it was too great for him to wield and too high also for him to aspire unto Such was the Humility of this excellent Man the Friend of God to the utter Condemnation and Confusion of all those whose whole study and endeavour evermore hath been and is at this day to undermine those which be in authority to invade and occupy other mens Kingdoms to wring the Scepter and Sword out of Princes hands This is a Vice never enough to be detested considering the manifold and great Mischiefs which have come thereby to Heaven to Earth to Angels to Men to all Kingdoms and Commonwealths to the whole World. This ambitious Man is a Thief is a Homicide if it lye in his power he is a Regicide he is the Parricide of his Countrey I will only put you in mind of one only Lesson which we are taught by this Verse which is this that it is much better for us sperare quà m aspirare to trust in Almighty God than to aspire for in aspiring there be many Inconveniences but the anchor-hold of Hope is firm and sure c. Bartholomew Clerk Fidelis servi subdito inside'i responsie Lond. 1573. anno 1573 writing against that virulent tho learned Rebel Saunders avers That the Majesty of Princes is by no means to be violated if they are good we are to thank God who hath bless'd his People with so divine a Benefit but if they are evil we are to submit our Necks to their Tyranny or to fly to another City we must at no time make resistance by Force and Arms by Tumult and Slaughter For this we ought to believe that evil Kings are appointed by God for the punishment of our Sins and are sent into the World as God's Scourges SECT III. Anno 1590. Dr. Babington printed his Questions and Answers upon the Commandments he being the Year after made B. of Landaffe and saccessively of Exon and Worcester and on the Fifth Commandment he says p. 2â—2 That by Parents are meant such as are so by Dignity and Office such as are Magistrates over the People Masters over their Servants p. 203. c. Magistrates are only to be obey'd in the Lord p. 208. contrary to Prety and Charity must neither they command nor we do Many Servants take their Masters Unkindness for an excuse of their Disobedience or Infidelity in their Services which indeed must not be so saith S. Peter but be they never so froward yet we must do all Duty if we be Servants and even joy heartily in that Cross that notwithstanding our faithful and painful Duty we suffer for we serve not them but God in them And whereas some may be apt to limit this Doctrine to Servants and to exempt Subjects who are by parity of reason obliged the same Bishop in his Notes on Exodus 18. says p. 27. â— ed. Lond. fol. 1637. The Duty of Subjects toward their Governours is 1. To think most reverently of their Places as an Authority appointed of God for our good and not as some Men do outwardly to obey them and inwardly to think them but necessary Evils For S. Peter's words teach more when he saith Honor the King and Solomon when he biddeth Fear God and the King for in the word Honor Peter includeth sinceram candidam existimationem a sincere and unfeigned reverence of them and Solomon joyning the King with God sheweth a holy and reverent regard of him to be due to him from men subject to him that also in S. Paul hath great efficacy in it not for fear but for Conscience sake as if he should say even what duty is done ☜ or left undone to him is done or left undone to God himself from whom their Authority and Power is whosoever therefore the person is the calling is of God. Agian after this inward reverend Conceit must follow outward Obedience to their Laws in paying Tribute c. Let every Soul be subject to the high Powers saith the Apostle because he that resisteth ☜ resisteth to his own damnation The Magistrate may sometime be weak but God will ever be strong to punish any Contempt of his Ordinance In no case therefore may we intrude our selves into their Offices and meddle with publick matters without a calling For this is not to obey them but to rule with them what is amiss to them must be signified and their help expected unless they appoint us and then we are not private Persons any more but publick for such business be they never so evil yet their place is of God by whom only Kings do rule Dan. 2.23.37 either to our good in his Mercy or to our punishment in his Justice Tyrants are suffer'd sometimes to rule for the punishment of the evil and the reward of the good saith S. Ambrose but how will you think l. 2. de Cain Abel c. â— for the reard of the good The same Ambrose notably saith for answer Never did the Gentiles more for the Church than when they commanded the Christians to be beaten proscribed and killed for than did Religion make that a Reward an Honor and a Crown which infidelity reputed a Punishment S. Austin saith There is no Power but of God and therefore our Saviour told Pilate He could have no Power at all over him except it were given him from the Father but God doth suffer the Hypocrite to rule for the Sin of the People and therefore that Sin must be taken away that the Plague of having a Tyrant Ruler may cease What manner of King was Nez buchadnezzar c. if a King shall do as it is said 1 Sam. 8.11 c. he is God's Instrument thus to chasten us and tho things do not shew what he ought to do yet they shew what Subjects ought to suffer without Disloyalty if they be done Read Jerem. 29.7 God forbid saith David that I should lay my hand on the Lord 's Anointed and yet Saul sought his Life Who shall lay his hand on the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless c. The Wife is not freed from her Husband when he is ill nor the Child from his Father no more are Subjects from their Prince But in such cases God the only Helper is to be thought of and prayed unto who can give a Moses for a Pharoah an Othniel for a Cushan who can bring down the Pride of Tyrus by the Egyptians and then of the Egyptians by the Assyrians the Assyrians again by the Chaldeans by the Medes and Persions c. yet carrying a gracious Ear and Eye to Prayer proceeding from a penitent Heart 〈◊〉 Not. 〈◊〉 Gen. 14. page 43 44. c. Rebellion is a bad course to get Liberty where Subjection is due For Rebellion God never loved never prospered but ever plagued and the fearful destruction of Corah and his Company Absalom and his Company c. say as much Papists charge us that we are no good Friends to Princes and
this Kingdom You must take all this upon trust without any express and particular warrant to rule and secure your Conscience against the express Words of the Apostle forbidding Resistance Rom. xiii * §. 3. 4. and then disproves that Tenet That Power is originally in and from the People and that if a Prince discharge not his Trust the Power devolves again upon the People †§. 5. shewing that most of their Weapons for Resistance were sharpned at the Philistines Forge their Arguments being borrowed from the Roman Schools and ‖ § 6. doth Religion stand in need of a Defence which it self condemns and which would be a perpetual Scandal to it But should I transcribe all that is to the purpose I should offer to the Reader the whole Book to which I must refer as I also refer him to the excellent Treatise of the Archbishop of Tuam Maxwell called Sacrosancta Regum Majestas written upon this very Subject Chillingworth Religion of Protestants a safe way c. p. 360. If I follow the Scripture I may nay I must obey my Sovereign in lawful things though an Heretick though a Tyrant and though I do not say the Pope but the Apostles themselves nay an Angel from Heaven should teach any thing against the Gospel of Christ I may nay I must denounce Anathema to him SECT XVI I might also only name Dudley Diggs's Book of the Unlawfulness of Subjects taking up Arms against their Sovereign in what case soever but then I should do wrong to my Subject and the Truth * Pag. 2. In the Service of which the Author shews That that one main Principle by which the seduced Multitude hath been tempted to catch at empty Happiness and thereby have pulled upon themselves Misery and Destruction That every Man being born free the Law of Nature doth justifie any Attempts to shake off those Bonds imposed upon him by Superiors if inconvenient and destructive of native Freedom is false since every Man is not born free all being by Nature subject to paternal Power and consequently to the Supreme Magistrate to whom divine Law confers the several Powers which Fathers resigned up and †p. 7. that those that will allow any Power to Subjects against their Ruler do thereby dissolve the Sinews of Government by which they were compacted into one and which made a Multitude a People for there cannot be two Powers and yet the Kingdom remain one Afterward he proves ‖ p. 13. by what Arts and Persuasives People are moved to Rebellion particularly ‡ p. 30 31. by being brought to believe That we are a mix'd State and that our Kings are accountable c. and then * p. 34 41 42. c. proceeds to prove the Doctrine of Nonresistance from Scripture proving that the same Obedience which God required from the Jews under the Law to be shewn to their Judges and Kings is now required and that Christ enjoyns his Followers under the Gospel as high a degree of Patience towards the higher Powers and that there is great reason that we should perform this duty more chearfully because our Saviour hath commended Persecution to all those that will live godly and that both by Precept and Example Rebellion in Christians being most prodigious The Jews wanted not some Colours of Reason to rebel their Blessings were temporal but a Christian cannot have any shadow of Scruple St. Peter failing in this Duty by resisting the Magistrate in defence of his innocent Master hath taken special care not to be imitated and therefore informs us largely with the full extent of Christian Patience Then ‖ p. 45. c. he makes an excellent Comment on St. Paul's Words Let every Soul be subject c. Here is a fair warning take heed what you 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 that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation You have God's Word for it you are damn'd if you resist This same Year came out a Pamphlet called The late Covenant asserted printed on the day of Trouble Rebuke and Blasphemies for Thomas Underhil Ann. 1643. undertaking to prove That there is a sweet Agreement between the Protestation and Covenant and Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy that the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy did bind to the taking of the Covenant to take up Arms against their Sovereign c. and out of it I shall give an Instance how conscientious those Republican Reformers were and how obliged by Oaths ‡ p. 5. c. We have says he sworn that the King ruling by Law is the Supreme Power and so we have sworn Obedience to him we abjure any foreign Power we have sworn that neither Pope nor Cardinal nor the most Catholick King nor the most Christian shall over-rule our King and Kingdom if we can help it we have sworn and we do not repent ☜ for in pursuance of this Oath to repel foreign Power we are in Arms at this day To whom have we sworn Allegiance but to God and the King in reference to him We have sworn and will not repent to obey the King ☜ while he obeys God ruling his People by his Law and Book We have not sworn our selves Servants to Men their private Wills their Lusts c. and we will maintain the King the higher Power with our Lives and Fortunes We will obey all his lawful not personal Commands Look into these Oaths ☜ and you shall not there find a Word soberly understood contradicting the Covenant God forbid that we should vow our selves Servants to Men and Rebels to God. The Queen and the King are notoriously faulty touching both these Oaths the one doing her utmost to bring in and establish a foreign Power the other denying Allegiance to the most supreme Qu. But where have you any warrant to take up Arms against the King Answ We will never allow those Words against the King they are taken up for the King and for the defence of all that should be dearest to him but let it go against the King we have warrant for it when he bends all his force all his might sets open the Gates of Hell against the Parliament against Religion against our Laws c. we vow and covenant to take Arms against King Queen both setting themselves against God and the power of Godliness and we have as good Warrant as can be desired for so doing ‖ p. 19. Obj. But I cannot think it a lawful Vow for we vow to fight against our lawful Prince Answ It is not against him but for him to deliver his sacred Person out of the hands of Murtherers our Land from out of the hand of Spoilers and the Laws of God and Men from Sons of Belial who would make all void null and of none effect Obj. But we have taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy
was burdened the more still it spread And indeed what should hinder Religion from thriving in evil Times For the same Religious Duties which are practised with more ease in prosperous are exercised also but with greater honor in an afflicted state of things Nay some of its more eminent Parts and noble Instances are not capable of being exercised at other times It is not Religion then whatever Men may vainly pretend that makes them run into the Breach of Laws and Contempt of Duty lest they should suffer in the profession of it For God and Religion owe them no thanks for such a Course because he is not honored ☞ nor is strengthned and preserved but ruined and destroyed by it But the true and real Cause of such Disobedience whereof God and Religion are only the Color and false Pretence is plainly a great want of Religion and of the Love of God and too great a love of the World and of Mens own selves Mr. Pelling * Ser. on 30. Jan. 1683. on Rom. 13.2 p. 2 3 4. Had not this Duty been a prime part of the Christian Religion we cannot conceive why such great care should have been taken to inform the whole World of it especially in times which afforded not any common encouragement thereunto Were it not a sad Truth that some will believe no more of the Scripture than will serve the present turn we might wonder how it is possible for a Christian to be an undutiful Subject so that it is not either ignorance that can excuse or any allowable Principle of Christianity that can encourage Resistance nor is it Zeal or Conscience that doth it tho that hath been pretended but it is either a haughty and unmanageable Spirit or an hankering after Spoil c. that have been the true Causes of those Riots which have been so vexatious so fatal to Sovereign Princes It being otherwise impossible that Men whose Consciences are so enlightened by God's own Word should be so blind wicked and fool-hardy as to rise up against their Prince at the manifest hazard of the greatest and most intolerable of all Evils for that is the Rebel's portion Damnation By Resistance is meant all undutiful disobedient and contumacious Behaviour and in particular all open forcible and violent Opposition and by the Power is meant not only the Governor's Authority but the Governor himself Shall I take leave to give you a Paraphrase upon my Text. Why ☜ you shall have it not out of any single Commentator But out of an honest Statute of this Realm which makes S. Paul's Divinity to be Law too The Act declares That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever c. After that he proceeds upon the common Topicks that Power is God's Ordinance c. and how reproachful Rebellion is to the Gospel c. Pag. 25. Usurping and pretending Powers Men may be forced sometimes to be subject unto upon pain of Plunder and Sequestration but the Supreme Power the King is he whom we must not refist upon pain of Damnation Such was the Authority of Claudius Pag. 27. and such were his Ministers ☜ that they would not allow Christians either the Exercise of their Religion or the Liberty of their Native Countries or the protection of their own Houses Pag. 29.30 31. and yet both Claudius and his deputies must be submitted to Obj. But when Religion is established by Law then Resistance is not unlawful Answ 1. Religion was established among the Jews by the municipal Laws of that Country And yet tho several Kings introduc'd Idolatry among them they did not resist or if they rational and it is my Resolution to part with all that this World calls dear even Life it self rather than ever own their i. e. the Papists novel Doctrines for true or submit to their Usurpations or communicate in their idolatrous Worship but yet for all this neither for the Preservation of this our most holy and excellent Religion profess'd here in England nor for the keeping out of Popery it self and then I have named the worst thing that I can will I ever by the Grace of God go beyond the Duty of my Calling and that Station divine Providence hath placed me in nor will I ever lift up my finger or open my mouth against the Lord 's Anointed whatever his Religion be whether he hath any or none whether he be a Nero or a Constantine whether he rules by Law or against it we must not wish him evil no not so much as in our secret Thoughts whatever hard things we suffer from him we must not affront disturb or oppose his Government or resist his Authority and if we have not opportunity of flying from such a Persecution as I now suppose because I would put the worst Case that can happen or cannot by prudence decline it I know no other remedy the Gospel allows us but meek and patient Suffering for our Religion after the example of our blessed Lord and Master This is the plain loyal Doctrine of the Church of England which her Ministers have always preach'd and defended both against Papists and Fanaticks of all sorts and for which such an Outcry and Clamor of late years hath been raised against the Clergy and whenever we teach you otherwise give me leave in God's Name to charge you all to forsake us and despise us at as high a rate as our greatest Enemies can do P. 31. nay if an Angel from Heaven preach any other Doctrine let him be accursed Zeal for the best and the greatest things in the World will not excuse private Mens taking upon themselves to reform publick Abuses either against or without the consent of the supreme Magistrate nor will it hallow any Action for which we have not sufficient Warrant and Authority from God's Word For conclusion of all Would we engage God's favour and protection let us at all times adhere close to our duty as well when it is against our temporal Interest as when it is for it let us inviolably in all things observe the Commands of our Religion not only propose good ends but be as careful to choose lawful means SECT XXXVII I shall conclude this Chapter with the Doctrine of the Whole Duty of Man which Book I look upon as a body of practical Divinity owned by our Church and well spoken of even by our very Adversaries Sund. 14. §. 5. The Civil Parent is he whom God hath establish'd the supreme Magistrate who by a just Right possesses the Throne in a Nation this is the common Father of all those that are under his Authority and therefore we owe him Honor and Reverence c. and Obedience according to the Apostles 1 Pet. ii 13. Rom. xiii 1. and it is observable that these Precepts were given at a time when those Powers were Heathens and cruel Persecutors of Christianity to shew us ☜ That no pretence of the Wickedness of our Rulers can free
Now as touching that mine adversaries say that I and my Preachers teach disobedience unto the High Powers and encourage their Subjects rather to make Insurrection against them than they should lose any thing at all of their sensual pleasures I know not if mine Enemies in any point have utter'd their maliciousness against us than in this one thing that ye may know how they shame nothing at all to lie hear I pray you the sum of our Doctrine concerning this matter Rom. 13.1 Pet. 2. Let every Soul be obedient to the Powers that bear rule c. again be ye obedient to every humane creature c. here have I given you a tast of Doctrine concerning the duty of Subjects unto the High Powers what disobedience do ye perceive by these words that we teach do we move the Inferiors and the base commonalty or any other unto such carnal liberty that for defence of the same they should either shew disobedience or make Insurrection against the head Rulers as our adversaries falsly report of us who brought the Higher Powers again unto the true Authority which God from the beginning gave them but I and my Ministers contrariwise who usurp'd this Power and brought the Magistrates in Subjection but these Enemies of God's Word who goeth about to maintain it still but they only I alone and my Ministers have set the Princes again in their Authority and valiantly delivered them from the Tyranny of the Papists as ye may perceive not only in our Sermons but also in our Writings CHAP. IV. The History of Passive Obedience in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth SECT I. THE Jews say that before one Prophetick light was by death extinguish'd another was set up to illuminate a degenerate World and thus did God in his mercy order it in our Church tho many eminent Confessors commenc'd Martyr's under Queen Mary yet the divine goodness did not leave it self and the truth without Witnesses who for a while sung the Songs of Sion in a strange Land but upon the advancement of Queen Elizabeth to the Throne of these Nations they return'd to vindicate that faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints and for which they had earnestly contended being ready to resist unto blood and because the Churches most eminent and most envied Advocate was Bishop Jewel I shall begin the History of this Reign with an account of his Sentiments When I have recited a Passage or two out of the Homily against Rebellion which are omitted in the first part of this History The first Author of Rebellion the root of all vices p 4th and the Mother of all mischief was Lucifer first God's most excellent creature and most bounden Subject who by rebelling against the Majesty of God of the brightest and most Glorious Angel became the blackest and most foul Fiend and Devil and from the heighth of Heaven is fallen into the Pit and bottom of Hell tho not only great multitudes of the rude and rascal Commons but sometimes also Men of great Wit Nobility and Authority have moved Rebellion against their lawful Princes tho they should pretend sundry causes as the redress of the Common-wealth or Reformation of Religion ☜ tho they have made a great show of Holy meaning by beginning their Rebellion with the counterfeit Service of God and by displaying and bearing about divers Ensigns and Banners which are acceptable unto the rude ignorant common People great multitudes of whom by such false pretences and shows they do deceive and draw unto them yet were the multitudes of the Rebels never so huge and great the Captains never so noble politick and witty the pretences feigned to be never so good and holy yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels of what number state or condition soever they were or what colour or cause soever they pretended is and ever hath been such ☜ that God doth thereby shew that he alloweth neither the dignity of any Person nor the multitude of any People nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for which Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes and how severely the same Homilies censure p. 6. and condemn the Barons who broke their Oath of Fidelity to their natural Lord King John is acknowledged by all Men. Bishop Jewel in his justly admired Apology taking notice p. 34. c. edit Lond 1581. that among many other false accusations then laid to the Charge of the Church this was one that its members were turbulent snatching Scepters out of the Hands of Princes Arming their Subjeâ—â— against them rescinding their Laws and changing Monarchies into popular Government whereby the minds of Princes were exasperated to believe that every Protestant in their Jurisdiction was their Enemy and a Rebel subjoins that it would have been most troublesom to those good Men to be so odiously accused of so grievous a crime as Treason had they not known that Christ himself and his Apostles and an infinite number of pious Christians had been accused of the same crime for tho Christ had taught the World to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars yet he was accus'd of Sedition and the desire of reigning and it was loudly cried at the Tribunal If thou let this man go thou art no friend to Caesar and tho the Apostles constantly taught Men to obey Magistrates that every Soul ought to be Subject to the higher powers and that not only for wrath but for conscience sake yet they were said to stir up the People and to invite the multitude to Rebellion So did Haman accuse the Jews Ahab accuse Elias and Amasias the Priest accuse the honest Prophet Amos in short Tertullian says all the Christians of his time were so accused as also did the ancient Enemies of Christianity Symmachus Celsus Julian Porphyry accuse the Christians of their Ages so that the charge is not new nor can it seem strange tho our very Enemies cannot deny that in all our discourses and writings we diligently admonish the People of their duty to be obedient to Princes and Magistrates tho they are wicked p. 84 c. c. If we are Traytors who honour our Princes who pay them deference and obedience in all things as much as is lawful for us to do by the Word of God who pray for them c. what are they who have not only done all that we speak of but also have approved of such proceedings We neither throw off the Yoke nor disturb Kingdoms we neither set up Kings ☞ nor dethrone them nor transfer their Empires nor give them Poyson nor make them to kiss our Feet nor tread on their Necks This rather is our Profession this is our Doctrine that every Soul whosoever it be whether a Monk or Evangelist or Prophet or Apostle ought to be subject to Kings and Magistrates we teach publickly that obedience ought to be paid to Princes as to Men sent by God and that whosoever resisteth them
follow the murder of Kings is lawful and honorable Consider with your self P. 254. what a gap you open to popular Licentiousness when you praise those Men who magnifie the parricides of Princes The same Author in his Epphata to F. T. being a Vindication in English of the same Prelate vindicates the same Doctrin Cambr. 1617. in his Epistle Dedicatory he says That tho Kings die like men i. e. Quatenus homines non quatenus Reges yet we are to remember that they fall like one of the Principes i. e. one of the Angels says the Cardinal himself among others on that Psalm who we know are not judged till God judges them though no doubt but that aggravates their Judgment so much the sooner It were worth the considering what correspondence such Grounds have with the ancient Doctrine which the Cardinal and his Followers would seem so close to follow Of Chrysostome ☜ that a Sovereign King is accountable to none not only to his Subjects but not so much as to his Successor as David said that he is to be judged by God only The same Chrysostom noting that whereas the Psalmist passes over other miracles of the Wilderness in deep silence he insists only on the Death of Og and Sehon two mighty Monarchs because Kings lives are so wholly in God's Hands and the Disposition of them is alway miraculous reserved and appropriated to God himself Of S. Basil that a King is subject to no Judge Of Ambrose that nullis tenetur Legibus not only the King of Israel but not the King of Egypt Of the Pope in Theodoret who told Theodosius that it was not lawful to implead a King not only in his person but not personating another not fictione juris as the Lawyers say ‖ Ch. 1. p. 58 59. Now Obedience is become among the Ceremonies and the honoring of our Parents i. e. in truth of our Princes Patres Patriae by ancient stile ☜ and so Ezechias called the Priests his children 2 Chron. 29.11 is as subject to alteration as the Sabbath Day And because the Jewish Ceremonies may not only be omitted but may not be retain'd without heinous crime therefore it shall be Conscience to wax wanton against Princes to shake off their Yoke yea merit virtue and what not as if the Precept of honoring Parents which is the primum in promissione Ephes 6. were now secundum in omissione after that against Images P. 60 61 62. which is usually cancelled in the Popish Catechisms Against the Emperors under the Old Testament there was no rising up and as for the Emperors in the New Testament tho as they were Heathen they were neither by Christ nor his Apostles obey'd I hope Sir 't is enough that they were not resisted Kings when transported by Error they forsake their Duty Pag. 75. yet forfeit not their Supremacy We yield no Abdication of our King ☞ tho his Fault be Heresie remembring that Deus defendit oleum suum as Optatus says and Caesar non desinit esse Caesar even in Alto Gentilisino as our Saviour acknowledg'd of him Matt 22. So beinous is the Heresie of Deposing Magistrates for moral Misdemeanours A bad Head I should think which the Body will be the better for the cutting off No Iniquity can abolish Authority And if it be objected Pag. 94. P. 137. 139. that Kings must be hamper'd with a coercive Power or all must run to nothing and the Church be clean extinguishâ—d It is answered The Church gains by Patience in Persecution therefore she loses by Resistance and Opposition SECT VIII Among these domestick Champions of the King and the Truth it may not be amiss to reckon an eminent Foreigner if I may call Isaac Casaubon so who lived some Years in this Kingdom and dyed here one of the Glories of his Age before he came into England he just after the Quarrel between the Pope and the Republick of Venice An. 1607. printed a Discourse De Libertate Ecclesiastica or rather but a part of a Discourse for whereas he promises Eleven Chapters the first three are not entirely printed the rest being stopt at the Press by Order of the French King tho as imperfect as the Book is Goldastus hath thought it worth a place in his Collections and in it he shews that the true Church of God never usurp'd the Rights of Kings * Ad Lect. p. 6. Pag. 12.13 while the Popes spoil Kings of their Liberty and their Majesty too for under them it sometimes happens that Kings may be safe but they can never be secure for they so value this Liberty that to defend it they tumble all things upside down mingle Heaven and Earth things sacred and profane And whereas our holy Master's Precepts ought not to be contradicted since he hath joyned his Example to his Commands and recommended to us the Love of our Enemies Subjection to the Powers ordained of God ☞ and Obedience to them for Conscience sake they to build up and to confirm this Liberty unknown to the Primitive times do every where inkindle Wars become a Terror to Kings and Princes dispense with their Subjects Allegiance and arm them against their own Sovereigns and pretend that to violate all Laws divine and human is a holy undertaking and most acceptable unto God. As ifby an ill management of supreme Authority Pag. 17. the Authority were forfeited And if once Princes shall suffer the Foundations of their Government to be shaken in the minds of their Subjects their Government and Empire must of necessity reel and totter and fall into the dust God commands all orders of Men to render to Cesar the things that are Cesar 's Pag. 69. and let every soul be subject to the higher powers c. therefore Gregory Nazianzen says that the Civil Magistrate doth reign together with Christ nor does it make any difference that some Kings arrive to the Throne by hereditary Succession others by Election a third sort by Conquest for tho God in the establishment of a King as in the Ordination of a Priest uses the Ministry of men yet it is impious not to acknowledg that the Dominion and Power is received originally from God By God Kings reign as the holy Scriptures in almost infinite places do testifie P. 102 103. The Primitive Christians did so use the World as those that used it not as S. Paul advises for while their Zeal for Piety was flagrant while the Innocency of their Manners their mutual Love and Affection their unfeigned Humility ☜ their constant Meditation on the Joys of Heaven their Fidelity and Obedience to their Princes as far as their Conscience would give them leave lastly their incomparable Constancy in suffering all manner of Torments for the true Religion made them every day a Spectacle to the whole World they ravish'd their very Enemies to admire them and their Virtues these were the beginnings of Christianity this the