Nation into Shambles than that of being passively obedient And Lastly this Assertion is destructive of it self and never can contribute to the end for which it doth pretend to be designed viz. The preservation of the established Religion against the pleasure of the Soveraign for by What Laws are We authorized to resist for Religions Sake the Laws of God expresly forbid it By the Laws of the Land but these Laws deprive all Subjects of any power to resist the King by taking Arms against him Since both by Common 25 Ed. 3. c. 2. and by Statute Law it is plain Treason to levy War against our Lord the King in the Realm or be adherent to the Kings Enemies Since our Law plainly saith that neither Houses of Parliament jointly or severally 13 Car. 2. c. 6. and much less any other Subjects can lawfully raise or levy any War Offensive or Defensive against his Majesty his Heirs and Lawful Successors and That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King our hands are therefore tyed up by our own as well as by Gods Law for where 't is Treason to resist there remains nothing to be done P. 92. but to be passively obedient If therefore as this Author grants when it is made death by the Law of the Land to be a good Christian we must lay down our lives for Christ's Sake and the Gospel requires passive obedience when the Laws are against a man must it not require the same obedience when it is made death by the Law of the Land to take up Arms against our Lawful Sovereign When then this Author so pertly puts the Question P. 81. By what Law must we dye for being of that Religion which God approves and would have all the world embrace and hold fast to the end 'T is evident that the first Christians might with equal reason have put this question to St. Paul and Peter By what Law must we suffer for our obedience to the Laws of God doth he ask By what Law must we suffer for professing that Religion which is by Law established let him but grant this reasonable Postulatum that the Laws of God are as sacred and inviolable as the Laws of men and lay an equalty upon the hands of Princes and then the question will again return upon him and unto both these questions the answer is most plainly this That we must do it by virtue of that Law of God which doth enjoin us for Conscience towards God to endure Grief suffering wrongfully and when we do well and suffer for it 1 Pet. 2.19 20. to take it patiently and by that Law of God and of the Land which doth forbid resistance of the Higher Powers by taking up the Sword for when I cannot lawfully resist that power which will punish I of necessity must suffer or transgress When he adds That no such power is lodged in the Prerogative as to destroy men contrary to Law it is as true that no such power is lodged in the Supremacy as to destroy men contrary to Gods Law or even to make a Law which contradicteth the Divine Law and therefore no such Power is given them from God as to destroy the Christian for the Profession of Christianity or for obeying Gods revealed will or for not sacrificing unto Heathen Idols And yet God did enjoin all Christians when they did suffer upon these accounts to suffer patiently and not resist It is not therefore any Authority which God hath given to the Prince to punish men for doing well that binds the Christian thus to suffer but the plain Law of God and of the Land both which forbid them that resistance which alone can hinder it No Master hath Authority from God to deal perversly with his Servant no Parent to deal unnaturally and unjustly with his Child but yet I hope this will not authorize them to resist and to rebel against Master or Parent when they thus suffer by them and what can then remain but that they quietly do suffer wrongfully FINIS
the only true Religion then in being that he would not allow the Exercise thereof at Rome but did inflict great Penalties on the Professors of it under his Government the Images of Caesar were brought into Jerusalem by Pilate as an Affront to their Religion and the Treasures of the Temple were seiz'd upon He by his President did crucifie the Holy Jesus and killed with the Sword St. James the first of Christian Bishops there so great an Adversary was he to the Christian Faith and yet our Saviour owns that his Authority even against himself was from above John 19.11 and that it was not lawful in defence of his own Person to take up the Sword against him Claudius was a debauched and vicious Person and barbarously cruel Suetonius declares that he was a very Prodigy of Lust that he was of a most salvage c. 33 34 37. c. 25. bloody Temper he was so great an Enemy to the right Worship of the only true God that under the Name of Jews he banished the Christians from Rome Suet. c. 16. Tacit. l. 15. p. 363. At the Command of Nero the Christians were exposed to the most exquisite Punishments saith Tacitus they were torn in pieces of Dogs and nailed to the Cross or being roul'd in Pitch were so committed to the Flames and made to serve the use of Torches in the Night These were the Persons which the Christians of that Age in Scripture are forbidden to resist and were commanded to obey in all things lawful to be done So that from hence these two Conclusions will arise First That Christians must be subject to their Civil Magistrates and in no Cases are allowed or authorised forcibly to resist or to bear Arms against them Secondly That in all lawful Matters they stand bound to yield active Obedience to the Commands of their Superiours And First That Christians must be subject to their Civil Magistrates and in no Cases are allowed or authorised forcibly to resist or take up Arms against them may be evident 1. From those Expressions of the Old Testament which reprehend and positively condemn all evil Speeches of the Higher Powers which say Thou shalt not revile the Gods Exod. 22.28 nor speak Evil of the Ruler of thy People against which Text St. Paul confesseth he offended when he said to the High-Priest God shall smite thee thou whited Wall altho that High-Priest even then commanded that St. Paul should be smitten contrary to the Law Acts 23.3 and so was an unrighteous Judge And seeing by occasion of the Misgovernment of evil Princes Men through impatience of Spirit might be apt to break forth into disloyal Thoughts and undutiful Affections to them even when Fear restrains them from seditious Speeches or rebellious Practices the Wise-man strictly doth prohibit even these Risings of the Heart against them saying Eccles 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy Thoughts do not wish any Evil to his Person Crown or Government no not in thy most secret and inward Thoughts Now hence I argue thus If we may not speak Evil of the Ruler of the People much less may we act Evil against him if we may not revile him with the Tongue we may not smite him with the Fist if we may not say unto him thou art wicked Job 34.18 we cannot surely judge or pass the Sentence on him as a wicked Person and much less may we punish him as such if we may not have an undutiful or disloyal Thought of him much less may we do an undutiful or disloyal Act towards him 2. This will be farther evident from the Deportment of the Man after God's own Heart towards King Saul for God himself had stablished this Law Deut. 17.15 Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse he also had rejected Saul and his whole Family from ruling over Israel 1 Sam. 15.26.16.12 The Lord hath rejected thee saith Samuel to Saul from being King he hath rent the Kingdom from thee and hath given it to a Neighbour of thine that is better than thou he saith not that hereafter he would rend it from him 1 Sam. 15.28 30. but more expresly this day the Lord hath done it All this is said by the same Prophet in the Name of the same God who chose Saul King and before all the People Again God saith to Samuel not only that he had rejected Saul from reigning over Israel but also that he had provided for himself another King whom instantly he sends him to anoint without any Expressions of Reservation for the Life of Saul and instantly upon this Unction the Spirit of the Lord the Spirit of Wisdom 1 Sam. 16.13 14. Counsel and Government came upon David from that day forward and departed from Saul He also was accepted in the sight of all the People and what more plausible Pretences could be offered of Failure on the part of Saul or of the actual investing of David in the Kingly Government After all this Saul persecutes him out of his Dominions and drove him out from abiding in the Inheritance of the Lord saying Go serve other Gods 1 Sam. â—6 19 ch 18.11 ch 19.11 ch 20.31 ch 24.11 Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He casts a Javelin at him to smite him to the Wall sends Messengers to his House to watch him and slay him in the Morning He declares that he shall surely die and in pursuance of that bloody Resolution he hunted him as a Partridge in the Wilderness and pursued his Life to take it away all this he did against him tho there was neither Evil nor Transgression nor Rebellion in his hand So that no subject in the World could have a better Plea for self-defence or taking up the Sword on the Account of the tyrannical Deportment of a King than he had against Saul and yet behold with what * This is an Instance on which the Fathers much insist and often urge for the Suppression of all Rebellious Attempts and Practices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 1. in David Soul to 8. p. 16. lin 27 38. Basil of Sileucia introduces David speaking thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 16. Optatus makes him speak thus Sine causa me victoria provoâ—â—s frustra me occasio in triumphos invitas volebam hostem vincere sed prius est divina praecepta servare non inquit mittam manus in unctum domini repressit cum gladio manum dum timuit oleum servavit inimicum adv Parmen l. 2. p. 60. Abhorrence and Detestation he looks upon the stretching forth his hand against him Chalilah li Mejehovah 1 Sa. 24.6 Abomination will be charged upon me from the Lord if I stretch forth my Hand against the Lord 's Anointed and again ch 26.11 ch 24.5 The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my Hand against the Lord 's Anointed yea no sooner had he cut
he is saying Be subject unto every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake to the King as Supreme And Lastly The design of the Sacred Writers of the Gospel was undoubtedly to secure the peace and quiet of the world to forbid all Resistance of the Higher Powers and to stop the mouths of those ignorant and foolish men who represented Christianity as prejudicial unto the Powers then in being and apt to make disturbance in the State but if they laid no obligation on the Christian to own the Powers then in being as Gods Ordinance but only to acknowledge in the General that Civil Government is from God how could their Doctrine answer these designs seeing it leaveth men at liberty to resist all who are invested with Authority and by so doing to disturb continually the peace and quiet of the world That therefore men should struggle against such shining evidence of truth may tempt us to suspect that they were as averse from yielding due subjection to the word of God as they were from conplying with the Commands of their Superiors Secondly For explication of the first particular I add that the Powers here mentioned must not be extended to Vsurped Powers or such as have no Legal Title in opposition unto those who have Just Title though by the prevalence of an Vsurper they are unjustly kept from the enjoyment of their Right For were this so Might would give Right and every prosperous Rebel would by that very Act commence God's Ordinance and so be both a Rebel against God and yet be his Vicegerent too nor would men rule because they are the Higher Powers but be the Higher Powers because they rule Moreover what is Vsurpation but the assuming of a Power to which he that usurps it hath no lawful call and no just title since then the ordination of that God who is the Sovereign of the world must be a lawful call and give the person thus ordained a Legal Title to be his Vicegerent it follows from the very nature of the act that the Usurper can not be Gods Ordinance When the Vsurper doth begin his Vsurpation by taking of the Sword or wresting it out of the hands of him who bears it by Commission from God he must unquestionably be the Resister of Gods Ordinance how therefore can success in his resistance render him the Power Is it not strange that he who purchaseth damnation by resisting by the same act and by the highest aggravation of it even the deposing of his lawful Prince should purchase a just title to Dominion Thirdly Could an Usurped Possession create a Right to Government were it sufficient to render the Vsuper Gods Vicegerent and his Ordinance though he doth justle out the lawful Successor then must all Laws and Constitutions to preserve the Government in the Right Line and to condemn all Vsurpations made upon it become void as being Laws enacted to disapprove condemn and to resist Gods Ordinance and all our Oaths of yielding Faith and True Allegiance to the Kings Heirs and Lawful Successors and of defending them unto the outmost of our Powers against all Vsurpers whatsoever must be unlawful oaths So plainly doth this Doctrine tend unto the dissolution of our Government Fourthly A man may possibly usurp Dominion against Gods own appointment and designation of another person to be the Ruler of his people Thus was it in the case of Absalom 2 Sam. 16.18 Chap. 19.10 for all the men of Israel chose him in opposition to David they anointed him over them and yet the Holy Ghost doth forty times style David King during the Usurpation of his Son but never doth vouchsafe that title to Rebellious Absalom whereas if such an Usurpation could have rendred him Gods Ordinance then must He Reign at the same time against and yet according to Gods Ordinance Fifthly Certain it is the Pope did long Vsurp and actually possess and exercise a power over most of the European Kings and Kingdoms If then bare Usurpation would render any man the Ordinance of God I know not how we could divest him of that Title or throw of his Yoke without resisting of the Higher Powers And therefore to conclude this first particular we by the Higher Powers are to understand The Persons lawfully intitled to their Government To the next enquiry viz. Head In what sense are these persons said to be ordained by God I answer negatively that they cannot be supposed to be here styled his Ordinance only by virtue of Gods eventual and permissive providence for so all things must be acknowledged to be of Gods appointment which were foreseen but not prevented by him The Rebel who Resists Gods Ordinance as well as the Superiour Powers which are here styled his Ordinance the Usurper and the Legal Prince must in this sense be equally ordained of God These Higher Powers therefore must be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Edict Constitution Ordinance as being by his Institution invested in their Dignity and Office and as being men who act by virtue of his Commission Word and Precept Which will be farther evident if we consider 1. That every Soul is here commanded to be subject to the Higher Powers i. e. to yield a free intire active obedience to them in all lawful things now as no Subject can be obliged to yield obedience to an Inferior Magistrate but as he is by virtue of Commission from his Prince impowered to be a Magistrate so neither can the Subjects of the King of Kings which we all naturally are be bound to yield Subjection to any as his Ministers unless they have received Commission from him so to be 2. The Higher Powers must be obeyed saith our Apostle for Conscience Sake Now nothing but a Law of God can bind the Conscience and therefore there must be some Law of God investing the Superior with that Authority we are commanded to obey for Conscience sake 3. The Higher Powers are here said to be the Ministers of God to us for Good and to be terrors to the Evil Doer Now by experience we find the Providence of God doth not so order matters as to make them at all times and in all places actually so the Persecuting Emperors to omit many others being a Terror to the best of men and even those Higher Powers which then obtained when this Epistle was indited being Promoters and Encouragers of the most Barbarous Impieties they must be therefore styled the Ministers of God for Good c. because by him they are ordained and positively appointed for that end But yet it still remains a question Question how 〈◊〉 Higher â—â—wers become Gids Ordinance how these Higher Powers do become Gods Ordinance how his Commission is derived his Ordination doth descend upon the Individual Person so as to render him the Person by God ordained to exercise that power which is here said to be of God To which enquiry I answer negatively First Answer to it negatively not by Gods
must ultimately reside in the Superior and every Subject must owe Obedience to his commanding Power in all Lawful Matters Psal 60.7 Judah is my Lawgiver saith God he is my King say both the Vulgar and the Seventy insinuating that he alone who is a King can have the Power to make Laws though others may assist him to consult about them when it is his pleasure to convene them for that End and therefore he is by the Gloss upon the ‖ In Novel 12. c. 4. Novels styled The Father of the Laws and though he be obliged in Conscience to yield Obedience to the Laws of God and Nature yet seeing no man can impose a Law upon himself that must be true which the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basilic l. 2. Tit. 6 c. 1 princeps legibus solutus est Ulpian apud Cujac l. 15. observ 30. Civilians declare That the King cannot be subject to his own Laws or be obliged to observe them on any other score than that of Equity or promise or of engaging others to observe them by his own Example Fourthly God hath ordained that his Vicegerent acting by his Power should be seared and honoured and that he may be able to discharge his Office he hath declared Custom and Tribute to be due unto him for therefore pay we Tribute saith St. Paul because they are the Ministers of God attending on this very thing Render therefore unto all their dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour So that when any man obtains a Legal Title to Supremacy of Power he is by virtue of Gods Ordinance and his Appointment invested with all these Prerogatives of Power and our subjection to him doth imply our Obligation to perform those duties Thirdly God having in the General appointed Government 3. The Governours should be constituted in and by all Nations or being constituted should be owned by them annexing to it these Prerogatives that this his Ordinance may not be vain and fruitless as it would necessarily be should no particular Person or Persons be elected to it or be invested with that Government he must have consequently ordained that every Nation or Kingdom should admit of pitch upon or constitute some Person or Persons to exercise his Government among them because by virtue of this General Rule or Command given to all States that there shall be a Government among them no man can claim to be the Power more than others nor are the people by it tyed to yield subjection to this man rather than to that wherefore that this appointment concerning Magistracy may not be fruitless but obtain its end God must have laid an Obligation on people who are to be governed to do those actions which will appropriate unto some Person or Persons the Superior Power and give to him or them a Property and a peculiarity in that Relation Where therefore there is none who antecedently can claim a Title as in Elective Kingdoms he must oblige them to the choice of such and where there is as in Successive Kingdoms he must oblige them to yield him actual Possession of his Right and due Subjection For as our Lords appointment in the General immediately by himself or mediately by his Apostles that Bishops Presbyters and Deacons should preside within his Church and perform all the Ecclesiastical Offices belonging to it is an appointment that others should upon their failing be chosen and advanced unto those Offices so must Gods General Appointment of a standing Civil Government be virtually an appointment that when these Mortal Governours do fail by death or by extinction of the succeeding Line there should be others to succeed them Fourthly the Person thus appointed though by the act or the consent of men that such a Person shall be their Lawful Prince as in Elective Kingdoms or that his Heirs and Lawful Successors shall sway the Scepter to all future Generations as in Successive Kingdoms is really Gods Ordinance and not the peoples because this their consent is given by virtue of a Rule and Warrant from God and therefore hath the stamp of his Authority upon it And because it is God and not the people who consers the Privileges and the Prerogatives upon him which follow from that act they only name the Person as a Corporation doth the Mayor but he receiveth his Authority from God as doth the Mayor from the King Thus is it in the case of Bishops they are named by the King and he appoints the bounds and limits of their Diocess which notwithstanding their Authority of ruling over their Respective Diocess and of ordaining Presbyters and Deacons is intirely Gods Ordinance and they derive it not from the King or People but from Christ And thus it is more fully in the case of Matrimony For though God doth not in an immediate way appoint who shall be Husband unto such a woman or Wife to such a man but leaves them to their liberty to chuse with whom they will unite in Conjugal Society yet hath he solemnly ordained this as the only lawful way for propogation of our kind and as the proper remedy for our incontinence he also hath ordained what Privilege Authority and Duty shall ensue upon the matrimonial Contract and hath not left us free after these Contracts are once made to violate them and so these Duties and these Privileges do arise not so much from their Contract as from Gods Ordinance concerning Matrimony and upon this account it duly is esteemed a Divine not Humane Ordinance And having thus explained this Second General for farther confirmation of it let it be considered First That this was the Constant Doctrine of the Ancient Heathens for (a) Append. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à Joh. Leanclavio edit p 176. Manuel Comnenus tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wisdom of the Ancients taught that Regal Power was Divine (b) Theogn v. 96. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings are from God saith Hesiod (c) II B.v. 197. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Honour springs from him saith Homer their Scepter is the Gift of Jove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them he hath committed his own Government saith (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Callimachus Whence they are often styled the Sons of Jove not as deriving their Original but Kingly honour from him saith (e) In locum jam citatum er in Il. ◠p. 738. Eustachius their Scepter and their Jurisdiction The Regal Power saith Plutarch is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministry of God God saith (f) Orat. 5. de Imp Theod. humanitate Themistius sent it from Heaven to the Earth 't was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith (g) Apud Synes orat de Regno Plato He who exerts it bears Gods Image saith (h) Apud Stob. Ser. 46. orat 3. de Regno ad Trajanum Diotogenes and Dio Chrysostome doth
behold we have Arms and will not resist because we had rather die than conquer et innocentes interire quam noxii vivere praeoptamus and would rather die Innocents than live Criminals Answer Now to assert as some have falsly done That it was only then their Duty thus to suffer because they were but few and so not able to rebel or say with (n) De Rom. Pont. l. 5 c. 7. Bellarmin That if the Ancient Christians did not depose a Persecuting Nero a Dioclesian or a Julian Id fuit quia vires temporales deerant Christianis It was because they wanted Strength to do so Is Repl. 1 1. To say that it was not indeed their Duty but their necessity to do so 2. It is to say in contradiction to St. Paul that Christianity obliged them thus to suffer only for Wrath and not for Conscience Sake 3. It is to give the lye unto St. Peter who doth expresly teach That thus to suffer is to suffer for the Lords Sake according to the Will of God for Conscience towards God It is a Suffering saith he which is praise worthy and very acceptable to God which suffering out of necessity cannot be who calls us so to suffer that we may put to silence the Ignorance of Foolish Men and shame them who do accuse Christianity as that which tendeth to Sedition whereas did it indeed oblige them only to suffer when they could not help it and authorise them to rebel when they had Power so to do surely it could not stop but rather open and justify the Mouths of them who represented it as dangerous to humane Government and apt to stir up Tumults in the World 4. It is to thwart that Grand Exemplar which our Dear Saviour left for the imitation of all Christians seeing he patiently suffered when he could have commanded Myriads of Angels to assist him 5. Were this indeed agreable to Christian Principles the Apostles must have imposed on Princes a most heinous cheat For in the name of their Great Master they did assure the Princes of the world that Christianity required all its Professors how ill soever they were treated how cruelly soever they were persecuted how wrongfully soever they did suffer from them to suffer with the Greatest Patience and never to take up the Sword for their Defence against them or to resist their Power but after the example of their Lord when they thus suffer not to revile or threaten and much less to resist their Persecutors but only to commit themselves to him that judgeth righteously and that whosoever did represent them otherwise were Ignorant and Foolish Men and false Accusers of their Good Conversation in Christ And if after these Declarations they secretly allowed all Christians when they were able to resist and to revenge themselves upon their Persecuting Princes and only disallowed this when the Christians were too weak to grapple with them what must these Holy Men deserve to be esteemed but Legatiad mentiendum missi Ambassadors sent to impose upon the Princes of the World with Falshood and Deceit or lying Artifices Lastly this Plea is fully bassled by the plain assertions of the Primitive Professors of Christianity for they declared First That they had (o) Deesset nobis vis numerorum et copiarum c. Power sufficient to resist if their Religion would have permitted such resistance of the Higher Powers Would we be open Enemies saith (p) Apol. c. 37. Tertullian could we want Numbers or store of Forces who have filled your Cities Islands Councils Armies Regiments and Companies the Palace and the Senate and the Courts of Judicature Cui Bello non Idonei c. None of us saith St. (q) Ep. ad Demetr p. 192. Cyprian defends himself against their unjust Violence quamvis nimius et copiosus noster sit populus although our People be copious and more than enough to do it almost the greater part of every City saith (r) ad Scap. c. 5. Tertullian In the Reign of Dioclesian (Å¿) l. 8. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 almost all men had left the Heathen Worship and joined themselves to the Society of Christians saith (t) c. 4. Eusebius It is not easie to describe those Myriads of Christians which assembled together and the Multitudes that convened in every City saith the same Author Secondly They add that notwithstanding their Force and Multitude they did not resist because their Legislator had forbidden Murther and had established such meek Laws (u) Contr. Cels 3. p. 115. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which they were to be killed like Sheep and not to resist their Persecutors how bad soever they might be So Origen because the Discipline of Christ makes it more lawful to be killed than kill commandeth us to love our Enemies and forbids us to render evil for evil saith (x) Apol. c 37. Tertullian because we are forbidden to revenge our selves and are commanded to expect the Judgment of the Lord (y) Ep. ad Deâ—etr saith Cyprian Lastly Because this is forbidden by Christ who by the Command of his own Mouth would have that Sword which his Apostle had drawn to be put up saith (z) Eueher â—ugd Epist ad â—ylves Surii â—o 5. Sept. 22. Mauritius It is not Lawful for any Subject to take the Sword and to resist the Higher Powers in the Defence of a Religion established by the Law of the Land Prop. 3 This Proposition I oppose to that Rebellious Doctrine of Julian the Apostate That though it be the Duty of the Christian to suffer patiently when his Religion is not established by Law he may defend it by the Sword against the Higher Powers when it is so established which Doctrine 1. Doth plainly overthrow the Kings Supremacy by setting up others invested with the Power of the Sword For unless I can take the Sword I cannot possibly defend Religion though it be never so established by Law and if I can I must be then the Higher Power since it is he saith our Apostle who doth bear the Sword v. 4. It therefore 2. Asserts in contradiction to our Lord that men may take the Sword without Commission from him who is by God invested with it in defence of a Religion by Law established 3. It contradicts those General Rules of Scripture which without any such exception say that to resist the Higher Power is to resist Gods Ordinance and to incurr Damnation 4. It is exceeding evident that Gods own People had no such liberty allowed them no such directions in like cases from his Holy Prophets that they were not instructed or encouraged by them to rebel when their Superiors did act in contradiction to the Laws established by God and by his Servant Moses and by the Pious Kings and people of the Jews or when they were not suffered to worship God according to those Laws We know that from the time that Jereboam reigned over Israel the Calves of Dan and
Bethel were set up to be worshipped 2 Kings 17.16 that they left all the Commandments of the Lord their God and made them molten Images even two Calves That Jereboam cast out the Priests of the Lord 2 Chron. 13.9 the Sâ—ns of Aaron and the Levites and made them Priests after the manner of the Nations of other Lands That he drove Israel from serving the Lord 2 Kings 17.21 2 Chr. XI 14 16. 1 Kings 15.17 and made them sin a Great Sin and caused all those who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel to desert their Habitation That Beasha King of Israel built Ramah that he might not suffer any to go out or to come in to Asa King of Judah to worship God according to the Law of Moses Secondly We know that all these things were done in opposition to the Law of the Land i.e. the Law of Moses established not only by consent and Covenant of all the Tribes of Israel and Judah but also by the Prescript and Authority of the Great God of Heaven God having made a Covenant with them which never could be disannulled by any Law of man and charged them saying Ye shall not fear other Gods 2 Kings 17.35 nor bow your selves to them nor serve them yet the ten Tribes continued this Idolatrous Worship till they were carried Captive 2 Kings 18.11 12. For the King of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria because they obeyed not the Voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his Covenant and all that Moses the Servant of the Lord commanded and would not hear them nor do them Thirdly Observe that God sent many Prophets to warn both Jeroboam 1 Kings 13.14.7 and his people of this great defection from him and to denounce his heavy Judgments against him and his Successors in that Kingdom for it For the Lord testifyed against Israel and against Judah by all the Prophets 2 Kings 17.13 and by all the Seers saying turn you from your evil ways and keep my Commandments and my Statutes according to all the Law that I commanded your Fathers That in his Providence he frequently chastised them for it 1. 2 Chr. 13.17 1 Kings 15.27 29.17.2 By Abijah King of Judah who slew 500000 of Jeroboam's men 2 By Baasha the Son of Ahijah who conspired against Nadab the Son of Jeroboam and smote all the House of Jeroboam 3. By the Dearth foretold by Elijah 4. By the very bitter Affliction which befel them in the days of Jehu 2 Kings 10.32 For in those days the Lord began to cut Israel short and Hazael smote them in all the Coasts of Israel and in the days of Jeroboam the Son of Joash when they were few 2 Kings 14.26 Vide 70 Interp 2 Kings 15.29.17.6 shut up and had no Helper And Lastly by delivering them up into the hands of Tiglath Pileser and Shalmaneser Kings of Assyria But all this while we never find that any of Gods Prophets uttered the least word for the encouragement of any of their Subjects to rebel against them upon this account or to engage them to sight for the Religion established in their Kingdoms and made the National Religion by the unalterable Laws of God or to rise up in Arms because they were not suffered to go up to Jerusalem to worship as God had commanded and as they had Covenanted they never minded them that Jeroboam when he came unto the Crown Jul. p. 69. found them in full and quiet possession of their Religion which was a blessing so inestimable that they should plainly undervalue it if they did not do their utmost to keep it That he seduced them from it in an Illegal Way against a Precept of their Decalogue and did it only by a Pretence that the two Calves he had set up in Dan and Bethel 1 Kings 12.24 were the Gods that brought them up out of the Land of Aegypt And yet it is not to be doubted but that these Prophets were truly jealous for the Lord of Hosts for the purity of his Worship and for the observation of the Law of Moses what therefore could have hindred them from calling on the People as our Phanatick Preachers did to help the Lord against the Mighty and sight for the Defence or for the Reformation of their Religion but their dislike of such Proceedings and the Conviction of their Consciences that such miscarriages in Princes would never warrant the Insurrection of their Subjects upon pretence of violation of the Religion established by Law or to cut off Idolatrous and Persecuting Princes without Express Commission and Authority from that God who removeth Kings Dan. 2.21 2 Kings 9.6 7. and setteth up Kings as it was in the case of Jehu who by Gods Prophet was anointed actual King over Israel 2 Kings 10.30 and was commanded by him to smite the house of Ahab his Master and of whom God declared that he had done well in executing Vengeance on the House of Ahab And this may very probably be gathered from the deportment of Elijah under that King who had none like him in iniquity 1 Kings 21.25 Ahabsent and gathered them 1 Kings 18.20 Deut. 13.5.17.2 1 Kings 18.13 v. 18. For having once obtained the Kings Authority to convene the Priests of Baal he in his presence and donotless with his permission slew them all according to the tenor of the Law of Moses He also shut up Heaven that there was no Rain until these Baalites were destroyed But although his accursed Wife at least by his connivance and the abuse of his Authority had slain the Prophets of the Lord and though the Prophet tells him to his Face that he and his Fathers house had troubled Israel in that they had forsaken the Lord and followed Baalim and lastly though Elijah had the people at his Devotion at Mount Carmel yet notwithstanding all his jealousie for God he gives them no encouragment to attempt any thing against their King he setteth up no person to oppose him till by express Command from God he had been authorized to anoint Jehu King over Israel 1 Kings 19.16 Moreover when Baasha conspired against Nadab and slew him tho he did only that which the Lord had spoken by his Servant Ahijah the Shilonite 1 Kings 14.14 as the just punishment of the revolt of Jeroboam from his Law and though God doth acknowledge that he exalted Baasha from the dust 1 Kings 16.2 and made him Prince over his people Israel yet came the word of the Lord against Baasha and against his house because he killed him whence we may rationally conclude Quod ille dominum suum Nadab interfecisset ut imperium assequeretun Munst Vatab. clarius in locum that though Gods Providence permitted Baasha to conspire against the Son of Jeroboam and though he ordered matters so as that he was Gods Instrument in doing execution on the house of
Jeroboam according to the Sentence of his Prophet Hoc crimen poenam à deo merebatur cum nullo dei jussu idfecisset Grot. yet was not this his action acceptable in the sight of God because he here resolves to punish him 1 Kings 16.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he slew him Again the instances of the Idolatrous King of Judah from the days of Rehoboam till the time of their Captivity afford a further confutation of this new Apology for Treason and Rebellion For First it cannot be denied but that the Law of Moses and the Religion prescribed by it was the Religion established in the Kingdom of Judah Secondly The Scripture notwithstanding doth inform us that when Rehoboam had established his Kingdom 2 Chr. 12.1 1 Kings 15.3 he forsook the Law of the Lord and all Israel with him That Abiiah who succeeded him walked in all the sins of his Father which he had done before him 2 Chr. 21.11 That Jehoram made High Places in the Mountains of Judah 2 Chr. 24.16 17. and caused the Inhabitants of Judah to commit Fornication and compelled Judah thereto That Jehojada and the Princes of Judah left the House of the Lord God of their Fathers and served Groves and Idols 2 Chron. 28.24 25. That Ahaz did shut up the doors of the House of the Lord and he made him Altars in every Corner of Jerusalem 2 Chron. 33.5 6. and in every several City of Judah he made High places to burn Incense unto other Gods That Manasseh built Altars in the house of the Lord whereof the Lord had said in Jerusalem shall my name be for ever and he built Altars for all the Host of Heaven in the two Courts of the house of the Lord That Hezekiah with relation to some of these Enormities confessed after this manner Our Fathers have trespassed 2 Chron. 29.6 7. and done that which was evil in the Sight of the Lord and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the Habitation of the Lord and turned their Backs also they have shut up the Doors of the Porch and put out the Lamps and have not burnt Incense nor offered burnt Offerings in the Holy place unto the God of Israel by all which sayings it is evident that the exercise of the established Religion wholly was obstructed and the people were compelled not only to neglect but act in opposition to it Thirdly 2 Kings 17.13 2 Kings 14.25 26. 2 Chron. 12.4 8 9. 'T is further evident that God testified against these Abominations done in Judah by all his Prophets and his Seers that he chastised them for it 1. by Shisak King of Egypt who in the days of Rehoboam took the fenced Cities of Judah and came up against Jerusalem and took away the Treasures of the house of the Lord and of the King's house and the Shields of Gold which Solomon had made and caused Judah to be tributaries to him because they had transgressed against the Lord. 2. By the revolt of Edom and of Libnah because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers And 3. 2 Chron. 21.10 Vers 16 17. by stirring up against Jehoram the Spirit of the Philistins and of the Arabiams that were near the Aethiopians who came up into Judah and brake into it and carried away all the Substance that was found in the King's house and his Sons also and his Wives 4. By the Host of Syria which came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the People from among the People and sent all the Spoyl of them to the King of Damascus 2 Chron. 24.24 25. Zach. 14.5 Joel 1.2 3. a Great Host of Judah being delivered into the hands of their small Company because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers 5. By a terrible Earth-quake in the days of Vzziah 6 By the dreadful plague of Locusts Caterpillars and Canker-worms 7. By sending against Judah Rezin the King of Syria 2 Chron. 28.6 and Pekah Son of Remaliah who slew in Judah 120000 valiant men in one day because they had for saken the Lord God of their Fathers and the King of Israel who carried away captive two hundred thousand Women Sons and Daughters Verse 8. And yet we read not of any Prophet stirring up these People to Rebel on the account of the Religion by Law established or on the account of all the miseries they suffered by the neglect of God's true Worship and by the introduction of Idolatry whence it is evident that private Persons or Subjects were then thought to have done their Duty when they had sighed and mourned for these abominations and kept themselves from any fellowship with these iniquities We find indeed 2 Chron 25.27 that after the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish but they sent to Lachish after him and slew him there But who made this Conspiracy the Text doth not inform us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. Jud. lib. 9. c. 10. Josephus saith that some of his own Friends were the Contrivers of it the Syriack and Arabick Version that his Servants thus conspired against him as did the Servants of his Father Joash against him 2 Chr. 25.3 and as the Servants of Ammon did afterwards against their Lord and if so no doubt these Servants of Amaziah deserved the same punishment those other Murtherers received 2 Chron. 33.25 though by reason of the infancy of Vzziah who was then but four years old as good Interpreters conjecture and by reason of the interregnum of eleven years they scaped their condign punishment Moreover the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports Conspiracy and Treason being generally used in an ill sense gives us just reason to believe the Holy Ghost did not approve this Treachery and much less the ensuing Murther Fifthly Argument 5 According to this Principle Christians might lawfully rebel against those Arian Emperors who succeeded Constantine the Great viz. against Constantius and Valens for evident it is 1. That the Nicene Faith was fully established by Constantine the Great (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de vit Const l. 3. c. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. c. 32. Eusebius informs us that He confirmed the Doctrine of the Nicene Synod and made Laws against Arius and those of his Perswasion (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. c. 8. p. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 9. Socrates saith the same and (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 20. Sozomen adds that he condemn'd to banishment those who did contradict the Suffrage of the Nicene Council and that He made a Law against all Heresies not suffering them to Assemble any where but in the Catholick Church and declaring that the (d) Privilegia quae contemplatione Religionis indulta sunt Catholicae