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
Sword and might warrantably oppose force to force from worldly Powers they would in a military Way have assisted and defended me against the Jews when they apprehended and dealt with me as a Malefactor but they could not pretend any Commission from me to repel with armed Force the most injurious and violent Usage from the Higher Powers for I did expresly forbid it vers 11. Put up thy Sword into thy Sheath said he there to St. Peter who rashly from a wild and ungoverned Zeal drew it in his defence Sect. 38. If you compare the Evangelists together you shall find that Christ's Disciples asked him If they should smite with the Sword Luk. 22.49 and St. Peter probably being naturally somewhat too eager and having an extraordinary tenderness for his Master's Person and perhaps a little leavened with an expectation of a temporary Kingdom without staying for an Answer drew his Sword and smote of Malchus the High Priest's Servants Ear who was likely most forward and busy in seizing of Christ and what was the Event our Saviour for the Reparation of the Injury miraculously pieced it up again to his head vers 51. and severely reprimands Peter for his bold and unwarrantable Action vers 52. Put up thy Sword again into his place and he gave him a Reason for it which obliged him and will have an unlimited and universal Obligation on all Subjects to the End of the World for all they that take the Sword shall perish by the Sword Which Words as you may learn from the Margine of your Bibles have reference to Gen. 9.6 and Rev. â— 10 and are in truth part of the moral Law and clearly intimate that when private Persons not authorized by the Higher Powers do use the Sword in a vindicative and destructive Way they are Murderers let their pretensions be what they will and must expect their allotment Vengeance is mine saith the Lord Rom. 12.19 I will repay and none but such as are commissioned by God can wield the Sword of Justice and claim a Power of Life and Death over Men which Private Subjects cannot pretend And if St. Peter's Resistance not of Caesar himself or the High Priest himself but only of Inferiour Officers Commissioned by them for the Preservation of Christ and Christianity too for the Assailants aimed at the Destruction of both and this done too rashly and indeliberately without any prepensed prejudice and malice be so blamable and an usurpation upon God's prerogative because he was a Subject and had no claim to the Power of the Sword I 'm sure no Man in the same Relation can have a warrantable Ground to avenge himself on his Sovereign Lord the King or resist his Commissioned Officers Sect. 39. And our Saviour having chid and threatned Peter into Obedience he presently declares to him that it was a plain Resistance to the Nature of the Design he was to accomplish in the World to attempt the Defence or Promotion of it by armed Force and Violence Jo. 18.37 to this end saith he was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the Truth every one that is of the Truth heareth my Voice q. d. my Kingdom is to subsist by the Power of the Truth and not by the Power of the Sword and all that are heartily zealous for the Truth will voluntarily submit themselves to my institutions And that I have no mind to Rescue my Person and settle my Kingdom by Force of Arms levied against the Powers of the World thou mayest infer from hence for thinkest thou said Christ to Peter that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give Twelve Legions of Angels Mat. 26.53 Who owed Subjection and Obedience to no earthly Powers and so were fitter Assistance in such a Case than Peter and the rest of his Disciples were Wherefore if it had been necessary proper or agreeable to that constitution of Things he was about to Establish he could have relieved himself without St. Peter's help with a forcible Resistance but that would not effect his Ends but destroy them For how then said he shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Mat. 26.54 Which foretold that he should quitely and patiently without any resistance submit himself to all sorts of ignominious and cruel sufferings from the Legal Powers of the World Is 53.3 to 8. Sect. 40. And as Christ preached and practiced the Doctrine of Non-resistance so did his Disciples and Followers also St. Paul in the first Verse of this Chapter where the Text is chargeth every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers All Men of what Rank Order Degree or Quality soever the whole Body of the People as well as every individual Person which he enforceth with irresistible Reasons for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And the Roman Power of Government was at this time probably in Nero's hand who was not only an Heathen but also a Man most prodigiously Tyrannical a fierce and barbarous Enemy to Christians and their Religion and such a Monster of Villany and Wickedness as hath scarcely been known in the World and St. Peter taught the same Doctrine Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the Punishment of evil Doers and for the Praise of them that do well for so is the Will of God that with well-doing you put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men 1 Pet. 2.13 14 15. and as the Apostles taught others to do so they themselves did They submitted themselves to the Civil Powers where ever they came honoured their Persons and obeyed their Laws unless inconsistent with their Obedience unto God and then they chose rather to obey God than Man Acts 3.29 and when punished for disobedience to unreasonable and unjust Laws they suffered with great serenity and submission of Mind without passionate Perturbations or bitter Reflections or appearance of any Inclination to Resistance When they were injuriously imprisoned Acts 4.3 and beaten Acts 5.41 they did not exclaim revile or calumniate but went away rejoycing So when Herod had butchered St. James and consign'd St. Peter to the same Portion there was no spreading of Libels raising of Tumults or confederation of Factions in the City but they possessed their Souls in Patience and Prayers and Tears were their only Weapons of Defence And certainly there is scarce any particular Instance wherein Christianity did more triumph in the World than in their exemplary Submission to the Civil Powers especially in the patient Endurance of unjust Penalties on their Persons and Possessions Sect. 41. And hereby they declared an acknowledgment That God had decreed and predestinated them as they were Christians to be conformed to the Image of his Son in his
Ground and manner of his sufferings who from a Principle of self-denial took up his Cross and meerly from a Conscientious Submission to the appointment of his Father gave himself into the Hands of the higher Powers to be dealt withal as they pleased When a Man suffers no more than what he deserves and common Justice requires there is nothing of commendation or gloriation in it but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God And this is thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully 1 Pet. 2.19 20. and ch 4.15 he suffers only as a Christian who suffers wrongfully for well-doing and then follows Christ's steps in conforming to the Manner of his sufferings when his sufferings are a probation to his patience but no provocation to his revenge will not defend himself from an unjust punishment by an undutiful Resistance Sect. 55. 'T is to be considered by every Christian That Jesus Christ was sent into the World and dwelt amongst us to be the Example of our Religion as well as the Teacher of it And there is such an exact concordance betwixt his Doctrine and Practice that the latter is a Practical Demonstration of God's determinate and unchangeable Method of dispensing eternal life and glory to the Children of Men. As Christ was brought to glory so must they and no otherwise Rom. 8.29 30. for whom he God did fore-know fore-approved and fore-acknowledged for his he also did predestinate fore-appointed according to the Purport of the Gospel to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first Born amongst many Brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified In which Words is represented the Method Order and Degrees of God's Decrees Dispensations and Transactions for the Effecting of our Salvation according to the Terms of the Gospel and they shew the inviolable connexion betwixt God's acceptance of us as objects of his special love and our conformity unto Christ and that according to the immutable ordination of God whosoever answers the Call of the Gospel and obtains justification and glorification according to the Purport and Tenour of it he must resemble Christ in his doings and sufferings And this is likewise the express Doctrine of Christ himself Mat. 16.24 If any Man will come after me let him take up his Cross and follow me No wearing of a Crown with him but by bearing his Cross after him Luke 26.16 ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter so and upon such Terms into his glory And our way of enterance thereinto is the same Luke 22.29 therefore I appoint unto you a Kingdom after the same manner and upon the same Terms as my Father hath appointed unto me And is it not enough for the Disciple to be as his Master and for the Servant as his Lord Mat. 10.15 can we reasonably expect greater honours exemptions and priviledges than our Lord and Master had And may we not be well enough contented to be allowed admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven the same way with him This is the Evangelical stated way of Salvation and to a Conformity hereunto are all Christians called because Christ also suffered for them leaving them an example that they should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 who when he was oppressed and afflicted opened not his Mouth when he was reviled reviled not again but was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter and as a Sheep before her Sharers is dumb so open'd he not his Mouth Isa 53.7 Acts. 8.32 1 Pet. 21.23 and as he restrained himself from evil words as well as blows against the higher Powers so must we and however Tyrannically the higher Powers abuse their Office and Authority acknowledge with him that their Power is given them from above Joh. 19.11 and submit thereunto without Resistance as to the Appointment of God saying with him the Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18.11 Who calleth the most harmless Christians sometimes thus to suffer for well doing from the higher Powers but never to a violent Resistance of them Sect. 56. You cannot but well know and I would also have you to consider well the Case of Shadrach Meshach Abednego and Daniel who when they were prohibited to pray to the living God and commanded to Worship dead Idols by the Heathenish Persecutors of God's Church though they utterly refused to yield an Active Obedience to their commands yet they yielded a Passive Obedience to their Sovereign Powers without repining reviling or opposing yea they prayed for them and blessed them Dan. 6.21 Which is an Argument that they did not believe that any persecutions injurious usages or oppressions from the Sovereign Powers could exempt or discharge them from subjection to them and warrant a destructive Resistance of them and though their sufferings were in their Circumstances unavoidable and they really wanted sufficient Strength to redress and help themselves against the overpowering Force of their Persecutors and Oppressors yet the manner of their submission thereunto plainly declared that they accounted themselves as appointed and called of God by a suffering Condition to bear witness to his Truth and to demonstrate to the World that suffering was better and more eligible than sining and to give a Proof that they did not believe that God did authorize and allow any of his Servants to threaten reproach revile or resist their Rulers how hardly injuriously and cruelly soever they are treated by them but requires them to reverence their Persons acknowledge their Authority and patiently to submit to their Power when 't is exercised to the utmost Evil to them Sect. 57. And this Gospel-Call to a quiet and patient Submission to the injurious infliction of punishment from the Higher Powers is was and ever will be a Vindication of the Christian Religion from the false and scandalous Imputations charged on it by its Enemies and Persecutors who do did and will reproach it as an Engine contrived and designed for the Disturbance and Subversion of Civil Empires and Dominions Both Jews and Gentiles traduced Jesus Christ as no Friend to Caesar represented his Doctrine as dangerous to the State Joh 19.12 and reputed the Gathering of Churches the Dissolution of Kingdoms or in their own Words a turning of the World upside down Acts 17.6 That is an inversion of Order a pulling down of Rulers and the setting up of Subjects in their room which Stratagem was and may be marvellously successful to bring the Christian Religion into disgrace with the Civil Powers who are ever very watchful to endeavour to their utmost to reject and suppress all those Doctrines which they suspect to be prejudicial and destructive to their Authority and Government and how can this slanderous Imputation to the Christian Religion be more effectually confuted than by
of its Administration may be determined and limited and the Individual Person or Persons Family or Families who shall be the Subjects Recipients of governing Authority and Power may be designed and nominated by the Interposition and Consent of the whole Community over which they preside and rule yet their Authority and Power is originally and immediately from God alone 't is here as in the Case of Marriage the Authority and Power of the Man over the Woman is originally and immediately from God but the determination of the particular Person who shall be this or that Womans Husband proceeds from the free Election and Consent of the Woman and although by a Pre-contract she may limit the Exercise of his Authority and Power respectively to her Estate and Proprieties yet she annot bound his Matrimonial Authority and Power over her Person nor will his abuse hereof be a Forfeiture of it to her And the Supreme Authority and Power with which all Sovereign Princes and States are invested being originally and immediately from God â—â—one and not communicated and derived at all from the Community there can be no â—â—rfeiture made by any male-Administration to the Community be the Contracts reâ—â—ectively to its kind of existence and manner of its exercise what they will what as not gotten by Vertue is not loseable by Vice nor can it by any abuse whatever escheat to the Power and Disposal of the Community they cannot take â—â—ay that which they did not give 't was therefore well said by Tacitus Principi sumâ—um rerum arbitrium dii dederunt subditis obsequii gloria relicta est God hath invested the â—â—ince with Sovereign Power leaving to Subjects the Glory of Obedience To the same purpose is at of Salust impunè quid vis facere hoc est regem esse He that will do a thing without fear 〈◊〉 Punishment he acts the part of a King For as Mark Anthony urged in Herod's case If he 〈◊〉 accountable for what he hath done as a King he could not be a King And the Reason is â—â—ause the Supreme Power is only under God and to be accounted for to him alone And â—â—all endeavour agreeably hereunto to prove to you That the Doctrine of Non-Resistance of Supreme Powers is founded on immutable Grounds of Reason and Religion And when there is â—â—inty of the Bond of Obedience to the Higher Powers from the Principles of Reason and Religion from the Necessities of common Equity and Order and the Interest of Conscience and Christian Duty there must needs be a very strong Obligation which is the Case of Non-Resistance against the Higher Powers as by Law established among us Sect. 11. 1. I will endeavour to evince that the Allowance of Liberty to Subjects to resist the Sovereign Power is against the Principles of Common Reason and that in divers Particulars 1. 'T is against Common Reason That the Higher Powers should be resisted by armed Force of Inferiours and Subjects because the Allowance of such a Thing would render all setled Government impracticable and indeed impossible and consequently destroy all the Means devisable for Administring Public Justice securing Private and Public Rights and Properties and preserving the Peace and Prosperity of all Human Societies The Primary End of all Government is to procure and preserve the Peace of Human Societies and where this cannot be sufficiently provided for the Government is null'd and destroyed which is the Case under consideration For if it be allowable for Subjects in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever to resist the Sovereign Powers with armed Force then it follows that they have a right to judge in what cases 't is fit for them to submit and in what cases 't is fit and lawful for them to resist and then the Subjects are the Supream Judges of the Government and their Governours which undeniably implies that the Subjects are bound to Subjection only so long as they themselves think fit and consequently may claim and exercise Authority and Judicature over their Governors and pass Judgment upon them and their Government whensoever they shall think it needful or requisite so to do And being to judge for themselves 't is very probable they will judge favourably for themselves And whereever the Supremacy of Judgment resides there is the Sovereign Authority and Power wherefore if the Higher Powers may be judged by their Subjects they are not Supream but Subordinate and Rule meerly precariously even so long and no longer than their Superiour Judges will give them leave so to do And when Men are in effect Subject to no Authority and Power but that of their own Judgments and Wills a Foundation is laid for a General and Great Confusion Where all will be Sovereigns who shall be the Subjects Where all are to command there are none to obey Let us allow Men Liberty to judge for themselves when 't is fit they should be subject to the Higher Powers and when 't is not and they may at Pleasure dissolve any Government in the World There is therefore no one Law so beneficial to the Subject as this Fundamental Law of Sovereignity That 't is unresistible and unaccountable for its determinations and from which there is no appeal For though a Society may be Governed by Mutual Consent and Agreement yet let Sovereign Authority and Power be lodged in one or many Persons it must be absolute and uncontroulable or else those Differences and Controversies which arise in that Society can never be decided and finally determined And whatever unthinking Men may fancy the Security of the Public Government from the Resistance of its Subjects is the best Security of every Mans Liberty Property and Safety Sect. 12. Let the Public Government be once Invaded and Confronted by the Open Resistance and Defiance of its Subjects and we are unavoidably and immediately in a State of War and then no Man hath any thing he can call his own and all the Admistrations of Justice are stopped and in truth all Laws lay dead and are ineffective to the Purposes of Government Wherefore if we set aside all regard to Duty and Honesty and do but consider our own interest quiet and safety we shall find Submission to the worst Government more for the Ease and Security of the Subject than Rebellion and War Let any Man of Common Ingenuity and Sense consider if a State of War be not the most defenceless and deplorable condition in the World for in such a Case no Mans Private Interest can be secured against the Injuries and Violences of other Men and when a Man hath lost his Proprieties and Safety what hath he more to lose And yet this is the Case when Men endeavour to shake off Submission to the Higher Powers by a Forcible Resistance of them they pull down all those inclosures by which their own Quiet Propriety and Safety were defended and protected Sect. 13. Let the Men of Politicks who pretend very highly to a Zeal for the
the Statute of the 13th of Ch. 2d 't is in General Terms Declared Treason to Levy War against the King within the Realm or without And to cut off all Pretences from the Grounds or Nature of the War as Defensive only or as engaged in from the Authority of a Parliament or of the Lords and Commons we have in two several Statutes this Declaration That both or either Houses of Parliament cannot nor lawfully may raise or Levy any War offensive or defensive against the King his lawful Heirs and Successors In which Statutes also the sole Supream Command and Government of the Militia is Declared to be by the Fundamental Law of England ever the undoubted Right of the King And where could it be better placed for the Subjects Interest than in their Sovereign Prince and Supream Governour Sect. 21. There must be in one or other either in some single Person or some Community of Men a Supream and Chief Authority which hath the Principal and Highest Command of the Strength and Military Force of the Nation or else the Military Power will be under no command and consequently the Subjects will not know whom to obey with respect to War and Peace nor no Arms regularly used for the Suppression of Intestine Rebels or the Resistance of Foreign Enemies And who so fit to possess and execute such a Supremacy of Government as the King whose Interest as well as Duty obligeth him to preserve the Persons Estates Rights and Liberties of his People And this Authority by our Original Constitution being seated in the King and by subsequent acts of the Legislative Power Declared to be solely in him it cannot be lawful in any case to resist him because he cannot I say be resisted by an armed Force without Invading the Power of the Sword in which we have no Right and therefore cannot use it against him without the Guilt of Rebellion Sect. 22. 4. 'T is against common Reason that the Higher Powers should in any case and upon any Pretence whatsoever be resisted because all Resistance from Subjects against the Higher Powers is utterly inconsistent with their Relation and Condition for they that resist are not Subject 'T is contradictio in adjecto a meer Solecism to affirm That the Highest Power may lawfully be resisted because the Highest Power cannot have a Superiour and that which hath no Superiour cannot have a Superiour Power exercised over it Where ever there is a Supremacy it is inseperable from a Right to impunity and universally exempts from coercion and correction Where a King then is not obeyed his Majesty is lost He hath not a Principality but an Inferiority in his Country Resistance is coercive and punitive and implies a Superiority For he which resists assaults to controul counteracts to countermand opposeth the Will of his Sovereign to impose upon him his own and consequently starts from the Condition of a Subject and sets himself up in the Throne of Sovereignty Where we acknowgledge a Sovereign Authority there we yeild Subjection and Obedience from the one flows the other as an effect from the Cause but where we resist a Power we disclaim and renounce the Sovereignity of it for we resist it that we may not be under but above it They that resist the King will not be his Subjects but his Superiours will not receive Laws from him but give Laws to him reject his Rod and snatch away his Scepter will not act as Subordinate Instruments but as Principal Agents in the Administration of the Government Sect. 23. But what saith the Prophet Shall the Axe boast it self against him that heweth it Or shall the Saw exalt it self against him that moveth it Isa 10.15 So 't is as absurd and unreasonable that Subjects who are inferiour and ought to be subservient unto the higher Powers should assume to themselves Power to resist them They have a Power and fitness to act in their proper Places in an orderly way of dependency and subserviency to the Sovereign Power but if they resist the Sovereign Power they leave their proper rank and station and will not be where they ought but where they should not be And I am sure God being the God of Order and not of Confusion cannot approve or allow that we should Desert our own proper Places to thrust our selves into anothers We must abide in our proper Seatings and not go up higher and take the Place of our Betters As there is no Power but of God so there is no Power but is Gods and the Subordination of Subjects to their Sovereign being of Divine Ordination the Subordination is to God himself and therefore Subjects are not only obliged quietly to abide under the Predominant Force and Strength of their Sovereign but likewise to make a Voluntary Resignation of themselves their Understandings Wills Powers and Interests to his directive Wisdom and preceptive Will actively obeying what he justly imposeth or passively enduring what he inflicts for Disobedience So that the Allowance of Liberty to Subjects in any case whatsoever to resist their Sovereign is a plain contradiction to the Moral Relation of Subjects to their Sovereign and equally as absurd in the Moral Order of Things as 't is in the Natural and Local Order of Things for the Feet to ascend above the Head Sect. 24. When therefore some learned Men affirm that the King is Major singulis greater than any of his Subjects singly considered but Minor universis less than the whole Body of them collectively considered unless they understand it respectively to the Safety and Welfare of the Community to which the King belongs as a Part and not respectively to the Governing Power thereof 't is false and unreasonable For though the Preservation and Safety of the Community be the Supream Law yet 't is of the Community concretively and not discretively considered the Governing Part as well as the Governed Part is comprehended therein the Preservation and Safety of the one being concatenated unto and included in the other 'T is true every Community considered simply and antecedently to the Constitution of a Government therein is warranted and authorized by the Natural and Positive Law of God to Design and Nominate some particular Person or Persons to be the Rulers and Governours thereof but this is not the Communicating of any Authority or Power that was inherent in themselves before but only the Condition of the Applicatition of that Authority and Power which God as the Fountain and Efficient Cause deriveth to be exercised subordinately to himself by one Man over another And therefore supposing a Community setled under a constituted Government whether we consider the governed Members thereof divisim or conjunctim singly and a part or united and altogether they are one and all equally Subjects and altogether as well as asunder obliged to Subjection and Obedience and accordingly the higher Powers are over Kingdoms and Nations and not meerly over particular Persons Saul was called the Head of
resisted Ans Although such an Act of Surrender and Alienation would be in its self null because an Act done against the common Right and Interest of the Community and in its self inauthoritative yet being a manifest Protestation that such a Prince refuseth to govern his Subjects he exauctorates himself by it for no Man can be a Governour who refuseth to govern And by alienating of his Kingdom he ipso facto dethrones and enslaves himself and being degraded to the Condition of a private Man and a resistance of him is no resistance of the Sovereign Power And although such reasoning Suppositions as are contain'd in these two last Objections suppose nothing in being but something only in possibility and are rather to be reckoned among Imaginations which Subjects may have than Actions which Princes do yet seditious-minded Men from Suppositions of possible innovating Designs and secret Leagues insinuate and impress on the Subjects Minds such suspicions of their Princes as Sect. 110. Thus I have finished what I designed for the Vindication of my Doctrine from the Objections ordinarily made against it And here I cannot but with great regret and lamentation observe to you that some among us who should preach the Doctrine of bearing the Cross patiently in case of persecution from the Higher Powers seem to endeavour to perswade Subjects to a Submission to them no longer then they are too weak for resistance I know they will take this for a Slander because they are for resistance only when the Persecution is without and against Law But I look on this as a ridiculous Evasion for the Higher Powers have no more Authority to make and execute persecuting Laws than they have to persecute without and against Laws I am sure they are under stronger Obligations to regulate their Government by the Laws of God and Nature than by the positive Laws of their Country and if the Supremacy of their Power will exempt from resistance notwithstanding their governing Administrations be a Violation of the former 't will do so too if violations of the latter also because God that restrains from resistance in the former Case doth not allow or permit it in the latter for most assuredly God is as much for the Observation of the Laws of his own making as he is for the Observation of any Laws of Mens making and will have us much more tenderly to resent a Defiance to the Authority of his Laws than a Defiance to the Authority of human Laws because of a wiser and more righteous Contrivance and more excellent and useful in order to our Safety and Happiness Sect. 111. If we must not resist the Higher Powers then we must submit to them and obey them They misunderstand the Apostle Paul saith Mr. Baxter that think by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant only violent Resisters meer Disobedience may make a Man a Resister in the Apostles Sense it is Anti-subjection or breaking out of the Rank of Subjects which the Text forbids and he that unwarrantably disobeyeth may do that though he forcibly resist not And in truth that Supremacy of Power which God hath ordained to be inherent in some above others will be vain to the Purposes of Government if it be not owned and acknowledged in a practical Submission and active Obedience Passive Obedience or a quiet Submission to a Penalty inflicted supposeth the Failure of Active Obedience either really due or challenged as due and ever implieth a Faultiness in the Sufferer or in the Inflicter thereof an offending Subject or a persecuting Magistrate and is never undergone by an innocent Man but when the Sovereign cannot be obeyed unless God be dishonoured and then only is properly denominated Obedience in a divine Construction when the Penalty suffered is not deserved and the divine Authority is preferred before the abused Authority of Man The primary End of all Laws is for the Regulation of our Actions and Manners either to restrain us from disorders and doing what is evil or to direct us to promote and do what is good and therefore the Law cannot be satisfied and fulfilled without an active Compliance and Obedience The Sanction of Laws with the Threatnings of Penalties is but a subordinate Means to this end and the Law-giver is then best pleased when the Fear thereof prevents the hurt as he intended it should do To conceit that we have discharged our Duties to our Superiors because we have peaceably submitted our selves to those Penalties are allotted to the Transgressors of their Laws is to think that Devils and damned Spirits who are despisers of God's Laws do perform their Duties to God because they suffer for their offences according to their deserts We cannot therefore approve our selves to God or Man without an active Obedience to the Higher Powers in all things which their Authority warrants them to require from us The Church of England's Doctrine of Non-Resistance Justified and Vindicated c. Rom. 13.2 And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation THE next Doctrine to be discoursed is as plainly expressed as the former is implied in the Text and 't is this They that resist the Higher Powers bring themselves under the Guilt of eternal Damnation As they that obey the Gospel Precepts shall be saved Heb. 5.9 So they that disobey them shall be damned 2 Thes 1.8 9. Now as the Evangelical Doctrine exacts Subjection to the Higher Powers so it forbids Resistance and therefore all rebellious Resisters of them deserve to be damned and without repentance shall eventually and actually be damned Sect. 112 Some Men have labour'd hard to restrain the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Damnation to a temporal Mulet or Punishment from the Magistrate only as if Resistance were only a dangerous Incentive to the Magistrate and no hazardous provocation to God at all By their Doctrine if a Rebel be strong enough he is safe enough Or if he escape apprehension and legal execution by flight or any other way of prevention he may bless himself in Peace If the Terrors of the Magistrate seize him not the Terrors of the Lord shall not reach him but if resistance of the Higher Powers be a Resistance of the Ordinance of God and a Contempt of the Authority of God as well as of Man why should not God be offended as well as the Magistrate and the Offender stand guilty of Damnation before the Tribunal of God as well as before the Tribunal of Man 'T is not often that Rebellions are prosperous and successful and therefore the Church of England exhorts us in her Sermon against willful Rebellion in Part the Fourth saying Turn over and read the Histories of all Nations look ever the Chronicles of our own Country call to mind so many Rebellions of old time and some yet fresh in memory ye shall not find that God ever prospered any Rebellion against their natural and lawful Prince but contrariwise that the Rebels were overthrown and slain and such
as were taken prisoners dreadfully executed which is seconded by that Oracle of our Laws Sir Edw. Coke Lord Chief Justice in the 3d. p. of his Institutes find a Principle in Law a Rule in Reason and a Trial in Experience that Treason doth ever produce fatal and final destruction to the Offender and never attaineth to the desired End two Incidents inseparable thereunto and therefore let all Men abandon it as the most poisonous Bait of the Devil of Hell and follow the Precept in Holy Scripture Fear God Honour the King and have no Company with the Seditious or at we translate it Meddle not with them that are given to change Prov. 24.21 Sect. 113. But suppose the Rebellion be prosperous and successful that the Rebels be Victors and instead of being drawn to the deserved Gibbet they usurp the Throne and arraign the Sovereign Powers as Criminals before their Tribunal and pronounce and execute that ugly Sentence on them they themselves have merited will they be as free from guilt before God as they will presume themselves secured from the Vengeance of Man No surely they are hainous Sinners against God and shall be punished with an everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord for resisting the Powers ordained by him and this is the Apostolical Doctrine professed by the Church of England who thus concludes the first Part of her Homily or Sermon of Obedience to Rulers with reference to my Text. Here let us learn of St. Paul the chosen Vessel of God that all Persons having Souls he excepteth none nor exempteth none neither Priest Apostle nor Prophet saith St. Chrysostome do owe bounden Duty and even in Conscience Obedience Submission and Subjection to the Higher Powers which be set in Authority by God forasmuch as they be God's Lieutenants God's Presidents God's Officers God's Commissioners God's Judges ordain'd of God himself of whom only they have all their Power and all their Authority and the same St. Paul threatneth no less pain than everlasting damnation to all disobedient Persons against all Resisters against this general and common Authority forasmuch as they resist not Man but God not Man's Device and Invention but God's Wisdom God's Order Power and Authority Sect. 114. That this truth may the more evidently appear I will represent unto you 1. The Sinfulness of resisting the Higher Powers with armed Force 2. The Grounds upon which the Decree and Ordination of God to condemn rebellious Resisters to an everlasting destruction is founded 1. That the Sinfulness of Rebellious Resistance against the Higher Powers may the more evidently appear it shall be considered both more generally as 't is directly opposed to Subjection and more particularly as it includes those â—vils which are necessarily antecedent and dispositive to it concomitants with it effects and consequential attendants of it Sect. 115. 1. We will consider the sinfulness of a Rebellious Resisting of the higher Powers more generally as 't is directly opposed in the Text to Subjection in the former Verse As Subjection is a Practical acknowledgment of our Allegiance and bounden Duty to the higher Powers so a violent Resistance of them is a practical disclaiming and renouncing of Submission and Obedience to them and consequently a Defiance made to that Power which is God's Ordinance and a contemning of the Authority of God himself Apostolus cujusque est ut quisque every ones Officer is himself say the Jews Disobedience to the Authority and Resistance against the Person of the Sovereign Ruler or those Commissioned by him who are God's Ministers and Deputy Gods is Disobedience and Resistance against God himself And accordingly Moses told Korah and his Confederates who associated themselves in opposition to Aaron as an Usurper that encroached on the Rights Liberties and Priviledges of the Lord's People that he and all his Company were gathered together against the Lord Numb 16.11 their Conspiracy and Rebellion against the Lord's Officer was against the Lord himself because he acted not in his own name and upon his own account but in God's name and for God's service And elsewhere told them that when they murmured against him and Aaron your murmurings are not against us i. e. only but against the Lord Ex. 16.8 i. e. principally and especially So God himself said to Samuel when the People stubbornly resolved upon another manner of Government than that he had exercised over them as to the external Pomp Grandeur and Succession thereof they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not Reign over them 1 Sam. 8.7 which is also the Case of all Christ's Ministers as Christ himself assured them Luke 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And elsewhere Jo. 13.20 He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me So that the Officers of God and his Christ are as God and Christ themselves presentiate or represent them exercise not their own but their Authority and therefore the Despisers and Resisters thereof are Despisers and Resisters of the Persons and Authority of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son And as Moses said to the Oppugnors of Aaron and what is Aaron So say I to the Resisters of the King and what is the King hath not God said that Kings are Gods Psal 82.1 6 And Reign by him Pr. 8.15 or as our Apostle stiles them twice in one Verse after the Text v. 4. they are the Ministers of God his Vice Roys Commissioned to attend his Work continually and God standeth and ruleth by them and judgeth with them Psal 82.1 He therefore that resisteth and fighteth against the King resisteth and fighteth against God himself Acts 5.39 for the Authority and Power of the King is the Authority and Power of God himself and consequently he who rejecteth and deposeth the King doth constructively reject and depose God himself because his Authority not only abstractly in its self but also concretly as inherent in his own Person and executed by him is of God too For as there is no Power or Authority but of God so the Powers the Persons in Authority that be are ordain'd of God whether they are good or bad Sect. 116. 'T is not therefore strange at all that Samuel compares Rebellion to the sin of Witch-craft and affirms it to be such a stubbornness for stubbornness is exegetical of Rebellion as is iniquity and Idolatry 1 Sam. 15.23 Rebellion is as the Sin of Witch-craft and stubbornness is as iniquity and Idolatry Indeed the Rebellion here spoken of was a Matter of Disobedience committed immediately against God himself but yet I conceive very applicable to that committed also immediately against the King because the Authority of the King and of God himself is the self same thing and the formal Reason of Subjection to the one and the other the very same viz. for conscience-sake that