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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	good_a	king_n	subject_n	3,003	5	6.4581	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59114	The history of passive obedience since the Reformation	Seller, Abednego, 1646?-1705.	1689 (1689)	Wing S2453; Wing S2449; ESTC R15033	333,893	346

so much was expunged he knows not he fully declares his mind † Pag. 93 94. In the mighty upon earth which are not always so virtuous and holy that their own good minds will bridle them what may we look for considering the Frailty of Man's Nature if the World do once hold it for a Maxim that Kings ought to live in no Subjection that how grievous disorder soever they fall into none may have coercive power over them Yet so it is that this we must necessarily admit as a number of right well learned Men are persuaded c. Inducements leading Men to think the highest Magistrate should not be judged of any saving God alone are especially these 1. As in natural Bodies there could be no motion unless there were something that moves all things and it self continueth immoveable so there must be a supreme Head of Justice whereunto all are subject but it self in subjection to none which kind of preheminence if some ought to have in a Kingdom ☞ who but the King shall have it Kings therefore no Man can have lawful power and authority to judge if private Men offend there is the Magistrate over them which judgeth if Magistrates they have their Prince if Princes there is Heaven a Tribunal before which they shall appear on earth they are not accountable to any And here this admirable Discourse breaks off abruptly which is a great pity There is no need to give Arch-Bishop Bancroft a place in this Catalogue the naming of his Books of dangerous Positions c and the Survey of the pretended holy Discipline are a sufficient Proof of his Sentiments and by his Directions if I mistake not was the account of Hacket Coppinger and Arthington drawn up called Conspiracy for Pretended Reformation the Design of which Books is expresly against the Doctrine of taking up Arms against the Lords Anointed especially on the account of Religion Near Mr. Hooker therefore I shall place his dear Friend Adrian Saravia as the Ancients frequently quote St Basil and St Gregory of Nazianzen together who tho a Forreiner better understood both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity of these Kingdoms than some Natives And he thus pronounces in the behalf of truth ‖ Epist ante libr. de Imperandi autorit Christianâ obedient At this time the Authority of Kings is called in Question and many men Dispute that the Authority of the People or of the Senate the States is above the King and that from Reasons of Humane not of Christian and Divine Philosophy and what is much to be lamented not without great Scandall of the Church of Christ they having got by reading the Roman and Greek Historians Philosophers and Orators an Admiration and liking of their Manners and Laws so as to think that all other Governments ought to be Modell'd like them Many Books are written by our own Men and by the Papists on this Subject which incite the Nobility and Commons to take Arms whensoever Kings turn Tyrants which Doctrine since it is contrary to the Principles of Christianity which our Saviour and his Apostles deliver'd to the Church and brings ruine and desolation to Kingdoms and Commonwealths I have thought my self bound to confute And see the Madness of these People who write on this Subject the Papists oblige all Subjects to take Arms against an Heretical Prince i. e. one whom they call so and others they oblige Subjects to take Arms against a Prince that is a Papist and therefore refuses to Establish or Defend the Pretestant Religion so that of whatsoever persuasion a Prince be by some part of his Subjects he must be accounted a Tyrant while a true Christian is a Good Subject let his Prince be of what Religion he pleases It is Intolerable Impiety to abuse the Testimony of Holy Scripture to the Confirmation of so Pestilent an error while no Pagan Laws no institutes of the Philosophers can enjoin Subjects a more perfect and strict Obedience than the Doctrine of the Gospel c after this in the Book he shews that the Original of Government is from God and not from the People that the People when they have chosen a King have no Authority over him afterwards that a King is as much a King before his Coronation Oath as after it and many other such things he concludes his fourth Book ‖ p. 314. Ed. 1610. and it is great pity the other three Books are lost with this excellent passage Since God is the preserver of Mankind he cannot suffer a Tyrant longer to Reign than it is necessary for the punishment of the Sins of Men wherefore the best remedy against a Tyrant is the amendment of our Lives and constant Prayers to God. A serious Meditation upon the precepts of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ will easily teach us what is the Duty of Good Men toward evil Kings and Princes he who shall revolve with himself the precepts of loving Enemies can be no Mans Enemy much less his Kings he who is prepared to Bless them that Curse him and is resolved not to return rayling for rayling nor to pursue revenge of injuries will never speak irreverently nor Curse Crowned Heads nor lye in wait for their Life he who hath learnt that we must not resist evil but overcome evil with Good with Forbearance and Patience can never be a Rebel never be a Traytor These things the Apostles taught us these things the Fathers have deliver'd down to us and being bred up under these institutions they patiently suffer'd the most cruel Torments and by suffering overcame and to us their Posterity they have left this Example in whose steps it is much safer for us to tread than to give credit to the Authors of the new Doctrine that is contrary to it SECT V. King James when he came to the Crown brought learning enough with him to Vindicate his own Right and the Rights of other Princes and without vanity it may be Affirm'd that he hath managed that subject to Admiration in his Writings the greatest part of which were opposed to the Doctrines of the Romanists tho his Basilicon Doron smartly chastises the Disciplinarains This King in the Hampton-Court * p. 47 48. Conference severely Condemn'd some of the notes of the Geneva Bible as partial untrue seditious and savoring too much of dangerous and Trayterous Conceits as for Example the Marginal Note on 1. Exod. 19. alloweth disobedience to Kings on 2. Chron. 15.16 the Note taxeth Asa for deposing his Mother only and not killing her And to shew the agreement between Papists † P. 49 50. and some others in these Doctrines wereas Dr. Reynolds complain'd of a seditious Book written by one Ficlerus a Papist in behalf of the Pope against Queen Elizabeth called De jure Magistratûs in subditos the Bishop of London said that the Author of that Book was a great Disciplinarian whereby it did appear what advantage that sort of People gave

omnia ad salutem necessaria a point which he durst defend in the worst of times when that Church was so much oppress'd for asserting her Loyalty to God and the King for her agreement with the Primitive Church in not rebelling against the lawful Magistrate and in owning the Jus Divinum of Episcopal Hierarchy and Liturgy To what is quoted out of Mr. Edw. Symmons's Vindication of King Charles in the first part of this History let these Passages be added by virtue of the Canon Romanus Episcopus say the Jesuits Sect 4. p. 46. v. p. 47. the Pope hath power to depose Kings be they Heretical or Catholick of vicious or virtuous lives if in his judgment he finds them unfit and some others more capable of Government and do not these Men believe the Authority of Parliament to be as irresistible as that of the Pope and their Votes to be as full of virtue as his Canons and altogether as authentick even to the deposing of Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms have they not loosen'd People from their Oath of Allegiance to the King and then put them in Arms persuading them that 't is no Rebellion to fight against him Sect. 16. p. 160 161. the next thing they mention wherein they triumph indeed and glory is their late extraordinary success in the Field some perhaps may wonder how these three can agree together great sufferings strange patience and extraordinary good success prosperity and good success which of old went current only among the Papists for a note of the true Church is now admitted also by these Men to be a special mark of the goodness of their Cause but in regard our Religion hath hitherto taught that sufferings and patience were rather the marks of Christ's true Flock than extraordinary success in the World therefore c. these two names of suffering and patience shall from henceforth be rejected and wholly disclaimed P. 168. cons loc as infallible marks of Loyalty and Malignity success is the weakest Argument that can be alledged to prove the goodness of a Cause and the wickedest Men have most used it this Book was written Anno 1645. tho not published till the year 1648. CHAP. VII The History of Passive Obedience under King Charles II. c. SECT I. WHen the execrable Parricide was committed on the Martyr Charles and his Family driven into Exile this Truth did not want its Confessors tho they smarted bitterly for owning it of which number Mr. Sheringham publish'd his accurate treatise of the King's Supremacy wherein as he says in his Introduction he exposes and confutes those Principles and Grounds whereby the Rebels endeavour'd to justifie the War against the King the first of which was that it was lawful for the People to resist their Sovereign and Supreme Governors by force of Arms in case they be Tyrants and bent to subvert the Laws and Religion establish'd or by illegal Proceedings invade the Lives Estates or Liberties of their Subjects This dangerous position he fully and learnedly confutes in his Book proving the Supremacy of our Kings and that they are neither coordinate nor subordinate to the People both by the Statute and common Law of this Land and clearly answers all the objections from either reason or authority concluding all with this remarkable saying P. 118. To speak my desires I wish unfeignedly the Salvation of all the pretended Parliamentarians ☞ but to speak my thoughts I conceive more hopes of the honest Heathen than of any Man that shall dye a Rebel or not make restitution as far as he is able of all that he hath gained by oppression and injustice Mr. Allington in his Grand Conspiracy Sermon 3. p. 106 107. Vid. Serm. 2. p. 60 81. Caiaphas pleaded the exigencies of the State for the Murther of our Saviour and which of us is there that hath not a Caiaphas in his bosom Which of us is there that doth not rather consider the expediency than the justice of an action which of us do not consider whether what we do be not rather secure than conscionable Men who will sacrifice both Judgment Loyalty Conscience and all Honesty to avoid an inconvenience P. 115 116. it is a Law much commended in this Land of ours that no Man shall be tryed but by his Peers now a King must be above the judgment of his Subjects because among them he can have no Peers such an heir as Christ was in the Parable Sermon 4. p. 179. Luc. 20.14 could not be robb'd of his Birth-right nor deprived of his Inheritance but it must be done with violence and that violence could never had hands enough without an Association the Husbandmen without any mask of Religion P. 205. or cloak of Godliness without any pretence of freeing themselves from Tyranny Arbitrary Government or any manner of Oppression they declare clearly what more subtle Rebels would not that the reason they prosecute bought arraign'd and kill'd the heir P. 208 and P. 210 211. it merely was for his Inheritance that the Inheritance may be ours this Lord had power to call the Labourers but the Labourers had none to call him to account Anno 1651. Mr. Jane Father to the present Regius Professor at Oxon if I am rightly informed Printed his Answer to Miltons Iconoclastes and in it fully and on all occasions avers this truth Exam. of the Pref. p. 5. v. p. 11 It is hateful in any to descant on the misfortunes of Princes but in such as have relation to them by Service or Subjection as the Libeller Milton to the late King is the compendium of all unworthiness P. 28 v. p. 34. and unnatural Insolence had His Majesty's faults been as palpable as this Author's falshood it could not diminish his Subjects duty nor excuse the Rebels imprety Rebels never wanted pretensions P. 36 37. but liberty and justice were the common masks of such Monsters so this Man will have the World believe Rebellion is dearer to this Author than Religion and he will rather commend superstitious actions of a blind Age and the very dregs of Popery than want an ingredient to the varnish of that horrid sin P. 39. Superstitious Churchmen had their hands in the old Rebellions and in our days we find they have Successors that teach the People Doctrins of Devils and seduce them from Obedience to those that had the rule over them P. 47. Obedience and Sufferings are the servility and wretchedness which Milton calls the Pulpit stuff of the Prelates we may shortly expect that as these Miscreants have altered State and Church ☜ so they will compose an Index Expurgatorius of the Bible for it cannot be imagined that they will object this heinous crime of Preaching Passive Obedience to the Prelates and leave so many places in the Gospel which command it and themselves need not the Gospel to make Men obedient they have the Sword and this

THE HISTORY OF Passive Obedience Since the REFORMATION AMSTERDAM Printed for Theodore Johnson in the Calver-Straet 1689. THE PREFACE HAving always thought that the Doctrine of Passive Obedience or Non-resistance of our lawful Superiors had been a Doctrine founded in the Holy Scriptures recommended to the Christian World by the Precepts and Example of our Blessed Saviour and the Practices of his more immediate Followers which Copy the Church of England hath exactly transcribed to whose immortal Glory it must be said that She alone in contra-distinction both to Papists and Dissenters hath asserted the Principles of Obedience to Princes as the best Ages of Christianity own'd and practised it and having lived so long to see that Doctrine ridicul'd and call'd the Doctrine of the Bow-string and the Assertors and Practisers of it exploded as Old Lacrymists and the matter of fact as to the first Ages of the Reformation denyed while some affirm that the Tenet was no older than Archbishop Laud and was introduced by a few Court Bishops Bishop Saunderson's Preface to Arch-Bishop Vsher of The Power of the Prince and Obedience of the Subject The Apostle saith put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers Tit. 3.1 Tho' S. Paul was certainly no Man-pleaser far from seeking himself or from making merchandize of the Word of God or handling it deceitfully for filthy Lucre sake nor were there hopes of Preferment when the Church had no setled Revenue nor was there any Christian Prince in the Universal World but he draws his Arguments from the Ordinance of God the discharge of Duty and a good Conscience the advancement of the Gospel and the honor of the Christian Religion See more in that admirable Preface the better to make way for the attainment and establishing of their own Grandeur by reason of which the Enemies of our Communion both Romanists and others have confidently averred that our Obedience to our Sovereigns is nothing but our Interest and that we have vindicated the Rights of Kings because they have vindicated the Rights of our Church and have prosecuted all that dislik'd our Constitutions I could no longer forbear writing in the behalf of that truth which is eternal and unalterable as are all the Doctrines of Christianity tho we must acknowledg to our shame that they are more illustrious in our Books than in our Lives and shewing that from the infancy of the happy Reformation the Church of England hath always believed and avowed That it is the duty of every Christian in things lawful actively to obey his Superior in things unlawful to suffer rather than obey and in any case or upon any pretence whatsoever not to resist because whoever does so shall receive to themselves Damnation Nor can the Doctrine be unseasonable since no Government can be safe without it Mens Passions naturally inclining them to think well of themselves and to make Complaints of hard Vsage even then when they are most gently treated what Instances have we in the Writings of the last Ages When Parsons in the name of his Party resolving to expose the admirable Reign of Q. Elizabeth renders her worse than the worst of Tyrants and asks Where are the Neroes and Dioclesians where are the Genserics and Hunnerics As if neither Pagan nor Arian Persecutors were as cruel as she And when another Classis of Men blackned one of the best of Men and the best of Princes the Martyr CHARLES I. as the great Enemy of his Country the Invader of the Religion and Liberties of his Subjects and have not former Ages labored under the same Discontents When the disaffected Jews could say We have no portion in David nor any inheritance in the Son of Jesse every man to his tents O Israel And yet that Prince was of Gods own immediate designation and a Man after Gods own heart Now if upon such Pretensions Subjects may right themselves by resisting their lawful Superiours how soon will a fruitful Land be turned into a barren Wilderness and Paradise it self become a Field of Blood And I have with some regret and confusion reflected heretofore that in the Romish Communion Preston Widdrington and Barnes in England VValsh and Caron in Ireland and in Scotland Barclay to omit other Countries all profest Papists and all but Barclay Priests and consequently more obliged to uphold the Grandeur of the Pontifical Chair should honestly and stoutly appear to the Vindication of this Truth which we seem either weary or asham'd of I never wondered to see the Enemies of our Church make a Fasting-day of our Blessed Saviours Nativity as if they were sorry that he came into the World and perhaps with reason because their Actions were so contrary both to his Precepts and Example but I stand amazed to see her Sons disown her Doctrine and Constitutions Did we seriously study the Laws of Providence and consider the indispensible Obligations laid on us of taking up the Cross did we remember that Affliction is the Churches Portion and that not the least Evil may be done to procure the greatest Good this a Aug. de haeres Epiph. Doctrine would be more easily believ'd and more readily embrac'd They were the Gnosticks of the Primitive Church who taught Men to swear and forswear and to sly from Persecution when it was the Lot of Religion And for these among other Reasons I conjecture does b Stillingfleet's Ser. Jan. 30. 168 ● / 9. p. 3. 4. a learned Man of our Church call Simon Magus the Institutor of that vile Sect The Leviathan of the Primitive Church who de stroyed all the differences of good and evil And that probably because as the Leviathan makes himself sport in the waters so the Gnosticks played with Oaths and all Laws divine and human c Id. p. 4. setting a mighty Value upon themselves and having mean and contemptible Thoughts of the Authority which God had established in the VVorld and it may be because he was the Hobbs of that Age who gave being to Opinions contradictory to the whole Tenour of the Gospel For the Gnosticks thought d Id. p. 5. all the Governments of the VVorld to be nothing else but the contrivance of some evil Spirits to abridg Men of their Liberty which God and Nature had given them and that this is the speaking evil of Dignities which they are charged with by S. Jude And the same great Man says e Sermon Novem. 5. 1673. pag. 2 3. that it was one of Machiavel 's Quarrels against Christianity that by its Precepts of Meekness and Patience it rendered Men unfit for such great Undertakings as could not be accomplish'd without something of Cruelty and Inhumanity whereas the old Religions by the multitude of Sacrifices did inure Men to Blood and Destruction and so made them fit for any Enterprize And Machiavel was certainly in the right if Religion were intended only to make Men Butchers or to instruct them in the use of Swords and

Man was for the Lady Jane but besides his Temper I have this to say for him that the several and contrary Acts of Parliament limiting and changing the Succession according to the King's Pleasure in the latter end of Henry the Eighth's Reign might very well in such a juncture of Affairs as happen'd on the Death of Edward the Sixth stagger a wise Man and incline him to believe that the Son had the same Right that his Father had as unquestionably he had if it were a Right of the Crown especially while that Right was recogniz'd and confirm'd in Parliament To this excellent Prince was Sir John Cheek a Tutor as he also was the Restorer of the Greek Tongue in England he in his Advice of the True Subject to the Rebel Ed. Oxon. 1641. p. 2 3 4. or the hurt of Sedition thus bespeaks the Rebels of that Age For our selves we have great cause to thank God by whose Religion and holy Word daily taught us we learn not only to fear him truly but also to obey our King faithfully and to serve in our own Vocation like Subjects honestly ye which be bound by God's Word not to obey for fear like Men-pleasers but for conscience sake like Christians have contrary to God's holy will whose Offence is everlasting Death and contrary to the godly Order of Quietness set out by the King's Majesty's Laws the breach whereof is not unknown to you taken in hand uncalled of God unsent by Men unfit by reason to cast away your bounden Duties of Obedience c. yet ye pretend that partly for God's sake partly for the Commonwealth's sake ye do rise How do you take in hand to reform Be you Kings by what Authority or by what Succession Be you the King's Officers by what Commission Be you called by God by what Tokens declare you that Ye rise for Religion what Religion taught you that If you were offer'd Persecution for Religion you ought to fly so Christ teacheth you and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth you ought to suffer like Martyrs and you slay like Tyrants thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Counsel of Christ nor the constancy of Martyrs whatever the Causes be that have moved your wicked Affections herein Pag. 11. as they be unjust Causes and increase your Faults much the thing it self the Rising I mean must needs be wicked and horrible before God and the usurping of Authority and taking in hand rule which is the sitting in God's Seat of Justice a proud climbing up into God's high Throne must needs be not only cursed newly by him but also hath been often punished afore of him and that which is done to God's Officers Pag. 12. God accounteth it done to him Ye be bound in God's Word to obey your King and is it no Breach of Duty to withstand your King See also Bishop Hooper's Comment on the Fifth Commandment SECT III. But the outward Felicity of the Church as it was very great under Edward the Sixth so it was short-lived a black Storm gathering under Queen Mary and at last falling severely upon her Protestant Subjects who dealt with her as they were in duty bound they assisted her chearfully till she got her Crown and when contrary to her Duty and her Promises she persecuted them some of them resolutely suffered Martyrdom others as our Saviour advises fled into Foreign Countries for Protection the great Men of that Party solemnly disowning the Principle of taking up Arms against their Sovereign even when she had falsified her promises to them And this is attested by more than a few of the greatest Men of that Reign ‖ Burn. Hist Res part l. 2. p. 285. the Bishops of Exeter S. Davids and Glocester Taylor Philpot Bradford Crome Sanders Rogers Laurence and others who having given an account of their Principles conclude thus as the Historian says These things they declared that they were ready to defend as they often had before offered and concluded charging all People to enter into no Rebellion against the Queen but to obey her in all points except where her Commands were contrary to the Law of God. But their own words will most properly give us their meaning as * Tom. 3. p. 100 c. Fox records Because we hear that it is determined to send us speedily out of the Prisons of the King's Bench c. where at present we are and of a long time some of us have been not as Rebels Traitors seditious persons Thieves or Transgressors of any Laws of this Realm Inhibitions Proclamations or Commandments of the Queen's Highness or of any of the Councils God's Name be praised therefore but only for the Conscience we have to God and to his most holy Word and Truth to one of the Universities there to dispute We write and send abroad this our Faith humbly requiring and in the Bowels of our Saviour Christ beseeching all that fear God to behave themselves as obedient Subjects to the Queen's Highness and the superior Powers which are ordained of God under her rather after our Example to give their Heads to the Block than in any point to rebel or once to mutter against the Lord's anointed we mean our Sovereign Lady Queen Mary into whose Heart we beseech the Lord of Mercy plentifully to pour the Wisdom and Grace of his Holy Spirit now and for ever Amen First we confess and believe all the Canonical Books of the Old Testament c. And having reckoned up what Doctrines they owned and what they condemned they go on thus And we doubt not but we shall be able to prove all our Confessions here to be most true by the Verity of God's Word and Consent of the Catholick Church In the mean season as obedient Subjects we shall behave our selves towards all that be in Authority and not cease to pray to God for them that he would govern them all generally and particularly with the Spirit of Wisdom and Grace and so we heartily desire and humbly pray all Men to do ☞ in no point consenting to any kind of Rebellion or Sedition against our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Highness but where they cannot obey but they must disobey God then to submit themselves with all patience and humility to suffer as the will and pleasure of the highest powers shall adjudge as we are ready through the goodness of the Lord to suffer whatsoever they shall adjudge us unto rather than we will consent to any Doctrine contrary to this which we here confess unless we shall be convinced thereof either by Writing or by Word c. and the Lord of Mercy endue us all with the Spirit of his Truth and Grace of Perseverance therein unto the end Amen May 8 Anno Dom. 1554. This Letter was subscribed by Bishop Ferrar Bishop Hooper and Bishop Coverdale and by nine others who were the Flower of Confessors at that time

that with a limitation which concerns not us nor do we pretend that any Man is infallible 2. Bishop Bilson had been in other things very much deceived tho a wise Man and a good Scholar for even upon such Men their Passions do many times impose witness the Nullity 3. For this very Opinion Bishop Bilson is censured by the † Third Paper to Henderson p. 85. op 2d Edit ann 1687. Martyr Charles For Bilson I remember well what Opinion the King my Father had of him for these Opinions and how he shewed him some favor in hope of his Recantation as his good nature made him do many things of that kind but whether he did or not I cannot say 4. At the time when Bilson's Book was written the Queen was assisting the Dutch against their and her common Enemy the Crown of Spain now if in the Low-Countries the Government was founded in Compact as many Learned Men say and that all their Privileges Sacred and Civil contrary to that Agreement were invaded and the Inquisition introduced all their Petitions slighted and some hundred thousands barbarously murdered this alters the Case while it can no way hold good in Governments where there is no such Compact 5. ‖ Ductor dubitant l. 3 ch 3. rule 3. n. 19. Bishop Taylor quotes Bilson with Barclay and others as an Assertor of the Doctrine of Non-resistance and Loyalty If the Opinion of Bishop Bilson were he never so venerable for his Learning and other Accomplishments be contrary to that of our Blessed Saviour and his holy Apostles we ought to renounce them and I have with a mixture of sorrow and shame reflected upon Cressy's Censure of that Book * Exomolog c. 12. Queen Elisabeth conceived it convenient for her wordly Designs to take on her the Protection of the Low-Countries against the King of Spain she imployed Dr. Bilson Bishop of Winchester to write his Book of Christian Subjection in which to justifie the Revolt of Holland he gave strange Liberty in many Cases especially concerning Religion for Subjects to cast off their Obedience but that Book which served Queen Elisabeth's wordly Designs by the just Judgment of God hath contributed much to the Ruin of her Successor King Charles for there is not any Book that the Presbyterians have made more dangerous use of against their present Prince than that which his Predecessor commanded to be written to justifie her against the King of Spain † Howel's Life of Lewis 13. And it was a smart Observation of Lewis the Thirteenth of France when that good King Charles was involved in a Civil War that perhaps God punished him for assisting the French Protestants at Rochel when in Arms against their Sovereign But after all let 's hear this Reverend Prelate where he determines rather than disputes upon this Case and none shall need to speak for him The Jesuit after long arguing with him about the Magistrate's being accountable for his Faults to the People The true Difference between Christian Subject c. part 3. p. 97 98. Ed. Lond. 1586. Id. p. 252 253. as well as the People to him comes at last to this Issue Then Princes says he have impunity to do what they list without fear of Laws To which he replies Princes appoint penalties for others not for themselves they bear the Sword over others not others over them Subjects must be punished by them and they by none but by God whose place they supply And in another place We deny that Princes have any superior and ordinary Judge to hear and determine the Right of their Crowns We deny that God hath Licensed any Man to depose them and pronounce them no Princes Princes have far greater honor and power over Subjects than any Man can have over Sons and Servants they have power over Goods Lands Bodies and Lives which no private Man may challenge They be Fathers of our Country to the which we be nearerbound by the very Confession of Ethnicks than to the Fathers of our Flesh how then by God's Law should Subjects depose their Princes to whom in most evident words they must be subject for conscience sake tho they be Tyrants and Infidels Pag. 277. And lastly in Answer to the Jesuit's Objection of the German Princes resisting the Emperor which was the Hinge on which all the difference in their Arguments did hang. They were Magistrates says he and bare the Sword in their own Dominions you are private Men and want lawful Authority to use the Sword their States be free and may resist any wrong by the Law of the Empire You be Subjects and simply bound by the Laws of the Country to obey the Prince or abide the pain which the publick State of this Realm hath prefixed The Queen of England inheriteth and hath one and the same right over all her Subjects be they Nobles or others So Mr. Perkins on the Fifth Commandment The Duties to Superiors in Authority are 1. Obedience to their Commandments Rom. 13.1 because every higher power is the Ordinance of God and the Obedience which we perform to him God accepteth it as tho it were done to himself Rom. 13.2 Qu. What if our Superiors be cruel and wicked Answ Yet we must yield Obedience to them but not in wickedness 1 Pet. 2.18 Act. 4.19 2. Subjection in suffering the Punishments inflicted by our Superiors Qu. What if the punishment should be unjust Answ Yet must we suffer it till we can get some lawful Remedy for the same 1 Pet. 2.19 20. And among the Sins against this Commandment he reckons the sixth to resist the lawful Authority of Superiors and the seventh to obey them in things unlawful In this Reign Mr. Hooker published his judicious Books of Ecclesiastical Polity from the first of which it must be confessed it is observed that he lays the Foundation of Government in Agreement Spalatens de Rep. Eccl. lib. 6. c. 2. n. 19. p. 526. Opinionem verò jam factam communem nostrorum Scholasticorum c. That the common Opinion of the Schoolmen and most other Divines which place the power of Government in the Body of the People as if it were given to them by God and the People might dispose of it to whom they pleased is false and altogether to be rejected he herein following the Schoolmen too strictly who had brought in the Terms and Notions of the Aristotelean Philosophy into the Christian Church while Aristotle is known to be a great Lover of a Democracy but whatever he laid down in Thesi I am sure he hated the Deductions that some Men make from him that because Government arose out of Compact therefore the People may call their Princes to an account for in those Fragments of his Eighth Book of Ecclesiastical Polity which were happily preserved by Archbishop Usher and published by Dr. Bernard in his Clavi Trabales who professes * Pag. 49 50. that by what art and upon what design

enforcing to Idolatry assumed all Religious Worship to himself yet the Prophet acknowledges and honors him as his King and Sovereign observe Religion requires Subjection to those Kings that deface the Worship of God and would compel to Idolatry Now if it be said that Idolatry was the Worship injoin'd by the Laws of the Land We answer that Idolatry is against the Law of God and so the Jews were under a superior Obligation and I think if Men may take Arms when any thing is done to them contrary to human Laws there seems to be more reason that they should do so when any thing is done contrary to the Laws of the great King of Heaven and Earth but the latter is by our Adversaries disallowed therefore with much more reason the former But it is time to return to Bishop Brownrig who avers That active and actual Obedience to ungodly Laws we may not we must not yield and perform thus to submit to Men were to rebel against God but yet protestation of Subjection must continue tho our particular active Obedience be denied or restrain'd tho we dare not perform our active Obedience in doing what they command Pag. 34. yet we must perform our passive Obedience in submitting to their punishments Papists teach that Heretical Kings forfeit their Crowns and Lives if they command against God. No we must here with Daniel honor their Persons and Calling when Conscience forbids us to fullfil their Commandments Darius also was now the Author of Daniel's destruction his Law ensnared him his Power condemn'd him his Seal shut him up in the Den of Lions yet for all this the holy Prophet honors him as his King. Observe No worng or injury can exempt or discharge our persons from our Lawful Sovereign ☜ He upbraids not the King with Tyranny and Impiety charges him not with the cruelty of his usage threatens him not with Vengeance and Judgments from God much less as a Prophet doth he denounce sentence of deprivation against him but fergetting his wrongs forgiving his Injuries sends up a devout Prayer for his life and welfare c. SECT XV. In Justice I ought to have given King Charles the First the Preference to some of the forecited Authors but I have reserved him to lead the Van of the remaining Writers who were particularly engaged in the Service of that Truth for which that great Prince became a Martyr and when I have mentioned this I have said enough to those who consider what he suffered by the Men who were Enemies to the Doctrine of Nonresistance and what he unanswerably wrote in Defence of that Doctrine being resolved at present to quote no more of him than that one Sentence in his Second Paper to Henderson that to reform as Grosthead said in ore gladii cruentandi is a wicked and ungodly saying This Prince shall be attended as he ought by his Chaplains and Dr. Hammond comes first of whom it were enough to say that he was a Member of the Convocation anno 1640 for that discovers his Sentiments since he gave his consent to those Canons But he hath more particularly declared his Opinion especially in his * L. 2. § 5. p. 53. Practical Catechism Some Wars are unjust as that of Subjects seditiously raised against the Supreme Power in a State. † Sect. 9. p. 69 70. But what may we fight for if we may not fight for Religion Resp It is the most precious thing indeed and that to be preserved by all lawful proper proportionable means but then War or unlawful resistance being of all things most improper to defend or secure or plant this and it being acknowledged unlawful for Peter to use the Sword for the Defence of Christ himself to do it meerly for Religion must needs be very unlawful Religion hath still been spread and propagated by suffering and not by resisting and indeed it being not in the power of Force to constrain my Soul or change my Religion or keep me from the Profession of it Arms or Resistance must needs be very improper for that purpose And the same Author in his Section of Meekness says if they be our lawful Magistrates then our Meekness consists in Obedience active or passive acting all their legal Commands and submitting so far at least as not to make violent resistance to the punishment which they shall inflict upon us I shall put you in mind of this great Truth that Christ and his Disciples were Id. sect 11. p. 79 80. of all the Doctors that ever were in the World the most careful to preserve the Doctrine and Practice of Allegiance even when the Emperors were the greatest Opposers of the Christian Religion and if ever you mean to be accounted a Follower of them you must go and do likewise S. But was not Tiberius an Usurper and yet Christ saith Render to Cesar the things that are Cesars C. Julius Cesar wrested the Power out of the Hand of the Senate but before the time of Tiberius the Business was accorded between the Senate and the Emperors that the Emperor now reigned unquestioned without any competition from the Senate Which Case how distant it is from other forcible Usurpations where the Legal Sovereign doth still claim his Right to his Kingdoms and to the Allegiance of his Subjects no way acquitting them from their Oaths or laying down his Pretensions tho for the present he be over-power'd is easily discernable to any who hath the Courage and Fidelity to consider it and is not by his own Interests bribed or frighted from the performance of his Christian duty And this Doctrine he ex professo maintains against S. Marshal Godwin and others in his Treatise of resisting the lawful Magistrate under the color of Religion c. in which he condemns Subjects taking Arms against their Prince * p. 54. c. by Arguments taken 1. From the nature of Religion 2. From the Examples of Christ and Christians 3. From the making of Christianity and particularly of the Protestant Doctrine 4. From the Constitution of the Kingdom affirming that in the New Testament there is no one Christian Virtue or Article of Faith more clearly deliver'd more effectually inforc'd upon our Understandings and Affections than that of Obedience to Kings Bishop Ferne hath written purposely on this Subject his Resolution of Conscience whether upon supposition the King will not discharge his Trust but is bent or seduced to subvert Religion Laws and Liberties Subjects may take Arms and resist Resolved That no Conscience upon such a Supposition or Case can find a clear ground for such Resistance whence it follows that the Resistance made against the higher Powers is unwarrantable and according to the Apostle damnable Rom. xiii You are told says Dr. Ferne the Gospel and your Liberties Epist and all you have are in most eminent danger and without taking Arms for the defence irrecoverably lost and that it is lawful by the fundamental Laws of

on Prov. xxiv 21. Ep. ded P. 17 19 20 c. with the same sincerity as I would confess my Soul to God that my design in this Discourse was only to promote the Peace and Happiness of Men. These are the ways of knowing Men when they are given to change 1. When Men who have actually chang'd the Government already begin to re-advance their old Methods and Principles it 's a certain sign they are given to change 2. When Men make that a pretence for publick Clamor and Bustle which themselves have little or no claim to or regard for that is Religion it 's a certain sign they are given to change 3. When Men pretend Religion or publick Reformation but pursue it by sinful and indirect means it 's a certain sign c. Now Religion is as great an Enemy to Lying and Rebellion as it is to Popery 4. When under pretext of reforming the Government ☜ Men reproach and vilifie the Persons of their Governors 5. When Men shift their Principles with their Interests and to serve a turn can comply at one time with that which they condemn at another Tho in following our Principles we may sometimes indanger our worldly Interest and fall under the disgrace of a Rabble and the Persecutions of a prevailing Faction yet our very Enemies will be forc'd to revere and honor us to acknowledge that we are constant and brave and honest and resign'd to our own Principles 6. and lastly When Men who in the ordinary course of their Conversation are proud and quarrelsome and impatient of Contradiction set up Pretences of Religion against the Government † Id. Serm. on Rom. xiii 1. p. 25 26. Consider that upon our faithful Subjection to our Prince the safety of our Religion depends for there is nothing in the World can more indanger our Religion than our making it a pretence for Rebellion for hereby we inevitably expose it to the hatred of Princes and do what lies in us to arm their Power against it ‖ Id. Artillery Serm. p. 31. If you be courageous from a Principle of Righteousness you will honor the King as well as fear God and obey his Ordinances for God's sake you will never conduct a rebellious design under the sacred Banner of Religion nor pretend Loyalty to God to cover your Disloyalty to his Vicegerent you will never press the Scriptures to fight against the King Pag. 32. nor arm his political against his personal Capacity nor assume his Authority to cut off his Head nor on the other hand will you ever allow him to be unking'd by the sentence of a domineering Prelate c. In a word you will never confront those loyal Admonitions of S. Peter and S. Paul with the treasonous Canons of the Councils of the Ungodly nor levy Arms against your Prince upon that counterfeit Commission of his being pronounc'd a Heretick by a Congregation of Impostors who would fain fetch Pretences for their Treasons and Rebellions from the most loyal and peaceable Religion that ever was The ADDRESS of the University of Cambridge presented by Dr. Gower then Vicechancellor Sept. 18. 1681. to the King at Newmarket Sacred SIR WE your Majesties most faithful and obedient Subjects of the University of Cambridge have long with the greatest and sincerest joy beheld what we hope is in some measure the effect of our own Prayers the generous Emulation of our Fellow Subjects contending who should first and best express their Duty and Gratitude to their Sovereign at this time especially when the seditious Endeavours of unreasonable Men have made it necessary to assert the ancient Loyalty of the English Nation and make the World sensible that we do not degenerate from those prime Glories of our Ancestors Love and Allegiance to our Prince That we were not seen in those loyal Crowds but chose rather to stand by and applaud their honest and religious Zeal we humbly presume will not be imputed to the want of it in our selves either by your Majesty or your People for Sir it is at present the great honor of this your University not only to be stedfast and constant in our Duty but to be eminently so and to suffer for it as much as the Calumnies and Reproaches of factious and malicious Men can inflict upon us And that they have been hitherto able to do no more than vent the venom of their Tongues that they have not proceeded to Plunder and Sequestration to violate our Chappels rifle our Libraries and empty our Colleges as once they did next to the over-ruling Providence of Almighty God is only due to the Royal Care and Prudence of your most sacred Majesty who gave so seasonable a check to the arbitrary and insolent Undertakings But no earthly Power we hope no Menaces or Misery shall ever be able to make us renounce or forget our Duty We will still believe and maintain That our Kings derive not their Titles from the People but from God that to him only they are accountable that it belongs not to Subjects either to create or censure but to honor and obey their Sovereign who comes to be so by a fundamental hereditary Right of Succession which no Religion no Law no Fault or Forfeiture can alter or diminish Nor will we ever abate of our well-instructed Zeal for our most holy Religion as it is professed and established by Law in the Church of England that Church which hath so long stood and still is the envy and terror of her Adversaries as well as the beauty and strength of the Reformation It is thus Dread Sir that we have learned our own and thus we teach others their Duty to God and the King in the conscientious discharge of both which we have been so long protected and encouraged by your Majesties most just and gracious Government that we neither need nor desire any other Declaration than that Experience for our assurance and security for the future In all which Grace and Goodness Great Sir we have nothing to return we bring no Names and Seals no Lives and Fortunes well capable of your Majesties Service or at all worthy of your Acceptance nothing but Hearts and Prayers Vows of a zealous and lasting Loyalty Our Selves and Studies all that we can or ever shall be able to perform which we here most sincerely promise and most humbly tender at your Majesties feet a mean and worthless Present but such a one as we hope will not be disdained by the most gracious and indulgent Prince that Heaven ever bestowed upon a People SECT XXXIII Dr. Grove * Short def of the Church and Clerg of Engl. p. 81. p. 84. This is the main occasion for which so many of the Conformists are clamor'd against they are presently branded for medling with matters of State if they do but teach their Hearers to be obedient to Magistrates and are not furnish'd with Jesuitical Distinctions to shew in what Cases it may be lawful

of Testimonies Yet after the Popes Deposing Power came into request the Commonwealth Principles did so too and the Power of Princes was said to be of another Original and therefore they were accountable to the People And having shown the Affinity of such Doctrines and Principles in both by some Tragical effects of them as well at home as abroad he proceeds thus Pag. 12. If we enquire farther into the Reasons of these Pretences we shall find them alike on both sides The Commonwealthsmen when they are asked how the People having once parted with their Power come to resume it They presently run to an implicit Contract between the Prince and the People by vertue whereof the People have a Fundamental Power left in themselves which they are not to exercise but upon Princes violating the Trust committed to them The very same Ground is made the Foundation of the Popes Deposing Power viz. An Implicit Contract that all Princes made when they were Christians to submit their Scepters to the Popes Authority c. And where he reasons against these Principles from the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Pag. 15. The Religion they taught says he never meddled with Crowns and Scepters but left to Cesar the things that were Cesar's and never gave the least intimation to Princes of any Forfeiture of their Authority if they did not render to God the things that are God's Concluding that Head with this Reflection upon the whole In my 〈◊〉 there is very little difference between Dominion being founded in Grace and being forfeited for want of it But then secondly as to the breaking of Oaths and Bonds of Allegiance he first lays down That the Duty betwixt Princes and Subjects is natural and antecedent to their embracing the Christian Religion And therefore secondly the absolving Subjects from that is in plain terms nulling the Obligation to a natural Duty and taking away the Force of Oaths and Promises And thirdly That all Mankind are agreed that it is a sin to break a lawful Oath and the more solemn and weighty the Oath is the greater is the Perjury And then proceeds to shew that the Power which absolves from such Oaths is a Power of turning Evil into Good and Good into Evil of making civil Obedience to Princes to be a Crime and Perjury to be none and such as from the Schoolmen he proves to be greater than they allow of in God himself Pag. 18. where there is intrinsick Goodness in the Nature of the thing and inseparable Evil from the contrary to it As in the Case says he of Disobedience to Parents and Violation of Oaths lawfully made and after a clear Confutation of the Sophistry of Popish Casuists in this matter he concludes Wo be to them that make good evil Pag. 24. and evil good when it serves their turn For this is plainly setting up a particular Interest under the Name of the Good of the Church and violating the Laws of Righteousness to advance it If Men break through Oaths and the most solemn Engagements and Promises and regard no Bonds of Justice and Honesty to compass their Ends let them call them by what specious Names they please The Good Old Cause or The Good of the Church it matters not which there can be no greater sign of Hypocrisie and real Wickedness than this c. And lastly as for the justifying Rebellion upon the account of Religion having cited the Boucher de justâ abdicat Hen. 3 Sorbon Doctor who not only called it lawful to resist Authority on the Account of Religion but folly and Impiety not to do it where there is any probability of Success And said that the Martyrs were only to be commended for suffering because they wanted Power to resist With a Note of Admiration says he Most Catholick and Primitive Doctrine And a little after pag. 28. Cardinal Bellarmin having given his Reason amongst others for the Pope's deposing Power Because it is not lawful for Christians to suffer an Heretical Prince if he seeks to draw his Subjects to his Belief The Learned Dean makes this Reflection upon it And what Prince that believes his own Religion doth it not And what then is this but to raise Rebellion against a Prince where-ever he and they happen to be of different Religions With a great deal more to the same purpose which it would be much more profitable for the Reader to learn from the ingenious Preface it self than from this imperfect Transcript of it A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF Passive Obedience Since the REFORMATION AMSTERDAM Printed for Theodore Johnson in the Calver-Straet 1690. A PREFATORY EPISTLE TO THE AUTHOR Of the First Part of the History of Passive Obedience SIR THE first part of the History of Passive Obedience having been favorably received by the generality of Readers tho unjustly censured and undeservedly reproach'd by some Men who think themselves injured thereby I have thought fit to publish a second Part of the same History not doubting your leave for my so doing wherein the Reader may find that Doctrin carefully and at large deduc'd through the first Ages of our Reformation down to the times of Archbishop Laud and from thence to the present time to shew the World that the Opinion was not first hatch'd and brought up in that great Man's days who dyed a Martyr to the constitutions of our most excellent Church and among them to the true Principles of Loyalty Nor do I believe that any one Primitive Doctrin wherein we differ from the Papists can shew even in that Age when the whole drift of our Writers was to expose and confute the Romish Synagogue more Authors that uniformly assert it than this of Non-Resistance as if God in his wise and good Providence had so order'd it to stifle an Objection which he foresaw would afterwards be made against it in the degenerate Ages of the same Church nor is there need of any other Apology to you or the Reader for my medling with this Province for my adding some Passages to what hath been already publish'd and illustrating and enlarging others since if the interest of truth be promoted See the History unmask'd it matters not how many are engaged in that service nor that whether they are called Papists Atheists and Hobbists for their pains I have often heretofore wondred at the assurance of the Romish Authors who wrote against our Church a little after the Reformation that they could so confidently accuse the whole Body of Pretestants as the Preachers and Practisers of Rebellion for so says Stapleton ‖ Counterblast p. 20. that Protestants obey no longer than till they have power to resist And Card. Allen * Answ to the Just of Gr. Bri. cap. 4. that the Protestants are desperate and Factious that as long as the Laws are favorable to them they are obedient but when the Laws are against them and their Princes their Enemies they break all the Bonds of Allegiance despise

he suffered the most bitter and cruel kind of Death for our sakes and the points of Office of him that is his Vicar are to be in subjection not to command Princes but to acknowledge himself to be under their power and commandment not only when they command things indifferent and easily to be done but also when they command things not indifferent so they be not wicked in checks in scourgings and beatings unto death yea even unto the death of the Cross Indeed these are Christs footsteps Now if it be objected against what hath been said that the Author of the Treatise Gardiner was a virulent Papist I answer this strengthens the Authority for the Testimony of an Enemy to the Truth of Religion is worth an hundred other Witnesses and it is very remarkable that a Romish Bishop should assert the Divine Right and unaccountableness of Kings when his Church teacheth him to believe that the Pope hath power to depose Princes and many of their eminent Writers affirm that all power is originally in and derived from the people And if it be further objected that Gardiner retracted and disowned this Doctrine in the Reign of Queen Mary I grant it and I wish that he and Bonner had been the only men in the world who had altered their Opinions for the worse being prevailed upon by the love of the world which is the root of all evil But Truth is never the less venerable because some Professors of it have turned Apostates Gardiner 's and Bonner 's Reasons * Vide Cranmer's Translat in praef before his Book of unwritten Verities being so pithy and Arguments so strong as neither they themselves nor any other after them shall be able at any time rightly to assoil and answer And it must be observed that before they condemned these their Orthodox Tenets they wilfully broke the Oaths which they had taken in the Days of Henry the Eighth and the venerable Dean * Reproof of Dorman p. 1.6 Lond. 1565. Nowel thus urges the Argument Ask your forsworn Fathers with what face they did give to the King the Title of Supreme Head did swear it to him and so long time continued so calling him If they did not so think as they said and had sworn but dissembled deeply ask of them with what face they played so false dissembling Hypocrites with their Sovereign Lord Ask of them what manner of Subjects they were all that while feigning in face in word in writing yea and taking a Solemn Oath to be with their Prince therein and being in heart and deed on his sworn Enemy his side But if they thought indeed as they pretended in words then ask of them with what face they did change their Copy ☞ and forswear the same and themselves withal so easily afterward yea and compelled all others to be forsworn with them for company Then you shall find who they were that changed their Copy and turned with the Wind as the Weather-cock that so falsly swear reswear trieswear and forswear themselves and not content therewith did by all most terrible Torments and dreadful Deaths compel others to Perjury with them And whoso considers Bonner's juggling Fox Martyrs To. 2. p. 1192 1193. Edit 1610. anno 1547. with King Edward the Sixth's Commissioners about the Injunctions at one time protesting against them at another recanting that his Protestation swearing Obedience to the King receiving his Injunctions giving his assent and consent to the State of Religion then established to the abolishing Images abrogation of the Mass setting up of Bibles in Churches giving the Sacrament in both kinds and such like And then two years afterward anno 1549. on the Death of the Lord High Admiral and the many tumultuous Insurrections of the King's Subjects neglecting to be present or to officiate in his Cathedral at Divine Service and permitting others to frequent the Mass may see his temper throughly and be convinced that his Authority is of no worth while his Reasonings are unanswerable it being unjust that his personal Faults should make void the weight of his Arguments especially when he spake not his own sense but the sense of the whole Church of England which will undeniably appear by the continuation of his story For when Bonner was for his prevarication suspected and complained of and convened before the King's Council among other Injunctions then given him one was that he should personally preach within three weeks after at Paul's Cross And among the special points and Articles that were to be treated of by him in his Sermon this was the first 1. That all such as rebel against their Prince get unto them damnation and those that resist the higher Powers resist the Ordinance of God and he that dieth therefore in Rebellion by the word of God is utterly damned and so loseth both body and soul and therefore those Rebels in Devonshire and Cornwal in Norfolk or elsewhere who take upon them to assemble a Power and Force against their King and Prince against the Laws and Statutes of the Realm and go about to subvert the State and Order of the Commonwealth not only to deserve therefore death as Traitors and Rebels but do accumulate to themselves eternal damnation even to be in the burning Fire of Hell with Lucifer the Father and first Author of Pride Disobedience and Rebellion what pretence soever they have as Corah Dathan and Abirom for Rebellion against Moses were swallowed down alive into Hell altho they pretended to sacrifice unto God. And 4. That our Authority of Royal Power is as of truth it is of no less authority and force in this our young Age than is or was of any of our Predecessors tho the same were much elder as may appear by example of Josias c. How Bonner discharged his Obedience to these Injunctions is not my present Province the Martyrology will inform the Reader but what is already related undeniably proves what was the Doctrine of the Church of England in those Days Anno 1541. was Dr. Robert Barnes martyred Vide his Life prefixed to his Works and at the stake he professed That he never to his knowledge taught any erroneous Doctrine but only those things which the Scripture led him unto and that in his Sermons he never maintain'd any Error nor gave occasion of any Insurrection but with all diligence did study evermore to set forth the Glory of God the Obedience to our Sovereign Lord the King and the true and sincere Religion of Christ desiring the People to bear witness that he detested and abhorred all evil Opinions and Doctrines against the Word of God. And his Writings are agreeable to his dying Protestation In his Supplication to King Henry the Eighth when condemned to die treating of the Cruelties of the Popish Clergy among other things he says If they cannot make a Man a Heretick P. 183. to colour and maintain their Oppression they add Treason against your Grace tho

of the pretended Holy Discipline And if I mistake not by his directions the Account of Hacket's Coppinger's and Arthington's Treason was drawn up and Printed in the Book called Conspiracy for pretended Reformation the Design of which is expresly against the Doctrin of taking up Arms against the Lord's anointed especially on the Account of Religion SECT V. Anno 1594 Dr. Richard Eedes Printed with five other Sermons London 1604. p. 70 72 73 74. Dean of Worcester Preached before the Queen on Isai 49.23 Wherein he says That the Strength even of Heathen States was in their Religion by the which they were persuaded that their Princes were the Children of their Gods and their Laws drawn from the Oracles of some Divine Power They found by experience how hard it was for men to be brought to obey men unless they had the authority of more than men c. And what doth more teach either Obedience or Peace than the Religion of Christ Obedience is rightly called Nervus Imperii the Sinew and Strength of a Kingdom as well because it is grounded upon the Obedience of Christ who as Bernard noteth Ne perderet Obedientiam perdidit vitam did rather chuse to lose his life than to leave his Obedience As also because it requires in Christians Obedience without respect of persons to all without difference of Degrees higher Powers Rom. 13.2 Without exception against their Qualities not only to them that are good and courteous but to them also who are froward 1 Pet. 2.18 ☜ And that in all things Tribute to whom tribute c. and that not with eye-service as men-pleasers c. and that not because of wrath but for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 That if all the Laws and Policies of States and Kingdoms were gathered into one they could not be so strong to work peace and to persuade Obedience as these few but very forcible Rules of the Religion of Christ How much therefore is it to be lamented that in so great Light there should be so little Fruit That whereas the Truth of Religion is the Preserver of Government and the Mother of Obedience the name of Religion is made the Firebrand of Kingdoms and the armor of disobedience and that not only to maintain the Tyranny of that Usurping Power who takes upon him to Depose Kings but also to bring in that Anarchy of factious Subjects who presume to give Laws to their lawful Princes Wherein besides that it is true which Leo wrote unto Theodosius private causes are handled with pretence of Piety and every Man makes Religion which should be the Mistress the Handmaid of his affections it is intolerable to see how far some busie heads fetch the beginning of Kingdoms p. 7● Vindic contr Tyran Bach●n de ju●e regin and so as they please the right of Kings from the pleasure of the People how contemptuously they term the titles of honour and reverence the solecisms of the Court how seditiously they give wings to ambitious humors to plead the right of a ●aconical Ephory against Kings but for themselves and to arm that beast of many heads the multitude which ever goes as Seneca not whither it should but whither the stream bears it against that which to want of judgment is ever most heavy the present Government Whereas the right rules of Religion give no remedy to Subjects against the Highest Authority ☞ but the necessity of either suffering or obeying and therefore they that open that gap whether it be to the Tyranny of ambitious Popes or to the Anarchy of seditious Subjects howsoever they pretend the name of Religion they shall sooner prove themselves to have no Religion than that there is any defence for them in the Religion of Christ which teacheth as to be thankful to God for good Princes so to be patient of those whom in anger as the Prophet Hosea speaks Hos 13.11 he setteth over us for the punishment of our sins and against whom the first Professors of our faith had no weapons but prayers and tears p. 2. the same Author in his first Sermon before King James saith that promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but from God. Ps 73.6 that their power is of God Rom. 3.1 and their judgments God's judgments Deut. 1.17 and that therefore they who resist them not only by a consequence resist the ordmance of God Rom. 13.2 but God in them as he told Samuel they have not rejected thee but me 1 Sam. 8.7 The Reverend Bishop Moreton begun very early to assert this Doctime in his Writings and he lived long enough to assert it by his sufferings being a great sharer in that affliction which in the great Rebellion the Doctrine of resistance brought upon both the King and the Church Anno 1596. he publish'd his Solomon or a Treatise declaring the shake of the Kingdom of Israel pr. Lond. as it was in the days of Solomon Wherein he proves after the words as it was in the days of Solomon insert these following that the Kingdom of Israel was a most true and lively picture of the State and Crown one egg being not more like another than the State to that under which we live so that all his arguments without any further comment are applicable to our Kingdom and whereas he foresaw ‖ Ep. ad Lect. that it would be objected to him that he gives the Christian Magistrate especially in great and absolute Monarchies greater authority than seems to stand with the good of the Church or the truth of God's Word he desires the Reader not to attribute it to flattery but to a constant and settled persuasion he intending in publishing the Treatise the good and peaceable State of the Kingdom and the maintaining of that powerful and majestical Authority whereunto it hath pleased God to make us subject and in the discourse he affirms † Sect. 2. p. 4 5. that Magistracy is not a mere device of Man as they who contemn and labor to overthrow all Authority speaking evil of those things which they know not have imagined but an ordinance of God. Rom. 13. there is no power but of God he therefore that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. Obj. But it cannot be shewed that it was ever establish'd by God throughout the World except only among the Jews but was invented and continued by Men excelling others in strength and ambition Answ The abuses of Magistracy tho many and grievous p. 6. cannot take away the lawful use of it and altho Magistracy hath been by the express commandment of God establish'd only in the Church yet it belongs as much to Infidels for it is instituted by God not as he is the Saviour of his Church but as he is the Creator and Preserver of all Men. p. 7. God sets up this his Ordiannce among Infidels by the light of nature remaining in the minds of Men c.

makes a Hypocrite to reign for the sins of a people Now the Supremacy of Kings and the subjection of every Soul to them are so joined that the King cannot be said to be supreme unless every Soul be subject to him nor will the duty of subjection agree to every Soul unless the King be invested with this Supremacy Sect. 3. p. 21. for all Men universim omnes sigillatim singuli whether singly or contained in a body are bound in conscience by this Apostolical Precept to pay the duties of subjection and observance to Kings and whereas Bellarmin as others urged the deposition of Athaliah Sect. 5. p. 33. to prove the lawfulness of Dethroning Princes he answers that Athaliah had no right to the Crown that she had the Kingdom by violence that the true King lay hid that by her Parricide and Treason she had made herself guilty of death by the Law and ought to have suffered Prelect 4. Sect. 3. p. 44. p. 47. and that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power which St. Paul uses never signifies force and violence but a just Power which must be lawful because it is from Heaven that Christ was subject by the law to the Power of Pilate and the Apostles to the Heathen Princes Prel 5. Sect. 1.2 p. 70 71. and that in the Primitive Church there were no Traytors who either openly or privately contrived or attempted any thing against the Life or Crown of the Emperor when they wanted neither numbers nor force but they durst not turn Rebels or Traytors ☜ lest by breaking the command of Christ they should lose Heaven and Bellarmin belies them when he says they wanted not a right nor good will to depose Kings but only forces sufficient P. 73. it was of old their Doctrine that the Church ought not to rebel against Princes and this the Gospel taught them let them therefore shew from the Gospel that it is lawful for else let a Man pretend to Inspiration if he speaks from himself and not from the Gospel believe him not says St. Chrysostom Prelect 8. Sect. ult p. 96. and having shewn from David's saying against thee only have I sinned that Kings are accountable only to God he closes his Lecture with these words a King is under the coercion of no Laws because there is no power among Men on Earth that can punish him so that when Kings transgress we must expect the judgments of God upon them SECT XIV In the same year Dr. Lewis Bayly Bishop of Bangor set forth the Practice of Piety ‖ P. 479. edit 1675. in the end of which he shews that the Doctrine which St. Paul taught the Ancient Church of Rome is diametrically opposite in 26 fundamental points of true Religion to that which the new Church of Rome teacheth and maintaineth and the 24th is this that every Soul must of conscience be subject and pay tribute to the Higher Powers i.e. the Magistrates which bear the Sword. Rom. 13.1 2 c. and therefore the Pope and all Prelates and by parity of reason all other Subjects must be subject to their Emperors Kings and Magistrates unless they will bring damnation upon their Souls as Traytors that resist God and his Ordinance and therefore let the Jesuits P. 480. c. take heed and fear lest it be not Faith but Faction not Truth but Treason not Religion but Rebellion which is the cause of their deaths ☜ because they cannot be suffered to persuade Subjects to break their Oaths and to withdraw their Allegiance from their Sovereign to raise Rebellion to move Invasion to stab and poyson Queens to kill and murder Kings c. Some years before this Dr. Richard Crackenthorp Preach'd at Pauls Cross viz. Mar. 24. 1608. and in his Epistle Dedicatory he affirms pr. Lond. 1609. that his desire therein was to testifie his unfeigned love first to God's truth and then to the Peace of our Jerusalem and in the Sermon he commends King James's Book of Free Monarchies but especially his Learned Apology for the Oath of Allegiance and proves that as Solomon had his Kingdom neither from the Priest nor the People but immediatly from God so the Scriptures call Kings the Ministers or Lieutenants of God Rom. 13. and that all the Ancient Fathers did believe that the Imperial Authority of Kings was immediatly and only derived of God immediatly depending of God and of God alone this was the judgment and just defence of all the Christians and of the Church at that time and to prove this to be agreeable to the Law he cites a Statute made 16. Ric. 2. c. 5. of purpose to keep sacred and inviolable the Sovereignty and regality of this Kingdom ☞ it was therein declared that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times not then only but which is specially to be remembred at all times that it hath been in subjection to no Realm but immediatly subject to God and to none other in all things touching the regality of the same in defence of which Statute they in the Parliament then Assembled promised to live and dye as it is there noted by all which it is evident that this Doctrine which is now at Rome counted most ridiculous it in it self most sacred as being grounded on the Scriptures of God and as most sacred hath been embrac'd by all the Christians in the Primitive Church taught and maintained with a general consent by the Ancient and Godly Fathers in their several Ages and Successions constantly defended by whole Kingdoms and Empires and that under pain of High Treason to the Gainsayers thereof even in those latter times also when superstition had dimin'd but not quite extinguish'd and put out the Truth that cannot possibly be true loyalty or sincere obedience which ever attending to an higher command includes in it as in a Trojan Horse that condition of rebus sic stantibus durante beneplacito or the like out of which if strength and opportunity might serve they might let out whole Armies and Troops of Armed Men suddenly to surprize both Church and Kingdom and much more to that purpose To Dr. Crackenthorp it is requisite to join his Friend Dr. P. 334 ed. Lon. 1675 Daniel Featly who in his Handmaid to devotion on the Feast of the Fifth of November gives all good Christians this useful admonition All that fear God ought to abhor and detest all Traiterous and Bloody conspiracies against the Prince and State because God strictly forbids dreadfully threatens miraculously discovers and severely punishes all Treasons and Conspiracies as we see in Corah Absalom Adonijah Zimri the Servants of Ammon Sullam Haman the servants of the Nobleman in the Parable Judas for God forbids conspiracies Touch not mine Anointed c. SECT XV. The Famous Peter du Moulin the Father the Cicero of the French Churches was by King James made a Prebendary of the Church of Canterbury and

the Covenant Printed at Lon. 1640. disproves their pretended conformity with the French Churches in the points of Church Discipline and Obedience to Superiors averring solemnly P. 2. that it was ever far from our wishes that your conformity with the Reformed Churches of France should be misapplyed as a pretence of your expelling your Bishops much less a president for you to take Arms against your Gracious Sovereign P. 37 38. take it for granted that the Orders imposed upon you by His Majesty are Ungodly and Antichristian are you therefore allowed to defend Religion with Rebellion will ye call the Devil to the help of God Sure it is a prodigious kind of Christian Liberty for a Subject to draw his Sword against his Sovereign you that stand so much upon the point of conscience ought ye not to be subject for Conscience sake ☞ Were your Sovereign unjust and froward and his commands injurious unto God had ye instead of our pious defender of the Faith a fierce Dioclesian illud solis precibus patientiâ sanari potest nothing will mend it but prayers and patience it is Beza's counsel to the discontented Brethren of England conformable to that of St. 1 Pet. 3.17 Peter for it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing if the Sovereign come to kill the Subject for his Religion the Subject must yield him his throat not charge his Pike against him and this he proves by Calvin's Practice and Writings P. 38 39 40. the Churches of France have lately declared to His Majesties Ambassador there their utter dislike of the Insurrection of Scotland under pretence of a Covenant with Christ P. 41. there can be no just cause to take Arms against a Lawful Sovereign after this he treats of the French Protestants taking Arms P. 46. and concludes that till the Reign of King Lewis the Arms of the Protestants were either justifiable or excusable but their Wars in his time were neither and they prosper'd accordingly P. 48. the French Protestants had to do with a King of a contrary Religion they were incens'd by many wrongs and oppressions they were in danger to lose with their Forts and Towns their Liberty their Religion and their Life the privileges which they enjoyed were rewards of their long Services by the Charter of Rochel when they yielded to Lewis XI it was granted to them that they should be no longer the King's Subjects ☞ than the King should maintain their immunities and yet these true reasons and just fears could not justifie their defensive Arms against their Sovereign but they were condemn'd by the best of their own and of their neighbors and God shewed his dislike by the ill success he gave them And much more to this purpose is to be seen in his answer to Philanax Anglicus and in his Regii sanguinis Clamor ad caelum contra Parricidas Anglicanos Hagae Com. 1652 C. 1. 〈◊〉 5. for that being is du Moulin juniors and not Alexander Morus's as was conjectured affirming with the Apostle that even the Jews would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory had they known him while the Parricides of King Charles I. wittingly and wilfully Murdered their Lawful King and with the King beheaded also the Church of England and brought upon the neighbouring Protestant Churches abundance of Dishonor and much danger while the same madness was imputed to all the Reformation which had only infected a few who falsly called themselves Reformed Nothing hath happened since the beginning of the World more contrary to the glory of God or that hath cast a greater blot upon holy Truth while the Wickedness defends it self by the Doctrin of the Gospel and is said to be perpetrated to vindicate the Protestant Religion to the just indignation and abhorrence of all the foreign Churches for which reason Salmasius P. 7. Heraldus Porree and others wrote smartly both against the Men P. 17. and their villanous Principles It is a Law not only written but born with us and springs from the most pure fountains of Nature That it is a most horrid crime for Subjects to punish their Princes and therefore we do too much honour to Parricides when we use Arguments against them for as Aristotle says they who doubt 1 Top. c 9 whether God is to be worship'd or Parents to be honoured are not to be convinc'd by Reasons but by Scourges and Salmasius hath proved by unanswerable Reasons by divine and human Authority that the Majesty of Kings is unaccountable and that Subjects have no manner of Authority over them Cap. 2. p. 29 30. There is no fallacy of Satan which more prevails upon good Men to engage them in an evil Cause than when Men contrary to God's Word believe that it is lawful to do evil that good may come thereof and that God hath need of our sinful assistance to promote his Kingdom and that whatever is design'd to promote God's Glory immediatly commences good P. 52. the Judges at Westminster were turn'd out by the Army because being consulted they had given this opinion that to judge the King was against the Laws of England Cap. 5. p. 107. to argue from Providence and Success to the goodness of a Cause is impudent one man is hang'd for that by which another gets a Crown Junius Brutus by expelling the Kings of the Family of Tarquin saved his Country another Brutus by murdering a Tyrant ruined it perhaps the later Brutus did an act of justice when he slew an Usurper but the first was very unjust who drove away a lawful King by the murder of King Charles I. Cap. 6. p. 121. the Parricides taught the rest of the World that Kings may be guilty of breach of trust to their People that the People are their Judges and may condemn and execute them and these Tenets they are not ashamed to own in their Writings that they had freed the World of its old Superstition that Kings are only obnoxious to God and can be punish'd only by him that they had set an example to all other Nations conducive to their safety and to be dreaded by all Tyrants as Cromwel wrote to the Scots after Dunbar fight what an occasion of insulting is hereby given to the Papists to say Cap. 7. p. 135. this is the Religion which brings down Reformation to us from Heaven these are the Men who cry out against the Usurpations of the Popes upon the Crowns and lives of Princes only that they might themselves have that power over Kings when they had snatched it from the Pope But the Papists would suggest this with less fierceness if they remembred that those few who left us in this point went to them and borrowed their Weapons from them C. 8 p. 148. these Monsters do not content themselves with being simple Parricides but they turn Rebellion into a

them when the rebellious Israelites in Moses's absence would needs make a God that is a Leader or Ruler to go before them they contributed their ear-rings to the carrying on that design but the effect and issue of that contribution was only a Calf I beseech you remember from all our contributory Plate from the silver basin even to the smallest bodkin whether we have any productions amongst us better than this P. 30. Men who decry the Pope yet cry up themselves into an Authority as great as his not only over the People Id. Visit Sermon at Lewis Octob. 8. 1662. p. 43. but over the Prince whatsoever therefore teacheth Children Obedience to their Parents Subjects Loyalty toward their Sovereign whatsoever teacheth the afflicted patience the happy temperance the faithful perseverance and all sorts of People Charity is that sound Doctrin which we must Preach the Congregation learn. Dr. Gardiner It is high time for Sovereign Majesty to send a strict injunction of taking heed Sermon at St. Mary's Ox. on Act Sund. 1622. p. 25 c. that we poyson not our studies with the Writings of Puritans and Jesuits for the one no less than the other under colour of Zeal and pretence of Holy Discipline corrupt and spoil green age before it can discern and season new Vessels with unseasonable liquor witness that detestable and trayterous instruction encouraging Subjects to resist their supreme Rulers when they are notoriously tax'd of injustice and cruelty so that Kings according to them shall be no longer Kings than they serve their turns are not these Gospellers where they broach such Tenets mere Popes are they not like to Antichrist that sits in the Temple of God but advanceth himself against all that is called God or do they not work like Sampson who laid hold on the Pillars whereon the house did stand that overthrowing them the house and the men might fall into a common ruin I am sure God's word says Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm and this Commandment of Obedience is without distinction Jeremy chap. 29. commands the Israelites even those which were Captives under Heathen Kings not to resist but to pray for them and for the Peace of Babylon and it is acceptable to the Lord says St. Paul 1 Tim. 2. not that ye resist but that ye make supplications and prayers for Kings and for all that are in authority the Prophets the Apostles and Christ himself subjected themselves to the Power of Magistracy and therefore when the Disciple did draw his Sword in Christ's defence he was commanded to put it up the examples are not to be numbred of God's punishments upon those that have resisted authority by God ordain'd and establish'd In the Old Law it was death if a Man had resisted the Higher Power Corah with all his was consumed with fire Dathan and Abiram were swallowed up of the earth because they seditiously resisted Moses and Aaron We know what end Absalom came unto when he had expelled his Father out of his Kingdom what seem'd more goodly to the eye of the World than that notable act of Brutus and Cassius who destroyed Caesar reputed a Tyrant and yet that those their doings were not allowed of God the end declared wherefore it is not lawful to resist supreme Rulers the they swerve from the line of justice for it pleases God sometimes to punish his People by a tyrannous hand and in such a case to resist what else is it but tollere martyrium to take away the occasion the Glory and Crown of Martyrdom Anno 1647. Dr. Jasper Mayne publish'd his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 5. or the Peoples war examined c. and in it he affirms that suppose the King invade the Peoples Liberties which could not possibly be preserved but by Arms taken up against the Invader yet the King being this Invader unless by such an Invasion he could cease to be their King and they to be his Subjects I cannot see how such Rights could make their defence lawful and this he proves P. 6 7 c. by shewing the Divine Institution of Kings and what rights God allowed them particularly that of being supreme independently Lord of his own actions whether unjust or just as not to be accountable to any but God after which he proceeds to shew P. 12 c. wherein the supreme Power consists P. 16 17. and that those particular rights do belong to the Kings of England wherefore the Crown is Hereditary where the tenure is not conditional nor hangs upon any contract where the only obligation upon the Prince is the Oath that he takes at his Coronation to rule according to the known Laws of the place tho every breach of such an Oath be an offence against God to whom alone a Prince thus Independent is accountable for his actions yet 't will never pass for more than perjury in the Prince no warrant for Subjects to take up Arms against him were a King misled by evil Counsellors ☞ did actually trample upon the Laws of the Kingdom and the liberty of his Subjects yet unless some Original Compact can be produced where 't is agreed that upon every such incroachment it shall be lawful for them to stand upon their defence that where the King ceases to govern according to Law he shall for such Misgovernment cease to be King to urge such unfortunate Precedents as a deposed Richard or a dethroned Edward two disproportioned examples of popular fury the one forc'd to part with his Crown by resignation the other as never having had legal title to it may shew the injustice of former Parliaments grown strong never justifie the pitch'd Fields that have been fought by this If this supposition were true the King being bound to make the Law his rule by no other obligation Sect p. 20 21 c. but his Oath at his Coronation than which there cannot be a greater I confess and where 't is violated never without repentance scapes unpunish'd yet 't is a trespass of which Subjects can only complain but as long as they are Subjects can never innocently revenge but they will say they have all this while fought for the defence of the Protestant Religion c. all which resolves it self into this unchristian bloody conclusion P. 36. that an Assembly of profess'd Protestant Divines have advised the two Parliaments of England and Scotland confess'd Subjects to take up Arms against the King their lawful Sovereign have thereby set three Kingdoms in a flame Id. def of his Serm. against Cheynel p. 4. c. This Doctrin that it is not lawful to propagate Religion how pure soever it be by the sword is that Religion to which I profess my self ready to fall a Sacrifice is that defamed true Protestant Religion for which the Holy Fathers of our Reformation dyed before me Dr. Peter Heylyn Anno 1643. Print Oxf. p. 2 3 c. publish'd

Griffith Serm. 25. Mar. 1660. called fear God and the King p. 11. v.p. 39. and p. 8 9. If God command one thing and the King should command another then God's command is to be preferred and yet let me tell you that the King is not to be disobeyed for a true Christian is obliged to a twofold obedience Active and Passive Where the King commands things Lawful there yield Active Obedience and know that it is your duty to do them but if he should command such a thing as you may not lawfully do then you must not resist but suffer patiently for your not doing it and that is your Passive Obedience and in both these you may still keep a good Conscience for though God be to be preferred yet God will not have his Anointed to be disobeyed Dr. Jane Dean of Gloucester Ser. at the Consecr of Doctor Crompton Bishop of Oxon p. 30 31 32. Such is the peculiar genius of Christianity that where ever it is either Preacht or Received it can create no jealousie in the State. The ground upon which this Assertion stands is this that it disclaims all title to the Sword but leaves him that takes it to perish with it though it be drawn in defence of Christ himself In the Church then as of old in Israel there was no Smith to provide Swords and Spears though against their persecuting Philistines To obey Authority was taught and practised under a Nero and their Submissions were as unparallel'd as their Provocations And we may truly suppose under the Roman Emperors that had the Doctrine of Obedience been as truly received by their Heathen Subjects as it was Preacht by S. Paul and practised by the believing Romans they had effectually provided for the publick Tranquillity without any further need of Forts and Armies to secure it Dr. Outram The Glory of the King Ser. Jan. 30. 1664. p. 141 149. the Privileges of the Parliament the Liberty of the Subject the Purity of Religion these are written upon the Face of the design The Principle is doing evil that good may come of it and breaking Laws that we may the better observe them These Men went to Rome to whet the Ax and borrowed an Arrow out of the Roman Quiver secretly to shoot the Lord 's Anointed Were the Prince a Nero p. 160. Paul would charge us we should not resist and would charge resistance with damnation Sir Orlando Bridgman at the Tryal of the Regicides says Try. p. 10 12. v. p. 15 52 182 283. I must deliver to you for plain and true Law that no Authority no single Person no Community of Persons not the People Collectively or Representatively have any coercive Power over the King of England And this he proves at large in the same place The Crown of England is and always was an Imperial Crown Now I do not intend any Absolute Government by this It is one thing to have an Absolute Monarchy another thing to have that Government absolutely without Laws as to any coercive Power over the Person of the King. God is my witness what I speak V. p. 13 14. p. 280. V. p. 281 282. I speak from mine own Conscience that is that whatsoever the case was by the Laws of these Nations the Fundamental Laws there could not be any coercive Power over the King. And this he there proves from the obligation of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy c. Mark the Doctrine of the Church of England and I do not know with what spirit of Equivocation any Man can take that Oath of Supremacy Her Articles were the judgment not only of the Church but of the Parliament at the same time And the Queen and the Church were willing that these should be put into Latin that all the World might see the Confession of the Church of England So also Sir Heneage Finch P. 51. then the King's Sollicitor General The King is not accountable to any coercive Power See also the accurate Treatise See also Nalson's Counter p. 35 c. 3●9 Com. Interest of Kings p. 139 c. p. 3. called the Harmony of Divinity and Law which proves that it is a damnable sin to resist Sovereign Princes and answers all the little objections of the Republicans to the contrary I shall here only mention Mr. Foulu's History of the Plots and Conspiracies of the pretended Saints and briefly transcribe a passage or two out of Dr. Sprat Bishop of Rochester his True account of the horrid Conspiracy At that time under the color of the only true Protestant the worst of all Unchristian Principles were put in Practice all the old Republican and Antimonarchical Doctrines whose effects had formerly proved so dismal were again as confidently owned and asserted as ever they had been during the hottest rage of the late unhappy Troubles p. 21. See p. 41. The Lord R was seduced by the wicked Teachers of that most Unchristian Doctrine which has been the cause of so many Rebellions That it is lawful to resist and rise against Sovereign Princes for preserving Religion p. 43 44. Other Principles were that the only obligation the Subject hath to the King is a mutual Covenant that this Covenant was manifestly broken on the King's part ☞ that therefore the People were free from all Oaths and other tyes of Fealty and Allegiance and had the natural Liberty restored to them of asserting their own Rights and as justly at least against a Domestick as against Foreign Invaders p. 131. v. p. 132. The whole design of A. S's Papers was to maintain That Tyrants may be justly Deposed by the People and that the People are the only Judges who are Tyrants That the general Revolt of a Nation from its own Magistrates can never be called a Rebellion which Positions the Historian calls with great Truth and Justice Villanous Opinions p. 133. and such as if allowed it will be impossible for the best Kings or the most happy Kingdoms in the World to be free from perpetual Treasons p. 164. and Rebellious Plottings But his Majesty hath just reason to acknowledge that the main body of the Nobility and Gentry stood by him so has the whole sound and honest part of the Commonalty so the great Fountains of Knowledge and Civility the two Universities so the wisest and most learned in the Laws so the whole Clergy and all the genuine Sons of the Church of England ☞ a Church whose glory it is to have been never tainted with the least blemish of disloyalty Dr. Pocock In ch 8. Hos 4. p. 388 389. Some Interpreters by Setting up Kings but not by me would understand Saul but that cannot with reason be imagined Others looking on the sin of the Israelites to be their defection from the House of David on which God had intayled the Right and Title of the Kingdom and their changing of the Kinghom and Priesthood of their own heads

of other Mens sins that will retain their integrity and rather than do would suffer evil P. 〈…〉 what can there do These are they that are so pityed in the Text down then ☞ down to the place of darkness from whence it came with that Antichristian Principle that it is lawful for the People upon the ill managers and abuse of their Power by Arms and force to depose and punish their Princes this once admitted layeth the Ax to the Root of all Civil Society c. Dr. 〈…〉 p. 37. Nath. Hardy D. R. The Enemies of the King accuse him for being a Traytor to his People which was so far from being true that it was impossible since he never received any trust from them after which addressing himself to the Lord Mayor and his Brethren he adds you have taken care that Rebellion may be destroyed in that which was its Principal Engine the illegal League and Covenant and in its rotten Principles those Doctrins which give Power to the two Houses of Parliament in some cases to take up Arms without and against the Kings command and distinguish between the Personal and Politick capacity of the King as to the point of resistance c. Dr. Serm. before Lord M●yer F●● 11. 16 S● p. 22 24. Goodman Kings are God's Vicegerents and he maintains and upholds them in their Offices under himself a King hath the Stamp and Character of Divine Authority upon him it is the Divine Providence that is the Peoples caution and security against the weaknesses passions and extravagances of Princes so that they shall not need to resort to Arms or any seditious and unlawful means in their own defence we use to appeal to an Higher Court when we are opprest in an inferior Judicatory and this is our proper refuge when our Rights and Properties are invaded to look up to God the Supreme Potentate of the World that he will restrain the exorbitances of his Ministers P. 25 26. God is the King of Kings the safety of Religion Liberty and Property are mighty Concerns but certainly they are not too great a Stake to trust in the hands of God unless the means we use be as certainly and manifestly lawful as the cause we pretend to shall be just and honorable we shall but provoke Providence instead of subverting it P. 34. let the People be quiet not listen to noice and rumors but be sure to Banish all disloyal thoughts of resorting to irregular means for the asserting their pretensions Is not God in the World c. SECT XIII Dr. Burnet in his modest and free conference † Printed Ann. 1669. p. 6 7. Shew me one place in either Testament that warrants Subjects fighting for Religion you know I can bring many against it yea tho the old dispensation was a more carnal and fiery one than the new one is yet when the Kings of Israel and Judah made Apostasie from the Living God into Heathenish Idolatry some of the Kings of Judah polluting the Temple of Jerusalem as did Ahaz and Manasseh so that God could not be Worship'd there without Idolatry yet where do we find the People resisting them or falling to popular Reformations neither do the Prophets that were sent by God ever provoke them to any such courses and you know the whole strain of the New Testament runs upon suffering it seems you are yet a Stranger to the very design of Religion which is to tame and mortifie nature and is not a natural thing but supernatural therefore the Rules of defending and advancing it must not be borrowed from nature but grace are not Christ's injunctions our Rule Since then he forbad his Disciples to draw a Sword for him with so severe a threatning that whosoever will draw the Sword shall perish by the Sword this must bind us and what he says to Pilate on this head my Kingdom is not of this World c. is so plain language P. 24. that I wonder it doth not convince all Pope Gregory VII Armed the Subjects of Germany against Henry IV. the Emperor upon the account of Religion because the Emperor laid claim to the Investiture of Bishops they being then Secular Princes and this prospering so well in the hands of Hildebrand other Popes made no bones upon any displeasure they conceived either against King or Emperor to take his Kingdom from him and free his Subjects from their Obedience to him the Authors who plead for this are only Courtiers Canonists and Jesuits now are you not ashamed in a matter of such Importance to symbolize with the worst gang of the Roman Church for the soberer of them condemn it yet fill Heaven and Earth with your clamors Burn. Vind. of the Authority c. of the Ch. of Scotland ad Lector if in some innocenter things the Church of England seem to symbolize with them one great rule by which the peace and order of all humane Societies is maintain'd and advanc'd is Obedience to the Laws and submission to the Authority of those whom God hath set over us to govern and defend us to whose commands if absolute Obedience be not paid ever till they contradict the Laws of God there can be neither peace nor order among Men now it cannot be denyed to be one of the sins of the Age we live in that small regard is had to that Authority God hath committed to his Vicegerents on Earth the Evidence whereof is palpable since the bending or slackning of the Execution of Laws is made the measure of most Mens Obedience and not the Conscience of that duty we owe the commands of our Rulers for what is more servile and unbecoming a Man not to say a Christian than to yield obedience when overawed by force and to leap from it when allured by gentler methods hence it appears how few there are who judge themselves bound to pay that reverence to the Persons and that Obedience to the commands of those God hath vested with his Authority which the Laws of Nature and Religion do exact and the root of all this disobedience and contempt can be no other but unruly and ungovern'd Pride which disdains to submit to others and exalts it self above those who are called Gods ☜ the humble are tractable and obedient but the self-will'd are stubborn and rebellious yet the heigth of many Mens pride rests not in a bare disobedience but designs the subverting of Thrones and the shaking of Kingdoms unless governed by their own measures Among all the Heresies which this Age hath spawned there is not one more contrary to the whole design of Relligion and more destructive of Mankind than is that Bloody Opinion of defending Religion by Arms and of forcible resistance upon the colour of preserving Religion ☞ the Wisdom of that policy is earthly sensual devilish savouring of a carnal unmortified and impatient mind that cannot bear the Cross nor trust to the Providence of God and

yet with how much Zeal is this Doctrin maintain'd and propagated as if on it hung both the Law and the Prophets neither is the zeal used for its defence only meant for the Vindicating of what is past but on purpose advanc'd for reacting the same Tragedies indeed the consideration of these evils should call on all to reflect on the evident signatures of the Divine displeasure under which we lye from which it appears that God hath no pleasure in us nor will be glorified among us that so we may discern the signs of the times we must consider wherein ye have provok'd God to chastise us in this fashion by letting loose among us a Spirit of uncharitableness giddiness cruelty and sedition The Question is in general 1st Confer P. ●●0 if Subjects under a Lawful Sovereign when appress'd in their 〈◊〉 Religion may by A●●s defend themselves and resist the Magistrates To which 〈…〉 he Nonconformist answers consider if there can be any thing more evident from the Law of Nature than that Men ought to defend themselves when unjustly assaul●ed he is a self Murderer who does not defend himself from unjust force besides what is the end of all Societies but mutual protection did not the People at first cl●●se Princes for their protection c it was then the end of Societies that Justice and Peace might be maintain'd so when this is inverted the Subjects are again to r●●me their own conditional su●●●der and excoerce the Magistrate who forgetful of the ends of his Authority doth so corrupt it to this Basilius the O●thodox A●●ertor of the King's Authority gives the Answer which you find in the 〈◊〉 part of this History p. 73. distinguishing between the Laws of Nature and the per●●ions of nature It is like the sacredness of the Megistrate's Power P. 12. was a part of the Traditional Religion conveyed from Noah to his Posterity as was the practice of expiatory Sacrifices P. 17 18. certainly the defence of Religion by Arms is never to be admitted for the nature of Christian Religion is such that it excludes all carnal weapons from its defence and when I consider how expresly Christ forbids his Disciples to resist evil Mat. 25.39 how severely that resistance is condemn'd by St. Paul and that condemnation is declared the punishment of it ☞ I am forc'd to cry out Oh! what times are we fallen in in which Men dare against the Laws of the Gospel defend that practice upon which God hath passed his condemnation if whosoever break the least of these commandments and teach Men so to do shall be called the least in the Kingdom of God what shall their portion be who teach Men to break one of the greatest of these commandments such as are the Laws of Peace and Subjection and what may we not look for from such Teachers who dare tax that Glorious Doctrin of patient suffering as brutish and irrational and tho it be expresly said 1 Pet. 2.21 that Christ by suffering for us left us his example how to follow his steps which was followed by a Glorious Cloud of Witnesses yet in these last days what a brood hath sprung up of Men who are lovers of their own selves P. 35. traytors heady high-minded c. I must confess my self amazed when I find St. Peter saying expresly 1 Pet. 2.21 that Christ suffer'd leaving us an example that we might follow his steps and applying this to the very case of suffering wrongfully and that notwithstanding that you would study to pervert the Scripture so grosly I confess P. 58. there is no piece of story I read with such pleasure as the accounts are given of the Martyrs for methinks they leave a fervor on my mind which I meet with in no study that of the Scriptures being only excepted say not then they were not able to have stood to their own defence when it appears how great their numbers were It was then no Legend P. 61. or shall I here tell you the known story of the Thebaean Legion which consisted of 6666 who being by Maximinus Herculeus an 287 c. Consider how Maximinus came in the ●●g end of that great Persecution begun by Dioclesian and Herculeus continued by Galesius and consummated by Maximinus himself in which for all the numbers of the Martyrs and the cruelty of the Persecution there was not so much as a tumult which makes it evident ☜ that Christians of that time understood not the Doctrin of resistance the whole course of our Saviour's Life Id. Serm on Rom. 13.5 p. 25 26. was a perpetual tract of doing good and bearing ill and when he was accused to Pilate of being an Enemy to Caesar and pretending to set up another Kingdom he did in the plainest style was possible condemn all practisings against Government upon pretence of Religion by saying my Kingdom is not of this World if my Kingdom were of this World then would my Servants fight c. the Blessed Apostles followed their Master's steps in this P. 27. as in all other things and therefore having learn'd of our Saviour that Lesson of bearing the Cross and suffering patiently St. Peter doth at full length once and again call on all Christians to prepare for sufferings and to bear them patiently c. P. 29. profane as well as Ecclesiastical Writers assure us ☜ the numbers of the Christians became very soon so vast that nothing but the Conscience of the duty they owed the Supreme Powers obliged them to be Subject ‖ Id. myst ●y of Iniq. 8vo p. 73 75. The Bishops of Rome not content with their Usurpations over their Brethren and Fellow Churchmen their next attempt was upon Princes they pretended to a Power of deposing Princes disposing of their Dominions to others and dispensing with the Oaths of Fidelity their Subjects had sworn to them but I cannot leave this particular without my sad regrets ☜ that too deep a tincture of this Spirit of Anti Christianisme is among many who pretend much aversion to it since the Doctrin of resisting Magistrates upon colours of Religion is so stifly maintain'd and adhered to by many who pretend to be highly Reformed tho this be one of the Characters of the Scarlet-coloured Whore. ☜ Their contempt of the fifth commandment follows upon the Doctrin of the Pope's Power of deposing Princes and freeing their Subjects from their obligation to them by which they are taught to rebel and resist the Ordinance of God. we hold P. 152. that the Civil Powers are of Christ whose Gospel binds the duty of Obedience to them more closely on us and therefore if they do wrong we leave them to Christ's Tribunal who set them up but pretend to no power from his Gospel to coerce or resist them while we have a Zeal against Popery as a bloody rebellious and cruel Religion Serm. at the Rolls Nov. 5. p. 25 27 c. we

Strength hath made it possible and so at length the Robbers Sword and Pistol will come to be the only Standard of Justice all other Power must be cancell'd and we must come at last to make the Power of doing wrong to be the only measure of Equity and Right All these things are at least true pag. 28. when there is any Person in being to whom the Title or Succession of the Supremacy does belong which blessed be God is our Case at present And therefore that great Argument which was brought to vindicate the Usurpation of the successful Rebels in the late Wars namely that the People were not bound to adhere to their Prince when the Prince was disabled to defend the People supposes no other Obligation upon Subjects than mere Interest and so evacuates and makes null all Obligations of Conscience We shall therefore before we part from this Inference fix it as a certain Rule by which every conscientious Subject may and ought to guide his Practice That so long as there is any Person of the Royal Race ☜ to whom by the Course of Succession according to the Tenor of the Law of the Land the Crown does belong so long we have a lawful Supremacy and so long we shall be bound in Conscience to be in Subjection 3. Are we bound to be subject to the Higher Powers for Conscience sake and does the Obligation of Conscience come only from God Then I do infer that to bind the People to be in Subjection to their Prince there is no necessity of any Bargain or Contract between them and the reason is because that Obligation that binds the Subject to Obedience in this Case is founded immediately and directly upon the Law of God. Lastly Are we obliged to be subject to the Higher Powers out of Conscience pag. 31. and is this Obligation ●id upon our Conscience by God Then I do infer That no worldly Inconventence that we can possibly suffer by such our Subjection can be a sufficient warrant for our Resistance And the Reason is plain and easie because our secular Interest be it what it will can never be a sufficient Counterpoise to our Duty and he that will break God's Commands because it is for his secular Advantage can at best but make that foolish Bargain in the Gospel that is to gain the whole world and in exchange for his Purch●se to lose his own Soul. Mr. Wake is also of the same mind Answ to the B. of Ox●●'s Reasons l. 34 c. for when the Bishop of Oxon charges the Church of England as if she set up the Charge of Idolatry as a Standard against Monarchy he replies That it is a Calumny upon the whole Body of the Reformed and that he might dare venture to say that there is not the least reason to be apprehensive of Violence he knows very well how free the Christians of the Three first Centuries were in laying the very same Charge against the Gentile World and yet we do not find that ever they shewed themselves the less obedient to their Emperors upon the account of it And tho I am verily perswaded that the Romanists are guilty of Idolatry yet I thank God I am not conscious to my self of one Disloyal Thought to my King. And what I can thus truly profess in my own behalf I doubt not but I may do for all others the true and genuine Members of the Church ☞ and who by being such must I am sure by Principle be obedient Subjects As for this Author he has made a broad Sign that he intends to leave us by insinuating that the Charge of Idolatry ought to be followed by Blowes We who do protest against certain Practices as idolatrous do also protest against violating Loyalty upon the account of Religion Did we indeed profess that of Idolatry which some others do of Heresie that it is a sufficient ground for the Excommunicating of a King and the absolving his Subjects of their Allegiance had we ever been caught not in Oatesian Conspiracies but in real Plots against our Sovereign upon this account there might then have been just cause for such an insinuation But whilst our Principles are so loyal that we have even been laught at for our asserting them it was a very unreasonable apprehension to think that the Charge of Idolatry should in the bottom have been the design against the Monarchy which we have so often declared and in the Person of our present King have shewn we think our selves obliged to support whatever his Religion be who is to sit upon the Throne The truth is when I consider how heinous a Suggestion this is and what little Foundation there is either from our Principles or our Practices to support it I am under some temptation to reply to this Author Nemo hoc potest credere nisi qui possit audere and this I hope may serve for my excuse if I have at this time appear'd in defence of a Charge in which every true Member of the Church of England is so highly concern'd Let the same Mind be in us pag. 15 16. which was also in those Primitive Christians before mention'd Let us still be careful to maintain the Character of the best Subjects as we have long asserted the most Loyal Principles that as the Prosperity of our King makes up a considerable part of our daily Prayers so by a sincere discharge of all humble Obedience towards him he may effectually see that excepting only our Duty towards God we are much more forward and ready to do his Majesty effectual Service than any Man can be whose Loyalty is not supported by Religion We set before our People the Examples of the Primitive Christians with what an humble Obedience they submitted themselves to their idolatrous Emperors and underwent the most cruel Persecutions for their Religion sake even when they had Power sufficient to have asserted their Faith and to have destroyed both the Idolaters and their Idols together and by these Maxims we exhort them to walk God be thanked Id. 2d Def. against the Bish of Condem est Part. p. 75 76. the Pulpits Zeal hath ever been employed to keep up in the Subjects that Duty which by God's Command they owe to their Prince and nothing is at this day next to our Zeal for our Religion more our desire and endeavour than to make Men Loyal to their Sovereign Our Pulpits still speak the same Principles of Subjection ☞ they ever did We are neither asham'd of the Doctrin of Passive Obedience nor afraid of its Practice tho some of your accquaintance have endavoured to laugh both that and us out of countenance Our steadiness to our Religion shall never make us fail in our Duty to our King. In one word We will both by our Preaching and Actions make it our business to fulfil that great Evangelical Precept of rendering unto Cesar the things that are Cesar 's and unto

Gun-powder nay the Religion of Mahomet is in this respect to be very much preferr'd before the Christian c. And having mention'd Hobbs how am I asham'd to find that his Authority and the Reasons which he derived from Milton and both from Doleman i. e. Parsons the Jesuite are of a sudden so generally received as if the Doctrine were Apostolical and ought to be preached in all the World That Power is originally in the Body of the People that the Foundation of all Government is laid in compact and that the breach of Conditions by one Party dispenses with the Duty of the other tho confirmed by Sacraments Oaths B. Saunderson's Case of a rash Vow §. 9. The several Duties that by Gods Ordinance are to be performed by Persons that stand in mutual relation either to other are not pactional or conditional as are the Leagues and Agreements made between Princes but are absolute and independent wherein each Person is to look to himself and to the performance of the Duty that lies upon him tho the other Party should fail in the performance of his Cons Praelect 5. de Juram and reiterated Promises that a Prince may be opposed in his Politick tho not in his personal Capacity that when Religion is a part of our Property it may be defended and that the Determinations of Providence are to be followed or that the Prosperity of a Cause is a Mark of its goodness And what encouragement hath the owning and complying with such Principles given to many weak and ignorant Persons who cannot distinguish between the steady Doctrines of a Church and the Opinions and Practices of some of her Members to embrace the Roman Faith and Communion I need not declare the Matter of Fact is visible while we are accused that all our former Declarations have been only pretence and juggle and that we have been Loyal no longer than we could get by it I speak this God knows not to upbraid but to deplore and if I could to confute the Calumny and with the deepest sense of the Interests of a poor despised Church which is still and will be the best the most Orthodox and most Primitive of all Christendom Nor is this Account strange and new any otherwise than as it concerns the Church of England as distinct from other Protestants since a Exomologes cap. 12. I confess I wondered that they could hope to make any Christians believe that their Reformation came from the Spirit of Christ when instead of those spiritual Arms of Charity Humility Patience and most indispensible Obedience even to Nero himself by which Christ enabled his Apostles to conquer the World to the belief of the Gospel Calvin and Luther put into the hands of their Sectaries Malice Pride Hatred to suffer for Conscience sake active Resistance against all Authority in a word the very same Weapons which the Devil suggested to Mahomet After the best enquiry I could make I could not find or hear of during our bloody Civil War so much as one single Person of the Presbyterian Calvinist Party but did actively oppose his King nor one single Minister of that Party but was a Trumpet to incite to war. Cons Loc. Cressy makes it one of the most cogent Reasons why he when he vainly thought the Church of England quite destroyed so as never to be restored could not communicate with other Protestant Churches because they tho in that Accusation he falsifies and calumniates as I shall make it appear in the following Discourse taught men That it was lawful to take Arms in defence of Religion and that when Princes persecuted the Truth their Subjects were no longer bound to obey them Nor is Cressy the only Person of the Popish Communion who hath laid this Imputation at the door of the Protestants tho without Reason or Justice while the Romish Church in one of her General Councils determins the Deposition of Princes who are not in all things obedient to her Injunctions And I hope no man can imagin that I intend to promote any disturbance by this Writing 1. Because I only do the office of an Historian not wilfully misquoting any Passage nor citing it contrary to the Authors intention and meaning as far as I understand it and this also must excuse me from being obliged to make good every Argument from Authority or Reason which my Authors use for that Province those of my Authors which are alive are obliged to manage or to acknowledg their Mistakes I intending only to shew the concurrent Testimony of our greatest Men in this momentous Point 2. Because I am told a Dr. Burnet's Royal Martyr page 6. that the Incendiary and Incendiarism were among the much abused words of the late times yet those were the great Incendiaries who kindled God's wrath and that it is from such that we may justly fear the like or rather severer Judgments if our Sins be greater than they were then i. e. When under the specious Pretexts of Liberty and Religion they first opposed and then murdered the Lord 's Anointed 3. Because he who preaches up the Necessity of Suffering and the Unlawfulness of Resisting Superiors and who avers that the Gospel teaches the followers of our Blessed Saviour to dye but not to fight for Religion is little likely to be a Disturber of Government whose Original he acknowledges to be only from Heaven and accountable only to that Tribunal For at last it will be found true that no Government can be safe while those who live under it do not own this Principle That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against our Lawful Sovereign since he who is Obedient and Loyal only because his Compliance advances his Designs either of Profit Pleasure Honor Revenge or any other Lust as soon as his Point is gained his Duty ceases but he who is obedient to his Sovereign Dr. Tennison Hobbs's Creed p. 159. Except a Man obey for Conscience sake all the Cords of outward Pacts and Covenants will not hold him when he dreams that the Philistines are upon him and that he can deliver himself by force from the power of his Enemies in which number the Prince himself is reckoned by ambitious Subjects out of favor Mr. Pelling's Sermon Jan. 30. 1683. p. 43. Some are for the King as long as he is rich powerful able to maintain their Interest this is the Loyalty of the Leviathan c. because he is God's Vicegerent and because God hath obliged him to be subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake can never be shook from his good resolutions and will be unalterably true to his Oaths and his Duty And when so many Men eminent for their Piety Learning and Station have unanimously agreed in delivering their Sentiments in this Point to say that whatever they said or did was to gratifie or advance their ambitious or covetous Appetites as if their Honesty like Quicksilver in a Weather-glass rose

was call'd in which both the Universities most amicably agreed resolving only to give an account of the Proceedings at Oxford in the Years 1●22 1647 and 1683 the Decree of 1622 was made the 25th of June in full Convocation on this occasion † Antiqu. Oxon. l. 1. p. 326 327 c. Mr. Knight of Broadgate Hall now Pembroke College preaching at S. Peter's in the East on Palm-Sunday upon 1 Kings 19.9 What dost thou here Elijah started this Question Whether it were lawful for Subjects in the defence of themselves when persecuted for Religion to take Arms against their Prince which he held in the Affirmative for which Doctrine when he was convened by the Vice-Chancellor he pleaded the Authority of Paraeus in his Commentary on the xiii to the Romans and the Example of King James who assisted the Rochellers against their King and was for that reason sent to Prison the Vice-Chancellor making the Bishop of St. David's Laud who in May of the same Year had his Conference with Fisher the Jesuit acquainted with it from whom the King was inform'd who ordered Knight and his Sermon to be sent up the Author being committed a Prisoner to the Gate-house in Westminster where he lay two Years and at last by the intercession of one of his Fellow Prisoners with Bishop Williams was releas'd and having ask'd the King's Pardon went into Holland where in a short time he died When Knight was complain'd of the King sent to the Vice-Chancellor to injoin the Students of Divinity to lay the Foundation of their Studies next to the holy Scriptures in the Fathers and Councils and to abstain from the Writings of either Jesuits or Puritans and accordingly the Heads of Colleges the Professors c. met in Convocation the Bishops that were then about the Court having condemn'd the Doctrine and the Books that contain'd it as seditious and contrary to the holy Scriptures the Decrees of Councils and Dictates of the Fathers and to the Doctrine and Constitutions of the Church of England and censur'd among others this Proposition * Proposit 2. v. Antiqu. Oxon. p. 327. That Subjects not private Persons but inferior Magistrates may take Arms to defend themselves the Commonwealth the Church and true Religion against their Sovereign or the superior Magistrate upon these Conditions If 1. The Prince turn Tyrant 2. If he compel his Subjects to commit Idolatry or to blaspheme 3. When any great injury is done 4. If they cannot otherwise be safe in their Fortunes their Lives and Consciences upon condition also 5. That under the pretext of Religion or Justice they do not seek their own advantage and 6. That their Arms be managed with much moderation Moderamine inculpatae tutelae These are the Terms of the Proposition and the Censure of the University runs thus This Proposition is false and seditious and so craftily restrain'd under such Conditions annex'd as every seditious Person may make use of to vindicate himself And the third Proposition which is of the same kind is alike condemn'd so that it is no wonder that Gillespy in the Preface to his Sermon calls this Doctrine the new Oxford Divinity and I wish no worse had been ever broach'd or owned there Nor did the University rest here but withal decreed and declared That according to the Canon of the holy Scriptures Subjects ought by no means forcibly to resist their Prince and that it is not lawful to take Arms either offensive or defensive against the King upon the account of Religion or any other Pretence requiring all the Members of the Convocation to subscribe the Censures and enjoyning all that should be admitted to any Degrees to take an Oath to consent to the determinations of that Convocation while the Commentary of Paraeus was burn'd in the Church-yard of St. Mary's at Oxford at Paul's Cross in London as it was likewise burn'd at Cambridge that University joyning with her Sister of Oxford in the Condemnation of those seditious Doctrines For as a * Doublet Ep. ad Gerh. Voss learned Foreigner who at that time was upon the spot informs that Knight citing for his Opinion the Authority not only of Paraeus but also of Bucanus and Junius Brutus affirming further that it was the Opinion of all the Reformed Divines and illustrating it by this instance that If the King of France should while his Army laid Siege to any Town of the Protestants his Subjects happen to fall by the hand of any of the besieged he was justly slain nor was he that killed him guilty of any crime both the Universities condemn'd the Doctrine and though at Oxford only Paraeus's Book was burn'd yet at Cambridge they also burn'd Bucanus's Common places and Junius Brutus or Hubert Languet's Vindiciae and damn'd the Authors to perpetual Infamy my Author adding that the Cambridge Doctors were the more fierce of the two whether because they hated the Puritans or were the Majority of them at least Remonstrants the Censure of that University Doublet saw when he was at the Commencement it being put into his Hands by him who drew it up upon his promise not to transcribe it What hinder'd it's publication I know not while the same year Dr. David Owen publish'd his Anti-Paraeus seu Determinat de Jure Regio adv David Paraeum at Cambridge anno sc 1622. Octavo in which the Doctrine of Resistance is throughly confuted This Censure and the Execution done upon his Book much troubled the old Paraeus And his Son * Append. in Comment ad Rom 13.5 vit Paraei says that his Father meant what he wrote not of Kings endowed with an absolute power but of such as were admitted to their Crowns upon condition while the illustrious Hugo Grotius thought so well of it that he hath inserted it at large in his Works † Vot pro pace ad Art. 16. p. 661. with a high commendation affirming That the Reverend Memory of King James the first the wisest King of Great Britain and the honor which he owed to the University of Oxford which at that time foresaw the Calamities which England afterward suffered and a just fear lest the pernicious Doctrine might do more mischief ingaged him to reprint the Censure To which Determination Dr. Prideaux Dr. Abbot and the other eminent Men of that time gave their suffrage Anno 1647 June 1. The same famous Academy met in Convocation and declared their Judgment concerning the Solemn League and Covenant and a few of their Reasons why they could not take that Covenant I shall transcribe * Ad calc vit Sanderson p. 174. as they were drawn up by Bishop Sanderson 1. We cannot take the Oath without acknowledging in the Imposers a greater power than for ought appeareth to us hath been in former times challenged † P. 181. 3. We cannot take the Oath without manifest danger of Perjury ‖ P. 182. the Oath being contrary to the Oath of Supremacy by us taken

And if it be objected that Wyat's Rebellion happened the same year and that he took Arms upon the Account of Religion I answer 1. Were it so this was the fault of but a few discontented Protestants not the fault of their Religion and Principles but of their Passions 2. Nor did those Discontents take Arms for Religion as the Historian says expresly * Burn. ubi supra p. 269. For when Wyat made his Proclamation at Maidstone he professed that he intended nothing but to preserve the Liberty of the Nation and keep it from coming under the Yoke of Strangers which he said all the Council except one or two were against and assured the People that all the Nobility and chief Men of England would concur with him Now the Generality of the Nation was then Papist the Nobility and Gentry especially and so could not be presumed to take Arms for the Protestant Religion He said nothing of Religion but in private assured those that were for the Reformation that he would declare for them And his Demands † P. 270. have no relation to Religion but to the Command of the Tower and that the Queen should be under his Guard c. The same ‖ Ibid. Historian affirming that the Rebellion was not at all raised upon the pretence of Religion which according to the Printed Account set out by the Queen's Order was not so much as once named and that Poynet Bishop of Winchester was not in it P. 171. c. and that Christopherson's Book on this Subject was but a Flourish of his Wit and no decisive proof And I cannot learn but that Wyat as well as Dudley died a Papist 'T is true some of his Adherents pretended Religion as there are and will be wicked Men of all Persuasions but they did but pretend Religion as Mr. Bradford one of the Writers of the aforementioned Letter said of them in his Exhortation to the Professors of the Gospel in England but ☜ as he adds they were Hypocrites and under the Cloak of the Gospel would have debarred the Queen's Highness of her Right but God would not so cloak them This therefore was the Sentiment of our Confessors at home during the Reign of Queen Mary and I doubt not but it was the Sense of their Brethren the Confessors abroad as I shall make it appear from the Writings of the Bishops Jewel and Sandys whatever the Author of the History of the Troubles at Francfort says to the contrary who was well known to be a party and for that reason not fit to give such evidence * P. 195. as he does that the greatest Traitors and Rebels King Edward had in the West Parts were Priests and such as had subscribed to the Book or whatsoever by Law was then in force But in all the Stirs which have happened either since the Queen's Majesty came to the Crown or before I have not heard of so much as one Minister or other that hath lifted up his hand against her Majesty or State whom it pleaseth the malicious Man to term Precisian and Puritan Traitor and Rebel While this Author hath forgot what before he recorded * Pag. 44 45. That Knox their Patriarch was banished from Francfort for High Treason against the Emperor of Germany And not long after the History was written Hacket and his Companions would have convinced him that the Men of his Party can be Rebels SECT IV. Under Queen Elisabeth the Truth broke from behind the Cloud and shone triumphantly and as Truth is always the same so it appeared in this particular Doctrine Archbishop Sandys was one of the Confessors of that Age and from him we learn † Serm. 3. p. 51. That if we despise Government and speak evil of them that be in Authority if we mutter and murmur against the Principality of Moses and Aaron if we loath the present State and seek after Alterations then shall the Blessings of God turn into Cursings ‖ Id. Ser. 4. p. 67. As we should pray for all Men so chiefly for Kings and undoubtedly it is unlawful to rebel against those whom we are bound to pray for In Paul 's time the Kings and Rulers of the People were Ethnicks Tyrants Enemies to Christ and cruel Persecutors of the Gospel whereupon some thought it not convenient for the Church to pray for them who sought to destroy it S. Paul abateth this Opinion teaching them that they should chiefly pray for such as for Men in greatest danger and most needing the help of their Prayers pray for him that prayeth not for himself We must pray for ill Princes because the King's Heart is in God's Hand that he may turn their minds and stay their Persecutions c. to pour out Supplications Pag. 68. that God would grant them a long life a safe Government a sure dwelling Tertull. valiant Soldiers faithful Counsellors a good People and a quiet world and whatsoever the Hearts of Men or Kings do desire and I am sure such a Prayer is not reconcileable with resistance and let all such as will not say Amen to this Prayer assure themselves that they are neither dutiful Christians nor faithful Subjects Thus also speaks Bishop Jewel * Def. of the Apol p. 15. We teach the People as S. Paul doth to be subject to the highest Powers not only for fear but also for conscience we teach them that whosoever striketh with the Sword by private Authority shall perish with the Sword if the Prince happen to be wicked or cruel or burthensome we teach them to say with S. Ambrose Tears and Prayers be our Weapons ☜ Anno 1586. Bishop Bilson Printed his Book of the true difference between Christian Subjection and unchristian Rebellion And therein says * P. 260. Deliverance if you would have obtain it by prayer and expect it in peace P. 262. these be Weapons for Christians the Subject hath no refuge against his Sovereign but only to God by prayer and patience Christ fore-teaching his Disciples P. 256. that they should be brought before Kings and Rulers and put to death and hated of all Men for his Names sake addeth not as you would have it he that first rebels but he that endureth to the end shall be saved P. 278. Your Spanish Inquisitions and French Massacres are able to set grave and good Men at their wits end and to make them justly doubt since you refuse the course of all divine and human Laws with them whether by the Law of Nature they may not defend themselves from such barbarous Blood-suckers if the Laws of the Land where they do converse do permit them c. This last Quotation I have transcribed that I might answer the Authority which some Men use to prove that it is lawful in some Cases for Subjects to resist For were this true yet 1. This is but one Doctor 's Opinion contrary to the Doctrine of the Church and

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding And to that Oracle of the Son of God himself Matth. 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himself c. then must he raise up his thoughts to the heigth of that beatitude which our Saviour's own mouth hath given assurance of to all such as will be ruled by him herein Matth. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake c. and to look on the recompence of Reward and to encourage himself with the precedent of the Apostles and Prophets the innumerable company of Martyrs and Confessors and above all to look unto Christ himself Obj. P. 150 But suppose the King should command us to worship the Devil would you not give us leave to stand upon our Guard and if not what will become of God's Church and his Religion R. As if this had been a new Case never heard of before when the Devil-Worship i. e. that of Idols called Devils 1 Cor. x. 20. was so vehemently urged by the cruel Edicts of the persecuting Emperors did the Christians ever take Arms against them for the matter or betake themselves to any other Refuge but fervent Prayers unto Almighty God and patient suffering of what disgrace or punishment soever should be put upon them Pag. 152. c. But if Mens Hands be tied no Man's Estate will be secure c. I answer God's Word is clear Whosoever resisteth resisteth the Ordinance of God and thereby a necessity is imposed upon us of being subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake which may not be avoided by the pretext of any ensuing mischiefs whatsoever it becomes us in obedience to perform our part and leave the ordering of Events to God Pag. 177. whose part that is And so much both of active Obedience which in all things that may be done we are bound to perform unto our Sovereigns and of the passive which in other Cases with all Christian Fortitude we are tied to undergo ☞ without the least carnal thought either of resisting their Authority or conspiring against their Persons State and Dignity And then he closes his Discourse with an account of the Obligation of Oaths c. and the methods of the ancient Church when persecuted viz. ' Patient Sufferings and Prayers to God. Nor need I mention Dr. Heylin whose Opinions are well known and are remarkably to be seen in his Stumbling-Block of Disobedience discovered censured and removed c. Of which the Arguments are cogent and the Authorities good tho I do not like the sharpness of his Language nor the severity of his Reflections SECT XIII Archbishop * Oper. to 1. disc 2. The Serpentine-Salve p. 525 526. Bramhal who succeeded Usher both in his See and his Loyalty says there were Nonconformists in the Days of Queen Elisabeth and King James who severely protested in Print That no Christians gave more to the Royal Supremacy than they without limitation or qualification that for the King not to assume such a power or for the People to deny it is a damnable sin nay altho the States of the Kingdom should deny it him and if the King command any thing contrary to the Word of God yet we ought not to resist but peaceably to forbear Obedience and sue for Grace and when that cannot be obtained meekly to submit our selves to punishment abjuring all Doctrines repugnant to this as Anabaptistical and Antichristian they condemn all Practices contrary to this as seditious and sinful And then proceeds to give his own Opinion That Dominion is not from the Grant or Consent of the People but from God. Pag. 527 528. That absolute Power may be limited by Statutes c. without communicating Sovereign Power to subordinate or inferior Subjects or subjecting Majesty to Censure which Limitations do not proceed from mutual Pactions but from Acts of Grace and Bounty Pag. 531. If the People be greater than the King it is no more a Monarchy but a Democracy Our Oath binds us to acknowledge the King to be supreme in all Causes and over all persons to defend him against all Conspiracies and if to defend him much more not to offend him That Oath which binds us to defend him against all Attempts whatsoever presupposeth that no Attempt against him can be justified by Law against such evident Light of Truth to ground a contrary Assertion derogatory to his Majesty Pag. 532. upon the private Authority of Bracton and Fleta no authentick Authors were a strange degree of weakness or wilfulness that Subjects who have not the Power of the Sword committed to them may use force to recover their former liberty or raise Arms to change the Laws established Pag. 537. is without all contradiction both false and rebellious Surely Pag. 538. if any Liberty might warrant such force it is the Liberty of Religion but Christ never planted his Religion in Blood he cooled his Disciples Heat with a sharp Redargution Ye know not what spirit ye are of It is better to die innocent than to live nocent as the Thebean Legion all Christians of approved Valor answered the Emperor Maximian Pag. 542. If a Sovereign shall persecute his Subjects for not doing his unjust Commands yet it is not lawful to resist by raising Arms against him they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation But they ask Is there no Limits I answer where the Law doth not distinguish neither ought we to distinguish how shall we limit what God hath not limited Obj. But is there no Remedy for a Christian in this Case Yes three Remedies 1. To cease from sin remove our sin and God will take away his Rod. ☜ 2. Prayers and Tears S. Naz. lived under five Persecutions and never knew other Remedy The third Remedy is flight this is the uttermost which our Master hath allowed nor is this way so hard for Subjects this way hath ever proved successful to the Christian Religion SECT XIV With Archbishop Usher I will also join Bishop Brownrig a Man much of his primitive temper and approved Moderation even by the Enemies of our Church notwithstanding his Episcopal Character * Serm. to 1. Serm. 2. p. 26 28. The Writ by which Princes are made issues from Heaven Kings reign by God's Election not by his Permission only that is too weak and sandy a Foundation permission falls short of approbation c. † Serm. 3. p. 33. Darius was an Enemy to the Church one that kept the Church of God in Bondage and Captivity used them not as Subjects but as Slaves enthrall'd them to his Tyranny yet still acknowledged and honored by the Prophet as their rightful Sovereign the primitive Saints submitted to Julian that hateful Apostate S. Peter requires Subjection not only to the good and gentle but to the froward Governors Darius made a wicked Law forbidding Religion and

but that one cursed Position alone wherein notwithstanding their disagreements otherwise they both consent That lawful Sovereigns may be by their Subjects resisted and Arms taken up against them for the Cause of Religion it were enough to make good the Charge against them both which is such a notorious piece of ungodliness as no Man that either feareth God or the King as he ought to do can speak of or think of without detestation pag. 134. Ad Aulam It were good if we did remember that they are to give up that account to God onely and not to us pag. 177. SECT XX. Doctor Bernard * Ser. on Rom. 13.2 in the Clavi Trabalea p. 21. affirms that some Expositors conceived one cause of the Apostle's Exhortation to be the Rumour then falsly rais'd upon them as if they had been seditious c. And that the Kingdom of Christ tended to the absolving of Subjects from their obedience to any other And then shews † p. 28 29. That it is a Popish Assertion that a people can never so far transfer their right over to a King but they retain the habit of it still within themselves averring * p. 30. That whoever have or shall resist do tread under their feet the holy Scriptures † p. 35. That as Kings receive their Power from God so are we to leave them only to God if they shall abuse it not but that they may and ought to be prudently and humbly reminded of their duties but yet without lifting up our Hands against them in the least resistance of them God wanteth not means whereby he can when he pleases remove or amend them ‖ Pag. 40. The Arms of the Primitive Christians were nothing but Prayers to God Petitions to the Emperor or Flight when persecuted c. To this purpose does Mr. Symmons in his Vindication of King Charles aver That * Sect. 8. p. 84. Rebels as for God they believe him as little as they do the King for they dare not trust him for protection they have more confidence in the Militia a great deal and stand more upon it beside if they did believe God they would also fear him Faith and Fear go together they would regard his Word more and not be so opposite in all their ways or endeavour to make it of none effect by their sinful Ordinances and Traditions besides Faith in God discovers it self by their doing the Works of God and they are not Hatred Strife Sedition Rebellion Murther Lying Slandering and speaking evil of Dignities Sect. 14. p. 146. c. Tell us O ye pretenders to Piety where is that Subjection to the King for conscience sake which S. Paul calls for and that Obedience for the Lords sake which S. Peter requires Pag. 257. c. Consider and call to mind whether those Teachers ☞ who have been most active and busie in drawing you into this way have not hereby contradicted their own former Doctrines As it was said of Stephen Gardiner that no Man in the Days of Henry the Eighth had spoken better for the King's Authority than he had done in his Book De verâ obedientid and yet no Man more violent in Queen Mary's Time in persecuting those that held fast to the same Truth and Doctrine may not the like be affirm'd of many of your Preachers that no Men taught the Duty of Obedience better or inveighed more against Rebellion Pag. 258 259. and sheedin of Blood than they heretofore have done but now none more violent Observe that Note out of Mr. Fox how Henry the Fourth that deposed Richard the Second was the first of all English Kings that began the burning of God's Saints for their standing against the Papists Pag. 260 261 262. As the Doctrine of Infallibility is the Root of all Error among the Papists so it is now among them that are the Worshipers of a Parliament for when it was believed that the Pope could not err then he might oppose Princes excommunicate Kings absolve Subjects from their Obedience c. so now this being swallowed that the Parliament cannot err they may raise Rebellion too absolve People from their Loyalty persecute the King c. Consider whether in any thing these Men have perform'd what at first they promised whether Religion be better settled the Church better reformed and united or the Commonwealth more flourishing c. SECT XXI Thus that good Man asserted the Rights of Princes and the Duty of Subjects in those evil Days * Bishop of Lond. 2d Letter ab the neglect of the Lord's Supper when under an usurped Power Sin was the Law and Transgression the Commandment When three once happy Nations wore the heavy Yoke of Slavery and Men felt to their cost what the power of the People could do till God of his infinite Mercy restored our Judges as at the first and our Counsellors as at the beginning under whom Truth appeared in its true Colours and the Mask of Hypocrisie would no longer hide the Deformities of the Traitor and here I will not mention the Acts of Parliament made just after the Restoration that condemn the Power of the People that assert their Authority Superiority and Unaccountableness of Princes and the Unlawfulness of taking Arms against them upon any pretence whatsoever and confine my self to the Writings of the eminent Divines of the Age and I will begin with the Bishop of Down and Conner Dr. Taylor † Ductor dubitant B. 3. c. 3. Rule 1. who proves That the supreme Power in every Republick is universal absolute and unlimited ‖ Rule 3. n. 1. That it is not lawful for Subjects to rebel or take up Arms against the Supreme Power of the Nation upon any pretext whatsoever He that lifts up his Hand against the Supreme Power or Authority that God hath appointed over him is impious against God and fights against him Rom. 13. The Apostle doth not say he that doth not obey is disobedient to God for that is not true in some Cases it is lawful not to obey but in all Cases it is necessary not to resist * Id. n. 2. I do not know any Proposition in the World clearer ☞ and more certain in Christianity than this Rule And in the fifteenth Number he answers at large that wild Question as he calls it If a King went about to destroy his People is resistance then lawful And concludes all † N. 15 17. We have nothing dearer to us than our Lives and our Religion but in both these Cases we find whole Armies of Christians dying quietly and suffering Persecution without murmur if the Prince doth not do his Duty that is no Warrant for me not to do mine To this pious Prelate now in Heaven I will join a pious Brother of his as yet on Earth † Bishop Kenn's Expos Ch. Cat. V. Comman Who thus addresses to God in the behalf of his Sovereign Thou

for Atheism * Id. Ser. on Rom. 13.5 p. 5 6. c. The real causes of Commotions are seldom the same with those that are pretended for training in and engaging a multitude they are truly an ungrounded and aspiring Ambition the heat and fury of Mens passions c. But * P. 19. 20 c. Natural and revealed Religion do offer us these reasons for obliging us to subjection to the higher Powers 1. We are taught that those Powers are of God nay that they are Gods a strain of speech that if divine Authority did not warrant it would pass for impudent and blasphemous flattery Deputed Powers are onely accountable to those from whom they derive their Authority and L. P. 25. the Example and practice of our Great Master My kingdom is not of this World this doth so expresly discharge all bustling and fighting on the pretence of Religion ☞ that we must either set up for another Gospel or utterly reject what is so formally condemn'd by the Author of this we profess to believe Never cause of Religion was of so great concern as the preserving the Head and Author of it P. 27. If we examine the nature and design of that holy Religion our Saviour deliver'd we shall find nothing more diametrically opposite to all its Rules than the distemper'd fury of these misguided Zealots Otherwise doth St. Paul teach the Romans though then groaning under the severest rigours of bondage and tyranny and St. Peter doth at full length once and again call on all Christians to prepare for sufferings and to bear them patiently ☜ And though the bondage of the Slaves was heavy and highly contrary to all the freedoms of the humane nature yet he exhorts them to bear the severities even of their froward and unjust Masters P. 29. With this Argument that Christ suffered for them leaving them an Example from these unerring practices and principles must all true Christians take the measures of their actions and the rules of their Life and indeed the first converts to Christianity embrac'd the Cross and bore it not onely with patience but with joy Neither the cruelty of their unrelenting persecutors nor the continued tract of their miseries which did not end but with their days prevailed on them either to renounce the faith or do that which is next degree to it throw off the Cross and betake themselves to seditious practices for their preservation ☜ In twenty years persecution the Martyrs of one Province Egypt were reckon'd to be betwixt eight or nine hundred thousand P. 31.32 and yet no tumults were raised against all this tyranny and injustice and though after that the Emperours turn'd Christian and establish'd the Faith by Law yet neither did the subtle attempts of Julian the Apostate nor the open persecutions of some Arian Emperours who did with great violence persecute the Orthodox occasion any seditious Combinations against Authority And though Religion suffer'd great decays in the succession of many Ages yet for the first ten Centuries no Father ☜ or Doctor of the Church or any Assembly of Churchmen did ever teach maintain or justifie any Religion or seditious Doctrines or practices It is true about the end of the Eleventh Century this pestiferous Doctrine took its rise and was first broach'd and vented by Pope Gregory VII Hildebrand P. 36. The same equality of Justice and freedom that obliged me to lay open this ties me to tax also those who pretend a great hate against Rome and value themselves on the abhorring all the Doctrines and practices of that Church and yet have carried along with them one of their most pestiferous Opinions pretending Reformation when they would bring all under confusion and vouching the Cause and Word of God when they were disturbing that Authority he had set up and opposing those impower'd by him and the more Piety and devotion such daring pretenders put on it still brings the greater stain and imputation on Religion as if it gave a patrociny to those practices it so plainly condemns But blessed be God our Church hates and condemns this Doctrine from what hand soever it comes ☞ and hath establish'd the Rights and Authority of Princes on sure and unalterable foundations enjoyning an entire Obedience to all the lawful Commands of Authority and an absolute submission to that supreme Power God hath put in our Sovereign's hands this Doctrine we justly glory in and if any that had their Baptism and Education in our Church have turn'd Renegado's from this they proved no less Enemies to the Church her self than to the Civil Authority so that their Apostacy leaves no blame on our Church The same learned Man * P. 446. in a marginal Note on Bishop Bedel's Letter to Wadsworth when the Bishop was representing the common Principles of those Papists and Protestants who asserted a right of taking up Arms against their Sovereign whenever their Lives Properties or Religion were invaded saith This passage above is to be consider'd as a Relation not as the Author's Opinion but yet for fear of taking it by the wrong handle the Reader is desired to take notice that a Subject's resisting his Prince in any cause whatsoever is unlawful and impious Which passage I have lately seen in some Copies of the same Edition for I never heard but of one thus altered This passage above is to be consider'd as a Relation not as the Author's Opinion lest it should mislead the Reader into a dangerous mistake And when he makes his own Apology * Pres to the Ser. Nov. 5. at the Rolls 1684. He professes I am sure that the last part of the Sermon that presses Loyalty and Obedience is not at all enlarged beyond what I not only preach'd in that Sermon but on many other occasions in which I appeal to all my Hearers but I leave the Sermon to speak for it self and me both and will refer it to every Man's Conscience that reads it to judg whether or not I can be concluded from it to be a Person disaffected to his Majesties Government * Id. first Letter to the E. of Middl. collect of pap p. 284. Few have written more and preach'd oftner against all sort of treasonable Doctrines and practices and particularly against the lawfulness of rising in Arms upon the account of Religion I have preach'd a whole Sermon in the Hague against all treasonable Doctrines and practices and in particular against the lawfulness of Subjects rising in Arms against their Sovereign upon the account of Religion And I have maintain'd this both in publick and private that I could if I thought t● convenient give proofs of it that would make all my Enemies be ashamed of their injustice and malice P. 159. As oft as I have talk'd with Sir John Cochran of some things that were complain'd of in Scotland I took occasion to repeat my Opinion of the duty of Subjects to submit

God sets over us So that Religion can never be pretended against Loyalty and therefore when I take a sad review of the Evil of our late Disturbances It ake not so much notice of the Loss of King Liberty Property Parliaments Blood tho very great as of impairing so far the Credit of Religion in the Violences offered to the person of his Sacred Majesty and that by persons so highly pretending to it I am sorry the Papists seem to have now a thirtieth of January Pag. 18. to return us for a fifth of November Christianity disowns all consecrated Daggers in Heathen Writers indeed nothing of more familiar occurrence than Panegyricks in commendation of the Assertors of publick Liberty by the assassinating of a Tyrant a thing easily pardonable in them being able by the dim Light of Nature to discover no more in a King than a Head of Gold supported by the Clayie Toes of popular Election and Acceptance but Scripture shews a higher Charter than so Pag. 19. by which Kings hold their Crowns Prov. 8.15 By me Kings reign c. the taking Arms to redress some Evils in the Government of a Nation proves generally but as the cutting off of the Hand to get rid of a cut Finger Pag. 23. It is a Truth of everlasting Faithfulness That can never be brought about safely by bad means which could not be by good SECT XXIV Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury * Letter to the Lord Russel Jun. 20. 1683. In tender compassion of your Lordship's Case and from all the good will that one man can bear to another I do humbly offer to your Lordships deliberate thoughts these following Considerations concerning the Point of Resistance if our Religion and Rights should be invaded ☞ 1. That the Christian Religion doth plainly forbid the resistance of Authority 2. That tho our Religion be established by Law which your Lordship urges as a Difference between our Case and that of the Primitive Christians yet in the same Law which establishes our Religian 14 Car. 2. c. 4. 14 Car. 2. c. 3. it is declared That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms c. Besides that there is a particular Law declaring the Power of the Militia to be solely in the King and this ties the Hands of Subjects tho the Law of Nature and the general Rules of Scripture had left us at liberty which I believe they do not because the Government and Peace of human Society could not well subsist upon these Terms 3. Your Lordship's Opinion is contrary to the declared Doctrine of all Protestant Churches ☜ and tho some particular persons have taught otherwise that have been contradicted herein and condemn'd for it by the generality of Protestants I beg of your Lordship to consider how it will agree with an avowed asserting of the Protestant Religion to go contrary to the general Doctrine of the Protestants my end in this is to convince your Lordship that you are in a very dangerous and great Mistake and being so convinced that which before was a sin of Ignorance will appear of a much more heinous nature as in truth it is 〈◊〉 calls for a very particular and deep repentance which if your Lordship exercise by a particular acknowledgment of it to God and Man you will not only obtain forgiveness of God but prevent a mighty scandal to the Reformed Religion I am very loth to give your Lordship and disquiet in the distress you are in but am much more concern'd that you do leave the world in a delusion and false peace to the hinderance of your eternal happiness And in his Prayer on the Scaffold with the same Lord he hath this expression Grant O Lord that all we who survive by this and other instances of thy Providence may learn our Duty to God and the King. Dr. Stillingfleet Dean of S. Paul's Serm. on Jan. 30. 166 8 / 9 on Jude 11. p. 2 3. The Christian Religion above all others hath taken care to preserve the Right sof Sovereignty by giving unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's And to make resistance unlawful by declaring that those who are guilty of it shall receive to themselves damnation Of such men we have a description in this short but smart Epistle who believ'd it a part of their Saintship to despise Dominions c. P. 7 8. Whose design like that of Corah was the sharing the Government among themselves which it was impossible for them to hope for as long as Moses continued a King in Jeshurun nor were they awed by the solemn Vows and Promises they had made of Obedience to him for factious men know they must address themselves to the people and in the first place persuade them that they manage their interests against the usurpations of their Governors while the people take a strange pride in hearing and telling all the Faults of their Governors P. 11 12. The common grounds of all Seditions being usurpations upon the Peoples Rights ☜ arbitrary Government and ill management of Affairs as if they had said we appear only in the behalf of the Fundamental Liberties of the People both Civil and Spiritual That Moses was guilty of the Breach of the Trust committed to him so that now by the ill management of his Trust the Power was again devolved into the Hands of the People and they ought to take account of his Actions Pag. 21. Cons p. 22 23 c. There were then two great Principles among them by which they thought to defend themselves 1. That Liberty and a Right to Power is so inherent in the People that it cannot be taken from them 2. That in case of Usurpation upon that Liberty of the People they may resume the Exercise of Power b● punishing those who are guilty of it And I believe they will be found to be the first Assertors of this kind of Liberty that ever were in the world ☞ and happy had it been for this Nation if Corah had never found any Disciples in it Of the later of the two Propositions Pag. 26 27 28 29. it is said that there can be no Principle imagined more destructive to Civil Societies and repugnant to the very nature of Government for it destroys all the Obligations of Oaths and Compacts it makes the solemnest Bonds of Obedience signifie nothing it makes every prosperous Rebellion just c. and if Corah Dathan and Abiram had succeeded in their Rebellion against Moses no doubt they would have been called the Keepers of the Liberties of ISRAEL The Supposition of this Principle will unavoidably keep up a constant Jealousie between the Prince and his People and there can be no such way to bring in an arbitrary Government into a Nation Besides this must necessarily engage a Nation in endless Disputes about the forfeiture of Power into whose Hands it falls whether into the People in common or some persons

as much as to say do what they would have him * Id. on v. 4. p. 221. Who may say unto the King What dost thou i. e. first who hath any Authority to call him to an Account As much as to say none hath but God alone according to that of an eminent Rabbi No Creature may judge the King but the holy and blessed God alone To allow the People either collective or representative to have Power to do it is to make them Accusers Judges and Executioners also in their own Cause and that against their Sovereign nor secondly can any Man safely attempt it but he shall meet with Punishment either here or hereafter which is no new Doctrine but the same with that of S. Paul as Luther here honestly notes They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation which none shall be able to avoid Thus much the Author of Nature's Dowry is forced to acknowledge from the evident Light he saw in this place It is Wisdom saith he out of Elisha Gallico an Hebrew Interpreter in a private man when the Magistrate enjoins what is repugnant to God's Will to remove out of his Dominions rather than contest with him † Id. p. 223. The wisest thing we can do when Princes require any thing grievous unto us is not to rebel but to watch the fittest opportunities to petition for redress and that after such a manner as may not give offence V. 7. P. 224. Luther refers wholly to the miserable Condition of a Rebel in this manner He desires various things and hopes for mighty matters by his Disobedience but is mightily deceiv'd for of the very impunity which he promis'd himself he cannot be secure c. ‖ Id. in Eccles x. 20. Paraph. p. 277. Curse not the King c. but notwithstanding all this viz. consuming the publick Treasure c. as I advised thee before not to rise in Rebellion against thy Sovereign so now let me add that it is very foolish as well as wicked to be provoked by this ill management so much as to speak an opprobrious Word of him or his Ministers c. ‡ Annot. in loc p. 302. But whatsoever negligence or profuseness and waste there be it should not provoke any wise or good man to speak contemptuously of his Sovereign or of his Ministers * P. 306. It will not be unuseful much less unseasonable in such an unruly Age as this to let the Reader understand how deeply the first Reformers of Religion laid this Precept to heart by transcribing some of Luther's Admonitions in his Annotations on this Verse The worse and the more malignant says he the World is the more studious and laborious Solomon teaches us to be in the doing of our duty particularly in honoring Magistracy because it is a divine Ordinance and the better part of the World by which God manages all things under the Sun. But the Ungodly begin their Wickedness chiefly in the Contempt of Magistrates when they hear how God blames and reproves them in the holy Scriptures but it belongs to the divine Office to find fault with Magistrates and to rebuke them and therefore tho thou hearest it yet do not imitate it for thou art not God nor the Ordainer no nor the Reformer nor the Restorer of the divine Ordinance but as God reproves them so thee also in the holy Scriptures that thou may'st do thy duty and not meddle with what belongs to them The meaning therefore of Solomon is I have spoken much of Princes how they undo the World but do thou reverence them notwithstanding that for they are not an humane Ordinance but a divine St. Peter indeed calls the King an Humane Creature because he is assumed from among men but his Authority is divine and tho Princes be bad they are to be honored because of this Ordinance of God. Why then wilt thou speak evil of those who are vexed with so many and great cares and labours for thy Peace if they be good And if they be bad and foolish their own Impiety is mischief enough to them and brings them into sufficient danger Bear with them then and compassionate them rather than rail upon them and revile them c. Dr. Towerson on the fifth Commandment Those Powers are to be look'd upon as ordained by God which came to that Power they have as without any fraud or violence so by the ordinary Course of God's Providence Upon which account all those Powers must be look'd upon as ordain'd by God that either come to the Throne by a lineal Descent from former Kings where the Kingdom is Hereditary or by a free and unconstrained choice where it is Elective Part 5. p. 241. Pag. 251. There is no doubt it is in the Power of the Subject who conceives himself not to have deserv'd it so by flight to avoid if he can the falling under the Power of it the Sword Our Saviour having expresly given leave that if we be persecuted in one City we should to save our selves flee from that to another As little difficulty should I find if that were the thing in question to license the avoiding the Prince's Severity by appealing to his own Courts of Judicature where that is by Law so allowed as it is in several Cases here that being not to be looked upon as a Resistance much less an injurious one which is with the leave of him against whom it is directed But if the Question be concerning resisting by force of Arms and so avoiding the severity of the Prince so it is as certain both from the Scripture and Reason that we ought not to avoid it but rather with all readiness submit to the strokes of it Pag. 253. For tho it be true that a Prince hath no Authority to inflict an unjust Punishment yet he is privileg'd by the place he holds under God from being subjected unto Man and ought not therefore by any force to be brought into Subjection to him Pag. 254. Whosoever resisteth evil Powers must be thought in a particular manner to fight against God. What a disappointment must needs have been to the Counsels of the Almighty if it had been permitted Christians to resist Part 7. An Answer to several Pleas which are made in behalf of Resistance c. Pag. 257 258. That which generally draws Princes to the persecuting of those that are of a different Religion from themselves being not so much any hatred of their Religion as the Jealousie they have lest under the Pretences of that and the Assemblies which are made for it some secret Design against the State should lurk which Jealousie must needs be taken away when it appears to them from undoubted Experiments that they who do profess it will not attempt any thing against them how severely soever they may be handled by them To all which if we add the story of primitive Times too we shall not need to doubt of Religion's being more than

secured by a patient submitting to persecuting Princes it being manifest from thence that Christianity was so far from being destroyed by the Blood of its many Martyrs that on the contrary it thrived and propagated it self by it Pag. 260. From that second Plea pass we to a third which is taken from those Oaths which Kings do commonly make before they are solemnly crowned of governing the People by the Laws the Government as some think seeming thereby to arise from a Compact between them and their Subjects upon the breach whereof on the King's part it may be lawful for the Subject to depart from their Allegiance and resist him in the Execution of his Power For Answer to which not to tell you what intolerable Mischiefs would ensue from such a Tenet as often as any seditious Man should go about to persuade the People they were not so well governed as they ought I will alledge in behalf of our own Princes farther than which we shall not need to look that which will cut the Throat of this Objection to wit That our Kings are to as full purpose such before their Coronation as after witness not only their performing all the Acts of a King but that known Maxim in our Laws that the King of England never dies From whence as it will follow that as the Kings of this Nation owe not their being such to any compact between them and their People that upon any supposed breach thereof it might be lawful for the Subject to resist them so also that the Oaths taken by them at their Coronation are not to procure them that Power which otherwise they could not have but for the encouraging the People to yield the more ready Obedience to them which they may very well do when they who are to govern plight their Faith and Reputation to govern them according to their own Laws Mr. Scrivener Book I. Part I. Of the Original Government p. 93. The Arguments to affirm that the grosser Body of the People did first of all agree upon Government and constitute their Ruler are 1. Ridiculous 2. Sacrilegious and impious 3. Impossible 4. Pestilential and pernicious to all Government 'T is a true Saying It is more to make a King than to be a King. Still I hold-this which I have not found shaken by the many Attempts of innovating Wits That there is a real Paternal Power in lawful Princes For 't is not Choice but Power that makes a King and in this case no power at all is given or can be given nor in truth ought to be taken away as the manner is from Princes entring through the Populacy into the Throne for God only is the proper and immediate Author of Right and Power which he hath inserted into Parents over their Children and hath proportionably prescribed to Kings and Princes without ever advising with the People or expecting their Consent or Confirmation This the Scripture it self calls Jus Imperii or l●ss significantly with us The manner of the King 1 Sam. viii 9. Not from the People but from God. Pag. 94. The most therefore that the People do when they act most in creating Kings is under God to apply the Person to the Place or Office of Governing Pag. 95. Grant that all Men were once but no body could ever tell when and in a certain place but no body could ever tell where equally free or at least all of years of Discretion which is most uncertain it would be known first how Men dare to be so presumptuous as to make such a breach of the Law of Nature as this must be viz. To part with their Birth right and to imbezzle that which God had given them concomitantly with their own Lives And this is further confirmed from the impossibility as well as impiety of making any such Translation of Power from its natural Subject the People because it cannot ever fairly or justly be brought about seeing that the People cannot unanimously much less ever did concur to the Election of any one Government or Governor They cannot all give in their Votes to such an end always some were dissenting and if they did not enter their Protest against the proceeding of their Fellows it must be because they were deterred curbed and oppressed by a more prevalent Faction obliging them and constraining them most unjustly to comply with their Opinions and Decrees for there appears no sound reason why a more numerous and powerful Faction may not as well take away my Estate because they are stronger than I as take away my Birth-right which Liberty is here asserted to be So that the very first step to Liberty must be founded in Injustice in taking away that from me which I might no less in natural reason spoil them of and in Servitude too in bringing me whom they acknowledge naturally free into unwilling Subjection Neither is the difficulty solved in saying That Reason and Nature also require that for order sake and regulating humane Society the minor part must yield to the major for upon this Supposition indeed that Power is so absurdly and inconveniently posited there doth presently appear such a necessity but my Argument is taken from the absurdity of any such necessity of Natures creating that the Supposition is very false and if it were true yet were not that Maxim true which is here brought to controul and correct the same for Nature doth not teach us much less necessitate us in any case to follow the most numerous but rather Reason and Experience and the Judgment of diligent and wise Discussers of this Point inform us That the Multitude are more inconsiderate undiscerning and injudicious than the fewer in number many times the World being generally thicker set with Fools than wise Men and Fools being commonly more apt to be led by Fools than with deeper and sounder Reasons of the Wise Pag. 96 97. The Right of Rule in the People is look'd upon as by Nature and Divine Ordinance belonging to them and therefore cannot de jure be transferred or if attempted must needs by the same Right be revocable Finding themselves most commonly destitute of that advantage they proceed to expound it more to their purpose tyrannical and boldly affirm That by the People is not meant necessarily the most but the best and soberest and godliest and such only that study really the Good of Religion and the Liberties of the People And are not these sine Doings Do not these popular Tenets hang well together and end well which in process of their own Reason and Practices confute the very first Principle of all viz. That People have an absolute supream Power to frame Governments when before they can bring matters to their intended conclusion they are forc'd to deny them Of the Obligations between the Governors and Governed p. 103. It cannot either consist with the Law of God or Nations to inflict Punishments on Princes Sovereign Not but that for instance Murder Adultery unjust

Spoil and Robbery of the Subjects may no less considering the nature of the Crime deserve such Punishment of Princes as they do 〈◊〉 People But because there is none in such Cases that can or ought duely and regularly to execute such Laws because there can be no such Execution without the Power of the Sword and there can be but one proper Subject of that Power in any Republick And of all guilt I know not whether any be greater than the assuming of such a Power which no ways belongs to a Man for better it were to take away ones Horse or to ravish another Man's Wife or to extort unjustly anothers Estate than to divest a Prince of his Right of Rule and usurp it to himself and that first because no Man's Estate or any thing that is his doth descend to him or otherways become his by the like divine Title as the Supream Power rightly posited and possessed doth to the Owner thereof and therefore this being more sacred the Invasion of this Right is much more wicked and unjust Secondly because a publick mischief and of general influence upon all is much more intolerable than a private But such a Violation of Princely Rights must of necessity draw a publick mischief on the whole civil Body I mean all the Subjects in such a Nation who shall be distracted between the sense of Obedience known otherwise to be due and the terror of usurped Power threatning ruine to such as comply not with their Injustice Pag. 104. Some late Demagogues have written for the promotion of Religion forsooth as well as Civil Liberty that to kill Tyrants and here I will not shew who they call Tyrants is as good an act as to slay Wolves Lions and Bears But I would fain know whence such a Law proceeded if not from Tyranny it self Even such persons who under colour of natural Law of returning evil for evil and self-preservation have done the greatest injustice imaginable not only against the person persecuted but the people who never at any time had power so to deliver themselves nor if they had did generally and unanimously or could confer the same on the new Pretenders to it That Law therefore of killing Tyrants invented by Tyrants taketh place on the Authors of it as much as any body else and where the like Power can be snatched up may have the same event on popular Statesmen as well as Kings and Princes For they are Tyrants too Mr. Jos Glanvil's Sermon of Christian Loyalty published by Anth. Horneck D. D. on Rom. 13.2 They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Pag. 153 154. Which words were spoken in the days of Nero who besides that he was an Heathen was a Persecutor and a Tyrant and the most infamous instance in Nature and yet this Monster is not excepted as to the tribute of Obedience Whereas had this been said in the days of such a Prince as our Charles the First it might have been suppos'd that the vertue of the Person claim'd the reverence and subjection and not the Character of the Prince And that 't was damnable to resist because he was good not because he was supreme because he was a Nursing-father of the Church not because the ruling Father of his Countrey 'T was an happy Coincidence therefore to secure the Authority of the Magistrate which answers the greatest pretensions of Rebellion If Religion be pretended an Heathen must not be resisted If Tyranny 't is damnation to oppose a Nero. Pag. 156. Kings wear God's Image and Authority but besides there is evidence enough in the nature of the thing to prove that Kings have their Power and Authority from God and are no Substitutes of the People Pag. 157 158 159. They that Rule are God's Substitutes and no Creatures of the People for the People have no power to govern themselves and consequently cannot devolve any upon another Resistance is opposite to the Spirit of Religion Religion is of a calm and pacifick temper like that of its Author whose voice was not heard in the street He commands the payment of all Duties to Cesar He acknowledgeth Pilates Power to be from above He commands his Disciples to pray for their Persecutors He permits them to fly not to oppose He rebukes Peter 's violence to the High Priests Servant and the revenge of the Disciples when they called for fire from Heaven He paid Tribute submitted to the Laws of the Sanhedrim and to that unjust sentence against his life This was his temper and the Apostles who liv'd among his Enemies and theirs and met with severity enough to have soured their spirits and exasperated their Pens to contrary resolutions and instructions yet as true followers of their dear Lord they faithfully transmit to us what they had learn'd from him viz. That we should obey those that have the rule over us submit to every Ordinance of Man pray for Kings and all in Authority submit to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates And those Noble Spirits of the first Ages after who began to be Martyrs as soon as to be Christians who lived in the Fire and went to Heaven wrap'd in those flames that had less arder than their love These I say amidst the greatest and fiercest fires that cruelty and barbarism had kindled paid the tribute of a peaceable and quiet subjection to their Murtherers and made unforced acknowledgments of the right they had to their obedience Pag. 157 158 159. Nor do we ever read of any attempts they made to free themselves by resistance though as Tertullian saith they were in powerful numbers mingled in their Villages and in their Cities yea in their Castles and in their Armies Yea there is an illustrious instance of Passive Obedience in the Thebean Legion whose tenth Man being executed for not offering sacrifice to Idols they quietly submitted to the Cruelty And a second Dicimation being commanded by Maximinian the Author of the first one of their great Commanders an excellent Christian persuades them to suffer it with the same patience because it was not with their Swords they could make their way to the Kingdom of Heaven but by another kind of Warfare Pag. 163. By a dear experience we have learned that 't is better to endure any inconveniences in a setled Government than to endeavour violent alterations Doctor Anth. The Letter he makes his own p. 478. and advises others to follow the Example of these Primitive Christians p. 541. Horneck's Letter to a Person of quality at the end of his best Exercise speaking of the heavenly Lives of the Primitive Christians he saith Pag. 496. They looked upon Christianity as a Religion that taught them to suffer valiantly Pag. 534. 535. To their Princes and Magistrates they were ever very submissive and in all lawful things obedient to a tittle In their Prayers they always remembred them and though they persecuted and afflicted them yet that did not abate their Zeal and Vows for their

welfare and prosperity Rebellion against their Governours they hated as Witchcaft and ever thought it safer to suffer than to resist Hence they paid Tribute without marmuring for their opinion was that no Man could have that Power except it were given him from above His Tyranny could not make them neglect their duty nor his ill Government tempt them to forget their Allegiance Where the Man was rough and hard-hearted that was over them they look'd upon the Providence as a means to try their faith and even then when they might have resisted and conquer'd they would not because they thought it was unsuitable to their Religion SECT XXVI Doctor Tennison says the same * Mr. Hobbs's Creed examin'd p. 149 15 151. This then is the Doctrine of Politicks that Rebellion is not Iniquity if upon probable grounds it becomes prosperous It is blamed as an opinion of Mr. White That part-boil'd Romanist as he is called that a dispossess'd Prince ought neither to be desired nor to endeavour to return if the people think themselves to be well and their Trade and Employment be undisturb'd And he adds Who can answer they shall be better by the return of the dispossess'd party surely in common presumption the gainer is like to defend them better than he who lost it ☜ Certainly for this Sentence publish'd at such a time to this Nation if for any other cause those Books ought to be burnt in England as well as some of them have been burnt at Rome there is no tye so strong as that of Religion p. 158 159. which eternally binds a conscientious Subject in Allegiance to his Sovereign and Wars arise from mens self-interests and lusts and true goodness is both the Creator and preserver of peace unless a Man obeys for Conscience-sake all the Cords of outward Pacts and Covenants will not hold him * V. pref p. 7. c. Neither will such Covenants hold the people that pretend to Religion if they be mis-taught that God is glorified in their private good and that their private good is to be valued before the life of a Prince if they can safely deprive him of it What Hobbs hath written three times over in his de Cive p. 161. de Corpore Politico and his Leviathan ought rather to be esteemed seeds of Sedition than Elements of Government and Society and I am sure among those Principles one is that Government is founded in compact The people p. 167. if they believed that a company of Delinquents joyning together to defend themselves by Arms do not at all unjustly but may lawfully repel lawful force by force they would soon be stirred up and suffer none for whom they have respect to be brought to justice SECT XXVII Thus Doctor Hooper * Serm. at Whitehal on Math. 22.21 p. 11. Is he not the Vicegerent of God Wherever therefore his Sovereign the Almighty hath not prevented him by any precedent Commands there he hath right and liberty to put forth his and in those cases to expect an active chearful Obedience ☞ and that we should in no case and for no reason resist Be this Civil Government heretick or Infidel we are not discharg'd of our Allegiance we are obliged by the same divine Authority to preserve our Religion under it and to continue to it our subjection p. 18 19. the Church of which we have the blessing to be Members has restored to Princes and those that are in Authority the full exercise of their lawful Power their Countries and their people no place priviledg'd nor person exempted no forein Potentate sharing the Authority nor dividing their Revenue ☞ their Subjects bound in an Allegiance not to be withdrawn on any pretence of Schism or Heresie in the power of no Consistory to discharge And here we see no politick reserve that our Church hath not provided for it self any other refuge but in the providence of God and the piety of the Civil Power What was not her own she hath given out of her hands where she cannot communicate yet there she will obey and where she cannot obey she is ready to endure expecting her reward in Heaven ☞ not ignorant how much she suffers now from the contradiction of disloyal Men for the truth of this Doctrine and how much by its meekness she stands exposed to future persecution yet she professes to know too that her Saviour's Kingdom is not of this World that the rendezvouz against a Prince is not protected by being in a Church turns not her Congregations into Armies c. And though Parties seemingly opposite agree in the contrary Opinion we take not that for an argument of its truth equally detesting the holy League of the one and the solemn League of the other Doctor Harscard Dean of Windsor * Serm. before L. Mayor 1680. p. 13. Contempt of Government springs from that leud Opinion that Dominion is nothing else but strength and might that Philosophy that resolves all Beings and Actions into matter and motion lays the foundation too of all Obedience not Conscience and divine Commands ☜ but the strongest Arm and longest Sword only Subjects because they are over-power'd What doth vilifie our Governours more than this Principle Whom we beautified before with the Titles of sacred and divine but now are made a common lump onely of strength and power and are really weaker because their Subjects too like them are onely Arms but no heart or Conscience no internal Principle to oblige unto Obedience For if no inward persuasion or dread of an higher power but only fear and interest weakness and convenience are the bottom and reason of our Obedience where these shall change and the Man hath swell'd his Coffers procured firm Alliances and muster'd up his Armies and Confederates and other instruments of Rebellion he may then by the Title of Power lay claim to Dominion and set up for himself What signifies religious Oaths and solemn Vows to engage us unto Obedience which is onely an acknowledgment of weakness if onely external power must be their keeper SECT XXVIII Doctor Falkner's Christian Loyalty is written wholly upon this Subject proving that Government is appointed by God and is of divine Institution own'd so by the Christians who were persecuted by the Civil Powers and his whole second Book is employed in shewing the unlawfulness of Subjects taking Arms against the King upon any account and this he proves from the obligation of Oaths and solemn declarations from the Laws of Nature and humane policy from the prohibitions of both the Old and New Testament especially the New proving that this resistance is not onely sinful in private persons but in the whole body of the people and in subordinate Magistrates and I would willingly see a sober Answer to that discourse instead of puzling the World with little distinctions of persecuting according to or against Law. And in his Treatise of Reproach and Censure he shews how

careful our blessed Saviour was to pay all due respects to any person invested with Authority and that St. Peter recommends a meek behaviour even towards them from whom we receive hard measure P. 94. That such a continued respect and practice of duty to Governours even under hard usage is that which Conscience to God will oblige to perform This duty of respectful submission is not founded upon the good temper of our Superiours but upon the Authority they receive from God and the Precepts which God hath thereupon given to us P. 97. Obj. But if Religion be concern'd and in danger doth it not behove every good Man to be zealous c. Ans 1. It is requisite he should be zealous in the diligent exercise of a holy Life and in frequent and devout prayer c. But he must not be active as an evil doer in giving himself the liberty to behave himself undutifully towards his Superiours 2. Religion can never be so in danger that God can need any sinful practices of Men to uphold his interest his Kingdom is not so weak that it cannot stand without the affistance of the works of the Devil P. 99. 3. Religion can never be opposed with greater enmity and malicious designs than it was when our Saviour suffered and yet then he reviled not P. 100. nor allow'd St. Peter's rashness The Jews aimed utterly to root out the Christian Name and there were great oppositions against Religion even fiery Tryals 1 Pet. 4.12 When yet Saint Peter requires Christians to follow the Example of our Lord's patience and meekness and to reverence Superiours 4. True zeal for Religion consists in pious and holy living not in passionate and sinful speaking To Dr. Falkner I should join his Pupil Dr. Sherlock but his Book of Non resistance is so strong and his arguments from Scripture so cogent that it is needless to make any extracts out of it and till his Adversary writes both a more becoming and a more demonstrative Answer it will be still by all wise Men look'd upon as unanswerable SECT XXIX Among the unanswerable Treatises I also reckon Dr. Hicks the Dean of Worcester's Jovian for unless scurrility confidence and a desertion of the main Argument may pass for an Answer the Reply that is yet extant deserves no Rejoinder Out of that Elaborate Commentary on the Doctrine of Passive Obedience I shall only quote one passage because it is a History of the Author's Principles and Resolution I had rather dye a Martyr than a Rebel P. 259 and I resolve by God's assistance neither to turn Papist nor Resist but if I cannot escape I will suffer according to the Gospel and the Church of England and I will Preach and Practise Passive Obedience after the example of the Prophets and Martyrs who suffered against Law and in my most melancholy prospect of things I can comfort my self with the hopes of a reward for dying at a Stake which he shall never have for dying in the Field To this purpose also the Sermon at Bow-Church Jan. 30. 1681 / 2. Together with the same Author's Artillery Sermon are worth the perusing Dr. South I have read heretofore of some Serm. 2. p. 80 81. that having conceived an irreconcileable hatred of the Civil Magistrate prevailed with Men so far that they went to resist him even out of Conscience and a full perswasion and dread upon their spirits ☜ that not to do it were to desert God and consequently to incur Damnation Now when Mens rage is both heightened and sanctified by Conscience the War will be fierce for what is done out of Conscience is done with the utmost activity and then Campanella 's Speech to the King of Spain will be found true Religio semper vicit praesertim armata which sentence deserves seriously to be considered by all Governors and timely understood lest it come to be felt P. 212. P. 236. We have seen Rebellion commented out of Rom. xiii He that makes his Prince despised and undervalued blows a Trumpet against him in Mens Hearts c. * See Dr. Freeman's Ser. before the L. Mayor 1682. p. 8. P. 242 243. To imagine a King without Majesty a Supreme without Sovereignty is a Paradox and direct contradiction The Church of England glories in nothing more than that she is the truest friend to Kings and to Kingly Government of any other Church in the World. It is the happiness of some Professions and Callings that they can equally square themselves to and thrive under all Revolutions of Government but the Clergy of England neither know nor affect that happiness and are willing to be despised for not doing so And so far is our Church from encroaching upon the Civil Power as some who are back-friends to both would maliciously insinuate that were it stript of the very remainder of its privileges and made as like the Primitive Church for its bareness as it is already for its Purity it could chearfully and what is more Loyally want all such Privileges and in the want of them pray that the Civil Power may flourish as much and stand as secure from the assaults of Fanatick Anti-Monarchical Principles grown to such a dreadful height during the Churches late confusions as it stood while the Church enjoyed those Privileges Dr. Serm. on Heb x. 36. p. 2. John Moor. Our Saviour was the first that did effectually recommend this Passive Virtue to the World and furnished Men with such true Arguments to bear their Cross as made the most afflicted state not only supportable but to be preferred before the happiness of this life P. 16 17. A good Man when he is persecuted for his Religion neither deserts it nor by any unlawful means defends it He will not renounce his Faith to escape Persecution and yet he dreads by resisting of Authority to promote the cause of Religion P. 19. it being a blasphemy against the Divine Wisdom and Power to suppose God can stand in need of our sins to bring to pass his most glorious designs and this he says of those who under pretence of defending their Rights or Religion resist lawful Authority He then in whom this virtue of Patience dwells keeps a due regard to the commands laid upon him to submit himself to the Supreme Powers and he dares not lift up his Hand against the Lords Anointed ☞ nor Levy War upon the most plausible account whatsoever nay to him it cannot but seem a wonder that the Doctrin of Resistance should have gone down so glibly with any who have read the New Testament and are baptised into the Christian Faith. All Resistance to the Supreme Authority is unlawful The Popes of Rome being the first pretenders from Scripture to a right to resist the Civil Power P. 20 21. c. And it is most certain that by the same Argument they would take off their obligation to this plain Christian Duty they

that to do evil though for our own preservation instead of procuring our peace and settlement would be most likely to unsettle and ruin us for having once broken down the fences of Duty which are placed about us who can tell where we shall stop or abide Having allowed our selves the liberty of doing one sinful action we may easily be prompted on to commit a thousand for the same pretences will justifie all sins alike and if for the sake of Religion a Tumult may lawfully be raised a Rebellion also may be promoted c. SECT XXXIV Mr. Long is so well known for his Zeal in this good Cause to all that have seen his answer to Johnson and Hunt his no Protestant but a Dissenters Plot and other such Treatises that it is wondered that of late he should own himself the Author of the Solution of the Popular Objections c. In which he musters up for unanswerable Arguments the very same Objections of Julian of Persecuting according to and against Law c. which himself had formerly so luckily both answered and exploded But he tells us that St. Austin wrote his Retractations in which he corrected his errors and he might have told the World too that Bellarmine wrote his Recognitions in which he multiplies and confirms his Heterodoxies I shall therefore briefly represent his former Judgment out of one of his Printed Sermons * On Sept. 9. 1683. p. 13. Rebels should shew so much of ingenuity and serious Penitence as the Sorcerers did Act. xix 19. Who burnt their Books for I dare aver that there are more Arguments for Resisting of Lawful Princes which they cannot but know is threatned with damnation Rom. xiii 2. in the Books of some who term themselves true Protestants than are in all those which are written by such as they justly condemn for Idolatrous and Trayterous Papists P. 19. What greater encouragement can be given Men pretending to Religion and Conscience than when their Guides ☜ to whom they have committed the Conduct of their Souls shall Prophesie lyes in the name of God and urge them to Rebellion by Scripture and Examples They are like them in the Gospel whom no Bonds or Chains could restrain from practising the mischief they had imagined No Obligation of Laws of Conscience of Fear or Favour no Oaths or Promises could hold them but they mock God himself that they may the more unsuspectedly destroy his Vicegerent Pag. 22. If the Principles allowed of in any Community of Men ☞ do countenance the Resisting Deposing and Mur hering of Princes be it on pretence of Heresie or Tyranny or for the good of the Kirk reforming Abuses or redressing Grievances though there be but a few Actors yet all are Criminals When Absalom was Sacrificing at Hebron P. 25 26. the Conspiracy was strengthned saith the Text. It seems that Absalom had his Levites and these were they that strengthned the Rebellion By him the People were instructed in their great Priviledges and Power that there is Idolatry and Superstition in the Church Oppression and Tyranny in the State that they ought to shake off these Yoaks of Bondage and vindicate themselves into the glorious liberty of the Sons and Daughters of God. P. 27 28. One tells the People That they are the Original of Authority ☞ That it is not against Scripture or the practice of the Primitive Christians violently to resist the Higher Powers when they Persecute them for Religion and when the Prince commands against the Laws of the Country that Success justifies a good Cause and to pursue it is to comply with the Will of God and the Conduct of Providence Vnder such Doctrines as these the Presses have sweat the Church hath groaned the Peoples souls been led Captive in Chains of darkness and under these this horrid Conspiracy hath been hatched The Devil himself when he appeared in the Mantle of Samuel never did nor could teach Saul more pernicious Doctrine than this Philostratus saith that the murther of Domitian was more owing to the Doctrine of Appollonius than the Hands of Stephanus and Parthenius who slew him Dr. Fowler * Design of Christianity chap. 16. The most calm meek peaceable gentle and submissive temper recommended in the Gospel did mightily declare it self in the Primitive Christians that though they were for the most part sorely Persecuted yet saith Tertull there was never any uproar or hurlyburly among them nor was this owing to necessity as is plain from Tertullian and the History of the Thebaean Legion Chap. 24. p. 346. It is the most strange and unaccountable thing for Men in defence or favour of that way of Religion which they take to be most truly the Christian to do that which is essentially and in its own nature evil for these things are quite contrary to the design of Christian Religion Pag. 248 249. What Villanies are there which the Pope and his Proselytes have stuck at committing for the propagation of their Religion Such as exciting Subjects to take Arms against their lawful Sovereigns to whom they are obliged in the Bonds of most solemn Oaths c. I would I could say that of all that are called Christians the Papists only are lyable to this charge but alas It is too manifest to be denyed or yet dissembled that not a few of those that profess enmity to Popery are sadly guilty though not equally with the Papists in this particular SECT XXXV The Author of The Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man. I pay all Men their dues all Officers Chap. 3. p. 63 64. and Offices in Church and State according to St. Paul's command Rom. xiii I pay all Honor and Service to the King as God's Vicegerent and I cannot endure to hear him evil spoken of P. 66. I consider my self as to all the Capacities and Relations that I am in the World and endeavour to behave my self suitably to them Which Duties are fully exprest in the excellent Book of the Whole Duty of Man and I am sure that excellent Book plainly asserts the Doctrine of Non-resistance I look upon Government and Magistracy as one of the most sacred things in the World Chap. 6. p. 137 138 139. 140. for it is of God's Appointment Of all kinds of Government I like Monarchy which seems naturally to derive it self from paternal Authority And if there be any Right on Earth surely Monarchy hath Right with us and hath at least as good a Title to all its Powers Rights and Privileges as any of its Subjects can have to their Honors Properties and Estates The Monarchy of England being always esteemed as truly an hereditary and successive a Monarchy as any in the World not liable to be disposed alienated or sold nor depending on any Election Choice or Approbation of the People And according to this method our present King enjoys the Crown who hath as I believe the truest and most

ancient Right to his Crowns that any King in the known Parts of the World hath P. 178. Where Government in general in Scripture is establish'd and Obedience to Governors injoin'd it ought to be reckoned as spoken of our Governors and Government Ecclesiastical and Civil as well as of any other in the World. Ch. 7. p. 198. Whatever discouragement the Clergy of England have found they still preach up and persuade Loyalty to the King and by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience to temporal Authority keep People from Rebellion notwithstanding they have so often been jeer'd and abused with it * Serm. 2. of the unlawfulness of resist Ep. Ded. Mr. Payn. I think it my duty as a Minister of that Church and Religion which hath been often the Mark but never the Author of any Treason to publish these Sermons And that none may be so malicious as to think we calculate our Sermons merely for the present Circumstances as if the Pulpit were but a kind of a Weather-glass wherein the Doctrine of Obedience to Governors is higher or lower to the temperature or variation of outward Affairs I have put out a plain Sermon without any Addition that was preach'd long before the Plot c. When the ancient Christians were persecuted P. 7 8 9. they endured unheard of cruelties from their Governors ☞ and this often as they complain'd of in their Apologies against Law too Such as would have stirred up those who had power to defend themselves had they not learnt such Principles from their Religion as forbad it we are under the obligation of Oaths though there have been some who have forgot all Oaths and could as easily unloose them as Sampson did his Wit hs and then set themselves free from the Precepts ☞ and Examples of Christ and his Apostles by this colour and pretence that the Government under which they lived was of another Nature than ours in England and that such is our Constitution as makes all this impertinent and of very little regard here And by the same way might they not discharge Wives and Children and Servants from those Duties the Gospel requires from each of them because there was a great difference between the State and condition of those among the Jews the Romans and the Grecians formerly and with us now And afterward he shews Serm. 2. p. 22. That neither in the Case of Religion nor of Legal Rights nor in the case of Natural Defence and the otherwise remediless case of Mankind by the encroachments of Princes P. 27. it 's any way lawful to take Arms. And proves that the Law of Nature or of Self-preservation does not allow of resistance c. And closes all with these good Prayers God preserve Christianity from that reproach P. 37. and blasphemy which these wicked Men have brought upon it God preserve the Protestant Religion from that advantage which is hereby given to our Enemies to destroy it J. Kettlewell 's Measures of Christian Obedience Book 2. c. 4. A Duty to Kings and Princes being God's Vicegerents here on Earth is a readiness and resolved industry to maintain and support them in their Persons and Government not plotting and endeavouring our selves to give away their Lives and Kingdoms unto others or consenting to them that do so not submitting and subjecting our selves to them but violently resisting and opposing them is called by S. Paul resisting of Power or standing up against it Rom. 13.2 And this when it is made by great numbers and goes on to extremities when men are as the Apostle there saith set in array and posture of Defence against it ☜ and ready by force of Arms to wage War with it is Rebellion Book 3. c. 6. The first pretence whereby men justifie to their own thoughts the indulgent Transgression of several Laws is because those Transgressions wherein they allow themselves are necessary for the preservation of their Religion and of themselves in those times of danger and persecution wherein God's Providence has placed them Religion is in danger and like to be undermined by the close and subtle Arts or overborn by the more open and powerful violence of strong and witty Enemies And this is God's Cause and Christ our Lord and Saviour's Interest So that whatever is done here we think is in Service of our Maker If we fight it is his Battels Some on one Hand that call us Hereticks think no means sinful whereby they can weaken and divide And others again even of our own selves who justly abhor these damnable Instances of Disobedience upon pretence of preserving or propagating Religion in some furious and firy spirited sort of Papists for God forbid that we should think them all to be of this temper do yet run into the same extravagance which upon so great reason they condemn in them For if we look into our zeal for the common Religion of Protestants we shall find that we transgress many and those most material and weighty Laws of it whilst we express our affection and concern to defend and preserve it For doth not this pretence of preserving our Religion carry us beyond all the Bounds of Peaceableness and good Subjection Yea I add further that these same Fears for our endangered Religion transport us into the Transgression of sundry weighty Laws which oblige us towards our very Enemies who have contrived to destroy us Thus full of Sin and Disobedience is this sanctified pretence It is the Cover for every Offence ☞ and the common shelter for all Transgressions for we boggle not at an● sin so long as it tends to preserve us in the prosperous Profession of our endangered or oppressed Religion But if Men would consider calmly and have patience to look beyond the surface and bare outsides of things they would soon discern the vanity of this pretence and how far it will be from excusing any such sinful and disobedient Practices as they think to justifie and warrant by it For as for true and substantial Religion for protection whereof they would be thought to venture upon all these Transgressions it stands in no need of their help to preserve it in persecuting times altho they should use innocent and just means not such as are sinful and disobedient it would live then without their care and whether they went about by any politick means to preserve it or no. For Religion is not lost when Religious Men are persecuted it doth not suffer when they do that profess it seeing it is not one jot impaired when Men are buffeted and imprisoned nay when they bleed and die for it ☞ Could the violence of Persecution have oppressed our Religion it had been stifled in the Birth For it entered in a persecuting Age and yet was not over-born by the pressure of its Sufferings but bravely overcame them It begun grew up and conquered all the World in the very Heat of Affliction and Opposition the more it

earth their Superior that may awe them if they sin more licentiously and heinously than others He that will read the Sentiments of Sam. Petit on this Doctrine let him consult his Treatise set out by his Nephew Sorbiere called Diatriba de Jure Principum edictis Ecclesiae quaesito c. while Monsieur Allix says Praefat. ad Determ Joh. Paris p. 61. That the Determination that Kings may be deposed is much worse than the most Heresies And Dr. Bourdieu † Serm. on 29. May. 1684. having asserted That Religion teaches men to give Obedience to Pagan Tyrannical Persecuting Heretical Princes in his Epistle to the King avers That it was reasonable that he should publish to the World the Opinion of their disconsolate Churches upon the Doctrine of Obedience which ought to be given to higher Powers Thus he was instructed in his Infancy and Youth thus he saw it practised in their Congregations and Assemblies thus for many years himself had taught it as he had read and found it contain'd in the Holy Scriptures And to mention one unblassed Authority out of that suffering Church instead of all the rest take a few words of a pious Minister of theirs smarting at the very time when he wrote under the Severity of his Sovereign and as himself testifies enjoying then the Protection of a Commonwealth * Le Droit Souv du Prince c. p. 15 16. No good man says he ought to resist a Prince for any earthly Interest whatsoever nay nor for Religion neither c. It may be objected that the Doctrine of such absolute Power in Princes should give occasion to the increase of misery in such passive Churches To which I answer 1. That were it so that such temporal misery should be increased by it yet that countervailed not the necessity of recovering so many Souls without number from death temporal first and afterwards from eternal And again speaking of the Authority of a Prince as to the Essentials of Religion † Pag. 33. If a Prince will use force and violence there all that we have to do is to suffer with humility and patience both his threats and the worst he can do not suffering his rigor to raise the least motion to Rebellion in us and transport us to the least degree of outward resistance any more than refusing to wound our Consciences with such Acts of Religion as are contrary to the Faith we profess and never had the Church of Christ had so many holy Champions as deserved the Name of Martyrs and Confessors if they had not thought this Rule inviolably true Pag. 36. We must suffer all their displeasure even in case of these Essentials without murmuring and sacrifice our Resentments to the Authority that afflicts us according to the Commandment of God which we keep in suffering so As for the things of this life Pag. 40. there is not one of them exempted from the Power of Princes for as the Judgment of Conscience upon the Account of being peculiar to God alone was the reason why the Essence of Religion was exempted from it so the Cognizance of these things belonging to Princes they are all of them capable to receive the impressions of their Power pag. 53 54. And again having described the Nature and Original of the most Sovereign and Absolute Power upon Earth he adds That in all States where that Power is either already established or where it is about to establish it self by such means as nothing but an unjust Rebellion of Subjects can prevent the Hand of God ought to be acknowledged in it and the Secrets of his Providence adored and our Sins forsaken which provoke the King of Kings to permit such an Increase of Power and try to obtain that Liberty of the Divine Mercy which it is not lawful for us to give our selves and if it please not God to take off that Yoke from them that bear it or to help them escape it that fly from it it is matter of Conscience to undergo it as a Chastisement of God's sending and against which we cannot struggle without opposing him who sends it In a word this Power is a Power of Impunity which Sovereigns have in respect of their People The CONCLUSION IT were easie to sum up the Arguments of these eminent Men That Power is only from God and therefore only accountable to him that suffering for Righteousness sake is the Glory of Religion that Resistance is a damnable Sin that no Evil is to be done that the greatest good may come of it and that true Religion is tender of the Rights of Princes and teaches Obedience to them for Conscience sake and that the Devil of Rebellion does commonly transform himself into an Angel of Reformation But these things are so plainly affirmed in the foregoing Discourse that the Reader must be very weak or very negligent that does not observe them FINIS Omitted by the Printer Pag. 84. Line 15. Dr. Stillingfleet In his Preface to the Jesuits Loyalty THE same Learned Author exposing the absurd and inconsistent pretences of Loyalty in the Jesuits makes choice of this method To run the Parallel between the Deposing Doctrine of the Church of Rome and the Commonwealth Principles which he undertakes to prove and effectually makes out to agree in these three particulars 1. Pag. 4. In setting up a Court of Judicature over Sovereign Princes 2. In breaking the Oaths and Bonds of Allegiance Men had entered into 3. In justifying Rebellion on the account of Religion As to the first The setting up a Court of Judicature over Sovereign Princes The Jesuit he observes had endeavoured to come off by the idle distinction of a direct and indirect Power And the Commonwealthsmen says he do herein agree with them For they do not say that the People have a direct power over their Prince which were a contradiction in its self for Subjects to command their Sovereigns but only breach of Trust the People have an indirect Power to call their Princes to an account and to deprive them of their Authority Pag. 5. The main thing to be debated is says he whether Sovereign Princes have a Supreme and Independent Authority inherent in their Persons or no or whether they are to be accountable to others That upon Male-Administration they may be deprived of their Government This is the first and chief Point and the Republicans and Asserters of the Pope's Deposing Power are perfectly agreed in the Affirmative of the latter Question and only differ as to the Persons in whom the Power of calling Princes to an account doth lie whether in the Pope or in the People And even as to this they do not differ so much as Men may at first imagin For however the Primitive Christians thought it no flattery to Princes to derive their Power immediately from God and to make them accountable to him alone as being Superior to all below him as might be easily proved by multitudes

acknowledges to the World his Crime and begs God's and the Queen's pardon for what he had done as appears by more than one of his Letters which are preserved to this day being set out by Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon and some of them by John Fox and by this in particular Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury to Queen Mary Most lamentably mourning Coverd Collect. fol. 1 2 c. and moaning himself unto your Highness Thomas Cranmer altho unworthy either to write or speak unto your Highness yet having no person that I know to be Mediator for me and knowing your pitiful Ears ready to hear all pitiful Complaints and seeing so many before to have felt your abundant clemency in like case and now constrain'd most lamentably and with most penitent and sorrowful heart to ask mercy and pardon for my heinous Folly and Offence in consenting and following the last Will of our Sovereign Lord King Edward the Sixth your Grace's Brother which Will God knoweth ☜ God he knoweth I never liked nor never any thing grieved me so much as that your Grace's Brother did and if by any means it had been in me to have letted the making of that Will I would have done it and what I said therein as well to his Council as to himself divers of your Majesties Council can report but none so well as the Marquess of Northampton and the Lord Darcy which two were then present at the Communication between the King's Majesty and me I desired to talk with the King's Majesty alone but I could not be suffered and so I failed of my purpose for if I might have communed with the King alone and at good leisure my trust was that I should have altered him from that purpose but they being present my labor was in vain Then when I could not dissuade him from the said Will and both he and his Privy Council also informed me that the Judges and his Learned Council said That the Act of entailing the Crown made by his Father could not be prejudicial to him but that he being in possession of the Crown might make his Will thereof this seemed very strange to me but being the Sentence of the Judges and other his Learned Council in the Laws of this Realm as both he and his Council informed me methought it became not me being unlearned to the Law to stand against my Prince therein and so at length I was required by the King's Majesty himself to set my hand to his Will saying that he trusted that I alone would not be more repugnant to his Will than the rest of the Council were which words surely grieved my heart very sore and so I granted him to subscribe his Will and to follow the same which when I had set my hand unto I did it unfeignedly and without dissimulation for the which I submit my self most humbly unto your Majesty acknowledging mine Offence with most grievous and sorrowful Heart and beseeching your mercy and pardon which my Heart giveth me shall not be denied unto me being granted before to so many which travelled not so much to dissuade both the King and his Council as I did And whereas it is containad in two Acts of Parliament as I understand that I with the Duke of Northumberland should devise and compass the Deprivation of your Majesty from your Royal Crown surely it is untrue for the Duke never opened his mouth unto me to move me any such matter nor I him nor his Heart was not such towards me seeking long time my Destruction that he would either trust me in such a matter or think that I would be persuaded by him It was other of the Council that moved me and the King himself the Duke of Northumberland not being present Neither before neither after had I any privy communication with the Duke about that matter saving that openly at the Council Table the Duke said unto me that it became not me to say to the King as I did when I went about to dissuade him from the said Will. Now as concerning the State of Religion as it is used in this Realm of England at this present if it please your Higness to license me I would gladly write my mind unto your Majesty I will never ☞ God willing be Author of Sedition to move Subjects from the Obedience of their Heads and Rulers which is an Offence most detestable If I have uttered my mind to your Majesty being a Christian Queen and Governor of this Realm of whom I am most assuredly persuaded that your Gracious Intent is above all other things to prefer God's true Word his Honor and Glory if I have uttered I say my mind unto your Majesty then I shall think my self discharged for it lieth not in me but in your Grace only to see the Reformation of things that be amiss To private Subjects it appertaineth not to reform things but quietly to suffer that they cannot amend yet nevertheless to shew your Majesty my mind in things appertaining unto God methink it my Duty knowing that I do and considering the place which in times past I have occupied Yet will I not presume thereunto without your Grace's Pleasure first known and your License obtained whereof I most humbly prostrate to the ground do beseech your Majesty and I shall not cease daily to pray to Almighty God for the good preservation of your Majesty from all Enemies bodily and ghostly and for the encrease of all Goodness Heavenly and Earthly during my life as I do and will do whatsoever come of me From Oxford Apr. 23. And in his Letter to the Lords of the Council Ibid. Fol. 16. apud Fox tom 2. p. 1331. a little before his Martyrdom sent by Dr. Weston and by him opened and kept he expresseth himself after the same manner In most humble wise sueth unto your Right Honorable Lordships Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury beseeching the same to be a means for me unto the Queen's Highness for her mercy and pardon Some of you know by what means I was brought and trained unto the Will of our late Sovereign Lord King Edward the Sixth and what I spake against the same wherein I refer me to the Reports of your Honors And if still this particular Act of the Archbishop be urged as an Argument what his persuasion was as to the Rights of Monarchs it may as well be argued that Popery was then the true Religion because he once signed the Articles of it whereas his Recantation and his voluntary burning of his Right Hand were a true Discovery of his disowning the one as this his reiterated Application to the Queen for her pardon is a demonstration of his renouncing the other SECT II. And as the Archbishop refused a long time to sign this Will so the Lord Chief Justice * Heylin ubi supr p. 152. Fuller Ch. hist l. 8. p. 2 3 c. Montague refused for a long time

to draw it up nor would at last be brought to a compliance till he had his pardon sign'd for so doing and had been called Traitor by the Duke of Northumberland for his refusal his own Narrative which Fuller hath published declares That being an old weak man and without comfort in great fear and dread as were his Brethren with weeping eyes and sorrowful hearts they devised the said Book according to such Articles as were devised with the King 's proper hand above and beneath and on every side he thinking in his Conscience that the King never invented this matter of himself but by some wonderful false compass Montague determining with himself to be no Executor of the said Device whatsoever should chance of it Nor did he ever execute any Commission Proclamation or other Commandment from the Lady Jane or her Council but commanded his Son and Heir with twenty Men to join himself with the Buckinghamshire Men for the Defence of Queen Mary By this it appears that it was fear that swayed the greatest part of the Council and Judges at that time I say the greatest part of the Judges because * Sir James Hales one of the Justices of the Common Pleas Heyl. ubi supr ann 1553. p. 192 193. Fuller ubi supr p. 6. B●unet par ● l. 1. p. 223. Fox tom 2. p. 1392. carried the Honor of a resolute and constant Man a Man both religious and upright whom no importunity could prevail upon to subscribe contrary to both Law and Conscience and tho he was afterward most unworthily requited by Queen Mary for it yet the Council would not find a Bill against him for High Treason upon this very account He was a Man * Tom. 2. p. 1278 1282. says Fox both favouring true Religion and also an upright Judge as any hath been noted in this Realm Of both which excellent Qualifications he gave a publick demonstration in that after the Queen's countenancing and establishing of the Mass he at a publick Assize in Kent gave Charge upon the Statutes made in the time of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth for the Supremacy and Religion for which notwithstanding he had adventured his Life in Queen Mary's Cause in that he would not subscribe to the disheriting of her by the King's Will he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea Counter and Fleet and cruelly handled It is true the Severities of his Usage in Prison and the frightful Accounts which the Warden of the Fleet gave him of the Tortures appointed for Hereticks made him very melancholy in as much as he was as Fox continues his Story being perverted by Dr. Day Bishop of Chichester * Fox tom 2. p. 1331 1393. c. contented to say as they willed him or as Bishop Ridley in his Letter to Archbishop Cranmer words it he recanted perverted by Dr. Moreman And so just sometimes are God's proceedings with even a good man when he forsakes the ways of Truth as to leave him to walk in the paths of his own chusing to his ruin † Cons Bradfords Letter in Coverdale's Collect. p. 312. for the Consideration of this Apostacy so wrought upon him that he attempted in Prison to dispatch himself with a Pen-knife and after his Releasement was found drowned in a small River SECT III. And having entered into this Story I shall proceed a little further to shew how the Protestants of * Id. ibid. p. 1279 1280. Heyl. Bar. Full. ubi supra Suffolk were the Men who first resorted to Queen Mary when she was at Fremlingham Castle and gave her such aid and assistance as dispirited Northumberland and his Army and baffled all the Designs of her Adversaries And that it may be fully known what Principles swayed those good Men to assist their lawful Prince tho a known Papist and of a severe temper against an Usurper a profest Protestant and of other most amiable Qualifications it is worth the considering * Fox tom 2. p. 1726 1727. that when about the latter end of 1555 or the beginning of 1556 Commissioners were sent by Queen Mary and the Council into Norfolk and Suffolk among other Counties to enquire of matters of Religion an humble Supplication was exhibited by certain Inhabitants of the County of Norfolk wherein they profess ' That they were poor men but true faithful and obedient Subjects who as we have ever heretofore so intend we with God's Grace to continue in Christian Obedience unto the end and according to the word of God with all reverend fear of God to do our bounden duty to all those superior Powers whom God hath appointed over us doing as S. Paul saith Rom. 13. Let every soul be subject c. These Lessons right honorable Commissioners we have learned of the holy Word of God in our Mother Tongue 1. That the Authority of a King Queen c. is no tyrannical Usurpation but a just holy lawful and necessary Estate for man to be g●verned by and that the same is of God the Fountain and Author of Righteousness 2. That to obey the some in all things not against God is to obey God and to resist them is to resist God ☜ therefore as to obey God in his Ministers and Magistrates bringeth life so to resist God in them bringeth punishment and death The same Lesson have we learn'd of S. Peter saying Be ye subject to all human Ordinances c. 1 Pet. 2. After which with the Resolution and Courage of true Christian Confessors they profess That the Religion lately set forth by King Edward is such in our Consciences as every Christian Man is bound to confess to be the Truth of God to embrace the same in heart to confess it with mouth and if need require lose and forsake not only House and Land c. but also if God will so call them gladly to suffer all manner of Persecution and to lose their Lives in the Defence of God's Word and Truth We have learned the holy Prayer made for the Queen's Majesty wherein we learn that her Power and Authority is of God therefore we pray to God for her that she and all Magistrates under her may rule according to God's Word We think at present the unquiet multitude had more need to have these things more often and earnestly beaten and driven into them especially given in many places to stir and trouble than to take from them that blessed Doctrin whereby only they may to their Salvation be kept in quiet After which reflecting upon the Assistance which they and the Suffolk Men gave the Queen against the Lady Jane Grey they subjoin We protest before God we think P. 1728. if the holy Word of God had not taken some root among us ☜ we could not in times past have done that poor Duty of ours which we did in assisting the Queen our most dear Sovereign against her Grace's mortal Foe that then sought her Destruction It was our

to whom Vengeance pertaineth and he in his time will reward it And when Weston told Bradford how the People were by him procur'd to withstand the Queen Ap. Fox tom 2. pag. 1471. Ap. eund p. 1476. and Cover p. 294. Bradford answering again bad him Hang him up as a Traytor and a Thief if ever he encouraged any to Rebellion And in the Postscript to his Mother Brethren and Sisters he exhorts them to be obedient to the higher Powers that is In no Point either in hand or tongue rebel but rather if they command that which with good Conscience you cannot obey lay your Head on the Block and suffer whatsoever they shall do or say by Patience possess your Souls And of the Will of King Edward the Sixth Ap. eund p. 148 6 / 7. and Cover p. 287. he gives his opinion in his Letter to Sir J. Hales wherein after he had given him excellent Advice and set forth the Advantages of Persecution for a good Cause and commended him that he judged after Faith's fetch as he stiles it and the effects or ends of things looking not on the things which are seen but on the things which are not seen he adds Let the Worldlings weigh things and look upon the Affairs of Men with their worldly and corporal Eyes as did many in subscription of the King 's last Will and therefore they did that for the which they beshrew'd themselves But let us look on things with other manner of Eyes as God be prais'd you did in not doing that which you were desired and driven at to have done You then beheld things not as a man but as a man of God c. Ap. Fox p. 1494. Coverd pag. 282 283. And in his Admonition to certain professors and lovers of the Gospel to beware they fall not from it in consenting to the Romish Religion Among other holy Exhortations and Cautions my dearly beloved repent be sober and watch in Prayer be obedient and after your Vocations shew your Obedience to the higher Powers in all things that are not against God's Word therein acknowledg the sovereign Power of the Lord howbeit so that ye be no Rebels nor Rebellers for no Cause ☜ but because with good Conscience you cannot obey be patient Sufferers and the Glory and good Spirit of God shall dwell upon us In his Meditation on the Fifth Commandment v. Meditat. on the Lord's Pr. and Com. printed London 1622. pag. 117. written in the days of Edward the Sixth See pag. 123. he thus devoutly expresses himself In this Commandment thou O good Lord settest before mine Eyes them whom thou for Order sake and the more commodity of man in this life hast set in degree and authority before me comprehending them under the name of Father and Mother that I might know that I am of thee commanded to do that which is most equal and just as the very Brute Beasts do teach us that with childly Affection and Duty I should behave my self towards them i. e. I should honour them which comprehendeth in it Love Thankfulness and Obedience and that ☜ not so much because they be my Parents for it may be they will neglect the doing of their Duties towards me but because thou commandest me so to do whatsoever they do pag. 118 119. And whereas thou addest a Promise of long Life we may gather that a civil Life doth much please thee and receiveth here Rewards especially if we lead it for Conscience to thy Law And on the contrary part a disobedient Life to them that be in authority will bring the sooner thy Wrath and Vengeance in this Life Thus speaks the holiest and devoutest of all Queen Mary 's Martyrs as * Ch. Hist l. 8. p. 21. Fuller styles him SECT V. To the holy Bradford it is requisite to joyn his dear Friend the zealous Lawrence Saunders the man of God who said he was in Prison † Ap. Fox tom 2. p. 1358. till he was in Prison so fervently did he covet Martyrdom they both being entrusted at the same time with the Cure of Souls in the City of London he in his Letter to the Professors of the Gospel in the Town of Litchfield thus exhorts them to stedfastness in the Faith and Patience And now dearly beloved Coverd Coll. Pag. 188. we be taught by that heavenly Spirit which our God hath given unto us to seek Comfort in these times of Affliction not in hope of Rebellion or fulfilling unprofitable yea pestilent Welch Prophecies but in the most comfortable and glad tidings of the heavenly Promises assured in his dear Christ Let us most obediently kiss the Rod of our heavenly Father by obedient Submission to avoid all extremity that man may do unto us rather than to forgo Faith and a good Conscience When the good Bishop of Rome was hurried to Martyrdom in the Decian Persecution his Deacon S. Lawrence would not be left behind Nor is it fit that Lawrence Saunders should appear without his Curate and Brother in Sufferings George Marsh Ap Fox tom 2. p. 1426. Coverd page 671. who in his Ex●●rtatory Letter to the Professors of God's Word and true Religion in Langhton after much Discourse about Martyrdom Patience and Resolution says Give your selves continually to all manner of good Works amongst the which the chiefest are to be obedient to the Magistrates ☞ sith they are the Ordinance of God whether they be good or evil unless they command Idolatry and Ungodliness that is to say things contrary unto true Religion for then ought we to say with Peter We ought more to obey God than man but in any wise we must beware of Tumult Insurrection Rebellion or Resistance The Weapon of a Christian Man in this matter ought to be the Sword of the Spirit which is God's Word and Prayer coupled with Humility and due Submission with readiness of Heart rather to dye than to do any Ungodliness Christ also teacheth us that all Power is of God yea even the Power of the wicked which God causeth oftentimes to reign for our Sins and Disobedience towards him and his Word Whosoever then doth resist any Power doth resist the Ordinance of God and so purchase to himself utter Destruction and Undoing We must honour and reverence Princes and all that be in authority and pray for them and be diligent to set forth their Profit and Commodity And thus I commend you Brethren unto God Fox page 1428. and the word of his Grace c. And in another Letter of his to several of his Friends he exhorts them Obey with Reverence all your Superiors unless they command Idolatry or Ungodliness Thus also that hearty and zealous man of God Mr. Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester Coverd page 222. in his Letter to the Christian Congregation discoursing of the Excuses men make use of to hide their Sins says Another sort of Persons do make themselves a Cloak for the

resisteth the Ordinance of God. These are our Institutions these Doctrins are illustrious in our Books in our Sermons and in the manners and modesty of our People The same admirable Prelate in his Epistle Dedicatory to Queen Elizabeth before his defence of the Apology is still of the same mind blaming his Adversary Harding for debasing the Majesty of Kings ‖ sol 318.6 Mr. Harding concerning the Majesty and Right of Kings tells us they have their first authority by the positive Law of Nations and can have no more power than the People hath of whom they take their Temporal Jurisdiction as if he would say Emperors and Kings have none other Right of Government than it hath pleased their Subjects by composition to allow unto them thus he says and says it boldly as if God himself had never said per me Reges regnant by me and mine authority Kings bear rule over their Subjects or as if Christ our Saviour had never said unto Pilate the Lord Lieutenant thou shouldst have no power over me were it not given thee from above or as if St. Paul had not said there is no power but only from God they also hold that the Pope is the Head and Kings and Emperors the Feet If this Doctrine may once take root ☜ and be freely received amongst the Subjects it shall be hard for any Prince to hold his Right And in his Defence he declareth himself to be of the same mind part 1. p. 15. Mr. Harding knoweth right well we never Armed the People ☜ nor taught them to rebel for Religion against the Prince if any thing have at any time happen'd otherwise it was either some wilful rage or some fatal fury it was not our counsel it was not our Doctrine we teach the People as St. Paul doth To be subject to the higher powers not only for fear but also for conscience we teach them that whoso striketh with the sword by private authority shall perish with the sword if the Prince happen to be wicked or cruel or burthenous we teach them to say with St. Ambrose Arma nostra sunt preces lacrymae tears and prayers be our weapons and when ‖ p. 16. Harding himself had said that he condemn'd all such attempts that any Subject or Subjects whatsoever of their own private authority should take Arms against their Prince for matters of Religion why replies Jewel except you only the case of Religion Is it lawful by your Grant for the Subject in any other case either of Life or of Government to Arm himself against his Prince and would you thus perswade the People Is this your Religion Is this your Doctrine Anno 1565. Alexander Nowel Dean of St. Pauls set forth his reproof of Mr. Dorman 's proof and in it vindicates the Church of England from the scandalous imputation pr. at Lond. 4 to p. 94 95. that it taught Men to be Rebels Corah Dathan and Abyron rebelled against Moses and Aaron who were specially by God appointed to be their Governors and his Ministers but what appertaineth that to us who do obey our natural Prince appointed by God to be our Governor and all as well Civil Magistrates as Ecclesiastical Ministers of God under our Prince And therefore do we as we must needs renounce the authority of that foreign Usurper of Rome it is you Papists that are the Successors of the Rebels Corah c. who leaving the Obedience due to your own natural Princes for the serving of a Foreign false Usurper of Rome do rebel not only against Moses that is to say your Governor by God appointed but against God himself also we acknowledg that as Moses and Aaron were Gods Ministers by him appointed to govern his peculiar People Israel so hath God likewise appointed to every several Country their Moses and Aaron their Princes and Pastors or Bishops which ought likewise to be obeyed as Moses and Aaron were to be obey'd of the Israelites and that those who do disobey them do sin by Rebellion ☞ p. 96. as did Corah c as we are most far from Rebelling against our natural Sovereign and other of God's Ministers appointed to govern us and therefore no partakers of Corah and his fellows Rebellion so trust we in God to be most far from their most horrible destruction and we give warning to Mr. Dorman c. who for maintenance of a Forein Pharaoh against their conscience as is to be feared do disobey their own natural Prince and that upon a pretence of holiness and spirituality and are therein most like to Corah c. rebelling against their own special Governors by God appointed as they did that they make speed by unfeigned repentance to mollifie God's most just wrath that they follow not Corah c. in horrible damnation as they have followed them in damnable Rebellion Anno 1569. an exhortation to the Queens Majesties poor deceived Subjects of the North drawn into Rebellion by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland was printed by allowance and in it they are thus accosted Christians I cannot term you that have defac'd the Communion of Christians and in destroying the Book of Christ's most Holy Testament renounced your parts by his Testament bequeath'd unto you their pretences were the foul disorder of the Realm much impoverish'd far indebted the defrauding of due execution of Justice that no Subject can have his Right by Law but falsly whereas they are better taught far doth the proportion of duty of Subjects to the Prince exceed the duty of Servants to Masters or Children to Parents yea or of Wives to their Husbands the very nearest conjoyning in humane fellowship even so far as a Realm exceeds a private Family but if one of your own Servants Children or Wives should do that without your will nay against your will and express commandment that your Captains and you have attempted without and against the Queens Highness pleasure would you account them good Servants good Children or good Wives if they shall put on armour and weapon and become terrible or threaten force to the Master Father Husband or the rest of the Family if the case were your own you would more mislike it The Prince is the Husband of the Common wealth married to the Realm and the same by ceremony of a ring shall you resist her authority and refuse her blessing and say you be her good children Shall your Captains forsake her Service and say they are good Servants note withal how likely they are to profess a true Religion that hold this Principle ☜ to keep no faith use no loyalty regard no oaths and promises made with attestation of God and avowing themselves to renouncing of Heaven and to eternal damnation they regard no Religion that go so irreligiously to work all is but show and hypocrisie Reed I beseech you the excellent Treatise of Sir John Cheek Knight of the hurt of Sedition there see as in a glass

it was too great for him to wield and too high also for him to aspire unto Such was the Humility of this excellent Man the Friend of God to the utter Condemnation and Confusion of all those whose whole study and endeavour evermore hath been and is at this day to undermine those which be in authority to invade and occupy other mens Kingdoms to wring the Scepter and Sword out of Princes hands This is a Vice never enough to be detested considering the manifold and great Mischiefs which have come thereby to Heaven to Earth to Angels to Men to all Kingdoms and Commonwealths to the whole World. This ambitious Man is a Thief is a Homicide if it lye in his power he is a Regicide he is the Parricide of his Countrey I will only put you in mind of one only Lesson which we are taught by this Verse which is this that it is much better for us sperare quàm aspirare to trust in Almighty God than to aspire for in aspiring there be many Inconveniences but the anchor-hold of Hope is firm and sure c. Bartholomew Clerk Fidelis servi subdito inside'i responsie Lond. 1573. anno 1573 writing against that virulent tho learned Rebel Saunders avers That the Majesty of Princes is by no means to be violated if they are good we are to thank God who hath bless'd his People with so divine a Benefit but if they are evil we are to submit our Necks to their Tyranny or to fly to another City we must at no time make resistance by Force and Arms by Tumult and Slaughter For this we ought to believe that evil Kings are appointed by God for the punishment of our Sins and are sent into the World as God's Scourges SECT III. Anno 1590. Dr. Babington printed his Questions and Answers upon the Commandments he being the Year after made B. of Landaffe and saccessively of Exon and Worcester and on the Fifth Commandment he says p. 2●2 That by Parents are meant such as are so by Dignity and Office such as are Magistrates over the People Masters over their Servants p. 203. c. Magistrates are only to be obey'd in the Lord p. 208. contrary to Prety and Charity must neither they command nor we do Many Servants take their Masters Unkindness for an excuse of their Disobedience or Infidelity in their Services which indeed must not be so saith S. Peter but be they never so froward yet we must do all Duty if we be Servants and even joy heartily in that Cross that notwithstanding our faithful and painful Duty we suffer for we serve not them but God in them And whereas some may be apt to limit this Doctrine to Servants and to exempt Subjects who are by parity of reason obliged the same Bishop in his Notes on Exodus 18. says p. 27. ● ed. Lond. fol. 1637. The Duty of Subjects toward their Governours is 1. To think most reverently of their Places as an Authority appointed of God for our good and not as some Men do outwardly to obey them and inwardly to think them but necessary Evils For S. Peter's words teach more when he saith Honor the King and Solomon when he biddeth Fear God and the King for in the word Honor Peter includeth sinceram candidam existimationem a sincere and unfeigned reverence of them and Solomon joyning the King with God sheweth a holy and reverent regard of him to be due to him from men subject to him that also in S. Paul hath great efficacy in it not for fear but for Conscience sake as if he should say even what duty is done ☜ or left undone to him is done or left undone to God himself from whom their Authority and Power is whosoever therefore the person is the calling is of God. Agian after this inward reverend Conceit must follow outward Obedience to their Laws in paying Tribute c. Let every Soul be subject to the high Powers saith the Apostle because he that resisteth ☜ resisteth to his own damnation The Magistrate may sometime be weak but God will ever be strong to punish any Contempt of his Ordinance In no case therefore may we intrude our selves into their Offices and meddle with publick matters without a calling For this is not to obey them but to rule with them what is amiss to them must be signified and their help expected unless they appoint us and then we are not private Persons any more but publick for such business be they never so evil yet their place is of God by whom only Kings do rule Dan. 2.23.37 either to our good in his Mercy or to our punishment in his Justice Tyrants are suffer'd sometimes to rule for the punishment of the evil and the reward of the good saith S. Ambrose but how will you think l. 2. de Cain Abel c. ● for the reard of the good The same Ambrose notably saith for answer Never did the Gentiles more for the Church than when they commanded the Christians to be beaten proscribed and killed for than did Religion make that a Reward an Honor and a Crown which infidelity reputed a Punishment S. Austin saith There is no Power but of God and therefore our Saviour told Pilate He could have no Power at all over him except it were given him from the Father but God doth suffer the Hypocrite to rule for the Sin of the People and therefore that Sin must be taken away that the Plague of having a Tyrant Ruler may cease What manner of King was Nez buchadnezzar c. if a King shall do as it is said 1 Sam. 8.11 c. he is God's Instrument thus to chasten us and tho things do not shew what he ought to do yet they shew what Subjects ought to suffer without Disloyalty if they be done Read Jerem. 29.7 God forbid saith David that I should lay my hand on the Lord 's Anointed and yet Saul sought his Life Who shall lay his hand on the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless c. The Wife is not freed from her Husband when he is ill nor the Child from his Father no more are Subjects from their Prince But in such cases God the only Helper is to be thought of and prayed unto who can give a Moses for a Pharoah an Othniel for a Cushan who can bring down the Pride of Tyrus by the Egyptians and then of the Egyptians by the Assyrians the Assyrians again by the Chaldeans by the Medes and Persions c. yet carrying a gracious Ear and Eye to Prayer proceeding from a penitent Heart 〈◊〉 Not. 〈◊〉 Gen. 14. page 43 44. c. Rebellion is a bad course to get Liberty where Subjection is due For Rebellion God never loved never prospered but ever plagued and the fearful destruction of Corah and his Company Absalom and his Company c. say as much Papists charge us that we are no good Friends to Princes and

other Potentate play the Kite with them both as the Turks did with the Hungarians c. 3. p. 57 c. That Princes may be chastised by their Subjects your Proofs are Two one is drawn from certain Examples the other from the good Success and Successors which usually have followed Slender Threds to draw any Man to your Opinion There is no Villany so vile which wants Example and by the secret yet just Judgment of God divers evil Actions are carried with appearance of good success Pag. 61. When Saul persecuted David he defended himself no otherwise than by flight During this pursuit Saul fell twice into his power once he did not only spare but protect him the other time his Heart did smite him for that he had cut away the Lap of his Garment lastly he caused the Messenger to be slain who upon request and for pity had further'd as he said the Death of that sacred King. We have a Precept of Obedience which is the Mould wherein we ought to fashion our Actions God only is superior to Princes who useth many Instruments in the execution of his Justice but his Authority he hath committed unto none Pag. 68. The Examples of Suintilla and other Gothick Kings in Spain is answer'd by saying that the Kingdom was not then setled in Succession And then he shews the illegality of the Proceedings against King John Pag. 72 73 74 75. Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. and adds Three Causes are commonly insinuated by you for which a King may be deposed Tyranny Insufficiency and Impiety But what Prince could hold his State what People their Quiet assured if this your Doctrine should take place How many good Princes doth Envy brand with one of these Marks What Action of State can be so ordered that either blind Ignorance or set Malice will not easily strain to one of these Heads Every execution of Justice every demand of Tribute or Supply shall be claimed Tyranny Every unfortunate Event shall be exclaimed Insufficiency Every kind of Religion shall by them of another Sect be proclaimed Impiety But are not Princes subject to Law C 4. p. 81 82 c. and Order Answ I will not deny but there is a Duty for Princes to perform but how prove you that their Subjects have power to depose them if they fail The people may so give away their Authority that they cannot resume it and few Princes in the World hold their Estates by Grant of the people If the Prince hath no power but by Commission from the People then all Estates are popular Our Laws do acknowledge supreme Authority in the Prince within the Realm and Dominions of England neither can Subjects bear themselves either superior 1 El. 1. or equal to their Sovereign or attempt violence either against his Person or Estate No Prince is Sovereign C. 5. p. 92. who acknow ledgeth himself either subject or accountable to any but to God. Did David bear Arms against his Anointed King ☜ Did he ever lift up his Eye lids against him Did he ever so much as defend himself otherwise than by flight What then shall we say unto you who to set up Sedition and Tumult abuse all Divine and Human Writings in whatsoever you believe will advance your purpose who spend some Speech of Respect unto Kings for Allurement only to draw us more deep into your deceit c. The Coronation Oath is only a free P. 102. Royal Promise to discharge that Duty which God doth impose The Prophets P. 105. the Apostles Christ himself hath taught us to be obedient to Princes ☜ tho both Tyrants and Infidels This ought to stand with us for a thousand Reasons to submit our selves to such Kings as it pleaseth God to send unto us without either judging or examining their Qualities their Hearts are in God's Hand they do his Service sometimes in preserving sometimes in punishing us If they abuse any part of their power let them assuredly expect that God will dart his vengeance against them with a most stiff and dreadful Arm. In the mean season we must not oppose our selves otherwise than by humble Suits and Prayers acknowledging that those Evils are always just for us to suffer which are many times unjust for them to do If we break into disorder we resemble the Giants who sealed the Skies C. 6. 116 117. It was alledged in behalf of some Cities in France that they were not Rebels because they had not professed Allegiance unto Henry the Fourth but the chiefest Lawyers of our Age did resolve that forasmuch as they were original Subjects even Subjects by Birth they were Rebels in bearing Arms against their King altho they had never professed Allegiance But the admission of the people say you hath often prevailed against Right of Succession ☞ So have Pyrates against Merchants so have Mutherers and Thieves against true meaning Travellers Chap. 8 p. 146 147. But may not a man trespass on such Laws for the good of the Realm Answ What Conscience can any men have in defiling their Faith Such Consciences you endeavour to frame in all men P. 156 157. to break an Oath with as great facility as a Squirrel can crack a Nut. In what a miserable condition should Princes live if their State depended upon the pleasures of the people in whom company takes away shame and every man may lay fault on his Fellow How could they command P. 164. Who would obey c. It seems strange to reason to plant Religion under the Obedience of Kings not only careless thereof but cruel against it But when we consider that the Jews did commonly forsake God in prosperity and seek him in distress that the Church of Christ was more pure more zealous more entire I might also say more populous when she travelled with the storm in her face than when the wind was either prosperous or calm We may learn thereby no further to examine but to admire and embrace the unsearchable Wisdom and Will of God. P. 170. c. God hath taught by the Apostle S. Paul that whosoever resists the higher powers which at that time were Infidels receive unto themselves damnation ☞ You teach that whosoever doth not in the like case resist doth damnably offend were not the Spirit of Division otherwise called the Devil seated in your Soul you would not thus openly oppose the Settlings of your rotten Brain against the express and direct Sentence of God. The Apostle teacheth us to be obedient to higher powers for conscience sake and not for any private respect P. 173 c. You whose Office is to pray to instruct Men in pure Devotion to settle their Souls in piety and peace you take upon you the Policies of State you read and deface the Reputation of Kings you make your selves both Judges and Moderators of all their Actions allowing them to flie no further than you give them Wings

great sin This perhaps he spoke like a Stoick but it was also spoken like a great Lawyer for the Roman Lawyers were great followers of that Sect of Philosophers Rom. 13. the Power of a Prince is by Divine Right not by the sole Constitution of Men. Suppose a Prince going about to destroy his own Country p. 103. as Nero did even Tyranny is more tolerable than Anarchy 〈◊〉 what happened when Nero was slain In the Reigns of the three following Princes p. 105 106 107. which lasted but a few Months more blood was spilt than in the 14 years of Nero 's Government When it is objected that we owe more to our Country than our Prince he flatly denies it affirming that the very Heathens knew that God sent evil Princes and that to reclaim Men from their sins and that God hath left us remedies for such evils such as repentance of our Vices obedience to our Sovereign ☞ thereby to encline them to be kind and gentle patience to take off the edge of their fury p. 112. and sighs and tears If the case of the Low Countries be objected and that our excellent Queen Elizabeth both praised and defended them the same answer must serve for this as for all examples that we must judge not according to examples but according to Laws or the case of the Men of Libnah who rebelled against Jehoram 2 Chron. 21.10 be insisted on we must answer says Drusius and so we have another witness to this truth the Learned Drusius that every action that is related in Holy Scripture is not praised nor was the cause good that because the Prince had deserted the true Religion therefore they might desert him for the Christians did not desert the Apostate Julian ☞ and that action is not to be made a pattern that is done contrary to reason and law nor does our defence of the Dutch confirm the Justice of their cause for we may justly defend those who themselves are engaged in an unjust War p. 116. as I have in more than one place proved as to this fact of Queen Elizabeth If Equals have no power one over another how much less hath an inferior power ove● his superior a Subject over his Prince he shall be restrain'd by his superior who is God is it not in every Mans mouth that a Prince hath no other Judge but God Shame and conscience p. 118. p. 121 122 123. and honour may check them but not their Subjects Obj. But do not Aquinas Luther Peter Martyr and Beza allow of resistance Answ the book de regimine Principis is not Aquinas 's says Sigonius lib. 17. de regn Ital. Luther was deceived by the German Lawyers and brought to alter his opinion for the worse and what he spoke he said only of feudataries and of a Defensive War. Martyr was swayed by examples not reason as if because the Jews resisted the Macedonians and Romans whose Subjects they were not therefore Subjects may resist their lawful Sovereigns the example of St. Ambrose does not reach this case for he used no force nor had he any right to deny the temple to the Emperor which was his and Beza says only p. 12● c. that the Laws must authorize such resistance But there are cogent reasons to encline to the practice of Passive Obedience 1. It is a rule that we must not speak evil of the Prince 2. Force towards a Father is unlawful therefore towards a Prince 3. A less evil is not to be removed if a greater will follow 4. If a Man in defence of his Mother ought not to resist his Father neither ought he to resist his Prince in defence of his Country 5. No one can depose a Prince but he who made him but the People did not make him c. 6. No evil is to be done that good may come of it 7. How can a King have absolute Power when he hath so many Ephori over him as he hath Subjects 8. The Authority of the Ancients Plato and Tully If it be objected that Plato says that Parents when they grow mad must be restrain'd and that others say that a Tyrant is a Madman I answer we constitute a Guardian over a mad Prince ☜ but we deny that a cruel Tyrannical Prince is to be reckoned a Madman Plato and Tully and Bartolus are of the opinion p. 132. that there can be no just cause of rebelling against or resisting a Prince The sentence of Mr. l'Hospital is observable that the Faction of the League was very potent the defence the Hugonets made seem'd necessary but that only the King's cause was just that both the Hugonots and Leaguers were guilty of waging War against their King but the Hugonots in a lesser degree because the necessity of self defence is more excusable than the Ambition of a Crown bu● no Cause was just but the King 's for there cannot be any just cause of resisting a lawful Prince SECT VII The treasonable Design of Garnet and his Accomplices gave occasion to the making and imposing the Oath of Allegiance as good Laws generally owe their Rise and Original to men's ungoverable Passions and irregular Manners but no sooner did the Oath appear but out came two Breves of Pope Paul the Fifth to forbid the taking of it and Cardinal Bellarmine's Letter to the Archpriest Blackwel upon the same Account To these Adversaries that Learned King wrote an Answer Tripici nodo triplex cuneus and immediately Books multiplied on both sides to a great number Bellarmine Gretser Suarez Eudaemon Johannes Scioppius Becanus Parsons and others attempting to relieve the baffled Papacy while Bishop Andrews Bishop Barlow Bishop Buckeridge Bishopt Abbot Bishop Moreton Bishop Prideaux Isaac Casaubon Burhil Thompson Collins and others stoutly defended their King as they ought And tho their Arguments seem particularly levelled against the Papists yet by parity of reason they condemn all such for the like Opinions and Practices whoever asserts or is guilty of them It were a Subject worth a wise man's pains who had abilities and leisure to give an accurate Account of that Controversie but I shall only cite the Authors as they occur and make for the present purpose The King's Opinion we need not doubt of since the severest Enemies of this Doctrin confess that it hath been a commendable policy in Princes to popagate such Opinions nor have the Atheistical Politicians spared even Solomon himself as he served his own and not the interest of Truth when he said By me Kings reign Bishop Andrews's Sentiments have been published in the first part of this History to which may be added other Passages in the Writings of the same Author * Vol. of Serm. p. 803 804. Upon misconceiving this point some have fallen into a fancy that his anointed may forfeit their Tenure and so cease to be his If after he is anointed he grow defective prove a Tyrant fall to favor

infant Age of the Church whom Tortures made happy Infamy glorious the Contempt of Gold rich and the Crown not of a Kingdom but Martyrdom made august And as Truth is the same in all Climates so was this learned Man in whatsoever place Providence fixt for when he came into England he had the same Notions as fully appears by his Epipistle to Fronto Ducaeus written Ann. 1611. wherein discoursing of S. Gregory Nazianzen's Observation of old that Mens preposterous Zeal had destroy'd their Charity he adds But Good God! Pag. 82 Lond. 1611. Had the Father lived in our Age what Complaints would he have made To see so many Men acted by a preposterous Zeal under the pretext of Religion and Piety most wickedly and irreligiously not only break the Peace of the Church about Trifles but undertake Rebellions Treasons most cruel Massacres of innocent People overthrowing of lawful Governments and the Murther of Princes this is your privilege at this time of day as he addresses himself to the Roman Catholicks that not only the grave Citizens and Senators of a Nation assembled in a general Convention tho what they should do of this kind is unlawful but even the Mobile assume to themselves a Power of Abdicating Kings forfeiting their Kingdoms and giving them to whom they please and of abolishing all Laws under the pretext of Piety which Villany no Religion tho never so profane and impious except yours meaning the Popish ever allows P. 100 c. or hath ever formerly allowed Garnet 's chief Crime was that he had either forgotten or neglected S. Paul 's Advice consenting to the doing of evil that good might come thereof this he ought not to have done had he demonstrated himself a true follower of Jesus Christ for what Precept or Example bad he of our holy Saviour for his so doing Who was a Lamb without blemish and reprov'd the preposterous Zeal of James and John the Apostles with You know not what spirit you are of i. e. You think your Zeal is commendable which hates the Samaritans and would destroy them but I do not require such a cruel sanguinary and destructive Zeal from my Followers what I require is Charity that is Patient Edifying and which covers a multitude of Sins this I approve of and this I would have practised by those to whom I am to leave my Peace This he would not have done had he remembred P. 104 105. how severely our holy Saviour chastised Peter when he rashly cut off Malchus 's Ear. But Zealots are very seldom removed from their purposes by any consideration of Laws either divine or humane whatever School teaches this Doctrine is not Christian it is the School of Antinhrist and of Satan for the Devil was a Murderer from the beginning ☞ a true Abeddon and Apollyon but the Doctrine of our holy Saviour Jesus Christ is perfectly contrary to this for he prescribed no other remedy to his Disciples against all manner of Injuries but Flight Patience and Prayers that rejoycing in hope being patient in Tribulation and praying continually as the Apostle advises they might triumph over all their Adversaries These were the only Arms that the Apostles used wherever they laid the foundations of the Gospel these were the only Weapons which the Fathers of the ancient Church only knew no man took Arms or raised Rebellion against his Prince these were the fruits of the Hildebrandine Doctrine which flyes at the Crowns of Emperors Kings and Princes c. SECT IX Against this modest and learned Epistle of Isaac Casaubon did Eudaemon Johannes write which Dr. Prideaux * Pr. at Oxford 1614. c. 2. p. 76. afterward the King's Professor of Divinity and Bishop of Worcester answered in which he compares the Jesuits and Buchanan and Knox together branding them justly with the name of Traytors as King James had done before him and avers P. 107. that the Popish Writers bred in the School of Hildebrand call a lawful King a Tyrant if excommunicated by the Pope whereas a Tyrant according to the Doctrine of the Sorbon and of the Men of ancient sincerity and simplicity is opposed to a lawful Prince and signifies one who hath invaded an Empire that is not his own by Force and evil Arts and then adds If an Apostate should reign in France P. 109. or England who exceeded Julian or the Grand Signior it is not the duty of his Subjects to dethrone him For who can lift up his hand against the Lord's anointed and be innocent ☜ Did the Israelites attempt any thing against Nebuchadnezzar or the Christians against Julian and the Heathen Emperors Did they use any other Weapons besides their Prayers and their Tears Let us use these Arms and if the King do amiss let us expect when God will punish him let not his Subjects tumultuously oppose him And whereas Mariana had affirmed P. 123. that when Princes openly invade the Rights of their Subjects and there is no other way left to maintain the publick Safety then it is lawful to take Arms and murder Kings he replies here is no mention made of the Patience of the Subjects the just Judgments of God the Obligation of Oaths the sacred Authority of Princes conferr'd on them immediately by God the Duty of Subjection not only when we live easie under the Government for our Profit but when we suffer under it for Conscience sake by the Maxims of the Jesuits P. 130 131. the People are made the King's Judges to enquire into his Faults and to punish him as they think fit when he does amiss What difference is there if this be true between the Rights of Princes and their Subjects A Subject breaks the Laws and he is punish'd by the King the King violates his Promises and his Subjects tell him We will not have this Man longer to rule over us Admirable security of the Persons and Crowns of Princes We obey our Princes for Conscience sake P. 60. we believe them to be immediately constituted by God if they rule well they are God's greatest Blessing if they degenerate into Apostasie or Tyranny they are God's Scourges to punish the Sins of a People as * Rom. 13. and in 1 Pet. 2. Calvin says truly If a King abuse his Power he shall render an account to God in time but for the present he doth not lose his Authority We urge not Compact but we pour out our Prayers our Bishops do advise not threaten † Id. Serm. on Gowry's Conspir p. 4 6 7. The same learned Bishop in his Sermon on the 5th of August at S. Maries before the University preaches the same Doctrine When occasion is offer'd howsoever they otherwise strive to appear good Subjects Traytors will be ever ready to vent their Treasons Hypocritical Traytors watch their times and are ready to vent their Villany upon the least advantage In the 2 Kings 19.37 where we read that Adrammelech and Sharezer slew their

them by second Causes and without them but because God doth this sometimes by the consent of the People as he transferr'd the Kingdom of Saul to David and the Kingdom of Joram to Jehu and sometimes doth it without the Peoples consent as he transferr'd the Kingdom of the Canaanites to the Jews that of the Medes to Cyrus that of the Persians to Alexander and of many other Kingdoms to the Romans will it therefore follow that it is lawful for the People without God without any express relation of his Will to dethrone their Kings and take from them their Authority ☜ If God and the People make Kings then the People without God and without an express revelation of his Will cannot depose their Kings God is the chief and principal Agent the People are only God's Instrument as therefore the Instrument doth nothing without the Artificer so whither can the People do any thing in this case without God. After this he proves Lib 2. cap. 20. pag. 614 615. that both the Jews and Christians did bear with as their Duty obliged them idolatrous and tyrannical Kings and then adds to this practice of the Church and of all Antiquity the best Interpreter of Scriptures I will subjoin the Institution of Kings All power is of God it is his Ordinance and whoso resists it resists the Ordinance of God From the same God had David and Samuel Solomon and Jeroboam Hezekiah and Ahab Manasses and Josiah Nero and Constantine Julian and Theodosius their Authority of good Kings it is said By me Kings reign Of evil Kings I have given them a King in my wrath Good Kings are given in mercy evill Kings in fury but all are given by God therefore all must be obey'd altho not in all things we must not resist any but must either do that which the King commands justly or suffer what he cruelly inflicts For the Obedience of Subjects falls under the divine Precept natural or moral in the Fifth Commandment which is also confirm'd by Christ in the Gospel by his Precept Give to Cesar the things that are Cesar 's and by his Example who paid Tribute and suffer'd a most shameful Death under Pilate who rather forfeited his Life than he would forfeit his Obedience and by his Apostles Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers to Heathens and infidel Persecutors who endeavour'd to draw their Subjects over to their Infidelity Such a one was Nero such were the rest of the Persecutors and yet these were to be submitted to not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Fear God honour the King and of this Honour the chiefest part is Obedience These divine Precepts natural moral evangelical are indispensable and bind the Conscience nor is it likely that God and Christ and the Apostles would have deliver'd such Precepts as they would not have to be observ'd by Christians If thy King be good he is thy nursing Father if he be evil he tryes thee if he be a Persecutor he exercises thee if he be godly he is exercised with thee What can a Christian Soul here contemn Will it contemn its nursing Father who affords it Necessaries that it may be brought to Heaven Or will it contemn him who tryes it who exercises it under the Cross that it may shine gloriously in the Kingdom of Heaven The Enemies to this Doctrine are 1. the Anabaptists and Libertines who disown all Magistracy and throw off its Yoak and of Stephen of Hallestat who would have none but good Magistrates obey'd 2. All Seditions Tumults Wars c. by means of which the Christian Religion is evil spoken of among the Heathen as if it were a traiterous Religion and an Enemy to Kings the Name of God is blasphemed and the Enemies of the Gospel encouraged to persecute the Church As to the instance of Athalia Lib. 2. cap. 38. p. 919. he avers that she was Queen only de facto and not de jure having cruelly against Nature slain the Sons of Ahaziah her Son being incited by Ambition that she got the Kingdom by Tyranny without any Right or Title that she kept it by Force and Arms that she was not a lawful Queen but a most wicked Usurper There is a vast difference between a Tyrant that hath a just Title to his Crown and a Tyrant who hath no Right ☞ who hath usurp'd a Kingdom by force if a lawful King turn Tyrant neither his Bishops nor his Nobles nor his People can compel him to rule according to Law God only can restrain him who gives such a King in his fury and for the Sins of a Nation causes a Hypocrite to reign over them for such a Tyrant having a just Title to his Throne is ordained by God and he that resists him resists the Ordinance of God but if any Man usurp a Kingdom by Force and Tyranny he is not a King but an Enemy and it is lawful for any man to resist him as he would do an Enemy Francis Godwin Ann●●s of Q. Mary pag. 266 267. Bishop of Hereford publish'd his Annals An. 1616. and therein treating of the Lady Jane's assuming the Crown which he truly says she was forc'd by her Parents and Friends Ambition to accept and which she received with Tears but resigned with Joy and the march of the Duke of Northumberland's Army against Queen Mary to whom the Londoners when they march'd through the City did not wish success he observes the Londoners stood very well affected in Point of Religion so did also for the most part the Suffolk and the Norfolk Men and they knew Mary to be absolute for Popery ☞ but the English are in their due respects to their Prince so loyally constant that no regards no not pretext of Religion can alienate their Affections from their lawful Sovereign whereof the miserable Case of the Lady Jane will anon give a memorable Example for although her Faction had laid a strong foundation and had most artificially raised their Superstructure yet as soon as the true and undoubted Heir did but manifest her Resolution to vindicate her Right this accurate Pile presently fell and dissolved as it were in the twinkling of an Eye and that chiefly by their endeavour of whom for their Religion the Lady Jane might have presumed herself assured And the learned and godly Prelate Ridley who I wish ☜ had not err'd in this matter when he preach'd up the Lady Jane's Title P. 270. was scarce heard out with patience by those who were his particular Charge And as the Earl of Arundel said the Friends of Northumberland had no regard to the Apostolical Rules That Evil must not be done that good may come thereof and that we must obey even evil Princes not for Fear but for Conscience SECT XI Anno 1610. Dr. David Owen the only Batchelour of Divinity publish'd at Cambridge a little Treatise called Herod and Pilate reconciled to shew the Concord of Papist and

Puritan against Scripture Fathers Councils and other Orthodoxal Writers for the Coercion deposition and killing of Kings and the Title is a sufficient declaration what the Author's judgment was the Book it self being in many places both as to Argument and Style very agreeable to the Treatise called Deus Rex set forth by the King's Order he proves in the First Chapter that Kings are not punishable by man but reserv'd to the Judgment of God by the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures and in the subsequent Chapters he proves the same by the Testimony of the Fathers and other ancient Writers and he briefly gives his Opinion * P. 24. Chap. 4. but very fully Be the King for his Religion impious for his Government unjust for his Life licentious the Subject must endure him the Bishop must reprove him the Counsellor must advise him all must pray for him and no mortal man hath Authority to disturb or displace him The same Author Ann. 1622. printed at Cambridg his Anti-Paraeus in confutation of † Ambergae 1612. David Paraeus's Book De Jure Regum Brincipum contra Bellarminum Becanum c. who disallowing the Pope's Claim invested the Power over Princes in the People In the Preface of this Book the Dr. shews the consonancy and agreeableness of the Popish and Disciplinarian Principles and in the Book refutes from the dictates of nature Thes 1. p. 3 c. the laws of Nations Civil and Canon Scriptures Fathers and most eminent Reformed Divines that the Power and Jurisdiction of Kings is not founded in compact as if the Majesty of Princes were derived from the People and limited by them but that P. 16 17. as God is the Supreme Lord of all who judges all his Creatures and is judged of none so Kings and Princes who judge and punish others can be judg'd and punish'd by no one save God alone to whose only power they are subject this David understanding though guilty of Adultery and Murder implores the divine mercy against thee only have I sinned for I acknowledg no other Superior on Earth but thee who can call me to account give sentence against me or punish me for my sin the reason is the King is the head of the body politick but the members ought not to judge the head because they are subject nor to cut it off for then they cease to be members and this the Heathen Poet knew and averred that Kings have a power over their several Subjects but God only hath an Empire and Authority over Kings Nor will the publick safety and tranquillity be maintain'd without such an unaccountable power in Kings for the Monarch who is opposed by his rebellious Subjects although they are much too strong for him will call to his assistance all his neighbouring Kings and Confederates will list Foreign Forces to vindicate himself and the miseries of such a War will be a poor comfort to such an infatuated Nation P. 18. but suppose there were such a power in the People to call their Kings to account which we ought not to grant ☞ Nero perish'd but the case of Rome was not better'd by it for in the next year after his death it felt more calamities and was imbrued in more blood than in the whole nine years of Nero 's Tyranny Rome when she cast off her Kings did not abrogate p. 19. but change the Tyranny and Athens drove out one Tyrant and brought in thirty ☞ I do confidently assert that all Tyranny whether it uses violence against God or Man ought to be suffer'd ought not to be abrogated till he puts an end to it who alone girds and ungirds the loins of Kings p. 20. Solomon was guilty of Polygamy and Idolatry but lost not his Crown and Dignity Ahab slew Naboth Tyrannically Banished and put to death the Prophets persecuted the true Religion and established the Worship of Baal by his Authority but neither the inferior Magistrate nor the People presumed to resist his Tyranny it is true Jehu did so but it was not by any power that the Laws gave him but by an extraordinary Commission from Heaven and that which could not then be done without an Oracle from Heaven cannot now be done without the contempt of God's Majesty the contumely of Kingly Power and the ruin of the Commonwealth Christ who lived under the Empire of Tiberius the Authority of Herod and Government of Pilate p. 22. the Apostles who flourish'd under Caligula Claudius Nero and Domitian the Primitive Christians who lived under Persecutors for three hundred years Liberius Hosius Athanasius Nazianzen and many other Fathers who for a thousand years after the Birth of Christ watered the Church with their holy Lives and sound Doctrine were all ignorant of this Mystery that Princes may be resisted by their Subjects if they are blessed who suffer persecution for righteousness sake p. 25. then they undoubtedly shall not be blessed who refuse to suffer persecution for righteousness sake for in that they will not suffer but rise against their Persecutors they are convinc'd of sin and acquire to themselves damnation But are not Princes under the power of the Law Yes P. 41. under the directive not under the compulsive power of the Law. P. 43. but have not Princes given their Subjects many and must they be suffered to invade them it is very hard that Princes own voluntary concessions should be made use of to their detriment to encourage their Subjects to Rebellion and Parricide but whatever Princes do as the Laws are derived from them and they are the interpreters of them so though they voluntarily submit to their direction they cannot be compell'd so to do the concessions of a Prince to his Subjects P. 55. do not give them a right to call him to account Tyrants who are in possession of lawful power over us we are commanded to obey forbidden to resist ☜ for in the Holy Scripture we find no distinction between a good Prince and an evil Tyrant as to the honour reverence and obedience that is due to them it is not lawful therefore to draw the Sword against them because they that resist resist God and shall receive to themselves damnation but no law of God or Man hath set over us private Tyrants Usurpers or Domestick Thieves we are under no obligations to them we owe them no obedience nor are we any way either out of reverence to their power or necessity of submission but that we may repel force by force P. 65. one Apostle forbids all resistance another commands obedience to Superiors neither of them make any distinction between good and bad and they speak to all Inferiors indifferently to Lay and Clergy to Men of all Orders Degrees and Dignities that Man therefore distinguishes ill where the Law of God admits of no distinction in such a case God allows us flight P. 80. and patience and prayers and tears

had been specifyed and annext to the Command Law or Ordinance of Almighty God c. Anno 1643. Dr. Thomas Swadlyn Printed three Sermons intitled the Sovereign's desire and Subjects duty and himself was a Confessor at that time being Imprisoned for his Loyalty as he declares in his Epistle which he dedicates to the World wherein having proved that all Power is from God especially Monarchy he shews that every Soul is to be subject howsoever a King may deal unjustly with them Serm. 2. on Rom. 13 1. p. 25. either 1. By violating the Laws and inforcing their Consciences or 2. By depriving them of their Goods by extortions and imprisoning their Persons and though in the former of these cases he may not be obeyed yet in neither of these cases may he be resisted But what are we to do then Why we may either fly away as David did from Saul if we do not then we must suffer but at no hand may we resist When St. Paul says let every soul be subject he means 1. Let every Soul honour the King. 2. Let every Soul obey the King in things lawful and indifferent 3. Let every Soul be subject to the King in commands unlawful i. e. let every Soul patiently suffer when he cannot actually do If the commands violate the Conscience Id. Ser. 3. p. 29. 31 ●3 38. yet there the Power may not be resisted for to resist the Power is a sin second to none but Sacrilege the highest crime against Heaven is Sacrilege and the next crime to this is Rebellion against or disobedience unto the Majesty of Earth and whosoever resists the Higher Powers resists both God and the King the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies whosoever contrary orders or orders against the Laws or the Arms of the chief Magistrate he resists the Higher Powers whether it be in subtilty of counsel or obloquy of speech and if so much more a heinous crime is it to take up Arms against the King. I have not spoken this to flatter Kings no they shall dye like Men but to inform you he that presumes sins against the justice of God he that despairs sins against his Mercy but he that resists the Power sins against the Power of God and he that dares take Arms against the King would if he could take Arms against God too and therefore as damnation is due to every sin Sermon at Whitehall March 22 1639. p. 18 19. so especially to this sin the sin of Rebellion Dr. B. Holyday Archdeacon of Oxford to strike one's Father was death by the Law to curse one's Father was death by the Law c. the Law then for the Son and the Subject being the same where is the love where is the fear where is wisdom where is grace where is nature are they not all fled from a rebellious heart had zeal antiently armed it self against Sovereignty we had never heard of a Calendar of Saints P. 28. Salus populi suprema lex includes in it the safety of the head and for the members of the body to rise against the head is it not unnatural is it not frenzy let them remember the breach of Israel P. 30. which did first wilfully depart from their Sovereign and afterwards unwillingly whilest perforce from their Country and that afterwards in two hundred years they had both many more and worse Kings than Judah had and were at last seized on by the divine judgment to the instruction of others but their own ruin we may not do evil Id. Serm. at Oxf. May 21. 1643. p 42 Sermon at St. Mary's May 19. 1644. p. 65 66. that good may come thereof royalty must not down for the advancement of Religion object Rebellion and ye object all crimes it is nearer to a flout than a truth to call a Rebel a Christian they will ask what is the final cause of a King and they will answer the Peoples welfare certainly a true answer and as certain an imperfect one the People's good is an inferior purpose of Majesty the representation of the Divine Majesty is the highest purpose of Humane Majesty when in all causes a King is next under God Supreme Governor how can the People whether single or united P. 91. be the Governor of that Governor a great Council may be the adviser of a Prince but as the Statute Law of our Prayer binds us to confess before God it is God that is the only Ruler of Princes Id. Serm. at Chr. Ch. Nov. 10. 1644. p. 106. a King Absalom would be not of God's making for he had made David not of David's making a King then he could be made only by the People and the Devil whilest by the People and Treason whilst against the consent of God and David Mr. Berkenhead Serm. on Nov. 3. 1644. at Chr. Ch. Oxon. p. 13. However we must perform active Obedience to such Princes only as far as lawfully we may so long as they are not set in competition with God yet we must perform Passive Obedience and absolute subjection even if they should command the most unjust superstitious idolatrous profane and irreligious things which can be imagined yet I say we must not Rebel unless we will renounce Christianity but we must let this be the touchstone of our subjection even our patient and constant sufferings SECT V. Dr. Henry King Lord Bishop of Chichester They Sermon at St. Paul's Mar. 21. 1640. p. 11. that lift up their hands against the King in publick Rebellion or their tongues in murmur against his Commands or their hearts in disobedient and discontented thoughts are as ill Subjects to God as to the King you need not ask whom have they resisted St. Paul tells you Rom. 13. they have resisted the Ordinance of God for he hath his Power from God. Men like the mutinous Israelites P. 36. upon all occasions of pretended discontent cry down Moses and set up an Idol made out of popular votes and contributions Id. Serm. before the King May 29. 1661. p. 22 c. to what Votes soever Elective Rulers owe their Scepters Succession is the Vote of God who both declares the right and then continues it as his donation Crowns conferr'd by other hands sit loose and tottering upon the head of such as wear them I will give it keeps them fast this is the great Charter by which Kings hold the right to their Kingdoms by me Kings rule where are those then who place the right to dispose Kingdoms in the Popes or those in another extreme who intitle the People to this power a strange prodigy in opinion not heard of till those Men came into the World who as was falsly alledged of the Apostles at Thessalonica Act. 17.6 turn'd the World upside down placing the feet above the head and subjecting the Higher Powers contrary to the rule of God to the People who by his command ought to be subject unto

the Rebel's Catechism wherein he shews that Lucifer was the first Author of Rebellion that the Rebellion even of the heart makes a Man guilty of Damnation in the sight of God much more that of the tongue or the hand that one branch of the Rebellion of the hand is the composing and dispersing of false and scandalous Books and Pamphlets tending to the dishonour of the King the other the taking up Arms against such Persons P. 6 7. cons p. 9 10 11 c. to whose Authority they are subject and it is worth our observation that not only the bearing Arms against the King is declared to be Rebellion by the Law of England but that it was declared to be Rebellion by the chief Judges of this Kingdom at the Arraignment of the Earl of Essex for any Man to seek to make himself so strong that the King should not be able to resist him although he broke not out into open act even defensive Arms are absolutely unlawful in the Subject against his Sovereign in regard that no defensive War can be undertaken but it carrieth with it a resistance in it to those Higher Powers to which every Soul is to be subject we find it thus resolved in Plutarch P. 12. that it was contrary both to positive Laws and the Law of Nature for any Subject to lift up his hand against the Person of his Sovereign with much more to the same purpose The same Author near about the same time See his Ecclesia Vindicata p 645 c Pr●at Lon. 1681. wrote a Treatise intitled the stumbling-block of disobedience removed to shew that Kings ought not to be controuled by their Subjects either singly or in a body the whole of which learned Treatise as well as his other Vindications of the Doctrins and Rights of our Church will sufficiently repay the Reader 's expence of pains and leisure And in his Sermon on May 29. 1681. it is to be observed that such as draw their Swords upon God's Anointed use commonly to throw away the scabberds also and find no way of doing better but by doing worse no middle way for them to walk in but either to bear up like Princes or to dye like Traytors SECT VI. Of the same belief was Sir John Spelman in his Case of our affairs in Law c. that the Sovereignty is in the King's Person inseparably Pr. Oxf. 1643. p. 15 17 19. and the allegiance of the Subject by Law thereto inseparably annex'd fortifyed and enforc'd by Religion under the severe menace of damnation what streight then of humane Affairs can be so violent as to make Christian Subjects contrary to sworn Faith to Law and to Religion not only to disobey their Sovereign but resist and Invade the Sovereign Rights c. Anno 1641. Sir Tho. Ashton and many others Noblemen and Gentlemen of Cheshire tendred a Remonstrance to the Parliament against Presbyterian Government and in it they affirm that the donation of Sovereign Power is solely from God and so will he have the revocation too he doth not subject them to the question of inferiors but puts a Guard upon their Sacred Persons which to violate though in our own defence is a breach of his command even when persecuted as David was by Saul which precepts are renewed in the Gospel we see our selves bound by Oath to acknowledge and support that Regal Government our Statutes have establish'd our Laws approved History represents most happy to whom all Primitive times yielded full obedience to whose Throne Christ himself yields Tribute whose Persons God will have Sacred whose actions unquestionable whose Succession he himself determines and whose Kingdoms he disposes Tacitus tho a Heathen advises us to bear with the riots and covetousness of Kings as with barrenness and other infirmities of nature for while there are Men there will be vices but they cannot continue long and will be recompenc'd when better come In the 19th year of this King came forth a little book called an Appeal to thy Conscience as thou wilt answer it at the great and dreadful day of Jesus Christ p 2 3 c. the Author of which says that Subjects may not take up Arms against their lawful Sovereign because he is wicked and unjust no tho he be an Idolater and Oppressor 1. Because it were an high presumption in us to limit that command which God doth not limit now our obedience to Superiors is always commanded without limitation 2. We may not think evil of the King much less may we take up Arms against him 3. St. Paul saith recompence to no man evil for evil Rom. 12.19 If to no Man then certainly not to thy King 〈◊〉 That which peculiarly belongs to the Lord thou oughtest not without his Authority to meddle with but vengeance is his 5. Rom. 13. Every Soul none excluded must be subject there is no Power but of God if so then the Power of a wicked Prince is from God and the penalty of resisting is everlasting damnation both of Soul and Body in Hell-fire for ever 6. In Eccl. 8.1 2. the Covenant made by the People to obey their King is called the Oath of God and who dares break this Oath of God 7. God commands Touch not mine Anointed therefore thou mayest not smite him therefore thou mayest not bear Arms against God's Anointed 8. For Subjects to take up Arms against their own King tho an Idolater and an Oppressor is contrary to the practice of God's People in all Ages the Jews and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians 9. God's heavy judgments on those who have taken up Arms against their Prince tho an Idolater and Oppressor ought to be a warning to us how we do the like this is contrary to the Doctrin of the Church of England in her Homilies then he answers the usual objections for resistance resolves several doubts and removes other little scruples and in the close of all passionately advises all Men to return to the Lord and to do their duty P. 51. for 't is strange says he that God's Church can be no way preserved the Subjects liberty no ways maintain'd but by sin who ever heard unless from a Papist that the way to Heaven was through Hell shall we do evil that good may come Rom. 3.8 It would be a very needless labor to cite all the passages to this purpose that occur in the Books written between the year 1644. and the time of the King's Murther and therefore I shall refer the Reader to the Regal Apology Printed 1648. the Kingdoms brief answer to the Declaration of the Commons Pr. 1648. the Plea for the King and Kingdom 1648. with many other Treatises of the same kind only I shall mention Bishop Rainhowe who took the degree of Doctor of Divinity An. 1646. Vid. Bish Rainbow's life p. 41. when his chief Question on which he made his Thesis was Ecclesia Anglicana tenet

of the King. P. 20. David spake by the Spirit of God to the Amalekite wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thy hand against the Lord 's Anointed What! afraid of a conquer'd King unable to defend himself much less afford protection to any Subject is not that enough to Unking him yes if we owe him least assistance when he needs it most tho flying nigh breathless panting and gazing round to beg his death of some friendly hand he was formidable he was sacred still P. 23 24. for still he had a signal impress of the Deity upon him I will only put the case of Julian the Apostate Emperor after so clear conviction after so full instruction as he had in the Christian Religion having as some Historians report taken one of the lower Orders in the Clergy before he came to the Throne after all this he renounc'd his Baptism he turn'd a very plague to the Church he proved the most formidable Persecutor that is a tempter of his Christian Subjects to Apostasie he offended with that malicious wickedness that the Catholick Church and all her guides justly supposed he had committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost they look'd upon him as one that had cut himself off from their body with the greatest Excommunication even to Anathema Maranatha i. e. till the Lord come to judgment now in this case was it lawful for Christians to cast him off that had so openly and maliciously cast off his Christianity We have the judgment of the whole Church to the contrary they thought themselves obliged by St. Paul 's Apostolical Canon to make prayers and supplications even for him that whatsoever he was and howsoever he behav'd himself towards them they might still lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty and they had the Grace they pray'd for they did live peaceably under him they never took upon them to Unking him they drew out no Forces against him but only their thundring Legion of prayers and tears St. Paul exhorting to make prayers for all Men Id. Serm. before L. Mayor May 7. 1682. p. 10 P. 11 12. for Kings c. has left no room for any to evade it as if he had foreseen there would be a sort of Men and they lived within our memories Men who instead of praying for their King would learn to pray against him there is a sin unt o death saith St. John I do not say that ye shall pray for it but St. Paul in my text hath provided even against this supposition tho the charity that hopeth all things were overcome so that the spiritual welfare of a Nero c. were in a manner despair'd of yet such Provision is made that as their Prince he was to be pray'd for still that they might lead a peaceable and quiet life thus it was in the case of that impious Wretch Licinius P. 13 14 15. c. and if our lives ought to be answerable to our prayers since praying for peace is but mocking of God without keeping the King's peace too then let not any pretend to be good Christians and sound Members of Christ's Church unless they be also good Subjects my aim is against the Power of Deposing Kings that has been often claimed by the Bishops of Rome and there is another Party of Men who have introduc'd a distinction of taking Arms by the Kings Authority against his Person whereas wheresoever the King's Person is P. 16 17. there is also his greatest Authority but they tell us the Primitive Christians wanted not Authority and Right but strength to resist the civil Powers but did our Saviour want Power when he controuled evil spirits and cast out devils did he want Power then when he commanded Universal nature when even the Winds and Seas obey'd him c. he had more than twelve Legions of Angels at his call why did he not strike Herod or Pilate but that he confesses himself Subject to him the Men P. 30 31. that first broke the Peace of the Church were the first that gave the leading foul example of waging War against their lawful Prince as did the Novatians of Paphlagonia who fought with the Arian Emperor Constantius 's Forces sent against them to compel them to receive the Arian confession Such as will not trust in God Id. Serm. Sept. 9. 1683. p. 10 P. 17. as a deliverer from any dangers they fear but will take the Sword against their lawful Prince upon any pretence whatsoever their sentence is read in the words of our Blessed Saviour they that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword the Jews shedding innocent blood brought upon them a deluge of blood and their second desolation under Titus says Josephus came upon them in the same month on the same day of the month that the former fell upon and when by the same division of Priests and Levites the same Divine Service was reading in course viz. that Psalm P. 24. which was written in admiration of God's vindictive justice O God to whom vengeance belongeth c. there are complying Men who resolve to thrive under all Governments they are animals incombustible for Religion as one defines them and whatever interest prevails in the State they laugh at the notion of being State-Martyrs honesty is true policy unless Men mean to revive that old abominable Gnostick Principle of complying with any Usurpations or Impositions for fear of suffering St. Paul declares their damnation is just and righteous Id. Serm. Nov. 5. 1684. p. 5 6. who persevere in charging the Blessed Gospel with admitting so cursed a Principle as if it were lawful to do any one known evil tho with an eye to the best and noblest designs and with an aim at no other consequences but such as were most beneficial to the publick for this was no Apostolical Canon but a maxim from Hell. such Men are apt to conceit P. 10. that they have made themselves necessary as if God Almighty could not do his work without them I have heard that the case of Jacob's wrestling with God was Preach'd upon to our late Great Usurper and this Doctrin raised that God's Jacobs or glorious Wrestlers with God ☜ might for great ends do some things contrary to his declared Will which things might yet be acceptable to his secret Will and procure a blessing 't is a Jesuit's Salvo P. 20. P. 27. that a Man of wit never sins against his conscience we believe it a preposterous way of securing our Religion by giving up the peculiar Doctrin of our Church the Doctrin of Obedience unto Kings and we judge it a strange means of barring out Popery by letting in the Doctrin of translating and disposing of Kingdoms For a King and People to be happy Id. Coron Ser. April 23. 1685. p. 15 16. the King must have a right to his Kingdom for how can an Usurper expect to reign prosperly how mise

rable is a King and Kingdom when every Man that is but audacious enough has a fair pretence if he can but gather force to overturn any settlement that can be in such a case such a Pirate Prince must be always exposed to Tempests King Stephen was none of our worst Princes and one of the most valiant but an Intruder he was and he sped accordingly his reign was the most turbulent of any except that of King John another Usurper c. But be the title of a King P. 18. as good as a Warrant from Heaven can make it be it so undoubted as Hell it self can find no pretence to question it be the King like an Angel of God yet if his Subjects will be Sons of Belial Sons of the Devil so Rebels are called in Scripture Men that will bear no yoke 't is still in their power to be as miserable as they please therefore I commend your strict adherence to your former Protestations P. 27. and to your Oaths of Allegiance take heed of destroying your Country to build your own House destruction and death is not all you are like to get by it take heed of that which follows there is another death to come after ☜ God has warn'd you of it they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation as you would avoid this take heed of that which leads to it thus that great Prelate who as it is justly said of him ‖ Thom. Brown. Ep. praefi conc Jun. 11. 1687. in the whole course of his life and in all the varieties of times and fortune still maintain'd his fidelity to his Prince in an illustrious manner SECT VII And of this opinion was that great promoter of piety and learning Bishop Fell who having in his † On 2 Pet. 3.3 Anno 1675. p. 21 22. Ox. 1675. Sermon before the King asserted that nothing can be so unhappy as Authority when baffled that the Coffee-house rebel is more mischievous than he that takes the Field and that a Prince is sooner murdered with a Label than a Sword and in his * Dec. 22. 1680. p. 3 4. on Mat. 12 25. Oxf. 1680. Sermon before the Lords exprest his astonishment by what Enchantment but that Rebellion is the sin of Witchcraft Men should be perswaded to disturb their own and the publick Peace forfeit all the advantages they enjoy in a settled Government which cannot be so bad as not to be much better than the confusion which sedition brings and run upon that sudden destruction which the Wiseman says is the end of those who are given to change he continues to give the same advice in his Sermon before the Sons of the Clergy wherein having told them that a great part of them present were the Sons of the persecuted Clergy ‖ On Act. 3.16 p. 61 63 68 69. a sort of Men that hazarded their lives unto the death and their Estates to the greater cruelty and grave of sequestration for the cause of God and of their Prince He adds 't is their glory that in the day of trial they did all they pretended to they forsook Father and Mother Houses Brethren and Sisters and those more endearing names of Wife and Children let it therefore be the strict concern of every one here present to maintain a faithful Loyalty to his Prince and Sovereign It is the peculiar glory of the Church of England ☞ that She above all others Principles her Children in Obedience to Superiors and most supports the ends and interests of Government which had so visible an effect in the late unhappy revolutions that the Royal Martyr who fell a Sacrifice to the misguided zeal of his rebellious Subjects ☞ made it his observation that none forfeited their duty to him who had not first deserted their Obedience to the Church nor can you any way more remarkably approve your selves to be Orthodox in your Religion and good Sons of the Church than if you are Loyal in your Principles and good Subjects to the King. On the 23. of June of the same year Dr. Thomas Bishop of Worcester dyed having two days before sent for a Reverend Divine to whom after he had discours'd an hour about the new Oath of Allegiance which he thought altogether inconsistent with the Doctrin of the Church and his former Oaths he said if my own heart deceive me not and God's grace fail me not I think I could dye at a Stake rather than take this Oath The Earl of Clarendon in his Animadversions on Mr. Cressy 's answer to the Dean of St. Paul's P. 72. as a very competent witness avers that there were very few who did so much as pretend to have a reverence for the Church of England that were ever active in the late Rebellion and that it were to be wish'd rather than hop'd that the Profession of Christian Religion in any Church had that impulsion in it as it ought to have that it preserv'd the Professors of it from entring into Rebellion and the practice of any other iniquity and speaking of Archbishop Cranmer who sign'd King Edward the Sixth's Will he adds if that unhappy P. 80. and ill advised Queen who had just reason to be offended highly with that Archbishop could have found that the Law would have condemn'd him for Treason she rather desired to have had him hang'd for a Traytor than to have him burnt for his Religion but the Law would not extend to serve her turn that way if it would no body would have blamed her for having prosecuted him with the utmost rigor whereas many good Men then did and since have for proceeding the other way with him The Popes who have assumed Authority to depose Princes P. 151 152. have caused more Christian blood to have been spilt more horrible Massacres of Kings and Princes and People than all the Heresies in the World and all other politick differences have produced much the greatest part of this destruction ☜ and ruin proceeded from the perjury of Popes themselves after they had promis'd and sworn to observe such parts and agreements voluntarily entred into by themselves or from the dispensation they granted to others to break their faith and not to perform the contracts they had entred into The same noble Person even when under the displeasure of his Prince and in Banishment thought himself still obliged to be unalterably Loyal as he professes in his Epistle to the King I thank God from the time I found my self under the insupportable burthen of your Majesties displeasure and under the infamous brand of Banishment I have not thought my self one minute absolved in the least degree from the strictest duty to your Person And whereas T. H. in his Leviath p. 114. had affirm'd that the obligation of Subjects to their Sovereign is understood to last as long and no longer than the Power lasts to protect them he rejoins P. 90. hereby he gives

1. That those Serm. at St. Mary's Oxf Jan. 30. 1660. and before the King Jan. 30. 1661. who promise Obedience to the King only so far as he preserves the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom withal reckoning themselves Judges of what Religion is true what false and when these Liberties are invaded and when not do by this put it within their own Power to judge when Religion Faith and Liberties are Invaded as they think convenient and from such judgment to absolve themselves from their Allegiance 2. That those very Persons who thus covenanted had already from Pulpit and Press declared the Religion establish'd in the Church of England and then maintain'd by the King to be Popish and Idolatrous and withal that the King had actually Invaded their Liberties was there any thing in the Book of God to warrant this Rebellion Why yes Daniet dreamed a Dream and there is also somthing in the Revelation concerning a Beast and a little horn and a fifth Viol and therefore the King ought undoubtedly to dye ☜ others plead providential dispensations God's work it seems must be regarded before his Word as if when we have a Man's Hand-writing we should endeavour to take his meaning by the measure of his foot we have lived under that model of Religion in which nothing hath been counted impious but Loyalty nothing absurd but restitution the Church of England is the only Church in Christendom we read of whose avowed Practices and Principles disown all resistance of the Civil Power and with the saddest experience and truest Policy and reason will evince it self to be the only one that is durably consistent with the English Monarchy let Men look back into its Primitive Doctrin and it's History and they will find neither the Calvin's nor the Knox's the Junius Brutus's the Synods nor the Holy Common-wealths on the one side nor yet the Bellarmin's nor the Mariana's on the other SECT IX And here it is necessary to mention the several Addresses that own the same Doctrin and I shall begin with that of the two Universities that of Oxford runs thus being according to an Act of Convocation dated Febr. 21. 1685. May it please your Majesty c. We your Majesty's most dutiful c. as we can never swerve from the Principles of our Institution in this place and our Religion by Law establish'd in the Church of England which indispensibly binds us to bear all Faith and true Obedience to our Sovereign without any restrictions or limitations so we presume to assure your Majesty that no consideration whatsoever shall be able to shake that stedfast Loyalty and Allegiance which in the days of your Blessed Father that Glorious Martyr and in the late times of discrimination stood here firm and unalterable to your Royal Brother and your Self under the sharpest trials and that we shall constantly by God's assistance with our utmost zeal and sidelity improve all those advantages wherewith God and your Majesty have intrusted us in this ancient nursery of Learning to promote the quiet happiness and security of your Majesties Reign over us Thus also the University of Cambridge in their Address tendred by the Vice-Chancellor Gaznum 2019. c. Mar. 23. 1684. We do with all humble submission present to your Sacred Majesty our unfeigned Loyalty the most valuable Tribute that we can give or your Majesty receive from us this is a Debt which we shall be always paying and always owing it being a Duty naturally flowing from the very Principles of our Holy Religion by which we have been enabled in the worst of times to breed as true and stedy Subjects as the World can shew as well in the Doctrine as Practice of Loyalty from which we can never depart Many other Addresses Gaz num 2008. 2012. 2013. 2016. 2018 c. of the same kind were made by the University of Dublin by the Bishop and Clergy of the City of London the Bishop and Clergy of Chester the Bishops of Bath and Wells and of Hereford and in truth of all the Dioceses I think in England Scotland and Ireland besides such as were tendred by Lords Lieutenants Grand Juries and particular Societies For which Sense of the Nation in those days I must refer the Reader to the Prints while I only subjoin the memorable Close of the Address tendered by the Bishop Vicar-General and the Clergy of the Cathedral and City of Bristol The Church of England is peculiarly indeared to us for that above all that is called Religion in the World it twists Piety with Loyalty and without Reserve Recognizeth your Sacred Majesty as the Sovereign and Supreme Power within your Majesties Realms and Dominions against whom there is no rising up and only less than God himself According to the Dictates of that most excellent Religion we abhor all those Antimonarchical Persons and Principles which would either exclude Princes from their just Rights or disturb the peaceable enjoyment of them And we earnestly beseech the King of Kings that your Majesties Throne may not only be Established but raised still higher upon the ruins of those that shall endeavour to Subvert or Supplant it SECT X. Dr. Stillingfleet Origin Brit. c. 5. p. 319. inquiring into the Reasons why the Saxons were called into Britain by Vortigern quotes Gildas who affirms That after the Britains found themselves deserted by the Romans they set up Kings of their own and soon after put them down again and made Choice of worse in their room Adding it is plain that he supposes that the Britains in that Confusion they were in took upon them without regard to their Duty to place and displace them But withal he observes that then the Britains were left to their full liberty by the Roman Empire that there was no Line remaining to succeed in the Government nor so much as to determine their Choice which made them so easily to make and unmake their Kings who lost their Purple and their Lives together This must needs breed insinite confusions among them and every one who came to be King lived in perpetual fear of being served as others had been before him And the natural Consequence of this jealousie of their own Subjects was looking out for assistance from abroad which I doubt not was one great reason of Vortigern 's sending for the Saxons hoping to secure himself by their means against his own People although it proved at last the ruin both of himself and his People And whereas Cressy in his answer to my Lord of Clarendon's Vindicaon of the Dean of S. Pauls had objected That days of Thanksgiving were kept for the discovery and prevention of such personal Treasons as the Gunpowder Treason but none for the Deliverance of the whole Kingdoms from almost an Universal Rebellion as if their were no necessity of requiring from any a retraction of the Principles of Rebellion or a promise that they shall not be renewed Answ to the

affirm'd by many others of their Writers Thus we find P. 1● the most mischievous Commonwealth Principles have been very well entertain'd at Rome as long as they are subservient to the Pope's deposing Power and if we inquire further into the reason of these pretences we shall find them alike on both sides the Commonwealth's Men when they are askt how the People having once parted with their Power come to resume it they presently run to an implicite contract between the Prince and the People by virtue whereof the People have a Fundamental Power left in themselves which they are not to exercise but upon Princes violation of the Trust committed to them ☞ the very same ground is made the Foundation of the Pope's deposing Power viz. an implicite contract that all Princes made when they were Christians to submit their Scepters to the Pope's Authority which is so implicite P. 13. that very few Princes in the World ever heard of it it is declared in the Case of King John that the resignation of the Crown to the Pope is a void Act. And so consequently will the Imposing any such condition be as inconsistent with the Rights of Sovereignty if they plead an implicite contract who made such conditional settlements of Civil Power upon Princes ☞ who keeps the ancient Deeds and Records of them for all the first Ages of the Christian Church this conditional Power and Obedience was never heard of not when Emperors were open and declared Infidels or Hereticks what reason can be supposed more now than was in the times of Constantius and Valens that were Arian Hereticks Yet the most Learned Zealous and Orthodox Bishops of that time never once thought of their losing their Authority by it as I could easily prove if the design of this Preface would permit me If Christ and his Apostles were the best Teachers of Christianity P. 15 this is certainly no part of it for the Religion they taught never meddled with Crowns and Scepters but left to Caesar the things that were Caesar's and never gave the least intimation to Princes of any forfeiture of their Authority if they did not reader to God the things that are God's it requires all Men of what rank or order soever to be subject to the Higher Powers P. 16. because they are the Ordinance of God and to pray for them that are in Authority c. Thus far the Christian Religion goes in these matters and thus the Primitive Christians believed and practised when their Religion was pure and free from the Corruptions and Usurpations which the Interests and Passions of Men introduced in the following Ages and how then come Princes in these later times to be Christians upon worse and harder terms than in the best Ages of it in my mind there is very little difference between Dominion being founded in grace and being forfeited for want of it and so we are come about to the Fanatick Principles of Government again which this deposing Power in the Pope doth naturally lead Men to but this is not all the mischief of this Doctrin For 2. It breaks all Bonds and Oaths of Obedience how sacred and solemn soever they have been P. 17. there being an obligation to Obedience on the Subjects part which doth naturally arise from the relation between them and their Prince when Subjects are absolved from their Oaths of Allegiance they are thereby declared free from that natural duty they were obliged to before this is nulling the obligation to a natural duty and taking away the force of Oaths and Promises this is turning Evil into Good and Good into Evil that can make Civil Obedience to Princes to be a Crime ☞ and Perjury to be none this is a greater Power than the Schoolmen will allow to God himself where there is intrinsick goodness in the nature of the thing and inseparable evil from the contrary to it P. 18. for tho it be granted that God may after the matter or circumstances of things our Question is only about dispensing with the force and obligation of a Law of Nature such as keeping our Oaths undoubtedly is this he illustrates very Learnedly and at large in some following Paragraphs asking how comes the Pope to have power to give away another Man 's natural right a Man swears Allegiance to his Prince by virtue of which Oath the Prince challenges his Allegiance as a sworn duty the Pope dispenseth with this Oath i.e. gives away the Princes right whether he will or no. but how came the Pope by that right of the Prince which he gives away P. 19 20 21. may he not as well give away all the just rights of Men to their Estates as those of Princes to their Crowns Cajetan lays down a good rule about dispensing with Oaths that in them we ought to see that no prejudice be done to the Person to whom and for whose sake they are made he afterwards cites the several distinctions which the Roman Casuists use to vindicate this Power of dispensing with Oaths particularly Laymen that a promising Oath made to a Man cannot ordinarily be relax'd p. 24. without the consent of the Person to whom it is made except it be for the publick good of the Church ☜ as tho evil might be done for the good of the Church but woe be to them that make good evil and evil good when it serves their turn for this is plainly setting up a particular Interest under the name of the good of the Church and violating the Laws of Righteousness to advance it if Men break through Oaths and the most solemn Engagements and Promises ☜ and regard no bonds of justice and honesty to compass their ends let them call them by what specious names they please p. 25. the good Old Cause or the good of the Church it matters not which there can be no greater sign of Hypocrisie and real Wickedness than this for the main part of true Religion doth not lye in ca●ting Phrases or mystical Notions neither in specious shews of devotion nor so zeal for the true Church but in Faith as it implies the performance of our promises as well as belief of the Christian Doctrin and in Obedience or a careful observance of the Laws of Christ among which Obedience to the King as Supreme is one which they can never pretend to be an inviolable duty who make it in the Power of another Person to absolve them from the most solemn Oaths of Allegiance and consequently suppose that to keep their Oaths in such a case would be a sin and to violate them may become a duty which is in effect to overturn the natural differences of good and evil to set up a controuling Sovereign Power above that of their Prince and to lay a perpetual Foundation for Faction and Rebellion which nothing can keep Men from If Conscience and their Solemn Oaths cannot Therefore 3. The third

prostrated themselves for in your way of reasoning they have a right to preserve or delight themselves by any course of means and can be best protected by the prevailing side which because it hath more degrees of growing Power has it seems therefore more of right P. 158. thus it is in the choice of every Subject whom you make the Judge of the means to preserve himself to apply himself to the stronger side or for a Company combin'd in Arms and Counsel when an Heir and a Traytor are engag'd in Battel with equal success as was the practice of the Lord Stanley c. at Bosworth-field to give the day to the side they presume will most favour them but there is no tye so strong as that of Religion c. * Vid. 1. part of the Hist p. 93. and whereas Hobbs affirm'd that Covenants are but words and breath and have no force to oblige or constrain any Man but what it has from the Publick Sword he answers that thus the Prince is always in a State of danger P. 160. Society being like a State of Nature managed all by force because he cannot be a day secure of remaining uppermost seeing that the People are taught by you to believe that the right of Authority is a deceit and that every one would have as good a Title if he had as long a Sword for the many headed Beast will throw the Rider when he burthens and galls them Woe to all the Princes upon Earth if this Doctrin be true and becomes Popular if the Multitude believe this the Prince not Armed with the scales of the Leviathan i. e. with irresistible Power can never be safe P. 161. wherefore such as own these pernicious Doctrins destructive to all Societies of Men ☜ may be said to have Wolves Heads as the Laws of old were wont to speak concerning excommunicated Persons and are like those ravenous Beasts so far from deserving our love and care P. 192. that they ought to be destroyed at the common charge if the commands of Christ and his Apostles are not also Laws what means the common Doctrin in the Scripture of suffering for the sake of Christianity We are injoined to take up the Cross and to follow Christ c. Such commands and exhortations to dye rather than to obey Unchristian injunctions are deliver'd in vain yea they deserve the name of Impious if they be not a Royal Law without the stamp of Civil Authority it is therefore your opinion that it is our duty for the sake of outward safety to obey that which is the Law of our Country tho we live among the Heathens rather than to follow dangerous tho Evangelical Counsel This Doctor together with the Lords Bishops of Ely and Bath and Wells and Dr. Hooper were by the King appointed to attend the late Duke of Monmouth before his Execution and the great thing that they with reason prest him to was a particular repentance an acknowledgment that his Invasion was a Rebellion particularly urging him as the Printed account says more than once P. 1 2. if he were of the Church of England to acknowledge the Doctrin of Non Resistance to be true ☞ and therefore I believe that Pulton the Jesuit as † Pulton consider'd p. 67. himself says charg'd him unjustly that when he assisted Sir Thomas Armstrong before his Execution that he did not oblige him to an humble acknowledgment of his Crimes and particularly of the injury done to his King and Country for the * Account of the cons with 〈◊〉 p. ●3 Doctor even in the heigth of Popery thought his Loyalty more valuable than Mr. Meredith's because he as a Son of the Church of England profest he would not rebel against the King notwithstanding he might be of another Religion whereas Mr. M. being of the same Religion could not well separate Loyalty from Interest and ‖ 〈…〉 cons p. 89. avers that he is by Church Principle against resisting the Higher Powers and approves not of the excluding and deposing Doctrin taught in Mr. P's great Lateran Council before there were Jesuits and also after they arose by Bellarmine and Doleman and a long train of others in which some Popes some Synodical Men have pompously march'd To pass by General Complaints Id. exam of 〈◊〉 10 note 〈◊〉 holiness of life p. 243. we may furnish our selves with abundance of instances in the Lives of particular Men of that Communion who have been Infamous for Impiety I shall content my self with a few reflections upon two or three of this sort of M●n with whom the more the World is acquainted the less veneration it will have for them Pope Gregory the Great fawn'd upon the Emperor Mauritius whilst he lived and prospered and own'd him as his Patron and the Maker of his Fortunes even before he had made his own But assoon as the Emperor and his Family were barbarously Murthered by the most Bloody Vassal and Usurper Phocas Gregory insulted over this dead Lion and flatter'd this living Monster and his Immoral Wife Leontia He used such words at his ●surped ●xaltation as he did at that which he called the Conversion of England singing profanely Glory to God in the Highest Let the Heavens rejoyce and the Earth be glad There are many things in the Roman Church it self P. 248. which by helping forward an ill life do in part deface this mark of her Sanctity Such as the Doctrins about Papal Supremacy Which last is very prejudicial to the quiet of the World especially in the Deposing Point concerning which I take leave to use the words of another with Relation to Bellarmine He was * Postscript to transl of 〈…〉 of the Leag p. 15 16 17. himself a Preacher for the League in Paris during the Rebellion there of King Henry IV. Some of his Principles are these following In the Kingdoms of Men the Power of the King is from the People because the People make the King. We hear Bellarmine in another place ●ositively affirming it as Matter of Faith if any Christian Prince shall depart from the Catholick Religion and shall withdraw others from it he immediatly forfeits all Power and Dignity even before the Pope has pronounced sentence on him And his Subjects in case they have Power to do it may and ought to cast out such an Heretick from his Sovereignty over Christians If therefore the Faith of Bellarmine be Faction whatsoever his Church is in it self it is certain as he has made it it can never he found out either as The Church or as A found Church so far as we are to look for it by the Note of Holiness SECT XII Dr. Patrick hath also fully declared his Opinion in this point for besides what hath been cited out of his works in the first part of this History he says Paraph● on on Ps 15. p. 75. that he who shall dwell in God's Tabernacle is a

enough to convince any sober Man that the Ancient Christians did never dream that either the Pope or the People did give Kings their Authority or had any Power to depose them and authorize their Subjects to take up Arms against them with or without their Authority much less to set up others in their stead or reserve their Power in their own hands but did believe that their Authority and Power is wholly from God and therefore must be obeyed according to his Ordinance and that they never can be deposed either by the People or People or any other Authority upon Earth Dr. Dove Sermon on Nov. 5. 1680. p 4 5. They that dare imagin evil against the King in their Bed-chamber will not stick to countenance Rebellion against him in the Camp for the malice of Treason like fire concealed will either find or force its passage this is the usual Prologue to all trayterous designs P. 21. to calumniate the Government and speak evil of dignities to repreach the one and make it odious by traducing the other and rendring them contemptible we may learn by experience that God for the better Government of the World thinks it fit to make Rebels and Traytors the most memorable examples of vengeance and judgment search the Scriptures and turn over the Annals of all Ages you shall scarce meet in story with a seditious Innovator or a Rebel who hath not ruined himself Id. Ser. bef Lord M●yor Sept. 29. 1682. p. 15. If a Man can help Men to an evasion from the duty of Obedience he shall have followers enough this is a certain sign that tho Men know their duty yet they do not love to hear it for certainly obedience to Magistrates is one of those things that accompany Saivation and if they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation then surely we may safely affirm and that without any breach of charity or stretching beyond our line that they who oppose them in lawful things or refuse to obey them in the same without a timely repentance and reformation are in danger of it P. 17. tho David was next heir to the Crown and already anointed to it tho Saul thirsted for his blood and persecuted him by force and fraud tho he had the hearts of the People and Saul was given up into his hands so that he could as easily have slain him as have cut his skirt yet this was that which kept him from so great iniquity that he was the Lord's Anointed P. 18. the Authority is still from God tho it be placed in the bands of a sinful Man and it loseth not its essence by the accession of personal miscarriages c. disobedience hath all that is base in it P. 24. and Rebellion contains a whole conjugation of wickedness of which there seems to be an indelible sense in all Mens minds since even they who love the thing do usually hate the name of Rebels and such as are conscious of the guilt would gladly avoid the reproach of it a plain indication of guilt as guilt is a manifest argument of sin and wickedness P. 25. 't is a sin next to blasphemy to speak evil of dignities a degree of profaneness to disobey them ☜ and intolerable iniquity to rebel against them it is as bad in its own nature as murder or theft being as expresly forbidden as these and in its consequence 't is far more mischievous c. this sin debauches the conscience P. 26. and hardens Men in impiety so that it is rare very rare to find a repenting Rebel it is directly opposite to the Spirit and Power of Christianity it makes the very profession of Religion odious and despicable it is contrary to the example of Christ the Blessed Apostles and Primitive Christians there have been many pretences made for disobedience and resistance P. 27. v. p. 28. one hath libelled the Primitive Christians ascribing their meekness and submission to necessity so Bellarmine another that the Apostles in prescribing Obedience only flatter'd the Emperors so Salmeron a third hath taught that the Doctrin of resistance was a mystery bid from the first Ages and reserved for these last days of greater light so Jo. Goodwin thus the Gospel it self is belyed to countenance that which it every where condemns we have a Church P. 30. whose Doctrin Discipline and Government is Apostolical and Primitive defective in nothing so much as the Obedience of her Members unless it be the exercise of her Discipline this Church was always famous for her untainted fidelity and loyalty to the Crown oh that our lives were as good as our Religion c. SECT XVI Dr. Henry Maurice The Ancient Christians knew how to dye better than to dispute Ser. on Jan. 30. 1681. p. 2 12 30 c. cons 1st pt hist p. 112. but none understood yet how to rebel for their Religion how then are we departed from this ancient and reasonable practice no Faction did ever insult a Prince they did not mean to destroy but now to return to the blaspheming of the Church of Rome if community of name be not so much to be regarded as agreement in Doctrin our accusers will be found to have a greater part in these Sectaries than we for both agree in the Fundamentals of Rebellion and the lawfulness and merit of Resisting the Higher Powers There are Men in the World that honor such as Martyrs P. 180. that were executed for murdering their King I hope they were neither Bishops nor Episcopal Men that were so fond of Canonizing those Murderers for Martyrs P. 318. when Chrysostome saw the Civil Power against him he would not contend but endeavoured to steal away to prevent contention and what his favorers did when they began a Mutiny they did it against his will and against all his entreaties and obsecrations to the contrary did not the Primitive Christians meet to serve God p. 326. and suffer'd Martyrdom for it but did they ever enter into Covenants and Practices against the State in all the lamentable distractions of the Church by the Arians we find no Orthodox Bishop animate the People against the Government p. 327. what Persecution soever they suffer'd but on the contrary restraining all tendences to Rebellion and withdrawing themselves when the popular favor towards them grew inordinate p. 32● p. 337. and uncontrolable Whoever animated the People to resist Julian what a number of worthy learned Ministers of the Church of England were turned out to make vacancies for the Non-Conformists in the days of Rebellion who were to instruct the People in new Mysteries of Religion which their old Pastors had not the conscience or ability to teach them i.e. of the lawfulness of Rebellion we read of St. Ambrose's zeal against the Arians of his popularity of his charity c. but not a word of his Sedition p 34● or his forcible resistance of the

God the things that are God ' s. Dr. Fowler There is nothing more certain than that for any of us to be false D●sign of Christianity p. 243 251 252. and perfidious to be ungovernable rebellious or seditious upon the account of Religion it self is most unsufferable and inexcusable For if it be lawful to behave our selves after this manner upon any account whatever Religion would be the most useless thing in the World and if this were lawful upon the account of Religion only ☜ I will not stick to say that it will not be more useless and unprofitable than mischievous and hurtful Nor would the Christion Religion it self be worthy our profession if it would give us leave upon any design to allow our selves in the forementioned Immoralities or in any one whatsoever Thus to do is no other than to be irreligious to promote Religion to be unchristian to do service to Christianity and therefore to go the directest way to destroy it by the means we use for its preservation Thus to do is to oppose the Interests of our Religion to that of our Souls Id. Discour of Christian Liberty p. 175. ●ee his Discourse of Offences p. 9 10 11. and to cast these away in the defence of that It is come to that sad pass that preaching Obedience to Authority is as unacceptable Doctrin as can be to even many great Pretenders to Christianity altho it be done never so prudently and agreeably to the express Doctrin of our Saviour and his Apostles And the Notion of Obedience for Conscience sake seems almost lost among not a few which is one of the great Sins for which we have too great reason to fear there is a heavy Scourge near us Mr. Evans A moderate Man when the Honor of God or the King when Religion Sermon of Moderat 1682. p. 12. and the Welfare of his Country lye at stake then thinks it a most worthy and weighty occasion of imploying his Zeal and Activity in their Service of defending them with Courage and Resolution with his Life and Fortunes He never breaks the second Table to preserve the first nor make use of any ways to secure Religion that are contrary to or destructive of its Principles What Men esteem great Falshoods pag. 23. and call Toryism and Popery are really as true as Gospel pag. 34. I will conclude all with this Remark We may and shall if we do not timely take up bring in Popery by a heady and extravagant Zeal against it ☜ and ruin and enslave our selves by our fierce and passionate Contentions for Liberty Property and Safety p. 48. Give me the Man that is honest and constant to his Principles and to what he professes whatsoever Party or Perswasion he is of he is much more valuable to me than he that plights his Faith to the Church and gives all the Security that can be taken for his Conformity to it and then after he hath wound himself into its Communion and Preferments plays booty and acts like a Non-Conformist These are the treacherous Friends that like Vipers prey upon the Bowels of their Mother and betray her as Judas did our Lord with a Kiss Dr. Comber in his Religion and Loyalty Sec. Edit 1683. p. 8 3. v. pag. 12 13 c. If the Church of England did make worldly Interest the sole measure of her Actions they would never consider what was honest but only what was expedient and never stick at ill means to accomplish that which they account good Ends. We of this Church are perhaps the only Christians since the Primitive Ages who never dispens'd with our Loyalty to serve our worldly Ends. And if this do not commend our Policy I am sure it declares our Honesty and Integrity and must needs recommend us to all good Men as those who prefer our Duty and our Conscience before all earthly Advantages p. 39. No Religion in the World teaches and practises more Loyalty than that which is truly called Protestant and we doubt not but that if ever his R. H. should attain the Crown he will not blame our Church for that which was the Opinion of those who endeavoured to subvert it after they had renounc'd all Communion with it pag. 52. especially when it is further considered how constantly the true Protestants of the Church of England have loved and how faithfully they have served the Royal Family in all Fortunes how closely they have adher'd to the Interests thereof upon all Occasions so that whoever were true Sons of this Church our Kings have always reckon'd them their certain and undoubted Friends And when a Rebellion was designed against the blessed Father of his Royal Highness the Contrivers of it found it necessary first to seduce Men from the Church of England before they could engage them in so wicked an Action p 〈…〉 And since the happy Restoration they have incurr'd the Hatred of the bigotted Fanaticks for their perpetual standing for the King's Prerogative and their zealous promoting his and his Royal Highness's Interest The Pamphlets written in defence of the Bill of Exclusion p. 57. ●● frequently transcribe whole Passages out of Doleman's Book Take some of their accursed Principles The Commonwealth hath Power to chuse their own fashion of Government as also to change it upon reasonable Causes The Commonwealth hath Power not only to put back the next Inheritors upon lawful occasions but also to dispossess them that have been lawfully put in possession if they fulfil not the Laws and Conditions by which and for which their Dignity was given them The Republick may cure or cut off their Heads if they infest the rest Princes are subject to Law and Order and the Commonwealth which gave them their Authority for the good of all may also restrain or take the same away again if they abuse it to the common evil The whole Body to superior to the Prince neither so giveth the Common-wealth her Authority and Power up to any Prince that she depriveth herself utterly of the same when need shall require to use it for her defence for which she gave it The Prince's Power is not absolute but delegate from the Commonwealth and is given with such Conditions and Oaths on both Parties as if the same be not kept by either Party the other is not bound With many other such Popish Positions So also the Apost Pr●● p. 4 5. and it is very observable that this wicked Libel of Doleman was in part reprinted Anno 1648. under the feigned Title of Several Speeches deliver'd at a Conference concerning the Power of Parliaments to proceed against their King's form of Government pag. 61. But the Protestant Church of England is not only better in all other accounts but doth hold teach and practise Loyalty above all others in the World the Divines thereof generally holding Monarchy to be of divine Right and Allegiance to be an Obligation on

not to be laught out of our Passive Obedience and the Doctrin of Non-Resistance tho even those who perhaps owe the best part of their security to that Principle are apt to make a jest of it SECT XVII Dr. C. 26. §. 1 2 6 8. Pierce Dean of Salisbury in his body of Orthodox Divinity avers that the Church of God consists of a Civil as well as an Ecclesiastical Hierarchy that Magistrates are constituted by a Divine right as well as Priests that he who resists the Magistrate so constituted by God wounds his Conscience deeply in this World and shall be damn'd in the next after which he smartly censures both the Fanaticks and the Jesuits the scandals of Christianity as he calls them condemning the Doctrins of both sorts of them and shewing the unreasonableness of that proposition that Inferior Magistrates may controul a Prince if he does not do his duty since by the Laws of the Land as well as the Laws of God a King can do no harm i.e. that the King is unaccountable inferior only to God and obnoxious only to his Tribunal so that no Mortal much less his Subjects can have any Authority over him Id. exceeding sinfulness of Schism §. 5 6 7 11. v. Ser. on 1 Pet. 2.13 §. 4 5 7 8. Obedience to Magistrates being of Divine Right strongly founded upon the Will and the Word of God and even a part of the Obedience to God himself whilst it is paid to that Authority which God hath commanded us to pay an Obedience to cannot possibly be due to the Men as Men or to the good as they are good but to the Magistrates as they are such 't is due to the Governors as they are Governors and as the Ordinance of God let their Practices and Opinions be what they will. When God and his Deputies do stand in competition for our Obedience God must have our whole active and his Deputies our Passive Obedience only Saving the dignity and priority of the first and great commandment as the ground and foundation of all the rest our Obedience to our Governors and Humane Laws in force among us is as really an Essential and Fundamental of Christianity ☞ and of as absolute necessity to our Salvation as the belief of one God or any other that can be named it being as rigidly commanded by God in Scripture under the very same promises of reward if we obey and under the very same threats of endless punishments if we rebel Dr. Serm. on Tit. 3.1 p. 4 5. c. D. Whitby Chantor of the same Church in the time of the D. of Monmouth Rebelbelli●n laid down this position That Christians must be subject to their Civil Magistrates and in no cases are allowed or authorized forcibly to resist or bear Arms against them and this he proves at large from the expressions of the Holy Scriptures from the deportment of David to King Saul that Jeroboam's revolt is by God himself called Rebellion 1 King. 12.19 p. 8 9. for as a Father doth not forfeit his Authority over his Children nor are they freed from that Obedience which they owe him because he deals severely with them so neither can the King i. e. the Father of his Country lose his Authority over his Subjects because he governs them severely or lays afflicting burthens on them the Scriptures of the New Testament expresly call for our subjection Let every Soul be subject saith St. Paul so let him yield subjection to them as never to resist on any provocation temptation or specious pretence whatsoever whence it is clear ☜ p 10. Serm. 〈…〉 13.1 p. 24 26 27 2● 29 30 31. that by the Christian Doctrin it is unlawful to resist the Higher Powers upon pretence of Male-administration Tyranny Injustice or to rebel for the defence of our Religion against the worst of persecuting Princes for if Resistance in the forementioned cases was a damning sin when can it be excusable after this he answers the common objections from the Coronation Oath and Self-Preservation c. Mr. Long 's Sermon called the causes of Rebellion Preach'd Jan. 13. 1683. on J●● 4.1 P. 14 15. was Printed by the joint desires of the Bishop of Exon and the Justices of the County of Devon and the Dedication gives an account of an order of theirs that concurs with the Doctrin of the Sermon nor can any complaint of Tyranny or Oppression justifie a War among us did we suffer under some miscarriages in Government some passions and excesses in our Governors neither Scripture nor reason will warrant any resistance Obj. But the Primitive Christians had no Laws to confirm their Religion P. 16. and therefore it was not so lawful for them to defend their Religion by Arms as it is for us Answ It is strange that our Laws should be made a pretence for Resistance which declare that it is not lawful to resist upon any pretence whatsoever then the Subjects are made Judges of the Actions and Conduct of their Governors P. 22 23. I take those and only those who do agree with the Jesuits in Preaching ☜ and propagating Seditious and Traiterous Principles and Practices such as the lawfulness of Resistance and taking up Arms in defence of Religion against the Supreme Magistrate that the Original of the Magistrate's Power is in the People who may call them to an account and Depose and Murder them as they see cause those who have Murdered one King already and use the same Methods to destroy another in a word V. p. 23 26. all such as will not declare that it is unlawful to take up Arms against the King on any pretence whatsoever or that they will not endeavour any alteration of the establish'd Government for such false Prophets as our Saviour bids us to beware of This also is the Doctrin of his Sermon on July 26. 1685. and his Vindication of the Primitive Christians c. Dr. Fuller Chancellor of Lincoln those Men have but little sense of the honor of Christian Religion that abuse its Name Ser. bef the King June 25. 1682. p. 56 c. and pervert its obligations to justifie Sedition and Rebellion who with great pretences and zeal for Christianity forsake her in her more principal commands of meekness patience and submission and defend the Doctrin of Resistance and Disobedience from those Holy Scriptures that have forbidden them under the penalty of Damnation that those Men do little deserve the Character of Reformed who have forsaken our Reformation in its Principal and Fundamental Doctrin of the King's Supremacy and renounced the Protestant Church of England in all her Principles of Christian Loyalty and indeed all the Enemies of the Church of England how distant soever in other points are perfectly united in the Doctrin of disobedience all agreeing in one conclusion against the express commands of Holy Scripture that it is lawful to resist the Higher Powers c. Dr.

Sclater What a joy will it be to thy Spirit and a lightning to thy Heart Royal pay paymaster on Rom. 2.10 p. 6 7 1● when thou canst say thou didst not cowardly yield tho thou hast been disarm'd sequestred decimated and unrewarded for it 't was of God's mercy to be kept faithful to the righteous cause of God and the King when there were so many temptations to witdraw us from our Loyalty Fidelity and Loyalty is in a more especial manner required in a Subject towards his Sovereign 't is Treason in a Subject to fight against his Sovereign but how long must this Fidelity last a day or two or so Oh no I this Commandment is like that heavy saying in Matrimony till death us do part Dr. Hickman Serm. before L●rd Mayor Ju● 27. 1680 p. 17 18. The honor of God and the defence of his Worship are glorious Undertakings yet even here the excess of zeal is a crime and the great importance of the end cannot justifie any unlawfulness in the means the will of God as it is exprest in his Word is the standard of good and evil and he will not suffer his eternal Laws to be violated tho in his own defence if it should please him to give his and our Enemies such advantage over us as may endanger the exercise of our Religion we have our Prayers and other lawful endeavours for our redress but we must not defend our Church by an unlawful return of evil for evil nor like our Adversaries commit any Act of Impiety or Injustice tho under the most specious pretence of fighting the Battels of the Lord The goodness of the Cause here is so far from justifying the Act that it only aggravates the offence when a Law is violated or any injustice done for the sake of our Religion both the scandal and the Crime become conspicuous they are then laid at the door of our Church and bring a publick and perpetual blot upon our cause P. 19 v. p. 20 33. what can our Religion profit us or what honor can it bring to the Almighty when our Sacrifice comes polluted with blood and violence of its own how can it attone for our transgressions therefore it is necessary to obey not only for wrath ☞ but also for Conscience sake St. Peter who was the first that drew his Sword In his Master's quarrel was the first that denyed his name and forsook his cause and doubtless whosoever fights for his Religion against his Prince can never pass the muster without a Romish dispensation Mr. Ser. at Bath Aug. 7. ●631 p. 4 5 c. Jos Pleydall Arch-Deacon of Chichester Plebeians and Hobbists proceed upon one and the same Principle making the People the Fountain of all Power whereas Subjects owe a natural and inviolable Allegiance but if a Prince prove a Tyrant does he not by Male-administration forfeit the trust reposed in him in whose Opinion in the Opinion of Mariana or Knox Hobbs or Bradshaw i. e. in the judgment of Papists P. 8. Sectaries Atheists or Rebels 't is impossible there should be a Rebellion while the Principles of the Church of England are revered and owned that Kings may be Deposed and Murdered P. 11. we may reckon under the Apostles strange and monstrous Doctrins or rather under his Doctrins of Devils Mr. Assize Ser. p. 21 22. v. p. 5 78 16. Kimberley No pretences of Conscience or Religion can Authorize our Resistance of the lawful Powers which God hath set over us they never knew what it was in the times of the Primitive Christianity to oppose expel or destroy any Pagan Persecuting Arian or Apostate Emperor Mr. Assize Ser. p. 21. Jemmat None but God can absolve Subjects from that Allegiance and Obedience which they owe to their natural Lords neither the Male administration of Government nor their own fears jealousies nor the decay of Trade no nor the hazard of Religion it self can justifie the Acts of Rebellion they to whom God hath given his own Power are accountable to none but himself c. Mr. Serm. on 2 Chr. 13.5 p. 6. v. p. 8 15 18. Camfield The King is in the highest place and highest power and consequently all in his Dominions Every Soul of them are obliged to be subject to him none may presume to judge or resist him violently there can be nothing justifyable on the Subjects part but obedience and Submission the rest must be referred to God alone the only Ruler of Princes c. Mr. Ser. at York Aug 3. 1685. p. 16 24. 〈◊〉 loc Stainforth We have great reason to pity and pray for Kings for the eminency of their Station and uncontroulableness of their Power if Princes are bad Men and oppress their Subjects against reason and against Law we have no reason left us but Prayers to God in whose hands are the hearts of Kings Whatsoever Injuries they heap upon us whatsoever Violences and Persecutions we suffer under them we must not suffer our Passions to rise and swell againvt them much less must we take up Arms and by force resist their Persons or Authority P. 34. Those who take up Arms against their Sovereign's Authority fight against Heaven Mr. Graile Rector of Blickling in Norfolk publish'd four Sermons Lond. 1685. P. 44 45. For Loyalty to our Prince is a thing commanded by God himself together with Piety and Devotion towards himself yea and commanded in the very next place to it so that the one is a part an inseparable part a very considerable part of the other And it follows from hence by an apparent Consequence that Mens Disloyalty is a clear indication of their irreligion if they fear not the King they fear not God. ☜ If any Man seem to be religious and bridles not his Tongue from speaking evil of Dignities or Higher Powers Jam. 1.26 2 Pet 2.10 Rom. 13.2 P. 53 54 55. that Man's Religion is vain and 't is much more so if he holds not his hands from resisting these Powers Our Law will have no Error no Injustice no Folly no Imperfection whatsoever to be found in the King. All the States of the Realm joyned together all the Nobles and Commons and the whole Body of the People have not a Power and Authority equal to his For otherwise he would not be the King of a Kingdom but of single Men separately taken P. 56. The King is no substitute of the People but the Minister of God and his Power is the Ordinance of God. It is a contradiction to be Sovereign and to have a Superior The Lords P. 57. both Spiritual and Temporal together with all the Commons assembled in Parliament do by a solemn Oath acknowledg the King to be Supreme and themselves to be his Subjects And they have in publick Statutes particularly declared That both or either Houses of Parliament cannot nor lawfully may raise or levy any War offensive or

Serm. called Subjection for Conscience sake p. 16. Must the free-born Subject break in upon the Birthrights and Liberties of the Crown and reduce it to Submission and Slavery that the humersom Christian may enjoy what he is pleased to call his Christian Liberty Christ gave not his Blood for this end nor did he make a purchase of a disobedient and gainsaying People Be confident no man can be God's Servant unless he be also a good Subject P. 22. Some mens Opinions and other mens Interests is the Conscience they so much talk of and then it is no wonder at all they cannot for their hearts obey when they themselves are setting up for Superiority Id. Pass Ob. stated and asserted pag. 3. P. 15. Passive Obedience is a patient and mild Suffering the hard and unjust Usages of Kings being both the Christian's Duty and Profession But this meek and Christian Principle was of late called to an account and with Arguments of Railery and Contempt endeavour'd to be hooted out of the World. Under the old Law when the King should usurp upon their Lands and Wives and Children 1 Sam. 8.11.18 all their Remedy was Ye shall cry out unto the Lord in that day c. They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation p. 17 18 19 21. It is in vain to say more being so plain to any Man to understand that seriously thinks of a day of Judgment when all the dawbing of Liberty and Property and Religion shall be wiped off and no pretence nor distinction satisfie against the evidence of Truth and so plain Expressions Mr. Nicolas Claget Disloyal Principles dispose Men to be unquiet Subjects Serm. on 1 Thes 4.11 p. 27. p. 22 23 38 39 40. such as these That all Power is from the People and is put into the King's hands upon trust that it is lawful for Subjects to enter into Covenants and Associations for the defence of themselves and their Religion against the Command of the Prince c. which are the Doctrins of Jesuits and Fanaticks See also Wilson's Disourse of Monarchy p. 15. 22 70 72.81 82. 106. 198. 207. 209. 248. 258 259. Mr. John Cook Serm. before the L. Mayor May 13. 1683. pag. 8 9. it 24 25. Dr. Jo. Price Seem Sept. 9. 1683. pag. 2. 12. 15. 18. Mr. Will. Bolton Coreh Redivivus pag. 9. 14. 29. Mr. Higham on Prov. 24.21 pag. 45 c. 86. 108. 123. 137. 157. 160. 175. c. Mr. Whitfield's Sermon before the L. Mayor Jul. 30. 1632. on Jude 8. Mr. Gifferd's Assize Sermon p. 12. Mr. Hyrick's Sermon July 26. 1685. p. 6 10 23 26. Mr. Brown's Sermon at the Visitation Apr. 12. 1681. p. 27 34. Dr. Smith Prebendary of Norwich Assize Serm. Sept. 13. 1668. p. 8 9. c. Id. Assize Serm. Feb. 27. 1672. p. 28. B. Rively's Sermon at Norwich July 19. 1679. on Rom. 13.4 p. 6 7. Dr. Thompson Dean of Bristol Serm. June 21. 1685. on Tit. 3.1 p. 3 5 6 14. 16 17 18 c. Mr. Bura's Serm. May 29. 1684. p. 25 27 c. Mr. Ethorowe's Scriptural Catechism p. 59. Mr. Alsop's Serm. on Exod. 20.12 p. 9 10 12 13 15 c. 24 25 30. Dr. Fr. Gregory's Serm. Nov. 5. 1679 p. 6 9 25. Mr. Will. Godman's Sermon May 24. 1660. p. 21 22 c. Mr. Luce's Serm. on 1 Pet. 2.16 p. 14 17 18. Mr. Fisher's Serm. Jan. 30. 1672. p. 11 13. Mr. Sayer's Assize Serm. Feb. 25. 1672. p. 38 40. Dr. Barnes's Serm. before the Univers of Cambr. p. 10 19 20 Mr. Crisp's Visir Serm. 1686. And very many other such Discourses and I have reason to suppose that if the Sermons of all the Divines of the Ch. of England on this subject were in Print the very Catalogue would swell to a very great bulk Doctrines of so pernicious a consequence to the publick Peace that it is enough to make us reject them as false without examining them further Such impious Doctrins and Principles as are destructive of the State and do leave Governments and Governors insecure * P. 44. And is Religion and God's Cause a Pretext for Treason and Rebellion This is next to Blasphemy and is an impious Reflection on the Wisdom and Power of God as if to bring about his own Designs he stood in need of our Devilish Devices I shall close this Chapter with the Testimony of Dr. Carswell Vicar of Bray Serm. at she Assize Mar. 3. 1683 / ● p. 25. in his State Reformer enquir'd into Designing Men still cunningly hide the disloyal Treachery in their Hearts their ambitious Designs their Disgusts and Disgraces at Court their Discontents for missng Places of Trust Command Profit or Honor under the Vizard or fair-fac'd Pretences of Religion or Justice P. 3● they are only concern'd as Patriots of their Religion and Country c. If our Judges are unjust or the King had deputed none to hear p. 44. or none that would do Justice it were not then lawful to oppose or revile Be wise now therefore O ye Kings c. Tho the People may not da●e to revile p. 41. or presume to call you to an account yet the King of Kings whose Deputies you are will exact an account of your Stewardship God made not the People Judg of Moses's Actions but him of theirs The End of the Second Part. Some grosser ERRATA of the First Part. IN the Catal. of Authors read B. Montague p. 7. for primitive r. more early p. 18. for subscribed v. assented to for An. 1684. r. the same Year p. 32. r. Ficlerus p. 35. r. Al Kum p. 43. after or better him add the Paragraph in p. 46. And according to this Doctrin unto Malignants p. 54. r. Goodwin p. 74. for L. r. lastly p. 88. r. irreligious ERRATA of the Second Part. PAg. 1. for ought to read would willingly p. 5. l. 12. r. do deserve p. 9. r. an 1542 / 3. p. 11. marg r. Barnes p. 14. l. 18. r. as they p. 20. r. a Friend p. 32. l. 24. r. as he p. 36. must p. 53. how much p. 57. l. 1. the state dele after the words to following p. 59. l. 26. they could p. 70. l. 31. p. rend c. p. 79. l. 27. r. then p. 82. l. 36. for which r. and. p. 84. r. or Merode p. 88● as if he p. 91. r. sorer p. 94. Abbadon p. 95. l. 2. r. whom p. 96. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 101. r. then only B. p. 104. marg Bowsin p. 105. l. 28. r. was the first p. 109. dele the Cicero of the Fr. Church dele Buckler of Faith. p. 112. l. 37. r. that Book is p. 127. r. 1661. p. 138. r. Theses p. 144. after B. Fell should be placed D. Allestry who is placed p. 147. and instead of Dr. Allestry should be placed p. 147. B. Thomas p. 149. r. wickedly The rest the Reader is desired to correct ADVERTISEMENT The Power communicated by God to the Prince ☞ and the Obedience required of the Subject Briefly laid down and confirmed out of the Holy Scriptures the Testimony of the Primitive Church the Dictates of right Reason and the Opinion of the wisest among Heathen Writers By the most Reverend Father in God James late Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland Faithfully published out of the Original Copy written with his own hand by the Reverend Father in God Robert Saunderson L. Bishop of Lincoln with his Lordships Preface thereunto Sold by the Booksellers in London

must do nothing to shew that we are acted by the Spirit of Popery we must never forget the Station in which God hath put us ●s we are Subjects under a Lawful Prince to whom we are tyed both by Divine and Humane Laws and even the Lion's Mouth it self opening to devour us ☜ can never excuse us from our obligation to submit and suffer if God had so ordered it by his Providence that we were born under a Prince that would deliver us up to the Lion. the late Rebellion as it was managed with a Popish i. e. a bloody Spirit so many of the Arguments that were used to defend it were taken from Popish Authors P. 28. When we go out of the way of patience and submission of obedience and of bearing the Cross when we give scope to passion and rage to jealousie and mistrust and upon this fermentation in our minds we break out into Wars and Rebellion we forget that the God whom we serve is Almighty and can save us either from a devouring Fire or a Lion's Mouth we forget that the Saviour whom we follow was made perfect by sufferings and that we become then truly his Disciples when we bear his Cross even tho we should be crush'd under it we forget that our Religion ought to inspire us with a contempt of Life and the World and with meekness and lowliness of mind c. P. 29. we are not to share with the Papists in their cruelty not imitate them in their Rebellion SECT XV. Dr. Adam Littleton in his Catechism Printed Lon. 1662 ●p ded or the Grounds of Religion An ungrounded Christian will be easily pe●suaded to give him self up to any wild Opinion or loose practice to turn Heretick or Rebel P. 334. and prove a fit instrument for the managery of Satan's designs the fifth commandment is the hinge of the two Tables and concerns the Magistrate who is God's Vicegerent on Earth and the keeper of both the Tables wherefore some assign it a place in the first Table P. 336 337. See his Ser. on Nov. 5 1675. p. 221 223 224 226. and Ser. on Jan. 30. 1677. p. 236 237 c. God having a special care of civil order and Peace in the Societies of Men honour thy Father and Mother whether thy natural Parents or the Civil Magistrate disobedience dissolves and unloosens or ●er and peace which are the bands of Society whereas oppression does but strain and gird the tyes of Government too close no Tyranny of the most wicked Prince can be so mischievous and destractive to the Publick as the Rebellion of Subjects let them pretend never so much Religion for it the great interest of society is to obey since the resisting of a Lawful Governor will in the end destroy Government it self and bring all things into consusion ☞ then he introduces God thus speaking thou inferior whoever thou art that art under anothers Power P. 343 344. thou shalt be subject to him and yield a ready and chearful obedience to him as to the Lord in all things that are just and lawful and hear with his humors and his harshness ☞ remembring that the he be a Man of like passions with thy self yet he is in God's stead and if he at any time swerve from his rule in commanding yet do not thou decline thy duty in obeying but when be biddeth thee do any thing coutrary to my will carry thy self with submission and resolve to suffer for a good conscience rather than to resist where thou canst not with a good conscience obey thou shalt not withdraw or grudge thy obedience P. 347. much less shalt thou take upon thee to call him to account thou Subject shalt honor and obey the King and his Ministers thou shalt not raise sedition to bring an odium upon the Magistrate's Person his Authority or his Council nor shew any discontent to the disturbance of the publick Peace nor take up Arms against thy Lawful Sovereign nor maintain or assist Rebellion nor meddle with those that are given to change thou shalt not offer any violence to the King 's Sacred Person but if at any time unrighteous commands are imposed upon thee have recourse to thy Prayers and make thy appeals to Heaven to God the King of Kings to whom alone they are accountable and who will in his dut time remove the oppression and call the Oppressor's to an account P. 352 353. when the hedge of Government is broken down neither Religion nor Law shall bound us this hath been England 's Case in the wicked times of Anarchy and Confusion when we complyed with Illegal Powers when our Oaths of Allegiance were eluded with the solemn cozenage of a League and sinful Combination when we were bewildred with the Witchcrafts of Rebellion and knew not the things which belong'd to our Peace but pretended to reform abuses by destroying the Offices when we rais'd War against our dread Sovereign and offered violence to the Lord 's Anointed what need have we therefore to pray fervently with the Church Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law. The same Author in his Sermon Pt. Lond. 1669. p. 24 25. called The Churches Peace asserted upon a Civil account Preach'd July 4th An. 1669. says the same thing The best Party of the Dissenters have such Principles of Policy and Government as are utterly inconsistent and incompatible with Monarchy whereas there is no one thing that the English Church doth in her Doctrin more positively affirm ☞ or in her Offices more ●ealously express than Obedience to Governors and her duty to her Sovereign thanked be God we live not now under Heathen Emperors and Pagan Governors tho if we did it were our duty to pray for them and to thank God for them too and to obey them in all lawful commands An Original of all Plots Lond. 1680. 810. cap. 1. p. 2. and where we cannot safely obey chearfully to suffer for a good Conscience Dr. William Saywel Still it hath fallen out that Men of more zeal than discretion of greater reading than judgment have struck in with the Politicians and wrote that which would most please the Men in Authority and was likely to get them most favor and reputation amongst those who could satisfie their ambition and by these means have rather served themselves than God tho with the confusion and disorder of the Church Athelsm breach of common faith and honesty P. 3. violations of all Oaths and Contracts Murders Treasons Conspiracies Rebellions long and bloody Wars Massacres Fires Underminings Poysons P. 4 5. and Subversions of Governments are the sad consequences of such dissensions in Religion that these Parts of Christendom for some Ages past have been an Aceldama or Field of Blood and many horrid and barbarous Murders have been acted upon pretence of Religion is evident from all Modern Histories and tho the Romish