Preachers suffered in King James his Time all that he laid upon them and that with patience enough and since his Descrtion they have had no Temptation to speak either of Resistance or Non-resistance for the truth is that this is one of those sort of Doctrines which is in the Text but is not yet got into the Creed it may come into the Pulpit and may be kept out of it it will neither do King nor People good but when external Emergencies call for it In peaceable and quiet Times when Law and Justice flourish and there is little complaining either in House or Street if Preachers harangue upon Non-resistance they puzzle and confound the People and give 'em ill Work to find out possible Causes of Resistance and to examine the Grounds and Reasons for Non-resistance But when the People grow peevish and froward quarrelling and complaining against daring and designing upon the Government then the Doctrine of Non-resistance and S. Paul's Text for it may be brought forth to awe and scare them to terrifie and affrighten them to allay their heat and fury and to bring them to a more discreet Temper to the Exercise of Christian Patience and Modesty Upon this account many have much commended the Labors of the Church of England Divines in the late Times of Contrasts and Oppositions of Plottings and Counter-plottings because they did much good in supporting of the Government and for the restraining of the Madness of People and toward the prevention of Intestine Broils and Civil War But yet seeing the Preaching or not Preaching upon that Subject is matter of Prudence and depends upon times and seasons and many by considerations from whence it may either do good or harm it must be confess'd that Sermons of that sort were not every where received with the like favour and submission Because some feared that great Evil to the Kingdom and Nation might come from them inasmuch as they naturally tended not only to tame and subdue the People by allaying their zeal for their Civil Rights and Interests but likewise they might embolden evil Ministers and Counsellors to set the King upon the pernicious Project of making his advantage of the Subjects good nature and easiness toward the subverting of their Religion Laws Rights and the enslaving of the whole People For that reason many said that the Preachers were too warm and went beyond their boundaries for they ventured sometimes to treat upon matters that were only to be concerted betwixt the King and his People in a Parliament they did not think that the Magna Charta was against the Law of God tho it is not altogether the same with Samuel's Declaration 1 Sam. 8. They did not think that God would damn Men for defending and securing in all just and fair ways those Rights which they have received from their Forefathers by vertue of a National Constitution that has remained one and the same for some Hundreds of years They observed that there is but one Text declaring the damnation of Subjects resisting but there are Hundreds that threaten as highly Kings and Governors and Potentates who are injurious and oppressive of those that are under them Now if Charity govern Men in the choice of that Subject and it be designed to save the Souls of the People from damnation they wished that there were intermixed a little Charity toward the Souls of Kings that they too might be rescued from the damning sin of Oppression And it was thrown our with an under Correction that if Kings would venture against so many Texts upon Gods pardon to enlarge their Powers the People might as well venture against one to preserve their Rights Besides it was somewhat sharply and angrily said by the Men who had been intrusted in Parliaments and in the management of publick Affairs That seeing the Clergy challenged spiritual Powers by vertue of the Text and would not allow Kings or Parliaments to limit abridge or straiten their Rights They might well leave the temporal Power to the Text too which is the Law of the Land and the proper Interpreters of it which is a Parliament and not presume dogmatically to determine against the use of that which at sometimes is the onely natural and necessary means to obtain and secure to themselves Right and Justice Thus Men differed and spake their thoughts freely concerning the usefulness and effects of those Discourses especially as to the point of Prudence in the timing of them But yet whatever they said it is manifest that the Preachers designed no base or mean thing to betray their Countrey their Religion or the Laws to the arbitrary disposition of the King whilst they persuaded to Christian Patience and Submission because the same Men that preached up Non-resistance did with Courage and Spirit enough in proper time and place appear in the behalf of the Laws and the established Religion both against Popery and against all unjust usurpation of the peoples Rights and if at other times they did any thing toward the correcting a tumultuous and rebellious humor to prevent Civil War and Confusion the Nation has the benefit of their labours and all persons of Justice and Equity owe them due thanks But yet our Historian is as angry as if a Hare had crossed him in the way something has happened which he thought not of and who can help that He might have thought better They are in and perhaps he is out for that reason he will think that they have changed their Principles Alas this is gross mistake They did their duty in declaring to the people that they ought not to resist but they never became Warrantees to the late King that in case of Wrong and Injury they would not All the World knows that it is good for a Nation that the People should think that they ought not upon any pretence whatsoever resist their King so that the King does but at the same time remember that Oppression makes a wise Man mad and that an injured people always did and always will endeavour to recover or secure their Rights as well against their King as against their Neighbours He must have rare Skill in Language and Argument who can prevail upon a people to be willing to be Slaves when they may and ought to be free or to stand still and see their Goods taken from them merely because another has a mind to them If they must lose in one kind they expect to gain some other way for generally they are of Saint Peter's mind when he said to our Saviour Matth. 19. 27. We have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore The Question deserved an Answer and upon it our Saviour gave a most gracious promise of advantages in this World and in the other too Had we the like Promise in the Case of Submission or Non-resistance to Princes who will be Absolute and Arbitrary Divines would have a better Argument and might expect better effects of their
himself prescribed when he gave them power of ruling and governing If we say that the necessity of human Affairs does require that Princes should be unaccountable in this World it may be allowed so far as that necessity appears but then their Exemption from Check or Controul does not derive from the Source and Origine of their power that is from God but from another Cause which must be fairly made out upon the Compare of Benefits or Mischiefs that happen from the one supposition or the other But when men say that because Kings receive their Power from God they must have no letts from human Constitutions of doing what they will good or bad and then distinguish that though they are uncontroulable unaccountable in this World yet they are accountable to God and must give a strict Account to him and that for the same Reason because they receive their Power from God I should think that such men are unkind to Kings and treat 'em with the most uncouth Courtship in the World For they do in effect tell them this You are great and powerful you may do what you please you have none to fear but God nothing to be affraid of but Hell and Damnation Others are awed by human Laws they are kept in and restrained from doing the Evils they might do they are made better than they would be and so put into a way of Salvation but you Great Princes you are entirely free you may do as you will as you have none above you so you have none to awe you none to give stop to you in all the eruptions of nature or humour but only God and his last dreadful Judgments I should think a Christian Prince should give a Courtier but little thanks for such a Speech as this as he has a Soul to be saved he must rejoyce in God's preventing Grace and give thanks when ever it pleases God to keep him from doing evil and he may likewise be glad if by Laws and human Constitutions his ways were so bounded and fenced in that it might be impossible for him to deviate from Righteousness and Justice so he would be in the ready way of being Happy here and Glorious hereafter As to the Interests of a King of England it is but vain to search into the Source and Origine of his Power how it may be said to be from God or how from the People seeing he has that singular happiness that if he will Act truly his part according to the National Constitution he must appear in the Exercise of his Power altogether Divine like God Himself He is Great and Powerful his Person is Sacred his Actions unquestionable He does good and nothing but good inasmuch as the Powers of Dispensing of Favours and Benefits the Power of Rewarding Advancing Preferring of giving Riches and Honours to the Industrious and Well-deserving the Power of Protecting Defending Relieving Pardoning the poor or miserable are intirely left to Him But then the Power or Impotency of doing Wrong Injury or Evil to others is absolutely taken from Him A King of England as such can do no wrong if he does it he stretches beyond himself and the Man is too hard for the King because according to this National Constitution all those Acts wherein wrong can be done are to be done not by himself but by proper Ministers and Officers who are accountable for the actions which they do or may have done Thus the Kings Person is Sacred and his Actions unquestionable and they that do wrong are answerable to the Law and may suffer according to their demerits This certainly was a happy Contrivance of Wisdom in our Fore-Fathers to secure the Veneration that is due to Princes and withal to provide that goodness and Righteousness may flourish in their Kingdoms The Subject every one of them either by himself or his representative agrees that he will be hanged or Gibbetted submit to the halter or the axe if ever he be mutinous or rebellious against the King His King he will Love and Honour Serve and Obey Fight and be willing to Dye for Him He shall be Great and Powerful Dreadful to Enemies abroad and Dreadful to Enemies at home and have all the Assistances of Men and Moneys to inable him to do all the good his heart can wish for if he will but ask it and that His Majesty may yet be more Bright and Illustrious He in his particular in all his Actions shall be unquestionable unaccountable On the other hand the King agrees that he will Protect and Defend his Subjects Support them in all their Rights he will use their Assistances to beat down and subdue all their Enemies and take Care that they may Live in Peace and Prosperity He will not oppress or trample upon any whether great or little Nay He will not leave it in his own Power to be able to do wrong or injury to them And therefore He will make Laws by his People's Consent in Parliaments He will Conduct the Interest of the Nation by Advice of his Subjects in Council He will Rule by Officers and Judge by Ministers chosen out from amongst themselves and that in all Causes both between themselves and between himself and them who shall pronounce and determine about right and wrong and who is guilty and who is not without the least appeal to him And then lest those Judges as Men should warp aside and think that they may be able by their goodly appearances to bear down right and set up wrong they themselves shall not be impowered to pronounce a Judgment in any Cause but as a Jury of Neighbours Twelve Men chosen out of the Voicenage shall first find it to be After all this The King agrees that Ministers of State Privy Councellors Military Officers Judges in Courts and each particular Jury-man shall be questionable and accountable punishable for any corruption oppression wrong or injury that by Law he shall be found guilty of and that as much as rebells are which too has actually been done in several Reigns How Venerable and Divine is this whole Disposition and Order of Affairs What appearance is there of Wisdom and Goodness that is of God in it If a Prince would be Great he must be Good and if he keep to these Methods he must be both And if a People would have happiness in this World they must either find it in such a Constitution as this or seek it in Vtopia Why then do Men trouble themselves to seek for the Source and Origine of Power and think they do much in shewing that it comes from God and God only Whereas we have here before us Power running down from the Fountain-head a long way and in all its course like it self the same it was pure and clean and in all its appearances Divine and God-like it acts just as God would have it and tends to all those glorious Ends for which God gave it and to which God requires and
have an Historian or Advocate for the Cause of King James who thinks to be friend him by telling the World that so many of the chief of the Clergy for so long time together did preach Passive Obedience Now it is as clear as the day that there can be no exercise of this Duty nor ought there be any popular Exhortation to it but at such a time when there is a very ill Prince and a miserable People what then would our Author have does he design to publish an everlasting blot upon the memory of the late King James does he design to tell the World that he was resolved to do mischief to his People That nothing could correct or retain him That he would go on tho the Pulpits sounded out Passive Obedience and his People were taught that there was no hope of Justice or Equity from him and that they must think of suffering and dying rather than obey him This is severe it will furnish out a worse Character of King James than any of his Adversaries have yet given him it will justifie the Recession of his People from him and show to Posterity how it came to pass that so easily and suddenly he fell to the ground For who can read all these so many Pleas Advices Instructions Exhortations to Passive Obedience but he must reflect upon the Causes and Reasons of them and if he does so he will be forced to think that at that time wicked Counsels governed and lawless Violence prevailed and that the whole Nation was clouded with a dismal Appearance of Oppression Persecution and Tyranny For seeing that a Prince ruling by Law and with Justice cannot be put off with any thing less than Active Obedience and nothing can exercise the Passive Obedience of Subjects but vile and base and wicked Commands contrary to Law and Religion we must either blame those Preachers for amusing their Auditors with needless Thoughts of unjust Sufferings or we must blame the late King for giving too much cause for just and reasonable fears of them Now what can be said in his behalf to acquit him no Man has yet told us But our Historian has effectually vindicated the Preachers he every where commends them and their Writings this he tells us was well said that excellently that incomparably He likes their Doctrine and finds no fault in the timing of it and likely enough he had reason to believe the Doctrine as proper to the Time in which it was delivered as it was true in it self If so the late King is again deserted by this Historian as well as by the rest of his People and his Cause like himself falls to the ground for why must he do ill things and why must he load his People with dreads of worse Why did not all this noise about Passive Obedience awaken him Why did he not give stop to his Proceedings when his People owned so loudly their fears of Mischief Could he think it a small thing to make his People miserable or to be thought one that would do so All this was intimated by those Sermons and Tracts From thence he ought to have taken warning to desist and his Counsellors ought to have persuaded him to it for certainly popular Discourses about Passive Obedience are as instructive to a Prince to move him from designs of doing ill as they are to the People to engage them to be willing to suffer wrong From hence I am forced to blame our Historian for perpetuating the Memory of these Discourses it were for the honor of the late King that they were forgotten Those excellent Divines would never have revived past Actions or the grievous sad Thoughts which they had when they composed or delivered their excellent Arguments and Persuasions for Passive Obedience They could wish from their Souls that they never had occasion for them tho they are ready to morrow to write the same things upon the same grounds which with good reason they hope that they are not like to see as long as they live Why then does the Historian take pains to collect all these things together He can do no Service to the late King by it and he does not seem to design the Honor of the Preachers It is hard to guess his meaning but if he tempts out an ill Thought he must blame himself He gives us nothing else to think but that he might be one of the Adepti one of those who knew the Secret for in the late Times they tell us there was a Secret The Ministers of State they say who knew the Resolves of the Court to be harsh and severe made it their business to persuade Men to preach and talk up Passive Obedience that what could not be done by the Power of the King might be gained by the easie Submissions of the People This was Machiavel to purpose It is sad and lamentable that so excellent a Doctrine should be abused by such designs of naughty Men. If our Author was one of their Instruments and knew what he did he can neither excuse himself to God nor Man I will undertake for our excellent Divines whom he commends and I and all others must do the same that they were never thought so base as to be trusted with the Knowledge of such a pernicious Design They out of Honesty and Sincerity preached against Rebellion and persuaded Men rather to suffer than obey evil Commands but they would not for all the World that the innocent and conscientious should be cheated of their Lives and Fortunes by any Discourses of theirs Therefore when it was proper they preached up this Doctrine but when it was not they let it alone because they would not have the People to rebel nor would they give Encouragement to such as might be willing to oppress them in both these things they did their Duty both to the King and to the People It had been well if others would have done the same and spoke as plainly to the King as they did to the People But it was very ill done if done at all to persuade the King that the People of England were so subdued by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience grown so tame and easie that he might do what he would pull down and set up what Religion what Law he pleased It is certain that all the Preachers in the World could never persuade them to this for tho the People be Loyal and willing enough that the King should have his Dues yet they were never thought a Nation of Asses fit only to bear Burdens As they are not born Slaves and by the Constitution of the Nation ought not to be made Slaves so they have more Spirit and Wit than to suffer themselves to be cheated into Slavery Their Forefathers for many Ages have made a difference between the King and his Counsellors tho they would suffer the one yet they would not suffer the other and certainly the Men of this Age should not be thought so dull
as not to distinguish between Honoring the King and Obeying Father Petre and that tho all the Protestant Preachers had talked of nothing else but Passive Obedience For Preachers can do no more than tell the People their Duties and they must tell them all their Duties but if they stretch beyond and require more than they ought the People will find it out and will not part with their Rights for a Word tho it sound never so well But they did their Duty they preached Passive Obedience not Slavery they would have Men to be true to their King but not false to their God or false to their Country this was understood and their Doctrine was received kindly and practised faithfully Thence it came to pass that all Sorts and Orders of Men prepared themselves for Suffering some of all ranks actually did it for Nobles Judges Magistrates Gentlemen Citizens Burgesses every where took up the Cross and chose rather to Suffer than to Obey that is do what by Law and Reason and Conscience they ought not to do This was well But others went beyond these for tho they suffered much yet they seem at this day to be grieved that they did not suffer more They had so fixed their Thoughts upon the performance of this Duty that with a Scrupulosity not to be presidented they take no pleasure in their Deliverance because they have lost the opportunity of dying for their Religion to gratifie no very commendable Humor of their Prince These are very extraordinary effects of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and such as may be accepted but some Men will be satisfied with nothing for our Historian is angry and it is likely the Politicians of the late King his Jusuits and his Priests are angry too inasmuch as their Expectances are not answered they have not all which they designed and hoped for the Nation is not enslaved they have it not in their power to cast Church and State into a new Model and to give Laws to the People of England as well as they did to the late King This is cause enough to make Men angry for they have lost a rich Booty and such Advantages as they are never like to get again besides they have lost their Credit and Reputation so as never before happened to Men of their fineness in Sophistry and Contrivance and that by a despised clot pated People such as had no higher reach than to do their Duties to God and to their King Thus Righteousness God be blessed must sometimes triumph in this World Honesty and Probity have their Successes as well as Slight and Craft and may they always have so But tho the Jesuit had cause to be angry at this yet why should our Historian we know him not and cannot guess what Designs he had nor how his Plots are defeated but yet he is angry and as much as if he had lost a good Bishoprick or a good Deanery He gives us a History and sets a Preface before it and a Conclusion at the End of it the Head and the Tail are his he frowns and bites with the one and then he stings with the other He tells us that he finds Passive Obedience much in Writings little in Practice That we must acknowledge to our shame that this with other Doctrines are more illustrious in our Books than in our Lives Preface p. 2. But then in the seventh Page of his Preface he has a long sharp biting Character of certain Persons which is to be read one way and to be understood another for tho it seems to say no ill but to provide for the Acquittal of all yet it is so phrased that according to the modern Figure called Innuendo some Readers will find in it a very severe Reproof and others a mere Calumny All this comes from Anger and something worse and it shews that the design of our Historian was not to teach the Doctrine of the Church in this point what it was in it self how it ought to be stated by whom it had been owned and by what Arguments it had been proved and who had best cleared it from Objections Mistakes and Misapprehensions This had been a Work worthy of an Historian But this was none of our Author's Business they are the Writers upon this Subject that have offended him he would do them a mischief shoot at them in the dark and wound them in secret he would have the World to think that they and their Writings their Lives and their Books do not agree he desires nothing else but this and seems resolved to have his Point whether his Reader grant it or no. At the first Onset in his Preface he says it boldly and says it with Advantage That they ought to be ashamed it is so Then he gives us a large Catalogue of the Sayings of excellent Persons transcribed out of their Books but does not give us one Word of their Lives nor does he tell us whether all of them are alike guilty or only some nor does he give us any one Action of any one of their Lives to justifie his Reproof This is certainly a gross dull way of calumniating should another imitate it with that Indignation would he read and despise the Author For suppose another should take for his Theme Murder or Adultery or Drinking or Swearing or Lying and gather together out of his Writings and out of all his Friends his Acquaintance or Neighbors Writings and many others too all they have said against any one of them suppose it be Lying only and compose as large a History as this and then say in a stout scornful Preface That we must acknowledge to our shame that a sense of the Sin of Lying is more illustrious in our Books than in our Lives Such a thing as this might be done but when it is done it can tend to no other end but to beget an Opinion in the Readers that such and such Writers all of them were a pack of lying Knaves Now this were basely done our Author would think it so were it his own case Horace makes an instance of a like Treatment and with Indignation says of the Practice that it was meer Canker and Venom Hic nigrae succus Loliginis haec est Aerugo mera Ser. Lib. 1. Sat. 4. Had our Author annexed to his History the due Praises of those who had performed their Duties of which sort he might have found many amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and amongst the Commons too and then given us the Grounds upon which he judged that others failed in theirs he would have deserved Thanks for his Remarks as well as for his History for then his Book might have done good by exciting some to repent for what was past and others to be more cautious for the future But to give a stop to this sort of Discourse let Anger be gone and all unwarrantable Passion laid aside I will now endeavour fairly to consider our Author's Notion of
Passive Obedience and accept in it what is to be accepted and take the freedom to oppose what I judge not defensible As for the Sayings of our excellent Divines I will not prejudice my Thoughts by the Reverence I have for their Authority I will not therefore consult their Words lest I should be tempted in the proceed of the Dispute to shelter my self under their great Names and so perhaps I may engage a whole Army to fight when a single Duel or a small Skirmish may put an end to the Action First then I and my Adversary must shake hands we will agree as far as we can and where we cannot we must wrestle it out I will therefore grant several things that are in his Preface according as they appear in the Pages as pag. the 1st First That the Doctrine of Passive Obedience or Non-resistance of our lawful Superiours has been a Doctrine founded in the holy Scriptures and recommended to the Christian World by the practices of our Saviour's more immediate followers and that the Church of England hath asserted the Principles of obedience to Princes as the best Ages of Christianity owned and practised it Secondly P. 2d I will grant too That it is the duty of every Christian actively to obey his Superior in things lawful so that the last word be duly interpreted and that it is the duty of every Christian in things unlawful to suffer rather than obey And I will grant further all that S. Paul says Rom. 13. 2. Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Thirdly P. 4th I will grant too That these Doctrines are not Apostolical and such as ought to be preached in all the World First That Power is originally in the body of the People Secondly That the foundation of all Government is laid in Compact c. Thus much we give and that freely and it is enough to satisfie any fair Adversary But yet I must tell him That when he has all this he has no reason to censure reproach and blacken the Lives and Actions of so many excellent Persons He has no ground from thence to disparage the late Revolution or to think himself able to wheedle us into an opinion that we have done ill and that we ought to repent much rather than give thanks to God or Man for the happiness we enjoy Certain it is that when the effects and consequences of those general Doctrines come to be seen in the practice of Men as some may slinch from their Duties and do too little so others may require more than Duty and expect too much For the Interests of this World blinds as well on one side as on the other and he that censures most boldly is not always the most just and impartial Man Defeated Ambition can easily charge Ambition and worldly mindedness upon a prevalent Party and Spite will throw out as freely and as goodly words as plain downright Honesty can Let us then consider these three things again First Obedience Secondly Non-resistance Thirdly The Origination of Power and see if we can frame clear Notions of these and find out the particular distinct Duties which Men must be obliged to in consequence of them 1. Then as to Obedience It 's plain that this is due to Kings to all that are in Authority and that by Laws by Oaths by the Laws of God by the Laws of Men the publick good and the interests of Nations require it Without this there can be no Government and the People have more need to be governed than a King can have to Govern therefore they must obey not so much for wrath out of fear of punishment but for their own sake for Conscience sake for God's sake and for their Countries sake This is to be given frankly and fully with all chearfulness and upon all occasions in all instances where it is possible Nothing can be pleaded in bar to it but onely want of Power If the Laws of God or the Laws of the Country which oblige us to obey our Kings make obedience in some instances morally impossible then we must not obey because we cannot for what we cannot lawfully do we cannot do at all But where we are at our own disposal not under previous necessary Obligation there publick good Law and Reason require us to obey without reserve trick or device For we must do what we can to support Government and to carry on the ends for which Men are incorporated into Bodies Politick Therefore in doubtful matters we must obey as far as ever we can and never omit our Obedience but where the Cause is most clear and most urgent there is no excuse no exchange to be made but the Duty must be paid in kind Suppose that a great part of the People should take up a resolution not to do but to suffer a Prince would have a very ill bargain if he accept the one in exchange for the other For their sufferings can do him no good and he and his People too may be undone for want of their doings He must have assistance to repress the Thief the Robber the Murtherer to secure his People from Pyracies and Invasions Besides what a shame it is that Princes should be so basely employed to find Racks and Gibbets and Halters and Hangmen for their People They have their Power for nobler ends to defend to save to do good to give praise to them that do good Rom. 13. 3. And when they execute wrath they must do it upon the Evil-doer and that with this design that they may save many by taking off a few or else all their Executions are stark naught There cannot therefore be a bargain driven between King and People of giving and taking sufferings instead of doing for Kings must be obeyed and the People must obey the one cannot punish and the other cannot suffer but upon account of Transgression and the Law declares the greatness of the fault and the extent of the Punishment But yet some are apt to think that Subjects may be acquitted of their Duty to their Prince by suffering as well as by doing and when they have called the one Passive Obedience and the other Active they say the Prince is obeyed and has his due and ought to be satisfied This seemed once to be a fundamental in the Quakers Doctrine who would take a Cudgelling a Whipping a slashing or Imprisonment with a great deal of satisfaction whilst they would make themselves a distinguish'd People from others by unaccountable humors and fansies and tho they gave disturbance to their Neighbours and trouble to the Government yet they would think themselves good Subjects and very much obedient to the Prince only because they suffered This was and is a gross mistake for they that suffer suffer because they do not obey the Prince the Judg the Executioner they themselves all think they do not obey for neither would he punish nor
pardon and so may very well pardon their King too because as he hopes better from them they may hope for better from him The common Offices which Charity requires from one private Christian to another are certainly as well due to Kings Subjects must look upon themselves under Obligation to suffer long and to be kind not to behave themselves unseemly not to seek their own not to be easily provoked not to think evil to bear all things to believe all things to hope all things If these Duties were but well discharged towards Princes all the rest that can be truly comprehended under the name of Passive Obedience would be much more easie Let Subjects do these sincerely and heartily and stop a little and think they will soon find that they must yield more and give greater allowances to Princes than to fellow-subjects because they are higher Powers they are ordained of God they bear the Sword they are to execute wrath upon them that do evil and they are to give Praise to them that do good These things are of high consideration and they should beget in the minds of People a great Awe and Veneration for the Persons of Princes for infinite are the Advantages that every single Man receives from the Administration of Justice and the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments What if Praise and Wrath sometimes mistake their way and the first flies to the evil and the latter to the good This is no more than what God 's own Thunder does as far as we can understand The best Marks man may sometimes miss and the worst hit the Mark. When we undertake to vindicate God's Providence we are forced to bring in extrinsick Pleas and when we have done all we confess that we do not understand the reason of Events but we believe that all is well because all comes from God If we did but use a little of like Submission when we examine the Actions of Princes in many Cases we may be content to say that we do not understand thereby we shall shew not only a Reverence to them but a Reverence to God too they are but Men and may oft fail and are always fallible they do mistake but the cause of their Mistakes are mostly from Subjects these design and contrive one against another and misrepresent and the Prince hears from them and sees by them and the Law provides Punishments for those Misrepresenters and acquits the Prince because it seems impossible that one Man should find out such a number of honest and good Men to supply all the Trusts which he is to provide for and never be cheated with one Knave therefore if such a one will crowd in the Prince is abused and it cannot be help'd but the Knave is to be punished and the Prince excused from blame Besides The Work and Business of Princes is the hardest and most difficult that any sort of Men upon Earth have because they have so many to order and so many to defend so many to reward and so many to punish so many that expect from them and so many that must be disappointed in their Expectations so many to deal withal that are false and base and so many that are dull and sluggish so many Knaves and so many Fools Upon these Accounts and many others innumerable Princes ought to have all Favour and all reasonable Allowances in Miscarriages all fair Abatements for Mistakes and Errors in the choice of Ministers and Instruments that are to serve the Interests of the Commonweal For it is certain that all the Laws Rules and Methods of conducting publick Affairs which the Wisdom of Ancestors for thousands of Years have found out will not answer all the Behoofs of a Kingdom Old Rules are oft laid aside other Expedients found out and new Laws made All the Prudence and all the Wisdom in every Age when best imployed is little enough to keep Government steddy and the People in good order to repress the Outrages of the Factious at home and give stop to the Contrivances of ambitious Enemies abroad Princes therefore are to be supported defended excused pleaded for as long as any plausible Pleas can be made for them it is not enough that they are not taxed censured reproached calumniated blackened but there is great reason that they should be gently treated kindly dealt withal the best Construction and the fairest Interpretation is to be put upon theâ—â— Actions Law makes the Persons of Kings sacred and their Actions are not to be examined without great Respect and Veneration If Subjects suffer not altogether according to Rule loss of Goods of Honors of Powers they may and ought to bear it patiently as long as they see any thing like Reason for it if they can but think that the Good of a Nation requires it that the Necessities of humane Affairs will have it or that their Sins against God call for it they do well to indulge themselves in all such meek and humbling Thoughts thereby they will really practise two great Duties of Fearing God and honoring their King Thereby they shew their Abhorrence of Plots and Conspiracies of the Counsels of the Factious and Seditious that they have no part with those who would overturn Kingdoms and States Princes and People Religion and Laws to greaten themselves to advance Projects and Devices Tricks and Humors of their own They shew that they are good Men whilst they submit their private Concerns to the publick Good and they shew themselves to be good Subjects seeing they in reverence to their Prince bear all that which in reason can be thought tolerable They that do this do a great Duty a thing very commendable in it self it is that which God requires all that which the Interests of Princes can need and as much as the Good of a Kingdom can allow The excellent Divines of the Church of England have endeavoured with all Care and Attention to ingraft this upon the Hearts and Minds of their Auditors and they have had extraordinary effects of their Labors for if all things be fairly considered since the beginning of K. James's Reign it may perhaps be found that no Nation in the World did ever deport themselves with greater Submission Resignation and hearty Obedience toward a Prince than this has done View the Actions of his Parliament of the Nobility Gentry chief Burghers reflect upon their Fears and Jealousies and let him that can challenge them for the least provoking Action or neglect of their Duty until all things tended to confound him and them too about the time of the fatal Desertion For what could the late King wish what could he desire Would he be great and powerful formidable to Enemies abroad or Enemies at home He had all things at Pleasure his Parliament gave him Monies beyond Example largely his Nobility raised him Forces the Commonalty readily offered their Lives to serve him he had Hands and Hearts and Purses of all Orders of Men at his Command
each strove to outvy the other in Loyalty and Dutifulness He had the best opportunity that ever Man had to be great if he could have been contented to have been King of England or would have considered that he was a King of Englishmen Why should he think his People to be Fools or Rascals that they would part with their Laws or Religion for an Humor merely because he thought that they might be as well without them Their Forefathers had for many Ages past laboured hard to get their Laws fixed fairly and evenly betwixt Prince and People for the good of both And their Religion at the Reformation had singular Advantages to be cleansed from all the Corruptions which Folly and Vanity had brought upon other Churches and the Professors of it have in all Times since been as industrious and curious to find out and as free and impartial to discover any thing that looked like Mistake or Error in the first Settlement as ever Men were We have all that Christ and his Apostles taught all that the Primitive Fathers recommended as Christian Doctrine We can part with nothing as the Papists own because all we profess is pure and simple Christianity and if we would take in what they have superadded we must submit to a most heavy Burden of gross Cheats and Errors But yet the late King would try he would make the Experiment whether we would be willing to part with our Laws and our Religion he would use his Art and Policy to get them from us and he has had the unhappy Fate of Projectors Upon this Account our Historian is not satisfied with what we have done or suffered He thinks himself concerned to lay before us so many Sayings of our eminent Divines on purpose to convince us that we have not yet fulfilled all the Measures of a Passive Obedience he would have it thought that we have apostatised from the Doctrine of this Church or as he says that this Doctrine is more illustrious 〈◊〉 our Books than in our Lives The Truth is we are not hanged the Northern Heresie is not yet extirpated we are not put into the condition of French Refugees that we should be forced to leave our Goods and fly from our Country to save out Lives Our Church is preserved and we are delivered from the Rage and Fury of petulant Enemies We bless God for this If he be grieved let him find out that Fool who is willing to be hanged to gratifie his Humor with a scurvy Sight or to put him into a better Mood Neither can God nor Man please some Persons Passive Obedience is a Duty but it is no further a Duty than God hath made it to be so it is large enough of it self it will not endure to be put upon the Tenters if you stretch it never so little you will make that which is good in it self to be stark naught it is a Vertue as long as it stands upon its own grounds if it steps beyond those it is no longer a Vertue but a Fury We must Obey we confess and submit to Suffering as far as God and Reason call for it as far as publick Good and the Constitution of the Government requires it But must we not only submit but court Suffering must we expose our selves to it run upon it make it our care and business to find it A certain Divine has said and Hand in Margin directs us to note it That Obedience we must pay either active or passive if we can't do one we must the other But it was not his Mind that we should pay Sufferings just as we do Money go at a certain Time and Place and tender it and then be sure to give good Coin and full Tale. We may not pay we may escape we may get away from mischief our Savior has given us leave when they persecute uâ— in one City to 〈◊〉 into another Can any Man be so barbarous as to blame the French Refugees for following that Rule of our Saviour They have fled out of the Dominions of their Prince and saved their Lives and if they could they would have saved their Fortunes â—oo and not paid him one Farthing of that Passive Obedience Do they sin in this Are they disobedient for this Men submit to the Outrages of a Prince and so they do to a Fever or the Plague and tho they submit to God's Providence under those Calamities yet they use all fit and proper means to lessen to abate them and if possible to be recovered from them In the utmost Extremities of Subjects and highest Insults of Princes against Religion and Right many things may and ought to be done 1. They may make their Defences and plead their Causes Thus did S. Peter and thus did S. Paul and thus did the Primitive Fathers when they could be heard and when they could not they published their Apologies and made the People Judges between their Prince and them by disclosing the merits of their Cause to all the World Our Savior himself encouraged them to this by promising to give them a Mouth and Wisdom which all their Adversaries could not gainsay He promised them too the best Advocate that can be the Holy Spirit to speak in them and for them and that too when Rulers and Governors Kings and Princes should appear against them Matt. x. 18. 20. Ye shall be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake Take no thought what ye shall speak for it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father Our Reverend Bishops when of late they were brought before Judges I think for Christ's sake and the Gospel's sake they did not wholly abandon themselves to the Will of their Prince nor so act as if they thought it Duty forthwith either to do or to submit either to pay him Active or Passive Obedience for when they could not do the first they did what they could to avoid the second They stood upon the Defence and used the best Mouths and best Wisdoms the best Pleaders and Advocates in the Nation to justifie their Actions to clear up their Innocence And tho that Vindication of themselves did more affect the Interests of the late King than if they had raised up Arms against him yet do I not hear that any one of them has repented of it nor do I see cause why he should 2. But then further they may pray to God to find a way for their Deliverance All grant that Preces Lachrymae Prayers and Tears are Weapons which the Christian always may and upon all occasions ought to use but yet the Stretchers of this Doctrine ere they are aware seem to extort these from us for if it be our Duty to give unto our Prince either so much in Active Obedience or in lieu of that so much as is equivalent in his Opinion of Passive we cannot pray to God for deliverance because we cannot pray to God to free us from giving to our Prince his
Discourses But seeing the Non-resisters have no promise of Pardon for their other sins and so of Salvation the Non-resisters who have forsaken all must come to S. Peter's Query and ask What shall we have therefore And the Resisters who have saved all will hope to escape damnation as well for that sin as for all the rest It must be confess'd that there are many and good arguments from Reason from Policy from Law from Scripture for Submission or Non-resistance of Kings and that of bad as well as good and in most cases too But when the main stress of the Assertion is laid upon one Text of St. Paul which threatens no less than damnation to the Offenders against that Point there must be great care taken to fix the true sense of the Text or else Men will deduce from thence very incredible things which will easily be discovered to be false and so instead of recommending a Duty they will blemish it and beget in the people a disgust to it And who knows but some of the inferiour Clergy in the late times might offend in this kind seeing it was generally said that they had too great a regard for a busie Writer who then presumed to lay down monstrous and destructive Principles against the National Constitution and yet dared to challenge to himself the Title of being a gentle Guide or humble Hinter to those Gentlemen Tho he and they did make great use of that Text yet both might be mistaken in the sense of it it is not unlikely and it is possible that their mistakes in the event may have done good to the Nation for extravagant Discourse like harsh Physick many times operates the quite contrary way from what was designed After all their noise and pudder I must say that I do not find that Men have spoken clearly either the Nature of the Sin or the Weight of the Punishment They do not tell us what Resistance signifies nor yet who are the particular and onely Objects of a damning Resistance nor yet lastly whether Damnation in the Text speaks nothing less than downright Hell and Eternity of Torments for many sins may be in their nature damnable but they that have committed them need not presently be concluded certainly to be damned Denials Refusals Oppositions made against Opinions Desires Demands especially if others be solicited to join in with the Opposers may in a large sense be said to be Resistances but yet such actions may be far enough from being damning sins or else many times woful must be the condition of Privy Counsellors of Parliament Men Lords and Commons and of Judges who will not allow of Kings Patents which are against Law Suppose such a Case should have happened amongst us which once was betwixt Ahab and Naboth must he that acted Naboth's part be damned for refusing to part with or exchange his Inheritance Or suppose such another clownish Churl as Nabal who sent the unmannerly answer to David or had it been to Saul a King in possession If in consequence to that Answer when the Commissioned Officers came against him to kill and spoil him and all his he had appealed to Law and stood upon his defence till the matters were brought to a legal Trial he might be said then to have resisted and therefore perhaps he might have deserved to have been whipped for his sauciness but it is somewhat too much to think that he must needs be damned for it But David's case is much worse when his Master sought his life he listed Soldiers and seised upon strong Holds and stood upon his defence in a way that looks like open defiance so far was he from submitting or surrendring himself to Saul's Officers or Saul himself and after all we do not find that he repented of this Sin or begg'd God's pardon for it What now can we have no hopes of God's mercy toward David Must he for that resistance certainly be damned or if he had a particular Dispensation from God yet I fear his Soldiers had not and their case must then be deplorable for the reason and justice of Gods proceedings in the case was the same always and St. Paul's Text does not seem to speak a new designment of God to raise the Interests of Kings higher and subject the People lower than they were before Something therefore for David's sake should be thought on that the Text should be so limited that we may have some hopes for him and for his Soldiers too But yet we have a nearer Case that is piteous and deserves some thoughts and that is the Case of George Walker poor Man he is one of Solemon's wise Ones who by his wisdom has saved his City He has done a brave Action and all that hear it commend and admire it excepting the late King's Soldiers and perhaps in their hearts they admire him too But after all the praises and commendations of the generality of Mankind and those coming freely and sincerely upon the supposition of true Interest without design of daubing or flattering the great and the proud must I say this Man after all this be thrown into Hell and damned as one of the worst of Miscreants Such judgments as these will confound the genuine and most delightful Idea's that Men have of God's Goodness and Wisdom they may serve perhaps to adorn a Discourse for absolute Reprobation or upon the excellency of damning for damnings sake without regard to Sin but they can have little other use for glory to God or Man for good of King or People These and many other Cases ought to be well considered before we fix the Sence of the Text because as in all Sciences one Truth agrees with another so in the Interpretation of Scripture every single Text that stands by it self must be expounded according to the Analogy of Faith that is the general Agreement of the rest But Secondly There is further Matter of Consideration about the Person that is to have the Benefit of Non-resistance it is many times very difficult to discover who He is and it would be hard if upon a Mistake in that point the erring Person should be damned in the strict sence of the Word There is something that governs in human Affairs beyond the Thoughts and Imaginations of Men the Wheel goes smoothly on but of a sudden meets with a rub and the Carriage perhaps is overturned the headless Multitude then stare and wonder and say the like was never seen before and yet the like has oft happened What seemed to be ruled is over-ruled and then men seek for their Rule and know not where to find it Thus men are almost fatally confounded they think and act contrary to one another and yet each believes himself in the right and that he has strength and clearness of Reason on his side It s very possible that our Historian is still for King James and thinks him now as truly King of England as he was before And it is very
which does not derive from the Text but from previous thoughts which Men have entertained concerning Slavery and Freedom As they are affected to the thing so they judge that they find Argument for it Now I for my part am for the later interpretation because I have a good Opinion of Liberty or Freedom but if another prefers slavery and thinks he has Argument from that Text to be a Slave let him be a Slave and let him enjoy his Opinion of the thing and of the Text too I shall not hinder him But I must say it would be an undecency in him to call my understanding into question for differing from him because I have the highest Probability the Concurrence of the Wisest and the best in all Ages on my side But yet this may be done because when Men leave common Sense and seek for extraordinary Notion they usually grow froward and troublesome Tacitus remarks in the 14th of his Annals that some who had got into their Heads that flight of the Stoicks That a Wise Man was a KING presently begun to be busy and medling and very scornful of others Ea male intellecta arrogantes faciebat turbidos It is pity that such little things should give disturbance to Kingdoms and Nations but it cannot be help't for it is Opinion that governs Men and it is not what is great but what is thought to be great that stirrs them A little before the fatal overthrow of Jerusalem there were many warm Persons in it who had their Heads full of Fancies and particular Notions and for the sake of them they could run upon the most desperate Enterprizes but they would not know the things that belonged to their Peace Pliny has a saying that has much puzzled Physicians and Criticks He says that Men die of Sapience or Wisdom per Sapientiam Mori The Physicians find no such Distemper in their Books but guess that he means a Phrensy Something there is that gets into Mens heads which seems to them that have it to be high Wisdom but to others a meer Phrensy which is extreamly mortal and pernicious Solomon so long ago advised properly against it and it were to be wish'd that his Councel might yet be taken He says Ecclesiastes 7. 16. Be not Righteous overmuch neither make thy self overwise why shouldest thou destroy thy self It is hard to think that Men should be either over-righteous or over-wise but if Men will affect impracticable Notions without sufficient Grounds and look upon them as their Righteousness or their Wisdom and that meerly because these are against themselves and destructive of themselves they may well enough be said to be over-righteous and over-wise Thirdly The Third thing to be spoken of is the Origination of Power and this is a Subject which I could willingly omit because I judge it for the Interest of a Nation both King and People that the People have as High and as Reverend Thoughts as they can both of their King and his Power Let them think that they have their King from God and that he has his Power from God and let him think so too all this tends to good because it will make him in the Exercise of his Power to Act in the fear of God and by vertue of that fear to abstain from wrong and to do Justice And it will awe the People with a dread of their King's Majesty and of their God's and so keep them from being froward and peevish mutinous and rebellious whilest they believe themselves in such actions not only to be offenders against the Law of the Land but sinners against the Will and Pleasure of God Upon this Account I could willingly chime in with the Compiler of this History and with him fault Hobbs and Milton and Doleman or Parsons and with him declare against those Doctrines That Power is originally in the Body of the People and that the Foundation of all Government is laid in compact as he says in his Preface And I could say with him in his conclusion pag. 132. That Power is only from God These may be allowed him or let pass without altercation so that Men use them according to their natural tendency for the Support of Righteousness Justice and Goodness But if these be used to dazzle and amuse People that others may have advantage to Rob and Spoil them If by vertue of these a passage is made to let in upon a Nation a lawless Power Wrong Injury and Tyranny If Law Religion common Sense must all be laid aside and one of the best framed Polities in the World must be subverted by ill consequences and forced Pleas deduced from these Doctrines we may certainly have Liberty to examin both the Principle and the Deductions we may consider what the one will bear and how the other is laid upon it If we must be Slaves it is all one to us whether we be made such in the way of Hobbs or of this Historian it is all one whether a King has his Power from God or from the People if he must be absolutely absolute and be obeyed without reserve without consideration of Law and Right And if a King must be a Monster altogether Arbitrary meer Will acting at pleasure without bounds or limits he may as well be made such by the People as by God and of the two the People are the more likely to make the Monster because God is always Wise and Good and all his Actions are Just and Right and therefore as there is more of God in Power there should be more of Goodness and Righteousness in the Exercise of it It seems therefore a Design ill laid to challenge for Princes an infinite Power of doing what they will without Check or Controul from National Constitutions because their Powers come from God or to be zealous to fetch all the Powers of Princes from God for this purpose that they may do evil things securely that they may do what they please right or wrong without danger or hazard without stop or lett If we believe the Apostle Rom. 13. The Powers that come from God and are ordained of God are not they cannot be a Terror to good Works but according to this way of discoursing they are as terrible to the good as to the bad and that for this Reason because they come from God Had Princes that singular Excellency of Nature which God has that they neither would nor could do evil they might then be allowed to act as he does according to the good pleasure of their Wills without Controul But if we assert that they may do evil they may oppress rob spoil kill murther and do all the base things which any other man can do for which they have no License or Power from God why may they not then have some stops from human Constitutions to lett and hinder them from doing those things which God never gave them power to do and to keep them in those Methods of acting which God
Rights or to deliver us from doing our Duties 3. We may accept of deliverance and that in ways extraordinary without making the strictest examination of all the niceties doubts scruples which may occur in the case Thus certainly St. Peter did in that remarkable action related Acts 12. He left his Chains his Goal his Guards and followed his Deliverer tho he had all and many more causes for scruple than those which now adays give so much trouble and seem so insuperable For First He was committed to Prison by his King upon that account he might have thought it his Duty to obey in all things lawful and patiently to submit in the rest or else according to the other way of expressing it That what he could not give to his Prince in Active obedience he ought to make up in the Passive Secondly His King went in the way of Justice and designed to bring him to a Tryal Upon that he might have thought that a secret withdrawing of himself would disparage his Cause and in the Opinion of others speak him guilty Thirdly His King acted in behalf of the established Law and Religion Josephus tells us he was one who had a great zeal for the Jewish Constitution Polity and Worship Upon that account St. Peter might think that his King acted from Conscience according to his Duty in prosecuting of him and therefore he was bound at the command of his King to declare plainly and openly upon what grounds he a private person undertook to draw people off from the settlement and a long and most legally established Worship to a new one especially he could not but see what himself taught 1 Pet. 3. 15. That it is the Duty of every Christian to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in him Fourthly The Case of his Guards of the Keepers of the Prison-gates was most deplorable he could not but see that his escape would be charged and revenged upon them upon that he might think that he ought not to do evil that good may come of it to save his own life he ought not to give cause and reason for executing of so many innocent Men. Fifthly There is another thing which though much less yet may give matter of scruple for what will not that in this sudden flight it is not likely that he should pay his Jaylor for Fees or Diet. Upon this account he might think that his Honesty would be questioned and he would be accused of doing wrong and defrauding another of his dues and that other Christians who should afterwards be committed would suffer hardship and ill usage for his sake and therefore he had better stay where he was and give his Jaylor and his Prince and the Law all they could require and take from him and so pay down a compleat Passive Obedience in full measure and tale by dying to gratifie his Prince's humor and expect the Reward of his Action from God This he might have thought but he did not for he followed his Deliverer out of the Prison and took care to make good his deliverance by absconding for near five years after as Computers reckon it Had he been under those strait boundaries of Conscience in this case which others think they are Had he had their Rules of Duty could he have seen it to be his Duty to stay in Prison and suffer according to the will of his King he could not have followed his Deliverer though he had been an Angel Gal. 1. 8. and he could never have prevailed upon himself to have believed that an Angel of God would have moved him to act contrary to his Duty He accepted of deliverance and the whole Church that then was blessed God for it and in like cases so may and ought others to do and that without penetrating into all the grounds of nicety and scruple which Men seldom do but when they design to seem extraordinary and then usually they refine upon Morality and set down Rules of Duty which neither Humane Nature can bear nor Christianity requires and for the most part they are against the good of Societies and do alike mischief to Kings as to Subjects Seeing then we are not by Gods Law so abandoned to the will and humor of a Man though he be our King but that when he proceeds in Methods of doing wrong and injury of ruling by Power against Law we may flee from him we may plead our Cause and Right against him we may pray to God to give a stop to him and we may accept of deliverance from him We must say that the modern Doctrine of Passive Obedience is stretched beyond its bounds for we are not obliged to make it our business to give and pay him that which he has no right to take we are not obliged to put our selves into his way and give him opportunity to cut our throats We are not obliged not to move others to intercede for us and if they can with justice to defend and preserve us we are not obliged to refuse a deliverance if it comes to us But if Force prevails and we are to be knock'd down by Violence against Right and Justice we must take care to fall as decently as we can submitting to God's Providence and giving all respects to our King as far as our Case will allow if our Calamity comes from him For this will bring credit to our Memories and to our Religion and may do good to others who shall be in our condition by appeasing of wrath and displeasure how unjustly soever conceived against them or us I will end this Discourse with one Remark upon the Case of Isaac He was a noble instance of a very extraordinary Obedience he submitted entirely to the Will of his Father and of his King for Abraham was both to him but yet the Praise of that wondrous Action related Gen. 22. falls to the Father and not to the Son Much is said of Abraham's Faith and little of Isaac's Obedience whatever other Reasons there are for it one is very obvious and plain That it might not be a President from whence Kings might measure their Rights and Subjects their Duties So much of Obedience Active and Passive The next thing to be treated of is the Doctrine of Non-resistance This our Historian tells us has been avowed by the Church of England ever since the Reformation Preachers and Writers have declared for it and that with a great deal of warmth and much advantage especially in latter days Upon this Account he would have it thought That Men have swerved from their Principles and that this Doctrine as well as the other is more illustrious in Writings than in Lives Now this Censure I challenge to be very hard and unreasonable because it does not appear that those Men who preached up Non-resistance before have ever preached for Resistance since nor have they who persuaded others to Non-resistance resisted themselves The
directs the Use of it It exerts it self to those Purposes for which St. Paul tells us 1 Tim. 1. 9. That the Law of God was made not for the Righteous to oppress them but for the Lawless and Disobedient to beat them down to shame as well as punish them In these Methods a King may be strong and mighty able to throw down and cast down strong Holds and Imaginations and all that exalteth it self against God and Goodness and Himself too If then men will have us to say that Power comes from God and only from God we may well allow it because we know that Nature and an inclination to sociable living and Order come from God and only from him all these are good and God is the Giver of all good things and besides we find so much of goodness both for King and People in this National Constitution that we may well think that God himself by his Providence did influence our Fore-Fathers to agree and fix upon it But now if men from this speculative Notion of Power descending down from God will draw and force out Consequences and by vertue of them will set up and pull down at pleasure make new Frames of Government and Schemes of Policy If they will say that this excellent Disposition of Affairs must be thrown down and the English Law be laid aside and right and wrong become mutable at pleasure if they will say that Kings of England must be absolute and obeyed without Reserve and all this only for this Reason because their Power comes from God I hope that they will expect that we should beg their Pardons they may think that we judge their Logick deceives them and that they left their Aristotle too soon A Philosopher once undertook to demonstrate that it was impossible there should be any such thing as Motion and he talk'd prettily upon the Subject but all the while he talk'd men of plain sense laught at him for his vain design yet however he went on demonstrating and they laughing So it is Men engaged in a bold Adventure will go on whether they have or have not hope of Success If Men would but consider fairly they must see that there is a vast distance between their Principle and their Consequence it does not follow that because God gives Power therefore Kings must be free to do what they please or that they cannot be restrained by National Constitutions to exert their power in particular ways and methods For who knows but the Limitations and Restrictions of power may come from God too for there are no more miraculous Attestations to the Divine Origine and descent of the one than there is of the other And it would be agreeable to God's goodness to do it because Power is in it self a very flexible thing that may be bent and bowed this way or the quite contrary it is like unto Nature which as it came from God was very good but as the man who had that Nature and was therewith made upright sought out many Inventions So the King who has from God the power may do the same The man thought many of his own Inventions to be his Nature and to come from God and a King may think many of his to be his power and to come from God Therefore as God gave new Laws to limit and bind in the man and his Nature so he may and it were agreeable enough to his Goodness if he should in the Course of his Providence direct and order Affairs so that there might be Limitations and Restrictions given to the King and his Power But besides according to the usual Course of things God generally gives Bounds to Power according to which it shall or shall not operate and therefore as he makes one Power so he makes another answerable to it as he makes the Agent so he makes the Patient as he makes Fire so he makes combustible Matter to receive it and to feed it or else the Fire will soon go out God gives to men Power over the Beasts of the field but if a man will command any one of them he must treat 'em in ways agreeable to their Natures and make them to find that it is good to be commanded He that comes on the blind or the sore side of his Horse may have a kick and he that will vex and fret his Dog may have a Bite and none in such a Case will blame either the Horse or the Dog but the indiscreet Master God gives to Kings Power over men their Subjects but if a King will treat his Subjects just as the indiscreet Master does his Horse or his Dog he can hope for no better Returns than what the other finds Men and Beasts by the Frame of their Natures are in this much alike you have them you loose them they come to you or run from you just as you treat them give them kind Usage and fair Treatment they both will follow and serve and endeavour to please but if they find that they must be abused kick'd and starved if they find nothing but the Effects of Wrath or Contempt that they must be trampled upon each of them will get off and shift for it self and seek a more easie and comfortable State of Beeing Now this Temper whether in subject Man or subject Beast coming from God as well as Power in governing King or governing Man the one of these must be suted and accommodated to the other and must proceed in all Actions upon the supposition of it and as it is the Mans part to find out the proper Ways to gain upon the Beast to win him and make him his own fit for his Service so it is the King's part to find out and to use a due and proper Managery for his People by which he may bring them in to himself and beget in them Trusts and Confidences towards him God makes a Power in one to lay on and in another to bear but he that lays on must consider what the other can bear or else house and all manner of impositions will come to the Ground and possibly overthrow and ruine him in the Downfall Every Power has some Bounds and natural proper ways of exerting it self whereby it becomes effectual and of use He that would have Food from Cows or Cloathing from Sheep or Service from Horses or Dogs he must provide for them that first they may do well for themselves before they can do well for him he must therefore feed them and defend them from Fears and Affrightments such as usually hinder them from attending to their own Necessities and Interests But he that will not give 'em whereon to feed or if he does puts Wolves and Lyons amongst them to scare and terrifie them must never expect good or benefit from them Thus it was and ever will be what way soever the Man came to have Power over them right Titles to them whether that was from God or man by Donation or