to prevaile with them to neglect plaine duties of subjection and obedience upon the strength of obscure prophecyes whereas they ought to live according to precept not predictions many of which shall not be fulfilled but by the sinnes of wicked men Blesse me O Lord from being an instrument to bring such thy workes to passe It is our onely safe way not to doe evill that good may come of it The Apostle forbids it and the reason may be this God hath no need of the sinfull man Why shouldst thou cease to be good for feare God else would not be true Babylon will certainly fall though wee walke uprightly to feare God and honour the King are no stops to the destruction of that man of sin After such fiery spirits have engaged the Kingdome into probable wayes of utter ruine and desolation after your hands have beene imbrued in the bloud of the ancient Nobility and you have miserably torne in pieces the brave and honest Gentry and exposed the seduced Commons to those fatall mischiefs which accompany the Sword Pestilence and Famine and the bleeding State shall at length grow wise and unite againe for the preservation if it be possible of the ruinous remainder rather out of a wearinesse of the insupportable calamityes of Warre then out of a Christian love which would have continued unto us the blessings of peace All the satisfaction which these false Prophets can give for the unspeakable mischiefes which they have pull'd upon their unhappy Countrey will be onely this We were mistaken in those places of Daniel and the Revelation The time it seemes is not yet come The Saints must still expect and Gods holy ones must waite and pray for a more happy opportunity to perfect the great worke by Rebellion Exc. There is a mutuall contract betweene King and Subjects and if He breake the Covenant He forfeites the benefits of this agreement and He not performing the duty of a King they are released from the duty of Subjects Answ The Jewes could have made this plea grounded in the nature of a Covenant the breach of which though instituted by God betweene King and People Deut. 17. was no dispensation for them to Rebell as was evidenced formerly The Kings of Persia though confessedly Supreme and not responsable to their subjects yet tooke an oath at their inauguration as Zenophon and Diodorus Siculus informe us and it was not lawfull for them to alter certaine lawes as appeares in Daniell neverthelesse their miscarriages in government did not dispence with their Subjects loyalty If a Father promise any thing to his children they have a full right to his performance but in case he prove dishonest he doth not thereby loose his right to governe them nor are they excused from their duty of honour and obedience So there is a contract betweene Husband and Wife the violation of which on the mans part doth not bereave him of his dominion over the woman I confesse a great obligation lyes upon Kings not only from their Oathes and promises and agreements but expressely from Gods law also to governe the people committed to their charge with justice and equity And if they abuse their power Gods punishment will be as high as their ingratitude The greatest temporall favour which God bestowes upon any single man is to make him his Vicegerent his immediate Deputy Christum suum his anoynted and the greatest blessing he hath given to mankind is government by which he hath provided for the common good of all Now if he turne this blessing into a curse if he who is set over a people to punish evill doers persecute those who doe well he must expect a fearefull judgment from the Almighty it is pathetically exprest in Wisdom 6. Heare therefore O yee Kings and understand learne yee that be Judges of the ends of the earth Give eare you that rule the people and glory in the multitude of nations For power is given you of the Lord and soveraignty from the highest who shall try your works and search out your counsels Because being ministers of his kingdomes you have not judged aright nor kept the law nor walked after the counsell of God Horribly and speedily shall be come upon you for a sharpe judgment shall be to them that are in high places For mercy will soone pardon the meanest but mighty men shall be mightily tormented For he which is Lord over all shall feare no mans person neither shall be stand in awe of any mans greatnesse for he hath made the small and the great and careth for all alike but a sore triall shall come upon the mighty Thus much is granted but to conclude from this obligation that a not performance induces a forfeiture of his crowne and that we may make hostile resitance against unjust commands is a very weake way of reasoning For consider with your selves is there not a mutuall duty betweene husband and wife parents and children Fathers must not provoke their children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Eph. 6. 4. Husbands should give honour to their wives a unto the weaker vessells 1 Pet 3. 7. Suppose some fathers prove froward some husbands unkind yet cannot their faults dispense with the duty of children and wives The King Vrbi pater est urbique maritus is both husband and father not to single persons but to the Commonwealth There are many resemblances in matrimony which will afford great light to the better understanding the duty of Subjects The consent of the woman makes such a man her husband so the consent of the people is now necessary to the making Kings for conquest is but a kind of ravishing which many times prepares the way to a wedding as the Sabine women chose rather to be wives then concubines and most people preferre the condition of Subjects though under hard lawes to that of slaves If we apply their arguments their Sophistry will clearely appeare For Quicquid efficâ—t tale est magis tale and constituens est major constituto bestowes upon women the breeches as well as the Crowne upon the people and unumquodque eadem potestate dissolvitur quâ constituitur gives the same licence to a woman to cast of the bonds of wedlock as to subjects those of subjection As in marriage so in monarchy there are two parties in the contract though without a mutuall agreement there could be no covenant yet after it is once made the dissent of the inferiour party let it be not upon fancyed but reall discontents cannot dissolve the compact Consent therefore joynd man and wife King and people but divine ordinance continues this union marriages and governments both are ratified in heaven Quae Deus conjunxit homo ne separet whom God hath joyned let not man put asunder They must take their King for better for worse It is very observable though it was permitted to the man in some cases to give a bill of divorce yet
it is better without a comma his revenging Ministers to execute wrath It is very strange the people should be so much abused as to be perswaded to take upon them Gods Prerogative and to usurpe his language Psal 82. 6. We have said ye are Gods and to contradict Christ who sayes to his unjust Judge Thou couldest have no power to take away my life unlesse it were given thee from above but they state it otherwise unlesse it were given thee from beneath from us and we were not so mad as to contract for our owne ruine Most of their Writers in their printed Sermons and Pamphlets declaime against this tame behaviour this obligation not to resist as an absurd and sencelesse thing and a condition repugnant to mans nature and unworthy of reasonable creatures but I must tell them God was not of their opinion who thought it fit to governe his owne people in this way who ever was not obedient to what the highest authority did determine Gods owne people bound not to resist the supreame Magistrate therefore this no absurd constitution was to die as appeares Deut. 17. 12 13. The man that will doe presumptuously and will not hearken to the Priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God or unto the Judge even that man shall die and thou shalt put away the evill from Israel God commands he should be made an example that the people may not be tempted to Rebellion for in the 13 verse it is said All the people shall heare and feare and doe no more presumptuously It is worth our notice that here all the people are mentioned if they had agreed together to resist not a pretended but a reall false sentence this conspiracy could not turne their sedition into a just warre it could not take off the guilt of disobedience though the multitude of offendors might hinder the punishment Populi salus suprema lex had beene but a weake plea here This is urged onely to prove thus much that all their arguments which have greatest influence upon the peoples affections drawne from inconveniencies by reason of the faults of Governours under which the Jewish Commonwealth frequently suffered as appeares by the Prophets reprehensions may as justly be made against the Jewish Government of which God himselfe was the author And that he forbade resistance to supreame authority is plaine moreover the first of Joshua v. 18. Whosoeuer he be that doth rebell against thy commandement and will not hearken to thy words in all that thou commandest him he shall be put to death onely be strong and of a good courage Hence the weakenesse of that Sophistry which hath caused these sad distractions is evident For they perswade the people it were madnesse to make such a contract which upon supposall of bad Governours would leave them without remedy and therefore â—…it for certaine truth they made their bargaine wiser Whereas there is no ground for imputation of folly for following Gods owne patterne and yet if it were indiscretion this doth not void the compact They are bound to be honest though they were not wise to plead they were fooles will not licence them to be knaves Lex Regni as it is called 1 Sam. 10. 25. the fundamentall Law of Government of which a Monarchy is but a species or the right of supreame authority is most excellently described by Samuel in the 1. Booke 8. cap. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. verses This shall be the right of the King that shall reigne over you He will take your sonnes and appoint them for himselfe for his charets and to be his horsemen and some shall runne before his charets And he will appoint him Captaines over thousands and Captaines over fifties and will set them to eare his ground and to reape his harvest and to make his instruments of warre and instruments of his charets And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cookes and to be bakers And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive-yards even the best of them and give them to his servants And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants And he will take your men servants and your maid servants and your goodliest young men and your asses and put them to his worke Hee will take the tenth of his sheepe and ye shall be his servants And ye shall cry out in that day because of your King which ye shall have chosen you and the Lord will not heare you in that day It is not lawfull for you to breake that yoake which ye put upon your selves neither shall your teares prevaile with God to take it off your neckes notwithstanding such afflictions were fore-told their resolution is to have a King over them that they also may be like all the Nations and that their King may judge them and goe out before them and fight their battailes Sit incommodum we acknowledge these are grievous inconveniences nam quid ferè undique placet it is the fate of all governments because managed by men who may prove vitious to be unavoidably subject to great calamities verùm illud compaâ—…imus commodis we have weighed the advantages of being ruled by a King and conceive the probable goods which are conveyed from Regall governement which are knowne by experience in other Nations will over-ballance these accidentall evils however we are resolved to venture it A misunderstanding this part of Scripture hath opened a way to two dangerous extreames which are both false and have produced unhappy consequences From hoc erit jus regis some conclude his will is his Law and quicquid libet licet but this is clearely convinced in the 17 of Deuteronomy where the duty of their King is described from the 16 verse to the end of the chapter Others make it a bare prophesie of the tyrannicall abuse of power by the King which they should choose if so the people had small reason to shout for joy at his Inauguration and secondly this was not fulfilled in Saul for though he proved a Tyrant yet not in all these particulars and so they confound jus with factum But it cannot be found in any author that ever jus was taken in this sense Mischpat will not beare this signification When Theeves take away mens goods or their lives it might as properly be said hoc est jus Latronum this is the right which robbers have To finde out the true meaning The true sence of jus Regis in Samuel we must know that this law was not given as a rule for him to command but for the people to obey by it did not excuse him from sinning but disabled them from punishing him for his offences and therefore it is said when the solemnity of his Inauguration was ended Loquutus est Samuel ad populum legem regni he spake not to the King but applyed himselfe to the
must choose the least evill which is not to resist and by endeavouring to save our goods or bodies to loose our soules Certainly if we were as truly religious as we would be thought to be we have not any cause to be troubled though these things should happen to us No hard Law to require from us Non-resistance If our patience in submission to his precept be chargeable we make God our debtor all the taxes and tributes are put upon his accompt and he will returne them in as plentifull measure as if we had spent so much charitably and we cannot lay out our estate better The Magistrate is Gods receiver as well as the poore He commands part of our revenues in him in those he seemes to intreat that is to pay debts this comes nigher to a courtesie and therefore we might better excuse our uncharitablenesse then our resistance But what if their cruelty extend to the farthest and endeavour to take away our lives wrongfully These are justly deare to men and much is done to draw out a few yeares notwithstanding our comforts are interwoven with sorrowes our feares are oftentimes above our hopes most of our dayes are cloudy and over-cast with melancholyes and the discontents arising from our wants which are as vast and unbounded as our desires to have are much greater then the narrow pleasures of enjoyment which is confined to a few things the stroaking of fortune being not so delightfull as her blowes are grievous but what value ought we then to set upon eternall life how highly ought we to prize those everlasting joyes which still quicken and still satisfie the appetite and what should we not suffer rather then forfeit these This is the present case He that by resisting saves his life a doubtfull good and of no long continuance looses that happy being to which God hath promised to such as submit to his commands and he that looses his life is a great gainer he falls a Martyr of justice and shall be raised a Saint into glory The same obedience which God required of the Jewes under the Law to be shewne to their Judges and Kings The same duty of Non-resistance injoyned by Christ in the Gospell and as high a degree of patience Christ injoynes his followers under the Gospell towards the highest powers And there is great reason wee should performe this duty more cheerefully because our Saviour hath commended persecution to all those who will live godly and that both by precept and example His method was facere docere he began to doe and teach and it is not much different in the end docere pati to teach patience and confirme his doctrine by his suffering wee must take out the same lesson for the promise is conditionall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we suffer with him then and not else shall we also reigne with him Rom. 8. 17. Rebellion in Christians is a most prodigious thing wee having plaine and peremptory commands for obedience and a certaine and ample requitall for all the charges of our honesty That Heroicall speech of Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is in their power to kill me it is not in their power to hurt me carryes in it the flame of true Religion the Apostle expresses it higher for us to die is gaine Phil. 1. 21. The Jewes wanted not some colours of reason to justifie their impatience in this case The Jewes more excusable in case of rebellion for it was a strong temptation not to be willing to be cut off when their blessings were temporall the chiefe of them being length of dayes and upon which all the rest depended and must necessarily end with their lives And yet they submitted to those Lawes which entrusted their fortunes and being in the hands of the supreame Magistrate Jos 1. 18. This power in succeeding times was often abused to their destruction and they gave themselves up to the slaughter upon hopes not grounded in any set promise but only in the free goodnesse of God whom they thought to be a better master then to let any man be the worse for doing him service But a Christian cannot have any shadow of scruple Christians have not any colour for it St. Peter failing in this duty by resisting the Magistrate in defence of his innocent Master hath taken speciall care not to be imitated and therefore informes us largely with the full extent of Christian patience I will first lay downe the grounds for which our Saviour reprehended him and I desire they may be seriously pondered by such as are more inexcusably faultie and then I shall take his precepts into consideration Much may be alleadged in Peters justification and yet all will not excuse him Put up thy sword againe into his place sayes Christ if he do not he threatens the punishment of murder to him all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword Matth. 26. 52. It concernes them sadly to apply who pretend resistance but are really invaders and therefore cannot make so faire a plea. First it was a sodaine and unexpected assault no means of escape did appeare Secondly their violence armed with Swords and with Staves as against a thiefe did evidently aime at the life of his Master and he might not without reason suspect his owne in danger Thirdly he kept the lawes of that which is called inculpata tutela innocent defence he did it in the instant not after deliberation when he might have thought of other wayes of safetie and he had no advantage of Weapon and he did not kill outright but only wounded a servant Notwithstanding all this he is rebuked by Christ who makes satisfaction for his offence by a miracle And the sense of this correction made so deep an impression that he after warned others of their duty when they suffer in the like persecution Let none of you suffer as a murderer c. yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalfe For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their soules to him in well doing as unto a faithfull creator 1 Pet. 4. Though this might serve turne yet he speakes more home in another place Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreame or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of them that doe well For so is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men As free and not using your liberty for a cloake of maliciousnesse but as the servants of God c. Feare God honour the King Servants be subject to your Masters with all feare not only to the good and gentle but also to
the froward For this is thank-worthy if a man for conscience towards God indure griefe suffering wrongfully For even hereto were you called Because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that yee should follow his steps who did not sinne neither was guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. 2. The case of resistance is here inforced as highly as favourable circumstances can raise it The case of resistance inforced with greatest advantages yet condemned and when the most plausible limitations are put in yet it is concluded unlawfull we must submit as Christ did though we should be as innocent as he was and though vires non deessent wee were sure to make good our opposition for he could have summoned an army of Angells in his defence wee are bound to submit not only to justice but to injuries also and to be obedient as to good and gentle masters so likewise to the froward to bad as well as good Kings their failing of their duty not licensing us not to performe ours nor dispensing with our loyalty This is evident because the reasons annexed equally inforce this duty in Subjects as in Servants Though liberty be our birthright yet it must not be made the cloake of sin it takes not off those bonds with which God hath tyed up our hands from fighting against the supream power No lifting up private swords against the sword of justice ours against Gods weapon Deus resistet wee shall have an ill match of it It is well worth our observation that though the Apostles maine worke was heaven yet they are very sollicitous to settle our quiet upon earth by enforcing obedience unto government Saint Paul delivers the mind of God most fully most plainely He could not have expressed the duty of Subjects more punctually if he had lived in these last and worst times wherein his doctrine seemes a kind of tame folly as once much learning now much Religion hath made him mad Our Saviours prophecy is fullfilled of faith failing amongst men they thinke it unreasonable to be bound to submit to certaine present evills out of hopes of future good and to be abused by bad Magistrates upon expectation to be righted hereafter charity waxeth cold it must no longer be ranked amongst Christian duties to preferre publique good to private interest the peace of the Church and tranquillity of the State to our owne profit or safety No we must stand fast in the libertie wherewith Christ hath made us free We are not so indiscreet to submit to any triall by law because we may meet with corrupt Judges patrocinium peccati multitudo peccantium our number ought to make us safer then innocence can them it is madnesse to be hanged when we are more then those that should hang us we may call our selves the commonwealth for this is some where and the lesser part hath lesse reason to challenge it to themselves and then Populi salus Suprema lex what ever conduces to our safety becomes law to the Kingdome If any malignant and ill affected persons object the breach of knowne lawes by us we must tell them they are abrogated by equity because if they should stand in force they would destroy us The truth is these men antedate that prophecy of Christ as they have done many besides He shall put downe all rule and all authority and power 1 Cor. 15. 24. This is clearely done by their practise Kings are dishonored in the feare of God and I neede not say quid verba audio cum facta videam for their profest principles maintaine it If they are not of the true religion that is make not the peoples opinion their Creed or if they do not governe to the advantage of the Saints that is joyne not with them in those designes which they christen Gods glory and the great worke the pious Reformation then because they are no longer Dei ministri in bonum Gods ministers for their good they are ipso facto discharged of their Magistracy not Gods holy ones but their owne vices have deposed them and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lawfull authority is not opposed by them but their persons only they fight against the man and not the Magistrate This is the doctrine which hath produced such miserable things in the Christian world to the ruine of many States and what is more lamentable the destruction of millions of soules For upon those grounds many have beene induced to fight against God and perished in their sin and too many are so farre scandalized at it that they suspect the truth of Christianity concluding within themselves that if we did really beleeve that Gospell which we outwardly professe and if we were perswaded those precepts laid downe by the Doctor of the Gentiles ought to be the measure of our practise for he injoynes subjection though to tyrants for such were the Roman Emperours then and the Kings in those times Reges gentium dominantur earum the most wicked Magistrates and those that tooke greatest delight in cruelty and oppression will sooner be weary in doing injuries then we could be in suffering Let every soule be subject unto the higher powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paraphrase upon part of the 13 to the Rom. all are included not any one can plead exemption we may say with the Apostle only he is excepted to whom every soule is subject If every member should be commanded to be obedient to the head they could not lawfully oppose upon joynt consent and ground their excuse upon a metaphisicall abstraction of the body from those of whom it is compounded The reason is because the action of the body is constituted of the particular acts of each member the joyning of so many personall acts makes up the act of the civill body and if it be a fault in any one it doth not take of the guilt that he sins in consort and offends with companie This notion of universall speculatively distinguished from singulars is so farre from changing the morall nature of actions that the act of the body which is created by law and civilly compleated by the consent of a major part may be sin and yet many members as the lesser part who do not contribute their votes shall be innocent because men are accomptable only for their personall deeds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every one be subject keepe under in due rank and order Now seeing that in all order there must be some first all others must submit to this and this non potest in ordinem cogi ab aliquo cannot be legally ordered by any because there is not any upon earth prior primo before the first and higher then the supreame If he breake his order he is responsable to him only that is above him who is God Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis These highest powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is super deos and orders them as he pleases
So that the wronged people must onely cry unto the Lord as the Jewes were directed in their hard condition And Saint Ambrosse is sensible of this obligation repugnare non novi dolere potero potero flere potero gemere c. aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere Least Christians should be more stiff-necked then the Jewes who bore this heavy yoke Saint Peter prescribes their behaviour and tells them it is a part of their calling and unlesse they performe their vocation they cannot make their election sure to imitate Christ thus farre who when he was reviled reviled not againe no dishonorable speeches no reproachfull language from him which yet falls short of the meditated malice of the pen when he suffered he threatned not no killing and slaying so much as in words and no people can have greater innocence and no Governour greater faults but he committed himselfe to him that judgeth righteously 1. Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the higher powers Hereout they endeavour to picke some advantage for say they by the same Logique as we conclude impunity due to Kings and so all resistance unlawfull we must be forced to inlarge this priviledge and communicate it to all Magistrates whatsoever because they are higher powers also But this immunity is overlarge by our owne confession as repugnant to all States and therefore seeing we cannot justifie the inference in its full latitude we cannot reasonably collect any thing These men strangely mistake the grounds of our deduction their strong fancy against it not permitting them to take the reason of it into due consideration we confesse thus much is concluded for all Magistrates such are they to whom the King delegates his authority that it is not lawfull for any that are under them to make resistance Lawfull to resist inferiour Magistrates if they oppose the supreame as a private man may not oppose a Constable nor a Constable a Justice of peace nor he a Judge So common Souldiers cannot punish a Lieutenant except by vertue of a Commission from the Generall and then they are above him as being made Magistrates to execute martiall law upon him nor he a Colonell nor a Collonell the Generall they being but private men in reference to one above them and so Kings in Monarchies and proportionably in Aristocracies those persons in whom the supreame power is placed which are the major part consenting are not judicially accomptable to any because they are the highest Thus much Scripture evinces the civill law confirmes reason suggests and the practise of all States hath imbraced it For there is no power but of God Here is the cause of obedience rendred this right to governe is not onely by his bare permission so theft and murder are but it is his constitution and by vertue of this the Apostle collects that honour is due to their persons I have proved formerly that such power could not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlesse it were of God the people could not dispense with divine precept non occides thou shalt not kill The powers that be are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained or ordered of God This is his ordinary providence by which he hath thought fit to governe the world and we must submit to it till he declare his will to the contrary nothing can take off this obligation but expresse revelation And we have some new Enthusiasts who are going on to this height of fury Methinkes it should startle all good men to see some interpretations of obscure prophecies out of Daniell and the Apocalypse cast out to justifie the breach of plaine duties Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God Here is faire warning take heed what ye do you have a terrible enemy to encounter with it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fight against God You cannot flatter your selves with a prosperous issue for those which resist shall receive to themselves damnation Lest any should be so miserably besotted with a senselesse distinction as it is misapplied by them of the authority from the person as to incurre the danger of this fearfull commination Against that distinction of the authority from the person he joynes them together and uses them promiscuously and in the prosecution inforces that by mentioning the persons which before he had attributed to the powers Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation it immediately followes For rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not a terrour to good workes but to the evill Then he comes to the authority againe wilt thou not be afraid of the power doe that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same For he is the Minister of God to thee for good there he concludes with the person Observe with what vehemence he repeates this duty though fully delivered before as if his mind misgave him concerning these rebellious times Wherefore you must needs be subject A necessity is laid upon us and woe unto us if we be not subject we have two powerfull motives not onely for wrath but also for conscience sake As for feare what the Prince may for rebellion seldome prospers Traitors are unfortunate gamesters though they win at first they are most commonly terrible loosers in the close so what God will inflict You have his word for it you are damn'd if you resist Though Rebels should get the start by seizing his ammunition Forts and Ships and you have cause to thinke your loyalty will disadvantage you when a King is in sight too weake yet be wary what you doe God oft times raises up strength to him beyond mans expectation and the event shewes those which continue honest are most truly wise The heads of the rebellion shall be brought to condigne punishment and their memory be odious amongst all good men 'T is true to be subject to present plunder is a strong temptation against duty yet upon a generall survey ye shall find they take not much more from their enemies God is to be reckoned of the Kings side who will overballance their greatest forces then they force their freinds to give they have no great reason to brag of being savers it hath cost them very round summes to loose their soules But yee see how much the King indulges to this feare I know not whether God will pardon so easily for if feare of loosing by being honest be a good excuse for neglect of duty hopes of gaining by playing the knaves may as reasonably be pleaded so unwilling is he any should suffer for his sake How often hath he beene pleased graciously to forgive upon that easy excuse they did not dare to be his freinds that is they were his enemies not out of spight and malice but onely for their owne advantage and he is content not any should loose for him O let not his goodnes move you to have a
ignorance drawing out of broken cisterns the seditious writings of the Roman and the Reformed Jesuites and transcribing one another and so are taught and reach to despise dominion and speake evill of those things which they know not §. 3. I Make no question the proposition is now evident that the supreme power in any State let it be where it will somewhere it must be for else it were an Anarchy and no government ought not to be resisted This makes rebellion sin as transgressing divine and humane lawes In the next place for the perfect direction of conscience Most necessary to know the subject of Supremacy wee must examine in whom the supreme power is placed a mistake in this is as dangerous as an errour in the former For as zeale which is not according to knowledge is impiety for though it have the heat it hath not the light which is required to true devotion so the most scrupulous obedience is but humble rebellion if it be misplaced and yielded to fellow Subjects against him who hath jus regnandi the right to command them Thus in an Aristocracy to aide one man against the Senate is Treason against the State and in a Monarchy because the constitution is different and places the supreme power in one to aide the Senate of which that one is the head and opposed to him they are but a livelesse trunk in order to those things to which his influence is necessary Fortescue warrants the expression sine capite communitas non corporatur against the Monarch and supreame Ruler is rebellion and treason against the State The Assumption therefore shall be The King of ENGLAND hath this supreame power when this is proved the conscience must take law from this necessary Inference therefore it is unlawfull for Subjects to hold up armes against the King of England Because as it is an absurdity in speculation so it is sinne in practice to deny the conclusion there they offend against Logique here against Religion also For whatsoever is not of faith that is not of judgment whatsoever wee doe against our owne reason and the light of conscience is transgression The matter of this discourse is of high concernment For as things now stand on it hang Heaven or Hell our salvation or eternall damnation If the King be the highest power you are bound to submit to him but if you have new Soveraignes if your fellow Subjects are become the Lords anoynted there may be some colour of justification Except this be proved you are altogether inexcusable as appeares in the last Section and therfore it will behoove you to hearken to Solomons advice My sonne feare thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For their calamity shall rise sodainely Prov. 24. 21. 22. Certainely unconcerned men will thinke I have undertaken no very difficult taske The Kings Supremacy witnessed by out Oath If I can but perswade the Kings adversaries they have not forsworne themselves I shall recover them to due obedience but I must tell them if they were not perjur'd in taking the Oath of Supremacy not to mention now that of Alleagiance they are so in breaking it The words are so expresse that not any colourable glosse can be invented to excuse the violation of this solemne Sacrament I A. B. doe utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings highnesse is the only supreame Governour of this Realme and of all other His Highnesse Dominions and Countries as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or causes as Temporall c. I d◠promise that from henceforth I shall beare faith and true allegiance to the Kings Highnesse His Heires and lawfull Successours and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions priviledges preheminences and authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse His Heires and Successours or united and annexed to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme So helpe me God and by the Contents of this Booke It hath beene replyed That this Oath is taken in opposition to the Pope to exclude the Supremacy usurped by him for many yeares They speake truth but not all the truth for there are two parts in it One negative by which wee professe that not any forraigne State or Potentate nor the Pope hath this power The other positive by which the Subject of this power is specified The Kings Highnesse is the onely supreame Governour of this Realme as in all Spirituall things and causes so likewise Temporall Both Ecclesiasticall and Civill supremacy are here asserted to be in the King It was not thought sufficient to tell who was not Supreme but they declare also who was When we had truly sworne the Pope out of this Kingdome what necessity was there to make the people perjur'd for certainely they forsweare themselves who solemnely testifie and declare in their conscience That the Kings highnesse is the onely supreme Governour if the meaning of those words be onely this that the Pope is not It concernes us as highly as our Soules are worth reddere juramentum domino to performe unto the Lord our Oath and not to lift up those hands against the King which were layd upon the holy Gospell in witnesse of our submission to him as the onely supreme Governour What desperate malice is it to expose our Soules to every Musket shot if wee fall we perish eternally This sad contemplation that wee stand on the very brinke of Hell ready to be turned into the Lake of everlasting woes by every sword every bullet will smite our hearts and make our armes feeble in the day of battaile what confusion amazement and horrour of conscience must needs seize upon all considering men Think upon the heinousnesse of parricide to murther a Father is a sin greater then any one is able to beare But to spill the bloud of our Soveraigne which they have done who fought against him for it is murderin Gods sight his goodnesse in protecting his servant doth not excuse their sin in endeavouring to destroy their King whom God commands not to touch and whose life we have sworn to defend with the utmost hazard of our owne and we have desired the Lord to revenge it in our destruction if we doe otherwise is of a much deeper dye For the King is Pater patriae a common Father to all without a Metaphor what ever power Fathers had over and consequently whatsoever honour as an effect of this power was due to them from their children he hath right to challenge the same of all And though we should joyne together King hath paternall powers from consent of the people and call our selves the Common-wealth we can no more lawfully dis-respect give law to resist upon hard usage or say he is lesse honourable then all we then children by agreement may dispense with their duty to their parents It was our owne act which united all particular paternall powers in Him and that these
even to this day though now violently invaded by Subjects through vertue of an Ordinance of which no times can afford a president and all Subjects of what condition soever were bound to doe homage and beare fealty to him which was inconsistent with taking up Armes against him That he might sweeten their subjection Quaedam jura pactis minuit he restraines his absolute right by compact bestows some liberties some priviledges upon the people who commonly nec totam servitutem pati possunt nec totam libertatem and these Acts of Grace he confirmes unto them by such security as should not endanger his person nor regall authority that is by promise and oath and not by giving to his Subjects legall power to un king him if he should not performe covenant knowing full well that though hee should not really breake it yet a pretence he did so might upon the first opportunity create a civill warre and therefore his Subjects had as little reason to accept as he to offer so pernitious security as would put both parties in farre worse condition for if Rebellion should be allowed in any case that case would be alwayes pretended and though the Prince were just and wise and religious yet ambitious men to compasse their owne ends would impute to him oppression weakenesse and that notwithstanding his exemplary practise in his publique devotions to the contrary he did but handsomely dissemble and favoured a false religion in his heart The method of that Rebellion in the reigne of Henry the third which made France extreamely miserable is very observable A factious party of the Nobility and Gentry a seditious party of the Clergy and an unfortunate party of the seduced Commonalty entred into a holy league against their lawfull Soveraigne upon pretence he was mis-led by evill Counsellors and favoured the reformed doctrine notwithstanding he was even superstitiously strict in his devotions in conformity to what the Roman Church enjoyned When potent Armies were raised ready to swallow him up yet out of a vehement desire to undeceive his people and to discover to the whole world the ungrounded malice of his adversaries in such unreasonable imputations he refused the honest assistance of faithfull Subjects because Protestants to his owne and their probable destruction Many of King Williams Successors did inlarge the Subjects Priviledges by divers Acts of Grace which they swore to maintaine but never gave them such security as should alter the nature of Monarchy by granting authority to their Subjects to force them to observe promises and to make satisfaction for true or fancyed violations Hence it appeares that the originall was conquest as it is of almost all the Kingdomes in the world which occasionally conveyed to him full right because they yeilded themselves and consequently what they had to the Victor the Lawes which he or after Princes made for the benefit of the Subject were severall limitations of this right and therefore where Lawes cannot be produced to the contrary there the Kings power is absolute and no speciall cases can be determined by the Subject to the Kings disadvantage The moderation of his power was by his owne compact which he could not violate without injustice yet the breach of it could not indanger his personall safety because he gave no jurisdiction to his Subjects to force him by strong hand to doe them right and if he had done so he had made himselfe in such cases their subject What ever we can claime as due now is by vertue of the Kings grant and therefore it is said by Hen. 3d in his ratification of the great Charter We have granted and given to all the free men of our Realme these liberties 9. H. 3. The whole Land was the Conquerours he gave part of it as a reward for their service to his Normans and other parts to the ancient Inhabitants and their heires after them yet so as he altered the tenure and made it descend with such burdens as he pleased to lay upon them They hold them but in fee and therefore are bound to certaine services and to doe such and such duties upon paine of forfeiture in case of Treason and Rebellion their lands are his owne againe and returne into his disposall If Subjects breake their Covenant and prove disloyall all their rights are forfeited by expresse Law if Kings breake their compact no forfeiture followes The reason of this inequality is because the King gave Law to the Subject the Subject did not give Law to him Exc. Another exception is If a King exercising tyranny over his people may not be resisted he and his followers may destroy the Kingdome Answ This is easily satisfied if we consider in what condition we were when conquer'd and how that to avoid a certaine ruine for he might have rooted us out for his better security and planted this Land with his native Subjects we submitted to an onely not impossible that is a most extreamely improbable destruction For it is an unheard of madnesse that a King should be such an enemy to his owne interests It is in our power to kill our selves and yet we are not affraid of our selves because there is a naturall dearenesse implanted in us which secures every one from selfe-wrong we have as little cause to be troubled that it is in his power to make himselfe no King by destroying his Subjects The King perishes in the ruine of his people and the man onely survives exposed to the hatred and scorne and revenge of mankinde Sint quibus imperes is a strong antidote against this unreasonable feare Secondly no policy can give an absolute security we must trust some body by which a way lyes open to a possible mischiefe but many most probable and certaine inconveniences are thereby avoided Thirdly we have good grounds to rely upon divine providence if we doe our duty for the hearts of Kings are in the hand of the Lord he will put a hooke into the nostrils of Tyrants and though we may be chastised for a tryall of our patience or punished for our sinnes yet he will not permit them to bruise his children to pieces Exc. We are bound by the naturall affection we owe to our Country to be active in restoring it to happinesse by removing such a curse from the land Answ We must not doe evill that good may come of it Some reply this precept obliges private men not Magistrates especially aiming at not any particular but the publique good a pious intention to advance this excuses from sin Certainely it will concerue all such as meane to goe to heaven they may as well tell us Magistrates may lawfully steale or commit adultery if they sin for the Common-wealth that is plunder in hopes to finde letters amongst malignant goods or lie with other mens wives to unlocke their brests and discover such secrets whereby they may more easily cut their husbands throats as being in their Catalogue of evill councellours or enemies to
must not returne ill language because he was the Ruler do clearly evince their argument not concluding Saul was a bloody tyrant hee made the Priests a sacrifice to his cruelty yet notwithstanding he continued Gods anointed It were easie to instance in many examples which shew the vices of man making ill use of the power do not voyd the ordinance of God There are who answer these places very piously but as I think not altogether to what Saint Paul aimed at Rulers are not a terrour to good workes and he is the minister of God to thee for good that is though they oppresse nay kill innocent men yet they cannot hurt them For God will recompence their sufferings it is in bonum afflictis though affligentibus in malum because all things worke together for good to them that love that is are obedient to God Rom. 8. It seemes to me more probable that the scope of the Apostle was to inforce the duty of subjection pressed in vers 1. by a second reason for he had urged before the ordinance of God drawn from the benefits which will be reaped from Governours And the motive is the consideration of that happinesse which wee have reason to promise our selves from the preservation of order the end of which is publique tranquillity This is enjoyed under very bad Princes which will abundantly recompence some particular sufferings whereas if wee should goe about to right our selves when power is abused to say nothing that it would alwayes be pretended to be so by ambitious men who have this advantage that the common people have but weake judgments in State matters and yet appeales are especially directed to them and since our miseries have growne upon us the contrivance of our calamity was very visible the fatall arts which ruined this Kingdome were to make the meaner sort of men Judges of Policy and women generally the Judges of Religion and they are easily perswaded to reckon misfortunes amongst crimes and to confound ill intentions with ill successe If I say wee should take upon us to governe our Governours because they rule not for our advantage wee should pull upon our heads much greater mischiefes Experience shewes that Kingdomes suffer infinitely more by Civill Warre then by the most Tyrannicall Princes If wee call to mind the most vicious King that ever reigned in England wee shall find though he did injure some particulars indulging to some inordinate affections against the tenor of Law yet justice was favoured in the generall and the greatest part of the Kingdome reaped the fruits of order Whereas illegall endeavours to force him to amendment introduce a cessation of all law and justice and the Subjects will be plundered more in one night then the greatest monopolyes and most unjustifiable taxes of many yeares robb'd them of The Apostles sense is expressed fully by Tacitus Ferenda Regum ingenia néque usui esse crebras mutationes The reason why it is better for a people though oppressed to submit with patience even to a Tyrant is this if he be put to recover his owne by conquest and prevaile he may be tempred as highly provoked to rule them with a rod of iron and to provide for future safety by utter disabling them to hurt him but if they get the better their victory doth but confirme our calamity wee cannot see any probable end of our unhappy distractions Because forraigne Princes will certainely afford supplies for recovering his just rights for it might suddainly be their owne case and they are bound to it in State interest that they send not aid sooner is because it is for their advantage to have a neighbour Kingdome weakned but not the Prince ruin'd and it is very unlikely he should ever want a very considerable party at home many out of conscience more out of discontent and envy towards their fellow Subjects prosperous treason endeavouring to restore their injur'd Soveraigne to his undoubted Rights and Prerogative So that England would be the unhappy scene where the tragedies of Germany would be reacted But grant a totall extirpation and that they shall be able to go through with their wicked designe and not only branch but even root Monarchy also for this is aimed at by some who feare it may sprout againe if the stock be left have wee yet at last any hopes of peace when wee are so undone by warre that wee have nothing left to loose but our lives truely no then like theeves when once secure of their booty we should have thousand differences in dividing the prey all of them challenging preferments great as their sinnes and setting such a price upon their wickednesse as the estates of all honest men will not be able to pay it is not possible what they have gotten can be pleasant to them when they consider much more might be enjoyed and sadly recollect the inequality of the recompence to the adventure for their lives were exposed to the danger of the law their reputation is lost with all good men and their soules are eternally ruin'd They would fall out amongst themselves who was the greatest Traytor and never yeild precedency in mischiefes because that is the measure of Sharing Some would plead they contrived others they acted the Treason and thinke a subtile braine should have no priviledge above a couragious heart it being more easie to fright the people by inventing false dangers then to lead them on and make them stand the brunt of true It is beyond my skill to proportion the wages of sin determine whether the slye and cunning setter or the stout thief can claim greatest share in the spoyle But commonly the speculatively malicious men are miserably deceived of their expected requitall For though they set the mischiefes on foot yet their journey-men quickly apprehending the mystery are easily tempted to set up for themselves It hath beene often seene that to end such quarrells he that was head of the conspiracy in reference to the active part of it and who had force enough to oppresse a Tyrant would use the same to establish himselfe their Lord and Master and his government was so much the more rigid severe and miserable because he was frighted with his owne example upon his predecessor This I conceive to be the Apostles sense that wee must submit even to bad Governours such they were when he wrote this Epistle not only out of honesty but prudence also because if wee goe about to make them better wee shall put the Kingdome and consequently our selves in farre worse condition After this explanation I will reduce their Argument into forme that I may thereby give more distinct satisfaction Non resistance is forbidden only to the powers ordained of God But powers used tyrannically are not ordained of God therefore wee are not forbidden to resist them The assumption is absolutely false For though tyranny be not the ordinance of God yet the power which is commanded to rule justly but withall inabled to