Intercession unto the King's Grace with all due Subjection that his Grace would release that commandment if he will not do it they shall keep their Testament with all other Ordinances of Christ and let the King exercise his Tyranny if they cannot fly and in no wise under the pain of Damnation shall they withstand him with violence but suffer patiently all the Tyranny that he layeth on them both in their bodies and goods and leave the vengeance of it unto their Heavenly Father But in no wise shall they resist violently neither shall they deny Christ's verity nor yet forsake it before the Prince neither shall they go about to Depose their Prince p. 295. as my Lords the Bishops were wont to do but they shall boldly confess that they have the verity and will thereby abide And this he proves by the examples of Peter and John and of Christ of the three Children and Daniel and then adds so that Christian Men are bound to obey in suffering the King's Tyranny but not in consenting to his unlawful commandment always having before their eyes the comfortable saying of Christ Fear not them that can kill the body which when they have done they can no more do c. The Weapons used by the Martyrs in those Days were Patience and Prayers and by those Arms they conquered their Adversaries So when the Martyr Bilney going to his death was upbraided Vid. Answer to Stephen Gardiner's Devilish Detection fol. 203. b. edit an 1547. that he being accounted an holy Man wrought no Miracles He answered with a mild voice and countenance God only works Miracles and Wonders and he it is that hath wrought this one Wonder in your Eyes that I being wrongfully accused falsly belied opprobriously and despitefully handled buffeted and condemned to the fire yet hitherto have I not once opened my mouth against any of you this passeth the work of nature and is therefore the manifest miracle of God who will by my death and suffering be glorified and have his Truth enhaunced This was the true way to get the Crown of Martyrdom and here you see the Patience of the Saints SECT II. The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man tho compiled anno Domini 1540 received not its Approbation in Parliament till ann 154◠being Printed in May following by the King Henry the Eighth's Order who thought it so useful that himself writes a Preface to it directed to all his faithful and loving Subjects with the Advice of his Clergy as a Doctrine and Declaration of the true Knowledge of God and his Word with the principal Articles of Religion allowed also by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Nether House of Parliament In which says our Historian Lord Herbert's Henry VIII p. 495. they handled all things with much moderation the King having labored first to make Tenents understood then to have them observed And tho there be in it Accounts given of the seven Sacraments the Doctrine of Purgatory c. yet the Ruin of the Popish Religion is unquestionably under the Providence of God much owing to the seasonable publishing and dispersing of this Book which came out both in Latin for the Instruction of Foreigners and English for the use of the Natives nor was it to be expected that Heterodoxies of so long continuance should all in a moment be condemned In this Book the Exposition of the Fifth Commandment teacheth us thus In this Commandment by these words Father and Mother is understood not only the natural Father and Mother which did carnally beget us and brought us up but also Princes and all other Governors Rulers and Pastors under whom we be nourished brought up ordered and guided And by this word Honor in this Commandment is not only meant a Reverence and lowliness in words and outward gesture but also a prompt and ready obedience to their lawful Commandments a regard to their Words a forbearing and suffering of them an inward love and veneration towards them c. this is the very Honor and Duty which not only the Children do owe unto their Parents but also all Subjects and Inferiors to their Heads and Rulers And after this having fully shewn the Duties of Children to their Parents and Parents to their Children from the Precepts and Examples of holy Scripture it proceeds This Commandment also containeth the Honor and Obedience which Subjects owe unto their Princes for Scripture taketh Princes to be as it were Fathers and Nurses towards their Subjects Then reckoning up the several Duties of Princes it adds And all their Subjects must again on their parts and be bound by this Commandment not only to honor and obey the said Princes according as Subjects be bound to do and to owe their truth and fidelity unto them as unto their natural Lords but they must also love them as Children do love their Fathers yea they must more tender the Surety of their Prince's Person and his Estate than their own or any others even like as the Health of the Head is more to be tendered than the Health of any other Member And by this Commandment also Subjects be bound not to withdraw their said Fealty Truth Love and Obedience toward their Princes for any cause ☞ whatsoever it be ne in any cause may they conspire against his person ne do any thing towards the hinderance or hurt thereof nor of his Estate And furthermore by this Commandment they be bound to obey also all the Laws c. made by their Princes and Governors except they be against the Commandment of God. They must also give unto their Prince aid ☞ help and assistance whensoever he shall require the same either for surety preservation or maintenance of his Person and Estate or of the Realm And further if any Subject shall know of any thing which is or may be to the noyance or damage of his Prince's Person or Estate he is bound by this Commandment to disclose the same with all speed to the Prince himself or to some of his Council for it is the very Law of Nature that every Member should employ himself to preserve an defend the Head. And that all Subjects do owe unto their Princes and Governors such Honor and Obedience as is aforesaid it appeareth evidently in sundry places of Scripture but especially in the Epistle of S. Paul Rom. 13. and S. Peter 1 Pet. 2. and there be many Examples in Scripture of the great Vengeance of God that hath fallen upon such as have been disobedient unto their Princes But one principal Example to be noted is of the Rebellion which Chore Dathan and Abiron made against their Governors Moses and Aaron For punishment of which Rebels God not only caused the Earth to open and to swallow them down but caused also the Fire to descend from Heaven and to burn up 250 Captains which conspired with them in the same Rebellion And the Explanation of the Sixth Commandment saith thus
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
that with a limitation which concerns not us nor do we pretend that any Man is infallible 2. Bishop Bilson had been in other things very much deceived tho a wise Man and a good Scholar for even upon such Men their Passions do many times impose witness the Nullity 3. For this very Opinion Bishop Bilson is censured by the †Third Paper to Henderson p. 85. op 2d Edit ann 1687. Martyr Charles For Bilson I remember well what Opinion the King my Father had of him for these Opinions and how he shewed him some favor in hope of his Recantation as his good nature made him do many things of that kind but whether he did or not I cannot say 4. At the time when Bilson's Book was written the Queen was assisting the Dutch against their and her common Enemy the Crown of Spain now if in the Low-Countries the Government was founded in Compact as many Learned Men say and that all their Privileges Sacred and Civil contrary to that Agreement were invaded and the Inquisition introduced all their Petitions slighted and some hundred thousands barbarously murdered this alters the Case while it can no way hold good in Governments where there is no such Compact 5. ‖ Ductor dubitant l. 3 ch 3. rule 3. n. 19. Bishop Taylor quotes Bilson with Barclay and others as an Assertor of the Doctrine of Non-resistance and Loyalty If the Opinion of Bishop Bilson were he never so venerable for his Learning and other Accomplishments be contrary to that of our Blessed Saviour and his holy Apostles we ought to renounce them and I have with a mixture of sorrow and shame reflected upon Cressy's Censure of that Book * Exomolog c. 12. Queen Elisabeth conceived it convenient for her wordly Designs to take on her the Protection of the Low-Countries against the King of Spain she imployed Dr. Bilson Bishop of Winchester to write his Book of Christian Subjection in which to justifie the Revolt of Holland he gave strange Liberty in many Cases especially concerning Religion for Subjects to cast off their Obedience but that Book which served Queen Elisabeth's wordly Designs by the just Judgment of God hath contributed much to the Ruin of her Successor King Charles for there is not any Book that the Presbyterians have made more dangerous use of against their present Prince than that which his Predecessor commanded to be written to justifie her against the King of Spain †Howel's Life of Lewis 13. And it was a smart Observation of Lewis the Thirteenth of France when that good King Charles was involved in a Civil War that perhaps God punished him for assisting the French Protestants at Rochel when in Arms against their Sovereign But after all let 's hear this Reverend Prelate where he determines rather than disputes upon this Case and none shall need to speak for him The Jesuit after long arguing with him about the Magistrate's being accountable for his Faults to the People The true Difference between Christian Subject c. part 3. p. 97 98. Ed. Lond. 1586. Id. p. 252 253. as well as the People to him comes at last to this Issue Then Princes says he have impunity to do what they list without fear of Laws To which he replies Princes appoint penalties for others not for themselves they bear the Sword over others not others over them Subjects must be punished by them and they by none but by God whose place they supply And in another place We deny that Princes have any superior and ordinary Judge to hear and determine the Right of their Crowns We deny that God hath Licensed any Man to depose them and pronounce them no Princes Princes have far greater honor and power over Subjects than any Man can have over Sons and Servants they have power over Goods Lands Bodies and Lives which no private Man may challenge They be Fathers of our Country to the which we be nearerbound by the very Confession of Ethnicks than to the Fathers of our Flesh how then by God's Law should Subjects depose their Princes to whom in most evident words they must be subject for conscience sake tho they be Tyrants and Infidels Pag. 277. And lastly in Answer to the Jesuit's Objection of the German Princes resisting the Emperor which was the Hinge on which all the difference in their Arguments did hang. They were Magistrates says he and bare the Sword in their own Dominions you are private Men and want lawful Authority to use the Sword their States be free and may resist any wrong by the Law of the Empire You be Subjects and simply bound by the Laws of the Country to obey the Prince or abide the pain which the publick State of this Realm hath prefixed The Queen of England inheriteth and hath one and the same right over all her Subjects be they Nobles or others So Mr. Perkins on the Fifth Commandment The Duties to Superiors in Authority are 1. Obedience to their Commandments Rom. 13.1 because every higher power is the Ordinance of God and the Obedience which we perform to him God accepteth it as tho it were done to himself Rom. 13.2 Qu. What if our Superiors be cruel and wicked Answ Yet we must yield Obedience to them but not in wickedness 1 Pet. 2.18 Act. 4.19 2. Subjection in suffering the Punishments inflicted by our Superiors Qu. What if the punishment should be unjust Answ Yet must we suffer it till we can get some lawful Remedy for the same 1 Pet. 2.19 20. And among the Sins against this Commandment he reckons the sixth to resist the lawful Authority of Superiors and the seventh to obey them in things unlawful In this Reign Mr. Hooker published his judicious Books of Ecclesiastical Polity from the first of which it must be confessed it is observed that he lays the Foundation of Government in Agreement Spalatens de Rep. Eccl. lib. 6. c. 2. n. 19. p. 526. Opinionem verò jam factam communem nostrorum Scholasticorum c. That the common Opinion of the Schoolmen and most other Divines which place the power of Government in the Body of the People as if it were given to them by God and the People might dispose of it to whom they pleased is false and altogether to be rejected he herein following the Schoolmen too strictly who had brought in the Terms and Notions of the Aristotelean Philosophy into the Christian Church while Aristotle is known to be a great Lover of a Democracy but whatever he laid down in Thesi I am sure he hated the Deductions that some Men make from him that because Government arose out of Compact therefore the People may call their Princes to an account for in those Fragments of his Eighth Book of Ecclesiastical Polity which were happily preserved by Archbishop Usher and published by Dr. Bernard in his Clavi Trabales who professes * Pag. 49 50. that by what art and upon what design
careful our blessed Saviour was to pay all due respects to any person invested with Authority and that St. Peter recommends a meek behaviour even towards them from whom we receive hard measure P. 94. That such a continued respect and practice of duty to Governours even under hard usage is that which Conscience to God will oblige to perform This duty of respectful submission is not founded upon the good temper of our Superiours but upon the Authority they receive from God and the Precepts which God hath thereupon given to us P. 97. Obj. But if Religion be concern'd and in danger doth it not behove every good Man to be zealous c. Ans 1. It is requisite he should be zealous in the diligent exercise of a holy Life and in frequent and devout prayer c. But he must not be active as an evil doer in giving himself the liberty to behave himself undutifully towards his Superiours 2. Religion can never be so in danger that God can need any sinful practices of Men to uphold his interest his Kingdom is not so weak that it cannot stand without the affistance of the works of the Devil P. 99. 3. Religion can never be opposed with greater enmity and malicious designs than it was when our Saviour suffered and yet then he reviled not P. 100. nor allow'd St. Peter's rashness The Jews aimed utterly to root out the Christian Name and there were great oppositions against Religion even fiery Tryals 1 Pet. 4.12 When yet Saint Peter requires Christians to follow the Example of our Lord's patience and meekness and to reverence Superiours 4. True zeal for Religion consists in pious and holy living not in passionate and sinful speaking To Dr. Falkner I should join his Pupil Dr. Sherlock but his Book of Non resistance is so strong and his arguments from Scripture so cogent that it is needless to make any extracts out of it and till his Adversary writes both a more becoming and a more demonstrative Answer it will be still by all wise Men look'd upon as unanswerable SECT XXIX Among the unanswerable Treatises I also reckon Dr. Hicks the Dean of Worcester's Jovian for unless scurrility confidence and a desertion of the main Argument may pass for an Answer the Reply that is yet extant deserves no Rejoinder Out of that Elaborate Commentary on the Doctrine of Passive Obedience I shall only quote one passage because it is a History of the Author's Principles and Resolution I had rather dye a Martyr than a Rebel P. 259 and I resolve by God's assistance neither to turn Papist nor Resist but if I cannot escape I will suffer according to the Gospel and the Church of England and I will Preach and Practise Passive Obedience after the example of the Prophets and Martyrs who suffered against Law and in my most melancholy prospect of things I can comfort my self with the hopes of a reward for dying at a Stake which he shall never have for dying in the Field To this purpose also the Sermon at Bow-Church Jan. 30. 1681 / 2. Together with the same Author's Artillery Sermon are worth the perusing Dr. South I have read heretofore of some Serm. 2. p. 80 81. that having conceived an irreconcileable hatred of the Civil Magistrate prevailed with Men so far that they went to resist him even out of Conscience and a full perswasion and dread upon their spirits ☜ that not to do it were to desert God and consequently to incur Damnation Now when Mens rage is both heightened and sanctified by Conscience the War will be fierce for what is done out of Conscience is done with the utmost activity and then Campanella 's Speech to the King of Spain will be found true Religio semper vicit praesertim armata which sentence deserves seriously to be considered by all Governors and timely understood lest it come to be felt P. 212. P. 236. We have seen Rebellion commented out of Rom. xiii He that makes his Prince despised and undervalued blows a Trumpet against him in Mens Hearts c. * See Dr. Freeman's Ser. before the L. Mayor 1682. p. 8. P. 242 243. To imagine a King without Majesty a Supreme without Sovereignty is a Paradox and direct contradiction The Church of England glories in nothing more than that she is the truest friend to Kings and to Kingly Government of any other Church in the World. It is the happiness of some Professions and Callings that they can equally square themselves to and thrive under all Revolutions of Government but the Clergy of England neither know nor affect that happiness and are willing to be despised for not doing so And so far is our Church from encroaching upon the Civil Power as some who are back-friends to both would maliciously insinuate that were it stript of the very remainder of its privileges and made as like the Primitive Church for its bareness as it is already for its Purity it could chearfully and what is more Loyally want all such Privileges and in the want of them pray that the Civil Power may flourish as much and stand as secure from the assaults of Fanatick Anti-Monarchical Principles grown to such a dreadful height during the Churches late confusions as it stood while the Church enjoyed those Privileges Dr. Serm. on Heb x. 36. p. 2. John Moor. Our Saviour was the first that did effectually recommend this Passive Virtue to the World and furnished Men with such true Arguments to bear their Cross as made the most afflicted state not only supportable but to be preferred before the happiness of this life P. 16 17. A good Man when he is persecuted for his Religion neither deserts it nor by any unlawful means defends it He will not renounce his Faith to escape Persecution and yet he dreads by resisting of Authority to promote the cause of Religion P. 19. it being a blasphemy against the Divine Wisdom and Power to suppose God can stand in need of our sins to bring to pass his most glorious designs and this he says of those who under pretence of defending their Rights or Religion resist lawful Authority He then in whom this virtue of Patience dwells keeps a due regard to the commands laid upon him to submit himself to the Supreme Powers and he dares not lift up his Hand against the Lords Anointed ☞ nor Levy War upon the most plausible account whatsoever nay to him it cannot but seem a wonder that the Doctrin of Resistance should have gone down so glibly with any who have read the New Testament and are baptised into the Christian Faith. All Resistance to the Supreme Authority is unlawful The Popes of Rome being the first pretenders from Scripture to a right to resist the Civil Power P. 20 21. c. And it is most certain that by the same Argument they would take off their obligation to this plain Christian Duty they
ancient Right to his Crowns that any King in the known Parts of the World hath P. 178. Where Government in general in Scripture is establish'd and Obedience to Governors injoin'd it ought to be reckoned as spoken of our Governors and Government Ecclesiastical and Civil as well as of any other in the World. Ch. 7. p. 198. Whatever discouragement the Clergy of England have found they still preach up and persuade Loyalty to the King and by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience to temporal Authority keep People from Rebellion notwithstanding they have so often been jeer'd and abused with it * Serm. 2. of the unlawfulness of resist Ep. Ded. Mr. Payn. I think it my duty as a Minister of that Church and Religion which hath been often the Mark but never the Author of any Treason to publish these Sermons And that none may be so malicious as to think we calculate our Sermons merely for the present Circumstances as if the Pulpit were but a kind of a Weather-glass wherein the Doctrine of Obedience to Governors is higher or lower to the temperature or variation of outward Affairs I have put out a plain Sermon without any Addition that was preach'd long before the Plot c. When the ancient Christians were persecuted P. 7 8 9. they endured unheard of cruelties from their Governors ☞ and this often as they complain'd of in their Apologies against Law too Such as would have stirred up those who had power to defend themselves had they not learnt such Principles from their Religion as forbad it we are under the obligation of Oaths though there have been some who have forgot all Oaths and could as easily unloose them as Sampson did his Wit hs and then set themselves free from the Precepts ☞ and Examples of Christ and his Apostles by this colour and pretence that the Government under which they lived was of another Nature than ours in England and that such is our Constitution as makes all this impertinent and of very little regard here And by the same way might they not discharge Wives and Children and Servants from those Duties the Gospel requires from each of them because there was a great difference between the State and condition of those among the Jews the Romans and the Grecians formerly and with us now And afterward he shews Serm. 2. p. 22. That neither in the Case of Religion nor of Legal Rights nor in the case of Natural Defence and the otherwise remediless case of Mankind by the encroachments of Princes P. 27. it 's any way lawful to take Arms. And proves that the Law of Nature or of Self-preservation does not allow of resistance c. And closes all with these good Prayers God preserve Christianity from that reproach P. 37. and blasphemy which these wicked Men have brought upon it God preserve the Protestant Religion from that advantage which is hereby given to our Enemies to destroy it J. Kettlewell 's Measures of Christian Obedience Book 2. c. 4. A Duty to Kings and Princes being God's Vicegerents here on Earth is a readiness and resolved industry to maintain and support them in their Persons and Government not plotting and endeavouring our selves to give away their Lives and Kingdoms unto others or consenting to them that do so not submitting and subjecting our selves to them but violently resisting and opposing them is called by S. Paul resisting of Power or standing up against it Rom. 13.2 And this when it is made by great numbers and goes on to extremities when men are as the Apostle there saith set in array and posture of Defence against it ☜ and ready by force of Arms to wage War with it is Rebellion Book 3. c. 6. The first pretence whereby men justifie to their own thoughts the indulgent Transgression of several Laws is because those Transgressions wherein they allow themselves are necessary for the preservation of their Religion and of themselves in those times of danger and persecution wherein God's Providence has placed them Religion is in danger and like to be undermined by the close and subtle Arts or overborn by the more open and powerful violence of strong and witty Enemies And this is God's Cause and Christ our Lord and Saviour's Interest So that whatever is done here we think is in Service of our Maker If we fight it is his Battels Some on one Hand that call us Hereticks think no means sinful whereby they can weaken and divide And others again even of our own selves who justly abhor these damnable Instances of Disobedience upon pretence of preserving or propagating Religion in some furious and firy spirited sort of Papists for God forbid that we should think them all to be of this temper do yet run into the same extravagance which upon so great reason they condemn in them For if we look into our zeal for the common Religion of Protestants we shall find that we transgress many and those most material and weighty Laws of it whilst we express our affection and concern to defend and preserve it For doth not this pretence of preserving our Religion carry us beyond all the Bounds of Peaceableness and good Subjection Yea I add further that these same Fears for our endangered Religion transport us into the Transgression of sundry weighty Laws which oblige us towards our very Enemies who have contrived to destroy us Thus full of Sin and Disobedience is this sanctified pretence It is the Cover for every Offence ☞ and the common shelter for all Transgressions for we boggle not at an◠sin so long as it tends to preserve us in the prosperous Profession of our endangered or oppressed Religion But if Men would consider calmly and have patience to look beyond the surface and bare outsides of things they would soon discern the vanity of this pretence and how far it will be from excusing any such sinful and disobedient Practices as they think to justifie and warrant by it For as for true and substantial Religion for protection whereof they would be thought to venture upon all these Transgressions it stands in no need of their help to preserve it in persecuting times altho they should use innocent and just means not such as are sinful and disobedient it would live then without their care and whether they went about by any politick means to preserve it or no. For Religion is not lost when Religious Men are persecuted it doth not suffer when they do that profess it seeing it is not one jot impaired when Men are buffeted and imprisoned nay when they bleed and die for it ☞ Could the violence of Persecution have oppressed our Religion it had been stifled in the Birth For it entered in a persecuting Age and yet was not over-born by the pressure of its Sufferings but bravely overcame them It begun grew up and conquered all the World in the very Heat of Affliction and Opposition the more it
us of this duty an Obedience we must pay either Active or Passive the active in the Case of all lawful Commands But when the Prince commands any thing contrary to what God hath commanded we are not then to pay him this active Obedience we may nay we must refuse thus to act but even this is a Season for the Passive Obedience we must patiently suffer what he inflicts on us for such refusal and not to secure our selves rise up against him St. Paul's Sentence in this Case is most heavy Rom. xiii 2. They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Here is very small encouragement to any to rise against the lawful Magistrate for tho they should so far prosper here as to secure themselves from him by this means yet there is a King of Kings from whom no Power can shelter them and this Damnation in the close will prove a sad prize for their Victories Whatsoever the Duty of the Prince is ☜ or howsoever perform'd he is accountable to none but God and no failing of his part can warrant his Subjects to fail of theirs CHAP. VIII TO these eminent Divines of our own Church I shall add a few of the most eminent of the Reformed Divines beyond Sea to shew herein the Harmony of the Confessions as in other things between us and them against the Papists * In Rom. xiii 1. Erasmus I look upon to be one of the first Reformers and he plainly asserts That Christians ought to obey a Tyrant if he says Go to a Goal they ought to go if Lay their Head on a Block they ought to obey c. And to him I will joyn the other Writers whom Pool in †In loc his Synopsis hath quoted viz. Grotius Beza c. Every man ought to be subject i. e. to obey in things which are not against the Law of God. But if Princes shall punish those that so obey the Law of God they ought not to resist but to suffer patiently As to the Opinion of Luther I refer the Reader to what Dr. Patrick hath cited out of him p. 92 93. And whereas it is objected against this that Luther wrote a Book contra duo mandata Caesaris and approved of the League at Smalcald we must consider that the Empire was Elective and the Government upon condition as appears from the Bulla aurea ‖ Apud Goldast to 3. p. 429. where it is said Quod si nos ipsi quod absit c. But if we our selves which God forbid or any of our Successors which we hope will not happen should in process of time contradict this Ordinance retract it or presume to violate it we ordain That it may be lawful for all the Electors Princes Ecclesiastical and Secular Prelates Earls Barons Gentry and Commons of our sacred Empire without imputation of Rebellion or Infidelity to resist or contradict us and our Successors c. And till the German Lawyers convinc'd Luther * Sleid. lib. 8. an 1531. of this he refused to enter into the League and taught That Magistrates ought not to be resisted and wrote a Book on that Subject Nay the Elector of Saxony himself who was the Head of the League against Charles V. did openly declare that if Charles V. were a proper Sovereign in their Principalities then that it was unlawful to make a War against him But whatever was done by the German Princes in that Conjuncture I am sure it no way concerns us whose Government is hereditary and who have no such Authority to take Arms. Calvin himself tho so much censured for the Passage in the end of his Institutes yet elsewhere ‖ Ep. ded ad Fran. I. Reg. Fran. ante Instit answers the Objection made against the Reformation That it was the cause of many Tumults and Seditions by shewing that the best of Men had been so accused and that the Accusation was an ungrounded Calumny c. If any under the pretence of Religion do raise Tumults if any Man make the free Grace of God a Pretext for their Licentiousness let the Laws compel such Men to be quiet let not the Truth be evil spoken of for the †Id. l. 17. an 1546. Wickedness of some profligate Men. And if at last the Whispers of ill-minded Men shall fill your ears so that we still must be inured to Bonds and Whips and Tortures and Manglings and Burnings that like Sheep appointed to the Slaughter we must be reduced to the utmost extremity we will with patience possess our Souls and wait till the Lord will deliver us And in that very Chapter of his Institutes wherein he seems to make Kings accountable to their Subjects as the Lacedaemonian Princes were yet there he avers ‖ Inst l. 4. c. 20. § 25.29 That we ought to obey not only good Princes but those who do not their Duty and that as to the point of Obedience of Subjects there is no difference between the just King and the unjust That if we are severely tormented by a cruel Prince if we are robb'd by a covetous or a luxurious Prince if we are slighted and neglected to be protected by a slothful one nay if we are vex'd by an impious and sacrilegious Prince for the sake of Piety and Religion let us remember that our Sins have deserved such Scourges from God then let humility check our Impatience and let us afterward consider that we cannot help all this Evil that there is nothing left but to implore the help of God in whose hands are the Hearts of Kings c. When Princes do command any thing against God's Law we are to obey God and must in such Cases comfort our selves that we have obeyed God as we ought while we suffer every thing rather than desert our Religion Camero * In Rom. xiii 1. Vot pro pace p. 662 says Grotius is of the same mind and was much harrass'd for owning the Opinion for when he asketh the Question What shall we do with a Tyrant when he swerves from this rule of being a Minister for good He answers That it is our duty to submit Is Casaubon * Epist ad Front. Ducaeum p. 732. Ed. ult P. 749. Though no profest Divine yet to be reckoned here May God never permit the God by whom Kings Reign may he never permit that those Men who are not well inclined toward their Prince may light upon the Book of Mariana or take Counsel from him or any other such Writer There are many at this day acted by a preposterous Zeal who under the pretence of Religion and Piety dare ingage in Rebellions Treasons most cruel Murthers of the Innocent subversion of lawful Governments and the blackest Parricides of their Princes St. Paul the Apostle whom no Man will deny to have been acted by a most holy and fervent Zeal for Faith in the Son of God being admonish'd that there were some who boasted that they approved of that
Magistrates but suffer patiently death rather than to offend God or else our obedience is nothing but hypocrisie and dissimulation Who would accept his own Child's making of Courtesie when all his facts be contrary to his commandment What Masler would be content or think his Servant doth his duty in putting off his cap and in his doing contemneth all his Master's Laws and Commandments the Laws of a Magistrate if they be repugnant to the Word of God they should not be obeyed yet rather should a Man suffer death than to defend himself by force ☜ and violent resisting of the Superior Powers as Christ his Apostles and the Prophets did On verse 2. Because that naturally there is in every Man a certain desire of liberty and to live without subjection and all manner of Laws except such as please himself St. Paul is not content generally to exhort and command all Men to obedience of the Higher Powers but giveth many great and weighty causes wherefore Men should be obedient and in subjection to them The first is because the Office of a Magistrate is the Ordinance of God and therefore the Magistrate must be obeyed except we will say in some respects God is not to be obeyed therefore the Magistrates be called Gods in Scripture ungodly Princes God suffers and appoints for the sins of the People but let the King and Magistrate be as wicked as can be devised and thought ☜ yet is his place and office the Ordinance and Appointment of God and therefore to be obeyed and in case they do any thing in their Offices contrary to the Word of God although the Subjects may not nor upon pain of eternal Damnation ought not by force nor violence to resist the Officer in his High Power yet they are bound to think that God can and will as well revenge the abuse of his Office in them as punish the Subject for the disobedience of his ordinance towards the Higher Power If it be true that St. Paul saith the higher power to be the Ordinance of God it is very damnable iniquity that for any private affection or other unjust oppressions for any Man to depose the Magistrates from their Places and Honors appointed by God or else privily or openly craftily or violently to go about to change or alter the State and Ordinance of God c. The second cause is the great peril and danger it is to resist and disobey God's Ordinances They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation as tho he had said lest ye should think it a light thing but a trifling matter to withstand and disobey the Magistrates understand ye that in so doing ye stand and fight against God and therefore ye provoke Judgment and Vengeance against your selves and be culpable and guilty of God's everlasting displeasure if ye repent not Here St. Paul hath set forth the End and success of Sedition ☞ Treason Conspiracy and Rebellion that is to say destruction both of Body and Soul and who is able to contend and fight with God On verse 5. One cause wherefore we must obey is the fear of pain and punishment which the Magistrate must minister by the commandment of God unto all such as disobey and contemn the Ordinance of God the other is conscience for although the Magistrate do not see nor know how thou dost disobey and break the Order of God or else if thou could'st by power and strength overcome the Magistrates yet thy conscience is bound to obey there be some so indurate and past grace that think themselves not bound to obey this order and Higher Power appointed and commanded of God but doubtless those shall perish with their Captains as Achitophel did with his Absalom if the Higher Power command any thing contrary to God's Word they should not be obey'd notwithstanding there should be such modesty and soberness used as should be without all violence force rebellion as Peter and John used ☞ saying God is more to be obeyed than Man and so in saying of truth they continued in the truth without moving of Sedition and suffered death for the truth c. Nor was this only this excellent Bishop's Opinion while his King was of his Religion and friend to his Person and Principles but as Truth is eternal and unalterable so he persevered in this belief when Queen Mary persecuted the Church of God and this worthy Prelate in a particular manner The Martyrs Letters Lond. 1564. 4to p. 120. for in his Letters just before his death set out by Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon his fellow Confessor he frequently inculcates this Doctrin Remember ye be the workmen of the Lord and called into his Vineyard there to labour till eventide that ye may receive your peny which is more worth than all the Kings of the Earth but he that calleth us into his vineyard hath not told us how sore or how fervently the Sun shall trouble us in our labour but hath bid us labour and commit the bitterness thereof unto him who can and will so moderate all afflictions that no man shall have more laid upon him than in Christ he shall be able to bear these days be dangerous and full of peril p. 136. but yet let us comfort our selves in calling to remembrance the days of our forefathers upon whom the Lord sent such troubles that many hundreds yea many thousands died for the testimony of Jesus Christ both men and women suffering with patience and constancy as much cruelty as Tyrants could devise and so departed out of this miserable World to the Bliss everlasting p. 139. Who would not now rather than to offend so merciful a God fly this wicked Realm as your most Christian Brother and many other have done or else with boldness of heart and patience of the Spirit bear manfully the Cross even unto the death Albeit I know p. 141 / 2 that all those which seek God's honour and the furtherance of his Gospel be accounted the Queens Enemies altho we daily pray for her Grace and never think her harm but we must be content to suffer slander and patiently to bear all such injuries Nevertheless this is out of doubt that the Queens Highness hath no authority to compel any man to believe any thing contrary to God's word neither may the Subject give her Grace that Obedience in case he do his Soul is lost for ever Our bodies ☜ goods and lives be at her Highness commandment and she shall have them as of true Subjects but the Soul of man for Religion is bound to none but unto God and his holy Word p. 148 149 Seeing therefore we live for this life among so many and great perils and dangers we must be well assured by God's word how to bear them and how patiently to take them as they be sent to us from God we must also assure our selves that there is no other remedy for Christians in the time of
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
Greg. Tolesano de rep c. 7. §. 1â— And for 300 years after Christ though the Christians suffered innumerable and most cruel torments 20000 being slain at one time yet they never plotted against the Laws the Magistrate the Emperer or his â—â—enrity in the least degree but by this argument they personaded Men to turn to Christianity as to the best Religion because it tâ—â—k Men off from ambition and a desire of change and taught Men to obey Magistrates and accordingly as Nicephorus relates the Christian that but pulled down the Edict of Dioclesian at Nicomedia was lookt upon by his fellow Christians to be justly executed for the Fact it therefore behoves Princes to consider c. 2. Sect. 16. p 83. in what a slippery place their Sacred Majesty stands if this Principle of Deposing Princes unheard of in the Church of Christ for 1000 years be true and this he confirms by the authority of the Fathers c. 6. Sect. 14. p 255. especially St. Ambrose who is famous for this saying against the Goths My tears are my weapons such are the defence of a Bishop ☞ any otherwise I dare not resist Many other passages might be transcribed were not what is already cited more than enough since the Author's practice was so solemn and unquestionable a confirmation of his Opinion and his other Books especially his discovery of Romish Rebellious Positions with his full satisfaction against Parsons c. a proof that he never lived to repent of so truly Primitive and Apostolical Doctrine SECT VI. Mr. Greenham in his short form of Catechising Lond. 1599. 4 to p. 412 413.414 Qu. What do you understand by Father and Mother in the fifth Commandment Answ Not only my natural Parents but those whom God hath set over me for my good as Magistrates c. Qu. What be the duties of Servants toward their Masters Answ Servants ought in fear and trembling to submit themselves to the instructions commandments and correction of their Masters Qu. What if Parents or Masters do not their duty to their Children and Servants Answ Yet they must obey them for Conscience sake to God's Ordinance Qu. What if they command unjust things Answ Then they must obey God rather than Men and submit themselves to their corrections Archbishop Abbot An. 1600. publish'd his Lectures on Jonas Lon. 1600. lect 20. p. 432. and I shall only cite one Quotation out of him Athanaric King of the Goths seeing the triumph of the Emperor Justinian at Constantinople brake forth into these words The Emperor without doubt is a God upon Earth and whosoever shall stir his hand against him shall be guilty of his own blood In the same year on March 1st being the first Sunday in Lent Dr. William Barlow afterwards Bishop of Rochester Prâ—at Lon. 1601. and then of Lincoln Preach'd at Paul's Cross a little time after the Execution of the Earl of Essex on Matth. 22.21 and therein he well instructs us it pleaseth God to be called a King in Heaven Ps 20. and the King is called a God on Earth Ps 82. Therefore he which denieth his duty to the visible God his Prince and Sovereign cannot perform his duty to the God Invisible certainly a mind inclined to Rebellion was never well possest of Religion they therefore who with Sheba 2 Sam. 20.1 will make a secession from their Prince or with Jeroboam and the ten tribes will turn from him because he hath turn'd his Father's scourges into Scorpions 1 Reg. 12. They who think that they may either kill their Liege or sall from him or depose and thrust them out of their Seat or expose them to danger or fear are guilty not only of Rebellion but of Irreligion the Jesuit Parsons al. Doleman dedicates his Book to the Earl of Essex a Principal if not the only poyson of the Earl's heart wherein he would prove that it is lawful for the Subject to rise against his Sovereign c. my exhortation to you is beloved that you will believe Jesus rather than a Jesuit who willeth his Disciples and all Christians to possess their Souls in patience Luc. 10. albeit they be persecuted even to death by their Princes and St. Paul who adjudgeth him to damnation who resisteth the ordinance of God. Rom. 13. If you desire some stories of Scripture Saul an Apostate rejected by God not dejected by Samuel Jeroboam plagued not dispossess'd Ahab reproved by Elias not deprived Nebuchadonosor punished from Heaven not deposed by his Subjects the Law of God is streight in this case it bridles the mouth that it speak not evil of the King. Exod. 21. It binds the heart not to imagine evil against him Eccl. 10. the sum of this part is that of the Prophet Daniel 2.21 that the Inthroning and Deposing of Princes is God's only Prerogative Royal and the conclusion shall be an argument that if obedience be due unto Caesar a Tyrant and a Foreigner much more are we to perform it to our Prince c. SECT VII Thus also says Francis Marbury in his Sermon on Eccl. 10.20 〈◊〉 1602. at the Spittle on Tuesday in Easter Week Printed by authority the Principal question of this Chapter is that Subjects that are Godly wise ought to repress in themselves all insurrection of mind against the supposed scandals of civil administrations and against the doings of Princes and that a disloyal thought ought not to be lent thereunto it being insinuated by an evil subject that it is impossible to stand contented in a Government that perverts and inverts the use of preferments and abasements aiming perhaps at something done by Solomon in his uxoriousness at the instigation of his Idolatrous Wives and that the state of the Country is depraved by the riotousness and dissoluteness of the Governors but God gives us no dispensation for any cause to disreverence the Prince ☞ except that we be able to shew that we do it at God's Commandment the Men of God when they have by mistaking exceeded towards a Ruler though a wicked one have used diligence to excuse themselves and to avoid the scandal so St. Paul Act. 23 5. and David was cut in his heart because he had cut off the lap that was in Saul 's Garment ☞ so that if to refuse God be ungodliness then it must needs be so to admit a contemptuous thought of a Prince in whom God offereth himself unto us and it is sure that they are ungodly Men 1 Sam. 10.27 which offend in this kind that the Holy Ghost calleth them Sons of Belial i. e. unyoked Persons which refuse to be under the yoke of due obedience as for the allegation made by Hereticks of Conscience to God when no disobedience to God is required it is in great Hypocrisie that God is alledged for are they not put together in the Scripture fear God and the King and depart from the seditious or as the Text hath it from the various from those that
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
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