Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	majesty_n	subject_n	3,135	5	6.4839	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96595	Vindiciæ regum; or, The grand rebellion that is, a looking-glasse for rebels, whereby they may see, how by ten severall degrees they shall ascend to the height of their designe, and so throughly rebell, and utterly destroy themselves thereby. And, wherin is clearly proued by holy Scripturs, ancient fathers, constant martyrs, and our best modern writers, that it is no wayes lawfull for any private man, or any sort or degree of men, inferior magistrates, peeres of the kingdom, greatest nobility, lo. of the councel, senate, Parliament or Pope, for any cause, compelling to idolatry, exercising cruelty, prastizing [sic] tyranny, or any other pretext, how fair and specious soever it seems to be, to rebell, take armes, and resist the authority of their lawfull king; whom God will protect, and require all the blood that shall be spilt at the hands of the head rebels. And all the maine objections to the contrary are clearly answered. / By Gr. Williams, L. Bishop of Ossory.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1643 (1643)	Wing W2675; Thomason E88_1; ESTC R204121	92,613	114

thickets that it soone brought the Serpent to confusion The other is of Titus Livius who tels us Titus Livius Decad. 1. l. 2. that when the people of Rome made a factious combination to rebell against their Governours Menenius Agrippa went unto them and said that on a time all the members conspired against the stomack and alleadged that shee devoured with ease and pleasure what they had purchased with great labour and paine therefore the feet would walke no more the hands would worke no more the tongue would plead no more for it and so within a while the long fast of the stomack made weake knees feeble hands dimme eyes a faltering tongue and a heavy heart and then presently seeing their former folly they were glad to be reconciled to the stomack againe and this reconciled the people unto their Governours I need not make any other application but to wish and to advise us all with the people of Rome to submit our selves unto our heads that are our Governours lest if wee bee guided by the tayle we shall bring our selves with the Serpent unto destruction And to remember that excellent speech of S. Basil the people through ambition are fallen into grievous Anarchy whence it happeneth that al the exhortations of their rulers do no good no man hath any list to obey but every man would raigne being swelled up with pride that springeth out of his ignorance and a little after he saith that some sit no lesse implacable and bitter examiners of things amisse then unjust and malevolent Iudges of things well done Basilius de Spiritu Sancto c. ult scil 30. so that we are more bruitish then the very beasts because they are quiet among themselves but we wage cruell and bloudy warre against each other And let us never forget that the Lord saith Honour thy father and thy mother An argument of obedience drawne from the 5. commandement and I must tell you that by father in this precept you must not onely understand your naturall father but also the King who is your politicall father and the father of all his subjects and the Priest your spirituall father and those likewise that in loco patris 1 Chron. 2.24 doe breed and bring you up and though naturall affection produceth more love and honour unto those fathers that begat us yet reason and religion oblige us more unto the King that is the common father of all and to the Priest that begat us unto Christ then unto him that begat us into the world for that without our new birth which is ordinarily done by the office of the Priest we were no Christians and as good unborne as unchristened What wee are and should be without King or Priest that is unregenerated and without the King that is Custos utriusque tabulae the preserver both of publique justice and of the pure religion our fathers can neither bring us up in peace nor teach us in the faith of Christ and therefore if my father should plot any treason against the King or prove a Rebell against him I am bound in all duty and conscience to preferre the publique before the private and if I cannot otherwise avert the same to reveale the plot to preserve the King though it were to the losse of my fathers life and therefore certainely they that curse that is speake evill of their King are cursed and they that rebell against him shall never have their daies long in the land but shall through their owne rebellion be soone cut off from the land of the liuing For mine owne part Whether for the liberty of Subjects we can be warranted to rebell In the discourse of the differences betwixt King Parliament I have often admired why the subjects of King CHARLES should raise any civill war and especially turne their spleene against him if any say it is for their liberties I answer that I am confident his Majesty never thought to bring any the meanest of his subjects into bondage nor by an arbitrary government to reduce them into the like condition as the Peasants of France or the Boores of Germany or the Pickroes of Spaine as some doe most falsly suggest but that they should continue as they have beene in the dayes of his Father of blessed memory and of all others his most noble Progenitours the freest subjects under Heaven And I hope they desire not to be such libertines as those in the Primitive Church The libertines of the Primitive Church what they thought who because Christian liberty freed us from all Iewish Ceremonies and all typicall Rites which were such a burthen that neither we nor our fathers could undergo and also from the curse and malediction of the morall law would under this pretence of Christian liberty bee freed from the obligation of all lawes and give themselves the freedoms to doe what they pleased for this would prove to be not the liberty but the bondage and the base slavery of a people that are not governed by lawes but suffered to doe what they please because that neither God nor good lawes confine us but for our owne good and hee that forbids us to obey impious commands bids us to obey all righteous lawes and rather to suffer then to resist the most unrighteous Governours But I feare that under the name of the liberty of the subjects the licentiousnesse of the flesh is aymed at What is often aymed at under the name of the liberty of the subjects because you may see by what is already come to passe our civill dissention hath procured to many men such a liberty that few men are sure either of their life or estate and God blesse mee from such a liberty and send me rather to be the slave of Christ then such a libertine of the World And if religion bee the cause that moveth you hereunto Whether for the preservation of our redigion wee can bee warranted to rebell I confesse this should be dearer to us then our lives but this title is like a velvet maske that is often used to cover a deformed face decipimur specie recti for as that worthy and learned Knight Sir Iohn Cheeke that was Tutor to King Edward the sixth saith if you were offered Persecution for Religion you ought to fly and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth yee ought to suffer like Martyrs and you would slay like Tyrants Thus for religion you keepe no religion and neither will follow the counsell of Christ nor the constancy of Martyrs And a little after he demands why the people should not like that Religion which Gods Word established the Primitive Church hath authorized the greatest learned men of this Realme and the whole consent of the Parliament have confirmed and the Kings Majesty hath set forth is it not truly set out Sir Iohn Check in the true subject to the rebell p. 4. 6. Dare you Commons

Magistrates Peeres The Conclusion of the whol Parliaments Popes or whatsoever you please to cal them to give so much liberty unto their misguided consciences so far to follow the desires of their unruly affections as for any cause or under any pretence to withstand Gods Vice-gerent and with violence to make warre against their lawfull King or indeed in the least degree and lowest manner to offer any indignity either in thought word or deed either to Moses our King or to Aaron our High Priest that hath the care and charge of our soules or to any other of those subordinate callings that are lawfully sent by them to discharge those offices wherewith they are intrusted This is the truth of God and so acknowledged by all good men And what Preachers teach the contrary I dare boldly affirme it in the name of God that they are the incendiaries of Hell and deserve rather with Corah to be consumed with fire from Heaven then to be beleeved by any man on Earth CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudency of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they warre against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Lawes we may resist our Kings and a patheticall disswasion from Rebellion I Could insert here abundant more both of the Ancient and Moderne Writers that doe with invincible Arguments confirme this truth Anti-Cavalier p. 17.18 c. but the Anti-Cavalier would perswade the world that all those learned Fathers and those constant Martyrs that spent their purest blood to preserve the purity of religion unto us did either belye their owne strength * Yet Tertul. Cypr. whom I quoted before and Ruffin hist Eccles l. 2. c. 1. and S. August in Psal 124. and others avouch the Christians were far stronger then their enemies and the greatest part of Iulians army were Christians or befoole themselves with the undue desire of overvalued Martyrdome but now they are instructed by a better spirit they have clearer illuminations to informe them to resist if they have strength the best and most lawfull authority that shall either oppose or not consent unto them thus they throw dirt in the Fathers face and dishonour that glorious company and noble army of Martyrs which our Church confesseth prayseth God and therefore no wonder that they will warre against Gods annointed here on Earth when they dare thus dishonour and abuse his Saints that raigne in Heaven but I hope the world will beleeve that those holy Saints were as honest men and those worthy Martyrs that so willingly sacrificed their lives in defence of truth could as well testifie the truth and be as well informed of the truth as these seditious spirits that spend all their breath to raise armes against their Prince and to spill so much bloud of the most faithfull Subjects But though the authority of the best authors is of no authority with them that will beleeve none but themselves yet I would wish all other men to read that Homilie of the Church of England where it is said that God did never long prosper rebellious subjects against their Prince were they never so great in authority or so many in number yea were they never so noble so many so stout so witty and politique but allwaies they came by the overthrow and to a shamefull end Yea though they pretend the redresse of the Common-wealth which rebellion of all other mischiefes doth most destroy or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most against all true religion yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels sheweth The Homily against rebellion p. 300 301. that God alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for the which the subjects may move rebellion against their Princes and I would to God that every subject would read over all the six parts of the Homilie against willfull rebellion for there are many excellent passages in it which being diligently read and seriously weighed would worke upon every honest heart never to rebell against their lawfull Prince And therefore the Lawes of all Lands being so plaine to pronounce them Traytors that take armes against their Kings as you may see in the Statutes of England 25. Edw. 3. c. 2. And as you know it was one of the greatest Articles for which the Earle of Strafford was beheaded that he had actually leavied warre against the King The Nobles and Gentry Lords and Commons of both Houses of Parliament in all Kingdomes being convicted in their consciences with the truth of this Doctrine doe in all their Votes and Declarations conlude and protest and I must believe them that all the leavies monies and other provision of Horse and Men that they raise and arm are for the safety of the Kings person and for the maintenance of his Crowne and Dignity Nay more then this the very Rebels in this our Kingdome of Ireland knowing how odious it is before God and man for subjects to rebell and take armes against their lawfull King do protest if you will believe them that they are the Kings Souldiers and doe fight and suffer for their King and in the defence of his Prerogatives But you know the old saying Tuta frequensque via est sub amici fallere nomen the Devill deceiveth us soonest when he comes like an Angel of light and you shall ever know the true subjects best by their actions farre better then by their Votes Declarations or Protestations for Quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta When men doe come in sheepes cloathing and inwardly are ravening wolves when they come with honey in their mouthes and gall in their hearts and like Joab with peace in their tongue and a sword in their hand a petition to intreat and a weapon to compell I am told by my Saviour that I shall know them by their works not their words And therefore as our Saviour saith Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven So I say not he that cryeth peace peace is the sonne of peace but he that doth obey his Prince and doth most willingly whatsoever hee commandeth or suffereth most patiently for refusing to doe what hee commandeth amisse This is the true Subject Well to draw towards the end of this point That is when the Commonalty guide the Nobility and the Subjects rule their King of our obedience to our Soveraigne Governour I desire you to remember a double story the one of Plutarch which tels us how the tayle of the Serpent rebelled against the head because that did guide the whole body and drew the tayle after it whithersoever it would therefore the head yeelded that the tayle should rule and then it being small and wanting eyes drew the whole body head and all through such narrow crevises clefts and

both ancient and moderne that have confirmed and justified the truth of the former Doctrine Page 70 CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudency of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they warre against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A furthur discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Lawes we may resist our Kings and a patheticall disswasion from Rebellion Page 78. CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by ten severall steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Resistance they ascended to the height of their Rebellion and how these are the sieps and the wayes to all Rebellion and the reasons which move them to rebeil Page 88 CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels doe hatch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishment of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole Page 99 THE GRAND REBELLION PSAL. 106.16 Aemulati sunt Mosen in castris Aaron sanctum Domini CHAP. I. Sheweth who these Rebels were how much they were obliged to their Governours and yet how ungratefully they rebelled against them I Am here in this Treatise to shew unto you a Monster more hideous monstrous then any of those that are described either by the Greek or Latine Poets and more noysome and destructive to humane kinde then any of those that the hottest regions of Africa have ever bred though this be now most frequently produced in these colder Clymates The name of it is Rebellion an ugly beast of many heads of loathsome aspect of great antiquity and as great vivacity for the whole world could not subdue it to this very day And this Rebellion the like whereof was never seen from the creation of the world to this very time and I hope shal never be seen hereafter to the day of judgement is fully set down in the 16. The greatnesse of this sin of rebellion is seene 2 wayes 1 From the text 2. From their punishment 1. Of the text of Numbers and it is briefly repeated in the words of the Psalmist Psal 106.16 how great a sin it is and how odious unto God will appear if we examine 1. The particulars of the Text in the 16 verse and but view 2. The greatnesse of their punishment in the next verse 1. The Text containeth foure speciall parts 1. Qui fuere who the Rebels were that did this 2. Contra quos against whom they rebelled 3. Quid fecerunt what they did 4. Vbi fecerunt where they did it And in each of these I will endevour brevity for as the Poet saith Horat. Citò dicta percipiunt docilet animi retinéntque fideles few words do best hold memory and a short taste doth breed the mor eager appetite therefore as all the precepts of Christ were 1. 3. Properties of Christs precepts Brevia 2. Levia 3. Vtilia so my desire shall be to doe herein 1. 1. Part who the Rebels were Then Aemulati sunt they angred and who were they the Prophet answereth verse 7. Patres nostri in Aegypto our Fathers regarded not thy wonders in Aegypt And therefore they were 1. Their own Countrey-men the Israelites 2. Described by foure motions Of their own Tribe as was Corah and his companions and of the nobility of Israel as were Dathan and Abiram and their adherents 3. Of their own Religion such as had received the Oracles of God and did professe to serve the same true and everliving God as the others did 4. Such as had obtained multa magna many great favours and benefits yea Beneficia nimis copiosa and I may say very pretious benesits from them For when God sent Moses his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen these delivered them from bondage and brought them forth with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their Tribes saith the Prophet and yet these were the men that rebelled 1. They were their owne Country-men 1. Of the same Countrey of their owne Tribe the seed of Abraham and pertakers of the same fortunes And therefore they should love and not hate they should further and not hinder rejoyce and not envy at one anothers happinesse for though wicked men of desperate fortunes care for none but for themselves Sibi nati sibi vivunt sibi moriuntur sibi damnantur yet not only the heathen Philosophy of Natures Schollers but also the divine verity of Gods elected servants doth teach us that Partem patria partem parentes vendicant the love of our Countrey and to our Country-men should be such as rather to spend our selves to relieve them then by lewd practises to destroy them when by our dissolute debauchment we have destroyed our selves 2. These Rebells were of their own Tribe 2. Of the same tribe of the Tribe of Levi and so knit together indissolubili vinculo with the indisloluble bond of bloud and fraternity and therefore they should have remembred the saying of Abraham their father unto his Nephew Lot Let there be no dissention betwixt thee and me for we be brethren a good Uncle that would never drive his Nephew out of his house at home And we read that affinity among the heathens could not onely keep away the force and suppresse the malice of deadly foes but also retaine pignora juncti sanguinis as Julia did Cesar and Pompey and as the Poet saith Vt generos soceris mediae junxere Sabinae Lucan Pharsa ● ● And therefore why should not consanguinity and the bond of slesh and bloud suppresse the envy of friends and retaine the love of brethren But these prove true the old saying that Fratrum irae inter se inimicissimae the wrath of brethren is most deadly as it appeared not only in Cain against Abel Romulus against Remus and all his brethren against Joseph but especially in Caracalla that slew his brother Geta in his mothers armes and therefore Salomon saith Prov. 18.19 A brother offended is harder to winne then a strong City and their contentions are like the barre of a Pallace not easily broken Nam ut aqua calefacta cum ad frigiditatem reducitur frigidissima est For as water that hath been hot being cold again is colder then ever it was before and as the Adamant if it be once broken is shivered into a thousand pieces so love being turned into hatred and the bond of friendship being once dissolved there accreweth nothing but a swift increase of deadly hatred So it happened now in the Campe of Israel that the saying of Saint Bernard is found true Bern in Cant. Serm. 33. Omnes amici omnes inimici all of a house and yet none at peace all of a kindred and yet all in mortall hatred And as Corah and his companions were so nearly allyed unto Moses of the tribe of Levi so Dathan and Abiram were men famous in the Congregation noble Peers and very popular men heads of their

and Societies doe cease and are even then reduced into him from whom before they were derived But we finde it many times that not the fault of the Prince The true causes that move many men to disturbe the State and to rebell nor the good of the Common-wealth but either the hiding of their owne shame or the hope of some private gaine induceth many men to kindle and blow up the flames of civill discord for as Paterculus saith Itase res habet ut republicâ ruinâ quisque malit quàm suâ proteri It so falls out that men of desperate conditions that with Catiline have out-runne their fortunes and quite spent their estates had rather perish in a common calamstie which may hide the blemish of their sinking then to be exposed to the shame of a private misery and we know that many men are of such base behaviour that they care not what losse or calamity befalls others so they may inrich themselves Paterculus in Histor Roman so it was in the civill warres of Rome Bella non causis inita sed prout merce corum fuit they undertooke the same not upon the goodnesse of the cause but upon the hope of prey and so it is in most warres that avarice and desire of gaine makes way for all kinde of crueltie and oppression and then it is as it was among the Romans a fault enough to be wealthy and they shall be plundred that is in plaine English robbed of their goods and possessions without any shew of legall proceedings But they that build their owne houses out of the ruine of the State and make themselves rich by the impoverishing of their neighbours are like to have but small profit and lesse comfort in such rapine because there is a hidden curse that lurketh in it and their account shall be great which they must render for it Therefore I conclude this point that for no cause and upon no pretext it is lawfull for any Subject to rebell against his Soveraigne Governour for Moses had a cause of justice and a seeming equitie to desend and revenge his brother upon the Aegyptian And Saint Peter had the zeale of true Religion and as a man might thinke as great a reason as could be to defend his Master that was most innocent from most vile and base indignities and to free him from the hands of his most cruell persecutors August contra Faustum Man l. 22. c. 70. and yet as S. Augustine saith Vterque justitiae regulam excessit ille fraterno iste Dominico amore peccavit both of them exceeded the rule of justice and Moses out of his love to his brother and Saint Peter out of his respect to his Master have transgressed the commandement of God And therefore I hope all men will yeeld that what Moses could not doe for his brother nor Saint Peter for his Master and the Religion of his Master Christ that is to strike any one without lawfull authoritie ought not to be done by any other man for what cause or religion soever it be especially to make insurrection against his King contrary to all divine authoritie for the true Religion hath beene alwayes humble patient and the preserver of peace and quietnesse Pro temporali salute non pugnavit sed potius ut obtineret aeternam non repugnavit Aug. de Civit. l. 22. c. 6. and as S. Augustine saith the Citie of God though it wandered never so much on earth and had many troopes of mighty people yet for their temporall safety they would not fight against their impious persecuters but rather suffered without resistance that they might attain unto eternall health And so I end this first part of the objection with that Decree of the Councell of Eliberis if any man shall break the Idols to pieces and shall be there killed for the doing of it because it is not written in the Gospel Concil Eliber Can. 60. and the like fact is not found to be done at any time by the Apostles it pleased the Councell that he shall not be received into the number of Martyrs because contrary to the practise of our dayes when every base mechanick runs to the Church to break down not Heathen Idols but the Pictures of the blessed Saints out of the windows they conceived it unlawfull for any man to pull down Idolatry except he had a lawfull authority CHAP. VI. Sheweth that neither private men nor the subordinate Magistrates 2. Part of the objection answered No kinde of men ought to rebell 1. Not private men Calv Inst l. 4 c. 20. Sect. 31. Beza Confess c. 5. p. 171. I. Brutus q 3. pa. 203. Dan. de Polit. Christ. l. 6. c. 3. Bucan loc com 49. Sect. 76. nor the greatest Peeres of the Kingdome may take armes and make Warre against their King Buchanans mistake discovered and the Anti-Cavalier confuted 2. AS it is not lawfull for any cause so no more is it lawfull for any one or for any degree calling or kind of men to rebell against their lawfull Governours For 1. Touching private men we finde that Calvin Beza Junius Brutus Danaeus Buchanus and most others yeeld that meere private men ought not to rebell at any hand and no wonder for the Scriptures forbid it flatly as Exod. 22.28 Revile not the Gods curse not the Ruler 1 Chron. 16.22 Touch not mine anointed Proverb 30.31 Rise not up against the King that is to resist him Eccles 8.3 Let no man say to the King Why doest thou so Eccles 10.17 Curse not the King in thy thought The examples of obedience to Kings And the examples of obedience in this kinde are innumerable and most remarkable for David when he had Saul a wicked King guilty of all impiety and cruelty in his owne hand yet would he not lay his hand upon the Lords annoynted but was troubled in conscience when he did but cut the lap of his garment Elias could call for fire from Heaven to burne the two Captains and their men a hundred in number onely for desiring him to come down unto the King as you may see 2. Reg. 1.10.12 and yet he would not resist Achab his King that sought his life and was an enemy to all Religion but he rather fled then desired any revenge or perswaded any man to rebell against him Esayas was sawed in pieces by Manasses Jeremy was cast into the Dungeon Daniel exposed to the Lyons the Three Children thrown into the Fiery Furnace Amos thrust through the temples Zacharias slaine in the porch of the Temple James killed with the sword Peter fastened to the Crosse with his head downward Bartholomew beaten to death with Clubs Matthew beheaded Paul slaine with the Sword and all the glorious company of the Martyrs which have ennobled the Church with their innocent life and inlarged the same by their pretious death never resisted any of their Persecuters never perswaded any man to rebell against them never cursed the

1. c. 8. pag. 95. in English and the place is worth the noting no power to make Lawes without their King no right to meet without his Writ no liberty to stay any longer then he gives leave how then can you meet as you doe now in my Episcopall See at Kilkenny and continue your Parliament there to make warre against your lawfull King What colour of reason have you to doe the same you cannot pretend to be above your King you have with lies and falshoods most wickedly seduced the whole Kingdome and involved the same in a most unnaturall civill warre you are the actives the King is passive you make the offensive He the defensive war for you began and when he like a gracious King still cried for peace you still made ready for battell And I doubt not but your selves know all this to be true for you know that all Parliament men must have their elections warranted by the Kings especiall Writ you will say The letter sent from a Gentleman to his friend that so you were well and you were chosen but by subjects and intrusted by them to represent the affections and to act the duties of subjects and subjects cannot impose a rule upon their Soveraigne nor make any ordinance against their King and therefore if the representative body of subjects transcend the limits of their trust and doe in the name of the Subjects that which all subjects cannot doe That men intrusted should not go beyond their trust and assume that power which the subjects neither have nor can conferre upon them I see no reason that any subject in the world should any wayes approve of their actions for how can your priviledge of being Parliament men priviledge you from being Murderers Theeves or Traytors if you doe those things that the Law adjudgeth to be murders thefts and treasons Your elections cannot quit you and your places cannot excuse you because he that is intrusted cannot doe more then all they that doe intrust him and therefore all subjects should desert them that exceed the conditions and falsifie the trust which their fellow subjects have reposed in them Besides The King must needs be a part of every Parliament you know the King must needs be reputed part of every Parliament when as the selected company of Knights and Burgesses together with the Spirituall and Temporall Peeres are the representative body and the King is the reall head of the whole Kingdome and therefore if the body separates it selfe from the head it can be but an uselesse trunke that can produce no act which pertaineth to the good of the body because the spirits that give life and motion to the whole body are all derived from the head as the Philosopher teacheth And further you doe all know The power of dissolving the Parliament greater then the power of denying any thing that as the King hath a power to call so he hath a power to dissolve all Parliaments and having a power of dissolving it when he will he must needs haue a power of denying what he pleaseth because the other is farre greater then this And therefore all these premises well considered it is apparent that your sitting in Kilkenny without your King or his Lieutenant which is to the same purpose and your Votes without his assent are all invalid to exact obedience from any subject and for my part I deeme them fooles that will obey them and rebels that will take armes against their King at your commands and if you persist in this your rebellious obstinacy I wish your judgements may light onely upon your owne heads and that those which like the followers of Absolon are simply led by you may have the mist taken from their eyes that they may be able to discerne the duty they owe unto their King that they be not involved and so perish in your sin For though you be never so many and thinke that all the Kingdome Townes and Cities be for you yet take heed lest you imagine such a mischievous device which you are not able to performe Psal 21.11 for the involving of well-mearing men into your bad businesses 1. Reg. 22.29 as Jehoshaphat was misled to warre against Ramoth Gilead doth not onely bring a punishment upon them that are seduced but a farre greater plague upon you that doe seduce them and God who hath at all times so exceeding graciously defended His Majesty and contrary to your hopes and expectation from almost nothing in the beginning of this rebellion hath increased his power to I hope an invincible Army will be a rock of defence unto his anointed For what causes the King suffereth because it is well known to all the world that whatsoever this good King hath suffered at the hands of his subjects it is for the preservation of the true Protestant Religion of the established Lawes of his Kingdoms and of those Reverend Bishops Grave Doctors and all the rest of the Learned and Religious Clergy that have ever maintained and will to the spilling of the last drop of their blood defend this truth against all Papists and other Anabaptisticall Brownists and Sectaries whatsoever And therefore if you that are his Parliament What a shame it is to use the power we have received against him that gave it us should like unthankefull vapours that cloud the Sunne which raised them or like the Moone in her interposition that obscures the glorious ' lampe which enlightens her in the least manner imploy that strength which you have received from His Majesty when he called you together against His Majesty it will be an ugly spot and a foule blemish both for your selves and all your posterities and if not suddenly prevented you may raise such spirits that your selves cannot lay downe and sow such deeds of discord and discontent betwixt the King and his people as may derive through the whole Race of all succeeding Kings such a disaffection to Parliaments as may prove a plague and poyson to the whole Kingdome For if the King out of his favour and grace call you together and intrust you with a power either of continuing concluding or enacting such things as may be for the good of the Commonwealth you abuse that power against him that gave it you I must needs confesse that I am of his mind who saith That it is lawfull to recall a power given when it is abused that the King were freed before God and man from all blame though he should use all possible lawfull means to withdraw that power into his owne hands which being but lent them hath bin so misapplyed against him for if my servant desireth to hold my sword and when I intrust him with it he seekes to thrust the same into my breast will not every man judge it lawfull for me to gaine my sword if it be possible out of his hand and with that sword to cut off his head that would

have thrust it into my heart or as one saith if I convey my estate in trust to any friend to the use of me and mine the person intrusted falsifie the faith reposed in him by conveying the profits of my estate to other ends to the prejudice of me and mine no man wil think it unlawfull for me to annihilate if I can possibly do it such a deed of trust And therefore Noble Peeres and Gentlemen of this ancient Kingdome of Ireland that your Parliament may prove successefull to the benefit of the Common-wealth let me that have some interest and charge over all the Inhabitants and Sojourners of Kilkenny perswade you to thinke your selves no Parliament without your King and that your Votes and Ordinances carrying with them the power though not the name of Acts of Parliament to oblige both King and Subjects to obey them are the most absolute subversion of our fundamentall Lawes the destructive invasion of our rightfull Liberties and that by an usurped power of an arbitrary rule to dispose of our estates or any part thereof as you please to make us Delinquents when you will and to punish us as Malignants at your pleasure and through your discontent to dispossesse your rightfull King though it were to set the Crown upon the head of your greatest Oneale is such a priviledge that never any Parliament hath yet claimed Or if you still goe on for the enlargement of your own usurped power under the title of the priviledge of Parliament to Vote the diminution of the Kings just prerogative that your Progenitors never denied to any of his Ancestors to exclude us Bishops out of your Assemblies without whom your determinations can never be so wel concluded in the feare of God and to invade the Liberties of your fellow subjects under the pretences of religion and the publique good I will say no more but turne my selfe to God and put it in my Lyturgy From Parasites Puritans Popes and such Parliaments Good Lord deliver us CHAP. IX Sheweth the unanimous consent and testimonies of many famous learned men and Martyrs both ancient and moderne that have confirmed and justified the truth of the former Doctrine ANd so you see that as for no cause so for no kind or degree of men be they what you will Peeres Magistrates Heads of Families Darlings of the people or any other Patriots whom the Commons shall elect it is lawfull to rebell against or any waies to resist our chiefe Princes and soveraigne Governours This point is as cleare as the Sunne and yet to make it still more cleare unto them that will not beleeve that truth which they like not but as Tertullian saith Credunt Scripturis ut credant adversus Scripturas doe alleadge Scriptures to justifie their owne wilfull opinions against all Scripture I will here adde a few testimonies of most famous men to confirme the same Testimonies of famous men Henry de Bracton Lord Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench under Hen. 3. saith as he is quoted by the Lord Elismer L. Elismer in orat habita in Camera Fiscali anno 1609. pag. 108. that under the King there are free men and servants and every man is under him and he is under none but onely God if any thing be demanded of the King seeing no Writ can issue forth against the King there is a place for Petition that he would correct and amend his fact and if he shall refuse to doe it he shall have punishment enough when the Lord shall come to be his revenger for otherwise touching the Charters and deeds of Kings neither private persons nor Iusticiaries ought to dispute this was the Law of that time what new Lawes our young Lawyers have found since I know not I am not so good a Lawyer The Civill Lawyers do far surpasse the Common Law herein for Corsetus Siculus saith Rex in suo regno potest omnia Corsetus Sic. tract de potestat reg part 5. num 66. imo de plenitudine potestatis And Marginista saith Qui disputat de potestate Principis utrum benè fecerit est infamis Hostiensis saith Princeps solutus est legibus id est quoad vim coactivam Marginista in Angelum Perusinum c. l. 9. tit 29. De crimine sacrilegii l. 2. Hostiens sum l. 1. rubr 32. de offic ligati non quoad vim directivam Thom. 1. 2 ae q. 96. ar 5. ad 3. quia nulli subest nec ab aliis judicatur And to omit all the rest Gulielmus Barclaius out of Bartolus Baldus Castrensis Romanus Alexander Felinus Albericus and others doth infer Principem ex certâ scientiâ supra jus extrajus contrajus omnia posse Principem solum legem constituere universalem Princeps soli Deo rationem debet Princeps solutus est legibus temerarium est velle Majestatem Regiam ullis terminis limitare Barclaius contra Monarchomach l. 3. c. 14. which things if I should English seditious heads would thinke my head not sufficient to pay for this but I onely repeat their words and not justifie their sayings and therefore to proceed to more familiar things Pasquerius writeth Pasquer de Antiquit Gallican l. 1. that Lewis the 11th did urge his Senators and Counsellours to set forth a certaine edict which they refused to doe because it seemed to them very unjust Sicut olim Lacedaemonii victoribus responderum si duriora morte imperetis potius moriemur and the King being very angry threatned death unto them all whereupon Vacarius President of the Councell and all the Senate in their purple robes came unto the King and the King astonished therewith damanded whence they came and what they would have Vacarius answered for all we come to undergoe that death which you have threatned unto us for you must know O King that we wil rather suffer death then doe any thing against our conscience towards God or our duty towards you Wherein we see the Nobility of this King like Noble Christians doe more willingly offer to lay down their lives at the command of their Liege Lord then unchristian-like rebell and take Armes against their delinquent Soveraigne And so Colmannus a godly Bishop did hinder the Scottish Nobility to rise against Fercardus that was their most wicked King Tertullian writing unto Scapula the President of Carthage Tertull. ad Scapul saith we are defamed when the Christian is found to be the enemy of no man no not of the Emperour whom because he knoweth him to be appointed by God he must needs love and reverence and wish him safe with all the Romane Empire for we honour and worship the Emperour as a man second from God Et solo Deo minorem and inferiour onely to God And in his Apologetico Tertull. in Apologet he saith Deus est solus in cujus solius potestate sunt reges à quo sunt secundi post quem primi super omnes homines ante

you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And as he said unto Saul when he persecuted the servants of Christ Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when as hee was then in Heaven farre above the reach of Saul yet because there is such a mysticall union betwixt Christ and his Church the head and members as is betwixt man and wife no man can be said to injure the one but he must wrong the other so whosoever resisteth the Kings Lieutenant Deputy or any other Magistrate or Officer that he sendeth with Commission to execute his commands resisteth the King himselfe and all the indignities that are offered to the Kings Embassador or servant that he thus sendeth 2 Sam. 10. are deemed as indignities offered to the King himselfe as we see the base usage of Davids servants by King Hanun David revenged as an abuse offered unto himselfe because the Kings person cannot be in all places where justice and judgement Whatsoever is done to any Messenger is deemed as dont to him that sent him and many other offices and actions are necessarily to be done throughout the latitude of his Dominions but his power and his authority deputed to those his servants and officers that he sendeth are as the lively representatives of the King in every part of his Kingdome and whatsoever favour payment neglect or abuse is shewed unto any of them the same in all Nations is accounted and therefore punished or rewarded as a service done unto the King himselfe as our Saviour when but the Tole-gatherer came for the Tribute money saith Give unto Caesar what belongeth unto Caesar And therefore it is but an idle simple and most foolish frivolous distinction of men to deceive children and fooles to say they love and honour their King and they fight not against their King but against such and such whom notwithstanding they know to be the Kings chiefest officers and to be sent with the Kings Power Commission and Authority to doe those things that they doe this is such a foppery that I know not what to say to undeceive those that are so desirous to be deceived when the Devill * S. Paul saith God sendeth them strong delusions 2 Thess 2.11 But what God sendeth justly as the punisher of their sin the Devill sendeth maliciously as the guider of them to Hell which knoweth how neare their destruction hangeth over their heads sends them strong delusions that they should so easily and so sillyly believe such palpable lyes as to make them thinke they love him dearely whom they murder most barbarously Barnesius Barnesius in tract de humanis constitut a very godly and learned man treating of the same Argument saith in a manner the same thing that the servants of Christ rather then either commit any evill or resist any Magistrate ought patiently to suffer the losse of their goods and the tearing of their members nay the Christian after the example of his Master Christ ought to suffer the bitterest death for truth and righteousnesse sake and therefore saith he whosoever shall rebell under pretence of Religion aeternae damnationis reus erit he shall be found guilty of eternall damnation Master Dod saith Master Dod upō the Commandements that where the Prince commandeth a lawfull act the subjects must obey and if he injoynes unlawfull commands we must not rebell but we must be content to beare any punishment that shall be laid upon us even unto death it self and we should suffer our punishment without grudging even in heart and this he presseth by the example of the Three Children and of Daniel that was a mighty man and of very great power in Babylon yet never went about to gather any power against his King though it were in his own defence Master Byfield expounding the words of S. Peter Master Byfield upon 1 Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Supreame saith this should confirme every good subject to acknowledge and maintaine the Kings supremacy and willingly to binde himselfe thereto by oath for the oath of supremacy is the bond of this subjection and this oath men must take without equivocation mentall evasion or secret reservation yea it should binde in them the same resolution that was in Saint Bernard who saith if all the world should conspire against me to make me complot any thing against the Kings Majesty yet I would feare God and not dare to offend the King ordained of God I might fill a volume if I would collect the testimonies of our best Writers I will adde but one of a most excellent King our late King Iames of ever blessed memory for he saith The improbity or fault of the governour ought not to subject the King to them over whom he is appointed Judge by God Serenissimus Rex Jacobus de vera lege liberae Monarchiae for if it be not lawfull for a private man to prosecute the injury that is offered unto him against his private adversary when God hath committed the sword of vengeance onely to the Magistrate how much lesse lawfull is it thinke you either for all the people or for some of them to usurpe the sword whereof they have no right against the publike Magistrate to whom alone it is committed by God This hath beene the Doctrine of all the Learned of all the Saints of God of all the Martyrs of Jesus Christ The obedient example of the Martyrs in the time of Queene Mary and therefore not only they that suffered in the first Persecutions under Heathen Tyrants but also they that now of late lived under Queene Mary and were compelled to undergoe most exquisite torments without Number and beyond Measure yet none of them either in his former life or when he was brought to his execution did either despise her cruell Majesty or yet curse this Tyrant Queene that made such havock of the Church of Christ and causelesly spilt so much innocent bloud but being true Saints they feared God and honoured her and in all obedience to her authority they yielded their estates and goods to he spoyled their liberties to be infringed and their bodies to be imprisoned abused and burned as oblations unto God rather then contrary to the command of their Master Christ they would give so much allowance unto their consciences as for the preservation of their lives to make any shew of resistance against their most bloudy Persecuters whom they knew to have their authority from that bloudy yet their lawfull Queene And therefore I hope it is apparent unto all men that have their eyes open Numb 24.15 Gen. 19.11 and will not with Baalam most wilfully deceive themselves or with the Sodomites grope for the wall at noone day that by the Law of God by the example of all Saints by the rule of honesty and by all other equitable considerations it is not lawfull for any man or any degree or sort of men

take upon you more learning then the chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realme have this was the judgement of that judicious man and I must tell you that Religion never taught Rebellion neither was it the will of Christ that faith should bee compelled by fighting but perswaded by preaching for the Lord sharply reproveth them that built up Sion with bloud Micah 3.10 and Hierusalem with iniquity and the practice of Christ and his Apostles was to reforme the Church by prayers and preaching and not with fire and sword and they presse obedience unto our Governours yea though they were impious infidels True religion never rebelleth and idolatrous with arguments fetched from Gods ordinance from mans conscience from wrath and vengeance and from the terrible sentence of damnation and this truth is so solid that it hath the cleare testimony of holy Writ the perpetuall practice of all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs and I dare boldly say it the unanimous consent of all the Orthodox Bishops and Catholique Writers both in England and Ireland and in all the World that Christian Religion teacheth us never with any violence to resist or with armes to withstand the authority of our lawfull Kings If you say the Lawes of our Land Whether the Lawes of our Land doe warrant us to rebell and the Constitutions of this our Kingdome doe give us leave to stand upon our liberty and to withstand all tyranny that shall bee offered unto us especially when our estates lives and religion are in danger to bee destroyed To this I say with Laelius Laelius de privileg Eccl. 112. that Nulla lex valeat contra jus divinam mans laws can exact no further obedience then may stand with the observance of the divine precepts and therefore wee must not so prefer them or rely upon them so much as to prejudice the other and for our feare of the losse of estate life or religion I wish it may not be setled upon groundlesse suspitions for I know and all the World may beleeve that our King is a most clement and religious Prince that never did give cause unto any of his subjects to foster such feares and jealousies within his breast and you know what the Psalmist saith of many men They were affraid where no feare was And Iob tels you whom terrours shall make affraid on every side Iob 18.11 12 and shall drive him to his feet that is to runne away as you see the Rebels doe from the Kings Army in every place and in whose Tabernacle shall dwell the King of feare for though the ungodly fleeth when no man pursueth him yet they that trust in God are confident as Lyons without feare they know that the heart of the King is not in his owne hand but in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 as the rivers of waters he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him either to save them or destroy them even as it pleaseth God hee ordereth the King how to rule the people Bonav ad secundam dist 35. art 2. q. 1. And therefore in the name of God and for Christ Iesus sake let me perswade you to put away all causles feares and groundlesse jealousies and trust your King if not trust your God and let your will which is so unhappy in it selfe become right and equall by receiving direction from the will of God and remember what Vlpian the great Civilian saith that rebellion and disobedience unto your King is proximum sacrilegio crimen and that it is in Samuels judgement as the sin of witchcraft The remembrance of his oath should be a terrour to the conscience of every rebell whereby men forsake God and cleave unto the Devill and above all remember the oath that many of you have taken to bee true and faithfull unto your King and to reveale whatsoever evils or plots that you shall know or heare to bee contrived against his Person Crowne or Dignity and defend him from them Pro posse tuo to the uttermost of your power So helpe you God Which oath how they that are any wayes assistant in a warre against their King can dispence with I cannot with all my wit and learning understand and therefore returne O Shulamite returne lay downe thine armes submit thy selfe unto thy Soveraigne and know that as the Kings of Israel were mercifull Kings so is the King of England 1 King 20.32 thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty lest as Demades saith the Athenians never sate upon treaties of peace but in mourning weeds when by the losse of their nearest friends they had paid too deare for their quarrels so thou be driven to doe the like for except the sinnes of the people require no lesse satisfaction then the ruine of the Kingdome I am confident and am ready to hazard life and fortunes in this confidence that the goodnesse of our King The Authors confidence of the Kings victory the justnesse of his cause and the prayers of all honest and faithfull Ministers for him and our Church will in the end give him the victory over all those his rebellious enemies that with lyes slanders and false imputations have seduced the Kings subjects to strengthen themselves against their Soveraigne and all the World shall see that as Christ so in Sensu modificato this Vicegerent of Christ shall rule in the midst of these his enemies and shall raigne untill hee puts them all under his feet And because we never read of any rebellion not this of Corah here A rebellion that the like was never seen which of above six hundred thousand men had not many more then 250. Rebels nor that of Absolon against David who had all the Priests and Levites and the best Counsellours and a mighty Army with him such as was able to overthrow Absolon and twenty thousand men in the plaine field nor Israel against Rehoboam because they did but revolt from him and not with any hostile Armes invade him nor the Senate of Rome against Caesar though hee was the first that intrenched upon their liberty and intended to exchange their Aristodemocracy into a Monarchy nor any other that I can remember except that Councell which condemned Christ to death that was growne to that height to bee so absolute and so perfect a rebellion in all respects as that a whole Parliament in a manner and the major part of the Plebeians of a whole Kingdome should make a Covenant with Hell it selfe yea and which is most considerable that as I understand the beginning of this rebellion in this Kingdome of Ireland was the Commenalty therein should so fascinate the Nobility as to allure them so long to confirme their Votes till at last they must bee compelled in all thhings to adhere unto their conclusions that they whose power was formerly most absolute without them must now bee subordinate unto them that the strength of the people may defend

themselves because pride and ambition are the two sides of that bellowes which blowes up disobedienee and rebellion But they that are ill servants will prove worse masters they that will not learne how to obey can never tell how to rule and if Moses were as these Rebels suggested a Tyrant yet the Philosopher tels us we had better endure one Tyrant then as they were 250 Tyrants And the Humilie of the Church tels us that contrary to their hopes God never suffers the greatest treasons or rebellion for any long time to prosper Therefore when under loyall pretences we see nothing but studied mischiefes and most crafty endeavours to innovate our government or to imbroyle the Kingdome in a civill war that so they may fish in a troubled water let us never be so stupid as to secure them in these actions to produce our discredit for our simplicity and destruction for our disloyalty but rather let us leave them as Delinquents to the justice of our Lawes and the mercy of the King and this will be the rediest way to effect peace and happinesse to our Nation CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels do hatch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishments of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole 4. WE are to consider Vbi facerunt 4. Part. Where they did all this where they did all this in castris non in templis that is in their owne houses not in the house of God for in Gods house we teach obedience to our Kings and beat downe rebellion in every Kingdome this is the Doctrine of the Church But in our houses in our cabines and corners in private conventicles they teach rebellion which is the Doctrine of those Schoolcs Our houses are our castles And these Schooles are called Castra Tents or Castles because indeed every mans house is his castle or his fort where he thinkes himselfe sure enough so did those rebels and they would not come out of them neither Moses the King could compell them nor Aaron the Priest could perswade them to come out of their castles and forsake their strong holds which their guilty consciences would not permit them to doe and so all other rebels will never be perswaded to forsake their places of strength untill God pulleth them as he did these Rebels out of their holes for were it not for these Castra the Citties and Castles that they possede they could not so like subtle Foxes runne out and in to nullisie the property and to captivate the liberty of the Kings faithfull subjects as they doe for though they doe all this under those faire pretences for the defence of the true religion the maintainance of our liberties and the property of our estates yet for our religion it is now amongst us as it was in the dayes of S. Basil Basilius de Spiritus Sancto c. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one is a Divine and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. all the bounds of our fore-fathers are transgressed the foundation of doctrine and fortification of disciplin was rooted up and the innovators which never had any other imposition of hands but what they laid upon themselves have matter enough to set forward their sedition and for the other pretences I dare proclaime it to all the world that mine owne experience beleeveth the liberty of the subjects and the property of our goods and the true Procestant Religion could not possibly be more abused then it hath beene by them that came in the name and for the service of the Parliament and therefore I would to God that all the oppressions injustice and imprisonments that have beene made since the beginning of this Parliament were collected and recorded in a booke of remembrance that all the world might see and read the justice and equity of our Parliament and the iniquity oppression and rapine of them that to enrich themseves deprive us of our estates and liberties How the Paliament Rebels have inriched themselves in Ireland and that under the Parliaments name for I heare that as many have beene impoverished so many both of the Lords and Commons in this Kingdome of Ireland that before the Conjunction of these malevolent martiall Planets were very low at an ebbe and their names very deep in many Citizens books have now wiped off all scores paid all their debts and clad themselves in Silkes and Scarlet but with the extorted moneys and the plundered goods of the loyall subjects I hope it is not so in England Yet as Platina tels us Platinas story of the Guelphes and Gibilines that when the Guelphes and the Gibilines in the Citie of Papia were at civill discord and the Gibilines promised to one Fecinus Caius all the goods of the Guelphes if he assisted them to get the victory which he did and after he had subdued the Guelphes he seized upon the goods of both and when the Gibilines complained that he brake his Covenant to pillage their goods Catus answered that themselves were Gibilines but their goods were Guelphs and so belonged unto him So both in England and Ireland I see the Parliament Forces and the Kebels I hope contrary to the will of the Parliament make little difference betwixt Papist and Protestant the well affected and disaffected for they cannot judge of their affections but they can discerne their estates and that is the thing which they thirst after Haud ignota cano But you will say these are miseries unavoidable accidents common to all warre when neither side can excuse all their followers I answer Woe be to them therefore that were the first suggesters and procurers of this warre and cursed be they that are still the incendiaries and blow the coales for the continuance of these miserable distractions I am sure his Majesty was neither the cause nor doth he desire the prolonging thereof for the least moment but as his royall father was a most peaceable Prince so hath he shewed himselfe in all his life to follow him passibus aequis and to be a Prince of peace though as the God of peace is likewise a man of warre and the Lord of Hosts so this peaceable Prince when his patience is too much provoked can as you see change his pen for a sword and turne the mildenesse of a Lambe into the stoutnesse of a Lyon and you know what Solomon saith that The wrath of a King is the messenger of death especially when he is so justly moved to wrath And so much for the particulars of this Text. 2 Having fully seene the uglinesse of this sinne 2. The punishment of these rebels you may a little view the greatnesse of the punishment for Although I must confesse we should be slow to anger slow to wrath yet when the Magistrate is disobeyed the Minister despised and God himselfe disclaimed it makes our hearts to bleed and our spirits angry within us yea though the King were as gentle and as meek