all of them made him their Proxy to speak for them which if they have done why doth he not shew us his Commission for it which as he hath not done yet so I am confident he will never be able to doe no not from all or from the most of any one party of the Nonconformists Which I am the bolder to affirm because having sometimes occasionally made use of his Authority in point of opinion and of his Example in point of practice for the convincing of some both Presbyterians and Independents who by their practice seemed to be of another judgment in diverse things than he was I found that what he said or did signified little or nothing unto them Nay they told me in plain terms that I was very much mistaken if I thought that Mr. Baxter's either judgment or practice was of so great weight with them as for that reason onely to make them alter their own either judgment or practice in any thing whatsoever So that it doth not follow that because Bishop Morley in that printed Letter of his saith that this or that was Mr. Baxter's Assertion therefore he said or must be understood as if he had said it was the assertion of all or indeed of any other of the Nonconformists but of Mr. Baxter himself onely Of any other I say for I did not so much as charge both or either of those two Nonconformists that were Mr. Baxter's Assistants at that Conference with asserting what he asserted Nay I do in that Letter of mine discharge them both from concurring with him in that Assertion which I lay unto his charge though he saith he concurr'd with them in it I charge him with it because as I tell him in my printed Letter he did often affirm and declare it to be his and I discharge them from it because neither of them did affirm or declare it to be theirs but rather seem'd to dislike it and to dissent from him in it But why then will he say do I say Crimine ab uno disce omnes From ones ill carriage you may know the rest which seems to imply that what I charge upon him I charge upon his whole party as I do indeed but not in that same place nor speaking of the same mater but for their censuring and condemning all other Protestant Churches in the World as well as ours as Mr. Baxter did expresly at the Conference aforesaid because They as well as We refuse to give the Communion to those that will not receive it so as by publick order it is to be received And it was upon account of this proud peevish and censorious humour of which I take all the Nonconformists and amongst them the Presbyterians especially to be more or less guilty that I then taking Mr. Baxter to be a Presbyterian said Crimine ab uno disce omnes that is By one man's ill temper you may know the whole party But then as by Omnes All of them I did not mean all the Nonconformists so I did not mean all the Presbyterians neither but those of England and Scotland onely all foreign Presbyterians that allow of and practice Calvin's Scheme of Discipline and Government of the Church agreeing with us against our Presbyterians in the main difference betwixt us and them namely that as it is in the power of a National Church to appoint and prescribe to those of her own Communion the usage of such indifferent things as she shall think to be most for order decency and edification in the publick service and worship of God so it is in her power also to oblige all of her Communion to the use and observation of all such indifferent things after they are prescribed and enjoyned as long as they continue to be so under the penalty of Excommunication or of being excluded out of the Society or Communion of that Church if they do not comply and much more if they preach or write against any such orders or ordinances as are made by publick Authority or by the Representatives of the whole Society and most of all if they deny theChurches power to ordain and enjoyn any such orders or ordinances of all which Crimes or degrees of the same crime no other Presbyterians are guilty for ought I know but those of England and Scotland onely or if perhaps some be they are excluded from Communion with the National Church wherein they live as well as Nonconformists are with us here in England so that in Holland it self where it is said any man may chuse his own Religion or be of what Religion he will no man that will not subscribe to the Synod of Dort in Rituals as well as Doctrinals is or can be admitted to be a member and much less a Preacher in that Church no nor to the exercise of any Office Civil or Ecclesiastical in their Church or State It is true they suffer men of all Religions to live amongst them Lutherans as well as Calvinists Arminians as well as Antiarminians nay Papists as well as Protestants and Jews as well as Christians but not as members of their Church who are Calvinists and Calvinists onely The rest indeed beforenamed are some of them conniv'd at and some of them permitted to have their Meetings and preaching after their own way but it is at their own charge and severely punishable if they preach or print any thing to the reproach or scandal of the Religion allowed of and established by the State We wish no more will our Sectaries perhaps say Let us have but so much liberty as this upon the same terms and We will thank God and you for it But what security will you or any of you give us that when you have that liberty you will not all of you joyn together to destroy our Religion though you know not what to set up instead of it We see you have done so once already and attempted it often both before and since and why may not you do so again For the Laws were against you then as much as they are now and so was the King too And therefore granting such a Toleration of several Sects of Religion or ways of Belief and Worship as there are in Holland it is not possible humanely speaking to secure the publick peace either of Church or State but by keeping up a standing Army of thirty or forty thousand men always in pay even in times of peace with a powerfull Fleet at Sea as the Hollanders do to secure themselves from Insurrections at home as well as Invasions from abroad Now whether the People of England will be content to be at such a Charge and to live under such a Government those that would have such a Liberty of Conscience or Toleration of Religion as there is in Holland let them enquire of the peoples Representatives and Petition them to that purpose at their next meeting In the mean time all their Pleas for Peace
out of them that seem to be possessed with him which is above all things to be wished and prayed for or those that are so possest be kept from infecting others by teaching and printing with that intolerable licence as they do and have done for so many years together we are not to expect to be long without another Civil War and whether the effects of that will not be as bad or worse than the former no man can tell I am sure we are not always to expect miracles I mean such a miraculous deliverance as we have once had from so many several sorts of arbitrary and Tyrannical Governments as that War brought us to or rather as we our selves brought our selves to by that Rebellion and as such a rebellion as that was may and nothing but such a rebellion as that was can probably and humanely speaking bring us to again CHAP. IV. An Expedient proposed to secure the Government both in Church and State viz. some such Law as the Scotch Test. The Heir of the Crown 's being a Papist or a Presbyterian c. comes much to the same pass FOR the preventing whereof why should not we follow the example of the Scots in that which is good as well as we did follow their example in that which was evil We took such a Covenant as they did in order to the making and helping us to make such a War against our King and theirs as they did and for the alteration of the Government and Religion established by Law in both Kingdoms And why should not we make such a Law as they have now made for the preservation of their Government and Religion as it is now by Law established amongst them why should not we I say make such a Law for the maintenance and preservation of the Government and Religion established by Law amongst Vs also I mean such a Law whereby all Men are disabled and made uncapable of any Office or Place of Power and Trust either Military or Civil or Ecclesiastical as likewise of being chosen themselves or of choosing others to be Members of Parliament as will not take such a Test and Oath as they have taken in Scotland that is never to give their consent to the Alteration either of the Religion or of the Government either in Church or State as it is there by Law established Such a Law as this and no worldly means but such a Law as this will secure us and our Posterity from all that we fear or pretend to be afraid of especially from Arbitrary Government and Popery and from Presbytery too For the Heir of the Crown may be a Presbyterian or an Independent or an Antinomian or an Anabaptist or a Socinian and may be every whit as great a Zealot and as much a Bigot in any of those perswasions as any Papist can be in his and consequently be as zealous and industrious to promote bring in and set up his Religion for the Only or at least for the Predominant Religion of the State as any Papist can be to bring in Popery and consequently to suppress all of any other perswasion but his own and that perhaps with as bloody a persecution as ever any Papist did when he hath as much power to do it Of this One of the Sects hath given us proof more than enough already I mean the Presbyterians who for the setting up of their Dagon instead of the Ark of God and for the abolishing of Monarchy in the State as well as Episcopacy in the Church entred into that Antichristian League and Covenant with the Scots whereby both Nations were ingaged in a bloody War with and against one another of which the execrable effects as no Act of Oblivion can ever make to be forgotten so can they never be remembred without horror nor indeed should be remembred without detestation of the procatarctical or promoting causes of it of which the most principal and most energetical was that Presbyterian Solemn League and Covenant for the setting up that Idol of theirs the Presbyterian Government for which they were so peremptorily and pertinaciously zealous and ambitious that in all their Treaties with the late King one of the conditions of Peace always was the abolishing of Episcopacy and setting up Presbytery instead of it without consenting whereunto and without taking of the Covenant as the Scotch Presbyterians did refuse the late King so the English Presbyterians would if they might have had their will have refused the present King to reign over them as might be made appear by the Consultation had amongst the Grandees of that Party to that purpose till they found it would be in vain to stand upon such terms the Noble and never to be forgotten General the late Duke of Albemarle being resolved to bring in the King as a King without condition and therefore as well for that as for his whole most prudent as well as loyal and couragious Conduct in that great affair I think that which was said of Fabius Maximus may be as properly and truly verified of him Vnus homo nobis cunct ando restituit rem That is One Man by his wary conduct hath restored our State and welfare And I wish it were engraven in Golden Letters upon his Tomb ad sempiternam rei memoriam for an everlasting Memorial But to return unto what I was speaking of what I have said already is enough to prove that a Presbyterian Heir of the Crown would do what he could to bring in and set up the Presbyterian Government which can no more consist with Monarchy in the State than it can with Episcopacy in the Church and make us all Presbyterians as well as a Poâ—ish Heir would to bring in Popery and to make us all Papists And that they would not suffer any that would not conform to them and comply with them is evident not only by what they did against us that were as they call'd us Cavaliers and Malignants but against their own Brethren in Iniquity the Independents and all the rest of the Sectaries their Fellow-Rebels against the King and Companions in Arms against Us all of whom they would have suppressed as well as they did Us if it had been in their power to do so as appears by their Books Sermons and Addresses to that which they call'd a Parliament against them And what the Presbyterians did against us and would have done against the Independents by the Parliament the Independents did against them by the Army And so no doubt would any other of the Schismatical Parties have done against all the rest that were not of their perswasion if they had got the power into their hands But none of them may some of their Friends say would have been so cruel as the Papists who hold it not only lawful but meritorious to put Hereticks that is all that are not Papists to death Did not the Presbyterians and Independents and the
Vid. a vindication of the Primitive Church in answer to Mr. B 's Church History A remark in general upon those who censure our Translation The danger and vanity of such bold censures Some examples of Mr. B 's thus doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a city with him stands for a Market town Because he would have no Bishop of more than one congregation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not properly rendred he saith to resist To resist is more than not to obey Vid. Holy Common-wealth p. 37. p 377. So to resist God is more than not to obey him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to resist are both Military Terms Our Translatours of St. Paul 's judgment as Mr. B. is not What meant by Resisting Resistance impious and irreligious Irrational also as inconsistent with the being of a Body Politick The necessity of a Supreme power in all Bodies Politick That Supreme power unquestionable The reason of this grounded upon Nature Grotius his testimony Monarchy God's government Mr. B 's just and loyal opinion of the Sovereigns power Vid. Holy Com. p. 72. Spoiled by his following Aphorisms H. C. p. 73. H. C. p. 87. Aph. 79. H. C. p. 87. 88. H. C. p. 74. Vpon these suppositions Mr. B. justifies the late Rebellion And by consequence the King's murther The Independents as justifiable as the Presbyterians Those Assertions of Mr. B 's taken to task Resistance inconsistent with the well-being of Bodies Politick As being an occasion of Civil War the worst of evils No small matter in Mr. B 's opinion that will excuse resisting Grotius puts a case but contradicts himself and the Primitive Christians in his answer to it De jure belli pacis lib. 1. c. 4 p. 104. A passage of his before cited concerning the Primitive Christians compared with this He himself in effect disallows his own Answer De jure Belli ac pacis p. 112. Some instances of his wherein Resistance may seem lawfull examined Thâ—se Instances of his are of Kings and nâ— Kings The third Instance The fourth Instance Those Instances but seeming Exceptions The Law of non-resisting the foundation and preservative of humane society Other reasons for non-resistance Resistance unlawfull even in Grotius his Case An Instance from the Holy League in France The Catholick Religion the pretence there The like Instance from our late Rebellion in England The Protestant Religion the pretence here Other pretences made use of for the late Rebellion The doctrine of Non-resistance recommended The Bishops grounds to prove the late War unlawful Mr. B's contrary grounds to justifie it His confidence of these grounds H. C. p. 489 490. The first of them confidered H. C. 476. ad sinem istius pagine The Parliaments Declaration Ibid. Mr. B. personally ingaged in the War The Parliaments design in that Declaration * 2 Chron. 18. v. 30. Mr. B's own confession in the case H. C. p. 422. H. C. p. 471. By Parliament Mr. B. means the House of Commons The ground of Felton's Murthering the D. of Buckingham a Vote of the House of Commons The dangerous consequence of such Votes No man safe in such cases The Remonstrance of the House of Commons made use of for the destruction of the Kings Person Hol. C. p. 489 Parliaments not infallible nor impeccable by Mr. B's own confession Holy Com-w pag. 437 438. And in some cases to be deferred by the People Ibid. Holy Com-w pag. 439. Mr. B's inconsistence in the resolution of such cases The Law a sure Rule * In Prolegom de jure Belli Pacis The E. of Essex his case in Q. Elizabeths time The Judges Opinion in that case * Cambd. Eliz. ad Ann. 1601. A threefold confirmation of that their opinion Three Observations drawn from thence The Presbyterians would have done what the Independents did had they been let alone Holy Com. p. 422. The Kings Person excepted in none of their Commissions The Presbyterian Clergy taxed as to the late Kings Death Fid. Evangil Armatum Mr. B. particularly charged Hol. Com. p. 489 490. Notwithstanding his confidence Ibid. Rebellion as Mr. B. owns a greater sin than Murther Whordom Drunkenness c. Some were Rebels who did not think themselves so The Schismatical Clergy under a just reproof The King's Power destroyed in the late War The Presbyterian Party who destroyed his Power by Mr. B 's own confession Rebels Nor consequently can they be absolv'd from the guilt of the King's murther The late War then was made against the King And that though the Parliament declared it was not H. Com. p. 419. Mr. B. proved to believe so himself Another Topick of Mr. B 's that the late War was not Rebellion Because the King he saith is not sole Sovereign Mr. B 's bold offer Vid. Praef. to Holy C. prope finem What Mr. B 's meaning is in denying the King to be the highest Power in the time of our divisions The King's Power taken from him his Authority remained good The Act which the King past for the Parliaments sitting Gave them no more Power than they had before The worst Act that blessed King ever did Mr. B grounds his denyal of the Kings Sovereignty upon the constitution of the Government His definition of a Kingdom H. C. p. 85. The Lacedaemonian Kings only titular The Government there Aristocratical All Kings indeed unaccountable to the Reople Even Political Kings who are obliged to govern by Law And though Kings by Election only All such Kings accountable to God only The Question The Answer 1 Reason The People upon their choice part with all the Power they had Valerian 's Reply in the like case Vid. Zozom lib. 6. cap. 6. 2 Reason A King so chosen hath hic Kingly Power immediately from God and not from the People as Mr. B. grants Nothing in Scripture for People to controul their Kings The state of the Jewish Kings Our King according to Mr. B 's own Principles a sole Sovereign Holy Com. p. 61. Ibid. p. 62. The King hath no Superior to judg him nor Peers to try him Mr. B. starts a Controversie which form of Government the English is H. C. p. 87. This Controversie never heard of till the late times The Rebell-Parliament modest at first The secret design of some from the first to change the Government Mr. B. makes the Kingdom of England a mixt Common-wealth H. C. p. 87. My Lord Cook 's judgment in the Case In the Preface to his fourth Book of Reports His judgment to be preferr'd before foreign Lawyers and Divines Calvin the Patriarch of the Presbyterians What properly Calvinism Calvin condemns Resistance of Kings by private men but obliges some sort of Magistrates to it His wariness in expressing himself The three Estates have no such Power as he supposeth Perhaps a salvo for a Lye Calvin himself doubts whether there be any such Magistrates as he speaketh of No such Magistrates by God's Ordinance The inconvenience and mischief of
forbid the Christians to resist did wish the whole body of the Roman people had but one head that he might cut it off at one blow and another of them had set the capital City of his Empire on fire commanding his Souldiers to kill all the Citizens that endeavoured to quench the burning of their Houses he himself in the mean while playing upon an Instrument all the time it was a burning Neither will I insist upon the Judgment and Practice of the Primitive Christians who though they knew their Sovereigns the Heathen Emperours had professed they would and really did what they could to destroy all their Christian Subjects yet the Christians did not think that either this profession or practice of their Sovereigns which was an evident and undeniable demonstration of their implacable hatred against them was sufficient to dispense with them for resisting of or for defending themselves against them as was notably exemplified by what was done and suffered by Mauritius and his Legion according to that Heroical story before recited But I will not insist I say upon any Argument drawn from any religious Topick to justifie my denial of any exception to be made to the general Rule of non-resisting of Sovereigns by their Subjects or for dispensing with Subjects to resist their Sovereigns in any case whatsoever though possibly there may be such a Case as Barclay and Grotius out of Barclay puts even among Christians But that which I insist on at present is this that abstracting from the consideration of what God hath either commanded or forbidden in his Word as likewise from the consideration of Heaven or Hell or of any other life after this where men are to be rewarded or punished for what they have done here it is not onely prudent and convenient but absolutely necessary to the peace and welfare and safety and happiness of all mankind here in this world that men should be taught and believe that the resisting of Sovereigns by their Subjects is always and utterly unlawfull in any case whatsoever yea though possibly such might be the Case as that they would all be destroyed if they did not resist and that for these reasons First Because it is not onely very improbable but as Grotius himself saith scarcely credible there should ever be any such Case Secondly Because according to a Maxime of our own Law A mischief is better than an inconvenience that is as I conceive it is better for a State to run the hazard of a greater future evil which may either not happen at all or if at all very rarely than for the avoiding of it to admit or submit to a lesser whereunto it may always and must very often be obnoxious Thirdly Because if it be allowed to be lawfull for Subjects to resist their Sovereign in such a Case as Grotius puts or in any other case whatsoever it will be always and altogether as dangerous both to Prince and People as if it were granted in never so many other cases also because that one may alway be pretended to be the present case and the People may be always made to believe it is so though it be never so improbable to be so As may appear by divers Examples besides those I have already quoted out of Scripture especially that of David who though he was the best of Kings that Nation ever had yet his Son Absalom made the People believe that he neglected to doe them justice in hearing their complaints and redressing their grievances and thereby stole away their hearts from his Father saith the Text and made them to rebell against him But to instance in one Example or two more nearer home and nearer our own times It is not long since the Princes of the House of Lorrain I mean the Guises being excluded by Henry the Third of France from the chief managery of affairs which they formerly had in that Kingdom resolved to gain that by force which they could not keep by the King's favour and to that end to stir up the People under some publick and plausible pretence to joyn with them in a rebellion against the King But what that pretence should be which the People should be baited withall being debated by the chief of the Faction and some being of one mind and some of another Henry Duke of Guise being head of the whole party stood up and said What need is there of any debate or consultation as to this particular can there be a better or more plausible or more efficacious Motive to stir up the People to joyn with us against the King than to make them believe the Catholick Religion is in danger and that the King is not onely a favourer of the Hugonotts but a Hugonott himself in his heart and therefore that it is absolutely necessary for all good Catholicks to joyn in an Association or Holy League for the defence of the Catholick Faith and to oppose the bringing in of Hugonott Heresie against all persons of all conditions whatsoever and consequently the King himself It was easily agreed to by all the rest of the Conspiratours that this was a very plausible pretence indeed but withall so incredible as to the King 's particular as that it would not be very difficult onely but impossible to make the People believe it and consequently to make them rise up against the King upon that account it being generally known and believed that that King was as Bigott or zealous a Roman Catholick as any was in France having been himself not a Spectatour onely but an Actour also in the Massacre of the Hugonotts at Paris not long before and was still such a Devote that he was never almost seen in publick but betwixt two Capuchins with a Crucifix in his hand and his Beads at his girdle Whereunto the Duke of Guise replied laughing Let me alone said he with the managing of that part of the affair I will undertake within one month by those I will set on work meaning the Jesuits the Friars and other Popular Preachers to make the King to be believed over all France to be as arrant a Hugonott as any in Geneva And so he did whereupon that Rebellious Association which by its Godfather the Pope was called the Holy League was made against the King and as bloudy a War as ever was in France was raised and maintained by it neither did it end with the death of the King who was murthered by a Jacobin Friar but continued against his Successour upon the same pretence and with the same intentions the deluded People in the mean time being made to believe by their Ghostly Fathers that it was God's Cause they fought for and that those that died or were killed in it were sure to go immediately and directly to Heaven without dropping into Purgatory by the way Another Example of the same kind we had here of late amongst Our selves that is of the Peoples being stirred up by
their Preachers to joyn with a factious ambitious and discontented Party of the Nobility Gentry and Commons in a Rebellion against our late Sovereign Lord of ever blessed memory upon as false and groundless a pretence as that was against the King of France For as there the People were made to believe by their Popish Preachers that their Religion was in danger and that their King was an Hugonott or Presbyterian though as I said before he indeed was as he prosessed himself to be a very zealous and rigid Papist and had given more than proof enough that he was so Even so our People here were by their Presbyterian and other their Schismatical Preachers made to believe that the Protestant Religion here was in very great danger and that Popery was very likely to be brought in because the King was a Papist or Popishly affected at least whereas it was evident to all the world both by his Profession and his Practice that he was as truly a zealous and devout Protestant as any the best of his Protestant Subjects and moreover as resolute a defender of the Protestant Faith as it is setled and established by Law in the Church of England against both Papists and Schismaticks as any King could or ought to be I might add as knowingly so too as ever any King was but his Father onely And yet thousands of his Subjects were made to believe that he was a Papist in his heart and upon that account were perswaded and engaged to fight against him nay many of them were made to believe that the Protestant Religion it self as it was established by Law was but disguised Popery and that the Common Prayer Book was but the Popish Missal or Mass Book translated into English and that the Bishops with all the Episcopal Clergy were an Antichristian Hierarchy and were or would be all of them Vassals to the Pope as soon as they had an opportunity safely to profess themselves to be so Now if the People could be made to believe as we see they were that such a King as He was and such a Church as Ours is were Popish or Popishly affected against all Evidence both of reason and of sense to the contrary what is there that they cannot be made to believe and consequently what security can there be for Kings from their Subjects either for their Power or their Persons or for Subjects from their fellow Subjects or for preserving of the publick Peace for a moment onely If there be any one I say any one case of any kind in any degree wherein Subjects may be allowed without scruple of Conscience to take up Arms against their Sovereign that one as I said before shall always be pretended and believed to be the Case as often as the contrivers and trumpeters of Sedition and Rebellion will have it to be so though there be no ground or reason at all for it as it is evident there was not in either of the aforesaid Instances or Examples I know there were other pretences besides that of Religion to justifie the Rebellion against the late King as his breach of Trust his violation of Laws his bringing or endeavouring to bring in Arbitrary Government and as Mr. Baxter would have it to be believed though Grotius thinks it incredible that any King in his wits should do so his professing himself an Enemy to the whole body of the People by making War against them all as if he meant to be a King without Subjects and finally whatsoever was thought to be most likely to make either his Person or his Government or both to be feared and hated by the whole Nation though really and truly there was no more ground for any of them than there was for his purpose of bringing in Popery which though the Grandees of the Faction knew well enough yet they knew too that it would serve their turn as well as if it were true if the People could be made to believe it was so and withall that they might lawfully nay that they were bound in conscience with their Lives and Fortunes to defend themselves their Wives and Children from being made slaves for that 's the style it must run in by the King or his Evil Counsellours who ought to be brought to condign punishment by force if it cannot be done by Law against which the People were made to believe the King did protect those Evil Counsellours of his And by this means was that Good that Godly that Gracious that Just and every way Vertuous King of ours brought first to be rebell'd against and at last to be murthered by his own Subjects in his capital City and before his own Palace gates And thus may the best Prince that ever was will be or can be in the World be exposed traduced and ruined and the best Government in the World be brought to confusion and dissolution and all the Subjects for fear of an imaginary slavery be made Slaves indeed to those whom they helped to make them so there being no way to secure any Prince State or People from being always obnoxious to these fatal mischiefs but the maintaining of this Axiom or Maxim of true Policy as Sacred and inviolable viz. That Sovereigns are not forcibly to be resisted by their Subjects in any case or upon any provocation whatsoever And that this Maxim may be kept Sacred and inviolable as being the Palladium the Preservative of the publick peace and of the very being as well as of the well-being of Humane Society it ought to be the special care of him or them that have the Supreme Power to forbid under very severe penalty the printing preaching or any way infusing or insinuating into the ears or hearts of the People any Doctrine to the contrary as being not onely false and erroneous but dangerous and Seditious also so seditious and so dangerous that if the Sovereign have not power to secure himself from the Pulpit and the Press or if he do not make use of that power I am afraid that it is not his Scepter nor his Sword that will be able to secure him from his People or his People from themselves I mean from cutting the throats of one another The End of the Second Section SECTION III. The late War in England against the King proved to have been a Rebellion whatever Mr. Baxter plead or argue in defence or justification of it CHAP. I. The late War proved to have been made against the King and consequently to be Rebellion The Parliaments Declaration discuss'd together with the danger of Arbitrary Votes The Judges opinion in the Earl of Essex his Case in Queen Elizabeths time The Presbyterian Clergy charged with the Rebellion AND thus having as I conceive sufficiently proved it to be unlawful for Subjects to rise up in Arms against their Sovereign in any case or upon any provocation whatsoever as being not only contrary to the Precepts of the Gospel and the Practice of
his Successours but not to exclude some that are at home namely the Parliament from having a part of it So that in respect I mean in respect of the extent of the King's Supremacy over all Persons in all capacities Mr. Baxter might find more in Mr. Hooker than he could approve of viz. the King's Supremacy over all Persons in his Kingdom and consequently his being the onely Supreme Governour being utterly inconsistent with the division of the Sovereignty betwixt the King and Parliament which is Mr. Baxter's fundamental Principle upon which he grounds his defence of the late Rebellion and lays a foundation of the like Rebellions from Generation to Generation for the future Again as Mr. Baxter might find more in Mr. Hooker than he could approve for the extent of the King's Supremacy in regard of the Persons over whom so might he likewise in regard of the Things whereunto it is extended concerning which in the general Mr. Hooker saith Our Kings when they are to take possession of the Crown have it pointed out before their Eyes even by the very solemnities and rites of their Inaugurations to what affairs their supreme Power and Authority reacheth crowned saith he we see they are inthroniz'd and anointed The Crown is a sign of their military Dominion the Throne of sedentary or judicial the Oil of religious or sacred power So that according to Mr. Hooker the jus gladii the Power of the Sword or the right of making War as likewise of making Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical belongs to the King's Supremacy And to both those ends as he tells us afterwards it is one of our King's Prerogatives to call and dissolve all solemn Assemblies about our publick affairs either in Church or State so that there can be no such voluntary Associations of Churches as Mr. Baxter would have nor no such Associations of the People without the King's leave as others would have no nor no making of Laws neither either in Parliament for the State or in Convocation for the Church when they are called and met together but by the King and that not onely because no Law of any kind can be made without the Royal Assent by reason of the King 's Negative without which saith Mr. Hooker the King were King but in name onely but because it is the Royal Assent that makes it to be a Law For though as the same Mr. Hooker observes Wisedom is requisite for the devising and discussing of Laws he means the Wisedom of the Lords and Commons in Parliament for the devising and discussing of Laws for the State and the Wisedom of the Representatives of the Clergy in the Convocation for the devising and discussing of Laws for the Church yet it is not that Wisedom saith he that makes them to be Laws but that which establisheth them and maketh them to be Laws is Power even the Power of Dominion the chiefty whereof saith he amongst us resteth in the Person of the King Whereunto he adds Is there any Law of Christ's which forbiddeth Kings and Rulers of the Earth to have such sovereign and supreme Power in making of Laws either Civil or Ecclesiastical Which question being virtually a negative Proposition implies that there is no Law of God to prohibit any King to doe what our King doeth that is as he positively and clearly affirms to make Laws for his own Subjects by that supreme Power that resteth in his own Person and consequently is not divided betwixt him and the Parliament no not in the making of Laws which is the onely instance given by Mr. Baxter to prove the Sovereignty or supreme Power in this Kingdom not to be in the King alone or in the King onely which as I said before is the Foundation on which he superstructs the building of his Babel or the Justification of the late Confusion and Rebellion And therefore he had reason to say he found more in Hooker than he did approve because to approve all he found in Hooker touching the supreme Power either of all Kings in general or of our own Kings in particular had been to condemn himself who is much more for the restraining and resisting of Kings by their Subjects than Mr. Hooker who as I said before hath not a word of resisting nor of restraining them neither any otherwise than as they have restrained themselves by Laws of their own making So that Mr. Hooker may still retain that honourable title which learned Men have given him of judicious Hooker whatsoever voluminous Mr. Baxter hath said upon this or any other occasion to take it away from him CHAP. III. Bishop Bilson though in an errour yet saith not so much for the resisting of Kings as Mr. B. doth The Case stated of Subjects rebelling upon the account of Religion and of other Princes assisting them AS for Bishop BILSON whom Mr. Baxter saith I advised him to reade I confess I cannot say He hath nothing for the resisting of Kings by their Subjects in any of his Books but this I can say that he hath nothing to that purpose in that Book of his which I advised Mr. Baxter to reade no nor in any of his Books hath he so much for resisting of Kings as Mr. Baxter himself in his Book of the Holy Commonwealth And therefore I wonder he should say he found more in BILSON for the resisting and restraining of Kings than he could approve Bishop Bilson was one of my Predecessours in the Bishoprick of Winchester and much more before me in Learning than he was in Time but Bernardus non vidit omnia and the learnedst and best of Men are but Men and therefore may err and good men very good men may be the apter to fall into some kind of errours both speculatively and practically by indulging too much even to their good affections And therefore I believe it was his Zeal for the true Religion and his compassion to those that were persecuted for it that made this Learned and Good Man say so much as he doth which is more than I wish he had in excuse of taking up of Arms by the French Dutch and Scotch Protestants in defence of themselves and their Religion against their several respective Princes And I think we ought to believe that it was for the same reason and not for reason of State onely that Queen Elizabeth did at the same time assist with Men Money and Arms all the aforesaid Subjects against their aforesaid Sovereigns But yet for all that I do not think that either the Queen did well in doing what she did or that the Bishop did well in writing what he writ in defence of them because I do not think they themselves I mean the subjects of those Princes did well in making that resistance which they did contrary to the Precepts of the Gospel and to the Practice of the Primitive Christians And I remember that upon this consideration during
the time of our own troubles I have often thought and sometimes said to some of my familiar friends that I was afraid that God had permitted the Peoples rising up in Rebellion against the Crown and the Church here because the Crown had assisted and so eminent a Church-man had excused the rising up of other Princes Subjects in Rebellion against them abroad For though ours had not really the same provocation to rebell as the Subjects of those Princes had viz. of being persecuted and oppressed for Conscience sake and for professing the true Religion as they were yet they pretended themselves to be so and so may Subjects of any Prince or of any Religion at any time and whether truly or falsely it is all one as to the endangering of the publick Peace and Welfare of all Kingdoms and States which will be always in danger of a Civil War if but in any one case onely it be allowed to be lawfull for Subjects to resist those that have the supreme Power and of a foreign War also if the Rebellious Subjects of one Prince or State may be lawfully assisted by another State or Prince because they are of the same Religion whether the true one or a false as I said before it makes no matter for it is not the trueness of any Religion but Mens believing it to be the true and onely true Religion that makes men think they are obliged in Conscience to contend for it as appears by some Mens being as zealous for the maintaining and propagating of Judaism and Mahometanism as others are for Christianity and amongst Christians so many of them being as zealous and perhaps more zealous for Schism and Heresie than others are for Vnity and Orthodoxy And we see the Papists have their Confessours and their Martyrs as well as Protestants And therefore if a Protestant King may assist Protestant Rebels against their Popish Kings because they are of his which he believes to be the onely true Religion why may not a Popish King for the very same reason assist Popish Rebels against their Protestant Kings because he believes the Popish to be the onely true Religion also and consequently as long as there are diversities of Religion in the World as there will be till the Worlds end there will be no security of Peace or safety at home or from abroad either for King or Subjects The great and good God therefore who is the Authour of Peace and lover of Concord as he will not have Subjects to resist their Princes so he will not have one Prince to assist another Prince's Subjects in their Rebellion against him in any case or upon any account whatsoever Mediate or intercede for their pardon or for the mitigation of their sufferings he may but encourage or assist them in resisting he may not For the Rule Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris To doe as we would be done by holds in Princes and States as well as in private persons and surely there is no Prince or State that would have their rebellious Subjects to be assisted in their Rebellion by any other Prince or State and consequently they must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned by themselves when they doe that unto others which they would not have done unto themselves What shall we say then Are we not to help those that are persecuted for the professing of our own and the true Religion No we are not to help them in resisting and making War against their Sovereign but rather to admonish them to suffer patiently and then to help them by our Prayers to be delivered by God who can and will deliver them if they suffer patiently and wrongfully or if he do not deliver them here he will abundantly and superabundantly recompense them hereafter In the mean time if they be banished or forced to fly out of their own Country we are to receive them kindly and to relieve them charitably and bountifully as we would be glad to be received and relieved our selves if we were in their condition And this is all I have to say as to this particular of which I need to have said no more to discover Mr. Baxter's fraudulent and disingenuous dealing with me and with his Readers than what I said at first viz. That although I did advise him to reade Mr. Hooker and Bishop Bilson yet I did not advise him to reade either of them upon that Argument or to that end and purpose as he pretends I did thereby to insinuate that there being more in them for the restraining and resisting of Kings than he did approve I that advised him to reade them must needs be more for the restraining and resisting of Kings than he was This was that which he principally aimed at but I hope I have made it appear he hath missed his mark CHAP. IV. The Bishop charged with helping to bring Mr. B. and his party under By his party he means not the Presbyterians but all the Nonconformists MR. Baxter in his Preface to his Book of Concord addressing himself to the Bishop of Ely and me saith You have above all men I know effectually helped to bring us under but whom he means by Vs or what he means by bringing them under he doth not tell us nor how We have done it effectually or more effectually than any he knows besides But sure it is some heinous crime or other at least in his opinion that he intends to charge us with And therefore he should have done well to have expressed more fully and clearly what he meant by it But seeing it hath not pleased him to do so we must guess at his meaning as well as we can both in regard of the Thing he saith We have done and of the Persons We have done it unto And first for the Persons whom he means by Vs I should have thought he had meant the Presbyterians but that by Vs must be meant some of whom he himself is one and he hath not onely disclaimed his being a Presbyterian but takes it for an injurious and scandalous expression of an Episcopal Indignation against him to be said to be the Antesignanus or Standard-bearer of the Presbyterians being no Presbyterian himself and therefore could not be their Antesignanus or not theirs onely But why might not he be a Presbyterian then when I thought he was so though he was not so afterwards nor be not now For sure he hath not been semper idem Always of the same Opinion Time was when he was an Episcoparian or he would not have been ordained by a Bishop as he saith he was nor would not have subscribed to what he did And yet whatsoever it is that he is for now I am sure it is not Episcopacy in the controverted Notion and sense of it And therefore his disclaiming his being a Presbyterian now doth not prove he was not so then when I thought he was But
according to the legal establishment thereof of so sound so healthful so orderly and so well compacted a constitution as it is and which by long experience we have found so agreeable to the established Government of the State that we cannot make any alteration in the one without great disordering of the other Let us not give ear to any of those Church and State Mountebanks or Empericks who if we let them alone a little longer will never leave mending till they have marr'd all Mr. BAXTER'S Recantation referred to page of the Conclusion Printed 1670. at the end of a Book of His called The Life of Faith after a Catalogue of Books Written and Published by the same Author LET the Reader know that whereas the Bookseller hath in the Catalogue of my Books named my Holy-Commonwealth or Political Aphorisms I do hereby recall the said Book and profess my Repentance that ever I published it and that not only for some by-passages but in respect of the secondary part of the very scope Though the first Part of it which is the defence of God and Reason I recant not But this Revocation I make with these Proviso's 1. That I reverse not all the Matter of that Book nor all that more than ONE have accused As e. g. the Assertion that all Humane Powers are limited by God And if I may not be pardoned for not defying DEITY and HUMANITY I shall prefer that ignominy before their present Fastus and Triumph who defie them 2. That I make not this Recantation to the Military fury and rebellious pride and tumult against which I wrote it nor would have them hence take any encouragement for impenitence 3. That though I dislike the Roman Clergies writing so much of Politicks and detest Ministers medling in State matters without necessity or a certain call yet I hold it not simply unbeseeming a Divine to expound the fifth Commandment nor to shew the dependance of humane Powers on the Divine nor to instruct Subjects to obey with judgment and for Conscience sake 4. That I protest against the judgment of Posterity and all others that were not of the same TIME and PLACE as to the mental censure either of the BOOK or the REVOCATION as being ignorant of the true reasons of them both Which things Provided I hereby under my hand as much as in me lyeth reverse the Book and desire the World to take it as non Scriptum April 15. 1670. R. B. ACT Anent Religion and the TEST August 31. 1681. Made in the Third PARLIAMENT of Our Most High and Dread Sovereign CHARLES the Second Holden at EDINBURGH the 28 day of July 1681. By his Royal Highness JAMES Duke of Albany and York c. His MAJESTIES High Commissioner for holding the same Referred to Section V. OUR SOVERAIGNE LORD With His Estates of Parliament Considering That albeit by many wholsom Laws made by his Royall Grand-father and Father of glorious memory and by himself in this and His other Parliaments since His happy Restauration the Protestant Religion is carefully asserted established and secured against Popery and Phanaticism Yet the restless Adversaries of our Religion doe not cease to propagat their errours and to seduce His Majesties Subjects from their duty to God and Loyalty to his Vice-gerent and to overturn the established Religion by introducing their Superstions and delusions into this Church and Kingdom And knowing that nothing can more encrease the numbers and confidence of Papists and Schismatical dissenters from the Established Church than the supine neglect of putting in Execution the good Laws provided against them together with their hopes to infinuat themselves into Offices and places of trust and publick Imployment THEREFORE His Majesty from His Princely and pious zeal to maintain and preserve the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith recorded in the first Parliament of King James the Sixth which is founded on and agreeable to the written word of GOD DOETH with advise and consent of His Estates of Parliament Require and Command all his Officers Judges and Magistrats to put the Laws made against Popery and Papists Priests Jesuits and all persons of any other Order in the Popish Church especially against sayers and hearers of Mass Venders and dispersers of forbidden Books And Ressetters of Popish Priests and excommunicat Papists As also against all Phanatick Separatists from this National Church Against Preachers at House or Field-Conventicles and the Ressetters and harbourers of Preachers who are Intercommuned Against disorderly Baptisms and Marriages and irregular Ordinations and all other Schismaticall disorders To full and vigorous execution according to the Tenour of the Respective Acts of Parliament thereanent provided And that his Majesties Princely care to have these Laws put in Execution against those Enemies of the Protestant Religion may the more clearly appear HE DOETH with advise and consent foresaid STATUT and ORDAIN That the Ministers of each Paroch give up in October Yearly to their respective Ordinaries true and exact Lists of all Papists and Schismatical-withdrawers from the publick Worship in their respective Paroches which Lists are to be subscribed by them and that the Bishops give in a double of the saids Lists Subscribed by them to the respective Sheriffs Stewards Bailies of Royalty and Regalitie and Magistrats of Burghs To the effect the said Judges may proceed against them according to Law As also the Sheriffs and other Magistrats foresaids are hereby ordained to give an account to his Majesties Privy-Council in December yearly of their proceedings against those Papists and Phanatical Separatists as they will be answerable at their highest peril And that the diligences done by the Sheriffs Bailies of Regalities and other Magistrats foresaids may be the better enquired into by the Council the Bishops of the respective Diocesses are to send exact doubles of the Lists of the Papists and Phanaticks to the Clerks of Privy Council whereby the diligences of the Sheriffs and other Judges foresaids may be controlled and examined And to cut of all hopes from Papists and Phanaticks of their being imployed in Offices and Places of publick Trust. IT IS HEREBY STATUT and ORDAINED that the following Oath shall be taken by all Persons in Offices and places of publick Trust Civil Ecclesiastical and Military especially by all Members of Parliament and all Electors of Members of Parliament all Privy-Counsellors Lords of Session Members of the Exchequer Lords of Justiciary and all other Members of these Courts all Officers of the Crown and State all Arch-Bishops and Bishops and all Preachers and Ministers of the Gospel whatsoever all Persons of this Kingdom named or to be named Commissioners for the Borders all Members of the Commission for Church Affairs all Sheriffs Stewards Bailies of Royalties and Regalities Justices of the Peace Officers of the Mint Commissars and their Deputs their Clerks and Fiscals all Advocats and Procurators before any of these Courts all Writters to the Signet all Publick Nottars and
other Persons imployed in Writing or Agenting The Lyon King at Arms Heraulds Pursevants and Messengers at Arms all Collectours Sub-collectours and Farmourers of His Majesties Customs and Excise all Magistrats Deans of Gild Counsellers and Clerks of Burghs Royall and Regality all Deacons of Trades and Deacon-Conveeners in the said Burghs all Masters and Doctors in Universities Colledges or Schools all Chaiplains in Families Pedagogues to Children and all Officers and Souldiers in Armies Forts or Militia and all other Persons in publick Trust or Office within this Kingdom Who shall publickly swear and subscribe the said Oath as follows viz. The Arch-Bishops Chief Commander of the Forces and Officers of the Crown and State and Counsellers before the Secret Council All the Lords of Session and all Members of the Colledge of Justice and others depending upon them before the Session The Lords of Justiciary and those depending upon that Court in the Justice Court The Lords and other Members of Exchequer before the Exchequer All Bishops before the Arch-Bishops All the inferior Clergy Commissars Masters and Doctors of Universities and Schools Chaiplains and Pedagogues before the Bishops of the respective Diocesses Sheriffs Stewards Bailies of Royalty and Regality and those depending on these Jurisdictions before these respective Courts And Provests Bailies and others of the Burgh before the Town Councill All Collectors and Farmourers of the King's Customs and Excise before the Exchequer The Commissioners of the Borders before the Privy Council All Justices of Peace before their Conveener And the Officers of the Mint before the General of the Mint And the Officers of the Forces before the Commander in Chief and common Souldiers before their respective Officers The Lyon before the Privy Council and Heraulds Pursevants and Messengers at Arms before the Lyon And His Majesty with consent foresaid STATUTS and ORDAINS that all those who presently possess or enjoy any of the foresaids Offices publick Trusts or Imployments shall take and subscribe the following Oath in one of the foresaids Offices in manner before prescribed betwixt and the first of January next which is to be recorded in the Registers of the respective Courts and Extracts thereof under the Clerks hands to be reported to His Majesties Privy Council betwixt and the first of March next One thousand six hundred eighty two and thereafter in any other Courts whereof they are Judges or Members the first time they shall sit or exerce in any of these respective Courts AND ORDAINS that all who shall hereafter be promoted to or imployed in any of the foresaids Offices Trusts or Imployments shall at their entry into and before their exercing thereof take and subscribe the said Oath in manner foresaid to be recorded in the Registers of the respective Courts and reported to His Majesties Privy Council within the space of forty dayes after their taking the same And if any shall presume to exercise any of the saids Offices or Imployments or any publick Office or Trust within this Kingdom the King 's lawful Brothers and Sons only excepted until they take the Oath foresaid and subscribe it to be recorded in the Registers of the respective Courts They shall be declared incapable of all publick Trust thereafter and be further punished with the loss of their Moveables and Liferent-Escheat the one half whereof to be given to the Informer and the other half to belong to His Majesty And His Majesty with Advice foresaid recommends to His Privy Council to see this Act put to due and vigorous Execution Follows the Tenour of the OATH to be taken by all Persons in Publick Trust. I A. B. Solemnly swear in presence of the Eternal God whom I invocat as Judge and Witness of my sincere intention of this my Oath That I own and sincerely profess the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith recorded in the first Parliament of King James the Sixth and that I believe the same to be founded on and agreeable to the Written Word of God And I promise and swear that I shall adhere thereto during all the dayes of my lifetime and shall endeavour to educat my Children therein and shall never consent to any change or alteration contrary thereto And that I disown and renounce all such Principles Doctrines or Practises whether Popish or Phanatical which are contrary unto and inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion and Confession of Faith And for testification of my Obedience to my most Gracious Soveraign CHARLES the Second I do affirm and swear by this my solemn Oath That the King's Majesty is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil And that no forraign Prince Person Pope Prelate State or Potentat hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superioritie Preheminencie or Authoritie Ecclesiastical or Civil within this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Forraign Jurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities And do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King's Majesty His Heirs and Lawful Successours And to my Power shall assist and defend all Rights Jurisdictions Prerogatives Priviledges Prehemineneies and Authorities belonging to the King's Majesty His Heirs and Lawful Successours And I farther affirm and swear by this my solemn Oath That I Judge it unlawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any other pretence whatsoever To enter into Covenants or Leagues or to convocat conveen or assemble in any Councils Conventions or Assemblies to treat consult or determine in any matter of State Civil or Ecclesiastick without His Majestie 's special command or express licence had thereto or to take up arms against the King or those commissionated by Him And that I shall never so rise in Arms or enter into such Covenant or Assemblies And that there lies no Obligation on me from the National Covenant or the Solemn League and Covenant so commonly called or any other manner of way whatsoever to endeavour any change or alteration in the Government either in Church or State as it is now established by the Laws of this Kingdom And I promise and swear that I shall with my utmost power defend assist and maintain His Majestie 's Jurisdiction foresaid against all deadly And I shall never decline His Majestie 's Power and Jurisdictions As I shall answer to God And finally I affirm and swear that this my solemn Oath is given in the plain genuine sense and meaning of the words without any equivocation mental reservation or any manner of evasion whatsoever And that I shall not accept or use any dispensation from any Creature whatsoever So help me God FINIS THere are several Treatises of the same Right Reverend Author written upon several occasions concerning the Church of Rome and most of the Doctrines in Controversie betwixt us Printed for Joanna Brome * April 3. 1683. He might have referr'd them to himself pag. 460. where he gives the same