under the Persian Monarchy was yet permitted to live under a popular Government as Appianus testifies Such another shadow of liberty the Grecians enjoyed under the Romans And Cicero confesseth That though the Romans had conquered Cyprus yet it was not lawful for the Romans to call the Cypriots out of their own Island So likewise in Pontus The City of Amisenes by the favour of Lucullus retained the use of their own Laws And the Goths though they had conquered the Romans yet they changed not the Roman Laws XI Especially in Religion Another favour may also without danger be granted to the vanquished namely The free exercise of their Religion and not at all to withdraw them from it unless it may be done by perswasion which as Agrippa in his Oration to the Emperour Caius proves is both grateful to the Conquered and no ways prejudicial to the Conquerour And this was it that as well Josephus himself as the Emperour Titus objected against the rebellious Jews at Hierusalem That through the Indulgence of the Romans they might exercise their own Religion with so great a right and freedom that they might drive Strangers out of their Temple even with the peril of their lives But in case the Religion of the Conquered be false yet may the Conquerour make it his care that the true Religion be not oppressed As the Emperour Constantine did by weakening Licinius's Party and as the Francks and other Kings did after him And although we cannot perswade them to the worship of the true God yet must we not drive them from the worship of their own For to use the words of Severus Melius est ibi aliquem coli Deum quà m nullum Better it is that any God be there worshipped than none at all Thus the Goths in Procopius profess That they would not compel any man to embrace their Religion but leave them to their own XII At least to use the Conquered gently and why The last Premonition is this That where the Empire is fully and absolutely got the Vanquished should be treated with much kindness and clemency and so as may stand with the mutual good both of the Conquerour and Conquered Cyrus in Xenophon bids the Assyrians whom he had overcome to be of good cheer for their condition should be the same as before for they should only change their King but their Houses Fields Wives Children c. should as fully remain theirs as they were before And if any man should wrong either them or theirs he and his would revenge their injuries We read in Salust That the Romans always sought to ingage men as their friends rather than as their Slaves thinking themselves more safe in a free than in a compulsory obedience Thus we read of the Lacedemonians in Thucydides We say they are of opinion That our worst Enemies may thus be made our best Friends not if the one Party thirsting only for revenge and abusing his good fortune shall endeavour to bind the other Party by Oaths to Conditions manifestly unequal but if though he may so do he shew no less equity in conquering his own passions than he did courage and conduct in conquering his Enemies using his Victory with as much moderation as may stand with his own security Vit. Agr. The Britains in Tacitus's days did readily make their Levies pay their Tributes and perform all Duties enjoined them by the Romans so long as they were not provoked by manifest injuries but such they bare very impatiently Jam domiti ut parerent nondum ut servirent Being already so far conquered as to be Subjects but not so far as yet Lib. 8. as to be Slaves That Pincernas in Livy who was asked in the Roman Senate What manner of Peace it was that the Romans might expect from him answered readily Si bonam dederitis fidam perpetuam si malam haud diturnam If on reasonable Conditions that which was firm and lasting if otherwise not very durable Adding this Reason No Nation and indeed no man will remain longer in such a Condition whereof he repents that he is fallen into than necessity shall inforce him So Camillus was wont to say That was the most lasting Empire under which the Subjects rejoyced Curt. lib. 9. Thus the Scythians answered Alexander Between the Lord and his Slave there can be no true friendship for though they live in peace yet there still remains some Rights of War Thus likewise Hermocrates in Diodorus To overcome is not so glorious as to use the Victory with clemency and moderation Lib. 13. Whereunto we may refer that excellent Saying in Tacitus Bellorum egregii fines quoties ignoscendo transigitur The effects of those Wars are notable which are shut up with a General Pardon For as Caesar observes Haec nova sit vincendi ratio ut misericordia liberalitate nos muniamus This is a new way of conquering when we secure our selves by our acts of mercy and liberality CHAP. XVI Moderation concerning such things as by the Law of Nations want the benefit of Postliminy I. That what is taken away by an enemy in an unjust War ought in equity to be restored II. Examples III. Whether any thing may be deducted IV. That even a people being subjected or any part of them if by an unjust War are to be restored to them whose they formerly were V. In what space of time this obligation to restitution ceaseth VI. What is to be done if the Case be dubious I. Things taken in an unjust War ought to be restored HOW far forth in a Just War things taken away may be his that takes them hath been already declared from which are to be deducted such things as are received by the Right of Postliminy for these are as if they had not been taken But the things taken in an unjust War as we have said before are to be restored not only by those that took them but by others also unto whomsoever they shall by any means come Nemo plus Juris ad alium transferre potest quam ipse habuit No man can transfer more Right to another than he hath himself say the first Founders of the Roman Laws which Seneca thus briefly explains Lib. 5. de Benef Nemo potest dare quod non habet No man can give what he hath not But he that first took them had no internal Right or Property in them wherefore neither shall he have any that hath no Title to them but what he derives from him Now that Dominion which the second or the third Occupant hath gained we call external that is such an advantage that he is every where to be defended in it by all judiciary Power and Authority as if he were the first Owner But yet if he plead this Right against him from whom the thing was at first unjustly taken he deals not honestly For look what Answer some eminent Lawyers have given concerning a Servant L. Latrones D. de
Supreme seem to introduce such a state of things as the Poets fansied to have been in Heaven before Majesty was thought on when the lesser Gods denyed the Prerogative of Jupiter But this order or Subordination of one to another is not only approved of by common experience as in every Family the Father is the head next unto him the Mother then the Children and after them the Servants and such as are under them So in every Kingdom Each power under higher powers are And All Governours are under Government To which purpose is that notable saying of St. Augustine Grat. c. 11. â— 3. Qui resistit Observe saith he the degrees of all humane things if thy Tutor enjoyn thee any thing thou must do it yet not in case the Proconsul command the contrary Neither must thou obey the Consul if thy Prince command otherwise For in so doing thou canst not be said to contemn Authority but thou chusest to obey that which is highest Neither ought the lesser powers to be offended that the greater is preferred before them For God is the God of order And that also of the same Father concerning Pilate Ad Johan Because saith he God had Invested him with such a Power as was it self subordinate to that of Caesar ' s. But it is also approved of by Divine Authority 1 Ep. 2.1 For St. Peter enjoyns us to be subject unto Kings otherwise than unto Magistrates To Kings as Supreme that is absolutely without exceptions to any other commands than those directly from God who is so far from justifying our resistance that he commands our passive obedience But unto Magistrates as they are deputed by Kings and as they derive their Authority from them Rom. 13. And when St. Paul subjects every soul to the higher Powers doubtless he exempts not Inferiour Magistrates Neither do we find amongst the Hebrews where there were so many Kings utterly regardless of the Laws both of God and Men any Inferiour Magistrates among whom some without all question there were both Pious and Valiant that ever arrogated unto themselves this Right of resisting by force the Power of their Kings without an express command from God who alone hath an unlimited power and jurisdiction over them But on the contrary what duties Inferiour Magistrates owe unto their Kings though wicked Samuel will Instruct us by his own example who though he knew that Saul had corrupted himself 1 Sam. 15 3â— and that God also had rejected him from being King yet before the people and before the Elders of Israel he gives him that reverence and respect that was due unto him And so likewise the state of Religion publickly profest did never depend upon any other humane Authority but on that of the King and Sanhedrim For in that after the King the Magistrates with the people engaged themselves to the true worship and service of God it ought to be understood so far forth as it should be in the power of every one of them Nay the very Images of their False Gods which were publickly erected and therefore could not but be scandalous to such as were truly Religious yet were they never demolished so far as we can read of but at the special command either of the people when the Government was Popular or of Kings when the Government was Kingly And if the Scriptures do make mention of any violence sometimes offered unto Kings it is not to justifie the fact but to shew the equity of the Divine Providence in permitting it And whereas they of the contrary perswasion do frequently urge that excellent saying of Trajan the Emperour who delivering a Sword to a Captain of the Praetorian Band said Hoc pro me utere si rectè impero si malè contra me Vse this Sword for me if I govern well but if otherwise against me We must know That Trajan as appears by Pliny's Panegyrick was not willing to assume unto himself Regal power but rather to behave himself as a good Prince who was willing to submit to the Judgement of the Senate and people whose decrees he would have that Captain to execute though it were against himself Whose example both Pertinax and Macrinus did afterwards follow whose excellent Speeches to this purpose are recorded by Herodian The like we read of M. Anthony who refused to touch the publick Treasure without the consent of the Roman Senate VII Of resistance in case of inevitable necessity But the Case will yet be more difficult whether this law of not resisting do oblige us when the dangers that threaten us be extreme and otherwise inevitable For some of the Laws of God himself though they sound absolutely yet seem to admit of some tacite exceptioâ—s in cases of extreme necessity For so it was by the wisest of the Jewish Doctors expresly determined concerning the Law of their Sabbath in the times of the Hasamonaeans Whence arose that famous saying among them Periculum animae impellit Sabbatum The danger of a mans life drives away the Sabbath When the Jew in Synesius was accused for the breach of the Sabbath he excuseth himself by another Law and that more forcible saying We were in manifest jeopardy of our lives When Bacchides had brought the Army of the Jews into a great strait on their Sabbath day placing his Army before them and behind them the River Jordan being on both sides Jonathan thus bespake his Souldiers Let us go up now and fight for our lives for it standeth not with us to day as in times past 1 Macc. 9.43 44 45. Which case of necessity is approved of even by Christ himself as well in this Law of the Sabbath as in that of not eating the Shew-bread And the Hebrew Doctors pretending the authority of an Ancient Tradition do rightly Interpret their Laws made against the eating of meats forbidden with this tacite exception Not that it was not just with God to have obliged us even unto death but that some Laws of his are conversant about such matters as it cannot easily be believed that they were intended to have been prosecuted with so much Rigour as to reduce us to such an extremity as to dye rather than to disobey them which in humane Laws doth yet further proceed I deny not but that some acts of vertue are so strictly enjoined that if we perform them not we may justly be put to death As for a Sentinel to forsake his station But neither is this to be rashly understood to be the Will of the Law-giver Nor do men assume so much Right over either themselves or others unless it be when and so far forth as extreme necessity requires it For all humane Laws are so constituted or so to be understood as that there should be some allowance for humane frailty The right understanding of this Law ☜ of resisting or not resisting the highest Powers in cases of inevitable necessity seems much to depend upon the Intention of
are so forbidden but are such rather as are interdicted by the Divine Law in which number we may haply place the sin of Fornication and some of those sins which we esteem to be Incest Usury c. Thus Asterius Bishop of Amasea They that yield obedience unto the Civil Laws of Princes only do leave Whoredom unpunished So likewise St Hierome to Oceanus Vide Hier. ad oceanum supra c. 5. sect 9. The Laws of Temporal Princes let loose the reins of unbridled lusts and condemning Adultery only suffer men to run every where to Stews and Brothel-houses without controul as if it were the dignity that made the crime and not the will But with us what is unlawful for women is likewise so for men the same yoke binds both to the same conditions XLIII In the Law of Nature we ought to distinguish between things that are clear and that are obscure The third Caution is That we diligently distinguish between those general maxims of Reason that are manifest of themselves as this That every man ought to live honestly that is according to the dictates of Natural Reason and others that are nearest unto these but so manifest that they can admit of no doubting such as this That we ought not to take away from another that which is his And between those maximes which are not of themselves so clear but must be collected from those before mentioned by consequences whereof some are easily drawn as this admitting Matrimony it follows That we ought not to commit Adultery which was so generally received that as Philo testifies in the life of Joseph It was every where punished and Lactantius tells us That to defile the Marriage-bed was condemned by the Common Law of Nations Others though as true yet are not so manifestly true because our assent unto them cannot be gained but by the mediation of three or four consequences as this That that revenge that doth acquiesce in another mans grief is vicious It is here almost as it is in the Mathematicks wherein some things are of the first Notion or next unto the first some are demonstrations which are immediately both understood and assented unto But some others though true yet are not so evident unto all Therefore as by the Civil Laws our ignorance of the Law or of the true meaning of the Law doth in part excuse us So concerning the Law of Nature there is the same Reason That our weakness to collect what was thereby forbidden by such consequences or what an ill education hath ingenerated in us should also excuse us For as St Hierome well observes Vnaquaeque Gens hoc Legem Naturae putat quod didicit Every Nation thinks that to be the Law of Nature which it first imbibes Now our ignorance of the Law as it takes away a sin if it be inevitable so also it diminisheth a sin though it be caused by some neglect And therefore those that are corrupted by some evil education Aristotle compares to such whose appetites are vitiated by some malignant distemper And Plutarch observes That there are some diseases of the mind that violently hurry a man from his natural constitution Lastly this also is to be noted which I say once but shall not often repeat That those wars which are undertaken for the exacting of punishments unless the injuries that are done are very great very manifest or backt with some other cause are alwayes suspected to be unjust For what Mithridates said of the Romans is oftentimes too true Non delicta Regum illos sed vires ac Majestatem insequi It was not the faults of Princes In such Cases then we ought not to be too severe chastisers of other mens infirmities but rather pity their ignorance and their ill education praying for them as St. Stephen did for his persecutors Father forgive them for they know not what they do but their Power and Majesty that they persecuted XLIV Whether War may be made for offences against God Our proposed method now guides us to Crimes committed against God and to enquire whether for the punishment of such a War may justly be undertaken Covarruvius handles this question at large But being swayed by the Authority of others he holds That this punitive Power cannot subsist but where there is a Jurisdiction properly so called which we have already rejected Whence it follows That as in the affairs of the Church the Bishops are in some measure said to take upon them the care of the Universal Church for so St Cyprian speaks It becomes us to watch over the whole body of the Church whose members are disperst into several Provinces And again There is but one Episcopacy whereof every one holds his part entirely So besides the charge of their particular Dominions Kings may be said to assume the general Care of all Humane Societies But a better Argument brought by such as deny such a War to be lawfull is this That God alone is sufficient to punish such sins as are committed against himself for Deorum injuriae Diis Curae perjurium satis habet Deum ultorem The affronts committed against God God takes care of and it sufficeth That God himself is the avenger of perjury But we must observe That so it may be said of any other sins God without doubt is sufficiently able to punish them and yet we see That the Laws are justly and duly exercised upon such offenders by Magistrates in all Nations none dissenting But against this some reply That those punishments are inflicted not so much for offences committed against God as because of the damage thereby done unto men But on the contrary It is to be observed That not only those offences which are committed against others directly are punished by Humane Laws but those also which may by consequence be prejudicial to others as Self-murder Sodomy and the like for though the principal end and scope of Religion be to purchase the Grace and Favour of God yet hath it also a very strong influence and works many notable effects upon Humane Society Plato calls it The fortress and bulwark of all Power and Jurisdiction and the very bond of good Discipline Plutarch calls it the cement of all Humane Society and the very foundation and ground-work of the Legislative Power Philo saith It is the most effectual charm to procure love and that the worship of one and the same God is the most indissoluble band of friendship Whereas on the contrary Heu primae scelerum causae mortalibus aegris Naturam nescire Dei All wickedness ' mongst Mortals hence doth flow That the most Righteous God we do not know Every false Opinion concerning Religion saith Plutarch is dangerous and if it be accompanied with perturbation of mind most pernicious But to have one and the same Opinion concerning the worship of God and to differ nothing in life and manners from each other doth produce the most perfect harmony and agreement amongst men as
the Sabbath was instituted whereon he imprinted such an indelible Character of Holiness That it is more indispensable than any other Right whatsoever For if a man did eat of meats forbidden or transgressed in any other case his punishment was left as arbitrary to the Judges but he that violated this Right was peremptorily to die the death because he seemed thereby to renounce his belief of the Worlds Creation Abnegationem Mundi à Deo creati continebat Sabbathi violatio For as he that wrote the Answers to the Orthodox very well observes God did therefore give a greater honour to the seventh number than to the rest Ad Quaest 69. that so the memory of the Worlds Creation might be preserved Now the Creation of the World doth tacitly declare both the Goodness of God his Wisdom his Eternity and his Omnipotency from which contemplative Notions these practical Duties will easily follow That God is to be Honoured Loved Worshipped and Obeyed wherefore Aristotle concludes Top. 1.9 That he that denies that God is to be honoured or Parents reverenced That there is a Creator prov'd by the nature of the Creatures is not to be convinced by arguments but by punishments To demonstrate the truth of these contemplative Notions of God we may draw arguments from the Nature of the Things Created amongst which the most forcible is this That some things are made is manifest to our sense but these things that are made if we will trace them up in their direct series will certainly at length bring us to something that was not made which must needs be Eternal and that is God but for those that are not able to comprehend the strength of this argument it may suffice to know That these contemplative notions of God have been assented unto in all ages and in all places some few only excepted and by all persons as well gentle as simple as well by those who have been too simple and ignorant to deceive others as by those who have been too wise to be deceived by others which universal consent Universal consent among such variety of other Laws and opinions doth evidently witness That this truth was delivered unto us from our first parents and was never yet solidly confuted and even this alone had we no other ground to ascertain our perswasion was enough Philo argues this case thus De unius imperio Nothing made by art can come by chance but the worlds composure is done with exquisite art therefore it must needs be made by one that is the most perfect of all Artists and that is God And hereby ariseth this first perswasion That there is a God Thus likewise Tertullian argues against Marcion The first knowledge of God we derive from nature the next by doctrine that from nature we learn by his works that by doctrine from preaching whereupon Cyprian in his Book concerning the vanity of Idols concludes thus Haec est summa delicti nolle agnoscere quod ignorare non possis This is the heighth of wickedness that thou wilt not acknowledge him as God whom thou canst not deny to be so We are all of us though untaught naturally perswaded that there is a God saith Julian to Heraclitus unto whom we look unto whom we run and towards whom I believe our souls do as naturally turn as our eyes to the light or as the needle to the North. Thus doth Dion Prusiensis ground his belief that there is a God first upon natural reason and then upon universal tradition De coelo l. 3. De leg 10. And Plutarch calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An ancient perswasion than which nothing can be more certain For as Aristotle saith All men have naturally some perswasion that there is a God Of the same opinion was Plato Now to detract from the authority of so many and so great witnesses is not simply ignorance but a pertinacious madness XLVI They that contradict these may be punished Wherefore they are not without sin who because they are not so quick-witted as either to assert these notions by arguments of their own or to understand those framed by others do wilfully reject them since they do both guide us unto that which is honest and the different opinion is not built but upon a very sandy foundation But because we are now treating of Punishments and those only humane we must here distinguish between these notions themselves and the manner of dissenting from them These notions that there is a God one or more I here dispute not and that he takes care of humane affairs as they are most generally received so are they to the establishment of Religion whether true or false Heb. 11.6 most necessary He that cometh to God saith the Authour to the Hebrews that is He that is religious for Religion amongst them is called an access unto God must believe that God is and that he dispenseth rewards to those that serve him There hath ever been and now are saith Cicero some Philosophers who hold that God hath no regard to the affairs of men which if true Quae potest esse pietas quae sanctitas quae religio saith he What piety can there be what holiness what religion This saith Epictetus is the principal office of piety to have a reverent esteem of the Gods as namely that they are and that they dispose of all things with justice and righteousness Lib. 2. c. 31. Aelian professeth that he never found any Nation no not amongst the Barbarians which did wholly Apostatize unto Atheism but that all of them did acknowledge some Divine Power that took care of them The first part of Divine worship Ep. 95. saith Seneca is to believe that there are Gods and then to ascribe unto them all majesty and acknowledge their goodness without which there can be no majesty Plutarch in his vulgar conceptions saith That if we take away providence we darken that small light that we have of God For saith he we are to conceive of God not only as he is immortal and in himself most blessed but as he is most affectionate to mankind ever watching over us to do us good For otherwise if he will do us neither good nor hurt saith Lactantius to what end do we worship him And indeed if we look only at the influence which these notions should have upon mens manners it is all one to deny that there is a God and to deny that he hath any respect to humane affairs wherefore that in almost all Nations that are to us known and throughout all ages these two notions should be thus maintained is not arbitrary but purely necessary Seneca in his 117 Epistle Sen. Epist 117. pleads thus That there are Gods amongst other things we may hence conclude that nature herself seems to have insculpt this opinion in every man neither is there any Nation in the World so desperately wicked as not to believe that there are
some Gods Neither is it possible De Benef. lib. 4. c. 4. saith he in another place that all the World should be intoxicated with so universal a madness as to invoke Surda numina Deos in efficaces such idle Gods as can neither hear our prayers Vid Plat. Protagora de legibus l. 10. nor do us good Nay Jamblicus makes it as proper for a man to acknowledge a God as for an horse to whinny Hence it is that Pomponius places Religion among the Laws of Nations and that Socrates in Xenophon saith That to worship the Gods is a Law universal being in force amongst all people with whom agrees Cicero as we may read in his first Book of the Nature of the Gods and in his second of Invention And Dion Prusiensis calls it a perswasion both natural and necessary to all creatures that have the use of reason Xenophon likewise affirms That all Nations as well Greeks as Barbarians have agreed in this That all things are known to the Gods whether they be present past or to come Now whosoever first begins to erase these general notions of the Divine Pâ—ovidence out of mens minds as they have in all well governed Cities been deservedly punished as we read it happened to Diagoras Melius and the Epicureans who were banished out of every well-governed Common-wealtâ— so I believe they may also be now by foâ—ce restrained in the name and behalf of humane society which by this means without any probable reason they endeavour to dissolve And therefore Moxus the Lydian Lydus as Damascen relates the story having taken the City Crambuz drowned all the Inhabitants thereof because they neither acknowledged nor worshipped any Gods And Himeriuâ— the Sophister pleads thus against the Epicures Dost thou suffer punishment for thine opinion no but for thine impiety It is permitted to every man to deliver his opinion but to none to destroy Religion XLVII But not others proved by the Heb. Law As for the other general notions as That there are not more Gods than one That none of these things we see is God not the World not the Heavens nor the Sun nor the Air That the World was not from Eternity nor the matter whereof it is composed but rather created by God these cannot be so easily demonstrated nor are they so universally received as the former And therefore the knowledge of these through the corruption of mens manners and the loosness of the Laws which did the less regard them because even without these there might remain some shew of Religion have been in many places almost totally expunged Neither did the Law of God given to the Hebrews though it were confirmed by prophecies and miracles and though it utterly detested and abhorred the worship of false Gods adjudge every man to death that was convicted of such worship but such only as by reason of some circumstances were of dangerous consequence as him who being a Prince or a Prophet should begin to seduce others Deut. 13.16 Or as that City that should begin to set up strange Gods as we read Deut. 12.23 Those that worshipped the Sun the Moon the Stars thereby destroying the whole Law and forsaking the worship of the true God Deut. 17.2 which St. Paul expounds to be the worshipping of the creature not the Creator for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well here as elswhere hath an exclusive faculty which was a crime punishable even among the Sons of Esau as appears Job 31.26 27. So he that offered his Children to Molock that is to Saturn Lev. 20.2 Neither did God himself adjudge the Cananites and their neighbouring Nations to destruction as soon as they fell to Idolatry but suspended the Execution of his wrath till they had contracted a vast heap of sins besides their Idolatry Gen. 15.16 So it is said of other Gentiles concerning their worship of false Gods That God winked at the time of their ignorance Act. 17.30 It was truly said of Philo That every mans own Religion seems to him the best because he judgeth of it not by reason but by affection like those Philosophers of whom Cicero spake who liked no Discipline but their own So we take our Religion not by choice but by chance being engaged to that of the Clime wherein we are born before our judgments are awakened to discern truth from falshood as they then are rather to be pitied than by humane Laws punished who having received no Laws from God nor having any knowledge of him shall worship either the powers of Heaven by whose grateful heat light and influence all things are produced both for delight and nourishment or the powers of any other natural causes or of spirits whether in Images or in living Creatures or in any other things The souls of good men who have been eminent and exemplary for vertue or such like especially if they did not themselves set up that worship but received it by tradition from others and therâ—fore could not properly be said to have forsaken the worship of the true God for we read of Sacrifices sent to the Temple at Jerusalem from the Kings of Aegypt from Augustus and Tiberius to be offered to the true God and though these Kings were Idolaters yet did the Jews admit of them as Josephus and Philo testify So they on the other side are not to be reckoned among such as are purely ignorant and erroneous but rather among those that are impious and obstinately wicked who worship Devils as knowing them to be such or the names of mens vices or that attribute Divine Honour unto men as wicked and vicious as themselves or that honour their false Gods with humane Sacrifices which barbarous custom we read was practised by the Carthaginians until they were compelled to leave it by Darius the Father of Xerxes King of Persia and by Gelo the Syracusian Tyrant who stand highly commâ—nded for it Plutarch also gives us an account of some barbarous people that were to have been punished by the Romans for offering humane Sacrifices but when they pleaded for themselvâ—s the Antiquity of those Rites they were dismist without punishment and only forbidden it for the future XLVIII Nor against those who will not embrace Christianity But what shall we say of that War which is undertaken against some people for no other Cause but because they would not embrace Christianity when proposed unto them I do not here question whether the Religion so proposed were such as ought to have been proposed or in such a manner as it ought to have been We are willing to gâ—ant both But two things are here to be considered first That the truth of Chrisâ—ian Râ—ligion Two things observable in those Points which are superadded to that Primitive Religion which is grounded upon the Law of Nature cannot be demonstrated unto any man by Arguments merely natural because they are grounded upon matters of fact namely upon Christs resurrection and upon those
stripes and punishments as Gregory Bishop of Rome wrote unto the Bishop of Constantinople And we may read of many French Bishops who were by the judgement of the Church condemned for calling in the Civil Powers against the Priscillianists as Sulpitius Severus relates it and of a whole Council in the East that was condemned because they consented to the burning of Bogomilus It was therefore wisely said of Plato Errantis poena est doceri If there be any punishment due to errour it is to be instructed Sen Trag. Quis nomen unquam sceleris errori dedit Who ever thought it criminous to erre It is very true what Seneca saith De Ira. lib. 14. No wise man ever hated those that erred for if so he must necessarily sometimes hate himself He that is ignorant ought not to be ill treated nor accused but it is fit he should be instructed in that whereof he is ignorant Chrysost And Ammianus Marcellinus highly commends the Emperour Valentinian That he never persecuted any man for his Religion never commanded this or that to be adored nor inclined the hearts of his Subjects to enbrace his own manner of worship in case they dissented from it LI. But they that are openly impious and profane against such as they believe to be Gods may be punished Errours in Opinion concerning the nature or worship of God are not sufficient ground for a Just War but open impiety irreverence and profaneness towards any that is but acknowledged as God are deservedly in all Nations to be punished This amongst others is given as one Cause of the Peloponesian War between the Athenians and Lacedemonians and of that War which Philip of Macedon made against the Phocians whose sacriledge was so execrable that as Justine saith Lib. 8. Orbis viribus expiari debuit The whole world ought to have contributed to the expiation of it And it is St Hierom's observation upon the sixth of Daniel That whilst the vessels remained in the Idol Temple at Babylon the Lord was not angry Diod. lib. 16. for the errour was in the understanding and not in the will and affections though they erred in their Opinion concerning God yet were those vessels imployed to that use whereunto they were primarily consecrated but no sooner were they made use of in a common and profane way but the Lord breaks out into an open revenge St Augustine ascribes the prosperity of the Roman Empire to their care of Religion though a false one And Lactantius seems to justifie them in part because they had a Zeal for the Worship of God though not according to knowledge though they could not exactly perform their duty yet they served him sincerely according to the light they had of him And as we said before by what God soever we forswear the sin is punished by the True God because we swear by it as God De benef 7. c. 7. saith Seneca And it is our opinion of him that we swear by that obligeth the True God to revenge it De benef lib. 3. c. 6. And in this sense we understand that also of Seneca The punishments of such as profane Religion may vary but in all places they are punishable And that also of Plato De legib 10. who would have all such as scoff at Religion punished with death In like manner they that falsely assume unto themselves the name of Prophets are deservedly to be punished as Agathias testifies Lib. 5. CHAP. XXI Of the Communication of Punishments I. How punishments may pass to those that partake of the sin II. That Commonalties and their Governours are punishable for the Subjects faults if they know of them and do not hinder them when they both ought and may do it III. Likewise by receiving those who have been criminous elsewhere IV. Vnless they either punish them or deliver them up to be punished illustrated by examples V. The Rights of Suppliants belong to the unfortunate and not to the guilty with its exceptions VI. Suppliants are to be defended till their Cause be known and by what Law this knowledge is to be gained VII How Subjects may partake of the faults of their Rulers or the Members of the whole Body and how their punishments differ VIII How long the Right of punishing may continue against a People IX Whether a punishment may be inflicted upon such as partake not of the faults X. A distinction between that punishment that is inflicted directly and that which comes by consequence XI That which comes by occasion of a fault distinguish'd from that which is inflicted for the fault XII Properly no man can be justly punished for the fault of another XIII No not the Children for the sins of their Parents XIV Objections answered concerning Gods Dealings with the Children of guilty Parents XV. Much less should their punishments extend to their other Relations XVI Yet some things may be denied unto these which otherwise they might have with examples XVII Neither can Subjects be properly punished for the defaults of their Kings XVIII Nor the dissenting part for the crimes of the major part XIX The Heir is not liable to the punishment of his Ancestor as it is a punishment and why XX. Yet he shall if what was first inflicted as a punishment do pass under another kind of debt I. How by partaking of the sin of another man we may be liable to his punishment SO often as mention is made concerning the Communication of Punishments either it concerns those that are Partakers of the sin or some others They that partake of the sin are not so properly punished for other mens sins as their own And who they are that partake of other mens sins may easily be understood by what hath been already said above concerning the damage that is occasioned by an injury done For by the same ways almost whereby a man is made guilty of that damage by the same may a man be made guilty of another mans sin and yet not always where there is an obligation to satisfie for the damage there is the same to satisfie for the offence but there only where there is the concurrence of some notable malignity whereas oft-times any offence may suffice to oblige a man to satisfie for the damage given He therefore that commands a wicked act to be done as David did Joab concerning Vriah he that gives his consent being required as Saul is said to stone St Steven because he gave his consent unto it for by the Law Facientem consentientem par poena constringit The same punishment is due to him that commits a crime and to him that consents to the committing of it They that aid and assist in the act doing they that receive or conceal the matter or any other way participate of the crime so St Hierome Not only the Thief himself Sup. Parabolas but he that knowing the thing to be stoln and where it is conceals it or
Josephus testifies against Appion Contr. App. lib. 1. And in another place discoursing of the Reasons why most Cities were so ill governed he adds these Because their Law-givers did not at first rightly apprehend the true Nature of God nor did they study to explain that knowledge so far as they were able nor to frame their Government accordingly but past it over slightly as a thing of small moment Jamblicus also hath an excellent sentence out of Pythagoras That the knowledge of God is both Virtue Wisdom and perfect happiness Aristotle therefore placed Religion as the first and chiefest of all publick cares and as Justine Martyr calls it a work worthy of the care of all Kings and Machiavel himself assigns the prosperity of the Romans to their singular care of Religion De Creat Magistrat Philo seems to summ up the whole Duty of a King in these three particulars The Care of his own Estate the Care of the Publick and the Care of Religion All which are to be considered not only as in some one particular City or Kingdom in which respect it is true what Cyrus in Xenophon testifies of his Subjects that they were Tanto sibi addictiores quanto Dei erant metuentiores The more Religious they were the more loyal and obedient they were to their lawfull Magistrates but they are to be considered in respect of the preservation of the common safety of all mankind Lib. 1. de Nat. deor For as Cicero notes Take away Religion and all faithfull dealings between Man and Man Nation and Nation and consequently all Humane Society and one of the four Cardinal Virtues Justice will be quite lost whereby it clearly appears that Epicurus When he denied the Divine Providence Justitiae quoque nihil reliquit praeter inane nomen Left nothing to Justice but an empty name which saith he as it ariseth only from contracts and agreements so it is no longer in force than it yields profit to both parties Herein saith Seneca we cannot agree with Epicurus who holds that nothing is naturally Just and that offences are to be avoided because they being committed we cannot avoid fear As if nothing could restrain us from injuring others but the fear of punishment only Again it is very true what Aristotle observe That as Religion keeps Subjects in due obedience to Kings so it restrains the Tyranny of Princes and begets a great deal of Trust and Confidence between them and their people The Prince may be assured of his Subjects Loyalty and the people will less fear to suffer unjustly by their Prince whom they believe to be Religious Lib. 9. de placitis Hip. Plat. Galen observing many questions handled by Hippocrates and Plato concerning the World and the Divine Nature which as to the meliorating of mens manners he conceived to be very impertinent yet confesseth that of the Divine Providence to be of great efficacy and importance to the advancement of Virtues both private and publick which blind Homer could very well see as we may collect from the sixth and ninth of his Odysses where to men that were unjust and cruel he opposeth such whose minds were seasoned with Religion Justine out of Trogus highly commends the Justice of the Ancient Jews as being throughly tempered with Religion and Philo in the Life of Abraham makes our love of God and our love of men to be congeneal and as it were twins of the same birth For as Lactantius rightly inferrs If to know God be true piety Lib. 5. and the principal end of this knowledge be to worship him then he that hath no knowledge of God is likewise ignorant of true Justice For how can he be said to know Justice who is ignorant from whence she comes Now Religion is of more use and greater necessity in the common Society of Nations than in the Civil Society of Men Because in this Civil Society the defect of Religion may in part be supplied by severe Laws and the easie execution of them but the Laws of Nations as they are but few so are they very difficultly executed namely by War wherefore these Laws have alwayes been held sacred because God himself is the sole and immediate Judge of them and he that violates these Laws is said to sin against God himself The injuries then that are done against Religion are by all Emperours reputed as common injuries done as it were against all mankind XLV What are the common Notions concerning God exprest in the four first Commandments But that we may pierce a little deeper into this matter we must observe That the true Religion that hath been universally profest in all Ages and in almost all places stands erected on these four Columns First the acknowledgâ—ment that there is a God and that he is but One. Secondly That nothing of all these things we see is God but that he is something that is yet more sublime and excellent Thiâ—dly That God takes care of Humane Affairs and that he doth judge the world righteously And fourthly That he is the Creator of all Things without himself Which four Propositions are explained in the four first Precepts of the Decalogue The first whereof shews the Unity of the Deity plainly The Lord our God is one God The second declares his Invisibility which is the reason that as we cannot liken him to any thing so we cannot make any likeness or representation of him Deut. 4.10 Thus much doth Antisthenes testifie of him No eye ever saw him no likeness we have of him wherefore it is impossible by any Image or resemblance to know him And so doth King Agrippa in Plato To frame the likeness of that either by graving or painting which cannot be seen is profane and ungodly The like we read in Dion neither had the Jews any Image in Jerusalem because they thought that God could neither be seen nor be by any words described Diodorus speaking of Moses saith That he ordained no Image because he did not believe God to be of humane shape And Tacitus commends the Jews for adoring one only God and him in their minds only and condemns them as profane Dion lib. 36. that worship the immortal and invisible God in Images made of Wood and Stone in humane form Plutarch also gives this as the reason why Numa purged the Temple from Images Because it was impossible any other ways to comprehend the Deity than by the mind only By the third Commandment we are instructed to acknowledge Gods Omniscience which extends to our most retired thoughts and the care he hath of Humane Affairs for upon this foundation are Oaths built wherein he is invoked as a witness only if we speak truth but if we deceive then as a Judge and avenger whereby also both his Justice and his Omnipotency are at once acknowledged Lastly That God Created the whole frame of Nature and gave Being to all things is confest by the fourth Commandment in perpetual memory whereof