world upside down and that Christianity was instrumental to promote Rebellions and give disturbance to the Civil Government and for this Cause St. Peter is so earnest in his Exhortation to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords Sake that by so doing Christians might put to silence the ignorance of foolish men who knowing nothing of the peaceable and loyal Principles of Christian Faith did represent it as destructive to the Civil Government and prejudicial to the Higher Powers And surely to pretend that our Religion doth allow such horrid Crimes is most effectually to blaspheme our Holy Calling and cast upon it an indelible Reproach For if those Jews who gloried in the privilege of Circumcision and yet were guilty of Adultery Rom. 2.24 Theft Sacrilege blasphem'd the name of God among the Gentiles he must assuredly blaspheme it who being guilty of Sedition Faction and Resistance of the Higher Powers doth glory in the name of Christian And if the Name and Doctrine of our Lord is then blasphemed Tit. 2.6 when the Wife doth not yield Subjection to the Husband and when the Christian Servant doth not yield Obedience to his Master in all things must they not be blasphem'd much more when Subjects do not yield Obedience to their Prince Add to this that all the Pleas and specious Pretences which were used to justifie our late Rebellions do cast on the Apostles and Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures the Reproach of gross Dissimulation and Hypocrisie For were it lawful to take up Arms against our Governors when we conceiv'd them guilty of Tyrannical abuse of Power when they became a terror to good works and not to evil only when they did seem to us to act against the good and welfare of the Kingdom or against their Coronation Oaths or when they did not rule according to Justice or established Laws or were it lawful to resist them in behalf of God or to preserve the true Religion or the Publick Exercise thereof I say were it in all or any of these cases lawful for Subjects to resist the Higher Powers the Apostles must dissemble and deal hypocritically when they without all limitation or exception of any of these cases do command Obedience for the Lord's sake and do forbid resistance of the Higher Powers even when they persecute us for the sake of Righteousness Had they believed intended or secretly taught that Christians upon all or any of the forementioned accounts might be exempted from Subjection and Obedience to them 't is plain they acted not with that simplicity which might have reasonably been expected from the Dispensers of the Gospel For if they verily believed and knew that Christianity in any of these cases did approve of the resistance of the Higher Powers they plainly went about to deceive Heathen Princes with fair words and sought by making them believe that their Religion called men to suffer peaceably under their Government and never to resist to win them to receive and own that Faith which when they had embraced they by experience should find that it taught no such matter They said indeed in words as plain as they could utter That Kings were Higher Powers who could not be resisted without the peril of Damnation and that this was the will of God That all should yield subjection to them but yet it seems they knew that this was not the will of God but that he did permit Christians to resist as oft as they conceived their Rulers guilty of male-administration or Enemies to their Religion or Persecutors of them for the Cause of Christ So plainly do the Patrons of Resistance cause the Name and Doctrine of our Lord to be blasphemed Argument 5 Fifthly All Christians are obliged to suffer patiently and not resist when they are persecuted when their Religion which is dearer to them than their lives doth suffer with them and men endeavour to suppress and utterly extirpate the Profession of it from the Nation where they live because our Lord expresly hath declared that his Kingdom is not of this World whence his own inserence is this That his Disciples must not fight no not in the defence of their dear Lord. He plainly tells them that they must bear the Cross and willingly must take it up whereas if Christian Faith did give a right to its Professors to defend themselves by Arms against the Higher Powers it rather would oblige the Christian to take up the Sword than to take up the Cross Again Christianity assures all the Professors of it that they are called to suffer that it is acceptable to God for them to suffer patiently for doing well to suffer for the sake of Conscience That 't is their Duty to follow the Example of their Saviour who when he suffered threatned not but did commit himself to him that judgeth righteously Nor were it lawful for Christians to resist Authority when their Religion was opposed and they were punished for the Profession of it they could not be obliged to suffer but only when they wanted power to resist and so it never could be said that their Religion but only that their weakness caused them to suffer It could not truly be affirmed that they were called but rather that they were necessitated to suffer nor could they be true Imitators of that Jesus who when he could have summoned twelve Legions of Angels to his aid chose rather to endure the Cross To these things I might add the Oath of God by which we have been many of us bound not only to bear true Allegiance to the Government we now live under but also to defend it as far as we are able against all Conspiracies and Insurrections I might remind you of the fierce wrath of God not only against Corah and his Accomplices whom the Earth swallowed up for their Rebellion against Moses but against Zedekiah Prince of his own People who having sworn Allegiance to an Heathen King did violate that Covenant he had confirmed with the Oath of God For this God doth expresly call Rebellion Ezek. 12.15 expressing his great detestation of the Fact and swearing twice by his own Life that he would recompense this sin upon his head He made a Covenant with him and took an Oath of him but he rebelled against him shall he prosper shall he escape that doth such things or shall he break the Covenant and be delivered As I live saith the Lord God surely in the place where the King dwelleth that made him King whose Oath he despised and whose Covenant he brake with him in the midst of Babylon shall he dye Seeing he despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant he shall not escape As I live saith the Lord God surely mine Oath that he hath despised my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompense upon his own head And lastly I might add that this hath been the constant Doctrine of the most Primitive and Purest Ages of the Church That Lawful Powers
tantum legis observatoribus prodesse oportet Haereticos autem atque Schismaticos non tantum ab his privilegiis alienos esse volumus sed etiam diversis muneribus constringi subjici Imperator Constantinus A. ad Drucilianum Cod. Theodos l. 16. Tit. 5. l. 1. Privileges He granted to the Clergy should belong only to the Catholicks not to the Hereticks or Schismaticks i. e. the Arians or Meletians 2. 'T is also evident that notwithstanding all these Edicts the Arian Emperors did often persecute the Orthodox Professors of the Faith For (e) Socr. Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 7.13 Soz. l. 3. c. 4 7. Constantius expelled Paulus Bishop of Constantinople and appointed Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia to succeed him yea he afterwards (f) Socr. l. 2. c. 16. banished him and placed Macedonius in his room He threatned (g) Socr. l. 2. c. 17. Soz. l. 3. c. 9. death to Athanasius and when both Paul and Athanasius were restored to their Sees by the Council of Sardica though whilst his Brother Constans lived he durst not gainsay that Decree after his death He (h) Socr. l. 2. c. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. c. 27. again expelled them He was saith Socrates perswaded by Macedonius to assist him in wasting of the Churches at least as (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 4. c. 20. Sozomen informs us Macedonius pretended his Commission so to do whereupon all the Oratories of the (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 4 c. 20. Catholicks were taken away and they were expelled both from their Churches and their Cities who held the (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. lib. 2. c. 27. Son to be of the same Substance with the Father and were persecuted in like manner as the Heathen Emperors had persecuted Christians and with equal cruelty These Persecutions did prevail (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. c. 28 throughout the East in Alexandria also in Egypt and in both the Libya's some of the Bishops were exiled some manacled and others did by (n) Socr. l. 2. c. 28. slight endeavour to consult their fafety all this was done before the Council of Ariminum and so before any Decree was made for the establishment of the Faith there propounded The next Emperors infected with the Arian Heresy were Valens and Valentinian who as (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccl. Hist l 4. c. 8. Theodoret informs us at first asserted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Consubstantial Trinity and by their Edict commanded all men to profess it and by so doing made that to be the Established Religion of the Empire But afterwards we learn from (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 4. c. 1. Socrates that Valens did grievously treat those who consented not unto the Arians that he raised an (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2. implacable War against the Orthodox that he (r) Socr. l. 4. c. 3. persecuted them in the East and (ſ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 6. shewed his inclinations that all Christians should arianize that he (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 6. c. 9. persecuted the Novatians because they were Orthodox and deprived them and others of the like judgment with them of their Churches that the (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. l. 4. c. 15. Arians did beat reproach imprison and committed intolerable outrages upon them and these or at least many of these things were done before any new Edict was set forth for the establishment of the faith taught by the Council of Ariminum or for reversing of the forementioned Decree 3. The Christians who lived under these Arian Emperors and suffered so much by them did constantly declare They thought themselves obliged in Conscience to be subject to them that they could not lawfully resist them and therefore were content to suffer Martyrdom thus when Constantius the Emperor did persecute the Christians of Alexandria Pop. Alex. protestuo apud Athan. Tom. 1. p. 868. they never thought of fighting for the established Religion but only of patient suffering for it for say they if it be the Emperors Command we should be persecuted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are all in a readiness to suffer Martyrdom so well instructed in that Doctrine of passive obedience were the Ancient Christians which this late Author doth Burlesque And though * Socr. l. 2. c. 25. Vetranio Magnentius and Gallus rebelled against Constantius and †Socr. l. 4. c. 5. Soz. l. 6. c. 8. Procopius against Valens none of them were assisted or countenanced by the Orthodox Professors but they were still reputed by them Tyrants and Rebellious persons Sixthly Consider the Absurdities which do attend this Doctrine It makes that Treason and Damnation after an humane constitution a Law or Act of Parliament which before was a Christian Duty for surely insurrections are never things indifferent they never can be lawful but when they by some Law of God or nature become necessary and they are wanting in their duty who do not rebel Now though a Humane Law or Act of Parliament may make that sinful in its exercise which was before indifferent it is not easie to conceive how it should turn a necessary duty into the worst of sins and transform the Glorious Martyr into the damned Rebel 2. What Conviction so ever any Prince may have that the established Religion is New and Schismatical or justly charged with Superstition and Idolatry he cannot by this Doctrine attempt to change it and to establish true Religion in its place by any penalties imposed upon the Superstitious or Schismatical but he must be in danger of an Insurrection and by this very Act must authorize his Subjects to enquire with Sword and Pistol in their hand By what law must we suffer for professing the established Religion 3. This strange Assertion justifies those Rebels who endeavoured to hinder Queen Mary whose inclinations and disaffection to the then established Religion they well knew from coming to the Crown and it condemns the Reformation both in this and in all other Kingdoms as being that by which the Roman Catholicks did suffer in their estates and Persons for professing of the established Religion if then this be sufficient Ground for any Subjects to rebel against their lawful Soveraign that their Religion is established by Law and they are like to suffer by his attempt to change it Jul. p. 69. and that 't will be too late for them to help themselves should they be quiet till there Reformers strengthen their Innovations by a Law there must have been sufficient cause for the Rebellion of Roman Catholicks in all those Countries and if the introduction of the Reformation by which they suffered could warrant their Rebellion the Reformation must be an evil thing that being evil with a Witness which can make Rebellion good So evident is it that this Doctrine tends more to turn a
Nation into Shambles than that of being passively obedient And Lastly this Assertion is destructive of it self and never can contribute to the end for which it doth pretend to be designed viz. The preservation of the established Religion against the pleasure of the Soveraign for by What Laws are We authorized to resist for Religions Sake the Laws of God expresly forbid it By the Laws of the Land but these Laws deprive all Subjects of any power to resist the King by taking Arms against him Since both by Common 25 Ed. 3. c. 2. and by Statute Law it is plain Treason to levy War against our Lord the King in the Realm or be adherent to the Kings Enemies Since our Law plainly saith that neither Houses of Parliament jointly or severally 13 Car. 2. c. 6. and much less any other Subjects can lawfully raise or levy any War Offensive or Defensive against his Majesty his Heirs and Lawful Successors and That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King our hands are therefore tyed up by our own as well as by Gods Law for where 't is Treason to resist there remains nothing to be done P. 92. but to be passively obedient If therefore as this Author grants when it is made death by the Law of the Land to be a good Christian we must lay down our lives for Christ's Sake and the Gospel requires passive obedience when the Laws are against a man must it not require the same obedience when it is made death by the Law of the Land to take up Arms against our Lawful Sovereign When then this Author so pertly puts the Question P. 81. By what Law must we dye for being of that Religion which God approves and would have all the world embrace and hold fast to the end 'T is evident that the first Christians might with equal reason have put this question to St. Paul and Peter By what Law must we suffer for our obedience to the Laws of God doth he ask By what Law must we suffer for professing that Religion which is by Law established let him but grant this reasonable Postulatum that the Laws of God are as sacred and inviolable as the Laws of men and lay an equalty upon the hands of Princes and then the question will again return upon him and unto both these questions the answer is most plainly this That we must do it by virtue of that Law of God which doth enjoin us for Conscience towards God to endure Grief suffering wrongfully and when we do well and suffer for it 1 Pet. 2.19 20. to take it patiently and by that Law of God and of the Land which doth forbid resistance of the Higher Powers by taking up the Sword for when I cannot lawfully resist that power which will punish I of necessity must suffer or transgress When he adds That no such power is lodged in the Prerogative as to destroy men contrary to Law it is as true that no such power is lodged in the Supremacy as to destroy men contrary to Gods Law or even to make a Law which contradicteth the Divine Law and therefore no such Power is given them from God as to destroy the Christian for the Profession of Christianity or for obeying Gods revealed will or for not sacrificing unto Heathen Idols And yet God did enjoin all Christians when they did suffer upon these accounts to suffer patiently and not resist It is not therefore any Authority which God hath given to the Prince to punish men for doing well that binds the Christian thus to suffer but the plain Law of God and of the Land both which forbid them that resistance which alone can hinder it No Master hath Authority from God to deal perversly with his Servant no Parent to deal unnaturally and unjustly with his Child but yet I hope this will not authorize them to resist and to rebel against Master or Parent when they thus suffer by them and what can then remain but that they quietly do suffer wrongfully FINIS
THREE SERMONS PREACH'D AT SALISBURY The First A. D. 1680. and again before the Militia at their going against the late Duke of Monmouth In which the Doctrine of not resisting the Higher Powers on any Pretence whatsoever taught by the Church of England is established from Scripture Reason and Antiquity The Second preach'd before the Right Reverend Father in God SETH Lord Bishop of Sarum A. D. 1681. and published by his Command In which the Formality and Hypocrisie of our Phanatical Pretenders to the Power of Godliness is discover'd The Third preach'd A. D. 1683 at the Election of the Mayor and published with some enlargement upon Occasion of a Discourse with Mr. Nelthrop in the Goal of Sarum In which the Doctrine of the Author of Julian the Apostate viz. That where the true Religion is by Law established Subjects are not obliged to suffer for it but may if persecuted for it defend themselves against their Lawful Sovereign is proved to be contrary to Scripture Reason and Antiquity and pernicious to the Government By Daniel Whitby D.D. and Chantor of the Cathedral Church of Sarum LONDON Printed for T. Basset at the George in Fleetstreet 1685. To the Honourable Collonel JOHN WYNDAM Coll. Tho. Penrudduk AND The rest of the Officers belonging to their Regiments Honoured Sirs WHen I had the honour to preach one of these Sermons to your Regiments before your Expedition against Monmouth I was so happy as to obtain Your Approbation and good Opinion of the Author of it And since upon a late Occasion have receiv'd such Expressions of your Kindness to me as cannot be forgotten without great Ingratitude Being therefore desirous to give some publick Testimony of the great Obligations you have laid upon me and of my due resentment of them I humbly intreat you to accept this small Expression of my Gratitude which I am the more encouraged to offer because it asserts the Old Church of England Loyalty which You to Your immortal Honour have practised in the worst of Times and signaliz'd of late by that Cheerfulness and Bravery with which you ventured your Lives for the best of Princes and Governments In Obedience to which I shall always endeavour so to live that you may never be asham'd to own Honoured Sirs Your most obliged and very Humble Servant D. W. ERRATA SErm 1. p. 3. l. 22. God r. quod p. 6. l. 10. dele and. p. 9. l. 20. daily r. duly p. 17. l. 5. natural r. external Serm. 2. p. 20. l. 37. acknowledge r. acknowledgment Serm. 3. p. 31. l. 11. equalty r. equal tye A SERMON PREACHED At the Cathedral Church of Sarum 2 TIMOTHY 3.5 Having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof THere are some common Notions and Inclinations to Devotion planted in the minds of men which prompt them to the exercise of that which they esteem Religion and these in the Professors of Christianity are very much improv'd by Education and Instruction by the Ministry of the Word and publick Ordinances by the common workings of the Spirit of God and the Examples of good men so that as many of them as are not Atheistical in heart can never satisfie the workings of their Conscience without performance of some things which carry in them the appearance of a Religious Conversation and from which they conclude themselves devout and truly pious But yet alas it doth too often happen through the blindness of our Understandings and the averseness of our corrupt Wills to the severer Duties of Christianity through the subtilty of Satan and the deceitfulness of our own Hearts through the strong affection which we bear to our beloved Lusts and through the prevalency of our Passions over the Reason and the Convictions of the Soul I say it doth too often happen upon these accounts that men delude themselves with a fair semblance of Religion without the Substance of it Having a form of Godliness c. Which being in the experience of all Ages and more especially of this a very common thing and yet most certainly destructive to our precious Souls it is both very necessary and very profitable to deal plainly with you in this important Subject by shewing 1. Wherein consists the Form of Godliness and how far we may go in the Profession of Religion and in the Practice of some Religious Duties and not exceed that Form And 2. Wherein consists the Truth and Power of it Now the Word Godliness in Scripture is sometimes used in a strict Sense to signifie that Service which is immediately paid to God and is comprised in the first Table of the Decalogue As v. g. When the Scripture doth exhort so follow after Righteousness 1 Tim. 6.11 2 Pet. 1.7 Godliness Faith Love Patience Meekness to add to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and Charity Tit. 2.12 1 Tim. 2.2 when it doth teach us to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World to lead a peaceable and quiet Life in all Godliness and Honesty Here because Godliness is put in oppostion to Righteousness Sobriety and Charity which comprehend the Duties of the second Table it seems apparent that the Word Godliness doth in these places only signifie that Duty which we owe to God But when the Gospel is stiled the Mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3.16.6.3 the Truth and Doctrine which is after Godliness when Godliness is said to be profitable for all things Tit. 1.1 having the Promise of this Life and that which is to come there Godliness must signifie all that Obedience which is required by the Gospel that Love and Righteousness which it prescribes towards our Neighbour that Temperance which it enjoyns towards our selves as well as that immediate Worship which we owe to God the Gospel Grace being revealed not only to teach us to live godly but also righteously and soberly and making us no Promise either of present or of future Blessings without the practice of these Duties 2. That Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we here render Form and answereth to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports an outward shew appearance shape or likeness as v. g. Jesus appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in another Form Mark 16.12 He took upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Form of a Servant being made in the likeness of a Man Phil. 2.7 When therefore Persons outwardly appear to be religious when they are found in fashion of the pious Man doing outwardly as he doth speaking as he speaketh making the same Profession which he doth then may they properly be said to have the form of Godliness Now for the Resolution of that important Question How far a Man may go in the Profession of Christianity and the performance of some religious Duties and yet have only a bare form of Godliness I answer in these six Particulars 1. Men may be frequent in the Performance of the outward Acts of Worship they may be much in Prayer
they daily went to offer up their Prayers their Sacrifices their Oblations and Thanksgivings for his peculiar Mercies to them and whilst they constantly performed these things they thought God could not but be pleased with their Persons and that their Sacrifices would be a full Attonement for their Sins when they had bowed down their Heads like a Bulrush when they had wept and fasted before God although they did not loose the Bands of Wickedness they take upon them the Boldness to expostulate the case with God and murmur that their Services were not accepted Isa 58.3 for wherefore say they have we fasted and thou seest not wherefore have we afflicted our Souls and thou takest no knowledge To such a height of Confidence were they arrived from the Performance of these Duties And therefore God seems much concern'd to let them know that he delighted not in their Oblations Amos 5.21 that he hated and despised their Feast-days and would not smell in their solemn Assemblies that their burnt Offerings were not acceptable Jer. 6.20 Isa 66.3 nor their Sacrifices sweet unto him that he that killed an Oxewas as if he slew a Man he that sacrificed a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs Neck he that offered an Oblation as if he offered Swines Blood and he that burned Incense as if he blessed an Idol Hence doth he call upon them with great earnestness to put away the evil of their doings to loose the bands of Wickedness Isa 58.6 Mi◠6.10 11. to undoe the heavy Burthens to let the oppressed go free and to break every Yoke to put away the Treasures of Wickedness kept in the Houses of the wicked the scant Measure the wicked Balance and the Bag of deceitful Weights not to oppress the Widow nor the Fatherless the Stranger or the Poor nor to imagine evil in their Hearts against their Neighbour To learn to do well Isa 1.17 to seek Judgment relieve the oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow Amos 5.24 to let Judgment run down as Waters and Righteousness as a mighty Stream to deal their Bread to the hungry and bring the Poor that are cast out Isa 58.7 into their Houses when they see the naked to cover him and not to hide themselves from their own Flesh Zech. 7.9 to execute true Judgment and shew Mercy and Compassion every Man to his Brother Whence we may learn these three Particulars 1. That we are very prone to rest in the performance of these outward Duties and to be confident that they will purchase for us the Favour of the God of Heaven although we do not add unto them those inward Fruits of Righteousness in which the Power of true Godliness consists for wherefore was our Lord and all these holy Prophets so concerned to warn men of this great Mistake were they not very prone to fall into it 2. That we are naturally averse from those spiritual Duties in which the Life and Power of true Godliness consists for were it otherwise why do the Holy Prophets and our dear Lord so oft inculcate and with such Vehemence exhort men to perform them And 3. That the Form of Godliness without the Power of it will be so far from ministring to our Acceptance here or Happiness hereafter that it will be thrown back as Dung into our Faces and be the greatest Aggravation of our future doom for if God so despised and with so great Abomination did reject the Service of the Jews when 't was not joyned with Obedience and inward Purity with Acts of Charity and Justice albeit their Religion was full of Shadows and of outward Ceremonies how much more will he loath the Service of the formal Christian from whom he chiefly doth require a spiritual Worship and an inward Holiness And oh what pity is it that we who do so much to go to Heaven should do it to so bad or little purpose that we should wholly lose the benefit and comfort of all our Prayers and Fastings Hearing and Reading for want of Care to do what we do hear and read and by our Prayers and Fastings seem desirous to do or that for want of doing more we should provoke God to reject with Hatred and Abomination what we have already done We being therefore apt to lie under these sad Mistakes which tend to the destruction of our precious Souls can any of us take it ill that we are thus forewarned of them Is it not reasonable to press us to perform those things which are so necessary to our Salvation and Acceptance with God and from which we are naturally so averse Wherefore Beloved let me beseech you not to rest in any outward Form of Godliness but to advance unto the Power of it by the subjection of your Wills unto the Will of God and a prevailing Love unto him by the due Moderation of your Passions and Affections and the Purification of your Hearts from Anger Malice Envy uncharitable Censures Pride and Self-conceit unclean and wicked Thoughts Let us be careful that our Piety express it self in constant Acts of universal Charity and Mercy Justice and upright Conversation towards Men and in a peaceable Frame of Spirit for if we only do express it by listing of our selves to such a Party or Perswasion or being zealous for it by going to the Church hearing a Sermon there repeating it at home fasting receiving of the Sacrament and leave these greater things undone we only mock God with an outward Shew but if unto this Form we add those things in which the Life of Piety consists we have obtained that Godliness which hath the Promise of this Life and that which is to come A SERMON PREACH'D Before the Militia of the County of Wilts at their marching against MONMOVTH TITUS 3.1 Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and obey Magistrates WE read in Suidas that the Cretians concerning whom St. Paul gives this Command to Titus were prone to stir up one another to Sedition and that the Preservation of their Liberties was the Pretence for their seditious Practices moreover in that Island dwelt swarms of Jews and judaizing Christians who were Titus 1.9 saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men of a Refractory and Seditious Spirit One of their wicked and seditious Principles was this Vide 1 Tim. 6.1 3. 1 Pet. 2.18 That Servants were exempted from all Obligations of Obedience to their wicked Masters on which Account St. Peter in his Epistle to the dispersed Jews saith thus Servants 1 Pet. 2.18 be subject to your Masters in all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward Another of their Rebellious Principles was this That Christians were not obliged to submit or yield Obedience to Heathen Governours for such they deem'd unworthy of that Honour who were the Enemies of the true God and his Religion To cure this Distemper which tended to reproach Christianity
for certainly there is as much subjection due to a Sovereign Prince who is more eminently Gods Minister and his Vieegerent than any Master is with respect unto his Servants since when the Master doth command that which the King forbids the Servant may be punished for his obedience to his Master that is for not preferring the King's Will before his Masters And if it be thank worthy with patience to endure Grief when we do suffer wrongfully from our Superiors sure it must be blame worthy in all such cases to resist and to rebel against them Reason 3 Thirdly The contrary Doctrine would expose the Government to endless Troubles and Confusions for had God granted to Inferiors a liberty thus to resist the Higher Powers upon presumptions of severity and hardships when imposed upon them he must have left it in the power of Subjects to judge when they are thus severely dealt with and to act suitably unto that judgment since otherwise that liberty would be in vain allowed Now what is this in the Result but to allow them to be Accusers Judges and Executioners in their own Cause against their Sovereigns and God's Vicegerents How easie is it for popular men with the Assistance of their Agents and with the help of their seditious and lying Pamphlets to make the multitude believe they are too hardly and severely dealt with the case of Absalom and of our Royal Martyr too fully will inform us We therefore may for ever bid adieu to Peace and Quietness if such surmises or pretences will authorise men to resist Authority Reason 4 Fourthly In opposition to this vain pretence it is observable that when by Haman's Policy Letters were sent through all the Provinces of Ahasuerus to destroy kill and cause to perish all Jews both young and old little Children and Women in one day though by this Butcherly Decree as Mordecai complains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esth 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Nation was to be destroyed which had done nothing to deserve destruction which was most barbarous injustice and although as the sequel of the Story shews they had sufficient strength both to defend themselves Esth 8.11 and vanquish those who did assault them yet neither Mordecai nor Esther thought it sit that they should thus endeavour to preserve themselves from Ruine without Commission from the King and his Reversion of the Decree procured by Haman Exod. 1.14 And though God's People during their abode in Egypt were kept under the greatest slavery and the most cruel bondage and though when they went out from Egypt they were six hundred thousand sighting men a number sure sufficient to have made their way by force to their desired liberty and though God stood obliged by promise to deliver his own People out of Captivity after their seventy years of Bondage were accomplished yet did he not encourage or permit them to procure their liberty by rising up in Arms against the Kings of Egypt or of Babylon but either did accomplish their deliverance by his own mighty Arm as in the case of their departure out of Egypt or by procuring to them favour in the eyes of their Superiors Cyrus and Artaxerxes Kings of Persia as in the case of their return from Babylon that there might not be found on Record in his word any allowance of the Rebellion of his own beloved People against the worst of Tyrants to justifie or to encourage it in others on the like pretences though to be sure God wanted no affection to his chosen people nor power to assist them in their Lawful Wars If therefore this had been a method of deliverance agreable to his Sacred Will no doubt but that he would have given them permission thus to obtain their freedom and would have assisted them in these endeavours Since then he did not do it we may rest assured that it was not according to his will that they should thus exempt themselves from their Captivity and Bondage to their Heathen Governours And (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryst ad Rom Hom. 23. Prop. 2. much less can it be according to his will that Christians should thus exempt themselves from their Obedience to Governours professing the same Christian Faith It is not lawful to resist the Higher Powers on the account of our Religion or from pretences of labouring to preserve it to our selves or to transmit it to Posterity For though it is the Duty of all good Christians and will for ever be their practice manfully to profess the true Religion as occasion serves and firmly to adhere unto it to pray heartily unto the Author of it that he would stablish and preserve it to us and our Posterity for ever and in his station to do all that lawfully a private Person can by pleading and by acting for it and above all by living so as that his Conversation may commend it to the good liking of all those who see the blessed Fruits it doth produce in the Professors of it yet must he not take up the Sword without Commission from the King or Supreme Governor much less against him for the defence or preservation of it but must yield due Subjection even to those Superiors who persecute the true Religion and suffer patiently for it without attempting to resist For Reason 1 No men more certainly were persecuted for the true Profession of the Christian Faith than the Believers of the Apostles Age and yet you see the Precept given to them runs thus without exception Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers and Christians are still charged upon the Highest Penalties not to resist their persecuting Emperors but in this very case to suffer patiently for conscience towards God Reason 2 St. Peter drew his Sword for the defense of Christ and in him of Christianity it self when Christ was under condemnation on the account of his Religion and yet his Lord doth peremptorily command him to put it up again and that First because he could not use it even in the Cause of Christ but he must take it i. e. must wrest it from the hand of that Superior to whom by God it was committed Put up thy Sword saith Christ for all that take the Sword shall perish by it from which words it appears that (g) Contra Faust Mar. l. 22. c. 70. Matt. 26.52 Austins Rule is an eternal Truth He takes the Sword qui nulla superiori ac legitima potestate vel jubente vel concedente in sanguinem alicujus armatur who is armed with it to shed blood without Commission from his lawful Governor Secondly Put up thy Sword saith Christ because by taking of it thou wilst deserve to perish by it or wilst be guilty of that Rebellion which deserveth death which reason equally concerns all Christian Subjects for albeit this special reason that Christ was then to suffer might cause our Saviour to refuse the assistance of St. Peter's Sword yet could it not induce him
Bethel were set up to be worshipped 2 Kings 17.16 that they left all the Commandments of the Lord their God and made them molten Images even two Calves That Jereboam cast out the Priests of the Lord 2 Chron. 13.9 the Sâ—ns of Aaron and the Levites and made them Priests after the manner of the Nations of other Lands That he drove Israel from serving the Lord 2 Kings 17.21 2 Chr. XI 14 16. 1 Kings 15.17 and made them sin a Great Sin and caused all those who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel to desert their Habitation That Beasha King of Israel built Ramah that he might not suffer any to go out or to come in to Asa King of Judah to worship God according to the Law of Moses Secondly We know that all these things were done in opposition to the Law of the Land i.e. the Law of Moses established not only by consent and Covenant of all the Tribes of Israel and Judah but also by the Prescript and Authority of the Great God of Heaven God having made a Covenant with them which never could be disannulled by any Law of man and charged them saying Ye shall not fear other Gods 2 Kings 17.35 nor bow your selves to them nor serve them yet the ten Tribes continued this Idolatrous Worship till they were carried Captive 2 Kings 18.11 12. For the King of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria because they obeyed not the Voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his Covenant and all that Moses the Servant of the Lord commanded and would not hear them nor do them Thirdly Observe that God sent many Prophets to warn both Jeroboam 1 Kings 13.14.7 and his people of this great defection from him and to denounce his heavy Judgments against him and his Successors in that Kingdom for it For the Lord testifyed against Israel and against Judah by all the Prophets 2 Kings 17.13 and by all the Seers saying turn you from your evil ways and keep my Commandments and my Statutes according to all the Law that I commanded your Fathers That in his Providence he frequently chastised them for it 1. 2 Chr. 13.17 1 Kings 15.27 29.17.2 By Abijah King of Judah who slew 500000 of Jeroboam's men 2 By Baasha the Son of Ahijah who conspired against Nadab the Son of Jeroboam and smote all the House of Jeroboam 3. By the Dearth foretold by Elijah 4. By the very bitter Affliction which befel them in the days of Jehu 2 Kings 10.32 For in those days the Lord began to cut Israel short and Hazael smote them in all the Coasts of Israel and in the days of Jeroboam the Son of Joash when they were few 2 Kings 14.26 Vide 70 Interp 2 Kings 15.29.17.6 shut up and had no Helper And Lastly by delivering them up into the hands of Tiglath Pileser and Shalmaneser Kings of Assyria But all this while we never find that any of Gods Prophets uttered the least word for the encouragement of any of their Subjects to rebel against them upon this account or to engage them to sight for the Religion established in their Kingdoms and made the National Religion by the unalterable Laws of God or to rise up in Arms because they were not suffered to go up to Jerusalem to worship as God had commanded and as they had Covenanted they never minded them that Jeroboam when he came unto the Crown Jul. p. 69. found them in full and quiet possession of their Religion which was a blessing so inestimable that they should plainly undervalue it if they did not do their utmost to keep it That he seduced them from it in an Illegal Way against a Precept of their Decalogue and did it only by a Pretence that the two Calves he had set up in Dan and Bethel 1 Kings 12.24 were the Gods that brought them up out of the Land of Aegypt And yet it is not to be doubted but that these Prophets were truly jealous for the Lord of Hosts for the purity of his Worship and for the observation of the Law of Moses what therefore could have hindred them from calling on the People as our Phanatick Preachers did to help the Lord against the Mighty and sight for the Defence or for the Reformation of their Religion but their dislike of such Proceedings and the Conviction of their Consciences that such miscarriages in Princes would never warrant the Insurrection of their Subjects upon pretence of violation of the Religion established by Law or to cut off Idolatrous and Persecuting Princes without Express Commission and Authority from that God who removeth Kings Dan. 2.21 2 Kings 9.6 7. and setteth up Kings as it was in the case of Jehu who by Gods Prophet was anointed actual King over Israel 2 Kings 10.30 and was commanded by him to smite the house of Ahab his Master and of whom God declared that he had done well in executing Vengeance on the House of Ahab And this may very probably be gathered from the deportment of Elijah under that King who had none like him in iniquity 1 Kings 21.25 Ahabsent and gathered them 1 Kings 18.20 Deut. 13.5.17.2 1 Kings 18.13 v. 18. For having once obtained the Kings Authority to convene the Priests of Baal he in his presence and donotless with his permission slew them all according to the tenor of the Law of Moses He also shut up Heaven that there was no Rain until these Baalites were destroyed But although his accursed Wife at least by his connivance and the abuse of his Authority had slain the Prophets of the Lord and though the Prophet tells him to his Face that he and his Fathers house had troubled Israel in that they had forsaken the Lord and followed Baalim and lastly though Elijah had the people at his Devotion at Mount Carmel yet notwithstanding all his jealousie for God he gives them no encouragment to attempt any thing against their King he setteth up no person to oppose him till by express Command from God he had been authorized to anoint Jehu King over Israel 1 Kings 19.16 Moreover when Baasha conspired against Nadab and slew him tho he did only that which the Lord had spoken by his Servant Ahijah the Shilonite 1 Kings 14.14 as the just punishment of the revolt of Jeroboam from his Law and though God doth acknowledge that he exalted Baasha from the dust 1 Kings 16.2 and made him Prince over his people Israel yet came the word of the Lord against Baasha and against his house because he killed him whence we may rationally conclude Quod ille dominum suum Nadab interfecisset ut imperium assequeretun Munst Vatab. clarius in locum that though Gods Providence permitted Baasha to conspire against the Son of Jeroboam and though he ordered matters so as that he was Gods Instrument in doing execution on the house of
Jeroboam according to the Sentence of his Prophet Hoc crimen poenam à deo merebatur cum nullo dei jussu idfecisset Grot. yet was not this his action acceptable in the sight of God because he here resolves to punish him 1 Kings 16.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he slew him Again the instances of the Idolatrous King of Judah from the days of Rehoboam till the time of their Captivity afford a further confutation of this new Apology for Treason and Rebellion For First it cannot be denied but that the Law of Moses and the Religion prescribed by it was the Religion established in the Kingdom of Judah Secondly The Scripture notwithstanding doth inform us that when Rehoboam had established his Kingdom 2 Chr. 12.1 1 Kings 15.3 he forsook the Law of the Lord and all Israel with him That Abiiah who succeeded him walked in all the sins of his Father which he had done before him 2 Chr. 21.11 That Jehoram made High Places in the Mountains of Judah 2 Chr. 24.16 17. and caused the Inhabitants of Judah to commit Fornication and compelled Judah thereto That Jehojada and the Princes of Judah left the House of the Lord God of their Fathers and served Groves and Idols 2 Chron. 28.24 25. That Ahaz did shut up the doors of the House of the Lord and he made him Altars in every Corner of Jerusalem 2 Chron. 33.5 6. and in every several City of Judah he made High places to burn Incense unto other Gods That Manasseh built Altars in the house of the Lord whereof the Lord had said in Jerusalem shall my name be for ever and he built Altars for all the Host of Heaven in the two Courts of the house of the Lord That Hezekiah with relation to some of these Enormities confessed after this manner Our Fathers have trespassed 2 Chron. 29.6 7. and done that which was evil in the Sight of the Lord and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the Habitation of the Lord and turned their Backs also they have shut up the Doors of the Porch and put out the Lamps and have not burnt Incense nor offered burnt Offerings in the Holy place unto the God of Israel by all which sayings it is evident that the exercise of the established Religion wholly was obstructed and the people were compelled not only to neglect but act in opposition to it Thirdly 2 Kings 17.13 2 Kings 14.25 26. 2 Chron. 12.4 8 9. 'T is further evident that God testified against these Abominations done in Judah by all his Prophets and his Seers that he chastised them for it 1. by Shisak King of Egypt who in the days of Rehoboam took the fenced Cities of Judah and came up against Jerusalem and took away the Treasures of the house of the Lord and of the King's house and the Shields of Gold which Solomon had made and caused Judah to be tributaries to him because they had transgressed against the Lord. 2. By the revolt of Edom and of Libnah because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers And 3. 2 Chron. 21.10 Vers 16 17. by stirring up against Jehoram the Spirit of the Philistins and of the Arabiams that were near the Aethiopians who came up into Judah and brake into it and carried away all the Substance that was found in the King's house and his Sons also and his Wives 4. By the Host of Syria which came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the People from among the People and sent all the Spoyl of them to the King of Damascus 2 Chron. 24.24 25. Zach. 14.5 Joel 1.2 3. a Great Host of Judah being delivered into the hands of their small Company because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers 5. By a terrible Earth-quake in the days of Vzziah 6 By the dreadful plague of Locusts Caterpillars and Canker-worms 7. By sending against Judah Rezin the King of Syria 2 Chron. 28.6 and Pekah Son of Remaliah who slew in Judah 120000 valiant men in one day because they had for saken the Lord God of their Fathers and the King of Israel who carried away captive two hundred thousand Women Sons and Daughters Verse 8. And yet we read not of any Prophet stirring up these People to Rebel on the account of the Religion by Law established or on the account of all the miseries they suffered by the neglect of God's true Worship and by the introduction of Idolatry whence it is evident that private Persons or Subjects were then thought to have done their Duty when they had sighed and mourned for these abominations and kept themselves from any fellowship with these iniquities We find indeed 2 Chron 25.27 that after the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish but they sent to Lachish after him and slew him there But who made this Conspiracy the Text doth not inform us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. Jud. lib. 9. c. 10. Josephus saith that some of his own Friends were the Contrivers of it the Syriack and Arabick Version that his Servants thus conspired against him as did the Servants of his Father Joash against him 2 Chr. 25.3 and as the Servants of Ammon did afterwards against their Lord and if so no doubt these Servants of Amaziah deserved the same punishment those other Murtherers received 2 Chron. 33.25 though by reason of the infancy of Vzziah who was then but four years old as good Interpreters conjecture and by reason of the interregnum of eleven years they scaped their condign punishment Moreover the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports Conspiracy and Treason being generally used in an ill sense gives us just reason to believe the Holy Ghost did not approve this Treachery and much less the ensuing Murther Fifthly Argument 5 According to this Principle Christians might lawfully rebel against those Arian Emperors who succeeded Constantine the Great viz. against Constantius and Valens for evident it is 1. That the Nicene Faith was fully established by Constantine the Great (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de vit Const l. 3. c. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. c. 32. Eusebius informs us that He confirmed the Doctrine of the Nicene Synod and made Laws against Arius and those of his Perswasion (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. c. 8. p. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 9. Socrates saith the same and (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 20. Sozomen adds that he condemn'd to banishment those who did contradict the Suffrage of the Nicene Council and that He made a Law against all Heresies not suffering them to Assemble any where but in the Catholick Church and declaring that the (d) Privilegia quae contemplatione Religionis indulta sunt Catholicae