them to the most exquisite Torments saith Cornelius Tacitus For he Crucified some and others he Burned And as before he set Fire on Rome that he might please himself with the Resemblance of the Burning of Troy so after that he burnt Christians in huge Heaps and Piles that the light of the Fires might direct Passengers in dark Nights saith the Historian and not content with all this Cruelty many Christians he drest up in the Skins of Wild Beasts that they might be Torn in pieces by Dogs as the same Tacitus Relates further It was in the Reign of this Monster of Men that St. Paul liv'd by this Token that he caused that Apostle himself to be Beheaded and it was in the 2d Year of Nero as 't is probably conjectur'd by Baronius out of Origen that St. Paul wrote this Epistle to the Christians in and about the Imperial City And though St. Paul knew enough of the Man already and the Spirit of God foresaw a great deal more yet you see what was written touching Subjection even to him who was a shame to all Princes even this Let every Soul be subject to the Highest Powers for there is no Power but of God The Powers that be are Ordained of God Whosoever therefore Resisteth the Power Resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that Resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Against this that hath been spoken there is one popular objection which I must take notice of and it is this That where a Kingdom hath adopted the True Religion so that it is Establisht by publick Authority as God be Blessed it is in this Kingdom and the Laws of the Country are on its side there Resistance is not unlawful if a Prince doth indeavour the Destruction or Alteration of the True Faith In answer hereunto these things in short are to be considered 1. First that the true Religion was Establisht in the Jewish State by the Municipal Laws of that Nation and that by the Authority of God himself and yet though several Kings did attempt the introduction of Idolatry nay did actually introduce it the Jews Resisted not nevertheless and if they had Resisted such Resistance had been sinful notwithstanding 2. It is very hard and unjust that Princes Favours should be made use of against themselves that their Prerogatives should be prejudiced for their having received the Faith and for the Kindnesses they have shewed to the Church of Christ Because Constantine was a Zealous Protector of the true Religion it would have been highly Unreasonable should this have redounded to the Violation of the Imperial Dignity of his Son Constantius The Primitive Christians had the Laws of Constantine on their side And yet they did not think Resistance Lawful though the Son was an Enemy to that Faith of which the Father was the Defender 3. No Laws ought to be pleaded beyond their plain Design and Meaning Now the intent of our Laws is to secure our Religion against Schismaticks and Hereticks but not to Arm Subjects against their Prince For the same Laws which are the Stabiliment of the Church do manifestly and Roundly declare all Resistance to be unlawful and Treasonable and do Agnize the power of the Sword to be in the King and in the King only So that no Law is on our side as to matter of Resistance 4. Should our Laws be so bad as to allow of Resistance in some Cases yet this could be no Bar against the Laws of God which forbid Resistance in all Cases For it is not in the power of men to give us leave to Sin nor can any Humane Authority give us the liberty whether we will obey the Commands of Christ or no. I may not in any wise Hurt my Prince had I his own leave for it because the King of Kings hath commanded me under pain of his high displeasure to do the Contrary 5. Nay I will be bold to say in the last place that supposing Law-givers should be so Impolitick as under pain of Death to require and by a Formed Law to command us to Resist the Soveraign power it ought not in any wise to be done however For it is a standing Rule in Christianity that Authority is not to be obeyed in things that are Unlawful now Resistance is simply and in its own Nature Sinful and all Casuists will tell us that rei illicitae nulla est obligatio an Unlawful Command cannot bind unless it be to Sufferings such a command would be Null and Void of it self the matter of a Law somtimes taking off its Obligation when 't is contrary to the Laws of God and Nature and such would a Law for Resistance be should the Authority of the whole Kingdom consent to it I have done now with the Consideration of my Text and come at length to the day but am at a great loss how or where to begin or in what Language to express my Sense of that Superlative Villany Acted at this time which hath stain'd the Consciences of Rebels with Blood which hath dyed the Faces of all Christians with shame which hath brought upon all English Men a perpetual Reproach which was an astonishment to all Nations a blow to all Thrones a wound to the hearts of all Princes a Contumely to Heaven and such an horrid Affront to the great God that I am afraid whatsoever Judgments and Plagues we have laboured under since or do labour under still have fallen upon our Heads as the Returns of that Cry with which the Sacred Blood of the Lords Anointed his late Majesty went up to Heaven I pray God our Land may be once throughly cleansed from the Guilt of it The Blood of Christ can and nothing but Christs own blood can purge us And I am of the opinion that if the blood of any Prince or Martyr could be so valuable and precious as never to be atoned for in this World it would be that Royal that Sacred that Innocent blood which was so barbarously shed upon the Earth as at this time As often as I cast my thoughts upon the consideration of this most Horrid Fact I cannot but think on those Memorable words of David to the Amalekite upon the death of Saul Part of the whole Story we have in 2 Sam. 1. Saul indeed had killed himself with his own Sword at least had given himself his Deaths-wound This Amalekite took off the Crown from his Head and the Bracelet from his Arm and brought both unto David pretending that he had slain Saul Very probable it is that he hoped for some good reward at Davids Hands which has somtimes been the Traitors Fortune and he was the first I read of that counted King killing a Meritorious Act But instead of reaping his expected Booty he obtain'd not so much as a Paraâ—â— but receiv'd his Final and deserved Doom David stood amaz'd and astonisht at the Villany How wast thou not afraid saith he to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lords Anointed 2
would have abhorr'd the very thoughts and suspicion of it Many specious and popular pretences ran up and down the Kingdom and those set on foot by the Jesuites themselves that innovations crept into the Church that the Prelates were Popishly-affected that there was great danger of Arbitrary Power and the like All the Histories of those times do bear witness to the truth of this But would to God all Sober and Honest Men would consider whither those things came at last Did they not end in the slaughter of the best of Kings Was not that the Period and sad conclusion of all Did not all the clamours and strivings of the people end in that all actions proceedings however otherwise intended by some all was at last unhappily Sealed up with that blood which ever since has cryed aloud for Vengeance upon this Nation Men ought to be careful and wary for the future and endeavour to choke the beginnings of Mischief For if once the bank be cut who can tell how far the Deluge will run In the late times it was not the First Intentions but the subsequent designs of Men which took place so that after the effusion of so much Heroick Noble and at last Royal Blood too God plagued people strait for their First Resistance he suffered the Basest of Men to ride over our backs he brought us under the very Faeces and Scum of the Nation and permitted such to be our Lords as a Man of Honour would have disdained to have set with the Dogs of his flock as the expression is Job 30. 1. And what was the end of this Why nothing but Tyranny Hypocrisie and Oppression To uphold Religion they introduced Atheism To promote Arbitrary Power they banisht our Laws and to preserve our Liberties they made us Slaves and the very worst of Slaves Slaves to the vilest of our fellow-Fellow-subjects In a word it may deserve to be consider'd whether all those grievances which People have complain'd of all along under the Kings of England putting them all together since the Conquest do amount to half the value and number of those Cruelties Miseries and Oppressions which within the compass of a few years were brought upon us by those few Carrion Members of that one Rake-Hell Parliament of cursed Memory Thus it is when Men will be Arbitrary and despise the Laws To affirm saith my Author that the Kings Power is separable from his Person is High Treason by the Law of this Land And he observes out of the case of the two Spencers in the Reign of Edw. 2. that to cover their Treason they went upon three principles 1st That if the King do not demean himself by Reason in the right of his Crown his Subjects are bound by Oath to remove him 2ly That seeing the King could not be reformed by sute at Law that ought to be done by Force 3ly That his Lieges are bound to govern in aid of him and in default of him Jenkins Rediv. Vindic. Pag. 74. These Principles were condemned as Execrable and Detestable by two several Parliaments in those days And yet these were the Fundamental Principles on which that Lewd and Profligate Party did rely in 41. Then what had been adjudged to be Execrable before passed for Law and for Gospel too Then Treason was their Conscience Resistance was their Creed Vâ—â—es and Ordinances their Magna Charta the Sword was their Judg and hence it followed that so many of the Representatives of our Nation was our greatest Grievance God would not stay till Dooms-day to reckon with us but his Judgments pursued us close at heels We had Worm-Wood for loathing Manna and a Yoke of Bondage upon us for a Stubborn and Ungovernable humour under a Light hand This was part of our Reward in this World and should God add weight to our Burthen yet Rebellious people must confess if they will ever speak Truth in earnest that they have deserved the most intolerable of all Evils if our Apostle be in the night that They that Resist shall receive to themselves Damnition To prevent the Execution of this sad sentence 〈◊〉 all such as have a Real and True value of their Souls and desire to live so in this world as not to he miserable in another let such account Subjection to the King both an Honourable and a Necessary part oâ— Religion and not suffer themselves either to bâ— wheadled out of their Loyalty by Flatteries or to 〈◊〉 husst out of it by Fears Methinks 't is something odd that when we all agree in the Premises we should differ in the Conclusion That Kings ought to be submitted unto is a Truth assented to by all sober Christians in the World This is owned in general The mischief is that when we come to Particulars whether Things or Persons either prejudice or passions or interests of Men start Evasions and Conditions which were never heard of in the World among Christians before Some are for the King as long as he is Rich Powerful and able to maintain their Interest that 's the Loyalty of the Leviathan Others stick to him as long as he sticks to their Religion that is the Loyalty of the Conclave and the Kirk But the Faith of the Church of England is this which I am sure is consonant to the universal sense and practice of the Ancient Apostolick Church that let Princes be as it shall please God either a Blessing or a Rod to a Kingdom in all things Lawful they are to be Obeyed and where we cannot Obey them but by sinning against God there their Authority is to be submitted unto so that whatever their Practices or their Faith be yet their Prerogatives their Persons their Lives must be Sacred though they be Sauls yet 't is a most fearful thing to lift up ones hand to destroy the Lords Anointed I shall conclude all with that of the wisest of Monarchs and Men Prov. 24. 21. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Amen Soli Deo Gratia FINIS
Sam. 1. 14. It was a Formidable and dreadful Crime in Davids account And yet there are some Circumstances in that Story which those Accursed Regicides in 48 would have used to have Justified their Fact had the Case then been Parallel For first as for this Villain he was no Jew nor by what we find of him any sworn Subject of Sauls I am saith he the Son of a Stranger an Amalekite v. 13. 2ly as for Saul Himself he was a Man that had been Rejected of God for his Disobedience A Man full of spight and causeless Revenge a Man so wicked as that he consulted with the Devil when he applyed himself to the Witch at End or And yet for all this you see David called him the Lords Anointed Besides he was a Man so implacably set against David in particular that he pursued him like a Partridge upon the Mountains and would gladly have been at any Labour or Gost to have made him away notwithstanding all his Honourable Atchievements even for Sauls sake Nevertheless though David was sure to Succeed him 〈◊〉 in the Throne and so was little Concern'd in comparison in point of Interest either to have spared him himself or to have Revenged his Blood being shed by another yet be did not only himself let him go when he had him in his Power nay his Heart smote him when he only cut off the skirt of his Mantle but as soon as this Amalekite had own'd that he had slain him he straight ordered him to be Executed with these upbraiding and wrathful words How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lords Anointed And what a fearful sin was that then which was at this time acted 1. By persons that were the Kings Natural and Born Subjects Members and Children as it were of his Family such as he had a natural interest in such as lay under all those obligations which God and Nature ever laid upon Men to Obey and Honour to Revere and Love the great and common Father of the Country who was no more accountable to his Subjects then Parents are punishable by those of their own House-hold So that the sin of this day was not only Murder but Parricide too A crime which the very Heathens of old did not dream that it could enter into any Mans thought to meditate therefore neither Numa nor Solon made any Laws against it But when Hostius and Malleolus had once taken the heart to kill their Parents then it was provided that all such Vnnatural Wretches or Brutes rather should be burnt alive or drowned in the Sea with Dogs or be cast to the wild Beasts or be tumbled headlong from the top of some tugged Precipice And yet Secondly besides these natural obligations there were voluntary and Adventitious ones which those persons laid themselves under the most sacred tyes in the World and therefore called the Oaths of God I mean the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy which no Man can break but must be in danger of Hell-Fire We thought once that the devilish stratagem of dispensing with Oaths and of Absolving Men from their Allegiance had been the work of the Pope only to prove whom to be Antichrist one of the best Arguments is this that he exalteth himself above all that is called God that is above the Kings of the Earth But it seems some who were great pretending Enemies to Popery could Dispense with themselves and Absolve themselves and that at a cheaper rate too So that in spight of Honour Nature Religion and all the most strict and inviolable bands upon the Conscience they took the unparallel'd boldness not only to invade his Prerogative to divest him of his Regalities and to number him among Traytors even beneath themselves the very Worst and Rankest of all Traytors but after they had cut off his Locks and taken off his Crown they proceeded yet further even to stretch forth their hands to destroy the Life of Gods Anointed than which nothing under Heaven could be secured with a more sacred Fence And yet behold a greater than Saul was here A Prince for Intellectual and Moral virtues for Natural and Acquired accomplishments for Wisdom Eloquence and all kinds of Literature for his sincere Piety for his Christian and well-govern'd Zeal for his Exemplary Temperance for his Unspotted Chastity for his Invincible Patience for his Inexhaustible Clemency for the Tenderness and Compassions of his Heart for his most Condescending and Gracious Spirit for his Love to God to his People to the Church for his Courage Constancy and singular Christian Charity even to his Enemies and to his last breath for all necessary and admirable Endowments becoming a Man a Christian a King a Martyr he was a Prince by the confession of the World so Heroick Singular and Incomparable that even a Romish Priest gave this character of him that he was the greatest of Men and of Kings nisi quod Haereticus only he was an Heretick in their account that is in truth he prov'd a Defender Reign'd a Confessor Liv'd a Sufferer and Dyed a Martyr for the True Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Faith and Government of Christs Church The whole and only design of this Discourse is to make Men throughly sensible of the Foul and Horrid nature of this days sin that if any chance to hear me who were either Actors or Accesseries in it they may joyn with us in such a sincere and hearty sorrow for the Excerable Murder as may both answer the ends of all those judgments which we have already felt and may be a means to prevent those further Scourges which we have reason yet to Fear Before God and the World I confess my self abundantly satisfied that Popish Jesuites were in that Horrid Plot to execute which some Protestant Jesuites were the Instruments and Hands That Roman Priest and Confessor is known saith my Author Answer to Philanax p. 58. who when he saw the fatal stroke given to our Holy King flourisht with his Sword and said now the greatest Enemy that we have in the World is gone And when the news of that Horrible Execution came to Roan some Jesuited persons there told a Protestant Gentleman of good credit that now they were Revenged upon the King of England for not re-establishing the Catholick Religion And much more to the same effect we have in the answer to Philaâ—aâ— But yet it is too too manifest who they were and what they profest who were the actual Regicides And I will take this just occasion from hence to warn all well meaning persons who profess the Reformed Religion that they take great care how they suffer themselves to be Abus'd for the future or be drawn into the guilt of Disloyalty or Resistance For I am perswaded when our late troubles were upon breaking out many even Hot Men did not look as far as the Scaffold or dream that it would be built for the King at his own Palace door but