endure wicked Princes as we do Inundations or Scarcitie which are of Gods sending These you say p. 20. are full and pregnant proofs and I think ad hominem cogent for if as you observe from Eusebius the Empire was to descend as other Paternal Inheritances then it must be more unlawful to resist or exclude a Prince from enjoying his Inheritance than any private person And then surely no sound Christian could have joyned in an Address to Constantius to exclude a person appointed as it were by the Voice of God as you say of Constantine that he was declared absolute Emperour by the 〈◊〉 and long before that by God himself the great King of all p. 21. And St. Augustine says the same viz. God that gave the Empire to Constantine gave it to Julian Onely by the way I do not think that your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither will in the sence of the Greek Fathers bear your interpretation of the Law of Nature for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used by Greek Authors for Custom And I believe that Father whom you mention intended no more than a Right of Succession for two or three Generations which carried the name of a Law as it doth also in our Common Law where Consuetudo Lex est And it is well known that when the Heirs of the Emperors have been living the Roman Souldiers have created their Emperours out of Obscure Families but these are no Patterns for us Christians to follow nor for us in this Nation above others For William the Conqueror claimed the Crown not so much by his Sword as by Right of Succession if you will believe the Author of that Fanatical book called The Rights of the Kingdom to King Edward whose Kinsman he was and his Heir by Will as appears by the Laws of St. Edward and William p. 197. So that in this respect the Descent of the Crown of England is much more firm and established than that of the Empire having been continued through more Generations and confirmed by many Laws which whoever shall infringe takes off the Government from its Hinges and leaves all to Confusion For when a private Estate is intailed on a man and his Heirs it is necessary that to bar the Heir and alienate the Estate the original Intail must be cut off and then he that is in possession may dispose of the Inheritance to one or more And perhaps this was the intent of the Bill for Exclusion to make it an Act for the Dissolution of Monarchy and reduce us to a Commonwealth again And it were better we should suffer some Inconveniencies if the Will of God be so which yet are uncertain than against the Will of God to do things unjust and draw more certain troubles on our own heads For in the Contest between the Houses of York and Lancaster when the first alway pleaded the Right of Descent the other alleadged the Acts of Parliaments there were infinite troubles which cost the lives of above 200000 men whereof eight were Kings and Princes forty Dukes Marquesses and Earls besides Barons and Gentlemen and after all the Kingdom fixed on this Maxime Jus Sanguinis nullo Jure dirimi possit i. e. The Right of Bloud cannot be abrogated by any Law And the Author of the Rights of the Kingdom says that in the days of Henry the Third and Richard the First when was a motion of some great men that a Bastard might inherit the Parliament at Merton cried out Nolumus leges Angliae mutare p. 264. Therefore I wonder that the same Author p. 98. making a Supposition That if any one man of all the Commons in Parliament should usurp the Crown with all its dues He mentions not the whole House for that hath been done already What should I what may I do saith he and answers Nothing but mind my Calling and attend the Judgment of the highest Court that I know that may command my Body and Judgement much It is a Maxime in our Law That the King never dies The King and his Heirs are looked on in the eye of the Law as an Individual and to prevent Tumults and Disputes they are joyned in most of those Acts that concern the Dignity of the Crown and publick Peace and the Son hath sometime been Crowned in his Fathers life-time Yet we plead not Providence in the long continuance of the Succession nor the Law of the Land upon which for other matters you lay the stress of your whole Discourse but upon the Law of God Deut. 17.8 where it was ordained as a Statute of Judgment i. e. say Fagius and Munster a firm and immutable Law and as the Vulgar Sanctum Lege perpetua That IF A MAN DYE WITHOVT CHILDREN THE INHERITANCE MVST BE GIVEN TO HIS BRETHREN And Ainsworth from Solomon Jarchi says The Brother of him that was dead or his Brothers seed shall inherit All this hath been observed by the Law of Nations where Kingdoms are hereditary That as it is unjust so it hath been always unhappie to alter the Succession and even in private estates the disinheriting the right Heir hath been very much condemned and unfortunate And yet p. 22. you say the Fathers had the Conscience to set aside such a Title They could not do it with a good Conscience the thing being in it self evil for as the Law of God forbids to countenance a poor man in his Cause so doth it also to defraud the rich or follow a multitude to do evil neither to speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment None of us would judge it reasonable to be deprived of his right contrary to Law and why then should we think it lawful to deprive another of that right to which we owe the preservation of our own Athenagoras more clearly shews what was the consent of the Fathers in this case We pray for your Empire and that the Son as it is just may succeed in his Fathers Throne And yet they both were Pagans But what would the Consent of Fathers and the sense of the primitive Christians signifie against the Decree and Laws of Heaven who cannot more plainly declare his will to us than by the voice of Nature by his written Word by pointing out as by his finger in his Providence in making Heirs to Kingdoms as well as other Estates by a long and legal discent and as St. Augustine said God that gave the Empire to good Constantine gave it also to Julian So Tertullian Inde est Imperator unde Homo antequam Imperator And Irenoeus By whose command they were born Men by his they are ordained Kings And yet all this Crack of the Fathers and Primitive Christians and p. 31. the whole Christian world produceth nothing but a flash of Rhetorick from an Invective in Gregory Nazianzen against Julian from which if we appeal to the same Author in a more temperate and Christian Zeal when he delivered himself
omnibus innotescat Catholicae confidentiae constantia Donatistarum desperatio fucata perfidia of the constancie of the Catholicks and the baseness of the Donatists in making use of Julian's power to oppress them These practices gave occasion to Ammianus Marcellinus to say No Beasts were more cruel to Christians than they were to one another And they who shall close with Usurpers and Persecutors to favour and support their Faction against a true Church deserve to be stigmatized as those Donatists were In perpetuam rei memoriam P. 27. of the Alexandrian Synod Zozomen lib. 5. cap. 11. gives us a better account You are ready to catch at every thing that may make for a Toleration of Schism and Heresie and therefore mention their Agreement not to use those terms which might puzzle ordinary understandings and not on every occasion in Popular Orations but in disputes against the Hereticks that denied the Consubstantiality of the Son and Holy Ghost But you omit their confirmation of the Nicene Council which Zozomen there names viz. That Athanasius and Eusebius having assembled the Bishops of divers Cities did confirm the Decrees of that Council and confessed that the Son and the Holy Ghost were consubstantial with the Father and these they named the Trinity and that they desired onely that the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might not be used at that time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unseasonably to disturb the Church and continue strife and disputes but when the errours of Sabellius came in their way they ought to refute them However it were well if the Dissenters would make the same use which you say the Christians did especially having once been inslaved by one as bad as Julian already i.e. to be united with the Orthodox this might be a means not onely to secure us from our fears of a Popish Successor but also what may prove as destructive those dangerous Heresies which when our Succession was interrupted did over-run the Land and brought all things Sacred and Civil into Confusion You conclude your Preface thus I have been as careful in the Citations as ever I was in telling Money and can onely say as they usually do in that case I hope it is all right and if it should chance in any one particular to prove otherwise am ready to make it good I have not yet time to account over your Money I fear it will fall short of the value you pretend it to be for at first view I perceive the metal is base and counterfeit and intended to put a Cheat on the common sort of Christistians who are not well acquainted with such Brimigems Besides a great part of it is unreasonably clipt and though you profess your self ready as to particular Quotations I fear you will never be able to make just satisfaction as to the Summa Totalis i. e. you can never make good your designe That it is lawful for Christians to resist their Princes on pretence of Religion But to ease you of your afflicting thoughts at present I shall take my leave of you desiring you well to meditate on the following story Rodolphus Duke of Suevia swore Allegiance to Henry the Fourth Pope Hildebrand absolves him of his Oath being perswaded by some of the Popes Clergie to a Revolt After which he never prospered and by Gods just judgment his right hand with which he swore gangren'd and was cut off Whereupon he told some of those Bishops that had disswaded him from his Allegiance This is the hand that was lifted up when I swore Fidelity to my Emperour which is now justly cut off for my Perjury and Rebellion for which you are to answer who perswaded me to those perfidious practices Should I that have taken the Oaths of Supremacie and Allegiance and made such a Declaration as is above-mentioned by any Writing renounce the same and teach others so to do I should think the loss of that hand which was instrumental in it a very gentle and easie punishment THE CHAPTERS ANSWERED An Answer to our Author's CHAP. I. A short Account of Julian 's Life I Shall not interrupt my Discourse which is designed as a Vindication of the Loyalty of the Primitive Christians against the false impudent and impious Calumnies of this Author with a History of Julian 's Life which I intend in a more full and impartial Relation by it self It shall therefore suffice to observe here with our Author p. 9. That Julian charged the people that they should injure none of the Christians nor reproach them nor draw them to sacrifice against their wills So that the violencies offered to the Christians were more from the insolencie of the Heathen than any Law made by Julian as our Author observes And indeed the Heathen even in Julian's time never acted such Cruelties upon the Christians as the Arians and Donatists did which made Ammianus Marcellinus a Heathen to say that no Beasts were so cruel to one another as the Christians were And in a word if we should 〈◊〉 all that our Author says of Julian's perâ—â—â—â—ting the Christians in this Chapter and all that he says of the Christians persecuting Julian in all the rest to be true we might be tempted to think that the Christians were the greatest Persecutors An Answer to our Author's CHAP. II. THis Chapter you say contains the sense of the Primitive Christians about his Succession of which you speak p. 19. under these two heads 1. how the Succession stood and 2. what Right and Title Julian had to succeed to the Empire This first I confess you have but against your will clearly stated and it will be enough to discredit all that you suggest concerning the second which is That the Christians would have been willing to set aside his Title and to have excluded him purely for his Religion which upon your Reasons I suppose the generalitie of Christians would never have attempted though some few might have been willing enough As to the first the reason you mention from Eusebius is That the Throne of the Empire descended to Constantine from his Father and by the Law of Nature which is a divine Law was reserved for his Sons and their Posteritie and was to descend for ever as another Paternal Inheritance doth And that this is the Law of Nature you confirm from Eumenius a Heathen then and others who says It was not the casual consent of men or any sudden effect of their favour which made Julian a Prince he gained it by being born into the world which seems to me the first and greatest Gift of the Gods Now if by the Law of Nature as well as of the Empire Julian was to succeed I cannot see how the Christians could by their Principles resist him in the administration of it without resisting the Ordinance of God For this I have quoted Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase on Rom. 13.1 2. c. and that Saying of Tacitus That we ought to
Testimony of Athanasius for this place being an account of the Publick Prayers made by himself for Constantius the Emperour though he had remeved him from his Pastoral charge In his Apologie to Constantius Witness hereof saith he is first the Lord who heard us and granted unto you the intire Empire which was left unto you by your Ancestors then those who at that time were present for the words I used were these onely Let us pray for the welfare of the most religious Emperour Constantius and the whole People with one voice cried presently O Christ be favourable to Constantius and so continued praying a long time And then he concludes Let truth take place with you and leave not the whole Church under a suspition as though such things as tended to the death of Constans should be thought on or written by Christians and especially by Bishops Athanasius was also accused for celebrating Publick Prayers in the Church of Alexandria which he confesseth he did being urged thereto by the importunity of the People that they might pray for the welfare of the Emperour in that Church which he himself had builded being ready otherwise to go out of the City and to assemble themselves in the Desarts But thus he expostulates with the Emperour And you O King most beloved of God where would you have had the People stretch out their hands and pray for you there where the Pagans did pass by or in the place which bore your name and which from the first foundation thereof all men did call a Church And then he prays thus for the Emperour O Lord Christ who art indeed King of kings the onely begotten Son of God the Word and Wisdom of the Father because the People have implored thy goodness and by thee called upon thy Father who is God over all for the welfare of thy most religious servant Constantius I am now accused And then speaking to the Emperour You do not forbid but are willing that all men should pray knowing that this is the Prayer of all that you may live in safetie and continually reign in peace And as for you O Emperour beloved of God many years I pray you may live and accomplish the Dedication of this Church for those Prayers that are made therein for your welfare do no way hinder the solemnitie of the Dedication And whereas Athanasius was accused also for not obeying the Emperours Command to depart from Alexandria he says I do not oppose the Command of your Majestie God forbid I am not such a man as would oppose the very Treasurer of the Citie much less so great an Emperour I was not so mad as to oppose such a Command of yours I neither did oppose it nor will enter into Alexandria until you of your humanitie be pleased I shall so do If old Gregory was of another mind it was but one Doctors Opinion And I think our Author in the same case is a Dissenter from all Christian Divines as well as from the Church of England and from Mr. Baxter too who saies that hurtful prayers and desires are seldom from God and he speaks it in the very case of Julian p. 17. of his Direct part 4. I shall here add the example of that Legion which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Thundring Legion consisting of 6666 Christians under marcus Aurelius of whom Zephiline speaks thus The Emperours Army being in great distress for want of water and being compassed about by their Adversaries the Praefect of the Praetorians told Marcus That there was nothing which those Christians could not obtain by their Prayers Marcus therefore desired the Praefect that he would intreat them to pray unto their God which they had no sooner done but the Lord by thunder and lightning discomfited their enemies and with seasonable showers refreshed the whole Army which otherwise might have perished St. Ambrose was another of those Lachrymists which our Author derides he lived under Valentinian the younger another Arian Emperour and yet as Ruffinus says of him Hist Eccless l. 2. c. 26. he did not defend himself by his hand or weapon but with fastings and continual watchings and remaining under Gods Altar by his Prayers prevailed with God to be a Defender both of him and his Church I will give you St Ambrose his own words to his Church at Millain I will never forsake you willingly being constrained I know not how to make opposition Dolere potero potero flere potero gemere adversus arma Milites Gothos Lachrymae meae arma sunt talia enim munimenta sunt Sacerdotis aliter NEC DEBEO NEC POSSUM RESISTERE I can sorrow I can weep I can sigh against Arms Souldiers and Goths Tears are my weapons for such is the Munition of a Priest in any other manner I OVGHT NOT I CANNOT RESIST And his People were much of the same mind as he describes it Epist. 33. or as in some Editions the 13. Ad Marcellinam What could have been better spoken by Christian men than that which the Holy Ghost spake in you this day Rogamus Auguste non pugnamus We entreat O Emperour we fight not we are not afraid yet we entreat This saith St. Ambrose doth become Christians that both the tranquillity of peace be desired by them and their constancie in faith and truth should not be deserted no not with the peril of death And in his Tract de Renovatione fidelium Laude magis scribendum est non tam male facere non posse quam nolle whereof St. Peter told us the sence long before 1 Pet. 2.19 This is thank-worthie to God if a man endure grief suffering wrongfully And that man doth certainly suffer wrongfully that hath the Laws of God and man on his side But there is no Law of God for resistance of a lawful Magistrate The Apostle did not calculate his Doctrine for the three first Centuries under Heathen and that it should expire under Christian Magistrates the Spirit of God foresaw that Kings should be nursing Fathers to his Church and made good Laws for the securitie thereof but he never meant that Princes should be resisted though in some things they should act contrary to those Laws So that when our Author demands by what Law we must die p. 81. and answers Not by the Law of God for being of that Religion which he approves I answer Yes 1. By the Law of God rather than make resistance that we may bear testimony to that Law by suffering of death for our Religion rather than to violate it by our Rebellion 2. By the Laws of our Country too for though by the favour of Christian Princes many good Laws are made for obedient Subjects which the Prince may not violate without his great sin against God yet hath the Supreme Authority of the Land provided especially for the security of the Prince who is a Common good We see how in Nature light things do sometimes descend and things that are heavie
say of our Author Et hinc illae Lacrymae but our Author hath other thoughts he thinks he hath much obliged the whole Nation turning their Mourning into Mirth and instructing them after the new fashions of Rome and France to exchange their Prayers and Tears for Fire and Sword for Gun-powder Pistols Poniards and therefore he first saies it was a Christian that killed Julian and from Zozomen that he was to be commended for the fact p. 60 61. Sigebert in his Chron. ad Anno 1088. tells us That this noveltie that I say not Heresie was not yet risen up in the world that the Priests of God who saith to a King Remove and maketh an Hypocrite to reign for the sins of a people should teach the people that they owe no subjection to wicked Kings and though they have given an Oath of Fidelity to them yet they owe no Fidelity to them nor are to be accounted perjured though they fight against them and that he that obeyeth the King shall be excommunicated and he that opposeth him shall be absolved from the guilt of Injustice and Perjurie So that although these Ancient Bishops were never in Scotland yet a man may think our Scotizing Presbyters have been at Rome whose Principles and Practices run such parallels as would sill a bigger Volume than I intend I shall onely shew that the Fathers give us a better Form of praying for Kings than your Directorie doth and the Law of God and Man enjoyns us Vniformitie in the use of it Tertul. Apol. c. 31 c. You that say we regard not the welfare of Caesar look into our Scriptures which command us to pray for our Enemies and Persecutors especially that we pray for Kings and all in authoritie For with them the whole Empire is shaken and we our selves as Members thereof are in hazard therefore we sacrifice for the safetie of the Emperour but to God and as God hath commanded with pure Prayer we pray for them and their Officers and Magistrates for faithful Armies seasonable Times and a quiet Age c. Having our arms spread to God let Hooks tear us Crosses hang us c. a praying Christian is prepared for any torment Come then you Praefects and force out our Souls praying for the Emperour Athenagoras in his Apologie to M. Aurelius We pray for your Empire that the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is most just may succeed the Father in the Kingdom and that your Empire may increase and flourish all being subject to you which would be much for our good that we leading a quiet and peaceable life may readily obey you in all your commands St. Cyprian to Demetrian We pray day and night propitiating and appeasing God for your peace and safetie and that the Reign of Valerian and Galien may continue unshaken So Eusebius observes l. 6. c. 11. Eccl. Hist of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria That he prayed for the same Emperours that their Kingdom might continue St. Sebastian lived under Dioclesian and Maximian and fought for them and prayed and assures us the rest of the Souldiers did the like The Priests of the Temples do possess your Majesties minds saith he with unjust surmises as if we the Christians were Enemies to the Commonwealth whereas by our Prayers the Commonwealth is bettered and increased for we cease not to pray for your Empire and the safetie of the Roman Armie See Surius on Jan. 20. Optatus l. 3. contra Parmen The Apostle teacheth us to pray for Kings and those that are in Authoritie etiamsi talis eslet Imperator qui Gentiliter viveret though he were a Pagan The Council of Paris 6th p. 534. of the Second Tome of the French Councils If Jeremy the Prophet admonished to pray for the Life of Nebuchadonozor that Idolatrous King how much more ought Supplications to be made for all Christian Kings Aphraates a zealous Christian being demanded by Valens an Arian Emperour whither he went I am going saith he to pray for your Empire Theophilus Bishop of Antioch I will honour the King not adoring him but praying for him So likewise in the Preamble of the Council of Agatha where the Catholick Bishops pray for an Arian King after this manner With Knees bended on the ground we pray for the continuance of your Kingdom and People that as you have granted us libertie to assemble our selves so God would extend your Kingdom with Happiness govern it with Justice and protect it with Virtue Prooemium Synodi Agathensis When by the instigation of Pope Paschal the Second the Emperour was unjustly deprived the Church of Liege blame the Pope for it saying If he were such as you describe him yet should we suffer him to reign over us because our Sins have deserved it and such a Prince ought not to be repelled by taking Arms against him but by pouring out our Prayers Resp Eccles Leoardensis ad Epistolam Pasch 2d So that whether our Author will or no it will still be owned as a Maxime among Christians Preces lachrymae sunt Arma Ecclesiae Prayers and Tears are the Churches Artillery and your new MILITIA will never prevail against this COMMISSION OF ARRAY An Answer to our Author's CHAP. VII Julian's Death THis Chapter is mostly the relation of two wonderful discoveries of Julian's Death the one of a Christian Schoolmaster for it seems the Christians at Antioch though it were the place that Julian most hated had Christian Masters to instruct their Children who being askt by Libanius the Sophister what the Carpenters Son was doing answered He is making a Coffin And yet perhaps he thought no more of Julian's death than Libanius whose expression of a Carpenters Son might give occasion to such a Reply Then for his other story of his double St. Julian Sabba for our Author hath Sainted him before and behind That he whilst he was praying should be in a Trance and cry out The wild Boar the Enemie of the Lords Vineyard hath suffered the punishment of his faults and lies dead I cannot admit such Miracles into my Creed 〈◊〉 but look on them no otherwise than such conjectures as Julian himself made when at the fall of the man that lifted him up to his horse he cried out He that raised me up is fallen and as the Historian says Constantius died at that very time But the merriest Scene is behind p. 58. That as soon as the Christians at Antioch heard of it they had publick joyful meetings and had not onely Dances in the Churches and Chappels of their Martyrs and then likely they had the musick of Organs or some other instruments too but likewise in the Theatre they proclaimed the Victorie of the Cross Such Thanksgivings we had in this Nation at the Butchery of the Royal Martyr But though they brought their Horse-guards into St. Pauls I do not find they danced in the Churches The manner of his death our Author reports p. 59. as an uncertainty but jumps in
for which he called him Impious Apostate and Atheist and Julian reproached him again with his blindness saying his Galilaean God would not cure him Maris replied I thank God for striking me with blindness that I may not see thy face This was bold and well for he reflected not on his Person but his Paganism The sayings of Juventinus and Maximus you think fit to omit but I shall shortly mind you of them It is strange that our Author could find no instances more pertinent to his purpose than these two wherein as he says p. 45. they shewed themselves to be men of like passions with other men though neither of them shewed themselves to be men of a capricious humour but declaring their just indignation against his Apostacie yet spared his Person and his Office as knowing that they ought not to speak evil of the Ruler of the People though they were such as had been Vsurpers and caused them to be smitten contrary to the Law as St. Paul informs us much less when they onely smite us with their tongues as Julian did in the case alledged And if it were done in passion as you intimate you know how our Saviour condemned that in his own Disciples that would call for fire from Heaven on the Samaritans Now against the speaking evil of Dignities which Jude vers 8. sharply reproves in the Gnosticks of his time I shall produce the practices of other eminent Christians even in Julians Reign Athanasius was a great Pillar of the Church at that time and a great example of passive Obedience under the severe Persecutions both of Constantius and Julian yet he gave his Oath that he never spake evil of him as you shall hear anon St. Ambrose spake of the same times The Christian Ledentibus non irascitur Spoliantibus non resistit caedentibus non repugnat c. Lactantins lived somewhat sooner but shews the practice of Christians in his time which was under Dioclesian and Maximian the two greatest Tyrants Cum tam nefanda perpetimur NE VERBO quidem reluctamur sed Deo remittimus ultionem Instit l. 5. c. 21. and the same patience he says was practised every where That though they endured unspeakable miseries yet none of the Christians did resist so much as in a word P. 38. It would be endless you say that is it would not be to your end and intent to reckon up the Sayings of Juventinus and Maximus which you name again p. 39. but wisely pass by For they being accused for speaking against Julian by some such Witnesses as your self do without any maledictions thus plead for themselves We O Emperour who were brought up in the true Religion and have lived in obedience to those excellent Laws made by Constantine and his Sons cannot but greatly lament to see all things defiled with impietie our Meats and Drink are polluted The Emperour had caused some of the Water or the Sacrifices offered to his Gods to be mixt or sprinkled with their Meat which did not hinder the most Christians from using them according to what the Apostle allowed 1 Cor. 10. But do they rail or rebel No they are Lachrymists Those things say they cause us to shed many tears at home and they constrain us to make our sorrowful complaint before thee We are offended at nothing else in your Government This you wisely omitted using onely their names to make up a number Ad populum has Phaleras An Answer to our Author's CHAP. IV. Of their Actions FRom their Words you come to speak of Blows yet none that I perceive fell upon Julian's person for you give us but two Instances of this and neither of them reached his person and but one an Officer that was inferiour to him that struck him and that was Valentinian a Colonel of the Houshold-guards who as he was going before the Emperour to the Temple of Fortune was sprinkled with Holy Water by one of the Chaplains as our Author calls him which coming nigh to Valentinian's Clothes he strook the Sacrist saying It would rather defile than cleanse him I am at a loss how to reconcile this History with another more generally reported by Gregory Nazianzen as well as others That Valentinian voluntarily stript himself of his Military Girdle that is laid down his Commission upon an Edict of Julian's That no Christian should bear Office in his Army for which noble act St. Augustine De civit Dei lib. 18. cap. 52. calls him a Confessor But if it be true that he was Colonel of the Guards when he made this Assault and that Julian ipso facto sent him away to a Garison lying by a Desart to spend his days there then the other History must be false and I think it more safe to believe that History which Gregory Nazianzen delivers attested by many others than that which comes on the single report of Theodoret. But if the Colonel of the Guards had struck a Sprinkler of Holy Water what was this to the striking of Julian The next Instance is from a passage of Gregory Nazianzen of which this is a brief account Who is there to be found that more despised the Emperour or had a greater hand in destroying him than my Father Of his contempt amongst many others both those Archers and THEIR COMMANDER are a proof whom HE BROVGHT against our Church as either to take possession of it or to destroy it for having assaulted many others he came hither likewise with the same intent and imperiously demanded the Temple He so far failed of accomplishing any thing of what he desired that if he had not presently got out of my Fathers way being aware of it either of himself or by some bodies advice he might have gone away kicked the Bishop boyling with Anger against him and with Zeal for the Temple A very hot fit of Anger and Zeal together it must needs be that did animate so ancient a Bishop being ninety years old to lift up his heel against a young Emperour of thirty two in the head of an Army who having assaulted many other Churches came resolved to seize this also Who can think Julian would be diverted with the notice of the old Bishops lying in wait for him or that he who had read what David said concerning Saul after that he also had apostatized from God as I suppose that old Bishop had done viz. Who can lift up his hand against the Lords Anointed be guiltless 1 Sam. 26.9 should think of lifting up his heels against Julian in the head of his Army Either therefore this must be such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is not to be parallel'd in all Longinus or such an heroick intention as never entered into the heart of any Zealot among the Jews But to come more close to the matter you say p. 43. You have often tried to make this beating intended for the Captain of the Archers and have been ready to make Solaecisms in the Greek to avoid the
to molest another for his Religion Our Author might have gone for one of the Godly partie in those daies I do not read that there was one Law extended throughout the whole Roman Empire which was almost Vniversal but that several Kingdoms and Cities were governed by their own Laws So were the Jews and Heathen as well as Christian Subjects in their several Cities and remote Provinces As Julian told the Bishops that were of several Perswasions that they should not disturb the publick peace of the Empire and then they might enjoy their own Liberties and Religion Constantine seemed to be almost of a like perswasion for why else did he not suppress the Arian Heresie which from Alexandria infected the whole Empire He did take care to prevent Schism and Sedition among Christians that the administration of the Government might be more easie But this great man banished Athanasius into France where he remained till Constantine his Son recalled him as Eusebius in his Chronologie But what if there were some Edicts for the establishment of Christian Religion in Constantine's days nothing was confirmed by the Senate that was accounted then a needless thing Nor did the Edicts of one Emperour bind another by the same Authoritie as Constantine might have setled the Orthodox Religion Constantius setled the Arian and after him Julian the Pagan Religion I mean by his own Imperial power and Edicts For the Roman Emperour was an Absolute Monarch their Will was a Law as Gregory Nazianzen quoted by you p. 13. The Will and Pleasure of the Emperour is an unwritten Law backed with Power and much stronger than written ones which were not supported by Authority So that though he did not as you term it fairly enact Sanguinary Laws yet had he the Law of the Sword in his hands And I think it was a great mercie of God to the Christians under him that he did not by publick Edicts put the Sword out of his own hands into the hands of his Heathen Magistrates who would have written them all in bloud Therefore Mr. Baxter saies p. 20. of 4th part of his Direct Julian was a protector of the Church from Popular Rage in comparison of other Persecutors though in other respects he was a Plague Valentinian was a right Christian Emperour and when he was chosen the Souldiers were importunate that he should assume another as an Associate in the Empire he tells them It lay in you to chuse me your Emperour but being chosen what you desire is not in your power but mine it belongs to you as Subjects to be quiet and rest contented and to me as your King to consider what is fit to be done Zozomen l. 6.86 Justinian was another good Emperour and he assumed the sole administration of the Empire to himself and demands in his Novels Quis tantae authoritatis ut nolentem Principem possit ad convocandos Patres caetorosque Proceres coarctare Who can claim so great Authority as to constrain the Prince to assemble the Senate against his will And Justinian Novel 105. excepts the Emperour from the coercive power of the Law to whom says he God hath subjected the Laws themselves sending him as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living Law unto men And the Gloss noteth That the Emperour is the Father of the Law whereupon the Laws also are subject to him When Vespasian was Emperour it was declared by the Senate That he might make Leagues with whom he pleased And though Tiberius Claudius or Germanicus had made certain Laws yet Vespasian was not obliged by them And Pliny in his Panegyrick to Trajan tells him how happie he was that he was obliged to nothing So that the Christians had no more pretence of having the Laws on their side under Julian than under Dioclesian Maximus or Constantius nor did they ever plead them to justifie a Rebellion against him for want of such an Advocate or Leader as our Author Gregory Nyssene tells us also what the power of the King or Emperour was he defines him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that hath Absolute power in himself no Master nor Equal Cont. Eunomium l. 1. So that our Author 's great Babel is fallen viz. that the Julian Christians had their Religion established by Law and that they were long possessed of it For Laws or no Laws by the Lex Regia the Emperour could reverse the old and establish new as it pleased him and for want of Laws where the word of the Emperour was there was power and none might say to him What dost thou Thus it was with Constantine and Constantius and why not with Julian And now I hope the good Christians of our Age will no longer trust to such broken Reeds as our Author puts into their hands much less that they should take up the Sword which will be no other than a broken Reed also not onely to fail them but to pierce through their sides Now if we should turn the Tables and ask our Author Whether when Jovian and Valentinian were Emperours and had made some new Edicts for the Orthodox Christians as well as against the Arians and Pagans it had been lawful for the Arians or Pagans to rebel in defence of their Religion Or to come nearer home Whether when Queen Mary had established Popery by Law in this Nation it had been lawful for the Papists to have rebelled against Queen Elizabeth they having the Laws on their side yea and questioning her Right of Succession too yet we do not read that they did contrive a General Rebellion though for ought I see our Author would have justified them when he tells us from Zozomen what men may do for the Religion whereof they are well perswaded Or neerer yet when the Long too Long Parliament pretended against the King that their Religion was in danger by Poperie and Superstition their Laws and Liberties invaded by an Arbitrary Power did they well or ill from these pretences to raise that War against the King that turned the Nation to an Aceldama Were the Laws such as could justifie that Rebellion or no If they could not then I am sure they cannot now since the late Act for Treason in the 13th of our King and a Declaration of Parliament That it is not lawful on any pretence whatsoever c And by several Statutes it is declared That the King is the Onely Supreme Governour of his Dominions over all Persons and Causes whatsoever And the power of the Sword or Militia is put into his hands as well by the Law of the Nation as of God and I trust he will not bear it in vain Having thus stript this full-fac'd Bird of a few borrowed and painted Feathers how justly is he exposed to be hooted at by every boy or dealt with as in the Apologue of such another bird that seeing the Pidgeons to be well meated and live securely he would get himself to be coloured and arrayed like one of them and feed among