needless but it will also if the King and Lords please render the House of Commons as needless too which may also be the Case of the House of Lords if the King and House of Commons please to have it so For I presume he will have the Co-ordination to be equally lodged in the one as in the other that our Author had any respect to this I cannot affirm but I well remember when the Legislative Authority was pretended unto by the Two Houses that their Advocates pleaded this Maxim for the Justification of what they called Ordinances of Parliament which were of such Authority and Power in the Hands of their subordinate Instruments that they used them to deprive of Life Liberty and Estate and nothing was more frequently urged than Co-ordinata se invicem supplent Co-ordinates ought mutually to supply each others defects So that what the King from Perversness or Ignorance would not do or imposency or restraint could not do with them they presumed they were sufficiently authorized to do without him because the public Interest and Safety must not miscarry or be hazarded for want of supplemental Laws Sect. 104. I know our Author supposeth the King in his Political Capacity to be in another considetation thereof inferior to the Two Houses of Parliament though he will not perhaps say he is so in his Legislative viz. as the Executive part of Government is lodged singly in him because this as he teacheth is a Matter of Trust derived from the Legislative part for which he is accountable and in that capacity the King is a Subject to the Two Houses of Parliament Right Excellent indeed this is not in terms asserted but 't is plainly the intent and drift of it Well! let it be supposed That the Executive Power of the Kingdom is a Trust from the Legislative Power will it not then follow that the King derives a Trust to himself certainly if this Author himself may be believed he hath a share in the Legislative Power and therefore if a Trust be transferred and devolved from thence to him it must be with his concurrence as acting in that capacity Now if he should chance to be unfaithful to himself and violate this Trust to whom in a judiciary way must he be accountable of whom must that Court be constituted that must question the Matter there may be no Houses of Parliament in being and if there be if he disgust their proceedings may he not Adjourn Prorogue or Dissolve them if he think fit and what will become of the Matter then 't is but equal that if all interested in the Legislative Power be concern'd the King himself should be admitted of the Quorum when this matter of Trust comes to be questioned and debated I conceive the Vanity of this pretence That the Executive part of Government is an accountable Trust committed by our Laws to the King will evidently appear to any impartial Man that will but try how to answer these few plain Questions 1. If this Trust be abused is it any part of the Executive Power of the Government to Summon Try Judge and Punish the Abuser thereof 2. In whose Name shall the Process for Summons be issued forth in order to his Tryal 3. What provision hath the Law made for the Arresting of the King's Person to secure his forth coming to Tryal in case he refuse to obey a preceptive Summons 4. Is it not High Treason to imprison the King or by force to take him into a Man's Power yea or but to manifest such a Design by some overt act 5. If he have a fair Tryal according to Law he must be tried by his Peers I pray who are they 6. Who shall be his Judge and pass Sentence 7. What is the Punishment the Law hath ordained for the abuse of this Trust 8. Who shall execute the Sentence pronounced against him 'T is manifest the whole Administration of the Executive Power being confessedly lodged in the King nothing of this can legally be done and therefore 't is impossible that the King 's Executive Power should be a Trust committed to him by his Houses of Parliament for which he ought to be accountable to them or any other earthly Power I hope you would not have our High and Mighty Sovereign Lord the good People of England erect an High Court of Justice which shall be instead of Delators Witnesses Jurors Peers Judges and Executioners I am taught by some that understood the Constitution and Laws of the Kingdom of England very well that the King is not accountable for his Office or Actions to any Court Person or Persons whatsoever and every Man that will but attentively read the Spencer's Case and the Tryals of the Regicides may learn the same Lesson And thus saith the most learned Bracton Sunt sub Rege liberi homines servi omnis sub eo est ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Si à Rege petatur cum Breve non currat contra Regem locus erit supplicationi quod factum suum corrigat emendet si non fecerit satis erit ei ad paenam quod Dominum expectet ultorem de chartis Regiis factis Regum nec privatae personae nec Justiciarii debent disputare There are Free-men and Servants under the King and every one is under him and he is under no one but under God only If any thing be to be demanded of the King since a Writ cannot go forth against the King there will be place for petitioning that he would correct and amend his doing if he do not it will be Punishment enough for him that he expect the Lord to be the Avenger of the Royal Grants and Actions of the King neither private Persons or Judges ought to dispute much less to censure and chastise And my Lord Coke in his Compleat Copy Holder hath taught me That the King representeth God's Person on Earth And I presume no Man is so daringly bold as to affirm That God is accountable and censurable for any of his doings Sect. 105. 5. It appears from the very Form and Tenor of the most Excellent Charters of the English Subjects Liberties that the Regal Authority and Power is not a fiduciary Trust from his Subjects and People under any consideration whatsoever Magna Charta it self runs thus Spontanea bona voluntate nostra dedimus concessimus By our free and good will we have given and granted c. not contracted bargain'd and upon good and valuable considerations covenanted and promised but from grace and condescention given and granted See 9 Hen. 3. so when the same Charter was confirmed in King Edward's time it was thus worded Know ye that we of our meer free will have granted to all Free-men these Liberties So in the Statute Quo Warranto 18. Edw. 1. Dominus Rex ad Parliamentum suum de gratia sua speciali propter affectionem quam habet erga Praelatos caeteros
de Regno suo concessit c. The Lord the King of his Parliament from his special grace and for the Affection he hath toward the Prelates and all others of his Kingdom hath granted I appeal to all unprejudiced Men to consider if this be the Language of an accountable Trustee Sect. 106. Coke the Regicide having told his Blood-thirsty Masters That Charles Stuart for so he called his Liâ—ge Lord that King of Blessed Memory stands now that is in their High Court of Justice to give an account of his Stewardship he thus begins to diffect his charge That the Kings of England are trusted with a limited Power to govern by Law and affirms it to be one of the Fundamentals of the Law that the King is not above the Law but the Law above the King And for the Proof of it offer'd the Coronation Oath wherein the King swears to keep and observe the Laws which the People shall chuse And then endeavouring to impute to his Sacred Majesty a Violation of his Fidelity to God and his People concludes him justly condemned by the Fundamental Law of the Nation c. and no wonder of such an Inference for as he tells us Governours are but the Peoples Creatures the Work of their hands to be accomptable as their Stewards and therefore when they prevaricate and abuse their Trust to question by what Law they call them to account is High Treason with a Witness And this is the true Tendency of that Doctrine That all Power is originally from the People and the King 's executive Power a Trust from the Two Houses of Parliament because this makes them as Coke phraseth it his Liege Lords and warrants them to exercise an absolute Power over him 'T is so naturally implied saith he that if a King become a Tyrant that he shall dye for it that this is the first necessary Fundamental Law of every Kingdom which by intrinsical Rules of Government must preserve it self This is just like the Liberty of the People which proves it self whereas the Power of the King must be proved before the Subjects ought to obey it because he hath no more than he hath received from his Sovereign Lords the People which is only founded on positive Law and if he pretend to more than they have given him he usurps upon their Liberty which they have a Right to defend and preserve by force of Arms which being a new Edition of John Coke's Doctrine the Author must needs deserve exceedingly well of the Government and cannot be worthily dealt withal unless highly promoted how agreeable this is to our Legal Constitution I refer to every indifferent Judgment who will compare it with what hath been observed concerned it and shall conclude in the Words of this Author It is indeed clear from the New Testamdnt That the Christian Religion as such gives us no grounds to defend or propagate it by force It is a Doctrine of the Cross and of Faith and Patience under it and if by the Order of Divine Providence and of any Constitution of Government under which we are born we are brought under sufferings for our professing of it we may indeed retire and fly out of any such Country if we can but if that is 〈…〉 must then according to this Religion submit to those sufferings under which we may be brought considering that God will be glorified by us in so doing and that he will both support us under our Sufferings and gloriously reward us for them By Submitting to Sufferings by what follows I hope he means a Submission without Resistance though we are strong enough to make it and then the Safety of the English Government is secured though Religion be our Property and shall chance to be persecuted because by the Constitution of our Government we may not upon any pretence whatsoever take Arms against the King Sest 107. 6. Another Objection is this a King may actually and professedly endeavour to subvert the established Government and overthrow the whole Constitution and set himself to destroy if not all nor the greatest part yet at least very considerable numbers of his People and so plainly counteract the very end of his Authority and Power and will it not be lawful for his Subjects in such a Case to resist him Ans The Sky may fall and then Larks will be good cheap Princes may become Phreneticks and be uncapable of Government and them as in the Case of a Minor that is an Hereditary Prince a Prorex is to be had during the Suspension of the Exercise of his Authority and Power Or they may be so dissatisfied with the Burthensomness of the Government that they may be weary of it Abdicate and Renounce it or they may be so intoxicated and transported with wild and outragious Passions Discontents and Prejudices against their Subjects that they may disclaim the Government of them and indeed do so when instead of administring the Government in order to their Peace and Safety they turn it to their distraction and ruine will not be the Ministers of God for good but hurt to them will not support but destroy the Foundations of their Kingdoms but then with their Subjects and Kingdoms they destroy themselves too and cease to be Princes because they that disclaim the Protection of their Subjects and wilfully resolve to destroy their Dominions can have no right to govern them They can be no Rulers who will leave nothing under them to be ruled by them and then the Resistance of them will not be a Resistance of the Higher Powers but this is a meer Platonical Idea a Case put that perhaps never was nor never is like to have a real Existence in the Nature of things Let these things be considered Sect. 108. 1. Plutarch observes Inest omni populo aliquod malignum contra Imperantes There is in all sorts of People some malignity against their Governours Such is the Pride of Man's heart that he is averse to Subjection our unwillingness to be restrained from following our own Minds and Wills and to be guided and commanded by the Mind and Will of another prejudiceth us against the Ruler of us and this as Mr. Hooker tells us makes Men very attentive and favourable Hearers to suck in any Poyson that is breathed forth against the King or the Governours which are sent forth and anon it mulriplies and every valley and obscure corner is ready to eccho it back again We must therefore be very wary now we give ear to any evil Suggestions concerning the Designs or male-Administrations of the Higher Powers Defamation begets an evil Opinion of the Prince and concludes in disaffection to him and that naturally tends unto and ends in Contempts Abhorrences and Oppositions 2. It hath ever been the Practice of seditious and rebellious minded Men to bestir themselves to ingenerate in the Minds of Subjects Jealousies and Fears concerning the Councels Designs and Administrations of their Princes and to magnify
45.1 2 3 4. Dan. 2.21 and 5.26 28. Rom. 13.1 and therefore are called the Ministers of God Rom. 13.4 but never the Ministers of the People and God himeself hath called them Gods Psal 82.6 to ascertain us that their Persons are Sacred to him and their Authority of his immediate Delegation and not derived from any voluntary Paction or positive Constitution made and ratified betwixt them and their Subjects which is forfeitable and revocable according to the express or tacite Tenor of the Fundamental Contract as these Men sometimes phrase it And as the first Dominion and Government of Divine Ordination was Monarchical so we have no reason to think that it was God's intention that that Species or Form of Government should be altered and another introduced because we have no instance of any other Government either of his immediate Ordination or Approbation and so far as I am instructed in divine Revelations we have no Rule for the Establishing of any other Form of Government nor direct precept to submit to any other as of his prescribing and when Men prefer their own Inventions before divine Institutions they bring forth as Aaron did a Calf instead of a God The Church of England having determined That the most high and sacred Order of Kings is of divine Right being the Ordinance of God him elf founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by express Texts both of the Old and New Testaments those pretended Sons of the Church need good foreheads who presume to affirm them to be their Peoples Creatures and to owe their Authority and Power solely to them and ought to exercise no more than they have by their Concession I hope God hath such Grace and Mercy in store for this Church and Kingdom that he will raise up Men of greater Abilities and better Opportunities than can be pretended unto by my self to defend the crowned Heads thereof from such Assailants but if these ensuing Discourses in any measure prove a Countermine to their designments and contribute any degree of assistance towards the Security of the Publick Government I shall ascribe all the Honour thereof unto God and Your Majesties will have no reason to discountenance the Honest though Weak Endeavours of Your Majesties most Loyal Subject LEWES SHARP THE Church of England's DOCTRINE OF Non-Resistance JUSTIFIED and VINDICATED c. ROM 13.2 And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation THE grand Design of Religion is the Resignation of our selves to God that it may be well with us both in this world and that which is to come and therefore the Appearance of the blessed Jesus is represented as bringing Glory to God on high on Earth Peace good Will towards Men. And the well-being of Mankind in this World greatly depending on the Safety and Peace of publick Societies the Christian Religion hath a special Regard to the Protection and Preservation of them And Civil Authority being under God a most efficacious Instrument thereof signal care is taken for its security that it be not weakened or disturbed in its being and exercise but maintained and observed by all that are subjected thereunto as my Text with its coherence doth abundantly evidence Sect. 1. In the former Verse the Apostle chargeth it as a Duty incumbent on all Mankind to be subject to the Higher Powers Let every Soul every one without exception or reservation be Subject yield Submission and Obedience to the Higher Powers the lawful Possessors and Administrators of Supreme Authority for though the Word Powers be in the Abstract yet we are to understand them concretively as signifying the Persons which exercise Authority And 't is ordinary in Scripture by a Metonymical Phrase to put the Abstract for the Concrete the Adjunct for the Subject which was not here unadvisedly used because the Design of the Apostle is to ascertain us that every Person under Government of what Rank or Order soever he be is obliged to yield Subjection to his legally Supreme Governour howsoever he be qualified for his Religion or moral Deportment Sect. 2. And the Reason he gives doth equally effect all Subjects and equally relate to all that are advanced to Supreme Authority for there is no Power but of God and the Powers that be are ordained of God that is the Original of all Authority is from God and consequently whosoever partakes of it is to be acknowledged as God's Commissioner to rule and govern all that are placed in a State of Subjection to him and although we are to be subject and obedient to the Officer for his Office-sake yet our Subjection and Obedience immediately refers to the Officer himself because we are ruled and governed by the Officer i. e. by a Man invested with and exercising Authority over us and not simply by an Office which abstructively considered is utterly ineffective to all the Purposes of Government as 't is not the Kingship which makes and executes Laws but the King 't is not the Portrieveship or the Constableship viz. the bare Office in either respect but the Portrieve and the Constable which suppress Disorder and administer Justice in any case Sect. 3. When God therefore Commands every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers he Commands every soul to be subject to that Person or Persons who legally possess and actually exercise by themselves or substitutes the Supreme governing Power or else in effect he Commands nothing at all because the Power abstracted from the Person cannot rule us nor consequently be a Terror to evil Works or a Praise to good Works 't is not simply the Office but the Man in office which is the Minister of God to us for good and which beareth not the Sword in vain but revengeth evil doing All which considered when the Apostle saith in the former part of the Verse to which the Text belongs Whosoever therefore resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God his meaning must needs be That whosoever resisteth that Person or Persons who have the Right to Rule and Govern and exercise Dominion and Authority over him he resisteth the Commission and Authority of God himself because the Authority of the Magistrate is an Authority derived from God himself He therefore who affronts and opposeth the Magistrate who is God's Vicegerent affronts and opposeth God himself and then we cannot think it strange that they which thus resist should receive to themselves damnation Here are Three Things which need a little Explication 1. What the Apostle intends by Resistance or they that resist 2. What he intends by Damnation 3. What he intends by Receiving to themselves the damnation spoken of Sect. 4. 1. What the Apostle means by Resistance or they that resist 't is very manifest that Resistance is directly opposed to Subjection and includes all practicing from a Spirit of Averseness Contradiction and Opposition and consequently so far as we refuse to yield subjection to the Authority of the Higher Powers we resist them Now
of a lawless Violence and Oppression be not the Resistance of a lawful Authority yet the Resistance of a lawless Violence may be so Circumstanced that it may be an unlawful Resistance of him or them that are in a full and unquestionable Possession of a lawful Authority For when the Illegal Acts of Sovereign Princes are by Force of Arms resisted Sovereign Princes themselves as such are also resisted because their Persons and Authority are not actually and indeed divided 'T is true their natural and politic Capacities are distinguishable in our Conceptions but 't is as true that the natural Subsistences of the Sovereign Powers are rever actually seperated from their Sovereign Authority I pray consider for the Illustrations of this if the English Legiance be not due to the King in his natural Capacity and not in his politic Capacity for as the King swears to protect us in our natural Capacities so we swear Legiance to him in his natural Capacity And this is the Reason why by our Law the Compassing and Imagining the Death of the King is High-Treason because his Person being invested with Sovereign Authority he cannot be Murthered in the Eye of the Law under any other Notion Wherefore though the Personal Acts of our Kings are not always Legal Acts and their Commands considered in their Natural Capacities may be such as no good Subject can approve actively submit unto and obey yet they are still the higher Powers which cannot be resisted without the peril of damnation because their personal Subsistences imply an inseperable Investiture with Sovereign Authority And therefore my Lord Coke in Calvins Case tells us that the Natural Legiance due to our Kings in their Natural Capacities from their Subjects is absolute and indefinite not circumscribed by Law but above Law and before Law and consequently indelible and immutable Sect. 87. Because the Authority of our Kings is in their Laws their Offices their Courts where their Persons are not some think that their Persons may be resisted and no Resistance made to their Authority I would have such to consider whence it is that Laws Judicial Courts and Subordinate Officers have their Authority Is it not Originally from the Authority of the King's Person And are not all the Laws Courts and Officers of the Kingdom for that reason called the King's Laws Courts and Officers And can the King communicate Authority without Authority first inherent in himself Certainly that must needs be the most Eminent Authority which is the Source and Fountain of all other Authority according to that Maxim Quicquid efficit tale est magis tale And if the Personal Authority of the King be antecedent to that of his Laws Courts and Officers and derive to them that Authority they partake of then I conceive 't will be no illogical reasoning to infer That the Being and Existence of his Sovereign Authority depends not on them As the King had an Existence before their Constitution so he may likewise after their dissolution God forbid that when a Sovereign Prince hath solemnly promised and sworn to Govern his Subjects according to his Established Laws and to Protect them in their Rights Properties and Priviledges that he should violate his Faith thus given to God and his People yet if he do he is a Sovereign Prince still and the Resistance of him a Resistance of the Ordinance of God because his Authority is from God and hath no Superior under God to controul it nor to whom to forfeit and because the illegal Exercise of his Power doth not disannul his Authority Sect. 88. 4. The Illegal and Destructive Acts of the Sovereign Powers towards their Subjects are not always Inauthoritative Acts. This is evident to the common Sense and Experience of Mankind from the injurious Sentences that are past and Executions that ensue in all sorts of Human Judicatures respectively to the Lives Limbs Liberties and Estates of Subjects The Liberty the Subjects here in England have in some Cases to arrest Judgment and to appeal from an Inferiour to a Superiour Court presumes the Truth of this Now though a Sentence contrary to the true Intention of Law be an unjust Sentence and cannot properly have the Authority of the Law in it yet Subjects in all Parts of the World are obliged by it till it be rescinded and reversed by the Authority of a competent Superiour Judge And if it be a Sentence past or ratified by a Supream Judge from whom there is no appeal the Subject can have no redress but is finally concluded by it how illegal and pernitious soever it be hence that Etiam cum Praetor iniquum pronunciat jus dicit Which is a further Evidence that there is an Authority in Persons Superiour to that in Laws 'T is from the Authority of the Person and not of the Law that a Sentence pronounced according to the Law binds in some Cases and not in others and a Sentence pronounced against Law is reversible in some Cases and not in others Indeed 't is plain that a Sentence pronounced contrary to the End and Intention of Law could have no Authority and Obligatory Force in it were it not from the Authority of the Judge whose act it is Then it will follow Sect. 89. 5. That the Right which Subjects have to preserve themselves in their Properties and Liberties against the unjust and violent Invasions or Usurpations of the Prerogative cannot authorize or warrant them to an active and forcible Resistance thereof For though the higher Powers are not Commissioned to do illegal out-ragious and destructive acts of violence yet they are the higher Powers by Commission and therefore though they abuse their Power the Subjects being no competent Judges thereof they are to be submitted unto without Resistance The High Priest and Elders of the People had no legal Authority to apprehend and secure Jesus Christ as a Criminal and yet he condemned St. Peter's forcible Resistance thereof So when the High Priest commanded St. Paul to be smitten contrary to the Law he acknowledged that notwithstanding that injurious violence offered to him he had no warrant to revile him much less violently resist him and return blow for blow So that those Acts of the higher Powers which are done without Law and against Law being considered conjunctively with the Authors or efficient Causes of them they imply the Presence of a Sovereign Authority with them which is uncontrollable and irresistible Sect. 90. 4. Another Objection which very naturally offers it self from what was last said is this if the very Illegal Acts of all Sovereign Powers be uncontrollable and irresistible then a Despotical is not Distinguishable from a Political Government nor an Arbitrary from a Legal Power nor an Absolute Monarchy from a Monarchy regulated and limited by Established Laws because the Authority of the one in effect is of equal extent with the other and the one as unaccountable and irresistble if he make his Will his Law as the other Ans What
Invading the legal Rights Properties Liberties and Priviledges of the Subject and Subversion of the established Religion and Tolleration yea Introduction of Idolatrous Worship c. As every English Man knows who is but competently instructed in the pretended Motives of that Rebellion to which these Laws directly refer but 't is further said for the countenancing of this apocryphal Sense of the Declaration aforesaid That when there seems to be a Contradiction betwixt two Artioles in our Constitution as there seems to be betwixt the publick Liberty of the Nation and the renouncing of all Resistance in case it be invaded we are to examine which of the two is most evident and most important and to fix upon that and the publick Liberty of the Nation being the most Plain and most Important of the two the Article against Resistance ought to be softned that it do not destroy the other But to the States of England who certainly are the most Competent Judges in this case there seemed no contradiction but a very fair consistency betwixt these two Articles and to every unprejudiced Man who is not captivated to an Hypothesis from Passion and Interest The Renunciation of resistance upon any pretence whatsoever is as evident an Article in our Constitution as can be expressed in Words and being directly designed for the Preservation of publick Order and Peace and the Security of the Government it is not easily imaginable how any Article should exceed the Importance of it Yes but that of the Publick Liberty may because the Chief Design of our whole Law and of all the several Rules of our Constitution is to secure and maintain it This passage sounds like the Shibboleth of the Scotish Kirk for so it is translated in the Third Article of the solemn League and Covenant We shall endeavour with our Estates and Lives mutually to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliament and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the King's Maiesty's Person and Authority in the Preservation and Defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms Where the Preservation and Defence of the King's Majesty's Person and Authority is not only limited to the Preservation and Defence of the true Religion and Liberâ—ies of the Kingdoms but sate in order after the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Kingdoms as the less evident and less important Matter to be attend and â—ndeavoured This is rare Policy Men of a lower Elavation in that Science which we â—all plain meaning Men do ordinarily believe that the Chief Design of our whole Law â—nd all the several Rules of our Constitution is to secure and maintain the Ends of Government Order and Peace and consequently the Government it self and how Order and â—eace can be preserved and maintained and the Government secured when the Subjects â—e authorized and allowed in cases which they being Judges seem evident and â—â—portant â—â—ough to them to disturb the one and resist the other with force of Arms I â—â—nnot apâ—â—ehend because ordinarily the Majority of Subjects have not that veneration fâ—â— their Goâ—â—rnours and respect for the public Welfare becomes them but are suspicious and creduâ—â—â—s and led more by rash Passions and feigned Interests than by wise Judgment and the â—â—blick Safety But suppose the Liberties of the Nation must be acquitted or the Command of God violated what is the Subjects Duty then And therefore as I do not believe that the Terms King Sovereign Supreme so frequently used in our Laws are equivocal Ones so neither do I believe that the Law which requires a Renunciation of Resistance upon any pretence whatsoever is of an equivocal signification but intends that the Subject mean honestly when he declares against Resistance without exceptions or reserves because 't is a Thing unworthy of the Wisdom and Honour of our Government to impose a Law of an equivocal signification and such an Interpretation can serve no good end Sect. 97. 5. Another Objection against Non-resistance and to warrant and encourage the taking of Arms against the Kings of England in case they exceed their limited bounds is this The Supreme Power must still be supposed to be lodged with the legislative Power and not with the executive Power when that is appropriated to a distinct Subject from the Legislative Now 't is certain that the executive Part of the English Government is lodged singly in the King so that the whole Administration of that is in him but the Legislative is lodged between him and the Two Houses of Parliament so that the Power of making and repealing Laws is not singly in the King but only so far as the Two Houses concur with him Wherefore the Power of the King is fiduciary only nothing but a Trust and all Trusts saith this Author by their nature import that those to whom they are given are accountable and consequently censurable and punishable and therefore the Kings of England may be resisted with force of Arms and deposed and then dealt withal if under equal guilt as other Criminals guilty of the most Capital Offences Ans That a distinction is to be made between the Legislative and Executive part of Power is not to be doubted but whether this Author have rightly applied it is to be questioned and from as plain evidence as any in the World to be denied for the Legislative Authority of the English Government is not divided into distinct hands from the Executive but lodged in the same Subject even in the King of England only Sect. 98. 1. All the Laws of England are the King's Laws receive their denomination from him only and therefore all offences committed against them are principally and ultimately said to be committed against the King and his Crown and Dignity for although the Matter perhaps of all Laws in some latter Ages is prepared by the Two Houses of Parliament and no Law is or can be enacted without their concurrent Approbation and Consent yet every Law receives its formal Being and Obligation from the Authority of the King only and no Law is repealed but by his Authority only The Authority of the Two Houses is the Authority of Councellors and not of Legislators as Judge Jenkins saith and Sir W. Rawleigh tells us That that which is done in Parliament is done by the Kings absolute Authority The Three Estates do but advise as the Privy Council doth which advice if the King embrace it becomes the King 's own Act in the one and the King's Law in the other And therefore when they have addressed themselves to the King in order to the enacting or abrogating of a Law they have prefaced it in a petitionary Stile as acting in the capacity of Loving and Loyal Subjects Sir Edward Coke tells us 4 Inst p. 25. That in Ancient time all Acts of Parliament were in form of Petitions For instances thus 't was in 1 Edw. 3. When Magna Charta was confirmed there you shall find
this Preamble At the Request of the Commonalty by their Petition made before the King in his Parliament c. so again in 9 Edw. 3. 'T is thus prefaced Whereas the Knights Citizens and Burgesses desired our Sovereign Lord the King in his Parliament by their Petition and many of the Statutes are penned in this Imperial Stile The King Commands The King wills Our Lord the King hath established Our Lord the King hath ordained And of his special grace hath granted c. See 3 Edw. 1. and 6 Edw. 1. and 25. Edw. 3. Statute of Marleburdg 52 Hen. 1. and Statute of Quo Warranto A sufficient Evidence That all our Laws owe their Being to the King's Authority only Sect. 99. 2. All the judicial Courts of England are the King's Courts and derive all their Authority originally from him and are obliged to refer the Exercise of their respective Jurisdictions finally for the Preservation of his Person Crown and Dignity and consequently the High Court of Parliament is the King's Court too and depends on him for that Authority which is there exercised And 't is well observed by my Lord Coke That the King is Principium Caput Finis Parliamenti and answerably in the Parliament writ the King calls it Quoddam Parliamentum nostrum Thereby signifying a Subordination of the Estates convented in Parliament under him sitting there in his Royal Political capacity And consequently the Acts of the Two Houses of Parliament without an impress of Royal Authority are nothing worth to the Purposes of Government 'T is no Argument that the Two Houses of Parliament have a Co-ordination with him in his legislative Authority because he hath restrained himself from the Exercise and Use of it without their Request and Consent for it is no more than a Conditio sine qua non which hath only the Force of a Negative without the Concurrence of which the principal Efficient obtains not its Effect Sect. 100. 3. The Measures or Degrees of all Civil Authority and Power are to be taken either from the express Laws of any State or the immemorial Customs and Prescriptions thereof from a long Possession or from the Oaths the Subjects swear to their Princes This is acknowledged by the Author who pleads for a Co-ordination of the Houses of Parliament with the King in the Legislative Authority of the Kingdom as a proper Rule by which to judge where the Legislative Power of a Nation is lodged and this being impartially attended will evidently discover That the Legislative Power is in the King only For 1. If we consider what the Laws determine we shall find that they ascribe it wholly to the King See to this purpose the afore-quoted Preface to a Statute in 24. Hen. 8. where 't is thus said For by divers Old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the World governed by our Supreme Head and King having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the Same unto whom a Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of People divided in Terms and by Names of Spiritualty and Temporalty have been bounden and ought to bear next to God natural and humble Obedience he being also in Statute and furnished by the Goodness and Sufferance of Almighty God not of the People with Plenary whole and entire Power Preheminence Authority Prerogative and Jurisdiction to render and yield Justice and final determination in all Causes Matters and Debates Likewise in the Statute of the 35 of Eliz. this Submission after Non-conformity to divine Service is to be made openly in some Church I do acknowledge and testify in my Conscience that no other Person hath or ought to have any Power or Authority over His Majesty Which Statute was declared to be in full force in the 16 of Ch. 2. 2. This Authority and Preheminence as the former Statute mentioned implies is of immemorial Custom and Prescription and was so far as I can discover never questioned in any Parliamentary Convention of the States till 1642. and then by the Two lower States only too and then the Co ordination in the Legislative Power was asserted to warrant and justify one of the most unreasonable and barbarous Rebellions that ever was in this Kingdom 'T is declared by the Statute of 16 Rich. 2. That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly Subjection but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to none other and if to none other then not to the Two Houses of Parliament and in 1 Jam. 1. The High Court of Parliament wherein as they speak the whole Kingdom in Person or Representative was present i. e. all Estates and Degrees call themselves his Majesty's Loyal and Faithful Subjects and declare his Majesty to be their only Liege Lord and Sovereign and agnize their constant Faith Obedience and Loyalty to his Majesty and Royal Progeny And I will be so bold as to challenge this Author to shew from any Parliamentary Record that ever the Two Houses claimed or pretended to a Co-ordination with the King in the Legislative Power till the time above mentioned 3. What can be more evident for the Determination of this matter than the Oath of Supremacy by which every Subject is obliged to testify and declare in his Conscience that the Kings Highness is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm and of all other His Highnesses Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes as Temperal as He is Supreme He hath no Superior and as He is only Supreme He can have no equal they that wrest the Supremacy of the King's Government to import only the executive part of Government manifestly subvert the primary Design of the Oath which was to restrain and preserve the King's Subjects from a Submission to the usurped legislative and juridical Authority of the Bishop of Rome So that if the Bishop of Rome pretended to both parts of Government as 't is certain he did and still doth then the Oath directly intends an opposition to both and consequently ascribes the only Supremacy appropriately to the King both respectively to the Legislative and Executive part of the Government Sect. 101. 4. Suppose contrary to all this plain evidence that the legislative Power is lodged between the King and Two Houses of Parliament how will this prove a Superior Authority in them above that in the King Par in Parem non habet potestatem An Equal is no Superior Indeed according to our Authors affirmation here are Two to One which is very great odds if he intended to press to his Service that Maxim Major pars obtinet rationem totius the major part of the Legislators virtually are the whole For this will at the Pleasure of the Two Houses render the Concurrence of the King
believe and affirm that they which so resist shall receive to themselves damnation Sect. 131. 3. Let us consider the sinful Evils which are the Effects and consequential Attendants of a rebellious Resistance and they will further discover the hainous Nature thereof St. James tells us That where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work ch 3.16 and what can be more mischievous and pernitious in its influences and effects than that which hath for its train and retinue Confusion and every evil work That which puts all out of order and introduceth nothing but what is done amiss is evil without a Parrallel The mischievous Effects and Consequences of other Sins are confined to some particular Region but these diffuse and spread themselves through the Universe set on Fire the whole Course of Nature disturb and unsettle both Church and State That I may the more distinctly and satisfactorily shew you the abominable Effects and Consequences of a rebellious Resistance I shall reduce them to two general Heads of Things viz. to such as respect Matters of Religion and Piety towards God and then to such as respect Matters of Civil Government and the Interests of Human Societies and Individual Persons Sect. 132. 1. The Effects and Consequences of a rebellious Resistance are very pernitious and destructive respectively to Matters of Religion and Piety towards God 'T is in its self a plain and open confronting of the Authority and Ordinance of God and directly repugnant to the Spirit of Christianity which is a Spirit of love order unity peace self-denial humility meekness gentleness clemency patience long-sufferance and goodness and therefore must necessarily weaken and shake off at least in a very considerable Degree the awes and restraints of God and Conscience It makes Men self-willed and gathers their most exorbitant Passions into a Storm and their pride ambition covetuousness envy malice hatred discontent and all other dependant boisterous Passions evaporate and break forth like Whirle-winds and Thunder-bolts and shake if they do not overturn the very Foundations of Piety and Morality as well as of Policy and Civility and renders their Appetites as boisterous and licentious as their Passions which eagerly and insatiably crave and pursue things pleasing and agreeable to their humors and imagined Interests without any regard had to the Measures of Piety Righteousness Charity Sobriety and common Honesty And when Men are acted and governed by Self-will Passion Appetite and unreasonable Interest of what account is Religion Follow these Men in their Marches observe them in their Quarters and attend them in their general Deportments and you shall find their private Devotions few and their public less And though sometimes they pretend to fight for Religion yet in their actual hostile Engagments and Battles they mind and intend more the Preservation of their Bodies and destruction of their Enemies than they do the honour of God and salvation of their Souls as their Consciences will witness against them When the Government of Moses was suspended from the Israelites but for forty days they Carved themselves a Molten Image and worshipped it as a God Ex. 32.4 6. and no sooner was his immediate Successor Joshua dead and thereby an exemption from the restraints of Government presumed but Micah and his Mother make them Gods and Priests Judg. 17.5 and in the very next Chapter from the same motive and encouragment the Tribe of Dan break into Micahs House and Fetch'd away the Carved Image the Ephod and the Teraphim and the Molten Image and carried away the Priest too v. 18. and what impiety will not Men do when they presume they may do what they will This is an experimented Truth cui plus licet quam par est plus velit quam licet be that may lawfully do more than is fit he will do more than is lawful and 't is very rare when Men may do that which is right in their own Eyes that they do that which is pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God Sect. 133. 2. The Effects and Consequences of a rebellious Resistance are very pernitious and destructive to Matters of Civil Government the Interests of human Societies and individual Men. Every Rebel would be more than a King for he contends to be higher than the highest Powers countermands their Laws would correct their Persons suppress and extirpate their Administrations And thus the Government is unhinged and the People are oppressed every one by another and every one by his Neighbour the Child will behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honorable as the Prophet speaks Is 3.5 and they that were brought up in Scarlet are brought down to embrace Dung-hills Lamb. 4.5 and those not meetly qualified to be Servants assume the Place of Masters Lamb. 5.8 Servants have ruled over us there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand was the Complaint of the degraded Elders of Israel Yea such is the lawless violence of rebellious Assailants that Mens Children are dashed in pieces before their Eyes their Houses spoiled and their Wives ravished the Women and the Maids as the Prophet expresseth it Is 13.16 Lam. 5.11 and how can it be otherwise since as the Prophet complains the Law is no more Lamb. 2.9 the restraining Force of the Law from the prevalent Force of Arms is as if it were not For that which is useless is in effect essenceless Hence that Proverb inter arma silent leges the noise of Arms makes the Laws speechless they cannot speak out and utter themselves to the purposes of Government And what security can Men have for their Lives Liberties Properties and Relatives when there is no Law to protect them nor Ruling Power to Guard them Well therefore might our Saviour say a Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation Mat. 12.25 dissolution ever was and will be the issue of Division How can any Kingdom stand when Government and Laws which are the Foundation and Subsistence thereof fail Sect. 134. Every Man hath an imperious heart would judge and determine for himself and is so fondly and partially addicted to himself and his espoused Interests that if left to himself he would assume to himself more Rights and Liberties than to come his share and therefore if every one who pretends to a Liberty of Thinking should obtain a Liberty of Acting and do that which is right in his own eyes without having any Rulers or Laws over him to restrain and correct him who could be secured from Wrong and Oppression such a State of Liberty would render every Man an Enemy to every Man and in reallity a greater Enemy to himself than to any Man else because it would ensnare him in licentiousness and be so far from a State of Liberty that it would be a State of the greatest Confusion and Servitude in the World Subjection therefore under the most corrupt and tyrannical Government is more tollerable and desirable than freedom
Subjection is refused two ways either by disobedience and acting contrary to the Laws and Edicts of the Higher Powers or else by using Strength and making a violent Opposition against them with armed Force Sect. 5. 1. We may resist and oppose our selves to the Higher Powers by disobedience and counteracting the Laws and Edicts thereof when we unwarrantably refuse Obedience to the Laws of the Higher Powers we break out of the Rank of Subjects and resist the Higher Powers for they that will not be commanded by the Higher Powers are not subject to them and when this is circumstanced with Stubborns the Disobedience is resolute and unreclaimable 't is not only Contempt but Defiance to Authority and they which resist the proper Effect of the Supreme Authority its Laws and Edicts resist the Supreme Authority it self And therefore they sin hainously against God who are not willingly obedient to the lawful Commands of the Higher Powers but counteract them in a Deportment contrary to them because herein they violate and disannul the Commission of God himself The Higher Powers have a Right granted to them from God himself to enact and impose Laws upon us if we therefore refuse Obedience to their Laws we usurp a Superior Authority to that of God himself for we take upon us to Cancel God's Grant to them and herein are Fighters against God as well as Resisters of the Powers which are of of God a Matter well deserving serious consideration Sect. 6. 2. We may resist and oppose our selves to the Higher Powers by force and violence when Subjects contend with Higher Powers by force either defend themselves against them with armed Power or else seek to depose them or to compel them to do though it be what they apprehend they ought to do this being a kind of judiciary act and which carries a vindicative Power with it 't is the most aggravated Resistance that can be made against the Higher Powers and the Resistance here especially condemned by the Apostle in my Text and that against which I shall chiefly direct my Discourse Sect. 7. 2. What the Apostle designs by Damnation 't is evident that by Damnation the Apostle intends some thing Minatory and Penal but what particular kind of punishment the Word immediately denoteth in this place is questioned by some learned Men 't is certain the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifieth in the Scriptures a present temporal Punishment from Man and sometimes a future eternal Punishment from God For my part I think with many others both sorts of Punishments are here intended because the Apostles Arguments against Resistance are taken from Considerations which look both ways Ye must needs be subject saith he v. 5. not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake that is not only for fear of punishment from the Higher Powers but also lest by offending God by who 's Authority the Higher Powers are set over you Conscience accuse you which binds to a Condemnation to eternal Death 'T is probable that the way of Rebellion will bring those that are in it to a Gibbet but 't is certain that without Repentance 't will bring them to Hell if they escape a shameful Death from the Higher Powers on Earth they shall not escape the Punishment of eternal Death from the God of Heaven that this is the Intendment of the Apostle seems evident to me For the Apostle having lain down this as a Fundamental Article of the Christian Faith That there is no Power but of God And from that Consideration strictly charged it as an indispensable Obligation upon every Soul to be subject thereunto which cannot be resisted without resisting the Ordinance of God himself he plainly enforceth this Duty with this threatning as the Sanction upon which it was established They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Now as the Threatnings of which the Mosaical Precepts were established did primarily respect corporeal and temporal Evils so the Threatnings on which the Christian Precepts are established do primarily respect spiritual and eternal Evils And the Apostle elsewhere expresly affirms That wheâ— Vengeance shall be taken on such as obey not the Gospel they shall be punished with everlasting Dâ—struction 2 Thes 1.8 9. By Damnation therefore in the Text we are to understand primarily a Condemnation to eternal Torments in Hell Fire but not exclusively of a Condemnation to those corporeal and temporal Punishments to which Rebels are expose by the Higher Powers Sect. 8. 3. The last thing to be expounded is what 't is for those that resist to receiâ—â— to themselves Damnation the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is variously translated sometiâ—â—â— 't is rendred acquirunt they procure to themselves Damnation this is the great Purchaâ—â—â— Rebels make the Wages they contend and fight for by resisting the Higher Powers is 〈◊〉 bring themselves into a State of Damnation and to make Hell sure to themselves othâ—â—â— render it by accipient they shall receive as our translation hath it that is as Men receâ—â— a painful an intollerable Burden to which punishment is frequently compared 2 Kings 9. â— Isa 23.1 When Subjects resist the Higher Powers they design to free and ease themselâ—â—â— of conceited Burthens and Grievances but the final issue and event of their Resistance 〈◊〉 Submission to an irresistible and insupportable load of Guilt and Misery and this they â—â—ceive to themselves as their proper Portion and Fruit of their own Doings for when they are utterly destroyed they reap nothing but what they have sown nothing is poured upon them but their own wickedness Jer. 14.16 and all the World hath cause to say that they have destroyed themselves and as Solomon speaks by provoking the Higher Powers to Wrath they sinn'd against their own Souls Prov. 20.2 became Executioners to themselves Having thus expounded the Scope and Intent of my Text I shall discourse two Things from it whereof the one is manifestly implied and the other plainly expressed 1. That Subjects must not resist the Higher Powers 2. That they which resist the Higher Powers bring themselves under the Guilt of eternal Damnation Sect. 9. 1. That Subjects must not no Subjects whatsoever may resist the Higher Powers let them be the worst that can be 'T is past all doubt That one Subject may resist the unjust force of another and Sovereign Princes and States may likewise resist the unjust Force Encroachments or Usurpations of other Sovereign Princes and States and the Subjects of one Sovereign Prince and State may in some cases resist the Sovereign Powers of another Kingdom and State but no Subjects of what Quality soever they are or whatever their Provocations be may warrantably resist with armed Force the Higher Powers that are over them whether considered as supreme or commissionated by them and subordinated to them Sect. 10. All the lawful Supreme and Sovereign Powers in the World are God's Officers and although the Specification of the Government and the manner
of its Administration may be determined and limited and the Individual Person or Persons Family or Families who shall be the Subjects Recipients of governing Authority and Power may be designed and nominated by the Interposition and Consent of the whole Community over which they preside and rule yet their Authority and Power is originally and immediately from God alone 't is here as in the Case of Marriage the Authority and Power of the Man over the Woman is originally and immediately from God but the determination of the particular Person who shall be this or that Womans Husband proceeds from the free Election and Consent of the Woman and although by a Pre-contract she may limit the Exercise of his Authority and Power respectively to her Estate and Proprieties yet she annot bound his Matrimonial Authority and Power over her Person nor will his abuse hereof be a Forfeiture of it to her And the Supreme Authority and Power with which all Sovereign Princes and States are invested being originally and immediately from God â—â—one and not communicated and derived at all from the Community there can be no â—â—rfeiture made by any male-Administration to the Community be the Contracts reâ—â—ectively to its kind of existence and manner of its exercise what they will what as not gotten by Vertue is not loseable by Vice nor can it by any abuse whatever escheat to the Power and Disposal of the Community they cannot take â—â—ay that which they did not give 't was therefore well said by Tacitus Principi sumâ—um rerum arbitrium dii dederunt subditis obsequii gloria relicta est God hath invested the â—â—ince with Sovereign Power leaving to Subjects the Glory of Obedience To the same purpose is at of Salust impunè quid vis facere hoc est regem esse He that will do a thing without fear 〈◊〉 Punishment he acts the part of a King For as Mark Anthony urged in Herod's case If he 〈◊〉 accountable for what he hath done as a King he could not be a King And the Reason is â—â—ause the Supreme Power is only under God and to be accounted for to him alone And â—â—all endeavour agreeably hereunto to prove to you That the Doctrine of Non-Resistance of Supreme Powers is founded on immutable Grounds of Reason and Religion And when there is â—â—inty of the Bond of Obedience to the Higher Powers from the Principles of Reason and Religion from the Necessities of common Equity and Order and the Interest of Conscience and Christian Duty there must needs be a very strong Obligation which is the Case of Non-Resistance against the Higher Powers as by Law established among us Sect. 11. 1. I will endeavour to evince that the Allowance of Liberty to Subjects to resist the Sovereign Power is against the Principles of Common Reason and that in divers Particulars 1. 'T is against Common Reason That the Higher Powers should be resisted by armed Force of Inferiours and Subjects because the Allowance of such a Thing would render all setled Government impracticable and indeed impossible and consequently destroy all the Means devisable for Administring Public Justice securing Private and Public Rights and Properties and preserving the Peace and Prosperity of all Human Societies The Primary End of all Government is to procure and preserve the Peace of Human Societies and where this cannot be sufficiently provided for the Government is null'd and destroyed which is the Case under consideration For if it be allowable for Subjects in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever to resist the Sovereign Powers with armed Force then it follows that they have a right to judge in what cases 't is fit for them to submit and in what cases 't is fit and lawful for them to resist and then the Subjects are the Supream Judges of the Government and their Governours which undeniably implies that the Subjects are bound to Subjection only so long as they themselves think fit and consequently may claim and exercise Authority and Judicature over their Governors and pass Judgment upon them and their Government whensoever they shall think it needful or requisite so to do And being to judge for themselves 't is very probable they will judge favourably for themselves And whereever the Supremacy of Judgment resides there is the Sovereign Authority and Power wherefore if the Higher Powers may be judged by their Subjects they are not Supream but Subordinate and Rule meerly precariously even so long and no longer than their Superiour Judges will give them leave so to do And when Men are in effect Subject to no Authority and Power but that of their own Judgments and Wills a Foundation is laid for a General and Great Confusion Where all will be Sovereigns who shall be the Subjects Where all are to command there are none to obey Let us allow Men Liberty to judge for themselves when 't is fit they should be subject to the Higher Powers and when 't is not and they may at Pleasure dissolve any Government in the World There is therefore no one Law so beneficial to the Subject as this Fundamental Law of Sovereignity That 't is unresistible and unaccountable for its determinations and from which there is no appeal For though a Society may be Governed by Mutual Consent and Agreement yet let Sovereign Authority and Power be lodged in one or many Persons it must be absolute and uncontroulable or else those Differences and Controversies which arise in that Society can never be decided and finally determined And whatever unthinking Men may fancy the Security of the Public Government from the Resistance of its Subjects is the best Security of every Mans Liberty Property and Safety Sect. 12. Let the Public Government be once Invaded and Confronted by the Open Resistance and Defiance of its Subjects and we are unavoidably and immediately in a State of War and then no Man hath any thing he can call his own and all the Admistrations of Justice are stopped and in truth all Laws lay dead and are ineffective to the Purposes of Government Wherefore if we set aside all regard to Duty and Honesty and do but consider our own interest quiet and safety we shall find Submission to the worst Government more for the Ease and Security of the Subject than Rebellion and War Let any Man of Common Ingenuity and Sense consider if a State of War be not the most defenceless and deplorable condition in the World for in such a Case no Mans Private Interest can be secured against the Injuries and Violences of other Men and when a Man hath lost his Proprieties and Safety what hath he more to lose And yet this is the Case when Men endeavour to shake off Submission to the Higher Powers by a Forcible Resistance of them they pull down all those inclosures by which their own Quiet Propriety and Safety were defended and protected Sect. 13. Let the Men of Politicks who pretend very highly to a Zeal for the
the Tribes of Israel 1 Sam. 15.17 and so successively all that were anointed Kings were Kings over Israel and not only over this and that and the other Israelite And our Laws have ever accounted the King post Deum secundus next to God and solo Deo minor less only than God in his Dominions and vicarius Dei Gods Vice-gerent and not the Peoples Vicar-general And the Oath of Supremacy is designed to agnize the King's Highness to be the only Supream Governour of this Realm And if be be Supream he is subordinate to no Person or Body Politick whatsoever if only Supream he hath no equal or coordinate Authority with his if Governour of this Realm he is over all collectively or representatively considered as well as over particular Families or individual Persons And in the Statute of 24 Hen. 8. ch 12. 't is acknowledged That by divers old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the World Governed by one Supream Head and King baving the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of People divided into Terms and by Names of Spirituality and Temporality being bounden and owing next to God a Natural and humble Obedience he being instituted and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary whole and entire Power Preheminence and Authority c. Here 't is declared that the Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of People do owe unto the one Supream Head and King next to God a Natural and humble Obedience And this Plenary Power of his is not derived and entrusted from the People but is instituted and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God And answerably when both Houses of Parliament Address themselves 't is not in a Form implying either Superiority or Equality but as humble Petitioners Faithful and Obedient Subjects e. g. in Stat. of Elizabeth 30. we most humbly beseech your most Excellent Majesty your Faithful and Obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled in Parliament Or thus we your Majesties loving faithful and obedient Subjects representing your three Estates of your Realm of England c. except we should overmuch forget our Duties to your Highness c. do most humbly beseech c. a plain indication that their Parliamentary Authority is not Imperial or Royal but consultive and approbative And by what Chymical Art or Politick Fetch any Man can from hence infer a real Sovereignty or Majesty lodged in some essential Body of Men in contradistinction to the Personal Sovereignty and Majesty of the King which is superiour to that lodged in and exercised by the King and may as opportunity offers warantably resist and evacate it is past my understanding to imagin Sect. 25. I shall conclude this Branch of my Discourse with this request to you I pray consider to what purpose are all those Ornaments of State with which the Wisdom of our Ancestors have invested the Regal Dignity if the Persons that partake of them cannot prorect themselves against the Assaults and Outrages of their Subjects but may be deposed and have a writ of ease served upon them when they think fit to judge the Power entrusted with them forfeited and to revoke it If a Crown cannot secure the Princes Head that wears it nor the Throne he sits on mount him above force and compulsion nor his Scepter awe the seditious and turbulent they are meer pageantries and pompous ostentations of Vanity and have nothing of real magnificence and usefulness in them But as delight is not seemly for a Fool so much less is it seemly for a Servant or a Subject to Rule over Princes Pro. 19.10 which concludes my Argument against the Resistance of Sovereign Princes drawn from the Principles of common Reason Sect. 26. 2. The next thing to be evinced to you is That 't is against the Principles of Religion as well as of Reason to allow Liberty to Subjects to resist the Sovereign Powers with armed Force in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever And that I may do it the more satisfactorily I will shew you both from the Jewish and Christian Constitution that 't is unlawful for Subjects to resist the Supream Powers with armed Force 1. I shall begin with some Reflections on the Jewish Constitution I find that some very learned Men have thought That in some Cafes 't was lawful under the Jewish State to take Arms against the Sovereign Power who notwithstanding affirm'd that 't is utterly unlawful for Subjects so to do under the Christian Constitution Christians being restrained by the peculiar Precepts of the Gospel from that liberty the Law in that case allowed But so far as I can judge this is an indefenceable Opinion for the Christian Constitution doth not introduce a New Foundation of Civil Policy and common Rights nor establish any new Prohibitions for the Defence of just Rights by a lawful Authority And therefore I conclude 't was unlawful for all Subjects under the Old Testament Dispensation to resist the Higher Powers as well as under the New Sect. 27. From Moses to Saul the Government of the Jews was a Theocracy that is God himself was their Supreme Lord and King and immediately exercised a ruling Power over them by Persons of his own Election and Constitution who in all cases of difficulty had immediate recourse to God for direction and accordingly when they grew weary of Samuel's Government who was thus appointed over them they are said to reject God himself 1 Sam. 8.7 and 1 Sam. 10.19 and therefore in all that time the Resistance of the Supreme Power was a Resistance of God himself the only Difficulty then is How the Case stood after Saul was invested with the Kingly Government of that People whether that Sovereign irresistible and unaccountable Authority and Power which was formerly subjected in and exercised by Moses and Aaron and the succeeding Judges and High Priests was translated to them who afterwards were possessed of and exercised the Kingly Authority and Power Sect. 28. For the right Understanding of which we are to consult what God commanded Samuel in his Name to protest to the People of Israel concerning the Kingly Office and Power of which we have an account in 1 Sam. 8.9 to 18. in vers 11. This will be the manner Mishpat the Right say some of the King that shall reign over you He shall take your Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and some shall run before his Chariots And he will take your Daughters to be Confectionaries Cooks and Bakers and he will take your Fields and your Vineyards and your Olive yards even the best of them and give them to his Servants and he shall take your Men Servants and your Maid Servants and ye shall he
Power in pulling down and setting up whom he pleaseth are we authorized to pull down our Superiors and to set up our selves because Christ hath redeemed us and made us Free-men of his spiritual Kingdom doth this warrant us to make our selves the Lords and Masters of the World because we must not subject our selves to serve Mens Lusts and Vices must we not therefore submit our selves to their legal Authority and Power because a State of civil Freedom is more eligible than a State of Bondage 't is better to be at our own disposal and liberty than to be in servitude and confined to the Will of another are we therefore to effect and endeavour to be above the Check and Controulment of the Sovereign Powers cannot Men be Masters of themselves but they must be Masters of their Superiors too 't is remarkable how very differently sincere and hypocritical Christians argue from the Principle under Consideration because 't is said That Christians are made free by Christ Joh. 8.36 and therefore every Christian Servant is the Lord's Free-man 1 Cor. 7.22 therefore some hypocritical Christians conclude themselves licensed to cast off all Subjection and Obedience to Magistrates and Masters and to live as discharged from all Conscience of Duty to them though by their present Circumstances constrained and necessitated externally to perform it but on the contrary part sincere Christians obey Governours as free but as servants of the Lord 1 Pet. 2.16 Serve the Lord in obeying their Governours submit themselves the one for Conscience sake to the other the highest Engagement and strongest Bond of Obedience that can be Sect. 61. I appeal to all considering Men if it be reasonable to believe that since Jesus Christ came not into the World to destroy the Law but to fulfill it Mat. 5.17 That is not to evacuate or relax any moral Duty but by his Doctrine and Example to fill up and re-inforce the Authority and obliging Power thereof and to commend his quiet and patient Submission to the injurious Affronts and destructive Violence of the Higher Powers as a Pattern for us to conform unto and imitate 1 Pet. 2.21 I say this considered is it credible that he hath cancelled the Obligation of any moral Duty by his death to his Followers and discharged them from Non-Resistance of the Higher Powers when they are too strong for them Sect. 62. But since 't is generally confessed that the moral Law is of universal and immutable Obligation of which the fifth Commandement is a Part and expresly requires us to Honour our Governours as all will acknowledge how comes it to pass that the Duty of this Commandement should be released or relaxed rather than of any other Is not the Observation of this Commandement of as much account with God as the Observation of the rest Is not the Honour of God and the Safety of human Societies as much concern'd in the keeping of it now as formerly why then should Christians be more limited in the Terms of their Subjection to the Higher Powers and less restrained from resisting them than the Jewish Nation when 't was govern'd by Rulers of God's own immediate Appointment The Authority Necessity Ends and Reasons of it are still the same and how comes it to pass that the Nature Grounds and Reasons of Subjection and Obedience are alter'd and the Pretenders to the Management of the Scepter of Christ must command and dispose that of the King If Conscience as God's Vicegerent must not be forced so neither must the King who represents as my Lord Coke tells us God's own Person Why should not God's Ordinance be as irresistible in the one as in the other the one hath as great a Supremacy over us without us as the other within us Sect. 63. Moreover if we are to be guided and governed by the positive Laws and Constitutions of our own Country as proper Rules and Measures to determine and limit our Allegiance and Obedience then 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and we are to abhor that Traitorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissionated by him as 't is Stat. 14. Ch. 2. And since saith Grotius on Mat. 26.52 there is no Man that doth not favour himself if it be once admitted that private Men being injuriously dealt withall by the Magistrate may repel force with force all places will be full of Tumults the Authority of Laws and Judicatures will be null and void And in his Votum pro pace ad Art 16. He affirms that Subjects ought by no means to resist their King or Prince by force or ought they to take either offensive or defensive Arms against their King or Prince for the Cause of Religion or for any other cause whatsoever and further affirms that no Government can be any longer safe than whilest those who have such Sentiments want strength And how Men that are for resisting the Higher Powers can expect to be owned as Friends to Government and presume on any Trust or Favour from the Administrators thereof I cannot imagine I shall conclude this with the Affirmation of the Church of England in her fourth part of her Homily against willful Rebellion God alloweth neither the Dignity of any Person nor the Multitude of any People nor the Weight of any Cause as sufficient for the which Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes Sect. 64. I am not altogether ignorant of the Reasonings of some discontented and interested Men to plead for the lawfulness of resisting the Higher Powers with armed Force in some cases and perhaps it may be expected that I should engage my self in the solemn Examination and Confutation of them But having proved from divine Revelation that God hath forbidden it I may warrantably say to every such Reasoner as the Apostle in another case alike depending on the Sovereign Authority of God Rom. 9.20 Nay but Oh Man who art thou that repliest against God Shall not God govern the World as he pleaseth hath he not an absolute and unaccountable Power to impart after what manner and measure he judgeth fit his own Sovereign Authority and Power to his Vicegerents and if God do not limit and restrain the Extent of their Authority and Power who shall we frequently find Jesus Christ and his Apostles endeavouring to impress on Mens Consciences a quick Sense of their Obligations to yield Subjection and Obedience to the Higher Powers but never determining or limiting the manner of obtaining their Titles or the Righteousness of their Prerogatives and Rights or their way of administring and executing them which I take to be a plain Intimation that the Welfare of Mankind and the Safety of all Societies depends on the dutiful and peaceable Deportment of the governed part thereof and that Subjects are principally concerned Conscientiousness to attend their own Duties and to leave the Menageries of the governing part of that
amongst them Suffrages gathered or any other Circumstance regularly ordered Some are old others sick others are under age of discretion c. and cannot come but equally interested with those that do and how shall those that are thus absent be concluded by the Votes and Acts of those that are present This Principle therefore is impracticable and morally impossible as well as the former and equally pernicious as well as vain Sect. 82. 6. Again let it be supposed that Sovereignty is Originally and Fundamentally inherent in the People either distributively collectively or representatively considered do they not divest themselves of it when by mutual agreement and paction a Mode of Government is Formed and Established When they have contracted to be ruled by such and such Legislators with Laws so and so conditioned and their Rights so and so limited and confined may they at pleasure re-assume their Original Power if upon Tryal they like not the Constitution disannul their Contract and make void all Laws depending on it If they can Governours and Governments are the most precarious Things in the World If they cannot then the higher Powers are uncontrollable and irresistible Sect. 83. 3. Another Objection which makes a deep Impression on Mens Minds and hath a very powerful influence to dispose them under real or conceited grievances to resist the Sovereign Powers is this if every Man from the Natural Principle of self-love be obliged to preserve and defend himself by Force of Arms against violent Aggressors as he is because no recourse can be had to the ordinary Formalities of Law for Protection then when the higher Powers become violent Agressors as they do when without and against Law they Invade their Innocent Subjects Rights and deal with them as Criminals their Subjects may warrantably resist them in defence of themselves Properties and Liberties Surely say they the Resistance of a lawless Violence and Oppression is no Resistance of a lawful Authority And if by many and positive express Laws the Subjects have Properties and Liberties reserved to them as their Rights then they must have a Right to preserve them against the illegal Invasions of the Prerogative and consequently may oppose Force to Force in such a Case Ans To desire and endeavour by all lawful means the Preservation of our selves and our just Rights and Interests is unquestionably from the dictate of Nature but to defend our selves and Interests by assaulting all sorts of injurious and violent Aggressors with Force of Arms is not so though they Invade so secretly and assault so violently that there is no place for an appeal to the Formalities of Law for Protection and Reparation because from such Aggressors there may be some such injuries as are tollerable from common humanity Pr. 19.11 and 14.29 and 20.3 Reasons of Religion Mat. 5.39 and for a publick Good 1 Cor. 3.5 I take this to be a Maxim of eternal Truth That self-defence must not in any case stand in Competition with the public Safety The Principle of Self-preservation must not be so exercised as to divest us of all Respect due to our Relations but we must consider our selves as Members of a Society and Subjects to Government as well as Men and act accordingly A Man as such by the Law of Nature may have Liberty to do that which by the positive Law of that Society to which he belongs may be Treason yea and which as he is relatively considered may be superceded by a Superiour Law of Nature for all private Interests being included in the Public and the Safety of every particular Part comprehended in the Safety of the whole the Respect due to the Public and the whole is to be the Standard and Measure and consequently to over-rule the Respect due to any private or particular security whatsoever This premised I shall refer my Answer to the forementioned Objection to several particulars Sect. 84. 1. How Men can be obliged from the Principal of Self-preservation to resist the injurious and destructive Dealings of the higher Powers by repelling Force with Force when such Resistance in the very Nature of the Thing evidently tends to the dissolution of the Government and consequently not only to the Distraction but also to the Destruction of the whole Community is not easily to be apprehended nor at all to be believed Surely 't is better that one Member be destroyed than the whole Body And 't is also in its self very evident that That which is most advantageous to the public Settlement and the Safety of the Community is of best Accomodation to the Subjects Preservation and Interest which is the Case as hath been shewed of the irresistibility and uncontrollableness of the higher Powers Sect. 85. 2. The Objection is a very plain begging of the question for it supposeth that the higher Powers may by their illegal Administrations doing Things without Law or against Law divest themselves of their Authority and thereby put themselves in the just reputation of their Subjects into the State and Condition of violent Aggressors and answerably may be so dealt withal as if no difference were to be made betwixt a Thief a Cyclops an Hungry Irish Wolf a Canibal a Mauritanian Lion and the higher Powers and those Commissioned by them when they persecute the Subjects Persons and Invade their Civil or Religious Rights without and against Law Indeed this is not the Doctrine of the Bow string but 't is such as only becomes a Chaplain to the Rumpers and Oliver's High Courts of Justice And if you consult the Statute called Exilium Hugonis which enumerates the Offences of the Two Spencers against the State and the Sentence of the Parliament against them you will find these among the other damnable Tenets of theirs there condemned viz. That they caused a Bill or Schedule to be Published containing That Homage and Legiance is due to the King rather in relation to the Crown than absolutely to his Person because no Regiance is due to him before the Crown be vested upon him and that if the King do not govern according to Law the Leiges in such a Case are bound by their Oath to the Crown to remove him either by Law or Rigour Do not the Books and Pamphlets of our Demagogues speak the same Language in effect May not Parents oppress their Children with unjust violence as well as Sovereign Powers their Subjects And may Children in such a Case stretch forth their Hands against their Parents and be innocent If the Authority of Parents will exempt them from the Active Resistance of their Children why should not also that of Magistrates exempt them in the like Case from the Active Resistance of their Subjects This is a Doctrine which makes Wives Children and Servants as well as Subjects Witnesses Jurors Judges and Executioners in their own Cause An Excellent Method to abet and promote a Legal Authority and to maintain public Order Justice and Peace Sect. 86. 3. Although the Resistance
for good And as he is so by the Designation of God so he shall actually and eventually be so to those who submit themselves dutifully and peaceably as becometh good Men and Christians to his Government Pro. 16.12 It is an abomination to Kings to commit wickedness for the Throne is established by righteousness And God doth implicitly say to every King as he did by Abijah to Jeroboam If thou wilt bearken unto all that I the Lord command thee and wilt walk in my ways and do that which is right in my sight to keep my Statutes and Commandments then will I be with thee and build thee a sure House 1 Kings 11.30 31 38. Sect. 94. It cannot be denied but they may pretend an exemption from the obligatory Force and coercive Power of all Laws of their own making but they cannot pretend so respectively to any Laws of God's making and imposing nor from the checks and restraints of their own Reasons and Consciences If therefore they usurp upon the Rights of their innocent and dutiful Subjects and in defiance to their Oaths to God and promisâ—â—y Engagements to their Subjects exercise a destructive or oppressive Power respectively â—o their Persons Proprieties Liberties and Priviledges they cannot reflect on themselves aâ—d illegal excises of Power without tremendous apprehension of the Divine Justice and Vengeance remonstrances upbraiding reproaches and severe censures and condemnation of that Judge which God hath immediately substituted within their own Breasts to pass â—entence in his Name And as it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 so a wounded Spirit who can bare Pro. 18.14 Surely that Prince will mâ—â—e a very bold adventure who shall usurp an Arbitrary Power that will render his coâ—â—ition so dangerous and troublesome How can he expect to live in Peace and Safety who lives without regard to the Bonds thereof Tyrannizing Adonibezek was Tyrannically dealt withal and forced to acknowledge God's Justice therein Judg. 1.7 As I have done so God hath required me And how terribly did God revenge on Ahab the spilling of Naboth's innocent Blood and the spoiling of his Vineyard 1 King 21.19 and 22.58 and was not insulting Nebuchadnezzar driven from Men and made to eat Grass as Oxen and his Body wetten with the Dew of Heaven till his Hairs were grown like Eagles Feathers and his Nails like Birds Claws Dan. 4.33 and was not persecuting Herod eaten of Worms till be gave up the Ghost Acts 12.23 In a word how can any Prince hope that God will protect him or his Subjects obey him who makes Conscience of discharging his Duty to neither Isa 33.1 Wo to thee that spoilest and wast not spoiled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously they deal treacherously with thee A fair warning is this to all that are oppressively and treacherously inclined Wherefore though it be not impossible that a Political Prince whose Power is limited in the Administration of his Government should shake off the restraints of his established Laws and refuse to regulate his Power thereby and consequently assume and exercise an absolute and arbitrary Power yet 't is exceedingly improbable that he will do so and by a long Succession of Princes here in England for near two thousand Years having never found it so we have no reason to be disturbed much less distracted with fears concerning it Let the worst be supposed and yet we have relief in Psal 37.5 7. Sect. 95. 4. The States of England who have ever been very tender of the Legal Liberties of their Country and very watchful to prevent all Encroachments of the Prerogative on the Subjects Rights and Proprieties and upon all due occasions have manifested aversation unto and detestation of absolute and arbitrary Power have yet acknowledged and ratified it as a standing Law That 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that 't is a Traitorous Position That we may take Arms by his Authority against his Person or against them commissionated by him Which to all unprejudiced Men is an unquestionable Argument That the States of England did not believe That 't is not inconsistent with the Nature of a limited Sovereign Power to be uncontroulable and irresistble with armed Force Sect. 96. To enervate this invincible Argument from our Legal Constitution for Non-Resistance a learned Man thus dictates to us That all general Words how large soever are still supposed to have a tacite Exception and Reserve in them if the Matter seems to require it Which being spoken with express reference to the Matter under consideration seems to me an imputation of such Collusion to the venerable States of the Nation as is altogether unworthy of that Character they ought to have in the Reputation of the whole World Let it bâ— supposed that the English Parliaments may warrantably impose Laws for the regulating of the Subjects deportment towards their Sovereign Prince composed in the most comprehensive Words devisable which are yet to be understood according to a legal Intentioâ— with Exceptions and Reservations and there is no doubt to be made that the Subject being left to spell out the equitable Intention of such Laws but they will find out such Eâ—ceptioâ—s and Reservations as shall in effect render all such Laws frivolous to the purpâ—â—â— of the King's Preservation respectively both to his natural and political Capacity And I pâ—â—sume to that this is a Rule of good Accomodation to subserve some Jesuitical Doctriâ—â— and Praâ—â—ices which by all good Men ought to be exploded and condemned This Authoâ—â— Rule of Construction being observed respectively to the Case under consideration the 〈◊〉 Intent of â—â—posing this Declaration That 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to 〈◊〉 Arms againâ—â— the King c. must be this excepting and reserving some Cases which ought 〈◊〉 be suspected and are too odious to be named Now those Cases which ought not to be suspected and are too odious to be named being no where mentioned or explained in this or any other Act of Parliament 't is evident that 't is left to the Subjects to put what Interpretation thereon they please provided they will affirm that the Prince hath done what they suspected he would not do and that he hath done a Thing very odious and abominable to them and if a Law subject to such an Intepretation become serviceable to the Security of any Prince or Government 't will be beside the Intention of the Imposer and the Matter under consideration in that Act of Parliament is so far from seeming to require such Exceptions and Reservations that they are an evident subversion of the Design of it which was to prevent the taking of Arms against the King upon pretences of the most odious Things imaginable such as is the Vsurping an Arbitrary Power
resisted Ans Although such an Act of Surrender and Alienation would be in its self null because an Act done against the common Right and Interest of the Community and in its self inauthoritative yet being a manifest Protestation that such a Prince refuseth to govern his Subjects he exauctorates himself by it for no Man can be a Governour who refuseth to govern And by alienating of his Kingdom he ipso facto dethrones and enslaves himself and being degraded to the Condition of a private Man and a resistance of him is no resistance of the Sovereign Power And although such reasoning Suppositions as are contain'd in these two last Objections suppose nothing in being but something only in possibility and are rather to be reckoned among Imaginations which Subjects may have than Actions which Princes do yet seditious-minded Men from Suppositions of possible innovating Designs and secret Leagues insinuate and impress on the Subjects Minds such suspicions of their Princes as Sect. 110. Thus I have finished what I designed for the Vindication of my Doctrine from the Objections ordinarily made against it And here I cannot but with great regret and lamentation observe to you that some among us who should preach the Doctrine of bearing the Cross patiently in case of persecution from the Higher Powers seem to endeavour to perswade Subjects to a Submission to them no longer then they are too weak for resistance I know they will take this for a Slander because they are for resistance only when the Persecution is without and against Law But I look on this as a ridiculous Evasion for the Higher Powers have no more Authority to make and execute persecuting Laws than they have to persecute without and against Laws I am sure they are under stronger Obligations to regulate their Government by the Laws of God and Nature than by the positive Laws of their Country and if the Supremacy of their Power will exempt from resistance notwithstanding their governing Administrations be a Violation of the former 't will do so too if violations of the latter also because God that restrains from resistance in the former Case doth not allow or permit it in the latter for most assuredly God is as much for the Observation of the Laws of his own making as he is for the Observation of any Laws of Mens making and will have us much more tenderly to resent a Defiance to the Authority of his Laws than a Defiance to the Authority of human Laws because of a wiser and more righteous Contrivance and more excellent and useful in order to our Safety and Happiness Sect. 111. If we must not resist the Higher Powers then we must submit to them and obey them They misunderstand the Apostle Paul saith Mr. Baxter that think by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant only violent Resisters meer Disobedience may make a Man a Resister in the Apostles Sense it is Anti-subjection or breaking out of the Rank of Subjects which the Text forbids and he that unwarrantably disobeyeth may do that though he forcibly resist not And in truth that Supremacy of Power which God hath ordained to be inherent in some above others will be vain to the Purposes of Government if it be not owned and acknowledged in a practical Submission and active Obedience Passive Obedience or a quiet Submission to a Penalty inflicted supposeth the Failure of Active Obedience either really due or challenged as due and ever implieth a Faultiness in the Sufferer or in the Inflicter thereof an offending Subject or a persecuting Magistrate and is never undergone by an innocent Man but when the Sovereign cannot be obeyed unless God be dishonoured and then only is properly denominated Obedience in a divine Construction when the Penalty suffered is not deserved and the divine Authority is preferred before the abused Authority of Man The primary End of all Laws is for the Regulation of our Actions and Manners either to restrain us from disorders and doing what is evil or to direct us to promote and do what is good and therefore the Law cannot be satisfied and fulfilled without an active Compliance and Obedience The Sanction of Laws with the Threatnings of Penalties is but a subordinate Means to this end and the Law-giver is then best pleased when the Fear thereof prevents the hurt as he intended it should do To conceit that we have discharged our Duties to our Superiors because we have peaceably submitted our selves to those Penalties are allotted to the Transgressors of their Laws is to think that Devils and damned Spirits who are despisers of God's Laws do perform their Duties to God because they suffer for their offences according to their deserts We cannot therefore approve our selves to God or Man without an active Obedience to the Higher Powers in all things which their Authority warrants them to require from us The Church of England's Doctrine of Non-Resistance Justified and Vindicated c. Rom. 13.2 And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation THE next Doctrine to be discoursed is as plainly expressed as the former is implied in the Text and 't is this They that resist the Higher Powers bring themselves under the Guilt of eternal Damnation As they that obey the Gospel Precepts shall be saved Heb. 5.9 So they that disobey them shall be damned 2 Thes 1.8 9. Now as the Evangelical Doctrine exacts Subjection to the Higher Powers so it forbids Resistance and therefore all rebellious Resisters of them deserve to be damned and without repentance shall eventually and actually be damned Sect. 112 Some Men have labour'd hard to restrain the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Damnation to a temporal Mulet or Punishment from the Magistrate only as if Resistance were only a dangerous Incentive to the Magistrate and no hazardous provocation to God at all By their Doctrine if a Rebel be strong enough he is safe enough Or if he escape apprehension and legal execution by flight or any other way of prevention he may bless himself in Peace If the Terrors of the Magistrate seize him not the Terrors of the Lord shall not reach him but if resistance of the Higher Powers be a Resistance of the Ordinance of God and a Contempt of the Authority of God as well as of Man why should not God be offended as well as the Magistrate and the Offender stand guilty of Damnation before the Tribunal of God as well as before the Tribunal of Man 'T is not often that Rebellions are prosperous and successful and therefore the Church of England exhorts us in her Sermon against willful Rebellion in Part the Fourth saying Turn over and read the Histories of all Nations look ever the Chronicles of our own Country call to mind so many Rebellions of old time and some yet fresh in memory ye shall not find that God ever prospered any Rebellion against their natural and lawful Prince but contrariwise that the Rebels were overthrown and slain and such
Crimen Devoratorium Salutis a Sin that devours Salvation that destroys all right to it hope of it and fitness for it The Despisers of Government who are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities and then by a Parity of Reason Rebellious Resisters of them too are of the Number of those presumptuous and self-willed unjust Ones who are chiefly reserved unto the Day of Judgment to be punished 2 Pet. 2.9 10. and those addicted to Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Murthers Envyings and such like manifest Works of the Flesh which is evidently the Case of Rebels shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20 21. Rebellious Resisters are Criminals which imagine mischief upon their Beds set themselves in a way that is not good and do not abhor evil as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 30.4 they conceive and plot the Matter betake themselves to Consultations and Debates concerning it weigh Circumstances and fore-cast Events contrive the most convenient Method of executing it and their Hearts are fully bent and set on it they resolutely determine to bring it to the Birth and to give it to their Power its utmost perfection by the actual Perpetration of it and most indulgent adherence to it and if such a Scene of wickedness doth not infer a damnable Guilt what can 'T is not a thing done from a Child-like weakness of Ignorance Inadvertency Surprise and suddain Surreption but from the Strength of a Man from the serious Proposal Consideration Reason Judgment and Attention of the Mind the settled Choice and Determination of the Will the Audacity and Stoutness of the Heart and the Vigor and Activity of the Affections which is a Temper and Deportment of Spirit utterly inconsistent with Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and consequently the Predominancy of it denominates the Subjects thereof in a State of Damnation Sect. 139. 1. Infer Then by the Rule of Contraries Adue Subjection to the Higher Powers is an Argument of a State of Salvation as a State of Disobedience and Resistance to the Higher Powers is a State of Disobedience and Resistance to the Spirit and Purport of the Gospel so a State of Subjection and Obedience to the Higher Powers is a State of Subjection and Obedience to the Spirit and Purport of the Gospel and that is a State of Acceptation with God and Salvation by Jesus Christ I do not mean that all that do not habitually or actually in a rebellious Manner resist the Higher Powers are in a State of Salvation but I mean all that are obedientially subject to them are so i. e. that conscientiously honour their Persons as the Ministers of God and submit to their Government in a constant Course of Obedience to their Laws and Administrations so far as they are for the publick Good for God's sake and with chearfulness and thankfulness according to the Will and Constitution of God pay tribute to them as their due for that Protection and Safety under God they partake of from them For as love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 so is Subjection to the Higher Powers in a right qualified Sense too for there being but one Authority in the World viz. Gods he that sincerely submits to his Authority as such in one thing is habitually principled and disposed to do so in every thing the Reason of his Obligation is of an universal extent and force and equally engageth him to every signification thereof and therefore if he willingly submit himself in one thing he will do so in every thing A qua tenus ad omne valet consequentia As he that offendeth in one point of the Law is guilty of all Jam. 2.10 Offendeth against the same Authority which enacted and ratified all the rest though the Violation of one is not formally and expresly a Violation of all the Law yet 't is virtually and reductively so because it reflects Contempt on the Authority of God upon which the obliging Force of the whole Law depends and is an affronting of the Sovereignty Wisdom and righteousness of God manifested in all the rest these attributes of his being as much concerned in the Establishment of the one as of all the rest So he that is really subject unto and observeth rightly one of God's Laws Ordinances and Institutions as such hath respect thereunto for the sake or the divine Authority therein expressed and makes the fulfilling of the Will of God the prime Motive and Reason of his Obedience he hath virtually and reductively submitted unto and observed all the rest because the same Motive and Reason which determines and governs his respect to the One is of equal Obligation Power and Influence to determine and govern his respect to all the rest When a sincere respect to the Sovereign Authority of God hath a predominant Power and Dominion in a Man's Mind and Heart it bringeth him to God's Foot disposeth him to devote and resign himself to the Will of God in all things seeketh not his own Will but the Will of God as Christ did Joh. 5.30 saying with him not my will but thy will be done Luk. 22.42 and not as I will but as thou wilt Mat. 26.39 and not that I will but what thou wilt Mark 6.36 and with St. Paul what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.6 i. e. He is readily prepared to fulfil all God's Wills throughly furnished to walk before God unto all pleasing and to be fruitful in every good Word and Work Wherefore he that sincerely honours the King for God's sake and as his Minister he sincerely fears God because the one is necessarily founded and implied in the other and God hath so concatenated them unto and complicated them in each other that they are no more seperable from one another than Light from Sun beams Sect. 140. 2. Infer Then they who engage themselves in a rebellious Resistance of the Higher Powers run a desperate Hazard they are very near the Condemnation of the Devil himself they put their Lives in their hands and are in Death's often and if they dye in actual commission of this Sin they pass into the other World under the actual Guilt thereof and there will be judged and confined to a Condition as unalterably miserable as the Devils of Hell are in as they could not repent of it before they died because they died in the actual Commission of it so neither can they repent of it after they are dead because there is no such work to be done in the other World If the Work God hath given us to do in order to a blessed Immortality be not finished in this life there is nothing to be done in order to it in the next There every one must receive the Things done in his Body according to that be hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 the final Sentence refers not to any thing done after the seperation of the Soul from the Body but to what was done in the Body only for the Life to come is the proper State of Rewards and Punishments and not of probation and trial He therefore that dyes impenitently dies unpardonably Sect. 141. And this is not only the Case of Rebels who are cut off in the very Act of Rebellion but of all other wilful Sinners who dye in the actual Commission of Sin their unrepented guilt passeth with them into the other World and there everlastingly abides upon them and renders their Condition desperate so that the Case of all impenitent Sinners becomes by death immutable for he that departs this Life dead in Trespasses and Sins or is in his Soul dead towards God as every one is that dies under the Power and Dominion of Sin he is translated into that state of Sin and Misery from which there is no redemption because the Justice of God hath actually seized him and executed the irrevocable Sentence of the Law upon him The Day of Grace and Life expire together Psal 95.8 when Death comes Judgment immediately follows Heb. 9.27 and then the State of the Sinner is unchangeable He shall never return to another life of trial and have means afresh to bring him to repentance and to correct the Errors and Miscarriages of his former life but in the place where the Tree falleth there it shall be Eccles 11.3 as his Condition was when Death cut him down so it shall be without alteration to all Eternity Sect. 142. How warily and circumspectly then should we carry it in our Deportments in all manner of Conversation we may dye in the Commission of the next voluntary Act of Sin or in the wilful Omission of the next Duty and so put our selves beyond the possibility of Repentance and shall we be so mad as to put it to the adventure whether it will be so or no Wherefore all that put themselves into a State of War are especially obliged to consider well what they do and to be well assured that they never engage themselves in battle against the Higher Powers to whom they owe Subjection lest they fall by the Edge of the Sword render their Sin unpardonable and themselves for ever uncapable of a Title to heavenly Felicity and Glory Sect. 143. Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ are the great Gospel-terms of the Remission of our Sins and the Salvation of our Souls Acts 20.21 and Ch. 2.38 Mark 16.16 and these are confined and limited only to this World and are not at all performable in the next Wherefore if we sin when there is no place for the Interposition and Exercise of these Graces which are peculiar to this present life our Condition will be irremedilesly miserable final and wilful Impenitency and Infidelity is the grossest Self-murther And he that dies a wilful Rebel dies in the damned State of the Devil FINIS
the Statute of the 13th of Ch. 2d 't is in General Terms Declared Treason to Levy War against the King within the Realm or without And to cut off all Pretences from the Grounds or Nature of the War as Defensive only or as engaged in from the Authority of a Parliament or of the Lords and Commons we have in two several Statutes this Declaration That both or either Houses of Parliament cannot nor lawfully may raise or Levy any War offensive or defensive against the King his lawful Heirs and Successors In which Statutes also the sole Supream Command and Government of the Militia is Declared to be by the Fundamental Law of England ever the undoubted Right of the King And where could it be better placed for the Subjects Interest than in their Sovereign Prince and Supream Governour Sect. 21. There must be in one or other either in some single Person or some Community of Men a Supream and Chief Authority which hath the Principal and Highest Command of the Strength and Military Force of the Nation or else the Military Power will be under no command and consequently the Subjects will not know whom to obey with respect to War and Peace nor no Arms regularly used for the Suppression of Intestine Rebels or the Resistance of Foreign Enemies And who so fit to possess and execute such a Supremacy of Government as the King whose Interest as well as Duty obligeth him to preserve the Persons Estates Rights and Liberties of his People And this Authority by our Original Constitution being seated in the King and by subsequent acts of the Legislative Power Declared to be solely in him it cannot be lawful in any case to resist him because he cannot I say be resisted by an armed Force without Invading the Power of the Sword in which we have no Right and therefore cannot use it against him without the Guilt of Rebellion Sect. 22. 4. 'T is against common Reason that the Higher Powers should in any case and upon any Pretence whatsoever be resisted because all Resistance from Subjects against the Higher Powers is utterly inconsistent with their Relation and Condition for they that resist are not Subject 'T is contradictio in adjecto a meer Solecism to affirm That the Highest Power may lawfully be resisted because the Highest Power cannot have a Superiour and that which hath no Superiour cannot have a Superiour Power exercised over it Where ever there is a Supremacy it is inseperable from a Right to impunity and universally exempts from coercion and correction Where a King then is not obeyed his Majesty is lost He hath not a Principality but an Inferiority in his Country Resistance is coercive and punitive and implies a Superiority For he which resists assaults to controul counteracts to countermand opposeth the Will of his Sovereign to impose upon him his own and consequently starts from the Condition of a Subject and sets himself up in the Throne of Sovereignty Where we acknowgledge a Sovereign Authority there we yeild Subjection and Obedience from the one flows the other as an effect from the Cause but where we resist a Power we disclaim and renounce the Sovereignity of it for we resist it that we may not be under but above it They that resist the King will not be his Subjects but his Superiours will not receive Laws from him but give Laws to him reject his Rod and snatch away his Scepter will not act as Subordinate Instruments but as Principal Agents in the Administration of the Government Sect. 23. But what saith the Prophet Shall the Axe boast it self against him that heweth it Or shall the Saw exalt it self against him that moveth it Isa 10.15 So 't is as absurd and unreasonable that Subjects who are inferiour and ought to be subservient unto the higher Powers should assume to themselves Power to resist them They have a Power and fitness to act in their proper Places in an orderly way of dependency and subserviency to the Sovereign Power but if they resist the Sovereign Power they leave their proper rank and station and will not be where they ought but where they should not be And I am sure God being the God of Order and not of Confusion cannot approve or allow that we should Desert our own proper Places to thrust our selves into anothers We must abide in our proper Seatings and not go up higher and take the Place of our Betters As there is no Power but of God so there is no Power but is Gods and the Subordination of Subjects to their Sovereign being of Divine Ordination the Subordination is to God himself and therefore Subjects are not only obliged quietly to abide under the Predominant Force and Strength of their Sovereign but likewise to make a Voluntary Resignation of themselves their Understandings Wills Powers and Interests to his directive Wisdom and preceptive Will actively obeying what he justly imposeth or passively enduring what he inflicts for Disobedience So that the Allowance of Liberty to Subjects in any case whatsoever to resist their Sovereign is a plain contradiction to the Moral Relation of Subjects to their Sovereign and equally as absurd in the Moral Order of Things as 't is in the Natural and Local Order of Things for the Feet to ascend above the Head Sect. 24. When therefore some learned Men affirm that the King is Major singulis greater than any of his Subjects singly considered but Minor universis less than the whole Body of them collectively considered unless they understand it respectively to the Safety and Welfare of the Community to which the King belongs as a Part and not respectively to the Governing Power thereof 't is false and unreasonable For though the Preservation and Safety of the Community be the Supream Law yet 't is of the Community concretively and not discretively considered the Governing Part as well as the Governed Part is comprehended therein the Preservation and Safety of the one being concatenated unto and included in the other 'T is true every Community considered simply and antecedently to the Constitution of a Government therein is warranted and authorized by the Natural and Positive Law of God to Design and Nominate some particular Person or Persons to be the Rulers and Governours thereof but this is not the Communicating of any Authority or Power that was inherent in themselves before but only the Condition of the Applicatition of that Authority and Power which God as the Fountain and Efficient Cause deriveth to be exercised subordinately to himself by one Man over another And therefore supposing a Community setled under a constituted Government whether we consider the governed Members thereof divisim or conjunctim singly and a part or united and altogether they are one and all equally Subjects and altogether as well as asunder obliged to Subjection and Obedience and accordingly the higher Powers are over Kingdoms and Nations and not meerly over particular Persons Saul was called the Head of