for certainly there is as much subjection due to a Sovereign Prince who is more eminently Gods Minister and his Vieegerent than any Master is with respect unto his Servants since when the Master doth command that which the King forbids the Servant may be punished for his obedience to his Master that is for not preferring the King's Will before his Masters And if it be thank worthy with patience to endure Grief when we do suffer wrongfully from our Superiors sure it must be blame worthy in all such cases to resist and to rebel against them Reason 3 Thirdly The contrary Doctrine would expose the Government to endless Troubles and Confusions for had God granted to Inferiors a liberty thus to resist the Higher Powers upon presumptions of severity and hardships when imposed upon them he must have left it in the power of Subjects to judge when they are thus severely dealt with and to act suitably unto that judgment since otherwise that liberty would be in vain allowed Now what is this in the Result but to allow them to be Accusers Judges and Executioners in their own Cause against their Sovereigns and God's Vicegerents How easie is it for popular men with the Assistance of their Agents and with the help of their seditious and lying Pamphlets to make the multitude believe they are too hardly and severely dealt with the case of Absalom and of our Royal Martyr too fully will inform us We therefore may for ever bid adieu to Peace and Quietness if such surmises or pretences will authorise men to resist Authority Reason 4 Fourthly In opposition to this vain pretence it is observable that when by Haman's Policy Letters were sent through all the Provinces of Ahasuerus to destroy kill and cause to perish all Jews both young and old little Children and Women in one day though by this Butcherly Decree as Mordecai complains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esth 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Nation was to be destroyed which had done nothing to deserve destruction which was most barbarous injustice and although as the sequel of the Story shews they had sufficient strength both to defend themselves Esth 8.11 and vanquish those who did assault them yet neither Mordecai nor Esther thought it sit that they should thus endeavour to preserve themselves from Ruine without Commission from the King and his Reversion of the Decree procured by Haman Exod. 1.14 And though God's People during their abode in Egypt were kept under the greatest slavery and the most cruel bondage and though when they went out from Egypt they were six hundred thousand sighting men a number sure sufficient to have made their way by force to their desired liberty and though God stood obliged by promise to deliver his own People out of Captivity after their seventy years of Bondage were accomplished yet did he not encourage or permit them to procure their liberty by rising up in Arms against the Kings of Egypt or of Babylon but either did accomplish their deliverance by his own mighty Arm as in the case of their departure out of Egypt or by procuring to them favour in the eyes of their Superiors Cyrus and Artaxerxes Kings of Persia as in the case of their return from Babylon that there might not be found on Record in his word any allowance of the Rebellion of his own beloved People against the worst of Tyrants to justifie or to encourage it in others on the like pretences though to be sure God wanted no affection to his chosen people nor power to assist them in their Lawful Wars If therefore this had been a method of deliverance agreable to his Sacred Will no doubt but that he would have given them permission thus to obtain their freedom and would have assisted them in these endeavours Since then he did not do it we may rest assured that it was not according to his will that they should thus exempt themselves from their Captivity and Bondage to their Heathen Governours And (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryst ad Rom Hom. 23. Prop. 2. much less can it be according to his will that Christians should thus exempt themselves from their Obedience to Governours professing the same Christian Faith It is not lawful to resist the Higher Powers on the account of our Religion or from pretences of labouring to preserve it to our selves or to transmit it to Posterity For though it is the Duty of all good Christians and will for ever be their practice manfully to profess the true Religion as occasion serves and firmly to adhere unto it to pray heartily unto the Author of it that he would stablish and preserve it to us and our Posterity for ever and in his station to do all that lawfully a private Person can by pleading and by acting for it and above all by living so as that his Conversation may commend it to the good liking of all those who see the blessed Fruits it doth produce in the Professors of it yet must he not take up the Sword without Commission from the King or Supreme Governor much less against him for the defence or preservation of it but must yield due Subjection even to those Superiors who persecute the true Religion and suffer patiently for it without attempting to resist For Reason 1 No men more certainly were persecuted for the true Profession of the Christian Faith than the Believers of the Apostles Age and yet you see the Precept given to them runs thus without exception Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers and Christians are still charged upon the Highest Penalties not to resist their persecuting Emperors but in this very case to suffer patiently for conscience towards God Reason 2 St. Peter drew his Sword for the defense of Christ and in him of Christianity it self when Christ was under condemnation on the account of his Religion and yet his Lord doth peremptorily command him to put it up again and that First because he could not use it even in the Cause of Christ but he must take it i. e. must wrest it from the hand of that Superior to whom by God it was committed Put up thy Sword saith Christ for all that take the Sword shall perish by it from which words it appears that (g) Contra Faust Mar. l. 22. c. 70. Matt. 26.52 Austins Rule is an eternal Truth He takes the Sword qui nulla superiori ac legitima potestate vel jubente vel concedente in sanguinem alicujus armatur who is armed with it to shed blood without Commission from his lawful Governor Secondly Put up thy Sword saith Christ because by taking of it thou wilst deserve to perish by it or wilst be guilty of that Rebellion which deserveth death which reason equally concerns all Christian Subjects for albeit this special reason that Christ was then to suffer might cause our Saviour to refuse the assistance of St. Peter's Sword yet could it not induce him
they daily went to offer up their Prayers their Sacrifices their Oblations and Thanksgivings for his peculiar Mercies to them and whilst they constantly performed these things they thought God could not but be pleased with their Persons and that their Sacrifices would be a full Attonement for their Sins when they had bowed down their Heads like a Bulrush when they had wept and fasted before God although they did not loose the Bands of Wickedness they take upon them the Boldness to expostulate the case with God and murmur that their Services were not accepted Isa 58.3 for wherefore say they have we fasted and thou seest not wherefore have we afflicted our Souls and thou takest no knowledge To such a height of Confidence were they arrived from the Performance of these Duties And therefore God seems much concern'd to let them know that he delighted not in their Oblations Amos 5.21 that he hated and despised their Feast-days and would not smell in their solemn Assemblies that their burnt Offerings were not acceptable Jer. 6.20 Isa 66.3 nor their Sacrifices sweet unto him that he that killed an Oxewas as if he slew a Man he that sacrificed a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs Neck he that offered an Oblation as if he offered Swines Blood and he that burned Incense as if he blessed an Idol Hence doth he call upon them with great earnestness to put away the evil of their doings to loose the bands of Wickedness Isa 58.6 Mi◠6.10 11. to undoe the heavy Burthens to let the oppressed go free and to break every Yoke to put away the Treasures of Wickedness kept in the Houses of the wicked the scant Measure the wicked Balance and the Bag of deceitful Weights not to oppress the Widow nor the Fatherless the Stranger or the Poor nor to imagine evil in their Hearts against their Neighbour To learn to do well Isa 1.17 to seek Judgment relieve the oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow Amos 5.24 to let Judgment run down as Waters and Righteousness as a mighty Stream to deal their Bread to the hungry and bring the Poor that are cast out Isa 58.7 into their Houses when they see the naked to cover him and not to hide themselves from their own Flesh Zech. 7.9 to execute true Judgment and shew Mercy and Compassion every Man to his Brother Whence we may learn these three Particulars 1. That we are very prone to rest in the performance of these outward Duties and to be confident that they will purchase for us the Favour of the God of Heaven although we do not add unto them those inward Fruits of Righteousness in which the Power of true Godliness consists for wherefore was our Lord and all these holy Prophets so concerned to warn men of this great Mistake were they not very prone to fall into it 2. That we are naturally averse from those spiritual Duties in which the Life and Power of true Godliness consists for were it otherwise why do the Holy Prophets and our dear Lord so oft inculcate and with such Vehemence exhort men to perform them And 3. That the Form of Godliness without the Power of it will be so far from ministring to our Acceptance here or Happiness hereafter that it will be thrown back as Dung into our Faces and be the greatest Aggravation of our future doom for if God so despised and with so great Abomination did reject the Service of the Jews when 't was not joyned with Obedience and inward Purity with Acts of Charity and Justice albeit their Religion was full of Shadows and of outward Ceremonies how much more will he loath the Service of the formal Christian from whom he chiefly doth require a spiritual Worship and an inward Holiness And oh what pity is it that we who do so much to go to Heaven should do it to so bad or little purpose that we should wholly lose the benefit and comfort of all our Prayers and Fastings Hearing and Reading for want of Care to do what we do hear and read and by our Prayers and Fastings seem desirous to do or that for want of doing more we should provoke God to reject with Hatred and Abomination what we have already done We being therefore apt to lie under these sad Mistakes which tend to the destruction of our precious Souls can any of us take it ill that we are thus forewarned of them Is it not reasonable to press us to perform those things which are so necessary to our Salvation and Acceptance with God and from which we are naturally so averse Wherefore Beloved let me beseech you not to rest in any outward Form of Godliness but to advance unto the Power of it by the subjection of your Wills unto the Will of God and a prevailing Love unto him by the due Moderation of your Passions and Affections and the Purification of your Hearts from Anger Malice Envy uncharitable Censures Pride and Self-conceit unclean and wicked Thoughts Let us be careful that our Piety express it self in constant Acts of universal Charity and Mercy Justice and upright Conversation towards Men and in a peaceable Frame of Spirit for if we only do express it by listing of our selves to such a Party or Perswasion or being zealous for it by going to the Church hearing a Sermon there repeating it at home fasting receiving of the Sacrament and leave these greater things undone we only mock God with an outward Shew but if unto this Form we add those things in which the Life of Piety consists we have obtained that Godliness which hath the Promise of this Life and that which is to come A SERMON PREACH'D Before the Militia of the County of Wilts at their marching against MONMOVTH TITUS 3.1 Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and obey Magistrates WE read in Suidas that the Cretians concerning whom St. Paul gives this Command to Titus were prone to stir up one another to Sedition and that the Preservation of their Liberties was the Pretence for their seditious Practices moreover in that Island dwelt swarms of Jews and judaizing Christians who were Titus 1.9 saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men of a Refractory and Seditious Spirit One of their wicked and seditious Principles was this Vide 1 Tim. 6.1 3. 1 Pet. 2.18 That Servants were exempted from all Obligations of Obedience to their wicked Masters on which Account St. Peter in his Epistle to the dispersed Jews saith thus Servants 1 Pet. 2.18 be subject to your Masters in all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward Another of their Rebellious Principles was this That Christians were not obliged to submit or yield Obedience to Heathen Governours for such they deem'd unworthy of that Honour who were the Enemies of the true God and his Religion To cure this Distemper which tended to reproach Christianity
his Subjects that therefore Subjects may do the like to their Superiours That because Jeroboam might do this by an especial and particular Grant and Commission from the God of Heaven That therefore others may do the like tho they have no Commission of like nature from God is as absurd as it would be for us to rob and spoil our Neighbours and keep what we have borrowed of them without Restitution because upon a special and particular Commission from the great Lord of all things the Israelites did innocently deal so with the Aegyptians or salvagely to butcher or to cut off all Papists that do dwell among us because they were commanded to do thus to the Idolaters in the Land of Canaan 2. I answer 1 Kings 12.19 It is not said in Scripture that Jeroboam rebelled against the House of David but that Israel did so their Action plainly seemeth to have been Rebellion because it was an actual renouncing of their lawful Sovereign without God's Warrant to them so to do for they do with one Voice cry out What Portion have we in David and what Inheritance have we in the Son of Jesse and thereupon depart from Rehoboam and appoint Jeroboam to be their King without any Commission from God to do so Moreover they do this not out of any pretence of God's rejecting Rehoboam but only for this Cause That he refused to make their Yoke easie and to remove the pretended Burthens which his Father had laid upon them and therefore they revolted upon Rebellious Principles For as a Father doth not forfeit his Authority over his Children nor are they freed from that Obedience which they owe unto him by virtue of the Fifth Commandment because he deals severely with them and is not to indulgent to or careful of them as he ought to be so neither can the King i. e. the Father of his Country lose his Authority over his Subjects because he governs them severely or lays afflicting Burthens on them nor can their Subjects be disobliged from that Obedience which they owe unto them upon those Accounts for if Servants as St. Peter saith are to obey such Masters who are froward and perverse i. e. severe in their Commands 1 Pet. 2.18 19. and cruel in chastising them if they with Patience were to endure Grief and suffer wrongfully for Conscience towards God if the Angel commanded Hagar even when her Mistress afflicted her Gen. 16.6 9. and dealt hardly with her to return and submit her self unto her Hands much more are Subjects to obey and to continue in Obedience to their Sovereign tho they be never so severely dealt with by them But as for Jeroboam he only took what God had promised to give him by rending of ten Tribes out of the hands of Rehoboam and in that very method in which it pleased God to make good his Promise for the Text doth expresly say this matter was from God that he might perform the Saying which the Lord spake by Ahâ—jah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the Son of Nebat 1 Kings 12.15 and when the Subjects of Rehoboam assembled to fight with the Children of Israel God by his Prophet doth forbid them saying v. 24. Ye shall not go up nor fight against your Brethren the Children of Israel for this thing is from me I therefore think of this whole matter thus That Jeroboam was not guilty of any Usurpation which might render him a Rebel against Rehoboam that the People were Rebellious in the Principle which moved them to revolt and in revolting without Commission from God but that upon this Declaration made by God's Prophet it became their Duty to own and to submit to Jeroboam as their King Now seeing Christ came not to take away or to diminish any of the Rights of Princes but rather to establish and confirm them Hence I infer That the Resistance whether in Word or Deed which was forbidden in the Old cannot be rationally thought to be approved in the New Testament but rather we may rationally judge that as our Saviour came to advance the other Duties of the Moral Law so much more by his suffering Religion to advance this moral Precept of Honour and Submission to our Superiours To which effect it is excellently observed by a very Learned Prelate The Lord Bishop of Sarum That we find Christ and his Apostles frequently labouring to settle in the Consciences of men their Obligations to Obedience and patient suffering where they cannot actively obey but no where restraining limiting or particularly regulating the Office of Sovereign Powers much less permitting or giving Power to their Subjects to limit or restrain their Power but leaving them to those general Rules which concern the Account and Duty of all Men in their several Stations and to the terms whereupon the Providence of God was wont to settle the Princes and Governours of the World Let the Rights of Caesar be what they will in reference to Tribute Christ will not determine them this he will Those things which belong to Caesar according to Jus gentium must be reudred to him He doth not examine Pilate 's Power in case of Blasphemy and Treasen but acknowledges it to be of God and submits And so likewise the Apostles seem to be unconcerned as it were in the governing part of Civil Policy No word is found in all their Writings enquiring into the Rights of the Roman Emperours who were Sovereign or limiting the exercise of their Power only thus much they take for certain such as they were they were ordain'd of God and they spend all their labour in founding deeply and firmly establishing that other part which concerns Obedience For the Scriptures of the New Testament do most expresly call for our Subjection to and as expresly do forbid resistance of the Higher Powers Rom. 13.1 2. Let every Soul be subject to them saith St. Paul so let him yield Subjection to them as never to resist on any Provocation Temptation or specious Pretence whatsoever for Whosoever doth resist the Power resists the Ordinance of God and they that resist his Ordinance shall receive to themselves Damnation 1 Pet. 2.13 14 15 16. Be subject to every Ordinance of Man saith Peter i. e. to every Power daily ordained among men for the Lord's sake or for the sake of him whose Ordinance they are whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto them that are sent by him for this is the Will of God this is well-doing this is acting as the Servants of God And though their Government should be unjust and they should punish you only for keeping a good Conscience do you bear it patiently for this is thank worthy v. 19. if a Man for Conscience toward God endure Grief suffering wrongfully v. 20. If when we do well and suffer for it we take it patiently this is acceptable with God this is to act according to our Christian Calling v. 21. and the
committed to some Persons who thereupon should act as his Vicegerents here on Earth and should be owned as his Ordinance This therefore being true of all Supreme Authority that 't is Potestas Dei vicaria a Ray of divine Majesty that 't is entrusted with that Power only which is from above and representeth none but God whosoever lifteth up his Hands against it must be a Fighter against God for if a cruel and blood-thirsty Nero is as St. Paul asserts the Ordinance of God whosoever doth resist him must resist God's Ordinance and if there is no Power whether of Nero or Domitian but from God there can be no Resistance but from Satan If even that Power which condemned the Saviour of the World commenced from Heaven all Insurrections against such Powers must certainly derive from Hell In a word If Government be the Constitution of God to make forcible Opposition against it Faulkn ib. p. 427. must either be in design to have God's Authority subject to them who so act or at least that themselves may not be subject unto it both which things are unreasonable and include a resisting the Ordinance of God Argument 3 3. No Christian Subjects must resist the Higher Powers because they cannot do it without taking of the Sword avenging of themselves and claiming of the Power of Life and Death and passing Judgment on their Fellow-Subjects all which Prerogatives belong immediately to God and by his Ordinance alone or Grant to any Humane Powers Rom. 12.19 Matt. 5.39 For God expresly saith Vengeance is mine I will repay it and hath commanded us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to resist when we do suffer Evil. The Injury we do against our Fellow-Subjects is done to one of God's own Subjects it is a Violation of his Law and so it properly belongs to him to punish it God also being Judge of all the Earth 2 Chron. 19.6 all Acts of Judgment are declared to be not for Man but for the Lord because they are performed by an Authority derived from him Act. 17.25 28. Moreover it is by God we live and move and have our Beings he giveth to us Life and Breath and all things No man can therefore wield the Sword of Justice or use that Sword to take away his Brothers Life but by Authority from the God of our Lives by whom the Higher Powers are commissioned and who are therefore said by his Authority to bear the Sword and be his Ministers in executing Vengeance on the Evil-doer And therefore when St. Peter did attempt to wield the Sword even in Christ's Cause our Lord rebukes him Matt. 26.52 saying Put up thy Sword into its place for all that take the Sword shall perish by it This is saith Musculus Locus notandus omnibus subditis a place to be well noted by all Subjects for 1. This was a Cause wherein Religion and Civil Justice were both much concern'd for the malicious Jews were now pursuing their Design to put the blessed Jesus to an ignominious Death to crucifie the true Messiah and to extirpate his holy Doctrine from the Earth and Justice never was more highly violated than in the Methods which they used to destroy the Lord of Life And yet when upon this occasion his Disciples said Luke 22.49 Master shall we smite with the Sword he peremptorily forbids it and checks St. Peter's hasty use thereof and this he doth partly because John 18.36 as he declared his Kingdom was not of this World and so his Servants should not fight for its Defence against Authority partly because they could not do it in opposition to Authority without the taking of the Sword Contra Faustâ—m Manich. lib. 22. c. 70. for he saith Austin truly takes the Sword who when no lawful Power doth command or authorise him so to do useth Force of Arms to shed the Blood of others Secondly Observe that they who came to apprehend our Saviour were only some Inferior Officers commissionated by the Supreme Authority and yet they must not be resisted saith our Lord. Thirdly If we consider the Intention of the Person smiting we shall find that he had no design or purpose to rebel against or to turn Casar out of his Dominions but only to preserve his Master it therefore may be fairly pleaded in behalf of Peter that be kept the Laws inculpatae tutelae of Self-defence that what he did was of a sudden without deliberation and that he did not kill out-right but only wounded the High Priests Servant and yet our Saviour not only doth dislike the Action but thinks it necessary to work a Miracle for reparation of the Injury done by it If therefore to unsheath the Sword in Christ's own Cause against the meanest Officer commissionated by the Higher Powers be to usurp it what must it be to take it in our own If to avenge our selves upon our Equals be to usurp on God's Prerogative what must it be to offer to avenge our selves on our Superiors If lastly it be murther to shed our Brother's blood without commission from God or his Vicegerent then all who fight against Authority must become guilty of that sin and it will much concern them to consider what St. John hath said viz. 1 John 3.15 that no Murtherer hath Eternal Life abiding in him And suitable unto these Principles of our Religion is the Constitution of our present Government which doth acknowledge that the whole Power of the Sword or the Militia is in the King and 13 Car. 2.1 that 't is Treason to levy War against him within the Realm or without that justice regularly must be executed and Vengeance recompensed by Judges who receive commission from him to do it For our Sovereign Lord the King which is the current style both of our Statutes and of their Commissions That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly Subjection 16 R. 2. but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to no other That the Realm of England is an Empire governed by one Supreme Head and King 24 H. 8.12 to whom a Body Politick of Spiritualty and Temporalty be bounden and ought to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience That both or either Houses of Parliament cannot 13 Car. 2.6.14.2 3. nor lawfully may raise or levy any War offensive or defensive against his Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors and lastly that it is unlawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against him or against those who are commissionated by him Argument 4 Fourthly The Christian ought not to resist Superiors because He by so doing will cast a great reproach upon the Name and Doctrine of our Lord and give occasion to renew that Calumny of Jews and Heathens that our Lord was no Friend to Caesar that his Disciples were the men who by their Doctrine turned the
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
be accountable and therefore subject to them Was such a Doctrine as this likely to silence the Clamours raised against Christianity and therefore Answer 3 This Ordinance may be styled Humane with respect unto the subject as being exercised by man or with respect unto the object as being conversant about men or with respect unto the end as being for the good and benefit of man as is the Office of the Ministry and yet as well as that may be ordained of God and be of a Divine Original Answer 4 But lastly seeing it is confessed already that God doth not immediately appoint or nominate the Person who shall sway the Scepter in any Nation of the world at present that by Gods General Ordinance concerning Government and the Prerogatives annexed to it no man can claim to be the Higher Power over such or such a Nation but that in all Elective Kingdoms it is the choice of those who are concerned to chuse a Governour which gives to any man a property and a peculiarity in that Relation 1. It is acknowledged that they are also in this sense an Humane Ordinance as being the Superior Powers in those Elective Kingdoms by virtue of the Peoples Choice and that it actually was thus in the Roman Empire when these Epistles were endited the Emperors being then chosen by the People or the Roman Army and confirmed by the Senate and therefore being in that sense an Humane Ordinance but then it is as certain that being lawfully elected they became the Ordinance of God and in the sense explained acted by Divine Authority Inference 2 Hence it is evident that Subjects cannot lawfully attempt to take the Power from their Sovereign or wrest it from his hands when he is legally invested with it because they cannot take that from him which not they but God hath given him For as it is in case of Matrimony the Woman by her own consent becometh subject to her Husband and gives him the command over her Body and yet she by the Ordinance of Matrimony is bound Rom. 7.2 saith the Apostle to her Husband so long as he liveth so though the People in an Elective Kingdom do become subject to such a Governor by their consent yet by the Ordinance of God concerning Government they are bound to be subject to their Prince so long as he lives and in Successive Governments to Him and his Heirs so long as they live And since the Power cannot be wrested from him but by that Sword which he receives not from the People but from God he must be very well secured from all attempts of taking of this Power from him without invading of that Power God hath given him Inference 3 Hence also doth it follow (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xiphilin excerpt ex Dionis M. Aurelio that none but God can judge the King or call the Higher Powers to account for what they do for as no Person can pass judgment on the King's Viceroy or question him for what he doth but he from whom he did receive that Character so can no Person judge or pass sentence upon God's Vicegerents but he by whom they are ordained to that Office The reason is because par in parem non habet potestatem he therefore only can pass Judgment and inslict punishment on any Person who is his Superior It being then a contradiction to assert that any upon Earth can be Superior to the Supreme it must be also a contradiction to assirm that any upon Earth can judge or inslict punishment upon him or that the Highest Powers should be obnoxious to coercion Hence have the Fathers still acknowledged that the (b) Solo Deo minor Tertul. ad Scap. c. 2 post quem primus Apol. c. 30. Emperor is less than God alone that there is (c) Super Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus Optat l. 3 p. 65. none above him besides God that he is the head of all men upon Earth that when the King offendeth he is guilty before (d) Tibi soli peccavi Rex utique erat nullis ipse legibus tenebatur quia liberi sunt Reges à vinculis delictorum neque enim ullis ad poenam vocantur legibus tâ—ti imperii poteâ—ate Ambros Apol. David Tom. 4. p 349. c. 10. Chrysâ—st in eundem locum Tom. 1. p. 709. Cassiador Arnobius Junior Euthymius in eundem locum Didyn us Nicephorus Lat. Gr. in locum God alone and by him only can be judged †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 G. Nyssen l. 1. contra Eunom p. 400. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 2. ad Pop. Antioch Tom. 6. p. 463. l. 41. Hieron Ep. 22. adEustachium 46. ad Rusticum Isidor Sentent l. 3. c. 50. Nefas est in dubium deducere ejus potestatem cui omnium Gubernatio supremo constat delegata Judicio Concil Tolet. 6. c. 14. according to that saying of King David against thee only have I sinned So Ambrose Cassiodorus Didymus Arnobius Euthymius and St. Jerom and G. Nyssen Inference 4 Are Governors the Ministers of God the Ordinance of God then they who do resist their Government must be Resisters of God's Ordinance and fighters against God they must be takers of that Sword which by God's Ordinance is put into the hands of their Superiors and therefore may expect according to our Saviour's Aphorism that they should perish by it This our Apostle here expresly teacheth saying He that resists the Power resists the Ordinance of God and if it never can be lawful to resist the Higher Powers because they are the Ordinance of God it of necessity must follow That in all cases we must suffer patiently even when we suffer the most wrongfully And here to meet with and baâ—â—le all the Cavils of those who plead for the Resistance of the Higher Powers I shall lay down these following Propositions Prop. 1 That it is not lawful to resist on the account of any hardships or severities that Governors may use towards their Subjects For Reason 1 First No Governors were more severe and cruel towards any Subjects than were the Roman Emperors towards the Christians as the ten Persecutions may inform us and yet these are the very men whom to resist saith the Apostle is damnation Reason 2 Secondly The Apostle doth command all Servants to be obedient not only to their kind and gentle Masters 1 Pet. 2.18 but also * Quod dixitde Domino Servo hoc in telligite de Potestatibus Regibus August in Psal 124. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the perverse and froward because it is thank worthy thus to endure Grief and suffer wrongfully for Conscience towards God nor is the Child discharged from his obedience to his Parents by any hardships which he suffers from them and therefore by just consequence the Subject cannot upon the like accounts be freed from that subjection which he owes unto the Sovereign Lord and Father of his Country