45.1 2 3 4. Dan. 2.21 and 5.26 28. Rom. 13.1 and therefore are called the Ministers of God Rom. 13.4 but never the Ministers of the People and God himeself hath called them Gods Psal 82.6 to ascertain us that their Persons are Sacred to him and their Authority of his immediate Delegation and not derived from any voluntary Paction or positive Constitution made and ratified betwixt them and their Subjects which is forfeitable and revocable according to the express or tacite Tenor of the Fundamental Contract as these Men sometimes phrase it And as the first Dominion and Government of Divine Ordination was Monarchical so we have no reason to think that it was God's intention that that Species or Form of Government should be altered and another introduced because we have no instance of any other Government either of his immediate Ordination or Approbation and so far as I am instructed in divine Revelations we have no Rule for the Establishing of any other Form of Government nor direct precept to submit to any other as of his prescribing and when Men prefer their own Inventions before divine Institutions they bring forth as Aaron did a Calf instead of a God The Church of England having determined That the most high and sacred Order of Kings is of divine Right being the Ordinance of God him elf founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by express Texts both of the Old and New Testaments those pretended Sons of the Church need good foreheads who presume to affirm them to be their Peoples Creatures and to owe their Authority and Power solely to them and ought to exercise no more than they have by their Concession I hope God hath such Grace and Mercy in store for this Church and Kingdom that he will raise up Men of greater Abilities and better Opportunities than can be pretended unto by my self to defend the crowned Heads thereof from such Assailants but if these ensuing Discourses in any measure prove a Countermine to their designments and contribute any degree of assistance towards the Security of the Publick Government I shall ascribe all the Honour thereof unto God and Your Majesties will have no reason to discountenance the Honest though Weak Endeavours of Your Majesties most Loyal Subject LEWES SHARP THE Church of England's DOCTRINE OF Non-Resistance JUSTIFIED and VINDICATED c. ROM 13.2 And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation THE grand Design of Religion is the Resignation of our selves to God that it may be well with us both in this world and that which is to come and therefore the Appearance of the blessed Jesus is represented as bringing Glory to God on high on Earth Peace good Will towards Men. And the well-being of Mankind in this World greatly depending on the Safety and Peace of publick Societies the Christian Religion hath a special Regard to the Protection and Preservation of them And Civil Authority being under God a most efficacious Instrument thereof signal care is taken for its security that it be not weakened or disturbed in its being and exercise but maintained and observed by all that are subjected thereunto as my Text with its coherence doth abundantly evidence Sect. 1. In the former Verse the Apostle chargeth it as a Duty incumbent on all Mankind to be subject to the Higher Powers Let every Soul every one without exception or reservation be Subject yield Submission and Obedience to the Higher Powers the lawful Possessors and Administrators of Supreme Authority for though the Word Powers be in the Abstract yet we are to understand them concretively as signifying the Persons which exercise Authority And 't is ordinary in Scripture by a Metonymical Phrase to put the Abstract for the Concrete the Adjunct for the Subject which was not here unadvisedly used because the Design of the Apostle is to ascertain us that every Person under Government of what Rank or Order soever he be is obliged to yield Subjection to his legally Supreme Governour howsoever he be qualified for his Religion or moral Deportment Sect. 2. And the Reason he gives doth equally effect all Subjects and equally relate to all that are advanced to Supreme Authority for there is no Power but of God and the Powers that be are ordained of God that is the Original of all Authority is from God and consequently whosoever partakes of it is to be acknowledged as God's Commissioner to rule and govern all that are placed in a State of Subjection to him and although we are to be subject and obedient to the Officer for his Office-sake yet our Subjection and Obedience immediately refers to the Officer himself because we are ruled and governed by the Officer i. e. by a Man invested with and exercising Authority over us and not simply by an Office which abstructively considered is utterly ineffective to all the Purposes of Government as 't is not the Kingship which makes and executes Laws but the King 't is not the Portrieveship or the Constableship viz. the bare Office in either respect but the Portrieve and the Constable which suppress Disorder and administer Justice in any case Sect. 3. When God therefore Commands every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers he Commands every soul to be subject to that Person or Persons who legally possess and actually exercise by themselves or substitutes the Supreme governing Power or else in effect he Commands nothing at all because the Power abstracted from the Person cannot rule us nor consequently be a Terror to evil Works or a Praise to good Works 't is not simply the Office but the Man in office which is the Minister of God to us for good and which beareth not the Sword in vain but revengeth evil doing All which considered when the Apostle saith in the former part of the Verse to which the Text belongs Whosoever therefore resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God his meaning must needs be That whosoever resisteth that Person or Persons who have the Right to Rule and Govern and exercise Dominion and Authority over him he resisteth the Commission and Authority of God himself because the Authority of the Magistrate is an Authority derived from God himself He therefore who affronts and opposeth the Magistrate who is God's Vicegerent affronts and opposeth God himself and then we cannot think it strange that they which thus resist should receive to themselves damnation Here are Three Things which need a little Explication 1. What the Apostle intends by Resistance or they that resist 2. What he intends by Damnation 3. What he intends by Receiving to themselves the damnation spoken of Sect. 4. 1. What the Apostle means by Resistance or they that resist 't is very manifest that Resistance is directly opposed to Subjection and includes all practicing from a Spirit of Averseness Contradiction and Opposition and consequently so far as we refuse to yield subjection to the Authority of the Higher Powers we resist them Now
Community to which they belong to the over-ruling Providence of God to whose Superintendency and Controulment they are only obnoxious However that you may be assured that I do not think their Arguments unanswerable I shall with all faithfulness to the best of my skill propound them and then confute them Sect. 65. 'T is objected That all Men being equal by Nature every Man is born free and exempted from Subordination Wherefore Civil Society and Government must proceed only from a Compromise or Contract by which Governours and Governed stand mutually obliged to each other according as it is provided by their Agreement or Contract and consequently the Subjects Liberty is no further restrained than was limited by the Contract and if it be questioned how far the Prerogative and Power of the Ruling part extends that must be proved but Liberty will prove it self and if the Higher Powers fail in Faithfulness and Justice on their parts the Contract is violated and null and the Subjects are absolved from their Allegiance and may resist and depose them Answ Although what hath been occasionally already said concerning the Original of the Authority and Power of Sovereign Princes be a sufficient Amulet against and confutation of this Objection yet because it is a very popular One and therefore in great reputation with too many amongst us I will endeavour in divers particulars to evince the Vanity and Weakness of it Sect. 66. 1. This Objection presumes Mankind in a State of meer Nature which is a meer Figment Had all the People in the World their Beings and Existences immediately from God by Creation these Men would in appearance have some warrant to affirm that all Men are equal by Nature and free from a Subordination to each other but since all the People except Adam and Eve naturally descend from Parents and so depend on them respectively to their Generation and Preservation it is so far from being certain that every Man is born free i. e. exempted from a Condition of Subjection to a Superior that 't is most certain no Man ever was or can be so free-born because every Man as born of a Woman is naturally under the paternal Dominion and if the fifth Commandment be not a moral Law and a prime Dictate of Nature I know not what Law is so Although Eve had not as great a Dependance on Adam for her Being and Existence as Children have on their natural Parents there being an immediate and supernatural Interposure of the divine Power to her production yet the Apostle argues the Reasonableness of the Womans Subordination from thence and the Order and End of her Creation 1 Cor. 17.7 8 9. an essential equality therefore doth not infer antecedently to all Contracts and superinduced legal Provisions an exemption from Subordination 'T is true a Woman now becomes a Man's Wife by her own Consent yet her Subjection to her Husband is from the divine Ordination and the Law of her Creation and that is to be the formal Reason and Motive of her Obedience Eph. 5.22 as soon as there was more than one Person in the World it was God's express Ordinance that there should be a Subordination Gen. 3.16 And certainly Adam's Dominion over his Children had the same Sanction with that over his Wife and as every Man now hath the same Dominion Adam originally had over his Wife as the Apostle proves 1 Cor. 14.34 Eph. 5.22 23. so every Man hath the same Dominion over his Children Adam originally had the same Right and Reason of Dominion being derived to his Posterity And such is the Propriety of Parents in their Children and Dominion over them that they could with God's Approbation as well as political Constitution sell and transfer them into the Possession and under the Dominion of others Exod. 21.7 Neh. 5.2 and 8. beside this Sect. 67. 'T is very evident That a Subordination among Men is from the Dictate of Nature and not meerly from the Arbitrary pacts of Men for what more natural to us than to incline unto and endeavour our own safety quiet and comfort and what means more absolutely necessary to obtain it than a friendly and peaceable Society and converse with our Neighbours and what more indispensably necessary to render Society and Converse friendly and peaceable sweet and comfortable safe and happy than Order and Government and therefore it must be natural and reasonable for every Man to submit himself to Order and Government as his Duty and Interest for though Nature do not dictate and determine who individually except in the Cases of the paternal and marital Dominion shall be actually invested with and exercise Sovereign Authority in a Society or Community yet it obligeth to a Subordination as having the most natural and proper Tendency to secure the Welfare of Mankind and to establish every Community in Safety and Happiness and to procure and mantain among Men mutual Benevolence and Confidence they cannot by nature be free and at liberty whether they will be subject to Government or not who are by nature inclined to Society and obliged to maintain the Ends of Government mutual Defence and Preservation Order and Peace Sect. 68. 2. Adam by divine Sanction being invested with Dominion over his Children this by divine prescription was continued in actual exercise not only Oeconomically but politically in the Fatherhood of his posterity to the Flood and from thence to the Confusion of Language at Babel and when Noah's Posterity was scattered abroad upon the face of all the Earth and the Encrease of particular Families was so numerous that they enlarged and spread into whole Nations so that partly by the Confusion of Languages and partly by their own carelesness and partly from the just Judgment of God it was not discoverable where the original and principal Right of paternal Dominion was lodged God by his gracious Providence so order'd it that the Paternal Government was transferr'd into Regal we no were find the least Intimation in the Scriptures that the People either diffusively collectively or representatively taken were any way concerned in the transferring or conveyance of governing Power or that they had or made any pretension of a Right to it and if it be not utterly incredible yet it cannot but be somewhat wonderful that every Man being born to an equal freedom from Subjection and nothing could be made a Property to any Person without every Man's Consent that Government should be established in all Parts of the World as we find it was and no representation made of the concurrent Consent of the People to it if they were the only Original Founders and Erecters of it Sect. 69. I would have these Men who so earnestly contend that all governing Power is originally equal in all and alike derived from the Consent of the whole People to consider if this be not a direct way to bring Confusion all the World over for by the Law of Nature the habitable World is not
bring his Person into disgrace as one not well affected to justice and the public welfare and consequently not so fit for Government as himself Which Copy is transcribed by Rebels in all Times and Ages they very industriously reproach the Footsteps The Councils Measures and Actings of the Lords anointed Psa 98.51 represent the Designs and Manageries of the higher Powers as dangerous burdensom and useless partly from a deficiency in their integrity and faithfulness and partly from their imprudence and carelesness disabled for the exercise of Rule and Government Which is an Artifice to expose them to the malevolent jealousies and contempt of their Subjects the readiest way to undermine and weaken their Authority and Power and to debase and destroy their Persons For when they are libelled traduced arraigned and sentenced in their Subjects thoughts affections and judgments and become despised Persons and Ministers of Government and have no respect or awe in their Subjects hearts their hands will easily be engaged against them to fight them out of the Throne and to banish them out of all their Dominions For who will be subject and run hazards to maintain that which he despiseth And Rebels being ever Men that carry tales to shed blood as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 22.9 they are not only cursed by God as he is that slandereth his Neighbour privily Deut. 27.24 but deserve an everlasting confusion for slandering the Powers ordained of God Isa 38.11 Sect. 127. 6. Hatred is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels are Enemies to the higher Powers and enemies resist and fight to kill and destroy And he that hateth his Neighbour in his heart is a Murtherer and ye know no Murtherer hath eternal life abiding in him 1 Joh. 3.15 the Seed of eternal Death and of eternal Life cannot abide in a prevalent Degree in the same Subject at the same Time As ill will never speaks well so it never doth well but at the same Time it thrusts all love and respect to the higher Powers from Men it pusheth them forward to defie and destroy 'em ranks them with Cain mustereth and marcheth them under the Conduct and Command of the great Destroyer whose name is Abaddon and Apollyon Rev. 9.11 Sect. 128. 7. Revenge is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels are not for giving place unto to withdraw themselves from those provoked against them and refer the punishment of the injuries done unto them unto God and to overcome evil with good but they are for avenging themselves design and endeavour a wrathful retribution of evil and mischief to the higher Powers from whom they have felt or fear at least as they pretend oppressive and injurious usage Rebels will revenge evils feared as well as evils inflicted They are as impatient under the Belief of a plotted Mischief against them as of one executed upon them And indeed more often rebel and resist to prevent a conceited contrived Evil than to remove a real Evil endured And God having expresly forbidden us to resist Evil and avenge our selves because vengeance is his peculiar a part of distributive Justice which alone belongs to him and such as are Commissioned by him Rom. 12.9 and 13.4 what a notorious Usurpation is Rebellion upon the Prerogative Royal of God himself which forceth the Sword out of Gods band to turn it against those into whose hands God himself hath put it for the Conservation of human Societies and Guardianship of Laws and good Order And hath not God great vengeance especially for such as take vengeance with a spiteful heart Ezek. 25.15 Sect. 129. 8. Murder is another Concomitant or if you will effect of a rebellious Resistance So many Men as are slain in a Rebellion so many Murthers are there committed For whether Rebels kill or are killed they are Murtherers If they kill others they spill the Blood of the Innocent If they themselves are killed they are the efficient meretorious Causes of their own deaths If they neither kill or are killed but survive the Rebellion and come off by Victory or Escape yet they are Murtherers because the Action they engaged in had both a natural and moral tendency thereunto which is a Matter to be well considered by all such as are any way concerned in an unlawful War And surely if God will require the Blood of Mens Lives at the hand of every Beast Gen. 9.5 he will make a strict Inquisition after it when it is spilt by one of the same Nature with themselves Psal 9.12 and without repentance will not pardon it 2 Kings 24.4 but hath threatned that they shall perish by the Sword Mat. 26.52 and have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 Sect. 130. 9. An audacious presumption on the gracious and righteous Providence of God is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance When Men contend against each other with Force of Arms and put themselves into a State of War they appeal from Man to God and refer the Equity and Justice of the Cause contended for to his arbitration and umpirage expecting protection and prosperity according to the integrity of their hearts and righteousness of their quarrel Jos 22.22 wherefore though Rebels violate and trample on all the Restraints of Nature and the Laws of God and Man yet they solemnly appeal unto God and with stupendious security and boldness depend on his help and assistance for the Preservation of their Persons and the good success of their Cause The Prophet tells the Heads of the House of Jacob and the Princes of the House of Israel that they abhorred judgment and perverted all equity and built up Sion with Blood and judged for reward and yet they leaned upon the Lord and said is not the Lord amongst us and none evil can come upon us Mic. 3.9 10 11. thus rebellious fools rage against God and his substitutes and are confident Pr. 14.16 presume they shall speed well though God hath as expresly forbid them to do what they have engaged themselves to do as he did the Israelites when he said to them Deut. 1.41 Go not up neither fight for I am not among you and like those Israelites they refuse to be convinced of the Evil of their Engagments and go on presumptuously in their Rebellion as if God had a great Favour for them and were obliged to bless them with Success encouraging themselves herein by reflecting on those eminent deliverances and victories God vouchsafed to his choicest Servants in his own Cause Which is a tempting of God with such pride and stoutness of heart Is 9.9 2 Pet. 2.10 as incenseth him to such a Degree against them that his jealousie even smoaks against them for it so that He lays all the Curses that are written in his Book upon them and will blot out their Names from under Heaven Deut. 29.19 20. Now a rebellious Resistance being concatenated and mustered with such a Troop of damning Sins is it not reasonable to