whatsoever pleased him according as Jacob foretels Gen. 49.9 the dealing of God himself doth prove the same who when he purposed to preserve David against the fury of Saul ☞ would never suffer him to oppose Ceila or any other of Saul's Cities against him but made him fly first into the mountains and deserts and afterward out of the land to the Philistines yea David altho he were appointed by the express Word of God to succeed Saul in the Kingdom yet he was so far from laying violent hands upon him that his heart smote him 1 Sam. 24.6 i. e. his conscience did accuse him that he had behaved himself disloyally against the King in that he had offered violence to the King's Garment because that was as a threatning of death unto him and a great disgrace yea further we do not read that God did ever by any of his Prophets stir up his People to maintain his true worship by violence against the Kings or ever reprove them because they had suffer'd them to set up Idolatry ☞ which is an evident proof of this point for if it had been lawful to resist in any case then surely in the maintenance of the true worship of God p. 22. and of his Glory no Man no company of Men could for any offence committed by the King either against God or Man the first or second Table call him to account summon him to appear in judgment or use any manner of violence either in word or deed against him To the Kings of Israel neither the Kingdom was given Sect. 6. p. 23. Sect. 7. p. 28. nor the conditions imposed by Man but by God and therefore they could not forfeit their Kingdom to Man but only to God but what was the behavior of Loyal Subjects in such cases the weapons which God gave unto his People wherewith to defend themselves against the Tyranny of their lawful Kings were these 1. wisdom carefully to avoid all occasions of the King's anger and injury 2. to avoid and decline from the violence and injury it self by flying 3. the third remedy where the second is wanting is patience to suffer with a quiet mind the violence or injustice of the King which could not be by wisdom either prevented or avoided 4. the last remedy is to appeal from the unjust Sentence of the King not to any Man or to any Court here on Earth but to the King of Kings even to God himself whose ears are always open to hear those who are opprest this remedy is the last and therefore not to be used but in cases of greatest extremity whenas the violence is too too grievous shameful and to Man's infirmity altogether intolerable p. 29. this means did Samuel commend unto the People whereby they should ease themselves of those intolerable burthens of tributes which their King would lay upon them 1 Sam. 8.18 saying then you being thus opprest by your King shall not rebel against him but shall cry unto the Lord. Where it is added that God will not hear them when they cry this is meant that could not afterwards put down their Kings neither be freed from their Tyranny The same Reverend Prelate in his Encounter against Parsons p. 187. says diversity of Religion changeth not the natural right of Inheritance this ancient Doctrine the Protestants still follow they still acknowledged Henry the fourth of France when he revolted from them but the Romanists would not admit him while he profess'd himself a Protestant And in his Causa Regia his answer to Card. Bell. Lond. An. 1620. c. 1. §. 21. p. 26 book de Officio Principis Christiani written by him when he was Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield he shews how vain that compact whether tacit or exprest is whereby Kings as Bell. says stand bound to the Pope so that by virtue thereof whenever they turn Hereticks or would make their Subjects such he may deprive them of their Kingdoms and whereas the Cardinal cited that of our Holy Saviour whosoever doth not hate father and mother c. is not worthy of me he answers ☜ that only ' signifies that we ought not to obey our Parents in those things which they command contrary to the true Faith but by no means what Bell. compact implies to rob our Parents of their Possessions c. 2. §. 9. p. 73 74. that Christ exercised his Priestly Office not actively in Deposing Princes but passively by giving his life as became a good Shepherd for his Sheep and when the Apostle armed St. Timothy he gave him not a temporal Sword to hurt any Man but a Spiritual to be exercised in suffering for so he commands him 2 Tim. 4.5 Watch thou in all things endure afflictions †E
both their Arguments and Authorities Sir John Hayward Ann. 1603. sets out his Answer to the first part of that Conference which was reprinted Ann. 1683. for the satisfaction of the zealous Promoters of the Bill of Exclusion The Book was written as himself in his Dedicatory Epistle tells the King in Defence of the Authority of Princes and of Succession according to proximity of Blood and to maintain that the People have no lawful Power to remove the one or repel the other The Jesuits main Argument is Hayâ— pâ—â— 1. Ed 〈◊〉 and p 3â—â— that Succession to Government by nearness of Blood is not by Law of Nature or Divine but by the humane and positive Laws of any Commonwealth and consequently that it may upon just Causes be alter'd by the same changing the fashion of Government and limiting the same with what Conditions they please But the learned Civilian confutes the Opinion with much Reason Pag. 6. and many very pertinent Authorities he grants That it is inconvenient to be governed by a King who is defective in Body or Mind but it is a greater inconvenience by making a Breach in this high point of State to open an Entrance for all Disorders wherein Ambition and Insolency may range at large When S. Peter terms Kings a Human Creature c. 2. p. 39 40 c. 1 Pet. 2. he means not as you interpret a thing created by man. Is a brutish Creature to be taken for a thing created by a Beast If so then all Creatures should be called Divine because they were created by God to whom it was proper to create And S. Paul says Rom. 13. That all Authority is the Ordinance and Institution of God. It is evident that in the first heroical Ages the People were not governed by any positive Laws but their Kings did both judg and command by their Word by their Will by their absolute Power without any restraint or direction but only of the law of Nature and when it grew troublesom and tedious for all the People to receive their Right from one man Laws were invented as Cicero saith and when any People were subdued by Arms Laws were laid like Logs upon their Necks to keep them in more sure Subjection Parliaments in all places have been erected by Kings so that neither Laws nor Parliaments were assigned by the People for assistance and direction to their Kings We must judge Facts by Law and not Law by Facts or Example which Alciat and Deciane do term a Golden Law because there is no Action either so impious or absurd which may not be parallel'd by Examples Pag. 46. I never heard of Christian Prince who challeng'd infinite Authority without limitation of any Law either Natural or Divine but where you term it an absurd Paradox that the People should not have power to chasten their Prince and upon just Considerations to remove him I am content to joyn with you upon the Issue Pag. 47. Had you no Text of Scripture no Father of the Church no Law no Reason to alledg Do not the Apostles 1 Pet. 2.10 13. Jude 8. Rom. 13. Tit. 3.1 1 Tim. 2.1 oblige us to pray for and obey Kings But perhaps you will say that the Apostles did not mean this of wicked Princes the Apostle speaks generally of all S. Peter 1.2.18 makes express mention of evil Lords And what Princes have ever been more either irreligious or tyrannical than Caligula Tiberius Nero the Infamy of their Ages under whose Empire the Apostles did both live Pag. 50 51. and write I will give you an Example of another time Nebuchadnezzar King of Assyria wasted all Palestina took Jerusalem slew the King burnt the Temple took away the holy Vessels and Treasure the residue he permitted to the Cruelty and Spoil of his unmerciful Soldiers who defiled all places with Rape Ruine and Blood. After the glut of this Butchery the People which remained he led Captive into Chaldea and there commanded ☜ that whosoever refused to worship his Golden Image should be cast into a firy Furnace What Cruelty what Impiety is comparable to this And yet the Prophets Jeremy c. 29.7 and Baruch c. 1.11 did write to those captive Jews to pray for the Prosperity and Life of him and Baltasar his Son that their days might be upon Earth as the days of Heaven And Ezekiel c. 17. both blames and threatens Zedekiah for his Disloyalty in revolting from Nebuchadnezzar whose Homager and Tributary he was What Answer will you make to this Example Princes are the immediate Ministers of God and therefore he calls Nebuchadnezzar his Servant and the Prophet Esay calls Cyrus a prophane and heathen King the Lords Anointed In regard hereof David calls them Gods And if they do abuse their Power ☜ they are not to be judged by their Subjects as being both inferior and naked of Authority because all Jurisdiction within their Realm is derived from them which their presence only doth silence and suspend But God reserveth them to the sorest Tryal horribly and suddenly saith the Wise man will the Lord appear unto them and a hard Judgment shall they have Pag. 52. If he commandeth those things that are lawful we must manifest our Obedience by ready performing If he enjoyn us those Actions that are evil we must shew our Subjection by patient enduring It is God only who setteth Kings in their State it is he only who may remove them 2 Chron. 1. Prov. 28.2 2 Chron. 28.6 And therefore we endure with patience unseasonable Weather unfruitful Years and other like Punishments of God so must we tolerate the imperfection of Princes and quietly expect either Reformation or else a Change This was the Doctrine of the Ancient Christians Pag. 53. even against their most mortal Persecutors In a word the current of the Ancient Fathers is in this Point concurrent insomuch as among them all there is not one found not any one one is a small Number and yet I say confidently again there is not any one who hath let fall so soose a Speech as may be strained to a contrary sense How then are you of late become both so active and resolute to cut in sunder the Reins of Obedience the very Sinews of Government and Order Pag. 54. Neither was the Devil ever able until in late declining times to possess the Hearts of Christians with these cursed Opinions which do evermore beget a world of Murthers Rapes Ruins and Desolations For tell me What if the Prince whom you perswade the People you have power to depose be able to make and maintain his Party What if other Princes whom it doth concern as well in Honor to see the Law of Nations observ'd as also in policy to break those Proceedings which may form Presidents against themselves do adjoyn to the side What if whilst the Prince and the People are as was the Frog and the Mouse in the heat of their Encounter some
other Potentate play the Kite with them both as the Turks did with the Hungarians c. 3. p. 57 c. That Princes may be chastised by their Subjects your Proofs are Two one is drawn from certain Examples the other from the good Success and Successors which usually have followed Slender Threds to draw any Man to your Opinion There is no Villany so vile which wants Example and by the secret yet just Judgment of God divers evil Actions are carried with appearance of good success Pag. 61. When Saul persecuted David he defended himself no otherwise than by flight During this pursuit Saul fell twice into his power once he did not only spare but protect him the other time his Heart did smite him for that he had cut away the Lap of his Garment lastly he caused the Messenger to be slain who upon request and for pity had further'd as he said the Death of that sacred King. We have a Precept of Obedience which is the Mould wherein we ought to fashion our Actions God only is superior to Princes who useth many Instruments in the execution of his Justice but his Authority he hath committed unto none Pag. 68. The Examples of Suintilla and other Gothick Kings in Spain is answer'd by saying that the Kingdom was not then setled in Succession And then he shews the illegality of the Proceedings against King John Pag. 72 73 74 75. Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. and adds Three Causes are commonly insinuated by you for which a King may be deposed Tyranny Insufficiency and Impiety But what Prince could hold his State what People their Quiet assured if this your Doctrine should take place How many good Princes doth Envy brand with one of these Marks What Action of State can be so ordered that either blind Ignorance or set Malice will not easily strain to one of these Heads Every execution of Justice every demand of Tribute or Supply shall be claimed Tyranny Every unfortunate Event shall be exclaimed Insufficiency Every kind of Religion shall by them of another Sect be proclaimed Impiety But are not Princes subject to Law C 4. p. 81 82 c. and Order Answ I will not deny but there is a Duty for Princes to perform but how prove you that their Subjects have power to depose them if they fail The people may so give away their Authority that they cannot resume it and few Princes in the World hold their Estates by Grant of the people If the Prince hath no power but by Commission from the People then all Estates are popular Our Laws do acknowledge supreme Authority in the Prince within the Realm and Dominions of England neither can Subjects bear themselves either superior 1 El. 1. or equal to their Sovereign or attempt violence either against his Person or Estate No Prince is Sovereign C. 5. p. 92. who acknow ledgeth himself either subject or accountable to any but to God. Did David bear Arms against his Anointed King ☜ Did he ever lift up his Eye lids against him Did he ever so much as defend himself otherwise than by flight What then shall we say unto you who to set up Sedition and Tumult abuse all Divine and Human Writings in whatsoever you believe will advance your purpose who spend some Speech of Respect unto Kings for Allurement only to draw us more deep into your deceit c. The Coronation Oath is only a free P. 102. Royal Promise to discharge that Duty which God doth impose The Prophets P. 105. the Apostles Christ himself hath taught us to be obedient to Princes ☜ tho both Tyrants and Infidels This ought to stand with us for a thousand Reasons to submit our selves to such Kings as it pleaseth God to send unto us without either judging or examining their Qualities their Hearts are in God's Hand they do his Service sometimes in preserving sometimes in punishing us If they abuse any part of their power let them assuredly expect that God will dart his vengeance against them with a most stiff and dreadful Arm. In the mean season we must not oppose our selves otherwise than by humble Suits and Prayers acknowledging that those Evils are always just for us to suffer which are many times unjust for them to do If we break into disorder we resemble the Giants who sealed the Skies C. 6. 116 117. It was alledged in behalf of some Cities in France that they were not Rebels because they had not professed Allegiance unto Henry the Fourth but the chiefest Lawyers of our Age did resolve that forasmuch as they were original Subjects even Subjects by Birth they were Rebels in bearing Arms against their King altho they had never professed Allegiance But the admission of the people say you hath often prevailed against Right of Succession ☞ So have Pyrates against Merchants so have Mutherers and Thieves against true meaning Travellers Chap. 8 p. 146 147. But may not a man trespass on such Laws for the good of the Realm Answ What Conscience can any men have in defiling their Faith Such Consciences you endeavour to frame in all men P. 156 157. to break an Oath with as great facility as a Squirrel can crack a Nut. In what a miserable condition should Princes live if their State depended upon the pleasures of the people in whom company takes away shame and every man may lay fault on his Fellow How could they command P. 164. Who would obey c. It seems strange to reason to plant Religion under the Obedience of Kings not only careless thereof but cruel against it But when we consider that the Jews did commonly forsake God in prosperity and seek him in distress that the Church of Christ was more pure more zealous more entire I might also say more populous when she travelled with the storm in her face than when the wind was either prosperous or calm We may learn thereby no further to examine but to admire and embrace the unsearchable Wisdom and Will of God. P. 170. c. God hath taught by the Apostle S. Paul that whosoever resists the higher powers which at that time were Infidels receive unto themselves damnation ☞ You teach that whosoever doth not in the like case resist doth damnably offend were not the Spirit of Division otherwise called the Devil seated in your Soul you would not thus openly oppose the Settlings of your rotten Brain against the express and direct Sentence of God. The Apostle teacheth us to be obedient to higher powers for conscience sake and not for any private respect P. 173 c. You whose Office is to pray to instruct Men in pure Devotion to settle their Souls in piety and peace you take upon you the Policies of State you read and deface the Reputation of Kings you make your selves both Judges and Moderators of all their Actions allowing them to flie no further than you give them Wings
King's Person either in hindering him for burning of Incense ☞ or in thrusting him out of the Temple or in compelling him to dwell apart in a house as he did though he was a leper if he had not of himself yielded to the observation of the law in that behalf or that he was deprived of his Kingdom either by the said streke of God or by his dwelling in a house apart or that any thing which the Priests then did might have been a lawful warrant to any Priest afterward in the Old Testament either to have deposed by sentence any of their Kings from their Kingdoms for the like offences or to have used arms or repressed such their unlawful attempts by forcible ways though they had imagined the same might have tended to the preservation of Religion or that either before that time or afterward ☜ any Priest did resist by force of Arms or depose any of the Kings either of Israel or of Judah from their Kingdoms tho the Kings of Israel all of them and fourteen of the Kings of Judah were open and plain Idolaters he doth greatly err Can. 23. l. 1. And because against this the Case of Athaliah might be objected they say further if any Man shall affirm that Jehoiada and his Wife did amiss in preserving the life of their King Joash or that Athaliah was not a Tyrannical Usurper the right Heir of that Kingdom being alive or that it was neither lawful for Jehoiada and the rest of the Princes Levites and People to have yielded their subjection unto their lawful King nor having so done and their King being in possession of his Crown to have joyn'd together for the overthrowing of Athaliah the Usurper or that Jehoiada the High Priest was not bound as he was a Priest both to inform the Princes and People of the Lords promise ☜ that Joash should Reign over them or that this fact either of the Princes Priests or People was to be held for a lawful warrant for any afterward either Princes Priest or People to have deposed any of the Kings of Judah who by right of Succession came to their Crowns or to have killed them for any respect whatsoever and to have set another in their places according to their own choice or that this example of Jehoiada or any thing else in the Old Testament did give them to the High Priest any Authority to dispute determine or judge whether the Children of the Kings of Judah should either be kept from the Crown because their Fathers were Idolaters or being in possession of it should be deposed from it in this respect or any other respect whatsoever he â—oth greatly err Can. 25. If any Man shall affirm that it is lawful for any Captain or Subject high or low whosoever to bear Arms against their Sovereign cap. 28. or to lay violent hands upon his Sacred Person he doth greatly err and this Doctrine is earnestly inculcated in many other places The Israelites in Aegypt after Joseph's death being opprest very tyrannically many ways did never rebel against any of those Kings but submitted themselves to their authority tho their burthens were very intolerable both in respect of the impossible works imposed on them and because also they might not offer sacrifices unto the Lord a special part of God's Worship without apparent danger of stoning to death besides it may not be omitted when God himself sent Moses to deliver them from that servitude he would not suffer him to carry them thence till Pharaoh their King gave them licence to depart When Alexander the Great l. 1. cap. 30. having overthrown Darius sent to Jaddus the High Priest and Prince of the Jews to assist him in his Wars and become tributary to the Macedonians as he had been to the Persians Jos Ant. l. 11. c 8. he return'd for his answer that he might not yield thereunto ☞ because he had taken an Oath for his true Allegiance unto Darius which he might not lawfully violate while Darius lived being by flight escaped when his Army was defeated Can. 30. If any Man shall affirm that Jaddus the High Priest did amiss in binding his obedience to King Darius by an Oath or that he had not sinned if he had refused being thereunto required so to have sworn or having so sworn he might lawfully have born Arms against Darius or have sollicited others whether aliens or Jews thereunto he doth greatly err And agreeable hereunto they tell us was the belief and practice of our Blessed Saviour and his Holy Apostles under the Gospel If therefore any Man shall affirm Can. 2. l. 2. that our Saviour did exempt himself from the obedience due to the civil Magistrate or did any way or at any time encourage the Jews or any other directly ☞ or indirectly to rebel for any cause whatsoever against the Roman Emperor or any of his subordinate Magistrates or that he did not very willingly both himself pay tribute to Caesar and also advise the Jews so to do or that when he willed the Jews to pay Tribute to Caesar including therein their duty of obedience unto him he did not therein deal plainly or sincerely but meant secretly that they should be bound no longer to be obedient unto him but until by force they should be able to resist him or that he did not utterly and truly condemn all devises conferences and resolutions whatsoever either in his own Apostles or in any other Persons for the using of force against civil Authority or that by Christ's Word all Subjects of what sort soever without exception ought not by the law of God to perish with the Sword that take and use the Sword for any cause against Kings and Sovereign Princes under whom they were born or under whose Jurisdiction they do inhabit or that Christ did not well and as the fifth Commandment did require in submitting himself as he did to Authority altho he was first sent for with Swords and Staves as if he had been a Thief and then afterward carried to Pilate and by him albeit he found no evil in him condemn'd to death or that by any Doctrine or Example which Christ ever taught or hath left upon good record ☜ it can be proved lawful to any Subjects for any cause of what nature soever to decline either the Authority and Jurisdiction of their Sovereign Princes or of any their lawful Deputies and inferior Magistrates ruling under them he doth greatly err If any Man shall affirm Can. 6. l. 2. that the Subjects of all the Temporal Princes in the World were not as much bound in St. Paul's time to be subject unto them as the Romans were to be subject to the Empire not only for fear but even for conscience sake or that St. Paul's commandment by virtue of his Apostleship and assistance of the Holy Ghost of obedience to Princes then Ethnicks is not of as great force to bind
the Conscience of all true Christians as if he had been then summus Pontifex or that the Primitive Church was not as well restrain'd de Jure by the Doctrine of Christ's Apostles as de facto from bearing Arms against such Princes as were then Ethnicks and transferring of their Kingdoms from them unto any others or that the Apostles at that time if they had found the Christians of sufficient force for number provision and furniture of Warlike Engines to have Deposed those Pagan Princes that were then both Enemies ☜ and Persecutors of all that believed in Christ would no doubt have moved and authorized them to have made War against such their Princes and absolved them from performing any longer that obedience which they as Men temporizing had in their Writings prescribed unto them or that when afterward Christians were grown able for number and strength to have opposed themselves by force against their Emperors being Wicked and Persecutors they might lawfully so have done for any thing that is in the New Testament to the contrary he doth greatly err If any Man shall affirm that it is not a most profane impiety Can. 10. l. 2. tending altogether to the discredit of the Scriptures for any Man to hold that St. Peter and St. Paul had so instructed the Christians in their times as that they knew if they had been able they might without offence to God have deposed Nero from his Empire or that the Christians in Tertullian's time when they profess'd that notwithstanding their numbers and forces were so great as they had been able to have distress'd very greatly the Estate of the Emperors being then Persecutors they might not so do because Christ their Master had taught them otherwise ought not to be a sufficient Warrant for all true Christians to detest those Men in these days and for ever hereafter who contrary to the Example of the said Christians in the Primitive Church and the Doctrins of Christ which were then taught them do endeavor to perswade them when they shall have sufficient Forces to rebel against such Kings and Emperors at the Pope's commandment and to thrust them from their Kingdoms and Empires ☞ or that this devilish Doctrine of animating Subjects to Rebellion when they are able against their Sovereigns either for their Cruelty Heresie or Apostacy was ever taught in the Church of Christ by any of the Ancient Fathers during the Reigns of Dioclesian or Julian the Apostate or Valens the Arrian or of any other the Wicked Emperors before them or that it is not a wicked perverting of the Apostles words to the Corinthians touching their choice of Arbitrators to end dissentions among themselves rather than draw their Brethren before Judges that were Infidels to infer thereof either that St. Paul intended thereby to impeach in any sort the Authority of the Civil Magistrates as if he had meant they should have chosen such Judges as by civil Authority might otherwise have bound them than by their own consents to have stood to their award or to authorize Christian Subjects when they are able to thrust their Sovereigns from their Royal Seats and to chuse themselves new Kings in their places he doth greatly err But it were requisite to transcribe almost that whole admirable Treatise should I give the Reader a view of all those passages that vindicate the Divine Right of Kings and assert the necessity of Subjects being obedient to them while I forbear in expectancy that the most venerable owner of that great Treasure will very speedily make the World happy in the publication of so elaborate a work SECT V. Some few years after this King James ordered to be Printed and had in every Church a little Treatise called Deus Rex which was publish'd both in Latin and English and as I am very credibly inform'd drawn up by Bishop Overal which was reprinted in English Anno 1663. by the especial command of King Charles II. and therein the Nation is taught their duty toward their Superiors thus In the Allegiance of a Subject to his Sovereign the evil he is to eschew is 1. Evil in action p. 15 16. edit 1663. for he is not to touch him with any evil touch not to stretch out his hand against his most sacred Person nor so much as to affright or disgrace him by cutting the lap of his Garment 2. Evil in words for he is not to curse his Ruler 3. Evil in cogitation for he is not to curse the King in his thought and all this is proved by many Texts of Scripture placed in the Margin Now if the Subjects of our Sovereign out of their Allegiance to His Majesty are to succor and defend him even with the hazard of their lives c. and the bond of this Allegiance is inviolable and cannot by any means be dissolv'd then c. Eccles 8.2 p. 17. is an evident Testimony that Kings are subject unto God ☜ and have no mortal Man their superior who may require of them an account of their doings and punish them by any Judicial Sentence which Doctrine is excellently confirm'd by the instance of David in the case of Uriah and the Prophet Nathan 's carriage towards him after which 't is said that God only gave unto Saul Kingly Power and not the People p. 19. p. 29 30. c. who are said to make him King i. e. approving him as made by God c. But was not Saul a Tyrant a bloody Oppressor did not the blood of so many Innocents cry to God for vengeance and by his special commandment whoso sheds man's blood by man shall his blood be shed deserve death Yet David by God's own appointment design'd to the Kingdom says the Lord keep me from doing that thing unto my Master the Lord 's Anointed c. the Bishop of Rome and by parity of reason any other Person p. 35. if I Judge aright cannot dispense with the Law of Nature which from the first beginning of the reasonable Creature is unchangeable nor with the Moral Law of God whose Precepts are indispensible but the duty of Subjects in obedience to their Sovereign is grounded upon the Law of Nature beginning with our first beginning for as we are Born Sons so are we Born Subjects p. 38. Obj. But is there no means to stay the fury of a Sovereign command if he should be so tyrannous and profane as to endeavour to oppress the whole Church at once and utterly to extinguish the Light of Christian Religion Princes in their rage may endeavour wholly to destroy God's Church Ans but in vain because Christ hath so built it on a Rock that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and when they do labour to effect so heinous an impiety the only means we have to appease their fury is serious repentance for our sins which have brought this chastisement upon us and humble prayer unto God who guides
Hereticks his anointing may be wiped off or scraped off then you may write a Book de justa abdicatione make a holy League c. but it is not Religion nor Virtue nor any spiritual Grace this Royal Anointing Christus Domini is said not only of Josias a King truly Religious but of Cyrus a mere Heathen not only of David a good King but of Saul a Tyrant even when he was at the worst Unxit in Regem Royal Unction gives no Grace but a just Title only it includes nothing but a just Title it excludes nothing but usurpation God's claim never forfeits his Character never to be wiped out or scraped out nor Kings lose their Rights no more than Patriarchs did their Fatherhood P. 809. Never was any truly partaker of the inward anointing of a Christian Man but he was ever fast and firm to the Royal Anointing The same excellent Prelate in his Answer to Tortus or Cardinal Bellarmin's Book against King James's Apology for the Oath of Allegiance says That Subjects are bound to obey their Prince by all Law London 1609. p. 16. 36. Natural Moral Civil Municipal That Christ never interdicted any Subjects Obedience his Father sent him not into the World on this Errand nor did he send any of his Followers P. 43. Let the King be a Heathen he ceases not to be a King let him be a Julian an Apostate which is worse than a Heathen yet he is a King still ☜ and against even such it is not lawful to take Arms nay it is a sin not to take Arms in their defence when they command us P. 110. Both Papists and Puritans conspire the hurt of Kings as Herod and Pilate agreed to murther Christ both being equally injurious to Kings in striving to rob them of their Authority Kings in their Kingdoms are God's Vicars P. 158 161. And the ancient Christians cheerfully obeyed them A forced Obedience rather becomes the Devil than a Christian for they are subject against their wills but to the praise of Christianity the Christians in the Infancy of the Church were so sincerely obedient that their Enemies could not bespatter them and so cheerfully patient that their Enemies were forced to admire them And it is blasphemy against Christ to think or say P. 321. that he would have any one that is his Vicar to hinder Subjects from being true to their Prince or Kings from being safe P. 384 385. Kings derive their Authority from God the people confer nothing upon them they are God's anointed not the people's the Form of Government may be from men but the Authority is always from Heaven Anno 1610 The same Learned Prelate published his Answer to Cardinal Bellarmin's Apology and therein avers †C. 2. p. 58. That every Subject is bound by his Allegiance not to suffer any one who shall endeavour either to depose his Prince or to dispose of his Kingdom he is bound to oppose himself against any Invader neither to absolve himself from his Allegiance nor to suffer himself to be absolved by any other not to take Arms against his Sovereign but to defend him from all violence in his Crown and Person and to discover all Conspiracies P. 132. To render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's The Apostles did so to Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Domitian The Martyrs did so to Commodus Severus Decius Dioclesian The Fathers did so to Constantius Valens and Anastasius Nay the Popes themselves did so to the Arians to Theodoric and the Goths in their times the contrary Doctrin was reckoned to be Heresie These were the Sentiments of that great man than whom while he lived the King had not a more Loyal Servant nor the Church a more Learned Prelate as the Editors ‖ Ep. Ded. Râ—gi of his Opuscula with Justice aver When Becanus a busie Jesuit had undertaken to answer this admirable Prelate's Books against Bellarmin Rich. Thompson an 1611. wrote his Vindication P. 20. and smartly censures his Adversary for saying That in England we swear Allegiance to our Kings upon these two conditions 1. As long as we stay in England 2. As long as he maintains the true Religion Both which Propositions as he says are most false and then he proceeds to confirm his Hypothesis proving in pursuance of his Design P. 27. That to the Oath of a Papist no regard ought to be had for who can believe ☞ whether he swears truly and from his Heart who defends the Lawfulness of a mixt Proposition of which one part is spoken P. 44. the other reserved The Text Touch not mine anointed only concerns Kings and in the whole Bible none are called the Lord's anointed but Kings And Rabbi Levi Ben Gershon the Jew hath commented more honestly and more like a Christian on 1 Sam. 12.24 than the Fathers of the Society of the Jesuits P. 78 79 83. All Princes even Pagans have a supreme Power over all their Subjects and in all Causes and Proscribere non posse proscribi propria sunt Regum timendorum in proprios greges ad ipsos coelitùs delapsâ autoritate ac peculiari quâdam ratione spectant i. e. To punish others and not to be punishable themselves is the peculiar Right of Kings derived unto them from above Nor was Becanus the only Antagonist that Bishop Andrews met with in this Cause Eudaemon Johannes a Cretan and a Jesuit and he needs no other Character undertakes the Defence of Garnet and the Censure of Allegiance him Dr. Samuel Collins the publick Professor of Divinity at Cambridge Cantab. 1612. undertakes wherein he averrs * Par. 2. p. 52. That the Jesuit had belyed King James when he called him a Follower of Knox to whose Opinions he was always most averse detesting both him and his Followers whom he upon all occasions rather punished than countenanced †Par. 3. c. 72. p. 252. Shew me that there is any such power I do not mean only in private persons but in the Pope or in any other mortal to depose ☞ or to murder a King. If a King do not his Duty he is to be left to the Divine Tribunal Against thee only have I sinned says David for he was a King says S. Hierom and had no one whom he might fear Understand it of coercive power not only not to punish but also not to upbraid him for who shall say to a King why dost thou so Eccl. 8.4 And who can resist him Prov. 30. P. 2.3 But you have found out this pretty Distinction that as long as a King remains a King let him be never so tyrannical his Subjects dare not oppose him but when the Pope deposes him then it is lawful boldly to oppose him And I would fain know where the odds is if the Pope or the people depose him so that if the Commons have power and the Pope consent and no danger of scandal
follow the murder of Kings is lawful and honorable Consider with your self P. 254. what a gap you open to popular Licentiousness when you praise those Men who magnifie the parricides of Princes The same Author in his Epphata to F. T. being a Vindication in English of the same Prelate vindicates the same Doctrin Cambr. 1617. in his Epistle Dedicatory he says That tho Kings die like men i. e. Quatenus homines non quatenus Reges yet we are to remember that they fall like one of the Principes i. e. one of the Angels says the Cardinal himself among others on that Psalm who we know are not judged till God judges them though no doubt but that aggravates their Judgment so much the sooner It were worth the considering what correspondence such Grounds have with the ancient Doctrine which the Cardinal and his Followers would seem so close to follow Of Chrysostome ☜ that a Sovereign King is accountable to none not only to his Subjects but not so much as to his Successor as David said that he is to be judged by God only The same Chrysostom noting that whereas the Psalmist passes over other miracles of the Wilderness in deep silence he insists only on the Death of Og and Sehon two mighty Monarchs because Kings lives are so wholly in God's Hands and the Disposition of them is alway miraculous reserved and appropriated to God himself Of S. Basil that a King is subject to no Judge Of Ambrose that nullis tenetur Legibus not only the King of Israel but not the King of Egypt Of the Pope in Theodoret who told Theodosius that it was not lawful to implead a King not only in his person but not personating another not fictione juris as the Lawyers say ‖ Ch. 1. p. 58 59. Now Obedience is become among the Ceremonies and the honoring of our Parents i. e. in truth of our Princes Patres Patriae by ancient stile ☜ and so Ezechias called the Priests his children 2 Chron. 29.11 is as subject to alteration as the Sabbath Day And because the Jewish Ceremonies may not only be omitted but may not be retain'd without heinous crime therefore it shall be Conscience to wax wanton against Princes to shake off their Yoke yea merit virtue and what not as if the Precept of honoring Parents which is the primum in promissione Ephes 6. were now secundum in omissione after that against Images P. 60 61 62. which is usually cancelled in the Popish Catechisms Against the Emperors under the Old Testament there was no rising up and as for the Emperors in the New Testament tho as they were Heathen they were neither by Christ nor his Apostles obey'd I hope Sir 't is enough that they were not resisted Kings when transported by Error they forsake their Duty Pag. 75. yet forfeit not their Supremacy We yield no Abdication of our King ☞ tho his Fault be Heresie remembring that Deus defendit oleum suum as Optatus says and Caesar non desinit esse Caesar even in Alto Gentilisino as our Saviour acknowledg'd of him Matt 22. So beinous is the Heresie of Deposing Magistrates for moral Misdemeanours A bad Head I should think which the Body will be the better for the cutting off No Iniquity can abolish Authority And if it be objected Pag. 94. P. 137. 139. that Kings must be hamper'd with a coercive Power or all must run to nothing and the Church be clean extinguishâ—d It is answered The Church gains by Patience in Persecution therefore she loses by Resistance and Opposition SECT VIII Among these domestick Champions of the King and the Truth it may not be amiss to reckon an eminent Foreigner if I may call Isaac Casaubon so who lived some Years in this Kingdom and dyed here one of the Glories of his Age before he came into England he just after the Quarrel between the Pope and the Republick of Venice An. 1607. printed a Discourse De Libertate Ecclesiastica or rather but a part of a Discourse for whereas he promises Eleven Chapters the first three are not entirely printed the rest being stopt at the Press by Order of the French King tho as imperfect as the Book is Goldastus hath thought it worth a place in his Collections and in it he shews that the true Church of God never usurp'd the Rights of Kings * Ad Lect. p. 6. Pag. 12.13 while the Popes spoil Kings of their Liberty and their Majesty too for under them it sometimes happens that Kings may be safe but they can never be secure for they so value this Liberty that to defend it they tumble all things upside down mingle Heaven and Earth things sacred and profane And whereas our holy Master's Precepts ought not to be contradicted since he hath joyned his Example to his Commands and recommended to us the Love of our Enemies Subjection to the Powers ordained of God ☞ and Obedience to them for Conscience sake they to build up and to confirm this Liberty unknown to the Primitive times do every where inkindle Wars become a Terror to Kings and Princes dispense with their Subjects Allegiance and arm them against their own Sovereigns and pretend that to violate all Laws divine and human is a holy undertaking and most acceptable unto God. As ifby an ill management of supreme Authority Pag. 17. the Authority were forfeited And if once Princes shall suffer the Foundations of their Government to be shaken in the minds of their Subjects their Government and Empire must of necessity reel and totter and fall into the dust God commands all orders of Men to render to Cesar the things that are Cesar 's Pag. 69. and let every soul be subject to the higher powers c. therefore Gregory Nazianzen says that the Civil Magistrate doth reign together with Christ nor does it make any difference that some Kings arrive to the Throne by hereditary Succession others by Election a third sort by Conquest for tho God in the establishment of a King as in the Ordination of a Priest uses the Ministry of men yet it is impious not to acknowledg that the Dominion and Power is received originally from God By God Kings reign as the holy Scriptures in almost infinite places do testifie P. 102 103. The Primitive Christians did so use the World as those that used it not as S. Paul advises for while their Zeal for Piety was flagrant while the Innocency of their Manners their mutual Love and Affection their unfeigned Humility ☜ their constant Meditation on the Joys of Heaven their Fidelity and Obedience to their Princes as far as their Conscience would give them leave lastly their incomparable Constancy in suffering all manner of Torments for the true Religion made them every day a Spectacle to the whole World they ravish'd their very Enemies to admire them and their Virtues these were the beginnings of Christianity this the
infant Age of the Church whom Tortures made happy Infamy glorious the Contempt of Gold rich and the Crown not of a Kingdom but Martyrdom made august And as Truth is the same in all Climates so was this learned Man in whatsoever place Providence fixt for when he came into England he had the same Notions as fully appears by his Epipistle to Fronto Ducaeus written Ann. 1611. wherein discoursing of S. Gregory Nazianzen's Observation of old that Mens preposterous Zeal had destroy'd their Charity he adds But Good God! Pag. 82 Lond. 1611. Had the Father lived in our Age what Complaints would he have made To see so many Men acted by a preposterous Zeal under the pretext of Religion and Piety most wickedly and irreligiously not only break the Peace of the Church about Trifles but undertake Rebellions Treasons most cruel Massacres of innocent People overthrowing of lawful Governments and the Murther of Princes this is your privilege at this time of day as he addresses himself to the Roman Catholicks that not only the grave Citizens and Senators of a Nation assembled in a general Convention tho what they should do of this kind is unlawful but even the Mobile assume to themselves a Power of Abdicating Kings forfeiting their Kingdoms and giving them to whom they please and of abolishing all Laws under the pretext of Piety which Villany no Religion tho never so profane and impious except yours meaning the Popish ever allows P. 100 c. or hath ever formerly allowed Garnet 's chief Crime was that he had either forgotten or neglected S. Paul 's Advice consenting to the doing of evil that good might come thereof this he ought not to have done had he demonstrated himself a true follower of Jesus Christ for what Precept or Example bad he of our holy Saviour for his so doing Who was a Lamb without blemish and reprov'd the preposterous Zeal of James and John the Apostles with You know not what spirit you are of i. e. You think your Zeal is commendable which hates the Samaritans and would destroy them but I do not require such a cruel sanguinary and destructive Zeal from my Followers what I require is Charity that is Patient Edifying and which covers a multitude of Sins this I approve of and this I would have practised by those to whom I am to leave my Peace This he would not have done had he remembred P. 104 105. how severely our holy Saviour chastised Peter when he rashly cut off Malchus 's Ear. But Zealots are very seldom removed from their purposes by any consideration of Laws either divine or humane whatever School teaches this Doctrine is not Christian it is the School of Antinhrist and of Satan for the Devil was a Murderer from the beginning ☞ a true Abeddon and Apollyon but the Doctrine of our holy Saviour Jesus Christ is perfectly contrary to this for he prescribed no other remedy to his Disciples against all manner of Injuries but Flight Patience and Prayers that rejoycing in hope being patient in Tribulation and praying continually as the Apostle advises they might triumph over all their Adversaries These were the only Arms that the Apostles used wherever they laid the foundations of the Gospel these were the only Weapons which the Fathers of the ancient Church only knew no man took Arms or raised Rebellion against his Prince these were the fruits of the Hildebrandine Doctrine which flyes at the Crowns of Emperors Kings and Princes c. SECT IX Against this modest and learned Epistle of Isaac Casaubon did Eudaemon Johannes write which Dr. Prideaux * Pr. at Oxford 1614. c. 2. p. 76. afterward the King's Professor of Divinity and Bishop of Worcester answered in which he compares the Jesuits and Buchanan and Knox together branding them justly with the name of Traytors as King James had done before him and avers P. 107. that the Popish Writers bred in the School of Hildebrand call a lawful King a Tyrant if excommunicated by the Pope whereas a Tyrant according to the Doctrine of the Sorbon and of the Men of ancient sincerity and simplicity is opposed to a lawful Prince and signifies one who hath invaded an Empire that is not his own by Force and evil Arts and then adds If an Apostate should reign in France P. 109. or England who exceeded Julian or the Grand Signior it is not the duty of his Subjects to dethrone him For who can lift up his hand against the Lord's anointed and be innocent ☜ Did the Israelites attempt any thing against Nebuchadnezzar or the Christians against Julian and the Heathen Emperors Did they use any other Weapons besides their Prayers and their Tears Let us use these Arms and if the King do amiss let us expect when God will punish him let not his Subjects tumultuously oppose him And whereas Mariana had affirmed P. 123. that when Princes openly invade the Rights of their Subjects and there is no other way left to maintain the publick Safety then it is lawful to take Arms and murder Kings he replies here is no mention made of the Patience of the Subjects the just Judgments of God the Obligation of Oaths the sacred Authority of Princes conferr'd on them immediately by God the Duty of Subjection not only when we live easie under the Government for our Profit but when we suffer under it for Conscience sake by the Maxims of the Jesuits P. 130 131. the People are made the King's Judges to enquire into his Faults and to punish him as they think fit when he does amiss What difference is there if this be true between the Rights of Princes and their Subjects A Subject breaks the Laws and he is punish'd by the King the King violates his Promises and his Subjects tell him We will not have this Man longer to rule over us Admirable security of the Persons and Crowns of Princes We obey our Princes for Conscience sake P. 60. we believe them to be immediately constituted by God if they rule well they are God's greatest Blessing if they degenerate into Apostasie or Tyranny they are God's Scourges to punish the Sins of a People as * Rom. 13. and in 1 Pet. 2. Calvin says truly If a King abuse his Power he shall render an account to God in time but for the present he doth not lose his Authority We urge not Compact but we pour out our Prayers our Bishops do advise not threaten †Id. Serm. on Gowry's Conspir p. 4 6 7. The same learned Bishop in his Sermon on the 5th of August at S. Maries before the University preaches the same Doctrine When occasion is offer'd howsoever they otherwise strive to appear good Subjects Traytors will be ever ready to vent their Treasons Hypocritical Traytors watch their times and are ready to vent their Villany upon the least advantage In the 2 Kings 19.37 where we read that Adrammelech and Sharezer slew their
them by second Causes and without them but because God doth this sometimes by the consent of the People as he transferr'd the Kingdom of Saul to David and the Kingdom of Joram to Jehu and sometimes doth it without the Peoples consent as he transferr'd the Kingdom of the Canaanites to the Jews that of the Medes to Cyrus that of the Persians to Alexander and of many other Kingdoms to the Romans will it therefore follow that it is lawful for the People without God without any express relation of his Will to dethrone their Kings and take from them their Authority ☜ If God and the People make Kings then the People without God and without an express revelation of his Will cannot depose their Kings God is the chief and principal Agent the People are only God's Instrument as therefore the Instrument doth nothing without the Artificer so whither can the People do any thing in this case without God. After this he proves Lib 2. cap. 20. pag. 614 615. that both the Jews and Christians did bear with as their Duty obliged them idolatrous and tyrannical Kings and then adds to this practice of the Church and of all Antiquity the best Interpreter of Scriptures I will subjoin the Institution of Kings All power is of God it is his Ordinance and whoso resists it resists the Ordinance of God From the same God had David and Samuel Solomon and Jeroboam Hezekiah and Ahab Manasses and Josiah Nero and Constantine Julian and Theodosius their Authority of good Kings it is said By me Kings reign Of evil Kings I have given them a King in my wrath Good Kings are given in mercy evill Kings in fury but all are given by God therefore all must be obey'd altho not in all things we must not resist any but must either do that which the King commands justly or suffer what he cruelly inflicts For the Obedience of Subjects falls under the divine Precept natural or moral in the Fifth Commandment which is also confirm'd by Christ in the Gospel by his Precept Give to Cesar the things that are Cesar 's and by his Example who paid Tribute and suffer'd a most shameful Death under Pilate who rather forfeited his Life than he would forfeit his Obedience and by his Apostles Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers to Heathens and infidel Persecutors who endeavour'd to draw their Subjects over to their Infidelity Such a one was Nero such were the rest of the Persecutors and yet these were to be submitted to not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Fear God honour the King and of this Honour the chiefest part is Obedience These divine Precepts natural moral evangelical are indispensable and bind the Conscience nor is it likely that God and Christ and the Apostles would have deliver'd such Precepts as they would not have to be observ'd by Christians If thy King be good he is thy nursing Father if he be evil he tryes thee if he be a Persecutor he exercises thee if he be godly he is exercised with thee What can a Christian Soul here contemn Will it contemn its nursing Father who affords it Necessaries that it may be brought to Heaven Or will it contemn him who tryes it who exercises it under the Cross that it may shine gloriously in the Kingdom of Heaven The Enemies to this Doctrine are 1. the Anabaptists and Libertines who disown all Magistracy and throw off its Yoak and of Stephen of Hallestat who would have none but good Magistrates obey'd 2. All Seditions Tumults Wars c. by means of which the Christian Religion is evil spoken of among the Heathen as if it were a traiterous Religion and an Enemy to Kings the Name of God is blasphemed and the Enemies of the Gospel encouraged to persecute the Church As to the instance of Athalia Lib. 2. cap. 38. p. 919. he avers that she was Queen only de facto and not de jure having cruelly against Nature slain the Sons of Ahaziah her Son being incited by Ambition that she got the Kingdom by Tyranny without any Right or Title that she kept it by Force and Arms that she was not a lawful Queen but a most wicked Usurper There is a vast difference between a Tyrant that hath a just Title to his Crown and a Tyrant who hath no Right ☞ who hath usurp'd a Kingdom by force if a lawful King turn Tyrant neither his Bishops nor his Nobles nor his People can compel him to rule according to Law God only can restrain him who gives such a King in his fury and for the Sins of a Nation causes a Hypocrite to reign over them for such a Tyrant having a just Title to his Throne is ordained by God and he that resists him resists the Ordinance of God but if any Man usurp a Kingdom by Force and Tyranny he is not a King but an Enemy and it is lawful for any man to resist him as he would do an Enemy Francis Godwin Annâ—â—s of Q. Mary pag. 266 267. Bishop of Hereford publish'd his Annals An. 1616. and therein treating of the Lady Jane's assuming the Crown which he truly says she was forc'd by her Parents and Friends Ambition to accept and which she received with Tears but resigned with Joy and the march of the Duke of Northumberland's Army against Queen Mary to whom the Londoners when they march'd through the City did not wish success he observes the Londoners stood very well affected in Point of Religion so did also for the most part the Suffolk and the Norfolk Men and they knew Mary to be absolute for Popery ☞ but the English are in their due respects to their Prince so loyally constant that no regards no not pretext of Religion can alienate their Affections from their lawful Sovereign whereof the miserable Case of the Lady Jane will anon give a memorable Example for although her Faction had laid a strong foundation and had most artificially raised their Superstructure yet as soon as the true and undoubted Heir did but manifest her Resolution to vindicate her Right this accurate Pile presently fell and dissolved as it were in the twinkling of an Eye and that chiefly by their endeavour of whom for their Religion the Lady Jane might have presumed herself assured And the learned and godly Prelate Ridley who I wish ☜ had not err'd in this matter when he preach'd up the Lady Jane's Title P. 270. was scarce heard out with patience by those who were his particular Charge And as the Earl of Arundel said the Friends of Northumberland had no regard to the Apostolical Rules That Evil must not be done that good may come thereof and that we must obey even evil Princes not for Fear but for Conscience SECT XI Anno 1610. Dr. David Owen the only Batchelour of Divinity publish'd at Cambridge a little Treatise called Herod and Pilate reconciled to shew the Concord of Papist and
Christ provided for his own safety by flight the Martyrs by patience offered their Souls to God and the prayers of the Church have always prevailed over its Tyrannical Persecutors SECT XII Anno 1613. Dr. John Downham's sum of Sacred Divinity was publish'd in * Commen on the 5th Command P. 177. which starting the usual objection what must be done if Princes command things unlawful such as with a good conscience we cannot yield unto he answers in such cases we are patiently to abide the punishment in which doing we no way violate the obedience due to them as the Apostle directs 1 Pet. 2.19 20. Anno 1614. Printed at Oxford 1614. P. 86. Lancelot Dawes sometime Fellow of Queens College Preach'd two Sermons at the Assizes held at Carlile the second of which had for its subject Psalm 82.6 7. I have said ye are Gods c. and in it we are informed that Princes have their Authority only from God for ‖ Ja. 1.17 if every good and perfect Gift be from above even from the Father of Lights much more this excellent and supereminent gift of governing God's People must proceed from the fountain the reason of all the sins that were committed in Israel is often in the Book of Judges ascribed unto this Judg. 17.6 18. c. P. 99. that they wanted a Magistrate there was at that time no King in Israel by me Kings reign c. it is not for a Magistrate to debase himself neither is it for others of what reputation soever to equalize themselves with the Judge whom God hath placed over them and this is not only meant of Godly and Religious Magistrates P. 100 101. 1 Sam. 8. but of Wicked and Ungodly Governors too such as are described by Samuel which take Mens Sons and Fields and Vineyards c. the reason is because the bad as well as the good are of God the one he gives in his love the other in his anger and be they good or bad we have no commandment from him but parendi patiendi of obeying them when their Precepts are not repugnant to God's Statutes and of suffering with patience whatsoever they shall lay upon us it was a worthy saying of the Mother of the two Garacs when they kept Sigismond in Prison Bentin â—er Hung. â—ec 3. l 2. that a Crowned King if he were worse than a beast could not be hurt without great injury done to God himself a lesson which she learn'd from David whose heart smote him when he had out the lap of Saul 's garment because he was the Anointed of the Lord altho he himself was before that time Anointed to be King over Israel and was without cause hunted by Saul like a Pelican in the wilderness and an Owl in the desert Then to draw thy sword and to seek perforce to depose such as God hath placed over thee either because they are not suitable to thy affections or not faithful in their places what is it but with the old Gyants to fight with God the weapons of a Christian in this case when such a case doth happen must be preces lacrymae prayers that either God would turn the heart of an evil Magistrate or set in his room a Man David like after his own heart and tears for his sins which as they are the cause of War Famine Pestilence and all other calamities so are they also of Wicked and Ungodly Magistrates P. 102. SECT XIII To what hath been cited out of Dr. Bois in the first part of this History may be added In Holy Bible we read Bois on Ps 47. P. 936. that David would not suffer his Enemy Saul tho a wicked King to be slain when he was in his hands for that he was the Lord's Anointed he had sanctitatem unctionis albeit he had not sanctitatem Vitae i. e. he had an holy calling tho not an holy carriage wherefore David said who can lay hands on the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless and if Heathen Emperors in the Primitive times and ungodly Kings in all Ages ought to be thus obeved how much more a Christian and Virtuous Prince c. After the death of Robert Abbot Bishop of Salisbury were his Academick exercitations against Bellarmine Lon. 1619. and Suarez concerning the supreme power of Kings printed a work as it is called in the Epistle dedicatory agreeable to the Laws of Nature and Religion and very seasonable the Author of which having been the King's Professor of Divinity at Oxford * Prelec 1. Sect. 4. p. 4. vindicates the power of Kings and affirms * Prelec 1. Sect. 4. p. 4 that Pope Hildebrand Hellbrand Luther calls him that the first who assumed to himself the Power of Deposing Princes and absolving their Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance which Doctrine Sigebert a Writer of that Age calls Novelty and Heresie Sect. 5. p. 6 7. and when he treats of Rom. 13.1 be subject to the higher powers c. he says by Powers are meant Kings and Monarchs as the Word is used Luc. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that exercise authority c. in which words Kings by a certain circumscription are defined because power belongs only and properly to them thus Origen Ambrose and Aquinas understood the words and Kings are not only called powers but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Peter 1. ep 2. supereminent powers because in their Kingdoms they have power over all Persons being constituted the supreme and over all and to whom it is given to exercise that power over all for Kingly Majesty is absolutely eminent and above all being so constituted by a supreme right for as * in Rom. 13. St. Ambrose says it hath the Image of God that all others might be under one to whom because he is God's Vicegerent every Soul ought to be subject as unto God. This Sentence of St. ☞ Ambrose lays the unquestionable foundation of Kingly Power for it expresses that in the Power of a Monarch the Image of the Divine Majesty appears and that Kings exercise a Power over Men delegated unto them in God's stead and therefore must be superior to all Men because nothing can be higher than God whose Deputies Kings are P. 12. this also is the Doctrine of Optatus St. John Chrysostom Agapetus and other Fathers and so destructive have the Romanists thought it to their pretensions ☞ that the Spanish Index Expurgatorius hath ordered this sentence to be blotted out of Antonius his Melissae tho the sentence be in two other Fathers viz. Agapetus and Maximus A King hath no superior on Earth Prelec 2. Sect. 4. p. 19. and tho Kings may be made by Men yet their Power is from God by whose Providence and Conduct they are advanc'd to those dignities by Men and whom God either in Mercy Job 34. Prelect 3. Sect. 1. p. 25. or in anger decrees to rule even that God who
makes a Hypocrite to reign for the sins of a people Now the Supremacy of Kings and the subjection of every Soul to them are so joined that the King cannot be said to be supreme unless every Soul be subject to him nor will the duty of subjection agree to every Soul unless the King be invested with this Supremacy Sect. 3. p. 21. for all Men universim omnes sigillatim singuli whether singly or contained in a body are bound in conscience by this Apostolical Precept to pay the duties of subjection and observance to Kings and whereas Bellarmin as others urged the deposition of Athaliah Sect. 5. p. 33. to prove the lawfulness of Dethroning Princes he answers that Athaliah had no right to the Crown that she had the Kingdom by violence that the true King lay hid that by her Parricide and Treason she had made herself guilty of death by the Law and ought to have suffered Prelect 4. Sect. 3. p. 44. p. 47. and that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power which St. Paul uses never signifies force and violence but a just Power which must be lawful because it is from Heaven that Christ was subject by the law to the Power of Pilate and the Apostles to the Heathen Princes Prel 5. Sect. 1.2 p. 70 71. and that in the Primitive Church there were no Traytors who either openly or privately contrived or attempted any thing against the Life or Crown of the Emperor when they wanted neither numbers nor force but they durst not turn Rebels or Traytors ☜ lest by breaking the command of Christ they should lose Heaven and Bellarmin belies them when he says they wanted not a right nor good will to depose Kings but only forces sufficient P. 73. it was of old their Doctrine that the Church ought not to rebel against Princes and this the Gospel taught them let them therefore shew from the Gospel that it is lawful for else let a Man pretend to Inspiration if he speaks from himself and not from the Gospel believe him not says St. Chrysostom Prelect 8. Sect. ult p. 96. and having shewn from David's saying against thee only have I sinned that Kings are accountable only to God he closes his Lecture with these words a King is under the coercion of no Laws because there is no power among Men on Earth that can punish him so that when Kings transgress we must expect the judgments of God upon them SECT XIV In the same year Dr. Lewis Bayly Bishop of Bangor set forth the Practice of Piety ‖ P. 479. edit 1675. in the end of which he shews that the Doctrine which St. Paul taught the Ancient Church of Rome is diametrically opposite in 26 fundamental points of true Religion to that which the new Church of Rome teacheth and maintaineth and the 24th is this that every Soul must of conscience be subject and pay tribute to the Higher Powers i.e. the Magistrates which bear the Sword. Rom. 13.1 2 c. and therefore the Pope and all Prelates and by parity of reason all other Subjects must be subject to their Emperors Kings and Magistrates unless they will bring damnation upon their Souls as Traytors that resist God and his Ordinance and therefore let the Jesuits P. 480. c. take heed and fear lest it be not Faith but Faction not Truth but Treason not Religion but Rebellion which is the cause of their deaths ☜ because they cannot be suffered to persuade Subjects to break their Oaths and to withdraw their Allegiance from their Sovereign to raise Rebellion to move Invasion to stab and poyson Queens to kill and murder Kings c. Some years before this Dr. Richard Crackenthorp Preach'd at Pauls Cross viz. Mar. 24. 1608. and in his Epistle Dedicatory he affirms pr. Lond. 1609. that his desire therein was to testifie his unfeigned love first to God's truth and then to the Peace of our Jerusalem and in the Sermon he commends King James's Book of Free Monarchies but especially his Learned Apology for the Oath of Allegiance and proves that as Solomon had his Kingdom neither from the Priest nor the People but immediatly from God so the Scriptures call Kings the Ministers or Lieutenants of God Rom. 13. and that all the Ancient Fathers did believe that the Imperial Authority of Kings was immediatly and only derived of God immediatly depending of God and of God alone this was the judgment and just defence of all the Christians and of the Church at that time and to prove this to be agreeable to the Law he cites a Statute made 16. Ric. 2. c. 5. of purpose to keep sacred and inviolable the Sovereignty and regality of this Kingdom ☞ it was therein declared that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times not then only but which is specially to be remembred at all times that it hath been in subjection to no Realm but immediatly subject to God and to none other in all things touching the regality of the same in defence of which Statute they in the Parliament then Assembled promised to live and dye as it is there noted by all which it is evident that this Doctrine which is now at Rome counted most ridiculous it in it self most sacred as being grounded on the Scriptures of God and as most sacred hath been embrac'd by all the Christians in the Primitive Church taught and maintained with a general consent by the Ancient and Godly Fathers in their several Ages and Successions constantly defended by whole Kingdoms and Empires and that under pain of High Treason to the Gainsayers thereof even in those latter times also when superstition had dimin'd but not quite extinguish'd and put out the Truth that cannot possibly be true loyalty or sincere obedience which ever attending to an higher command includes in it as in a Trojan Horse that condition of rebus sic stantibus durante beneplacito or the like out of which if strength and opportunity might serve they might let out whole Armies and Troops of Armed Men suddenly to surprize both Church and Kingdom and much more to that purpose To Dr. Crackenthorp it is requisite to join his Friend Dr. P. 334 ed. Lon. 1675 Daniel Featly who in his Handmaid to devotion on the Feast of the Fifth of November gives all good Christians this useful admonition All that fear God ought to abhor and detest all Traiterous and Bloody conspiracies against the Prince and State because God strictly forbids dreadfully threatens miraculously discovers and severely punishes all Treasons and Conspiracies as we see in Corah Absalom Adonijah Zimri the Servants of Ammon Sullam Haman the servants of the Nobleman in the Parable Judas for God forbids conspiracies Touch not mine Anointed c. SECT XV. The Famous Peter du Moulin the Father the Cicero of the French Churches was by King James made a Prebendary of the Church of Canterbury and
gave that Prince no reason to repent of his favors to him vindicating on all occasions both the interests of the Church and the Person Power and Writings of the King nor were his Books and his Actions dissonant one to the other for he never sided with never encouraged the Commonwealth of Rochel as it was called and in his works Orthodoxly States the Catholick Doctrine of Government and confutes the objections of its adversaries thus in his Buckler of Faith c. Buckler of Faith. He lays down briefly but fully ‖ Lib. 2. Sect. ult p. 556 557. Lon. 1623 in Engl. first the Opinion of the Romanists and then the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches as to the right of Kings Thomas the chief Schoolman says he avers that the Power of Princes and Sovereign Lords is but a humane constitution and proceedeth not from God and with him agree Bellarmin and Arnoux their reasons are 1. That the first King that was in the World Nimrod made himself King by force 2. That the greatest part of Empires were erected by Conquest 3. That Kings are established by humane means whether they attain to the Crown by Hereditary Succession or by Election since there is no rule in the Word of God that bindeth to follow an Hereditary Succession more than an Election 4. That there is no express command set down to obey Henry or Lewis or to acknowledge this or that Man more than another to be King. 5. That for these reasons St. Peter calls the Obedience to Kings an Humane Order while we on the contrary maintain that Obedience due to Kings proceedeth from the Divine Law and is grounded upon the Ordinance of God and whom no Man may resist without resisting God. Rom. 13.1 2. and St. Peter in the same place which they object against us will have us yield Obedience to the King for the Lord's sake and altho Nebuchadnezzar was an ungodly King a scourge used by God to destroy Nations nevertheless God speaks thus unto him by his Prophet Dan. 2.37 Thou O King art a King of Kings c. as to their reasons 1. It is false that Nimrod was the first King in the World for the Fathers and Heads of Families were Kings Priests and Sovereign Princes of their Families Men living after the Flood Five or Six hundred Years long enough to see a multitude of their own Children over whom they were to exercise their paternal Power 2. As to the establishment of Government in Conquest I say that those whose Countries a strange Prince seeketh to invade do well to defend themselves and if in that defensive War the Usurper chance to be slain he is justly punished but if he get the upper hand if the Race of the Ancient Possessors of the same Country be clean extinguished if the States of the Country assembled together do agree upon a new form of Government and if all the Officers throughout the Country have taken their Oaths of Fidelity to the New King then we must believe that God hath established such a Prince in that Kingdom then I say that the People ought to yield to the will of God who for the sins of Kings and of their People transposeth Kingdoms and disposeth of the Issues of Battels at his will and pleasure as to the third it belongs not to the Question whether a King succeed by Inheritance or by Election but whether by the Ordinance of God we ought to obey him when he is established therein while our Adversaries will have the Power of Popes to proceed from the Ordinance of God tho they enter into the Papacy by Election and too often by indirect means c. 4. Tho there be no command to obey Henry or Lewis it sufficeth there is a commandment to obey the King and to keep our Oaths of Fidelity made to the King and by consequence to be faithful to that King to whom we swear Obedience and Loyalty nay by this argument no King of this age were to be obeyed because we do not find his name expresly set down in Holy Writ nay no Man were bound to fear God or to believe in Jesus Christ because the Scripture doth not particularly ordain that Thomas Anthony or William should fear God or believe in Jesus Christ it sufficeth that the Word of God containeth general rules which bind particular Persons without naming them 5. St. Peter calls the Obedience that Men owe to Kings an humane Order either because Kings command divers things which by their own nature are not derived from the Divine Law as suppose to forbid to go by night without a Candle or because they attain to that Power by humane means which hinders not but that their Power is grounded upon the Word of God after they are once established for the Question is not touching the means whereby a Prince attains his Kingdom i. e. whether by Hereditary Succession or Election but what Obedience is due to him after he hath attained thereunto whosoever buildeth the Authority of Kings upon Man's Institution and not upon the Ordinance of God cuts off three parts of their Authority and bereaveth them of that which assureth their Lives and their Crowns more than the guards of their Bodies or puissant Armies which put terror into Subjects instead of framing them to Obedience then the Fidelity of Subjects will be firm and sure when it shall be incorporated into piety and esteemed to be a part of Religion and of the service which we owe unto God. The same excellent Person in his rejoinder to de Balzac after he had asserted that the Jesuits teach the Murder of Princes ‖ Letter 2d ed. Lon 1636. Eng p. 73 94 95. and that their Schools have produced many King-killers he proceeds to vindicate the French Church from de Balzac's imputation who professes himself incens'd against the Authors of the troubles in France tho he acquits du Moulin's Person as one who made the subjection due to Sovereignty a part of the Religion which he taught affirming that Obedience to our Sovereigns is a thing just and necessary that to find out an occasion of Rebellion either in a Man 's own Religion or in that of his King is to make insurrections to defend Religion by courses condemn'd by the same Religion such as these being perplext in their own particular Affairs hope to find ease in troubled waters and to save themselves amidst a confusion never yet did the cause of God advance it self that way Moses had power to inflict grievous punishments on Aegypt and her King notwithstanding he would never deliver the Children of Israel out of Aegypt without the permission of the King. SECT XVI And tho this famous Man Peter du Moulin had one Son Lewis who applauded the Regicides translated Milton and bespatter'd the best Church in Christendom yet God blest him with another of his own Name and Principles who in his Letter as he calls it of a French Protestant to a Scotchman of
the Covenant Printed at Lon. 1640. disproves their pretended conformity with the French Churches in the points of Church Discipline and Obedience to Superiors averring solemnly P. 2. that it was ever far from our wishes that your conformity with the Reformed Churches of France should be misapplyed as a pretence of your expelling your Bishops much less a president for you to take Arms against your Gracious Sovereign P. 37 38. take it for granted that the Orders imposed upon you by His Majesty are Ungodly and Antichristian are you therefore allowed to defend Religion with Rebellion will ye call the Devil to the help of God Sure it is a prodigious kind of Christian Liberty for a Subject to draw his Sword against his Sovereign you that stand so much upon the point of conscience ought ye not to be subject for Conscience sake ☞ Were your Sovereign unjust and froward and his commands injurious unto God had ye instead of our pious defender of the Faith a fierce Dioclesian illud solis precibus patientiâ sanari potest nothing will mend it but prayers and patience it is Beza's counsel to the discontented Brethren of England conformable to that of St. 1 Pet. 3.17 Peter for it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing if the Sovereign come to kill the Subject for his Religion the Subject must yield him his throat not charge his Pike against him and this he proves by Calvin's Practice and Writings P. 38 39 40. the Churches of France have lately declared to His Majesties Ambassador there their utter dislike of the Insurrection of Scotland under pretence of a Covenant with Christ P. 41. there can be no just cause to take Arms against a Lawful Sovereign after this he treats of the French Protestants taking Arms P. 46. and concludes that till the Reign of King Lewis the Arms of the Protestants were either justifiable or excusable but their Wars in his time were neither and they prosper'd accordingly P. 48. the French Protestants had to do with a King of a contrary Religion they were incens'd by many wrongs and oppressions they were in danger to lose with their Forts and Towns their Liberty their Religion and their Life the privileges which they enjoyed were rewards of their long Services by the Charter of Rochel when they yielded to Lewis XI it was granted to them that they should be no longer the King's Subjects ☞ than the King should maintain their immunities and yet these true reasons and just fears could not justifie their defensive Arms against their Sovereign but they were condemn'd by the best of their own and of their neighbors and God shewed his dislike by the ill success he gave them And much more to this purpose is to be seen in his answer to Philanax Anglicus and in his Regii sanguinis Clamor ad caelum contra Parricidas Anglicanos Hagae Com. 1652 C. 1. 〈◊〉 5. for that being is du Moulin juniors and not Alexander Morus's as was conjectured affirming with the Apostle that even the Jews would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory had they known him while the Parricides of King Charles I. wittingly and wilfully Murdered their Lawful King and with the King beheaded also the Church of England and brought upon the neighbouring Protestant Churches abundance of Dishonor and much danger while the same madness was imputed to all the Reformation which had only infected a few who falsly called themselves Reformed Nothing hath happened since the beginning of the World more contrary to the glory of God or that hath cast a greater blot upon holy Truth while the Wickedness defends it self by the Doctrin of the Gospel and is said to be perpetrated to vindicate the Protestant Religion to the just indignation and abhorrence of all the foreign Churches for which reason Salmasius P. 7. Heraldus Porree and others wrote smartly both against the Men P. 17. and their villanous Principles It is a Law not only written but born with us and springs from the most pure fountains of Nature That it is a most horrid crime for Subjects to punish their Princes and therefore we do too much honour to Parricides when we use Arguments against them for as Aristotle says they who doubt 1 Top. c 9 whether God is to be worship'd or Parents to be honoured are not to be convinc'd by Reasons but by Scourges and Salmasius hath proved by unanswerable Reasons by divine and human Authority that the Majesty of Kings is unaccountable and that Subjects have no manner of Authority over them Cap. 2. p. 29 30. There is no fallacy of Satan which more prevails upon good Men to engage them in an evil Cause than when Men contrary to God's Word believe that it is lawful to do evil that good may come thereof and that God hath need of our sinful assistance to promote his Kingdom and that whatever is design'd to promote God's Glory immediatly commences good P. 52. the Judges at Westminster were turn'd out by the Army because being consulted they had given this opinion that to judge the King was against the Laws of England Cap. 5. p. 107. to argue from Providence and Success to the goodness of a Cause is impudent one man is hang'd for that by which another gets a Crown Junius Brutus by expelling the Kings of the Family of Tarquin saved his Country another Brutus by murdering a Tyrant ruined it perhaps the later Brutus did an act of justice when he slew an Usurper but the first was very unjust who drove away a lawful King by the murder of King Charles I. Cap. 6. p. 121. the Parricides taught the rest of the World that Kings may be guilty of breach of trust to their People that the People are their Judges and may condemn and execute them and these Tenets they are not ashamed to own in their Writings that they had freed the World of its old Superstition that Kings are only obnoxious to God and can be punish'd only by him that they had set an example to all other Nations conducive to their safety and to be dreaded by all Tyrants as Cromwel wrote to the Scots after Dunbar fight what an occasion of insulting is hereby given to the Papists to say Cap. 7. p. 135. this is the Religion which brings down Reformation to us from Heaven these are the Men who cry out against the Usurpations of the Popes upon the Crowns and lives of Princes only that they might themselves have that power over Kings when they had snatched it from the Pope But the Papists would suggest this with less fierceness if they remembred that those few who left us in this point went to them and borrowed their Weapons from them C. 8 p. 148. these Monsters do not content themselves with being simple Parricides but they turn Rebellion into a
Doctrin of the Church and would fain defend it as the uniform belief of the Reformed much more to the same purpose may be found in the same Book which I recommend to the Reader 's perusal the Learned Author of which wrote after his Father's Copy and therefore I have joyned them together tho according to the exact rules of Chronology I should have given the junior du Moulin a place in the next Reign CHAP. VI. The History of Passive Obedience during the Reign of King Charles the Martyr SECT I. WEre we to judge of the righteousness of any Cause and of its being acceptable to God by the prosperity of its outward circumstances and to intitle Heaven to the owning of all the designs which providence promotes as some Divines both then and since have argued more consonant to the Doctrin of the Alcoran than the Holy Gospel then the most Excellent Prince Charles I. was a vile Malefactor and fell justly a sacrifice to the rage of his rebel Subjects but the true Sons of the Church were of a more Orthodox belief and chose rather to suffer with their Master the Lord 's Anointed than to enjoy the ease and preferments which then were the rewards of perfidiousness and disloyalty as the first part of this History hath amply proved And though Dr. Sybthorp's Sermon called Apostolical Obedience was severely censured nor is it fit to defend every Proposition in it yet the then Bishop of London Dr. George Mountain approved it publickly in Print as a Sermon learnedly and discreetly Preached Testim ante concion and agreeable to the Ancient Doctrin of the Primitive Church both for faith and good manners and to the Doctrin established in the Church of England and therefore under his hand gave authority for the Printing of it Ma. 8. 1627. Mr. Hayes Could any thing privilege Loyalty toward Kings Serm. at St. Mary's Oxon. on Esth 1.15 1624. p. 3 21. Eminence and Alliance might be fair pretences but neither of these could yield Queen Vasthi advantage but what shall any dare to limit Sovereignty and prescribe Majesty it's duty shall he that enjoys the subjection of others by the Law be subject himself to the Law no in no other sense than that of Aquinas not that the Law should lead him by compulsion but lead him by directive persuasion if he conform his actions to the prescript of the Laws it is of his own accord if he do not is he lyable to account Yes but it is only to God against thee only have I sinned says King David Ps 51. those modest times had not the face to capitulate with their Sovereigns the pride of Faction had not yet hatch'd this rebellious Doctrin ☜ that if Kings obey not Laws Subjects have leave to disobey their Kings no let it glory in no Ancienter Author than New Rome and in no better success than confusion and seeing it owes it self to Jesuited Patrons let it be banish'd this Land together with their Persons Mr. Adams When Saul was in David 's hands In 2d ep of Peter pr. 1633. p. 755. his Men alledge God's promise and the advantage concurring and what was David 's charm to allay the fury of those raging Spirits he is the Lord 's Anointed Saul did not lend David so impenetrable an Armour when he ran to encounter Goliah as David lent him in the plea of his Unction not one of the discontented Out-laws durst put forth a hand of violence against him the image and impress of that Divine Ordinance strikes such an awe into the hearts of Men that it makes even Traytors cowards so that instead of smiting they tremble like those whose Office it is to suffer not to do fear God honour the King there was never Man that feared God but he also honored the Prince But let us hear P. 759 c what the Synod of Hell can plead for disobedience how if the Prince be bad an Enemy to truth and goodness a Ravisher a Persecutor raising powers for the extirpation of the Gospel here if ever a Subject may renounce all Allegiance for here is power against power Man against God and the Subject of both left to follow either Answ in this streight some for fear of the King Shipwrack their faith and these are Traytors to God others by a defensive sword in their hand Rebels to the King ☞ there is no question but God must be obeyed even against the King when the King commands things against God. what then shall we resist him with violence no God never Warrants that practice no not against a Prince that denies him there is an active Obedience and a passive I may not execute his impious commands I must suffer his unjust punishments the vices of Men cannot frustrate the institution of God peruse Mat. 5.44 and Rom 12.17 this will tye the Hands of Christian Subjects Samuel offer'd not to depose Saul though the express Sentence of God had cast him off and he was Excommunicated by a higher power than ever came from Rome Saul lived and dyed a King this he illustrates by the examples of the Jews and Primitive Christians and adds what resistance did those Primitive Christians make to those barbarous outrages but praying for the Emperor's life when under the Emperor's command they were bleeding to death neither did they suffer because they were not able to resist but it was their Doctrin c. Christians never prove losers but when they unjustly sight for their own preservation provide we the buckler of patience not a sword when the decree was gone out by Ahasuerus this was their refuge preces lacrymae the Apostles could work miracles yet they resisted not the ordinate powers this charge St. Paul gives the Romans even while Nero was their Emperor a Monster whom divers held to be Antichrist that Religion then cannot be right that pulls down Princes seeing neither Moses in the Old Testament nor Christ in the New nor Levite nor Prophet Apostle nor Disciple either counsell'd or practised against Government which should decide the point that hath cost the Lives of so many Christians and still threatens more Tragedies P. 763. there was never Prince to whom some Belialist took not some exceptions it were ill with Princes if their state depended on the good liking of their Subjects Subjects unfaithful at the heart may be without the suspicion of their Prince but they beheld Rebels in the Court of Heaven we be bound to be subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake In all the time of David 's prosperity there was no news of Shimei he looks like a fair Subject but he that smiles on David in his Throne P. 821. curs'd him in his Flight there is no security in that Subjects Allegiance that hath not God in his Conscience he that poysons the People with the male opinion of their Prince is the most dangerous Traytor to rip up the faults of Kings is bold
who can lift up his hand against the Lord 's Anointed and be innocent 1 Sam. 26.9 or do they consider his commands in the Proverbs of Solomon 24.21 my Son fear God and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change or his counsel in the Book of Ecclesiastes 8.1 I counsel thee to keep the King's commandment and that in regard of the oath of God or because they possibly may pretend that they are exempted from or unconcern'd in the commands of Obedience delivered in the Old Testament do they know and remember the Precept given to all Christians by St. Peter submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake c. or that terrible Sanction of the same command they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation left by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans who then were the miserable Subjects of the worst King the worst Man nay I think I may add truly the worst Beast in the World that so all Rebels mouths might be stopt for ever ☜ and left without all colour and pretence whatsoever to justifie resistance of Sovereign Power Undoubtedly if they did know and consider and lay to heart these places of Scripture or the fearful judgment which befel Corah Dathan and Abiram for this very sin which they now commit and with a high hand still proceed in it would be impossible but their hearts would smite them as David 's did upon an infinitely less occasion and affright them out of these ways of present confusion and eternal damnation SECT III. Dr. 10 Serm. Prâ—at Lon. 16 â— P. 10â— Arthur Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells Magistrates are from God and he resides among them Magistrates must proceed like God God can and will redress the evils that spring from them because he is Sovereign in and over those places and persons which are misgoverned by them P. 131. what is our lesson truly first as Nazianzen advises as near as we can though we cannot as constantly as God not to have a heart and not a heart but to say with King David I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed it were to be wish'd there were such a constancy in our Oaths so many would not retract the Oath of that Allegiance which they owe without an Oath Dr. Sermon at St. Mary's Cambr on Judg. 21.25 1642. p. 27 28 29. Stephens The King's Commission is signed from Heaven by me Kings Reign his Authority is conferr'd by Heaven he is the Anointed of the Lord his power descends from Heaven obedience to him is required from Heaven 1 Pet. 2. it is the will of God that you submit your selves to the Government of your Kings I have heard the Prophet David suspected by some as partial in his own cause just like the Northern Borderers who conceived the Eighth Commandment thou shalt not steal to be none of God's making but foisted in by Henry the Eighth to shackle their thievish fingers but I dare oppose the 13th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans against the power of Men or Devils which would trample upon the necks of Kings suppose thy King very wicked he hath more need of thy Prayers to make him better suppose him to be a Tyrant he will give thee the fairer occasions to exercise thy virtue of patience suppose him to be a Persecutor he 'll do thee a courtesie he 'll send thee to Heaven by violence Saul was an unnatural Tyrant against his own Son Jonathan P. 30 31. ☞ a bloody Persecutor of the Priest's of God a Sacrilegious Usurper of their Holy Offices a demoniacal furious Man possest with a Devil and on David 's part his life was sought for and by sparing Saul he should undo himself he had all the opportunity that might and security could administer unto him he was Saul 's adopted Son by Michal 's Marriage he was a Successor to the Kingdom by the Prophet's Unction and yet for all this who can lift up his hand c. are we Christians do we know the virtue of an Oath What think we then of the Solemn Oath of our Allegiance an Oath which can receive no dispensation no absolution from any power whatsoever contrary to the assertions of Bellarmine and Parsons is the establish'd Doctrin of the Church of England in the 37 Article the King's Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and his other Dominions and is not nor ought to be Subject to any jurisdiction whatsoever the six parts of the Homily against Rebellion are so full and apposite that we must either disclaim them from being the Interpreters of the Doctrin of our Church or sit down convinc'd in the manifest truth of this assertion c. Consider seriously against whom would you take up Arms Id. Serm. on Judg. 4.23 p. 78. is it not against the Power against the Ordinance of God they are Men before God but they are Gods before Men. the whole earth combining could not make St. Bernard willingly offend his King and shall the fear of a threatned plundering make us oppose our King shall the common rout persuade me to go to Hell for company 'T is true God sometimes refines his Church in the Furnace of Persecution neither then does he leave it naked and disarm it but what are the Churches weapons St. Ambrose had his dolere potero potero flere his sighs and groans against the Gothish Soldiers St. Bernard fought to death against Lewis of France non scutis aut gladiis sed precibus fletibus prayers and tears were his Sword and Buckler Nazianzen overcame Julian but it was lacrymis ubertim effusis by softning his Adamantine Heart with salt drops from their eyes thence flows the only Sea we can overthrow Pharaoh 's Host in SECT IV. P. H. Corah of the tribe of Levi joyn'd with Dathan c. Sermon at Cambr. 1640. on Numb 16. 3. p. 5 6. of the tribe of Reuben the Levite or Clergy alone would have wanted power and strength the Laity or Reubenite alone could not have had so fair a colour and cloak of Religion to cover their rebellious practices but both join'd together make a strong Faction and a fair show our surest course is to judge Mens Persons by their actions if their actions be unsound and irregular P. 10. 2. p. 11 c. if they gather themselves together against God's express word and commandment against their Prince and Sovereign be their outward appearance never so specious we may assure our selves that they neither fear God nor regard Man but only to serve their own turns if God in absolute and unlimited terms pronounce ☜ whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God I cannot see how the goodness of the end be it Religion or Reformation or the common good can warrant any such resistance from the transgression of God's Ordinance P. 15. cons the place unless these and the like limitations
the Rebel's Catechism wherein he shews that Lucifer was the first Author of Rebellion that the Rebellion even of the heart makes a Man guilty of Damnation in the sight of God much more that of the tongue or the hand that one branch of the Rebellion of the hand is the composing and dispersing of false and scandalous Books and Pamphlets tending to the dishonour of the King the other the taking up Arms against such Persons P. 6 7. cons p. 9 10 11 c. to whose Authority they are subject and it is worth our observation that not only the bearing Arms against the King is declared to be Rebellion by the Law of England but that it was declared to be Rebellion by the chief Judges of this Kingdom at the Arraignment of the Earl of Essex for any Man to seek to make himself so strong that the King should not be able to resist him although he broke not out into open act even defensive Arms are absolutely unlawful in the Subject against his Sovereign in regard that no defensive War can be undertaken but it carrieth with it a resistance in it to those Higher Powers to which every Soul is to be subject we find it thus resolved in Plutarch P. 12. that it was contrary both to positive Laws and the Law of Nature for any Subject to lift up his hand against the Person of his Sovereign with much more to the same purpose The same Author near about the same time See his Ecclesia Vindicata p 645 c Prâ—at Lon. 1681. wrote a Treatise intitled the stumbling-block of disobedience removed to shew that Kings ought not to be controuled by their Subjects either singly or in a body the whole of which learned Treatise as well as his other Vindications of the Doctrins and Rights of our Church will sufficiently repay the Reader 's expence of pains and leisure And in his Sermon on May 29. 1681. it is to be observed that such as draw their Swords upon God's Anointed use commonly to throw away the scabberds also and find no way of doing better but by doing worse no middle way for them to walk in but either to bear up like Princes or to dye like Traytors SECT VI. Of the same belief was Sir John Spelman in his Case of our affairs in Law c. that the Sovereignty is in the King's Person inseparably Pr. Oxf. 1643. p. 15 17 19. and the allegiance of the Subject by Law thereto inseparably annex'd fortifyed and enforc'd by Religion under the severe menace of damnation what streight then of humane Affairs can be so violent as to make Christian Subjects contrary to sworn Faith to Law and to Religion not only to disobey their Sovereign but resist and Invade the Sovereign Rights c. Anno 1641. Sir Tho. Ashton and many others Noblemen and Gentlemen of Cheshire tendred a Remonstrance to the Parliament against Presbyterian Government and in it they affirm that the donation of Sovereign Power is solely from God and so will he have the revocation too he doth not subject them to the question of inferiors but puts a Guard upon their Sacred Persons which to violate though in our own defence is a breach of his command even when persecuted as David was by Saul which precepts are renewed in the Gospel we see our selves bound by Oath to acknowledge and support that Regal Government our Statutes have establish'd our Laws approved History represents most happy to whom all Primitive times yielded full obedience to whose Throne Christ himself yields Tribute whose Persons God will have Sacred whose actions unquestionable whose Succession he himself determines and whose Kingdoms he disposes Tacitus tho a Heathen advises us to bear with the riots and covetousness of Kings as with barrenness and other infirmities of nature for while there are Men there will be vices but they cannot continue long and will be recompenc'd when better come In the 19th year of this King came forth a little book called an Appeal to thy Conscience as thou wilt answer it at the great and dreadful day of Jesus Christ p 2 3 c. the Author of which says that Subjects may not take up Arms against their lawful Sovereign because he is wicked and unjust no tho he be an Idolater and Oppressor 1. Because it were an high presumption in us to limit that command which God doth not limit now our obedience to Superiors is always commanded without limitation 2. We may not think evil of the King much less may we take up Arms against him 3. St. Paul saith recompence to no man evil for evil Rom. 12.19 If to no Man then certainly not to thy King 〈◊〉 That which peculiarly belongs to the Lord thou oughtest not without his Authority to meddle with but vengeance is his 5. Rom. 13. Every Soul none excluded must be subject there is no Power but of God if so then the Power of a wicked Prince is from God and the penalty of resisting is everlasting damnation both of Soul and Body in Hell-fire for ever 6. In Eccl. 8.1 2. the Covenant made by the People to obey their King is called the Oath of God and who dares break this Oath of God 7. God commands Touch not mine Anointed therefore thou mayest not smite him therefore thou mayest not bear Arms against God's Anointed 8. For Subjects to take up Arms against their own King tho an Idolater and an Oppressor is contrary to the practice of God's People in all Ages the Jews and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians 9. God's heavy judgments on those who have taken up Arms against their Prince tho an Idolater and Oppressor ought to be a warning to us how we do the like this is contrary to the Doctrin of the Church of England in her Homilies then he answers the usual objections for resistance resolves several doubts and removes other little scruples and in the close of all passionately advises all Men to return to the Lord and to do their duty P. 51. for 't is strange says he that God's Church can be no way preserved the Subjects liberty no ways maintain'd but by sin who ever heard unless from a Papist that the way to Heaven was through Hell shall we do evil that good may come Rom. 3.8 It would be a very needless labor to cite all the passages to this purpose that occur in the Books written between the year 1644. and the time of the King's Murther and therefore I shall refer the Reader to the Regal Apology Printed 1648. the Kingdoms brief answer to the Declaration of the Commons Pr. 1648. the Plea for the King and Kingdom 1648. with many other Treatises of the same kind only I shall mention Bishop Rainhowe who took the degree of Doctor of Divinity An. 1646. Vid. Bish Rainbow's life p. 41. when his chief Question on which he made his Thesis was Ecclesia Anglicana tenet
omnia ad salutem necessaria a point which he durst defend in the worst of times when that Church was so much oppress'd for asserting her Loyalty to God and the King for her agreement with the Primitive Church in not rebelling against the lawful Magistrate and in owning the Jus Divinum of Episcopal Hierarchy and Liturgy To what is quoted out of Mr. Edw. Symmons's Vindication of King Charles in the first part of this History let these Passages be added by virtue of the Canon Romanus Episcopus say the Jesuits Sect 4. p. 46. v. p. 47. the Pope hath power to depose Kings be they Heretical or Catholick of vicious or virtuous lives if in his judgment he finds them unfit and some others more capable of Government and do not these Men believe the Authority of Parliament to be as irresistible as that of the Pope and their Votes to be as full of virtue as his Canons and altogether as authentick even to the deposing of Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms have they not loosen'd People from their Oath of Allegiance to the King and then put them in Arms persuading them that 't is no Rebellion to fight against him Sect. 16. p. 160 161. the next thing they mention wherein they triumph indeed and glory is their late extraordinary success in the Field some perhaps may wonder how these three can agree together great sufferings strange patience and extraordinary good success prosperity and good success which of old went current only among the Papists for a note of the true Church is now admitted also by these Men to be a special mark of the goodness of their Cause but in regard our Religion hath hitherto taught that sufferings and patience were rather the marks of Christ's true Flock than extraordinary success in the World therefore c. these two names of suffering and patience shall from henceforth be rejected and wholly disclaimed P. 168. cons loc as infallible marks of Loyalty and Malignity success is the weakest Argument that can be alledged to prove the goodness of a Cause and the wickedest Men have most used it this Book was written Anno 1645. tho not published till the year 1648. CHAP. VII The History of Passive Obedience under King Charles II. c. SECT I. WHen the execrable Parricide was committed on the Martyr Charles and his Family driven into Exile this Truth did not want its Confessors tho they smarted bitterly for owning it of which number Mr. Sheringham publish'd his accurate treatise of the King's Supremacy wherein as he says in his Introduction he exposes and confutes those Principles and Grounds whereby the Rebels endeavour'd to justifie the War against the King the first of which was that it was lawful for the People to resist their Sovereign and Supreme Governors by force of Arms in case they be Tyrants and bent to subvert the Laws and Religion establish'd or by illegal Proceedings invade the Lives Estates or Liberties of their Subjects This dangerous position he fully and learnedly confutes in his Book proving the Supremacy of our Kings and that they are neither coordinate nor subordinate to the People both by the Statute and common Law of this Land and clearly answers all the objections from either reason or authority concluding all with this remarkable saying P. 118. To speak my desires I wish unfeignedly the Salvation of all the pretended Parliamentarians ☞ but to speak my thoughts I conceive more hopes of the honest Heathen than of any Man that shall dye a Rebel or not make restitution as far as he is able of all that he hath gained by oppression and injustice Mr. Allington in his Grand Conspiracy Sermon 3. p. 106 107. Vid. Serm. 2. p. 60 81. Caiaphas pleaded the exigencies of the State for the Murther of our Saviour and which of us is there that hath not a Caiaphas in his bosom Which of us is there that doth not rather consider the expediency than the justice of an action which of us do not consider whether what we do be not rather secure than conscionable Men who will sacrifice both Judgment Loyalty Conscience and all Honesty to avoid an inconvenience P. 115 116. it is a Law much commended in this Land of ours that no Man shall be tryed but by his Peers now a King must be above the judgment of his Subjects because among them he can have no Peers such an heir as Christ was in the Parable Sermon 4. p. 179. Luc. 20.14 could not be robb'd of his Birth-right nor deprived of his Inheritance but it must be done with violence and that violence could never had hands enough without an Association the Husbandmen without any mask of Religion P. 205. or cloak of Godliness without any pretence of freeing themselves from Tyranny Arbitrary Government or any manner of Oppression they declare clearly what more subtle Rebels would not that the reason they prosecute bought arraign'd and kill'd the heir P. 208 and P. 210 211. it merely was for his Inheritance that the Inheritance may be ours this Lord had power to call the Labourers but the Labourers had none to call him to account Anno 1651. Mr. Jane Father to the present Regius Professor at Oxon if I am rightly informed Printed his Answer to Miltons Iconoclastes and in it fully and on all occasions avers this truth Exam. of the Pref. p. 5. v. p. 11 It is hateful in any to descant on the misfortunes of Princes but in such as have relation to them by Service or Subjection as the Libeller Milton to the late King is the compendium of all unworthiness P. 28 v. p. 34. and unnatural Insolence had His Majesty's faults been as palpable as this Author's falshood it could not diminish his Subjects duty nor excuse the Rebels imprety Rebels never wanted pretensions P. 36 37. but liberty and justice were the common masks of such Monsters so this Man will have the World believe Rebellion is dearer to this Author than Religion and he will rather commend superstitious actions of a blind Age and the very dregs of Popery than want an ingredient to the varnish of that horrid sin P. 39. Superstitious Churchmen had their hands in the old Rebellions and in our days we find they have Successors that teach the People Doctrins of Devils and seduce them from Obedience to those that had the rule over them P. 47. Obedience and Sufferings are the servility and wretchedness which Milton calls the Pulpit stuff of the Prelates we may shortly expect that as these Miscreants have altered State and Church ☜ so they will compose an Index Expurgatorius of the Bible for it cannot be imagined that they will object this heinous crime of Preaching Passive Obedience to the Prelates and leave so many places in the Gospel which command it and themselves need not the Gospel to make Men obedient they have the Sword and this
these Laws p. 14. v. loc and p. 21 22 c which he gave to us Under the most barbarous and persecuting Emperors no Christian ever suffered as a Rebel they gave no other disturbance to the Government than by confessing themselves Christians and suffering for it Their numbers indeed were very formidable but nothing else The same Doctor wrote his Case of Resistance when the Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience were not Confuted but laught out of Countenance Ep. Ded. p. 109. When whoever hath been so hardy as to assert the Doctrine of Non Resistance hath been thought an enemy to his Country one who tramples on all Laws who betrays the Rights and Laberties of the Subject and sets up for Tyranny and Arbitrary Power p. 3. In this accurate Treatise he proves 1. That God himself set up a Sovereign and iresistible power in the Jewish Nation and that during all that time v. p. 13 14. it was unlawful for Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever to resist their Princes 2. That our Saviour taught the same Doctrine both by his Example and Precepts as did also St. Peter and St. Paul. p. 133. The sum of St. Paul's Doctrine is this that all Men whatever their rank and condition be must be subject to Sovereign Princes i. e. must obey all their just and lawful commands and patiently submit even to their unjust violence for Sovereign Princes are made and advanced by God and therefore he that resisteth resisteth not Man but God and how prosperous soever such Rebels may be in the World they shall not escape the Divine Vengeance and Justice which will follow them into another World They shall receive to themselves damnation p. 221. The last Judgment weighs down all other considerations and certainly Rebellion may well be said to be as the sin of Witchcraft when it so inchants Men that they are resolved to be Rebels though they be damned for it So Dr. H. Bagshaw Serm. on Isa 1.26 p. 8. Should Magistrates omit Works of Justice and Mercy they are no more Gods but Idols nay the worst sort of Idols that being made to represent do yet foully reproach Divine Power but should People resist libel or abuse them and so strive to deface the marks of their greatness they strike at the Majesty of the Supreme We may all learn Duty from considering that God is the founder of human Government So also the learned Dr. Faulkner V. Christian Loyalty l. 1. c. 5. p. 183 184. The truth is Maximus was a Rebel and had wicked murdered Gratian the Emperor and invaded the Territories of Valentinian and for this cause S. Martin though often requested for a long time refused to come to his Table and avoided all converse with him and did also foretel his ruin And Marcellinus Socrates Theodoret and Sozomen in their Histories often give him the stile of Maximus the Tyrant And Symmachus a Roman Senator was found guilty of Treason by Theodosius for publishing a Panegyrick upon Maximus S. Ambrose not only refused Maximus the salutation of a Kiss from him but withdrew himself from those Bishops who Communicated with him c. Chap. 6. p. 233. The same Author confuteing the claim of the Pope to this Kingdom on the account of the surrendry made by King John to Pandulphus the Pope's Legat adds I shall chuse to observe in general that this Case is the same as if any Seditious persons or Usurpers should by fraud or force reduce the King to straits and difficulties and should then by like methods gain a promise from him that he should be under their Government and shall order the Affairs of his Realm in complyance with them and subjection to them Now all such Acts are wholly void and utterly unobligatory Because 1. No part of Royalty can be gained by Possession upon an unjust Title against the right Owner upon a sure Title this being a parallel Case to a Thief being possest of an honest Man's Goods 2. No Sovereign King unless by voluntary relinquishing his whole Authority to the next Heir can transfer his Royal Supremacy to any other person whomsoever c. p. 383. v. loc Another ground of Subjects security though they may not take Arms against their Sovereign is from God being the Judg and Governor of the World and shall not the Judgment and Authority of God over Princes be thought valuable and considerable though he is more righteous and more able to help the oppressed than any Judge upon Earth p. 393. V. p. 395 397 456 457 463 490 491. Unless all things be in utter confusion and Anarchy it is not possible but that there must be acknowledged such an Authority which none have power of resisting but this can no where be so well placed for the Subjects Interest as in their Sovereign Prince and Supreme Governor Christians are Baptized into that Doctrine which makes great provision for the security of Kings and against all manner of resistance But though the directions of our Religion be plain History will acquaint us that there have been many contrary Practices as matters of Fact. But these are no more to be urged against the Rules of Duty in this than in other Actions of disobedience and swerving from God's Commandments p. 507. It was truly observed by Barclay that Valentinian the younger who was an Arian might as easily have been Resisted and Deposed by the Catholick Christians as any King or Emperor whatsoever if they would have undertaken any such thing for then the strength of the Eastern part of the Empire was then in the Hands of Theodosius who was a zealous promoter of the True Faith the Western Empire was over-run by Maximus an Enemy to the Arians The Army of Valentinian then at Milan were so disaffected to the Emperor that they declared they would go over to those Ambr. Ep. 33. ad Marcellin to whom S. Ambrose should direct them unless the Emperor would Communicate with them who embraced the True Faith. But in this case Theodosius protected and assisted Valentinian and S. Ambrose disclaimed all resistance against him and espoused his Interest to the utmost against Maximus Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford Pr. Lond. 1688. in his Defence of the Reading the late Declaration asserts the same Truth for though he pleads for the Reading of the Decclaration p. 5. Because when we are bid to Honor the King we ought to observe that express command of God in every thing that is not expresly contrary to the word of God or at least most evidently deduced from it so that every common understanding must needs see it p. 15. Yet he subjoyns that it is impossible that a true Son of the Church of England should have any disloyal thoughts in his Heart his Principles commanding him unto intire Obedience either Active or Passive without any Equivocation or Mental Reservation whatsoever SECT VIII Dr. Matthew
Griffith Serm. 25. Mar. 1660. called fear God and the King p. 11. v.p. 39. and p. 8 9. If God command one thing and the King should command another then God's command is to be preferred and yet let me tell you that the King is not to be disobeyed for a true Christian is obliged to a twofold obedience Active and Passive Where the King commands things Lawful there yield Active Obedience and know that it is your duty to do them but if he should command such a thing as you may not lawfully do then you must not resist but suffer patiently for your not doing it and that is your Passive Obedience and in both these you may still keep a good Conscience for though God be to be preferred yet God will not have his Anointed to be disobeyed Dr. Jane Dean of Gloucester Ser. at the Consecr of Doctor Crompton Bishop of Oxon p. 30 31 32. Such is the peculiar genius of Christianity that where ever it is either Preacht or Received it can create no jealousie in the State. The ground upon which this Assertion stands is this that it disclaims all title to the Sword but leaves him that takes it to perish with it though it be drawn in defence of Christ himself In the Church then as of old in Israel there was no Smith to provide Swords and Spears though against their persecuting Philistines To obey Authority was taught and practised under a Nero and their Submissions were as unparallel'd as their Provocations And we may truly suppose under the Roman Emperors that had the Doctrine of Obedience been as truly received by their Heathen Subjects as it was Preacht by S. Paul and practised by the believing Romans they had effectually provided for the publick Tranquillity without any further need of Forts and Armies to secure it Dr. Outram The Glory of the King Ser. Jan. 30. 1664. p. 141 149. the Privileges of the Parliament the Liberty of the Subject the Purity of Religion these are written upon the Face of the design The Principle is doing evil that good may come of it and breaking Laws that we may the better observe them These Men went to Rome to whet the Ax and borrowed an Arrow out of the Roman Quiver secretly to shoot the Lord 's Anointed Were the Prince a Nero p. 160. Paul would charge us we should not resist and would charge resistance with damnation Sir Orlando Bridgman at the Tryal of the Regicides says Try. p. 10 12. v. p. 15 52 182 283. I must deliver to you for plain and true Law that no Authority no single Person no Community of Persons not the People Collectively or Representatively have any coercive Power over the King of England And this he proves at large in the same place The Crown of England is and always was an Imperial Crown Now I do not intend any Absolute Government by this It is one thing to have an Absolute Monarchy another thing to have that Government absolutely without Laws as to any coercive Power over the Person of the King. God is my witness what I speak V. p. 13 14. p. 280. V. p. 281 282. I speak from mine own Conscience that is that whatsoever the case was by the Laws of these Nations the Fundamental Laws there could not be any coercive Power over the King. And this he there proves from the obligation of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy c. Mark the Doctrine of the Church of England and I do not know with what spirit of Equivocation any Man can take that Oath of Supremacy Her Articles were the judgment not only of the Church but of the Parliament at the same time And the Queen and the Church were willing that these should be put into Latin that all the World might see the Confession of the Church of England So also Sir Heneage Finch P. 51. then the King's Sollicitor General The King is not accountable to any coercive Power See also the accurate Treatise See also Nalson's Counter p. 35 c. 3â—9 Com. Interest of Kings p. 139 c. p. 3. called the Harmony of Divinity and Law which proves that it is a damnable sin to resist Sovereign Princes and answers all the little objections of the Republicans to the contrary I shall here only mention Mr. Foulu's History of the Plots and Conspiracies of the pretended Saints and briefly transcribe a passage or two out of Dr. Sprat Bishop of Rochester his True account of the horrid Conspiracy At that time under the color of the only true Protestant the worst of all Unchristian Principles were put in Practice all the old Republican and Antimonarchical Doctrines whose effects had formerly proved so dismal were again as confidently owned and asserted as ever they had been during the hottest rage of the late unhappy Troubles p. 21. See p. 41. The Lord R was seduced by the wicked Teachers of that most Unchristian Doctrine which has been the cause of so many Rebellions That it is lawful to resist and rise against Sovereign Princes for preserving Religion p. 43 44. Other Principles were that the only obligation the Subject hath to the King is a mutual Covenant that this Covenant was manifestly broken on the King's part ☞ that therefore the People were free from all Oaths and other tyes of Fealty and Allegiance and had the natural Liberty restored to them of asserting their own Rights and as justly at least against a Domestick as against Foreign Invaders p. 131. v. p. 132. The whole design of A. S's Papers was to maintain That Tyrants may be justly Deposed by the People and that the People are the only Judges who are Tyrants That the general Revolt of a Nation from its own Magistrates can never be called a Rebellion which Positions the Historian calls with great Truth and Justice Villanous Opinions p. 133. and such as if allowed it will be impossible for the best Kings or the most happy Kingdoms in the World to be free from perpetual Treasons p. 164. and Rebellious Plottings But his Majesty hath just reason to acknowledge that the main body of the Nobility and Gentry stood by him so has the whole sound and honest part of the Commonalty so the great Fountains of Knowledge and Civility the two Universities so the wisest and most learned in the Laws so the whole Clergy and all the genuine Sons of the Church of England ☞ a Church whose glory it is to have been never tainted with the least blemish of disloyalty Dr. Pocock In ch 8. Hos 4. p. 388 389. Some Interpreters by Setting up Kings but not by me would understand Saul but that cannot with reason be imagined Others looking on the sin of the Israelites to be their defection from the House of David on which God had intayled the Right and Title of the Kingdom and their changing of the Kinghom and Priesthood of their own heads
Man who hath such a respect to Religion that whatsoever he promiseth by Oath he will perform tho be loses never so much by keeping his faith and * in Ps 51. p. 361. that David confess'd to God against thee only have I sinned not because I stand in fear of punishment from Men who have no Power over me but because I am so obnoxious to thee whose judgments I ought to dread the more the less I am lyable to give an account of my actions unto others O how it afflicts me that I presumed because I had none to controul me here on Earth to offend thy Majesty thy All-seeing Majesty at whose Tribunal ☜ the highest must be judged Politicians when they do unwarrantable actions Id. Jewish Hypocrisie p. 371 372. Lond. 1660. think to excuse themselves with the Reason of State and pretence of Common good and therefore will break their Faith and their Oaths and at the rate of their honesty purchase the common welfare as if God had need of Mens sin or we could tell what is his Interest better than himself I am somthing angry at this vile abuse of his Holy Name that tho God hath told us what is his mind and pleasure yet they will instruct him and teach him what is more for his benefit and shew him a way that he thought not on for the advancement of his Glory The same Author in his Epitome of Man's duty annex'd to his Treatise of the Jewish Hypocrisie is of the same mind as we love our selves P. 41. let us endeavour to live in all good conscience before God let us not do the least evil for to avoid the suffering of the greatest evil and let us not neglect any good for the purchasing of the best good the World affords it cannot be long before thou feelest that hidden Whip the cords of which thou art continually twisting for to lash thy self all impatience comes by pride P. 67 68. and our murmurings are bred by too goodly thoughts of our own selves but if we thought with our selves what we are c. we should become very humble i. e. meek and patient and contented under all that befalls us one act of humility begets another and he that thinks meanly of himself will not be angry that he is afflicted Be peaceable and obedient to Governors who are Gods in the World and to whom God hath bidden us that we should submit our selves submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake c. 1 Pet. 2.13 It is an high act of Pride and Insolency to controul the Authority that is over us and to set up our own wills above God's Vicegerents for it is a great contempt of the Majesty of God whose Image they more remarkably bear and with whose Effigies they are more visibly stampt than other Men we must always therefore do what they command us or else suffer what they inflict upon us ☜ and if we chuse the latter we must suffer as meekly and peaceably as if it was an immediate hand of Heaven upon us for if Solomon says of every Man that proud and haughty scorner is his name who decleth in proud wrath Prov. 21.24 Then much more is he to be branded in the forehead for a Man superlatively proud who cannot endure to be touch'd in Body or Estate but it casts him into the highest Inflammations of anger even against the Highest Powers Dr. Tillotson There is a Spirit in the World which is not only contrary to Christianity Ser. on Nov. 5. 1678. p. 17 18. but to the common Principles of natural Religion and even to humanity it self which by falshood and persidiousness by secret Plots and Conspiracies or by open Sedition and Rebellion by Deposing and Killing Kings in a word by dissolving all the bonds of humane Society and subverting the Peace and order of the World i. e. by all wicked ways imaginable doth incite Men to promote and advance their Religion P. 19. When Religion once comes to supplant Moral Righteousness and to teach Men the absurdest things in the World to lye for the truth P. 20. and to kill Men for God's sake and to be a bond of Conspiracy better it were there were no revealed Religion ☜ and that humane nature were left to the conduct of its own Principles and Inclinations which are much more mild and merciful than to be acted by a Religion that inspires Men with so wild a fury and is continually supplanting Government and undermining the Welfare of Mankind In short such a Religion as teaches Men to propagate and advance it self by means so evidently contrary to the very nature and end of all Religion how much better Teachers of Religion were the Old Heathen Philosophers P. 21 22. in all whose Books and Writings there is not one Principle to be found of Treachery and Rebellion Panaetius Antipater and Diogenes the Stoick Tully and Plutarch P. 28. and Seneca were much honester and more Christian Casuists than the Jesuits are c. I am not sure that the Pope is Antichrist but I challenge Antichrist himself whoever he be and whenever he comes to do worse and wickeder things than these Serm. on 1 Cor. 3.15 p. 11 15. I hope no body expects that I should take the pains to shew that this was not the Doctrin of our Saviour and of his Apostles nor of the Primitive Christians viz. the Doctrin of deposing Kings our Church hath this peculiar advantage above several Professions P. 3â— 34. that we know in the World that it acknowledgeth a due and just subordination to the Civil Authority and hath always been untainted in its Loyalty Dr. Meggor Serw. before the L. 〈◊〉 on Ps 11.3 〈◊〉 30 p. 14. Altho there were Laws to guide and direct the Kings of Judea and Aegypt yet if they forgot themselves so much as to violate and break through them there were none by which they might resist and punish them their Ministers and Instruments were ever accountable but as to themselves it was a Maxim every where that they could do no wrong P. 16. he who resists Kings is in danger of receiving to himself damnation in the other World for such unjustifyable and forbidden practices there never yet was any Rebellion where Religion or Liberty were not one or both pretended yet he who examineth the most judicious and impartial Wâ—â—ters of Story will be hugely put to it to produce an instance of any one where Personal disgusts and selfish designs were not the first Promoters and Fomentors of it they P. 28 29. v. p 43 44 c. that can dispense with their Oaths and comply with Usurpers be instruments of the illegal Innovations and Zealous for the Statutes of Omri may receive some wages for their unrighteousness and ravish to themselves fortunes as unexpected as ignominious but for those that dare not debauch their Consciences nor be partakers
yet with how much Zeal is this Doctrin maintain'd and propagated as if on it hung both the Law and the Prophets neither is the zeal used for its defence only meant for the Vindicating of what is past but on purpose advanc'd for reacting the same Tragedies indeed the consideration of these evils should call on all to reflect on the evident signatures of the Divine displeasure under which we lye from which it appears that God hath no pleasure in us nor will be glorified among us that so we may discern the signs of the times we must consider wherein ye have provok'd God to chastise us in this fashion by letting loose among us a Spirit of uncharitableness giddiness cruelty and sedition The Question is in general 1st Confer P. â—â—0 if Subjects under a Lawful Sovereign when appress'd in their 〈◊〉 Religion may by Aâ—â—s defend themselves and resist the Magistrates To which 〈…〉 he Nonconformist answers consider if there can be any thing more evident from the Law of Nature than that Men ought to defend themselves when unjustly assaulâ—ed he is a self Murderer who does not defend himself from unjust force besides what is the end of all Societies but mutual protection did not the People at first clâ—â—se Princes for their protection c it was then the end of Societies that Justice and Peace might be maintain'd so when this is inverted the Subjects are again to râ—â—me their own conditional suâ—â—â—der and excoerce the Magistrate who forgetful of the ends of his Authority doth so corrupt it to this Basilius the Oâ—thodox Aâ—â—ertor of the King's Authority gives the Answer which you find in the 〈◊〉 part of this History p. 73. distinguishing between the Laws of Nature and the perâ—â—ions of nature It is like the sacredness of the Megistrate's Power P. 12. was a part of the Traditional Religion conveyed from Noah to his Posterity as was the practice of expiatory Sacrifices P. 17 18. certainly the defence of Religion by Arms is never to be admitted for the nature of Christian Religion is such that it excludes all carnal weapons from its defence and when I consider how expresly Christ forbids his Disciples to resist evil Mat. 25.39 how severely that resistance is condemn'd by St. Paul and that condemnation is declared the punishment of it ☞ I am forc'd to cry out Oh! what times are we fallen in in which Men dare against the Laws of the Gospel defend that practice upon which God hath passed his condemnation if whosoever break the least of these commandments and teach Men so to do shall be called the least in the Kingdom of God what shall their portion be who teach Men to break one of the greatest of these commandments such as are the Laws of Peace and Subjection and what may we not look for from such Teachers who dare tax that Glorious Doctrin of patient suffering as brutish and irrational and tho it be expresly said 1 Pet. 2.21 that Christ by suffering for us left us his example how to follow his steps which was followed by a Glorious Cloud of Witnesses yet in these last days what a brood hath sprung up of Men who are lovers of their own selves P. 35. traytors heady high-minded c. I must confess my self amazed when I find St. Peter saying expresly 1 Pet. 2.21 that Christ suffer'd leaving us an example that we might follow his steps and applying this to the very case of suffering wrongfully and that notwithstanding that you would study to pervert the Scripture so grosly I confess P. 58. there is no piece of story I read with such pleasure as the accounts are given of the Martyrs for methinks they leave a fervor on my mind which I meet with in no study that of the Scriptures being only excepted say not then they were not able to have stood to their own defence when it appears how great their numbers were It was then no Legend P. 61. or shall I here tell you the known story of the Thebaean Legion which consisted of 6666 who being by Maximinus Herculeus an 287 c. Consider how Maximinus came in the â—â—g end of that great Persecution begun by Dioclesian and Herculeus continued by Galesius and consummated by Maximinus himself in which for all the numbers of the Martyrs and the cruelty of the Persecution there was not so much as a tumult which makes it evident ☜ that Christians of that time understood not the Doctrin of resistance the whole course of our Saviour's Life Id. Serm on Rom. 13.5 p. 25 26. was a perpetual tract of doing good and bearing ill and when he was accused to Pilate of being an Enemy to Caesar and pretending to set up another Kingdom he did in the plainest style was possible condemn all practisings against Government upon pretence of Religion by saying my Kingdom is not of this World if my Kingdom were of this World then would my Servants fight c. the Blessed Apostles followed their Master's steps in this P. 27. as in all other things and therefore having learn'd of our Saviour that Lesson of bearing the Cross and suffering patiently St. Peter doth at full length once and again call on all Christians to prepare for sufferings and to bear them patiently c. P. 29. profane as well as Ecclesiastical Writers assure us ☜ the numbers of the Christians became very soon so vast that nothing but the Conscience of the duty they owed the Supreme Powers obliged them to be Subject ‖ Id. myst â—y of Iniq. 8vo p. 73 75. The Bishops of Rome not content with their Usurpations over their Brethren and Fellow Churchmen their next attempt was upon Princes they pretended to a Power of deposing Princes disposing of their Dominions to others and dispensing with the Oaths of Fidelity their Subjects had sworn to them but I cannot leave this particular without my sad regrets ☜ that too deep a tincture of this Spirit of Anti Christianisme is among many who pretend much aversion to it since the Doctrin of resisting Magistrates upon colours of Religion is so stifly maintain'd and adhered to by many who pretend to be highly Reformed tho this be one of the Characters of the Scarlet-coloured Whore. ☜ Their contempt of the fifth commandment follows upon the Doctrin of the Pope's Power of deposing Princes and freeing their Subjects from their obligation to them by which they are taught to rebel and resist the Ordinance of God. we hold P. 152. that the Civil Powers are of Christ whose Gospel binds the duty of Obedience to them more closely on us and therefore if they do wrong we leave them to Christ's Tribunal who set them up but pretend to no power from his Gospel to coerce or resist them while we have a Zeal against Popery as a bloody rebellious and cruel Religion Serm. at the Rolls Nov. 5. p. 25 27 c. we
must do nothing to shew that we are acted by the Spirit of Popery we must never forget the Station in which God hath put us â—s we are Subjects under a Lawful Prince to whom we are tyed both by Divine and Humane Laws and even the Lion's Mouth it self opening to devour us ☜ can never excuse us from our obligation to submit and suffer if God had so ordered it by his Providence that we were born under a Prince that would deliver us up to the Lion. the late Rebellion as it was managed with a Popish i. e. a bloody Spirit so many of the Arguments that were used to defend it were taken from Popish Authors P. 28. When we go out of the way of patience and submission of obedience and of bearing the Cross when we give scope to passion and rage to jealousie and mistrust and upon this fermentation in our minds we break out into Wars and Rebellion we forget that the God whom we serve is Almighty and can save us either from a devouring Fire or a Lion's Mouth we forget that the Saviour whom we follow was made perfect by sufferings and that we become then truly his Disciples when we bear his Cross even tho we should be crush'd under it we forget that our Religion ought to inspire us with a contempt of Life and the World and with meekness and lowliness of mind c. P. 29. we are not to share with the Papists in their cruelty not imitate them in their Rebellion SECT XV. Dr. Adam Littleton in his Catechism Printed Lon. 1662 â—p ded or the Grounds of Religion An ungrounded Christian will be easily peâ—suaded to give him self up to any wild Opinion or loose practice to turn Heretick or Rebel P. 334. and prove a fit instrument for the managery of Satan's designs the fifth commandment is the hinge of the two Tables and concerns the Magistrate who is God's Vicegerent on Earth and the keeper of both the Tables wherefore some assign it a place in the first Table P. 336 337. See his Ser. on Nov. 5 1675. p. 221 223 224 226. and Ser. on Jan. 30. 1677. p. 236 237 c. God having a special care of civil order and Peace in the Societies of Men honour thy Father and Mother whether thy natural Parents or the Civil Magistrate disobedience dissolves and unloosens or â—er and peace which are the bands of Society whereas oppression does but strain and gird the tyes of Government too close no Tyranny of the most wicked Prince can be so mischievous and destractive to the Publick as the Rebellion of Subjects let them pretend never so much Religion for it the great interest of society is to obey since the resisting of a Lawful Governor will in the end destroy Government it self and bring all things into consusion ☞ then he introduces God thus speaking thou inferior whoever thou art that art under anothers Power P. 343 344. thou shalt be subject to him and yield a ready and chearful obedience to him as to the Lord in all things that are just and lawful and hear with his humors and his harshness ☞ remembring that the he be a Man of like passions with thy self yet he is in God's stead and if he at any time swerve from his rule in commanding yet do not thou decline thy duty in obeying but when be biddeth thee do any thing coutrary to my will carry thy self with submission and resolve to suffer for a good conscience rather than to resist where thou canst not with a good conscience obey thou shalt not withdraw or grudge thy obedience P. 347. much less shalt thou take upon thee to call him to account thou Subject shalt honor and obey the King and his Ministers thou shalt not raise sedition to bring an odium upon the Magistrate's Person his Authority or his Council nor shew any discontent to the disturbance of the publick Peace nor take up Arms against thy Lawful Sovereign nor maintain or assist Rebellion nor meddle with those that are given to change thou shalt not offer any violence to the King 's Sacred Person but if at any time unrighteous commands are imposed upon thee have recourse to thy Prayers and make thy appeals to Heaven to God the King of Kings to whom alone they are accountable and who will in his dut time remove the oppression and call the Oppressor's to an account P. 352 353. when the hedge of Government is broken down neither Religion nor Law shall bound us this hath been England 's Case in the wicked times of Anarchy and Confusion when we complyed with Illegal Powers when our Oaths of Allegiance were eluded with the solemn cozenage of a League and sinful Combination when we were bewildred with the Witchcrafts of Rebellion and knew not the things which belong'd to our Peace but pretended to reform abuses by destroying the Offices when we rais'd War against our dread Sovereign and offered violence to the Lord 's Anointed what need have we therefore to pray fervently with the Church Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law. The same Author in his Sermon Pt. Lond. 1669. p. 24 25. called The Churches Peace asserted upon a Civil account Preach'd July 4th An. 1669. says the same thing The best Party of the Dissenters have such Principles of Policy and Government as are utterly inconsistent and incompatible with Monarchy whereas there is no one thing that the English Church doth in her Doctrin more positively affirm ☞ or in her Offices more â—ealously express than Obedience to Governors and her duty to her Sovereign thanked be God we live not now under Heathen Emperors and Pagan Governors tho if we did it were our duty to pray for them and to thank God for them too and to obey them in all lawful commands An Original of all Plots Lond. 1680. 810. cap. 1. p. 2. and where we cannot safely obey chearfully to suffer for a good Conscience Dr. William Saywel Still it hath fallen out that Men of more zeal than discretion of greater reading than judgment have struck in with the Politicians and wrote that which would most please the Men in Authority and was likely to get them most favor and reputation amongst those who could satisfie their ambition and by these means have rather served themselves than God tho with the confusion and disorder of the Church Athelsm breach of common faith and honesty P. 3. violations of all Oaths and Contracts Murders Treasons Conspiracies Rebellions long and bloody Wars Massacres Fires Underminings Poysons P. 4 5. and Subversions of Governments are the sad consequences of such dissensions in Religion that these Parts of Christendom for some Ages past have been an Aceldama or Field of Blood and many horrid and barbarous Murders have been acted upon pretence of Religion is evident from all Modern Histories and tho the Romish
enough to convince any sober Man that the Ancient Christians did never dream that either the Pope or the People did give Kings their Authority or had any Power to depose them and authorize their Subjects to take up Arms against them with or without their Authority much less to set up others in their stead or reserve their Power in their own hands but did believe that their Authority and Power is wholly from God and therefore must be obeyed according to his Ordinance and that they never can be deposed either by the People or People or any other Authority upon Earth Dr. Dove Sermon on Nov. 5. 1680. p 4 5. They that dare imagin evil against the King in their Bed-chamber will not stick to countenance Rebellion against him in the Camp for the malice of Treason like fire concealed will either find or force its passage this is the usual Prologue to all trayterous designs P. 21. to calumniate the Government and speak evil of dignities to repreach the one and make it odious by traducing the other and rendring them contemptible we may learn by experience that God for the better Government of the World thinks it fit to make Rebels and Traytors the most memorable examples of vengeance and judgment search the Scriptures and turn over the Annals of all Ages you shall scarce meet in story with a seditious Innovator or a Rebel who hath not ruined himself Id. Ser. bef Lord Mâ—yor Sept. 29. 1682. p. 15. If a Man can help Men to an evasion from the duty of Obedience he shall have followers enough this is a certain sign that tho Men know their duty yet they do not love to hear it for certainly obedience to Magistrates is one of those things that accompany Saivation and if they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation then surely we may safely affirm and that without any breach of charity or stretching beyond our line that they who oppose them in lawful things or refuse to obey them in the same without a timely repentance and reformation are in danger of it P. 17. tho David was next heir to the Crown and already anointed to it tho Saul thirsted for his blood and persecuted him by force and fraud tho he had the hearts of the People and Saul was given up into his hands so that he could as easily have slain him as have cut his skirt yet this was that which kept him from so great iniquity that he was the Lord's Anointed P. 18. the Authority is still from God tho it be placed in the bands of a sinful Man and it loseth not its essence by the accession of personal miscarriages c. disobedience hath all that is base in it P. 24. and Rebellion contains a whole conjugation of wickedness of which there seems to be an indelible sense in all Mens minds since even they who love the thing do usually hate the name of Rebels and such as are conscious of the guilt would gladly avoid the reproach of it a plain indication of guilt as guilt is a manifest argument of sin and wickedness P. 25. 't is a sin next to blasphemy to speak evil of dignities a degree of profaneness to disobey them ☜ and intolerable iniquity to rebel against them it is as bad in its own nature as murder or theft being as expresly forbidden as these and in its consequence 't is far more mischievous c. this sin debauches the conscience P. 26. and hardens Men in impiety so that it is rare very rare to find a repenting Rebel it is directly opposite to the Spirit and Power of Christianity it makes the very profession of Religion odious and despicable it is contrary to the example of Christ the Blessed Apostles and Primitive Christians there have been many pretences made for disobedience and resistance P. 27. v. p. 28. one hath libelled the Primitive Christians ascribing their meekness and submission to necessity so Bellarmine another that the Apostles in prescribing Obedience only flatter'd the Emperors so Salmeron a third hath taught that the Doctrin of resistance was a mystery bid from the first Ages and reserved for these last days of greater light so Jo. Goodwin thus the Gospel it self is belyed to countenance that which it every where condemns we have a Church P. 30. whose Doctrin Discipline and Government is Apostolical and Primitive defective in nothing so much as the Obedience of her Members unless it be the exercise of her Discipline this Church was always famous for her untainted fidelity and loyalty to the Crown oh that our lives were as good as our Religion c. SECT XVI Dr. Henry Maurice The Ancient Christians knew how to dye better than to dispute Ser. on Jan. 30. 1681. p. 2 12 30 c. cons 1st pt hist p. 112. but none understood yet how to rebel for their Religion how then are we departed from this ancient and reasonable practice no Faction did ever insult a Prince they did not mean to destroy but now to return to the blaspheming of the Church of Rome if community of name be not so much to be regarded as agreement in Doctrin our accusers will be found to have a greater part in these Sectaries than we for both agree in the Fundamentals of Rebellion and the lawfulness and merit of Resisting the Higher Powers There are Men in the World that honor such as Martyrs P. 180. that were executed for murdering their King I hope they were neither Bishops nor Episcopal Men that were so fond of Canonizing those Murderers for Martyrs P. 318. when Chrysostome saw the Civil Power against him he would not contend but endeavoured to steal away to prevent contention and what his favorers did when they began a Mutiny they did it against his will and against all his entreaties and obsecrations to the contrary did not the Primitive Christians meet to serve God p. 326. and suffer'd Martyrdom for it but did they ever enter into Covenants and Practices against the State in all the lamentable distractions of the Church by the Arians we find no Orthodox Bishop animate the People against the Government p. 327. what Persecution soever they suffer'd but on the contrary restraining all tendences to Rebellion and withdrawing themselves when the popular favor towards them grew inordinate p. 32â— p. 337. and uncontrolable Whoever animated the People to resist Julian what a number of worthy learned Ministers of the Church of England were turned out to make vacancies for the Non-Conformists in the days of Rebellion who were to instruct the People in new Mysteries of Religion which their old Pastors had not the conscience or ability to teach them i.e. of the lawfulness of Rebellion we read of St. Ambrose's zeal against the Arians of his popularity of his charity c. but not a word of his Sedition p 34â— or his forcible resistance of the
the Conscience and indispensible because the King's Power is from God pag 62. to whom only Kings are accountable They pray for him three or four times by Name in all their solemn Offices their Sermons are frequent and pressing upon this Theme and their Books are numerous against Papists and their factious Scholars for the Right of Kings yea and their Actions being always Loyal do justifie they sincerely believe as they teach Dr. Sec. Edit ad Lectorem Pelling's Apostate Protestant Those Republicans who were the Movers of the Bill of Exclusion very well knew that by the sam ePower which they pretended to have to dispose of the Heir they might pretend afterwards to have to devest and destroy the Possessor of the Crown And I will presume to declare on my own and my Brethrens behalf too without begging their pardon that we still act ☞ and by the Grace of God resolve stedfastly to act upon the same loyal Principles wherewith we have hitherto endeavor'd to season the Kingdom The People cannot but be tickled at the heart p. 6 7. when they are told that they have a Sovereign Power in them which they did not dream of that they can make and unmake Kings that Crowns and Scepters lye at their Worship's Feet must make Court to them for Succession and that they can if they will bar them out and come like the Tribunes of the People of Rome with an uncontroulable Veto I am grieved at the heart and 't is enough to raise the indignation of every honest Man to find that so many among us do so inconsiderately not to say maliciously run altogether upon this Jesuit's Principles c. V. p. 9 10 11. p. 14. Doleman confidently insists on this that the Crown is not a bare Inheritance but an Inheritance accompanying an Office of trust and that if a Man's defects render him uncapable of the trust he hath also forfeited the Inheritance and from this Principle he concludes that even a true King may be deposed when he answers not the trust which the People had reposed in him This Jesuitical Doctrin did not long ago cost one of our Kings his Throne and his life too I pray God it be not so chargeable to another but t is ominous when pretending Protestants will be nibling at such Jesuitical Principles Observe that the Power of Deposing a King P. 19. naturally follows from the Doctrin of the People's Power to chuse one if any of our Clergy hold our Kings to be Divine they hold no more than what all Christians have ever held P. 21. V. p. 24 25. P. 33 34. v. loc p. 36. no more than what the Church of England hath declared no more than what the Laws of our Country do own and will bear them out in Doleman is positive that Princes may lawfully be deposed and he observes too is a remarkable instance as he calls it that God hath wonderfully concurred for the most part with such judicial Acts of the Commonwealth against their evil Princes not only in prospering the same but by giving also some notable Successor in the place of the deposed had Father Parsons been alive in our days perhaps he would have instanc'd in that blessed Bird Oliver Cromwell among the rest I happen'd to read a new Assemblies Catechism called a Political Catechism p. 38. v. p. 40 41 c. and I found it as full of the Jesuit's Venom as if it had been spit out of Doleman's own Mouth these are some of the Principles in it word for word 1. That the Government being a regulated Monarchy the King is not above the Law but is accountable to the Law and not to God only 2. That whatsoever is done by the King without and beyond the limits of the Regulation is not Regal Authority 3. That to resist the notorious transgressions of that regulation is no resisting the Regal Authority that the immediate Original of the King's Power is from the People and many other such Principles upon which the late Rebellion was raised and maintained After this he proceeds to shew that the little arts made use of to evade the obligations to Passive Obedience have been also borrowed from the Jesuits and to vindicate Dr. Hicks's Sermon on that Subject as also to shew the Parallel between the Jesuit and the Puritan particularly in their disobedience to Government violation of Oaths c. And then subjoins that when once Men are Jesuited P. 50. they will never stick at any manner of wickedness Lying Libelling Sedition defaming of Government Perjury c. you see how basely partial these Folks are in their ordinary censures P. 51. let a Man be a true Friend to the King and to the Establish'd Government and presently forsooth he is a Papist let him resuse to do evil that good may come tho that was St. Paul's way and he is called a Papist let him be for subjection to a Lawful Prince ☜ and when time serves for Passive Obedience and he is a Papist with a witness but let these Men profess the Faith and Doctrins of the Jesuits let them lye and equivocate like the Jesuits let them violate Oaths v. p 52 53 57 58. or construe them in their own sense like the Jesuits let them dispense with one another in doing any wickedness that is serviceable to their cause as the Jesuits do yet who but they the true Protestants we dare not be dishonest unless we will be Hypocrites nor be Rebels P. 54. unless we will be damn'd Some in Solomon's time were given to change out of 〈◊〉 strange kind of levity and inconsistency of mind Id. Serm. on Prov 24.21 1632. p. 25. and therefore some Expositors render the place thus cum inconstantibus with Men that are fickle and unsteady in their Loyalty would we not think it strange that Men who have shewed their fidelity all along Men who have acted taught suffered and ventur'd their Lives for the sake of Majesty should such I say start aside and suffer themselves to be wheadled into Faction at last Truly we might wonder at it the less when we consider that it was the case of several Men in the Reign of David and especially two very eminent Persons Abiathar the Priest and Joab that brave Commander the former had been David's secret and sure Friend and the later had not turn'd after Absalom both of them had been faithful hitherto but when Adonijah usurp'd the Kingdom both of them were concern'd in that Plot the Priest turn'd an Apâ—state and the General a Renegado upon what provocations I do not know nor can I gather any reason thereof unless it be that I now have mention'd a strange inconstancy of Spirit in Men who in David's Old Age thought it their best cunning to take up the Persian custom and worship the Rising Sun. Thus the Letter to a dissenter on occasion of the Declaration of Indulgence We are
not to be laught out of our Passive Obedience and the Doctrin of Non-Resistance tho even those who perhaps owe the best part of their security to that Principle are apt to make a jest of it SECT XVII Dr. C. 26. §. 1 2 6 8. Pierce Dean of Salisbury in his body of Orthodox Divinity avers that the Church of God consists of a Civil as well as an Ecclesiastical Hierarchy that Magistrates are constituted by a Divine right as well as Priests that he who resists the Magistrate so constituted by God wounds his Conscience deeply in this World and shall be damn'd in the next after which he smartly censures both the Fanaticks and the Jesuits the scandals of Christianity as he calls them condemning the Doctrins of both sorts of them and shewing the unreasonableness of that proposition that Inferior Magistrates may controul a Prince if he does not do his duty since by the Laws of the Land as well as the Laws of God a King can do no harm i.e. that the King is unaccountable inferior only to God and obnoxious only to his Tribunal so that no Mortal much less his Subjects can have any Authority over him Id. exceeding sinfulness of Schism §. 5 6 7 11. v. Ser. on 1 Pet. 2.13 §. 4 5 7 8. Obedience to Magistrates being of Divine Right strongly founded upon the Will and the Word of God and even a part of the Obedience to God himself whilst it is paid to that Authority which God hath commanded us to pay an Obedience to cannot possibly be due to the Men as Men or to the good as they are good but to the Magistrates as they are such 't is due to the Governors as they are Governors and as the Ordinance of God let their Practices and Opinions be what they will. When God and his Deputies do stand in competition for our Obedience God must have our whole active and his Deputies our Passive Obedience only Saving the dignity and priority of the first and great commandment as the ground and foundation of all the rest our Obedience to our Governors and Humane Laws in force among us is as really an Essential and Fundamental of Christianity ☞ and of as absolute necessity to our Salvation as the belief of one God or any other that can be named it being as rigidly commanded by God in Scripture under the very same promises of reward if we obey and under the very same threats of endless punishments if we rebel Dr. Serm. on Tit. 3.1 p. 4 5. c. D. Whitby Chantor of the same Church in the time of the D. of Monmouth Rebelbelliâ—n laid down this position That Christians must be subject to their Civil Magistrates and in no cases are allowed or authorized forcibly to resist or bear Arms against them and this he proves at large from the expressions of the Holy Scriptures from the deportment of David to King Saul that Jeroboam's revolt is by God himself called Rebellion 1 King. 12.19 p. 8 9. for as a Father doth not forfeit his Authority over his Children nor are they freed from that Obedience which they owe him because he deals severely with them so neither can the King i. e. the Father of his Country lose his Authority over his Subjects because he governs them severely or lays afflicting burthens on them the Scriptures of the New Testament expresly call for our subjection Let every Soul be subject saith St. Paul so let him yield subjection to them as never to resist on any provocation temptation or specious pretence whatsoever whence it is clear ☜ p 10. Serm. 〈…〉 13.1 p. 24 26 27 2â— 29 30 31. that by the Christian Doctrin it is unlawful to resist the Higher Powers upon pretence of Male-administration Tyranny Injustice or to rebel for the defence of our Religion against the worst of persecuting Princes for if Resistance in the forementioned cases was a damning sin when can it be excusable after this he answers the common objections from the Coronation Oath and Self-Preservation c. Mr. Long 's Sermon called the causes of Rebellion Preach'd Jan. 13. 1683. on Jâ—â— 4.1 P. 14 15. was Printed by the joint desires of the Bishop of Exon and the Justices of the County of Devon and the Dedication gives an account of an order of theirs that concurs with the Doctrin of the Sermon nor can any complaint of Tyranny or Oppression justifie a War among us did we suffer under some miscarriages in Government some passions and excesses in our Governors neither Scripture nor reason will warrant any resistance Obj. But the Primitive Christians had no Laws to confirm their Religion P. 16. and therefore it was not so lawful for them to defend their Religion by Arms as it is for us Answ It is strange that our Laws should be made a pretence for Resistance which declare that it is not lawful to resist upon any pretence whatsoever then the Subjects are made Judges of the Actions and Conduct of their Governors P. 22 23. I take those and only those who do agree with the Jesuits in Preaching ☜ and propagating Seditious and Traiterous Principles and Practices such as the lawfulness of Resistance and taking up Arms in defence of Religion against the Supreme Magistrate that the Original of the Magistrate's Power is in the People who may call them to an account and Depose and Murder them as they see cause those who have Murdered one King already and use the same Methods to destroy another in a word V. p. 23 26. all such as will not declare that it is unlawful to take up Arms against the King on any pretence whatsoever or that they will not endeavour any alteration of the establish'd Government for such false Prophets as our Saviour bids us to beware of This also is the Doctrin of his Sermon on July 26. 1685. and his Vindication of the Primitive Christians c. Dr. Fuller Chancellor of Lincoln those Men have but little sense of the honor of Christian Religion that abuse its Name Ser. bef the King June 25. 1682. p. 56 c. and pervert its obligations to justifie Sedition and Rebellion who with great pretences and zeal for Christianity forsake her in her more principal commands of meekness patience and submission and defend the Doctrin of Resistance and Disobedience from those Holy Scriptures that have forbidden them under the penalty of Damnation that those Men do little deserve the Character of Reformed who have forsaken our Reformation in its Principal and Fundamental Doctrin of the King's Supremacy and renounced the Protestant Church of England in all her Principles of Christian Loyalty and indeed all the Enemies of the Church of England how distant soever in other points are perfectly united in the Doctrin of disobedience all agreeing in one conclusion against the express commands of Holy Scripture that it is lawful to resist the Higher Powers c. Dr.
Sclater What a joy will it be to thy Spirit and a lightning to thy Heart Royal pay paymaster on Rom. 2.10 p. 6 7 1â— when thou canst say thou didst not cowardly yield tho thou hast been disarm'd sequestred decimated and unrewarded for it 't was of God's mercy to be kept faithful to the righteous cause of God and the King when there were so many temptations to witdraw us from our Loyalty Fidelity and Loyalty is in a more especial manner required in a Subject towards his Sovereign 't is Treason in a Subject to fight against his Sovereign but how long must this Fidelity last a day or two or so Oh no I this Commandment is like that heavy saying in Matrimony till death us do part Dr. Hickman Serm. before Lâ—rd Mayor Juâ— 27. 1680 p. 17 18. The honor of God and the defence of his Worship are glorious Undertakings yet even here the excess of zeal is a crime and the great importance of the end cannot justifie any unlawfulness in the means the will of God as it is exprest in his Word is the standard of good and evil and he will not suffer his eternal Laws to be violated tho in his own defence if it should please him to give his and our Enemies such advantage over us as may endanger the exercise of our Religion we have our Prayers and other lawful endeavours for our redress but we must not defend our Church by an unlawful return of evil for evil nor like our Adversaries commit any Act of Impiety or Injustice tho under the most specious pretence of fighting the Battels of the Lord The goodness of the Cause here is so far from justifying the Act that it only aggravates the offence when a Law is violated or any injustice done for the sake of our Religion both the scandal and the Crime become conspicuous they are then laid at the door of our Church and bring a publick and perpetual blot upon our cause P. 19 v. p. 20 33. what can our Religion profit us or what honor can it bring to the Almighty when our Sacrifice comes polluted with blood and violence of its own how can it attone for our transgressions therefore it is necessary to obey not only for wrath ☞ but also for Conscience sake St. Peter who was the first that drew his Sword In his Master's quarrel was the first that denyed his name and forsook his cause and doubtless whosoever fights for his Religion against his Prince can never pass the muster without a Romish dispensation Mr. Ser. at Bath Aug. 7. â—631 p. 4 5 c. Jos Pleydall Arch-Deacon of Chichester Plebeians and Hobbists proceed upon one and the same Principle making the People the Fountain of all Power whereas Subjects owe a natural and inviolable Allegiance but if a Prince prove a Tyrant does he not by Male-administration forfeit the trust reposed in him in whose Opinion in the Opinion of Mariana or Knox Hobbs or Bradshaw i. e. in the judgment of Papists P. 8. Sectaries Atheists or Rebels 't is impossible there should be a Rebellion while the Principles of the Church of England are revered and owned that Kings may be Deposed and Murdered P. 11. we may reckon under the Apostles strange and monstrous Doctrins or rather under his Doctrins of Devils Mr. Assize Ser. p. 21 22. v. p. 5 78 16. Kimberley No pretences of Conscience or Religion can Authorize our Resistance of the lawful Powers which God hath set over us they never knew what it was in the times of the Primitive Christianity to oppose expel or destroy any Pagan Persecuting Arian or Apostate Emperor Mr. Assize Ser. p. 21. Jemmat None but God can absolve Subjects from that Allegiance and Obedience which they owe to their natural Lords neither the Male administration of Government nor their own fears jealousies nor the decay of Trade no nor the hazard of Religion it self can justifie the Acts of Rebellion they to whom God hath given his own Power are accountable to none but himself c. Mr. Serm. on 2 Chr. 13.5 p. 6. v. p. 8 15 18. Camfield The King is in the highest place and highest power and consequently all in his Dominions Every Soul of them are obliged to be subject to him none may presume to judge or resist him violently there can be nothing justifyable on the Subjects part but obedience and Submission the rest must be referred to God alone the only Ruler of Princes c. Mr. Ser. at York Aug 3. 1685. p. 16 24. 〈◊〉 loc Stainforth We have great reason to pity and pray for Kings for the eminency of their Station and uncontroulableness of their Power if Princes are bad Men and oppress their Subjects against reason and against Law we have no reason left us but Prayers to God in whose hands are the hearts of Kings Whatsoever Injuries they heap upon us whatsoever Violences and Persecutions we suffer under them we must not suffer our Passions to rise and swell againvt them much less must we take up Arms and by force resist their Persons or Authority P. 34. Those who take up Arms against their Sovereign's Authority fight against Heaven Mr. Graile Rector of Blickling in Norfolk publish'd four Sermons Lond. 1685. P. 44 45. For Loyalty to our Prince is a thing commanded by God himself together with Piety and Devotion towards himself yea and commanded in the very next place to it so that the one is a part an inseparable part a very considerable part of the other And it follows from hence by an apparent Consequence that Mens Disloyalty is a clear indication of their irreligion if they fear not the King they fear not God. ☜ If any Man seem to be religious and bridles not his Tongue from speaking evil of Dignities or Higher Powers Jam. 1.26 2 Pet 2.10 Rom. 13.2 P. 53 54 55. that Man's Religion is vain and 't is much more so if he holds not his hands from resisting these Powers Our Law will have no Error no Injustice no Folly no Imperfection whatsoever to be found in the King. All the States of the Realm joyned together all the Nobles and Commons and the whole Body of the People have not a Power and Authority equal to his For otherwise he would not be the King of a Kingdom but of single Men separately taken P. 56. The King is no substitute of the People but the Minister of God and his Power is the Ordinance of God. It is a contradiction to be Sovereign and to have a Superior The Lords P. 57. both Spiritual and Temporal together with all the Commons assembled in Parliament do by a solemn Oath acknowledg the King to be Supreme and themselves to be his Subjects And they have in publick Statutes particularly declared That both or either Houses of Parliament cannot nor lawfully may raise or levy any War offensive or