an offensive way especially such a King who had his Call immediately from Heaven what farther Consequence that concerns our business in hand let any shew from this place that can And some say That David arose with a purpose to slay Saul but changed his Mind in the midst of his Proceedings But I think that David was but a private Person and so had no Authority It is plain that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's Skirt v. 5. Some think his Conscience checked him for the thought of his heart to kill the King But still his Conscience never checked him for keeping men in Arms to defend himself from Saul's oppression for this he did many Years The Person of the King ought to be Sacred but our persons and lives also ought to be defended We may zealously defend our own Innocence Secondly The Subjects may be said to take up Arms as against the King's Command for their own Preservation so we affirm it That it is lawful for Subjects Conjunctively considered or when the Laws of the Country are generally violated and the Oppression is almost Epidemical to take up Arms for Self-preservation against the King's Commands And justifie their Cause by the Law of Nature and right Reason which is not only the Common Law of England but of all Nations For the Law of Nature as Alex. de Ales saith is in us without our Cooperation and of God's putting in and impression Thus having heard my Judgment and our present Cause defended pray have a little Patience to hear my Affection It is written Psal 2.11 Rejoyce with trembling First Let us rejoyce that God of his infinite goodness hath delivered us from our merciless Enemies from a Religion so false and from such foolish Counsellors as would have made us Slaves But Secondly Let it be with trembling when we consider First Our own sinfulness and unworthiness of so good and gracious a Providence Secondly When we consider the dismal Calamities that have befallen His Sacred Majesty through evil Counsellors Let us rejoyce that the snare is broken and we are delivered let us tremble to think of God's righteous Judgments O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the calamities that have befallen this Nation and the Royal Family as the Prophet speaks Jer. 9.1 Our Religion teacheth us Love Goodness Mercy and Compassion Let us not rejoyce at the Calamities of our Enemies but at God's wonderful Mercy to us that our Religion our Laws our Liberties our Lives and our Posterity should be freed from the sink of all Mankind the Tyranny of Jesuits and blood-thirsty Papists Let us bewail our Sins the Cause of Afflictions Necessity nothing but Necessity to defend our selves and our Religion and our Posterity from Popery and Slavery forced us to this last Remedy I rejoyce that we are escaped I am sorry even for the trouble of our very Enemies Well then let us Sin no more lest a worse thing befall us It is true as the Prophet saith The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores Isai 1.5 6. Sacred Majesty laid in the dust requires our Tears our Religion and our Laws revived require our joy Let us be grieved that the Crown is fallen from our Heads for we have sinned Let us rejoyce that God's Honour and Glory is manifested in the Salvation of his Church And as a Testimony of our Thankfulness to God First Let us be humble and lowly in heart ascribing all our Deliverances to God's gracious Providence over his Church Secondly Let us be merciful to others in their distress Let us lighten every burden and break every yoke Let us be patient towards all men and zealous of nothing more than good works and easie to be intreated in a good Matter Let us not oppress the Poor and Needy Let us ease Tender Consciences and perform our Vows made in our distress and do as we would be done by Let us be wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves Let us practice that Religion which we have defended with our utmost Zeal and Lives And this consists in Faith and Good Works Love and Peace Courtesie and Mercy that Glory may be to God in Heaven on Earth Peace and good Will towards Men. Thirdly Let us strive for Union among our selves A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand Let us joyn against the common Enemy of our Faith and Religion Let us lay aside our Animosities and not strive for private Interest but for the Publick good Let us seek Peace and insue it as those who love life and may see good days Let us imitate David's Example not seeking private Revenge but the Peace of our Jerusalem and the Prosperity of our Sion that is the Happiness of Church and State Let us heap Coals of Fire on our Adversaries giving them what they denied to us the tenderest thing in the World except God's Glory even Liberty of Conscience It is true as Solomon saith He that winneth Souls is wise But this must be done by Arguments convincing the Judgment not by force and violence He that wins the Heart gains a sure Friend but he that forceth the outward man loseth with great disadvantage what he seemed to have gained when the Compulsion ceaseth Faction may be promoted by rigorous Execution of Laws but Religion never got footing but by Reason and Argument Not that I am against preserving true Religion by Civil Laws if any be so wicked as to invade the Rights of the Established Religion but I am against Persecution for Conscience sake We have all suffered for our Divisions Let this not be a price in the hand of a Fool as Solomon saith Prov. 17.16 to get wisdom seeing he hath no heart to it I hope God hath taught all Protestants by their Afflictions to lay hold of this present Opportunity to Unite else we are very mean Proficients in the School of Christ It is true very few or perhaps none of us here present this day before God have suffered in our Persons Estates or Livelihoods But if we are Christians we should have a Sympathy and Fellow-feeling with our Brethren in Affliction we should be grieved for the Afflictions of Joseph I mean for the Calamities Disgraces Reproaches and Imprisonment of our Fathers and Brethren of the Nobility Gentry Clergy and Commons who opposed Popish Innovations and Arbitrary Power And even we our selves were just at the Pits brink almost fallen but God who heard the Publican's Prayer hath been merciful to us Sinners If we are stubborn obstinate and will nothing relent God can yet consume us by sending an evil Spirit among us but I hope there is a Blessing behind for us and our Posterity If we are Atheists Neuters or Luke-warm like the Church of Laodicea neither hot nor cold if
the Magistrate Power or Authority to tyranize and oppress Secondly Because Governours are appointed for the good of the People Thirdly Because this is a violation of the Law of Nature First Because God never gave the Magistrate Power or Authority to tyrannize and oppress So that to resist illegal Oppression is not to resist God's Ordinance but mans Usurpation not the King's Authority but his Lust Hence the Prophet Elisha defended himself 2 King 6.32 Elisha sat in his house and the Elders sat with him and the King sent a man from before him and ere the Messenger came to him he said to the Elders See ye how this Son of a Murderer hath sent to take away my head Look when the Messenger cometh shut the door and hold him fast at the door Is not the sound of his Masters feet behind him He calls him the Son of a Murderer because his Father Ahab had killed God's Prophets and he was like him in disposition But that which is to our purpose is that he resisted the King's Messenger he calls upon the Elders to assist him as knowing that God gives no Power to Princes to punish the Innocent And therefore they may defend themselves There is First Private defence Secondly Publick Private defence is proved by this Text. It is lawful against a sudden and illegal assault of a Messenger sent by the King If against a sudden as one saith why not against deliberated and plotted for they are worse This example of Elisha is brought to prove the lawfulness of using force against a King in using violence Prayers and Tears are very good means against tyranny but they are not the only means To kneel down and say Lord help us and not stretch forth an hand to help our sevles is not to trust God's Providence but to tempt God and to try whether he will work a Miracle for our safety It is Presumption and not Piety so to trust to a good Cause as not to use all lawful means to maintain it Here is forcible Opposition allowed against a Messenger Commissioned by the King The Elders are desired to seize him This act of Elisha was plainly contrary to the King's Command Secondly Because Governours are appointed for the good of the People He is the Minister of God to thee for good Rom. 13.4 But if thou dost that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil He hath not Arbitrary Power but his Power is limited And this is the end of his Government even the welfare of the Kingdom Now if the Subversion of the Government be designed and the Destruction of the People aimed at by Evil Counsellors then the Law of God allows and the Law of Nature requires the People to defend themselves The Magistrate is the Minister of God He sustains the Person of God as a Legate as one glosses and as is the Lord so is the Minister But God doth not punish the good but praise them Therefore the end of Government is that we may live justly and quietly and that the Body Politick and Publick Honesty may be defended If these are violated in an high measure the People are not bound to stand still and have their Throats cut The Sword is to defend the good and punish the evil but if the Sword be used to the contrary then the People must defend themselves Finally The cause of the Institution of Magistracy is to defend and honour the Good This is the call that Magistrates have for they ought not to rule for their own sakes only but for the publick good And they are not possessors of an unbridled Power but with such as is for the safety of their Subjects Thirdly Because this is a Violation of the Law of Nature The Subject as several Authors speak may be said to take up Arms either First As an Act of Self-Preservation Or Secondly As an Act of Jurisdiction exercised towards his Prince The first way we say it is lawful The second way we contend not for it because Jurisdiction properly signifies Power of Office The Schools out of Aristotle saith Wendel Philos Mor. b. 1. c. 29. distinguish Natural and Civil right by the Properties He assigns three Properties of Natural right The first is taken from the Efficient For Natural right hath its Original and Authority from God who first put it into the Minds of men in the Creation and after the Fall also in some manner preserved it in the Posterity of the first Men. Hence it is called by Aristotle The first Right or the first thing that is Just The second is from the Force and Efficacy The Right of Nature is understood by all indued with a sound Mind and every where among all hath the same Force Hence it is immutable and cannot be abrogated The third is from the end The Right of Nature is chiefly referred to Honesty There are also three Properties of Civil and Legal Right taken from the same Arguments The first is from the Efficient Civil Right hath its rise and authority from men by whom it is constituted with common consent with probable Reasons taken from the Law of Nature or some Circumstances The second is from the Force and Efficacy This Right obliges no body before it is established and constituted but after it is established and confirmed it begins to oblige under pain of Transgression Hence it may be changed and abrogated The third is from the End It is chiefly referred to Profit tho' it presupposeth Honesty from Natural Right Here it will not be amiss to lay down a few Definitions and Rules for the more ease understanding what we mean by the Law of Nature First There is an Eternal Law which the Schoolman out of S. Aug. b. 6. Of Free Will describes thus The Eternal Law is the highest reason which we must always obey by which Evil Men deserve Misery and Good Men a good Life by which that which is Temporal is rightly made and rightly changed From this Eternal Law flows the Law of Nature And accordingly Aquinas tells us The Law of Nature is nothing but a Participation of the Eternal Law in the reasonable Creature And Grotius saith Culverwell describes it thus The Law of Nature is the Dictate of right Reason shewing that there is Moral filthiness or Moral necessity in some Act from the convenience or inconvenience or disagreement thereof with the reasonable Nature it self and consequently that such an Act is either forbidden or commanded by God himself the Author of Nature The Laws of Reason saith the ever-renowned Hooker Eccl. Pol. b. 1. Parag. 8 have these Marks to be known by First Such as keep them resemble most lively in their voluntary acts that very manner of working which Nature her self doth necessarily observe in the course of the whole World The works of Nature are behooveful beautiful without superfluity or
defect even so theirs if they be so framed according to that which the Law of reason teacheth Secondly Those Laws are investigable by Reason without help of Revelation supernatural and divine Finally in such sort they are investigable that the knowledge of them is general The World hath always been acquainted with them It is not agreed upon by one or two or a few but by all Which we may not so understand as if every particular man in the whole world did know and confess whatsoever the Law of Reason doth contain but this Law is such that being proposed no man can reject it as unreasonable and unjust Again there is nothing in it but any man having natural Perfection of Wit and ripeness of Judgment may by Labour and Travel find out And to conclude the general Principles thereof are such as it is not easie to find men ignorant of them Now the Primary right of Nature so called cannot be changed because it is written in the hearts of men as S. Paul testifies Hence it cannot be blotted out unless Nature be blotted out and Reason cease to be Reason No Pope saith a witty Author nor Prince nor Parliament nor People nor Angel nor Creature can absolve you from it This Law Tully doth not put on one Aspect at Rome and another face at Athens but looks upon all Nations and Persons with an impartial eye It shines upon all Ages and Times and Conditions with perpetual Light It is yesterday and to day the same for ever There is but one Lawgiver one Lord and Supream Judge of this Law God blessed for evermore Natural Right is that which a man knows and can execute without peculiar Institution And the Primary Right of Nature is that which to know and execute a man is carried by an in-bred impeius or motion whose Precepts are as it were born with us As for Example In natural Theology God is to be worshipped He will reward the good and punish the wicked In Oeconomicks our Parents are to be honoured In Politicks Defend thy self against force Hence are drawn these Conclusions First No man ought to hurt us when we are Innocent Secondly If any man indeavours to hurt us when we are innocent we may defend our selves Thirdly Neither God nor Man gives Authority to Governours to hurt the Innocent Fourthly If Governours hurt the Innocent they may defend themselves by the Law of Nature So that Rom. 13. is to be understood of Authority Power or Jurisdiction in it self according to the first Institution as also when it is lawfully laid upon any person For otherwise when it is either wrongfully taken or unjustly used it may be resisted in divers cases for then it is not Lawful Authority May Papists take up Arms with Royal Countenance and Privilege and Prerogative against Law and to destroy Law And may not Protestants take up Arms to defend their Laws Surely he must needs be full of Prejudice very malicious or very weak in his Judgment who cannot see the unreasonableness of the one and the reasonableness of the other All Nations in all Ages by the very Light of Nature have constantly defended themselves by force of Arms when their Princes have turned Tyrants and by their Instruments sought to spoil them of their Liberties Privileges and Estates What Nation ever denied Defensive Arms against the unjust Incroachments Invasions and Oppressions of their Princes to be Lawful In England the Barons Prelates and Commons took a Solemn Oath to maintain their Laws Liberties and Charter yea and to wage War against the King if he refused and to compel him to confirm their Charter in the year 1214. Likwise in King Henry the Third's days in the year 1258 and they threatned Death to all that resisted Again in the reign of King Edward the Second they confederated to live and die together for Justice and to their Power to destroy the Traitors of the Realm especially the two Spencer's All the Reformed Churches have taken Arms to defend themselves The Lutheran Churches against the Emperor Charles 5th and they were justified by Luther Melancthon and other Divines The Protestants in France defended themselves against the French King 1559. The Netherland Provinces against the Duke of Alva and the Spanish Tyranny And Queen Elizabeth King James the First and King Charles the First did countenance and aid all these Which any well minded man ought to presume they would not have done so constantly and deliberately if they had thought Defensive Arms had not been Lawful And Dr. Bilson who was a zealous Defender of our Church and Realm both against the Papists and against the Puritans in his Book of The True Difference between Christian Subjection and Vnchristian Rebellion Perused and allowed by Publick Authority P. 3. Page with me 279. saith I will not rashly pronounce all that resist to be Rebels The Case may fall out even in a Christian Kingdom where the People may plead their right against the Prince and not be charged with Rebellion If the Prince should go about to subject his Kingdom to a Foreign Realm or change the Form of the Commonwealth from Impery to Tyranny or neglect the Laws established by common consent of Prince and People to execute his own pleasure In these and other Cases which might be named if the Nobles and Commons joyn together to defend their ancient and accustomed Liberty Regiment and Laws they may not well be counted Rebels Fifthly The Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance is the high way to bring in Popery and Arbitrary Power For if the King is a Papist and Zealous for the Propagation of his Religion the Jesuites who account Protestants damned Hereticks will never cease to stir up such a Prince to promote his own Principles and to discountenance those that resolutely adhere to the established Religion And what will Prayers and Tears signifie to such a Prince when his Prejudice or his erroneous Conscience or his Priests or his Desire of being Absolute or some such like Affections furiously carry him to promote the Catholick Cause as they call it Yea this Perswasion may tempt a just Prince other ways for all Kings have Flatterers to forget his Faith and Promise and to take such courses as will in the event ruin and subvert his Crown and Dignity I wish Experience did not confirm this Now to say We may and ought to deny Obedience to such Commands of the Prince as are unlawful by the Law of God as all grant yea by the established Laws of the Kingdom as few will deny This doth no way destroy Arbitrary Government but rather erect it Saith a Learned Author For Government is not said to be not Arbitrary because the Subjects may deny in word and so left to suffer For then the Turkish Government is not Arbitrary for when the Great Turk Commands his Subjects to do any thing if they will deny and suffer for their denial they may and do sometimes deny their Obedience If
I shall shew that it was just to depose Nebuchadnezzar To this purpose we must consider 1. That all Government is a Trust 2. That all Government is for the safety and good of the Community 3. That there may be such crimes as may forfeit the Crown and Throne and reduce all to first Principles 1. We must consider that all Government is a Trust The Dominion of one man over another is by consent and is founded in Covenant All men are free by the Law of Nature to chuse what kind of Government they think most convenient And the Positive Law of God hath left this to their Election The Nomination of the person and the Limitation of the power is originally and radically in the Community Hence some Nations have Lords Dukes c. their supream Governours Some Nations have Kings by Election every Reign Others have Succession in one Family Some have Queens to rule over them others will not allow Women to reign Some are absolute Monarchs others are limited Some have Aristocratical others Democratical Government And almost all Nations vary in these Circumstances It is true Authority is from God There is no Power but of God saith St. Paul Rom. 13.1 And By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice saith God by Solomon Prov. 8.15 But tho' the Donation of the Power is of God yet the Designation of the Person and the Limitation of the Power how much or how little or in what manner Mankind must be ruled and give Obedience and owe Submission is wholly by Positive Law and Agreement at the first Constitution or afterwards Thus we read 2 Sam. 5.3 All the Elders of Israel came to the King to Hebron and King David made a League with them in Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David King over Israel Here was an Assembly or Parliament who chose David King and covenanted with him God and Man are not opposite but subordinate in this case That which is of God saith a learned Divine may be of Man also For the second cause doth not exclude the first or contrarily Because the fruits and increase of the Earth are obtained by the care and labour of Man therefore are they not given of God So that as the Prophets and Apostles in old time were called immediately by God not by Men but other Pastors and Bishops of the Church being not immediately called by God but by men yet cease not to have their Vocation from God Because God ceaseth not to do what he doth by means As God designed Timothy Bishop not immediately as Paul but by the Imposition of the hands of Paul and the Presbytery So God in old time by an immediate call set Magistrates and some Kings upon the Throne as Moses Joshua the Judges David Jehu c. But he gave Power and doth not cease to give Power to others as to the seventy Elders by Man's counsel and means and that according to the Laws and received Customs of the People either by Election and the consent of the Senate as now the Roman Empire or by the Suffrages of the People as Consuls Governours of Cities either meerly or mixtly Democratical or by the will of the Souldiers as the old Empire of Rome or finally by Hereditary Succession as the Kings of France of Spain and of Great Britain c. and the Princes of the Empire For there is no Power but of God And certainly the Authority of one or a few in humane Consideration would not suffice to govern and contain so many in Duty and many times very cruel and evil Men unless there were something of the hand of God in it Therefore God himself is the proper and first Cause of Magistracy tho' Men are the next Cause The Prince is bound saith no mean Divine to look to the safety and welfare of the Kingdom as is agreed by all And therefore he is bound to it because he receives this Power originally I speak not in opposition to God but I say originally from the People themselves as appears by the Government of Judah and the Kings of Israel For Judg. 8.22 The men of Israel came to Gideon to make him their King It is true Gideon refused this offer saith Mr. Rogers in his Commentary with great resolution and wisdom telling them that the Lord should rule over them v. 23. His meaning was that the Order that God had set of Governing by such as had no continued Government should stand and not be perverted by or for him or his but contrarily to his Power he would hinder it And God reigned indeed in the Commonwealth of Israel which flourished in Gideon's time wherein the Elders were chosen by common consent some Ecclesiastical to give the meaning of the Law and others Civil and Temporal as men call it to rule the people thereby c. And if any War fell out the Lord himself stirred up Guides and Judges and they were not chosen I suppose he means only or in a usual course by Men as appears c. 1. v. 1. neither did their Children succeed them And thus the Lord both in Peace and War ruled over them and so Gideon meant that the Office of a Judge was no ordinary Magistracy such as the King is but a Temporary and Occasional much like to the Dictatorship of the Romans in respect of the use whereto it served tho' otherwise of divine Election immediately not by Men. And Judg. 9.6 They gathered together and made Abimelech their King And Judg. 11.8 9 10 11. the people covenanted with Jephtha and made him their King And as for Saul tho' he was designed by God for the Kingdom yet the people themselves chose the kind of their Government first when they said Give us a King to rule over us after the manner of the Nations After that God had anointed Saul it is said 1 Sam. 11.15 And all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal And as for David tho' he was anointed King by Samuel yet we find that he continued subject unto Saul after that And 2 Sam. 2. He came to Hebron thither the men of Judah came and there they anointed David King over the House of Judah v. 4. After that he was thus anointed by Judah to be King over them yet he did not rule over Israel till the other Tribes also went out and made him King over them 1 Chro. 12.38 It is said That all these men of war came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David King over all Israel And as for Solomon tho' he was designed by God to the Kingdom yet it is said of him also 1 Chro. 29.22 That all the Congregation did eat and drink before the Lord and they made Solomon the Son of David King the second time and anointed him to the Lord to be Chief Governour Solomon being dead 2 Chro. 10.1 it is said of Rehoboam that he went to Shechem where all Israel
conclude if it be false as I have elsewhere demonstrated it ought to be extirpated out of the World Fifthly It is Agreed That they that believe Passive Obedience were not thereby bound to Assert the Misgovernment of James the Second Because tho' they are to justifie His Authority yet they must not His Crimes Sixthly As for Desertion I need not meddle with it be it as he saith P. 6. Let us now see wherein we differ First I have with some Impatience to use this Gentleman's words in the beginning read the Scandalous Reflections that He makes upon those who have of late opposed Passive Obedience and justified Defensive Arms in some Case without which we had been all Slaves His Design in this Discourse he says is to put an end as far as he can to this unseasonable Dispute P. 2. and yet he justifies Passive Obedience at a very high Rate as if a Man could not be a Son of the Church of England yea scarce a good Christian that denies it And he loads it with this Odium P. 2. They can be no Friends to Government in General nor to Him that is K. W. or His in Particular who are so Zealous to have the Doctrine of Nonresistance Extirpated out of the World And he charges us with this ridiculous Consequence That it is Lawful for every man to Rebel against his Lawful Prince whenever he thinks it necessary Answ This is a foul Aspersion We say the Cause must be real plain and evident And in this present Case supposing Defensive Arms lawful I desire no better Advocate or Orator to represent our Grievances than this Gent. See P. 5 8 16 18 23. And yet I suppose few Men accuse him of Irreverence to Crowned Heads as the Phrase is Tho' a man that opposes Passive Obedience would be invidiously declaimed against for half so much But we know that St. Paul speaking of the Emperor's Persecution calls him a Lion the most fierce and cruel of Beasts But at another time owning his Authority and in respect of that to use the words of a Learned and Eloquent Presbyter of my Acquaintance His Christianity allows him as high Complements to King Agrippa Acts 26.2 3. With great deference to his Authority and Knowledge nay and to his Honour and Goodness tho' a Heathen or little better and otherwise very obnoxious But because we are so often charged as if we did not give due Honour to Kings give me leave to illustrate our Case in no very long Speech Great Sir We are your Majesties most humble and most dutiful Servants and Subjects we look upon our selves as bound in Conscience to hazard our Lives and Fortunes in the Preservation of your Majesties Person Crown and Dignity and of our Religion Liberty and Property But we fear that Evil Counsellors move your Majesty against us and endeavour Innovations and our Ruin by Illegal Courses It is a great Grief and Sorrow of heart to us to see these Evils and in all Humility upon-our Knees we beseech your Majesty to Redress our Grievances But if your Majesty is resolved to persist in these mischievous Courses as we humbly conceive we believe we may with a good Conscience defend our selves and not offend God and his Laws The King perhaps may wax hot with anger and call us Factious Seditious Rebels and cast us into Prison c. Then comes another sort of the King's Subjects Dread Soveraign We your Majesties most faithful Subjects and Servants without any Reserve will stand by your Majesty against all Enemies whatsoever and we esteem it our bounden Duty Actively to obey all your Commands that are not contrary to the Word of God and our Religion and when they are Passively to submit to your Majesties Pleasure under our Oppressions and never to Resist The King trusts these Men is exceedingly pleased with their great Expressions of Loyalty Honours them makes them his Confidents takes them into his Councels rewards them with great Preferments in Church and State Not long after the King is in great Fear and Distress by reason of Enemies He sets forth a Proclamation to all his Loving Subjects to assist Him and Repel the Force of the Invader and his Rebellious Subjects who joyn with him They return this Answer Great Sir Our Lives are at your Majesties Service but we have many Grievances first to be redressed and we see your Majesty is resolved on these illegal Exorbitant Courses p. 8. and therefore we are not to be blamed tho' we withdraw from your Service And the best of the Primitive Christians would have done the same thing if it had been their Lot to have faln under such a Prince We deny that we your Majesties Subjects are bound to stand by you and fight for you p. 7. For your Majesty hath notoriously invaded and destroyed all our Civil and Religious Rights and Liberties and designed the Ruin and Destruction both of them and us and would give us no assurance we could rely on to do otherwise for the future And therefore if it be unlawful to Resist it is also as unlawful to Assist and Enable your Majesty to destroy the true Religion the English Liberties and Immunities nay the very Nation I dare swear if the late K. were made Judge He would say the first sort of Subjects were honest plain dealing true-hearted Men and if He had hearkened to their Counsel both He and His Subjects might have been happy But what He would say of the other sort of Subjects I cannot tell tho' I can shrewdly guess And Now I hope they will never tell us more of being irreverent to Crowned Heads Adam got Fig-leaves to hide his Nakedness and the Sons of Adam are too like him and love to hide their Sins rather than confess them But what a Juggle is this God forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed but if my Neighbour will tho' I have strength enough I will not oppose him I am not bound to assist the Lord 's Anointed for He will not call a Free and Legal Parliament and redress our Grievances P. 2. 6. and elsewhere If this be the Doctrine of Passive Obedience I dare say every wise Prince as soon as he understands it will root it out of his Dominions by not trusting such men If I resist I am damned if I assist our Religion and our Nation is ruined I never taught Active Obedience to the lawful Commands of the King if I did I have forgotten it tho' I taught Passive Obedience when he commanded illegally And therefore if Cut-throats with a barbarous Assassination will Murther the King I will stand by and see them and wash mine hands in Innocency when I have done because the King would not call a Free Parliament when I thought it necessary I perceive that tho' this Gentleman would not Subscribe the Association with David's Confederates and take up defensive Arms against Saul's Tyranny and Oppression yet if Saul would not
and Argument But this is not our Case I will state the Case Suppose a whole Nation Christian and the true Religion fixed by Law so that it is our Birthright and Property as it were and we have a Legal and Civil Right or Human Right as well as a Divine to our Religion and yet this is evidently Invaded by Evil Councellors about the King and he is drawn to destroy Religion If this Gentleman can shew any Primitive Christian or ancient Father and Doctor of the Church who saith in this Case it is not Lawful to Defend our Religion Laws Liberties and Properties I yield the Cause Otherwise we grant all his Examples and Instances as nothing to our purpose They shew indeed the Peaceableness Meekness Humility Patience and Faith of those Primitive Christians their Zeal and Affection for the Happiness of the Empire and their Submission to the Government Laws and Usages of their Country and to their Superiours in their most rigorous Execution of them to the destruction of them and their Religion which is called the Abuse of Power and Legal Tyranny in which case we also own Passive Obedience Secondly I differ from this Gent. about Conquest He would have King William a Conqueror tho' He claims not by it And so tho he was none of them that did or durst have resisted or rebelled against King James yet after his Desertion he forsook him P. 13. Answ If the Prince of Orange had designed an Invasion and Conquest as this Gent. calls it both he and we had been bound in Conscience to Oppose him because there is a Loyalty to our Country as well as to our King And Invasion and Conquest are dismal things as well as shameful But blessed be God He came not as the Enemy of our Country but as our Friend as our Joshua our Saviour to deliver us from Popery and Slavery He ventured his Life to save us from Oppression not to Conquer us Besides if he conquered King James and this Gentleman He did not Conquer those that joyned with him which were by far the greatest part of the Nation I am sure in our County multitudes Subscribed the Association to stand by the Cause with their Lives and Fortunes not to Enslave themselves by Conquest And then it followed That they humbly desired the Prince of Orange to take the Government upon him and Circular Letters were issued out for a Convention and that Convention or Parliament Elected him King and the Princess Queen and He accepted it as a Trust and all Government is a Trust and founded in Covenant as I have elsewhere proved and then we honoured Him and prayed for Him as our King According to those Exhortations in Scripture which order us to Fear God and the King Prov. 24.21 to be subject to the higher Powers which are of God Rom. 13.1 and to pray for Kings and all in Authority that under them we may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all Godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.1 2. All which are as much now due to Their present Majesties as to any that ever sat on the Throne It is true by His Affection to our Nation and Zeal for our Religion and Liberties he conquered our Hearts and will for ever reign there and He merits our Lives and Fortunes but it is not for the Honour of our Nation to say He Conquered us And indeed 14000 Men cannot subdue England by force which is properly Conquest We received him as sent from God with hearts full of joy and with chearful countenances And were it not for that Doctrine of Passive Obedience in its vast extent with which many devout Christians and many Learned Pious and great Bishops and Doctors through prejudice were possessed I will not say infected the whole Nation had sounded with Songs of Triumph and our Churches and Pulpits with Praises and Hallelujahs as if we had had Heaven upon Earth So great was the Mercy of our God in delivering us and our Posterity from Popish Ignorance Error Superstition and Idolatry and restoring our Laws and Liberties For my own part I was transported with joy and I care not if all the world saith as some said in Hosea his time c. 9. v. 7. The Prophet is a Fool the spiritual Man is Mad. But surely in truth and reason they are Fools and Madmen that reject so great Deliverance and Salvation out of fondness to a silly Opinion There need no Eloquence if I could use it our great Fears and imminent Dangers are Oratory sufficient Popish Judges Popish Officers in the Army Popish Priests and Jesuits at Court Popish Heads of Colleges in the University Popish Justices of the Peace Mayors c. with the Dispensing Power might well affright us And tho' we perhaps might have spun out a slavish life without great Persecution yet our Children could expect nothing but French Dragoons and Torture or voluntary Exile if not the Marian days of Fire and Faggot But as for those who plead Conquest for the King they know not what they do in making this Plea as a Learned Man speaks For if there were no other right neither Precedent nor consequent but meerly because such an one was stronger and got it and so holds it now then whosoever is strongest at any time he hath right and if a stronger than he comes he shall have right This is no good Divinity nor Policy to Plead thus That which subjects my Conscience to such an one is Submission upon some Compact Covenant or Agreement Besides this sort of Men by flattering Monarchs and deluding the People with crying out The King the King have wholly forgotten the very Heathens Lesson It is sweet and comely to Die for our Country that is our Laws Liberty Property c. I must confess Conquest makes way for Subjection as it did in Caesar over the Jews but I hope no man will say this is our case nor do they do their King or Country any Service who put the Controversie upon this Issue Thirdly I must consider what this Gentleman saith about God's Providence in disposing Kingdoms And here I must needs say that he is honest in the main but he hath not read and digested Divinity enough to handle this subject and therefore he is very confused And I will not arrogate so much to my self as to say I have sounded this depth which hath cost me some years study and yet I must admire for I am ignorant or unsatisfied about many things concerning God's Providence I will not at this time ingage in the Controversie between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants God's Providence and Man's free acting are not inconsistent that is certain How they concur is most mysterious and the Highest Point in School-Divinity And I may safely say that it is above my strength to cut asunder or my wit to untie this knot But it is mine and every mans Duty to do God's Will and submit to his Pleasure who doth whatsoever pleaseth him in
words of our Royal Martyr of ever Blessed Memory King Charles the First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 295. with me Gods wise Providence we know often permits many Events which his revealed Word the only clear safe and fixed Rule of good Actions and good Consciences in no sort approves Let not the meanest in understanding mistake me I am not for Election every Reign but for Succession just as it is in England But I say Election is the true Title of all Government originally and this is the Foundation of all the various Forms in the World Power is Gods but the Form as St. Peter saith is an Humane Creation Constitution or Ordinance I never loved to lye for God's Cause it needs it not nor daub with untempered Mortar God forbids it For my part if I did not in Conscience believe that the late King by his Male-administration deserved what he hath suffered not only from the hand of God but also from the hand of his Subjects and that in this Revolution they are innocent who defended themselves and the Laws of their Country against his Arbitrary Proceedings I should think my self bound by the Oath of Allegiance to pray for his Restauration But because he hath broken his Covenant Coronation Oath and Promise I am sure our part of the Bond and Covenant is cancelled also And that Kings were at first by Election I prove thus in the words of a great Divine not much altered What first invested such a Family with Regal Power more than another It must be either God from Heaven designing it as David or man appointing it or taken by Force there is no fourth It was not the first and to say the third is right is an extream wrong to the King If meer Force can give right then whosoever is most forcible hath right It must therefore be something else What can that be but the consent of the People in Parliament to such a Family which is in effect all one with Election you may give it what name you will But saith this Gentleman P. 28. The Primitive Church in the best times took the words of S. Paul in their plain and literal sense The Powers that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. in Possession are ordained or ordered of God Rom. 13. They never formalize or make any Exception but Conquest Election Vsurpation were to them all alike if once the man was Established in the Throne Answ I will not here take occasion to consider what learned Criticks say about the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on which he seems to lay some stress but they say it signifies the True or Lawful Powers nor will I expatiate in Analyzing this Text tho' I have a Discourse upon this subject by me And I have read such Doctrine as this in some Oliverian Pamphlets in our late Anarchy and Confusion And if occasion be I can produce one which perhaps this Gent. hath seen and hath been corrupted by it or by some like it But sure he never read this Doctrine in any Book written by any Divine of the Church of England I have before distinguished between a Lawful and an Usurped Magistracy according to the best Divines of all Churches that ever I read insomuch that I wonder at this Gentleman who professeth himself of the Communion of the Church of England According to this Doctrine it is a poor weak thing to be a Martyr or to suffer for Loyalty to our King or Country Whereas it hath in all Ages not only among Christians but also among Heathens by the light of Nature been accounted a most Heroick Virtue to lay down our Lives for these If this Gent. had been alive and of years to advise no Subject should have suffered with King Charles the First if he had been their Counsel I am so angry that if I knew Thieves designed to rob this Gent. House I would not counsel one Neighbour to assist against these Rogues but would commit it to God to determine as he thought fit as his Cant is P. 3. which vergeth very near to Blasphemy And this very Phrase makes me think that this honest Gent. hath been misled by some Fanatick Book I cannot think that he ran into this Error wittingly and willingly and deliberately he is a good Christian surely because P. l. he speaks against those that despise all revealed Religion and that sort of Men who have their All in this world and pretend to nothing in the next and therefore I must in Charity believe he hath the Hope of a Christian but I cannot but explode his Doctrine O put'd Divinity Phy upon this gross Machiavelian and Hobbean Policy But to be serious seeing this Gent. hath advised us I will return kindness for kindness and for once be so free with him as to advise him Good Sir In the fear of God review that part of your Discourse which concerns God's Providence and the Government of Kingdoms and States and learn to distinguish between good and bad perhaps your second thoughts may be wiser Consult with some learned and conscientious Divine and see if he will tell you that in the Primitive times their Loyalty was one of their lesser Virtues upon which they never valued themselves as you say P. 3. You discourse in so loose and extravagant a manner that I must beg leave to enter my Dissent and Protest against this Dose of Opium And I never read so much Poison administred with a good design before in my life And if any applaud you for this Discourse I will pray with our Church in the Litany Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us for surely we are not in our senses God save King William and Queen Mary from such Defenders of their Right and Title If you will not be admonished to revoke this in my Opinion you deserve to speak plain English for by God's Providence and King William's Protection we Priests of the Church of England breathe in a free Air. I wish all of us could see our own happiness I hope in time mens Prejudices will be removed and through the Clemency of His most Gracious Majesty chearfully perform their Duty I say you deserve not only to be Excommunicated the Church of England but also the whole Church of God for this wicked Error But I hope our English Blood is still Noble and will count it their Honour and the Glory of their Religion to die for their King and Country when occasion is and God shall call them thereunto And this is true Church of England Loyalty and approved by all the Churches of God But at the rate that you talk if Corah Dathan and Abiram had had success it had been God's Providence and Approbation and so farewel Moses If Absalom had been prosperous and in Possession of the Throne right or wrong see to thy house David What need we commend the Fidelity of Ittai that loyal Heart that noble and constant
true Protestants and their Souls Eternally happy I hope that God will accept of what was well done and Pardon our Infirmities thorough the Son of his Love Let us now come to the hardest Task and most unpleasing Subject The Power of Deposing Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms There are Learned Pious and Judicious Protestant Divines that are of this Opinion whose Arguments I imagine this Gentleman would be puzzled to Answer Our Convention if I mistake not did declare that the late King Abdicated the Kingdom broke his Original Contract and vacated the Throne and what is this but that he deposed himself Almost all Nobility Clergy and Commons were for a Regency without Scruple and what is that but a milder word for Deposing This was a Fig-leaf to hide the Nakedness of those who rashly had asserted the Divine Right of Monarchy and Passive Obedience and Non-resistance in any Case But I suppose the late King would not thank these Gentlemen for putting him into the state of a natural Fool a Madman or a Lunatick I confess those Noble Persons and Wise Lords and Great Councellors of State who did never believe Divine Right Antecedent to Agreement in Prudence might Vote for a Regency Because all Alteration in Government much more so great an Alteration is troublesom as shaking the very Foundations of the Building And all wise Men and Politicians never change but in extreme Necessity taking Solomon's Advice Meddle not with them that are given to Change But yet if a Nation be forced to take up Defensive Arms they must be Secured before they lay them down and if the King be so Perfidious as this Gent. represents him even at this time to the Irish Protestants p. 23. it would have been as he says in the same place Incorrigible folly to have trusted him and consequently in this Case it is my Opinion and Conscience that he was justly Deposed See Discourse on Dan. 5.20 And this Gentleman if he is consistent with himself about his Notions of God's Providence must needs say that it is not only God's Permission but Approbation tho' P. 35. he rails at it as from the Devil But I leave him to reconcile his own Sentences for to me they seem a contradiction I beg His Sacred Majesties Pardon upon my knees and I am sorry if I have Scandalized the great Councellors of State in revealing this Mystery But I am a Preacher of God's Word and I believe in my Conscience our present Cause can be justified no other way And seeing all was at stake as this Gent. confesses our Religion our Laws Liberty Property Wives Children and Posterity and whatsoever is done is God's Providence methinks this Gent. might pronounce us Innocent and not Damn us But however if he will Damn us we possibly may escape his hands for he is not God but a poor weak man And I could afford to give him another piece of my advice but I will let it alone for this time Let me add The Church of England being truly Loyal could not dream of such an extraordinary Case But blessed be God some were wise as Serpents tho' harmless as Doves Let me use the words of St. Paul Rom 9.1 I speak the truth in Christ I lye not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost Those Noble Patriots of the Protestant Religion and Liberties of their Country into whose Hearts God put it to invite the Prince of Orange over deserve this Motto And tho' we Canonize no Saints nor give Divine Worship to any but God yet I wish their Names were known that the Nation might Erect a Monument for them with this Inscription Hitherto hath the Lord helped us and these are the Names of those Great Souls who run the hazzard of being accursed by the Papists for us their Protestant Brethren O most Sage Politicians and most Heroick Christians tho' this Gentleman's Doctrine calls them Traitors and Rebels O brutish and ungrateful Prejudice what can any free Mind think of these Effects of Passive Obedience Had it been an uncircumcised Philistin a subtile Jesuit who had thus defyed the Armies of the Living God and called them Rebels it had been no wonder But for a Gent. a Subject to King William and Queen Mary a Protestant thus to dip his Pen in Gall and sadden the hearts of those who should fight the Lord's Battel in Ireland by calling them Rebels is a Riddle that I cannot unfold I dare say that the most Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop and the other Right Reverend Bishops who cannot satisfie their own Scruples which is their Calamity and our Grief tho' there is all the reason in the world that all should swear Allegiance to Their present Majesties and they cannot be helped do not censure us as Rebels who according to our Consciences have assisted the Prince of Orange in this Revolution When I reflect on this I am tempted to lay aside my former good opinion of this Gentleman and must say what Michael the Arch-Angel said when he contended with the Devil about the Body of Moses The Lord rebuke thee God give him repentance and a better mind for he seems like wicked Doeg and his Confederates that Enemy of David and false accuser of his Brethren of whom the Prophet saith Psal 140.3 They have sharpened their tongues like a Serpent Adders Poison is under their lips I have Studied these Controversies about Government in Church and State for some Years but more exactly upon the rising of the Disputes about the Bill of Exclusion I have always been Inquisitive and have striven to give a Reason of my Faith and to search to the Bottom that my Principles might be unmoveable and unblameable with Wise and Good men And what I have written by way of Assertion to use Dr. Fern's words Conclusion or General Rule is but a Sacrificing to Truth from a Conscience not simply devoted to man And I have always esteemed it the greatest Preferment to have Liberty to speak Truth I was not for the Bill of Exclusion because necessity of Change was not palpable to me but I was against it as an Act of Imprudence not an Act of Injustice as I then said if King Lords and Commons should think fit But as for Monmouth's Rebellion I abhor it at this day because the late King had Promised upon the word of a King that he would Protect us and Rule accordding to Law and he might have made himself and us happy notwithstanding his Religion and I do not remember that he had commanded any thing against Law at that time And I have been taught and teach others that Subjects must not be Jealous of their Prince and that Defensive Arms are Lawful only in Extreme Necessity And I verily believe that the late King designed not at the first what he Acted afterwards His Bosom Friend his Priests and his Jesuits like a pack of half-witted Knaves and Fools stirred him up to his own and the
there be Laws whereby a King is to rule which he shall command his Subjects to break and his Subjects are neither bound to obey nor suffer by him then his Government is not Arbitrary But if there be Laws made and he may inforce his Subjects either to keep them or break them and punish them at his pleasure that shall refuse and the whole Kingdom bound in Conscience to suffer whatsoever he shall inflict for not breaking those Laws then is his Government Arbitrary For Arbitrary Government is that whereby a Prince doth rule ex arbitrio which he doth when either there is no Law to rule by but his own Will or when he hath a Power to break those Laws at his will and to punish the Subject at his pleasure for not breaking them And in truth this latter is rather an Arbitrary Government than the former as it shews more Liberty in the will that it hath a Power to act when Reason perswades to the contrary than if there were no Reason disswading and else there should be no Arbitrary Government in the world For no State but hath some Laws whereby they rule and are ruled even the very Indians only here lies the Arbitrariness of a Government that notwithstanding the Law the Ruler may pro arbitrio force his Subjects according to his own pleasure In our present Case December 88. we may well consider these things First The Matter of Fact is evident That the King 's evil Counsellors Popish Priests and Jesuits have tyrannized over us and oppressed us in an high measure This is known to the whole Nation Secondly I believe in my Conscience that it is the most Heroick and Virtuous Action that Mortal Man can do to deliver poor Innocents from Tyranny and Oppression Thirdly The Prince of Orange under God hath been the great Instrument of our Deliverance from Popish Tyranny and Slavery Fourthly We ought to give Thanks to God first and then to his Servant our David the Captain of our Israel for saving us from our Enemies In short This Cause which I account God's Cause and the Cause of the whole Nation and the Prince of Orange now our most Gracious Soveraign whom I account God's Instrument have conquered my Heart and consequently shall have my Tongue my Pen the utmost of my Strength and Zeal Yea I hope through God's grace that I shall neither be ashamed nor afraid to lay down my life for the Protestant Religion and Interest and the Liberties Laws and Properties of my Native Country There are some Objections taken from Examples out of Scripture which seem to favour the contrary Opinion but I need not nor cannot consider them all and I perswade my self that they are obviated by what I have said And I am sure that he that confirms Truth by it confounds Error Yet I shall consider the main Objection See say many David's behaviour to Saul 1 Sam. 24. Ye know that King Saul persecuted David causelesly he sought his life for no reason David was a good and loyal Subject neither did Saul 's violence and persecution tempt him or prevail with him to change his Loyalty or forget his Duty David did but cut off the skirt of Saul 's Robe privily and his heart smote him for it And he said to his Men The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lord 's Anointed to stretch forth my hand against him And he hindered his Servants from hurting Saul And when he called to Saul he said My Lord the King And when Saul looked behind him David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself He called him my Father which is a Title of reverence Insomuch that Saul his Enemy was melted into kind Expressions by his goodness and righteousness Read and consider the whole Chapter at your leisure David heaped Coals of fire on Saul 's head as the Apostles Phrase is not to burn consume or destroy him but to win him to a good Opinion both of his Innocence and Loyalty Hence they infer that the Supream Magistrate the King though he suffers his Subjects to be never so much oppressed is not to be resisted but we must submit with Patience commit our Cause to God by Prayer and make our Appeal to Heaven who judgeth righteously and suffer our Throats to be cut or flee away leave our Posterity to Slavery and so expect a Reward in Heaven for suffering I Answer The Subject as several Divines say may be considered two ways First Divisively Secondly Conjunctively The Subject considered Divisively hath always applied himself to Prayers and Tears the oppression being only Personal and perhaps without remedy Some Inconveniences and Grievances will be in the best Government and we must not think to have all that we desire or perhaps may really deserve in this world And therefore we ought to get Publick Spirits and hate Private Designs and Self interest when it would destroy the Publick Good Secondly The Subject may be considered Conjunctively And thus when the Oppression is General and Universal almost then the People must look to their own Preservation all Government being for the good of the whole Body Politick And in this case the safety of the People is the Highest Law All Government and all Laws suppose this as a Principle or Foundation Again The Subject is said to take up Arms against the King either First As against the King's Person and of this we do not speak Thus who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless Hence it may be inferred That private Assassination of a Prince is wicked and abominable Secret or open Murder of any Man much more of a Prince is an heinous Crime We are taught by this Example that the hand is not to be lift up against the Magistrate but still David defended himself by force of Arms. Some Expositors as I find in the Author of the Synopsis say That David had Power to kill Saul Power was given by these words v. 14. The men of David said unto him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee Behold I will deliver thine Enemy into thine hand that thou maist do to him as shall seem good to thee He that is invaded may prevent the Invader as Lessius and S. Thomas teach Lavater No Subject or Private person saith a great Divine may invade a Tyrant without lawful Defence tho' he hath occasion as David could indeed kill Saul whom yet he dismissed because there was not extream Necessity I will not saith he put forth my hand against my Lord for he is the Lords Anointed v. 10. For God knows to draw Tyrants to Punishment either by the ordinary Power of every Kingdom or by any other miraculous way The Consequence saith another rational Divine that follows from hence is clearly this That no private man in his own Cause for so was David's then by his own Power may seize upon the Person of a King in
Arbitrary power my Heart grew cold my Affection was lost and I could not as an English man nor a Christian nor a Priest who ought to teach Truth comply with such wicked and mischievous designs And I have ever since prayed or wished in my heart that God would send us a Deliverer He hath sent us a Deliverer And blessed be his holy Name And this discourse I may well call a justification of their present sacred Majesties and of the Proceedings of the Lords and Commons and all the People of the Land at this day And I hope that every good man who makes Conscience of his ways will not be backward to advance this publick design All that hate Popery and Slavery and have any love for true Religion will stand to this cause There is Loyalty to our Countrey and an Heathen could say It is sweet and comely to die for our Countrey And the true Protestant Religion by Law established is of unexpressible value To this purpose consider seriously and without prejudice the Distinction mentioned by Civilians and applied almost to our case by a great Scholar There is a difference between disposing of things by way of Donation and Sale and disposing things by way of Trust True those things which we dispose of by way of Donation and Sale are not afterwards in our power to recall as they were before the Donation and Sale As if a man gives his Land to Children or sells Land to his Neighbour it is not in the power of the Father or Neighbour to recall or dispose of the Land as before the Donation or Sale But if a thing be disposed of by way of Trust then if the Fiduciary or Trusted shall not discharge his Trust it is in the power at least of the Trusting to look to the matter himself As in case a Steward be trusted with a mans house And thus when any Governour is set up in a Land by the People they trust the Governour they do not give away Liberty or Right but trust them in the hands of the Governour who if abused that he do not perform his stewardly Trust as he should the People or Representative Body as an act of self-preservation I do not say as an act of Jurisdiction are to look to it Neither do they herein so reassume their Power as to take away any thing which they gave to the King but so as to act that power which they always had left in themselves as the power of self-preservation By the way observe I do not believe that the People have power of Jurisdiction for that properly connotates an Office which the People have not but they can never give away power to preserve themselves and they have power virtually to elect an Officer to rule and exercise all Jurisdiction And the end of the King's Trust being to look to the Kingdom tho' there be no such words expressed in the Covenant or Agreement between the King and his People that in case he shall not discharge his Trust then it shall be lawful for the State of the Kingdom by Arms to resist and to look to their own safety yet their safety being the end of this Trust and the reason of the Law is Law in reason that must be implied As for Nebuchadnezzar his impious Pride and Oppression and perhaps consequently the Magicians hatred and opposing of him brought him into a deep Melancholy and Distraction and so he was Abdicate And from this Example very Learned Divines and States-men infer the lawfulness of Abdicating a Prince for such Male-administration And I shall prove it thus What the wisest and best men in all Ages and Kingdoms have done by the Light of Nature and have been commended for it that is lawful and agreeable to the Will of God But the wisest and best men in all Ages and Kingdoms have deposed Kings by the Light of Nature and have been commended for it Therefore it is lawful and agreeable to the Will of God I suppose none will deny the Major because the Law of Nature is the unwritten Law of God and acknowledged by all Divines to be the most certain Rule of Life It is the Minor that I must establish which is The wisest and best men in all Ages and Kingdoms have deposed Kings by the Light of Nature and have been commended for it I need not here mention the Feats of Semiramis related by the Historian Justin and as he saith admired by all wise men of Babylon and honoured for her Prudence in Government and Valour not two hundred years after Noah's Flood Neither shall I speak of Sardanapalus King of Assyria mentioned by the same Justin an effeminate Prince deposed by Arbactus President over Media and his Associates for ill Government I will also omit the Monarchy of the Medes and Persians in which ye will sind that Darius was chosen by the neighing of his Horse and that the best Kings among them and their Posterity were not esteemed so sacred but for Mis-rule they might be deposed In the Grecian Monarchy which was the next all the World knows what strange changes happened After the death of Alexander the Great the Empire was divided according to Tumult or Prudence and several Dukes or Captains obeyed And this was divided into the Kingdoms of Egypt Syria and Macedonia All which by all wise and conscientious men of those days were required to obey their several Governors The next Monarchy was the Roman And as to the Roman it is evident by the Historian Livy c. that Tarquinius Superbus was justly deposed And all that opposed him were accounted Patriots and Defenders of their Countrey good men and true that would not see common Justice excluded and their native Countrey inslaved Brutus saith Livy b. 2. decad 1. deserved glory for expeâ—ling King Tarquinius Supcrbus They expelled wicked Rulers and Tyrants especially Nero and are commended in all Authors for it When the Head of Maximinus that tyrannical Emperor with his Sons were brought to Rome all ran to the Altars to thank the Gods And Balbinus Sacrificed Hecatombs for his deliverance commanding the same to be done through the Empire I do not hereby intend to justify all circumstances or all persons or all their actions But I bring these Instances to shew That by the Light of nature Government is alterable and that a Supream Prince may be deposed And Dr. Bilson Warden of Winchester confesseth in his book intituled The true difference between Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion perused and allowed by publick Authority and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth There may fall Extremities when Princes are not able to guide themselves much less their Realms P. 3. p. 145. As if the right Heir to any Crown be a Natural fool or he that is invested in the Crown wax mad and runs beside himself In either of these two cases any Realm by publick consent and advice may chuse another As Childerick was deposed for a Fool and Pipin
elected And Charles the the third the last Emperor of Pipins Line was deposed by the same people for a Bedlam As also when Justinus the younger was distracted of his wits Tiberius was placed in the Empire So he And if Governours may be deposed and the Succession altered for natural defects and calamities then much more for Moral defects such as universal Oppression and Tyranny over their Subjects Because the other might be helped by Protectors and Guardians but this neither will nor can Again p. 179. If any Prince were repressed since the Foundation of the Earth for five thousand years it was done by their own States and Realms and that for their Extream Tyranny Priests always refrained those attempts and never thought it any part of their vocation to meddle with the changes and alterations of Kingdoms as Gregory the seventh called Pope Hildebrand did Now to return to Nebuchadnezzar that which happened saith a learned Divine to the furious King in his madness by the decree of God why may not ought not that be done to other impious Kings also Calvin indeed speaks dubiously in his Commentary on Dan. 4. It is uncertain whether he was cast out by Tumult and the Conspiracy of the Nobles or also by the consent of the whole people This is doubtful because the Histories of that time are unknown to us While Calvin thus doubts he denies not in the mean time that the furious King was removed by publick Authority The Text is express They shall drive thee from men v. 32. And verily by force of Gods Decree Command Therefore other impious Kings taken with like fury may fear the same punishment Like Oppression at any time will justify like defence proceedings The famous Doctor of the Church Oecolampadius judgeth right whose words are these in his Commentary Observe the equity of the Judge that the Lord measures to us with the same measure that we measure to others He was much exalted and much humbled he received many gifts from God many are taken away he banished many and he also is driven from men he had delicious meats now he feeds with beasts he was clothed with purple now he is wholly covered with frightful hair he was anointed with balm and precious Ointments now he is wet with showers and the dew of Heaven And here I shall sum up the whole in principles according to the use of Mathematicians in Postulata Definitions and Axioms Such things saith the renowned Hooker Eccl. Pol. b. 1. par 8 As soon as they are alledged all men acknowledge to be good As God is to be worshiped Parents are to be honoured The main Principles of reason are in themselves apparent For to make nothing evident of it self to mans understanding were to make away all possibility of knowing any thing And herein that of Theophrastus is true They that seek a reason of all things do utterly overthrow it In every kind of knowledge some such grounds there are as that being proposed the mind doth presently imbrace them as free from all possibility of error clear and manifest without proof Postulatum 1. Every creature by the instinct of nature preserves itself and promotes its well being For as the Philosopher saith all defire Good and Happiness naturally is to be sought 2. No Positive law ought to or can invalidate or destroy the Law of nature which is the highest reason in man Because positive Laws are to better the condition of mankind not to make it worse 3. The primary right of nature so called cannot be changed because it is written in the heart of man as S. Paul testifies Hence it cannot be blotted out unless nature be blotted out and reason cease to be reason See the former discourse 4. The great End of Government is the security of the Community Were the People first or the King first Surely there were People to be governed before there were Governours Did Kings descend from Heaven and were they immediately appointed by God or mediately by the Election of the People Surely the Fathers of Families and Elders of the People chose one to be their Head and Governour Did they chuse him to make themselves in a better condition or in a worse Surely that they might live better and more secure that no one Person or Family might wrong another because they were stronger The Law of Nature tells us it is not necessary as one saith in another case That they that give should always formally have beforehand received that Power which they give it is enough if they have received it virtually For instance a multitude of free People may Elect and Ordain a King over them and yet none of them had beforehand received Kingly Power It is enough they have a Virtual Power to set up and to submit to any Lawful Form of Government which they see good for themselves in the Land 5. Defend thy self against Foroe is the first Principle of true Politicks There can be no Time Age Person wherein this is not true according to the former Postulata Hence are drawn these Conclusions mentioned in my former Discourse 1. No man ought to hurt us when we are innocent 2. If any man endeavours to hurt us when we are innocent we may defend our selves 3. Neither God nor Man gives Authority to Governours to hurt the Innocent 4. If Governours hurt the Innocent they may defend themselves All this presupposeth my former Discourse to which I refer the Reader The general and perpetual Voice of men saith Hooker is as the Sentence of God himself For that which all men have at all times learned Nature her self must needs have taught and God being the Author of Nature her Voice is but his Instrument By her from him we receive whatsoever in such sort we learn Infinite duties there are the good whereof is by this Rule sufficiently manifest tho' we had no other warrant besides to approve them The Apostle Paul having speech concerning the Heathens saith of them They are a Law to themselves Rom. 2.14 His meaning is that by force of the Light of Reason wherewith God illuminates every one that comes into the world men being enabled to know truth from falshood and good from evil do thereby learn in many things what the Will of God is Which Will himself not revealing by any extraordinary means to them but they by natural discourse attaining the knowledge thereof seem the makers of those Laws which indeed are his and they but only the finders of them our I now proceed to Definitions 1. Defence is the preserving the Innocent from wrong 2. Tyranny is the wilful Oppression of the Innocent against Law or Conscience Yet there is Tyranny in the Legislative Power when Princes and men in Authority make wicked and unjust Laws and here submission is due or Passive Obedience so called Thus Daniel and his Companions could not Actively obey Nebuchadnezzar because we must obey God rather than Man but they humbly submitted
to the King's pleasure and cruel Edict Thus the Primitive Christians chearfully laid down their Lives for the Name of Jesus and resisted not because the Laws of the Heathen Roman Empire as those of the Chaldeans before were against them This is called Abuse of Power in Kings and Governours And in this case Prayers and Tears are the Weapons of Christians and all upright men or flying from Persecution But where there is no Law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 This is an universal Proposition mentioned by Paul If I defend my self against the Illegal Will or Lust of a Governour who hath received no such Authority from God nor Man it is neither transgression nor resisting of the Power Defin. 3. Obedience is a willing and hearty performance of the Commands of our Governours according to Law Defin. 4. Law the Rule of Obedience is a Sentence proceeding from the right Reason of the Commander And therefore no man must yield Active Obedience to Laws against the Law of Nature or against the written Law of God I go on to Axioms 1. The whole is to be preferred before any one part and the greater good before the less Therefore self-preservation is before the preservation of another because Charity begins at home And the whole Kingdom is to be preferred before the King himself when be who is the principal part stands in opposition to the good of the whole Axiom 2. All natural good may be desired and all natural evil may be avoided And here comes in the Rule of Justice and first Principle mentioned by our Saviour Mat. 7.12 All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do you even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets And what you will not have done to you do not you do to another This is a clear and undeleble Principle a first and Alphabetical Notion as one speaks Therefore I may preserve my Liberty and Property and oppose those that would by violence and illegal preceedings invade them And here I shall offer four or five more Postulata 1. Our Saviour did not countenance Oppression nor taught no Doctrine in favour thereof 2. Nothing in Christian Religion contradicts natural Religion The reason is both are from God So that if Natural Religion allows Defence then Christian Religion forbids it not As for Mysteries of Faith they are said to be above but not against Reason 3. Our Saviour never designed to set down a Form of Government and Polity but taught Obedience to Lawful Authority Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar ' s. Polity was before the Law of Moses or the Law of Christ The Law of Moses commanded Moral and Ceremonial performances And as for Judicial Laws they bind us only as to the Equity as all acknowledge And the Law of Christ compleats fulfils or advances the Moral Law indeed and withal adds some Mysteries of Faith to be believed of all Christians But Christ and his Apostles leave Political Government as they found them in the world The Gospel say Theol. Wit is a Doctrine of a Spiritual and Eternal Kingdom in the hearts of men neither doth it externally overthrow Political Regiment but rather establish and confirm it Therefore it follows that the Gospel permits all Natural and Legal Defence agreeing with the Civil Laws The Gospel takes not away Polity or Political Laws 4. No People could be so sottish as to set Governours over them to undo them For safety happiness or well-being is the End of Government It is a self-evident Principle No man is bound to think well or speak well or do well to his Oppressors but may throw off their Yoke as soon as be can And so may a whole Kingdom likewise Again This is another self-evident Principle and needs no proof Trust not him with thy Life Goods and Posterity who hath once endeavoured to ruin thee I am confident few men would lend such a man Ten pounds upon his word A man cannot make any doubt of it but that it is most agreeable to reason and the common Interest of those in Society that they should be true to their Compacts Out of what Author as an ingenious Scholar questions can they shew us a Nation that ever did allow the breach of solemn Compacts The lowest inanimate beings have a power and propensity to their own welfare a blind tendency and inclination to their own Security And such a noble being as man is must needs have it in a more sublime and eminent manner A noble Author of our own tells us in his Book of Truth That he for his part takes them for the Catholick Church that are constant and faithful to first Principles that common Notions are the bottom and foundation upon which the Church is built Excuse our diffidence here great Sir The Church is built upon a surer and higher Rock upon a more Adamantine and precious Foundation yet thus much is acceptable and undeniable That whoever they are that by any Practice or Custom or Tradition or Tenet shall stop the passage of first Principles and sound Reason that flows from them they are in this farther from the Church than Indians or Americans while they are not only Antichristian but Unnatural 5. If any should consent to such unreasonable Conditions their Posterity could not be bound by their mistakes The Precepts of the Law of Nature are so potent and triumphant as he speaks as that some Acts which rebel against it become not only unlawful but void as both Schoolmen and Lawyers observe they are not only Irregularities but meer Nullities Because man wants power to make such Laws God gives no man Authority to contradict the Law of Nature which is his own Law and Commands nothing but what is reasonable so that what contradicts this must be unreasonable He that lays violent hands upon himself for wickedness committed tho' commanded by the Magistrate saith Wendelin Philos Mor. b. 1. c. 28. wrongs himself by executing that Command because the Command of such a Magistrate is unjust and against Natural Divine right therefore Obedience performed to it must be unjust And verily if a Kingdom may not defend it self by Force of Arms when grievously oppressed then this Absurdity will follow that we our Liberties Wives Children and Religion may be destroyed when Tyrants and evil Rulers please And all the Remedy is Lord have mercy upon us and our Children But surely this is against common Sense and Reason as I have shewed and God and Nature hath not placed Mankind in such circumstances If this be so then we are in worse case than the Heathens and all other Humane Commonwealths as an Enemy of ours saith which both before and after Christ have had means to deliver themselves from such Tyrants as were intolerable and evidently pernicious to Humane Society and the good of the People for whose peace and preservation they were created by Men or ordained by God This wicked Doctrine may put
us into the hands of men as cruel as the Irish were in 41. At which time King Charles I. said Those barbarous Rebels practised such inhumane and unheard of outrages upon his miserable People that no Christian Ear can hear witthout horrour nor Story parallel Let us conclude with Application 1. This teacheth us the vanity and uncertainty of all worldly things Kingdoms themselves are not so fixed as not to be subject to change God changeth the times and seasons saith Dan. c. 2. v. 21. he removeth Kings and sets up Kings God hath rejected many Kings for their wickedness He rejected Saul and took his Kingdom from him The most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will c. 4. v. 25. God hath an hand in all these changes His Providence ruleth over all Of this no Christian doubts And this some call how properly I need not dispute a Providential Right which is by God's Permission Traitors and Usurpers have this Right to the Thrones that they possess This Right as one saith a Slave through God's just Judgment on a Nation may have to the Throne for not a Sparrow falls to the ground without God's Permission This Right both lawful Kings and Usurpers have to the Thrones they possess Athaliah that Murderer of the Royal Family had only this Providential Right which she made appear only by Possession But this Right being neither by Succession nor Conquest nor Compact nor lawful Call of the People gives not just Title nor can expect any Subjection meerly upon that and no other right And the Reason is because when Providential Right crosseth Civil Right a man is not bound to follow Providence but to guide himself by Moral and Divine Precepts For Divine Precepts are perpetual standing Laws by which the Actions of men ought to be guided But Providential Acts were never ordained for Laws or Rules by which men should walk and therefore to such a Right there is no Subjection due 2. It teacheth us the heinous nature and ill consequent of Pride It is enough to ruin a whole Nation the King as well as his Subjects A proud Man is not under God's Protection but forsaken of Him 3. It teacheth the great Mischief of Tyranny and Oppression God and Man hate Oppressors who obstinately refuse good and reasonable Advice Any Bishop or Teacher saith Dr. Bilson P. 3. pag. 1. may reprove Princer when they violate the Precepts of God For God hath placed them in his Church to teach reprove correct and instruct in righteousness 2 Tim. 3.16 as well Princes as others and chargeth them not to conceal one word of that he hath spoken neither for favour nor terrour of any Prince The Will of God must be declared to all and Sin reproved in all without dissembling or flattering any sort or state of men And that is most expedient for all even for Princes themselves rather to hear with Humility what God hath decreed for their Salvation than to run to their own destruction without recalling or warning So Samuel reproved King Saul 1 Sam. 15. Ahijah King Jeroboam 1 Kings 14. Elijah King Ahab 1 Kings 21. Elisha King Jehoram 2 Kings 3. John Baptist King Herod Mar. 6. Neither were wicked Princes only but also the good and virtuous Kings of Judah reproved by the Prophets As namely King David by Nathan 2 Sam. 12. King Jehosaphat by Jehu 2 Chro. 19. And Hezekiah by the Prophet Isaiah 2 Kings 20. But this reproof reached no farther than to putting them in mind of God's Grace and Mercy towards them and their Duty again towards him c. 4. It teacheth Kings to rule justly for otherwise their wickedness will flnd them out If in stead of saving the lives of their Subjects they endeavour to destroy them if instead of punishing the wicked they punish the good and God's Servants if instead of reasonable and lawful Commands they will have their Lusts their Wills and strive to ruin the People committed to their charge without Law or with cruelty rigour and severity without mercy rage against their Subjects they may well expect Divine vengeance and the Judgments of God either immediately or by the hand of their own Subjects who have been threatned or cruelly used and unmercifully or illegally dealt with God hates Oppression in all even in Princes especially the Persecution of his Servants for his true worship and renouncing Idolatry Kings must give Account to God as well as meaner Men for there is no respect of persons with him God is the Judge and he putteth down one and setteth up another as he pleaseth To him be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen FINIS