Power in pulling down and setting up whom he pleaseth are we authorized to pull down our Superiors and to set up our selves because Christ hath redeemed us and made us Free-men of his spiritual Kingdom doth this warrant us to make our selves the Lords and Masters of the World because we must not subject our selves to serve Mens Lusts and Vices must we not therefore submit our selves to their legal Authority and Power because a State of civil Freedom is more eligible than a State of Bondage 't is better to be at our own disposal and liberty than to be in servitude and confined to the Will of another are we therefore to effect and endeavour to be above the Check and Controulment of the Sovereign Powers cannot Men be Masters of themselves but they must be Masters of their Superiors too 't is remarkable how very differently sincere and hypocritical Christians argue from the Principle under Consideration because 't is said That Christians are made free by Christ Joh. 8.36 and therefore every Christian Servant is the Lord's Free-man 1 Cor. 7.22 therefore some hypocritical Christians conclude themselves licensed to cast off all Subjection and Obedience to Magistrates and Masters and to live as discharged from all Conscience of Duty to them though by their present Circumstances constrained and necessitated externally to perform it but on the contrary part sincere Christians obey Governours as free but as servants of the Lord 1 Pet. 2.16 Serve the Lord in obeying their Governours submit themselves the one for Conscience sake to the other the highest Engagement and strongest Bond of Obedience that can be Sect. 61. I appeal to all considering Men if it be reasonable to believe that since Jesus Christ came not into the World to destroy the Law but to fulfill it Mat. 5.17 That is not to evacuate or relax any moral Duty but by his Doctrine and Example to fill up and re-inforce the Authority and obliging Power thereof and to commend his quiet and patient Submission to the injurious Affronts and destructive Violence of the Higher Powers as a Pattern for us to conform unto and imitate 1 Pet. 2.21 I say this considered is it credible that he hath cancelled the Obligation of any moral Duty by his death to his Followers and discharged them from Non-Resistance of the Higher Powers when they are too strong for them Sect. 62. But since 't is generally confessed that the moral Law is of universal and immutable Obligation of which the fifth Commandement is a Part and expresly requires us to Honour our Governours as all will acknowledge how comes it to pass that the Duty of this Commandement should be released or relaxed rather than of any other Is not the Observation of this Commandement of as much account with God as the Observation of the rest Is not the Honour of God and the Safety of human Societies as much concern'd in the keeping of it now as formerly why then should Christians be more limited in the Terms of their Subjection to the Higher Powers and less restrained from resisting them than the Jewish Nation when 't was govern'd by Rulers of God's own immediate Appointment The Authority Necessity Ends and Reasons of it are still the same and how comes it to pass that the Nature Grounds and Reasons of Subjection and Obedience are alter'd and the Pretenders to the Management of the Scepter of Christ must command and dispose that of the King If Conscience as God's Vicegerent must not be forced so neither must the King who represents as my Lord Coke tells us God's own Person Why should not God's Ordinance be as irresistible in the one as in the other the one hath as great a Supremacy over us without us as the other within us Sect. 63. Moreover if we are to be guided and governed by the positive Laws and Constitutions of our own Country as proper Rules and Measures to determine and limit our Allegiance and Obedience then 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and we are to abhor that Traitorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissionated by him as 't is Stat. 14. Ch. 2. And since saith Grotius on Mat. 26.52 there is no Man that doth not favour himself if it be once admitted that private Men being injuriously dealt withall by the Magistrate may repel force with force all places will be full of Tumults the Authority of Laws and Judicatures will be null and void And in his Votum pro pace ad Art 16. He affirms that Subjects ought by no means to resist their King or Prince by force or ought they to take either offensive or defensive Arms against their King or Prince for the Cause of Religion or for any other cause whatsoever and further affirms that no Government can be any longer safe than whilest those who have such Sentiments want strength And how Men that are for resisting the Higher Powers can expect to be owned as Friends to Government and presume on any Trust or Favour from the Administrators thereof I cannot imagine I shall conclude this with the Affirmation of the Church of England in her fourth part of her Homily against willful Rebellion 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 Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes Sect. 64. I am not altogether ignorant of the Reasonings of some discontented and interested Men to plead for the lawfulness of resisting the Higher Powers with armed Force in some cases and perhaps it may be expected that I should engage my self in the solemn Examination and Confutation of them But having proved from divine Revelation that God hath forbidden it I may warrantably say to every such Reasoner as the Apostle in another case alike depending on the Sovereign Authority of God Rom. 9.20 Nay but Oh Man who art thou that repliest against God Shall not God govern the World as he pleaseth hath he not an absolute and unaccountable Power to impart after what manner and measure he judgeth fit his own Sovereign Authority and Power to his Vicegerents and if God do not limit and restrain the Extent of their Authority and Power who shall we frequently find Jesus Christ and his Apostles endeavouring to impress on Mens Consciences a quick Sense of their Obligations to yield Subjection and Obedience to the Higher Powers but never determining or limiting the manner of obtaining their Titles or the Righteousness of their Prerogatives and Rights or their way of administring and executing them which I take to be a plain Intimation that the Welfare of Mankind and the Safety of all Societies depends on the dutiful and peaceable Deportment of the governed part thereof and that Subjects are principally concerned Conscientiousness to attend their own Duties and to leave the Menageries of the governing part of that
45.1 2 3 4. Dan. 2.21 and 5.26 28. Rom. 13.1 and therefore are called the Ministers of God Rom. 13.4 but never the Ministers of the People and God himeself hath called them Gods Psal 82.6 to ascertain us that their Persons are Sacred to him and their Authority of his immediate Delegation and not derived from any voluntary Paction or positive Constitution made and ratified betwixt them and their Subjects which is forfeitable and revocable according to the express or tacite Tenor of the Fundamental Contract as these Men sometimes phrase it And as the first Dominion and Government of Divine Ordination was Monarchical so we have no reason to think that it was God's intention that that Species or Form of Government should be altered and another introduced because we have no instance of any other Government either of his immediate Ordination or Approbation and so far as I am instructed in divine Revelations we have no Rule for the Establishing of any other Form of Government nor direct precept to submit to any other as of his prescribing and when Men prefer their own Inventions before divine Institutions they bring forth as Aaron did a Calf instead of a God The Church of England having determined That the most high and sacred Order of Kings is of divine Right being the Ordinance of God him elf founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by express Texts both of the Old and New Testaments those pretended Sons of the Church need good foreheads who presume to affirm them to be their Peoples Creatures and to owe their Authority and Power solely to them and ought to exercise no more than they have by their Concession I hope God hath such Grace and Mercy in store for this Church and Kingdom that he will raise up Men of greater Abilities and better Opportunities than can be pretended unto by my self to defend the crowned Heads thereof from such Assailants but if these ensuing Discourses in any measure prove a Countermine to their designments and contribute any degree of assistance towards the Security of the Publick Government I shall ascribe all the Honour thereof unto God and Your Majesties will have no reason to discountenance the Honest though Weak Endeavours of Your Majesties most Loyal Subject LEWES SHARP THE Church of England's DOCTRINE OF Non-Resistance JUSTIFIED and VINDICATED c. ROM 13.2 And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation THE grand Design of Religion is the Resignation of our selves to God that it may be well with us both in this world and that which is to come and therefore the Appearance of the blessed Jesus is represented as bringing Glory to God on high on Earth Peace good Will towards Men. And the well-being of Mankind in this World greatly depending on the Safety and Peace of publick Societies the Christian Religion hath a special Regard to the Protection and Preservation of them And Civil Authority being under God a most efficacious Instrument thereof signal care is taken for its security that it be not weakened or disturbed in its being and exercise but maintained and observed by all that are subjected thereunto as my Text with its coherence doth abundantly evidence Sect. 1. In the former Verse the Apostle chargeth it as a Duty incumbent on all Mankind to be subject to the Higher Powers Let every Soul every one without exception or reservation be Subject yield Submission and Obedience to the Higher Powers the lawful Possessors and Administrators of Supreme Authority for though the Word Powers be in the Abstract yet we are to understand them concretively as signifying the Persons which exercise Authority And 't is ordinary in Scripture by a Metonymical Phrase to put the Abstract for the Concrete the Adjunct for the Subject which was not here unadvisedly used because the Design of the Apostle is to ascertain us that every Person under Government of what Rank or Order soever he be is obliged to yield Subjection to his legally Supreme Governour howsoever he be qualified for his Religion or moral Deportment Sect. 2. And the Reason he gives doth equally effect all Subjects and equally relate to all that are advanced to Supreme Authority for there is no Power but of God and the Powers that be are ordained of God that is the Original of all Authority is from God and consequently whosoever partakes of it is to be acknowledged as God's Commissioner to rule and govern all that are placed in a State of Subjection to him and although we are to be subject and obedient to the Officer for his Office-sake yet our Subjection and Obedience immediately refers to the Officer himself because we are ruled and governed by the Officer i. e. by a Man invested with and exercising Authority over us and not simply by an Office which abstructively considered is utterly ineffective to all the Purposes of Government as 't is not the Kingship which makes and executes Laws but the King 't is not the Portrieveship or the Constableship viz. the bare Office in either respect but the Portrieve and the Constable which suppress Disorder and administer Justice in any case Sect. 3. When God therefore Commands every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers he Commands every soul to be subject to that Person or Persons who legally possess and actually exercise by themselves or substitutes the Supreme governing Power or else in effect he Commands nothing at all because the Power abstracted from the Person cannot rule us nor consequently be a Terror to evil Works or a Praise to good Works 't is not simply the Office but the Man in office which is the Minister of God to us for good and which beareth not the Sword in vain but revengeth evil doing All which considered when the Apostle saith in the former part of the Verse to which the Text belongs Whosoever therefore resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God his meaning must needs be That whosoever resisteth that Person or Persons who have the Right to Rule and Govern and exercise Dominion and Authority over him he resisteth the Commission and Authority of God himself because the Authority of the Magistrate is an Authority derived from God himself He therefore who affronts and opposeth the Magistrate who is God's Vicegerent affronts and opposeth God himself and then we cannot think it strange that they which thus resist should receive to themselves damnation Here are Three Things which need a little Explication 1. What the Apostle intends by Resistance or they that resist 2. What he intends by Damnation 3. What he intends by Receiving to themselves the damnation spoken of Sect. 4. 1. What the Apostle means by Resistance or they that resist 't is very manifest that Resistance is directly opposed to Subjection and includes all practicing from a Spirit of Averseness Contradiction and Opposition and consequently so far as we refuse to yield subjection to the Authority of the Higher Powers we resist them Now
of its Administration may be determined and limited and the Individual Person or Persons Family or Families who shall be the Subjects Recipients of governing Authority and Power may be designed and nominated by the Interposition and Consent of the whole Community over which they preside and rule yet their Authority and Power is originally and immediately from God alone 't is here as in the Case of Marriage the Authority and Power of the Man over the Woman is originally and immediately from God but the determination of the particular Person who shall be this or that Womans Husband proceeds from the free Election and Consent of the Woman and although by a Pre-contract she may limit the Exercise of his Authority and Power respectively to her Estate and Proprieties yet she annot bound his Matrimonial Authority and Power over her Person nor will his abuse hereof be a Forfeiture of it to her And the Supreme Authority and Power with which all Sovereign Princes and States are invested being originally and immediately from God â—â—one and not communicated and derived at all from the Community there can be no â—â—rfeiture made by any male-Administration to the Community be the Contracts reâ—â—ectively to its kind of existence and manner of its exercise what they will what as not gotten by Vertue is not loseable by Vice nor can it by any abuse whatever escheat to the Power and Disposal of the Community they cannot take â—â—ay that which they did not give 't was therefore well said by Tacitus Principi sumâ—um rerum arbitrium dii dederunt subditis obsequii gloria relicta est God hath invested the â—â—ince with Sovereign Power leaving to Subjects the Glory of Obedience To the same purpose is at of Salust impunè quid vis facere hoc est regem esse He that will do a thing without fear 〈◊〉 Punishment he acts the part of a King For as Mark Anthony urged in Herod's case If he 〈◊〉 accountable for what he hath done as a King he could not be a King And the Reason is â—â—ause the Supreme Power is only under God and to be accounted for to him alone And â—â—all endeavour agreeably hereunto to prove to you That the Doctrine of Non-Resistance of Supreme Powers is founded on immutable Grounds of Reason and Religion And when there is â—â—inty of the Bond of Obedience to the Higher Powers from the Principles of Reason and Religion from the Necessities of common Equity and Order and the Interest of Conscience and Christian Duty there must needs be a very strong Obligation which is the Case of Non-Resistance against the Higher Powers as by Law established among us Sect. 11. 1. I will endeavour to evince that the Allowance of Liberty to Subjects to resist the Sovereign Power is against the Principles of Common Reason and that in divers Particulars 1. 'T is against Common Reason That the Higher Powers should be resisted by armed Force of Inferiours and Subjects because the Allowance of such a Thing would render all setled Government impracticable and indeed impossible and consequently destroy all the Means devisable for Administring Public Justice securing Private and Public Rights and Properties and preserving the Peace and Prosperity of all Human Societies The Primary End of all Government is to procure and preserve the Peace of Human Societies and where this cannot be sufficiently provided for the Government is null'd and destroyed which is the Case under consideration For if it be allowable for Subjects in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever to resist the Sovereign Powers with armed Force then it follows that they have a right to judge in what cases 't is fit for them to submit and in what cases 't is fit and lawful for them to resist and then the Subjects are the Supream Judges of the Government and their Governours which undeniably implies that the Subjects are bound to Subjection only so long as they themselves think fit and consequently may claim and exercise Authority and Judicature over their Governors and pass Judgment upon them and their Government whensoever they shall think it needful or requisite so to do And being to judge for themselves 't is very probable they will judge favourably for themselves And whereever the Supremacy of Judgment resides there is the Sovereign Authority and Power wherefore if the Higher Powers may be judged by their Subjects they are not Supream but Subordinate and Rule meerly precariously even so long and no longer than their Superiour Judges will give them leave so to do And when Men are in effect Subject to no Authority and Power but that of their own Judgments and Wills a Foundation is laid for a General and Great Confusion Where all will be Sovereigns who shall be the Subjects Where all are to command there are none to obey Let us allow Men Liberty to judge for themselves when 't is fit they should be subject to the Higher Powers and when 't is not and they may at Pleasure dissolve any Government in the World There is therefore no one Law so beneficial to the Subject as this Fundamental Law of Sovereignity That 't is unresistible and unaccountable for its determinations and from which there is no appeal For though a Society may be Governed by Mutual Consent and Agreement yet let Sovereign Authority and Power be lodged in one or many Persons it must be absolute and uncontroulable or else those Differences and Controversies which arise in that Society can never be decided and finally determined And whatever unthinking Men may fancy the Security of the Public Government from the Resistance of its Subjects is the best Security of every Mans Liberty Property and Safety Sect. 12. Let the Public Government be once Invaded and Confronted by the Open Resistance and Defiance of its Subjects and we are unavoidably and immediately in a State of War and then no Man hath any thing he can call his own and all the Admistrations of Justice are stopped and in truth all Laws lay dead and are ineffective to the Purposes of Government Wherefore if we set aside all regard to Duty and Honesty and do but consider our own interest quiet and safety we shall find Submission to the worst Government more for the Ease and Security of the Subject than Rebellion and War Let any Man of Common Ingenuity and Sense consider if a State of War be not the most defenceless and deplorable condition in the World for in such a Case no Mans Private Interest can be secured against the Injuries and Violences of other Men and when a Man hath lost his Proprieties and Safety what hath he more to lose And yet this is the Case when Men endeavour to shake off Submission to the Higher Powers by a Forcible Resistance of them they pull down all those inclosures by which their own Quiet Propriety and Safety were defended and protected Sect. 13. Let the Men of Politicks who pretend very highly to a Zeal for the
the Tribes of Israel 1 Sam. 15.17 and so successively all that were anointed Kings were Kings over Israel and not only over this and that and the other Israelite And our Laws have ever accounted the King post Deum secundus next to God and solo Deo minor less only than God in his Dominions and vicarius Dei Gods Vice-gerent and not the Peoples Vicar-general And the Oath of Supremacy is designed to agnize the King's Highness to be the only Supream Governour of this Realm And if be be Supream he is subordinate to no Person or Body Politick whatsoever if only Supream he hath no equal or coordinate Authority with his if Governour of this Realm he is over all collectively or representatively considered as well as over particular Families or individual Persons And in the Statute of 24 Hen. 8. ch 12. 't is acknowledged That by divers old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the World Governed by one Supream Head and King baving the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of People divided into Terms and by Names of Spirituality and Temporality being bounden and owing next to God a Natural and humble Obedience he being instituted and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary whole and entire Power Preheminence and Authority c. Here 't is declared that the Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of People do owe unto the one Supream Head and King next to God a Natural and humble Obedience And this Plenary Power of his is not derived and entrusted from the People but is instituted and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God And answerably when both Houses of Parliament Address themselves 't is not in a Form implying either Superiority or Equality but as humble Petitioners Faithful and Obedient Subjects e. g. in Stat. of Elizabeth 30. we most humbly beseech your most Excellent Majesty your Faithful and Obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled in Parliament Or thus we your Majesties loving faithful and obedient Subjects representing your three Estates of your Realm of England c. except we should overmuch forget our Duties to your Highness c. do most humbly beseech c. a plain indication that their Parliamentary Authority is not Imperial or Royal but consultive and approbative And by what Chymical Art or Politick Fetch any Man can from hence infer a real Sovereignty or Majesty lodged in some essential Body of Men in contradistinction to the Personal Sovereignty and Majesty of the King which is superiour to that lodged in and exercised by the King and may as opportunity offers warantably resist and evacate it is past my understanding to imagin Sect. 25. I shall conclude this Branch of my Discourse with this request to you I pray consider to what purpose are all those Ornaments of State with which the Wisdom of our Ancestors have invested the Regal Dignity if the Persons that partake of them cannot prorect themselves against the Assaults and Outrages of their Subjects but may be deposed and have a writ of ease served upon them when they think fit to judge the Power entrusted with them forfeited and to revoke it If a Crown cannot secure the Princes Head that wears it nor the Throne he sits on mount him above force and compulsion nor his Scepter awe the seditious and turbulent they are meer pageantries and pompous ostentations of Vanity and have nothing of real magnificence and usefulness in them But as delight is not seemly for a Fool so much less is it seemly for a Servant or a Subject to Rule over Princes Pro. 19.10 which concludes my Argument against the Resistance of Sovereign Princes drawn from the Principles of common Reason Sect. 26. 2. The next thing to be evinced to you is That 't is against the Principles of Religion as well as of Reason to allow Liberty to Subjects to resist the Sovereign Powers with armed Force in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever And that I may do it the more satisfactorily I will shew you both from the Jewish and Christian Constitution that 't is unlawful for Subjects to resist the Supream Powers with armed Force 1. I shall begin with some Reflections on the Jewish Constitution I find that some very learned Men have thought That in some Cafes 't was lawful under the Jewish State to take Arms against the Sovereign Power who notwithstanding affirm'd that 't is utterly unlawful for Subjects so to do under the Christian Constitution Christians being restrained by the peculiar Precepts of the Gospel from that liberty the Law in that case allowed But so far as I can judge this is an indefenceable Opinion for the Christian Constitution doth not introduce a New Foundation of Civil Policy and common Rights nor establish any new Prohibitions for the Defence of just Rights by a lawful Authority And therefore I conclude 't was unlawful for all Subjects under the Old Testament Dispensation to resist the Higher Powers as well as under the New Sect. 27. From Moses to Saul the Government of the Jews was a Theocracy that is God himself was their Supreme Lord and King and immediately exercised a ruling Power over them by Persons of his own Election and Constitution who in all cases of difficulty had immediate recourse to God for direction and accordingly when they grew weary of Samuel's Government who was thus appointed over them they are said to reject God himself 1 Sam. 8.7 and 1 Sam. 10.19 and therefore in all that time the Resistance of the Supreme Power was a Resistance of God himself the only Difficulty then is How the Case stood after Saul was invested with the Kingly Government of that People whether that Sovereign irresistible and unaccountable Authority and Power which was formerly subjected in and exercised by Moses and Aaron and the succeeding Judges and High Priests was translated to them who afterwards were possessed of and exercised the Kingly Authority and Power Sect. 28. For the right Understanding of which we are to consult what God commanded Samuel in his Name to protest to the People of Israel concerning the Kingly Office and Power of which we have an account in 1 Sam. 8.9 to 18. in vers 11. This will be the manner Mishpat the Right say some of the King that shall reign over you He shall take your Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and some shall run before his Chariots And he will take your Daughters to be Confectionaries Cooks and Bakers and he will take your Fields and your Vineyards and your Olive yards even the best of them and give them to his Servants and he shall take your Men Servants and your Maid Servants and ye shall he
as it was an horrible wickedness in Saul so a great Temptation I mean of an apt tendency to provoke David to defend himself by armed Force He might have pretended that Saul had violated all the Bonds of Reason and Religion He had not only murthered great numbers of his innocent common Subjects but also of the Lord's Priests as if he designed an extirpation of God's public Worship and that he had not only Self-preservation to engage him to a Resistance but also that the common Rights of all the Kingdom challenged his Protection Sect. 30. This was really David's case and yet when God put Saul once and again under the Power of David's Hands all the Use that he made of it was to convince Saul that he was his Faithful and Loyal Subject and though he had suffered many and great Injuries causlesly from him yet no provocation should induce him to do his Sovereign any harm Indeed David's Servants and Followers were forward enough to perswade him to dispatch him out of the way as a Fact that would make way for the accomplishment of God's gracious Promise to David and the whole Kingdom But David abhors the Motion and crys out God forbid that I should do this thing to my Master the Lord 's anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him And the Reason which restrain'd him was founded on this Fundamental Law of Sovereignty That 't is not to be resisted or controuled by armed Force Seeing he is saith he the Lord 's anointed 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6. c. And so when Abishai would have smote Saul he forbad it for the same Reason 1 Sam. 26.8 9. Abishai said to David when they found Saul sleeping within a Trench God hath delivered thine Enemy into thy hand this day now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the Spear even to the Earth at once I will not smite him the second time and David said to Abishai destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be innocent or guiltless q.d. He is our King and hath from the Lord a Noli me tangere on him and the Hand of Violence cannot be laid on without Sin and a fearful Expectation of divine Vengeance Which Words did not proceed from cowardly Fears or ignorant Scrupolity but from Conscience of Obedience to God and clear Motives of Duty to the King For David was a Man of invincible Courage and being a Prophet could not but be well instructed in his Duty and 't is said of him that he was not only wiser than his Enemies but also wiser than all his Teachers Psal 119.98 99. and wiser than all the Servants of Saul 1 Sam. 18.30 And 't is highly probable that he Penn'd about the same time the 54th and 57th Psalm as the Titles of them intimate and consequently that he was directed in what he did by the special Conduct of God's Holy Spirit and well understood both his Duty and Interest and if you consult the 23d and 24th Verses of this Chapter you shall find that he made very comfortable Conclusions from his Loyal Deportment in the Case The Lord said he render to every Man his Righteousness and his Faithfulness for the Lord delivered thee into mine hand to day but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed and behold as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes so let my life be much set by in the Eyes of the Lord and let him deliver me out of all Tribulation And his commanding Death to be executed on the Amalckite which slew Saul though Saul was mortally wounded before and 't was done at his own request to save him from further Torture and Disgrace and to preserve the Regalia is a further Evidence that David thought it an unlawful thing to assault his King with armed Force and his question to the Amalekite manifestly implies it How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed 2 Sam. 1.14 15. Sect. 31. But perhaps you may think That the very Ceremony of Anointing being done by God's special Command was that which bound up David's Hands and priviledg'd Saul from violent Resistance and Coercion because this is every where mentioned as the moving Cause of David's restraint from defensive and offensive Resistance 'T is manifest That the Priests as well as Saul were Anointed by God's Command and yet that did not exempt from being accountable for their Actions and free them from the Danger of coercive Force and Punishment It was not therefore barely the Ceremony of Anointing but the Sovereign Authority thereby signified which priviledg'd him from Resistance His Anointing was no addition to his Power but only signified God's Designation Constitution and Approbation of his Power 'T was the Nature of his Regal Dignity and Power and not the manner of collating or conferring it which exempted from coercion and correction 'T is the Essence and not the Ceremonies of Things which constitutes and denominates them For Ceremonies are things extrinsecal both to Being and Operation And although Saul and David who were the first of their respective Families that were invested with Regal Dignity were anointed yet such as succeeded by Inheritance to the Kingdom as Jehosaphat Hezekiah Josiah were not anointed and yet had as much Authority as their Predecessors and as great Priviledges Sect. 32. Those Arguments which are ordinarily drawn from the Armed Men which were with David and over which he was Captain 1 Sam. 22.2 and Ch. 23.13 which are called Helpers of the War 2 Chr. 12.1 And from his residing at Keilah a place fit to be garrison'd 1 Sam. 23.7 8 9 10 11. to prove that 't was lawful for David to resist Saul with armed Force are nothing to the purpose for David being Son-in-Law to a King expectant of the Crown in which he was like to meet with Opposition subject to private Assaults and needing good Intelligence to prevent a Surprise from Saul and his public Enemies 't was highly expedient that he should have a considerable Retinue about him to be as a Life-guard to him and to be in a readiness to serve him whensoever God by his Providence should call him to succeed in the Throne neither doth the Peoples Rescue of Jonathan from the Death his Father threatned to inflict upon him 1 Sam. 14.44 45. in the the least discover any hostile Violence offer'd to the King much less that they might lawfully assault him with armed Force Their act was an act of Mediation and not of Coercion And a learned Man observes that the Orginal Word translated they rescued him signifies they redeemed him That is Jonathan's Life by Saul's Vow being forfeited to God the People by a general Consent substituted an offering to God for the Vow according to the Law in such a Case Lev. 27.2 and so 〈◊〉 Jonathan from Death not by forcing Saul but by appeaâ—ing Goâ— This was the Case under the Jewish
Obedience and Sufferings Rom. 8.29 So St. Peter 1 E. c. 2.20 21. and if when we do well and suffer for it we take it patiently we do that which is acceptable to God for even hereunto are we called chosen and appointed by the Decree and Constitution of God because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps That is Christ by his patient Sufferings of unjust Funishment from the Higher Powers without resistance hath left us a Pattern for our Imitation And therefore though such actual sufferings be not the Portion of every Christian yet they are the Condition of his Discipleship to Christ and he cannot be worthy of his calling if he be not prevalently disposed to an imitation of Jesus Christ therein For his Kingdom is to be asserted and maintained by active and Passive Obedience and not by fighting You are not to embrace and defend Religion as a Matter of worldly Interest but as a Matter of Conscience whose advantages are purely spiritual primarily relating to our State in another World and which can subsist by vertue of its own essential strength and goodness not only without the Assistance but in Defiance to all the Contradictions and Oppositions of worldly Powers Sect. 42. 'T is true Religion being the best Thing we are capable of enjoying because the Welfare of our immortal Souls depends upon it which are to be dearer to us than all the World we are to prize it above all endearments whatsoever and consequently must be chiefly careful to preserve and defend it and to use all lawful means to that purpose and therefore may in some cases apply our selves to the Use of armed Force for Religions sake when Established by Law and made a Propriety which can only be done by a Commission derived from the Sovereign Power and never in a Way of Resistance to it A Good is only to be obtained and pursued by agreeable means because the End is virtually in the means And therefore as an Evil Tree doth not bring forth Good Fruit Mat. 7.18 So neither can sinful means produce good Ends. Hence that of the Apostle Rom. 3.8 They that say let us do evil that good may come their damnation is just Sect. 43. The Kingdom of Christ is a Kingdom within his Subjects Luke 17.21 essentially consists in Righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 which are things immediately seated in Mens Hearts and can hold a Supremacy and exercise Dominion and rule there in despight of the strongest and most malicious Enemies in the World which set themselves up in opposition thereunto Indeed the Emanations of Religion in bodily exercises are capable of restraints from external Force but as Religion is a vital Principle of Action and consists in the Resignation of our selves to God with the Expectation of Acceptance and a Reward from him cannot be oppressed or constrained from outward Force and Violence and therefore needs not the Auxiliary Power of military Forces to support and defend it self much less doth it need Assistance from Temporary Power to Assault and Invade others for its Preservation A Man may be as eminently Religious and the Power of Christ's Kingdom as highly advanced by him under the most slavish Constraints Human Nature is capable of as when he is preferred to the greatest Preheminences the whole World can Accommodate him withal Sect. 44. This is a certain Truth that external Advantages of Honour Profit Power and other Appurtenances to worldly Prosperity add of themselves nothing to the Strength and Goodness of Religion and therefore it can subsist as well without them as with them For let a Mans outward Condition be what it will he shall be as Religious as he is willing to be and shall do as much good as he is willing to do 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing Mind 't is accepted according to that a Man hath and not according to that he hath not God doth not measure the acceptability and rewardableness of a Christians Service from the outward means and opportunities thereof but from his integrity and readiness actually to perform his duty agreeably to his abilities and opportunities If therefore through the Tyrannical Persecution of Religious Exercises Christians want the external means and opportunities of Worshipping God solemnly and publickly yet if they have a preparedness of Heart thereunto and go so far as they can to express the seriousness of their veneration of God they are as well accepted with God and shall be as highly rewarded by him as if they had performed in the most compleat and solemn Manner It is then very clear and manifest that the suppression and extirpation of Religion is not within the reach of the Civil Powers they may restrain some outward expressions of it but they cannot destroy the Life and Power of it And therefore though the Persons and Properties of Christians may fare the worse because of the Persecuting Rage of the higher Powers yet their Christianity shall fare never the worse unless they themselves will Sect. 45. He then that thinks that he can love and honour God more by fighting for his Religion than by suffering for it doth not understand the Nature of Christ's Kingdom nor the peculiar Design of the Christian Religion which is to govern all Christ's Subjects by the Spiritual Powers of Truth and Goodness without the Foreign Assistance of a material Sword 2 Cor. 10.3 4 5. for though we walk in the Flesh saith the Apostle wedo not war after the Flesh for the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds casting down Imaginations and every high Thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ He therefore professeth a good Profession of Religion who faithfully dischargeth the Duties of his proper place and when he is persecuted by the higher Powers for so doing doth not by Resistance kill others to save himself alive but patiently loseth his Life to save his Soul For herein he walketh worthy of his Calling which obligeth him to take up his Cross but not a Sword and were it lawful for him when persecuted for Religions sake by the higher Powers to defend himself with armed Force 't would not be his Religion which obliged him to suffer patiently and quietly for well-doing but his weakness not his Christian call but his natural necessity And he could not be an imitator of Christ in the Submission and Patience of his Sufferings who would avoid them by Resistance if he could when Christ would not avoid his sufferings though he might The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink Jo. 18.11 Sect. 46. He that professeth to fight for Religion by resisting the higher Powers may and doth too often whet his Sword with Malice Revenge Pride Ambition Discontent or a Thousand other conceited worldly interests which
every body knows frequently patronize such hazardous Engagements and therefore no body is bound to believe such a Mans Profession where there is so great an odds in the perswasive Motives to War but when a Man prefers Submission before Rebellion his Innocency before his Safety patiently suffers the loss of Life and lays it down obedientially to his Governours as a Sacrifice to his God acquitting all possible earthly interests to safe-guard one spiritual one he makes such a Profession according to Human Judgment as is not capable of a reasonable Suspicion of Imposture and Hypocrisie And this is the middle Way of Subjection to which God directs us betwixt active Obedience and forcible Resistance When we cannot obey actively we can and ought to obey passively Though we cannot obey unlawful commands yet we can be quiet and peaceable yea we may do any thing to prevent and redress grievances except strive against our Governours with armed Force And why this in no case whatsoever is lawful I shall now shew you more particularly from the Principles of Religion Sect. 47.1 Because the higher Powers are of God ordained of him v. 1. and therefore whosoever resisteth them resisteth the Ordinance of God as 't is in the Words immediately preceding the Text. That Human Societies may be setled in peace and quietness God by his Ordinance and Constitution hath provided Government for them and though he hath not peremptorily appointed the particular Species or Form of Government nor by any special Revelation from Heaven immediately designed or nominated the individual Person or Persons who shall be invested with and exercise the Sovereign Authority and Power in every Community of Men as hath been formerly said yet that his appointment of Government might not be fruitless and in vain he hath lain an obligation on all Societies of Men to do such act or acts as shall appropriate unto some Person or Persons the Supremacy of Dominion and Rule and invest him or them with a Propriety and Peculiarity in that Station and Relation and the Person or Persons so entitled to the Sovereign Power may as truly be denominated God's Ordinance as if God by an immediate interposition had declared it so to be Be the Dominion Elective or Hereditary and Successive the Case is the same when once the Sovereign Power is regularly and legally determined and appropriated to one or more all that stand in the Relation of Subjects thereunto are to acknowledge and perform Subjection and Obedience as to God's Ordinance Hence the Supream Ruler is termed in v. 4. of this ch the Minister of God Because he partakes of God's Authority and Power and acts by his Commission in his stead and whoever is obliged to yield Subjection unto God is also obliged to yield Subjection unto him for Gods sake And answerably the Apostle tells us v. 5. that we must needs be subject for conscience sake Which only is obliged by Gods Law And consequently as every single Person seperately considered and the whole Body of the People collectively considered are subject unto God so to the Sovereign Power too and cannot resist the Sovereign Power but they must likewise resist God himself because the Power is given from the Lord and Sovereignty from the most High Wisd 6.3 't is the most High which ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will as Daniel speaks ch 4.25 who acknowledged to Belshazzar ch 5.18 that the most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honour So that the Concurrence of the People in any case to the making of a King hath only a Subserviency to the Designation of his Person and contributes nothing at all towards the Collation of his Power For there is no Power but of God And therefore by him only Authority immediately derived from him do all the Kings in the World Reign and Princes decree Justice who are Supream and Sovereign Kings and Princes Psal 8.15 when therefore 't is said that all the People made Saul King 1 Sam. 11.15 and anointed David King 2. Sam. 2.4 and made Solomon the Son of David King 1 Chron. 29.22 the Meaning is they made a Declaration that they consented and acknowledged that they were their Kings For they were all Kings before by the especial Appointment of God himself and could thereby derive no Authority or Power from the People only this voluntary acknowledgment rendred the Exercise of their Office the more grateful to themselves and the People Which may be as formerly intimated illustrated by the chusing of Mayors Sheriffs Stewards Bayliffs and other Officers in Corporate Towns and Cities where the Persons chosen receive no Office or Authority from the Electors but wholly derive it from the King's Charter So all the higher Powers are God's Ordinance and not the Peoples And therefore the higher Powers are dignified with God's own Name Ps 82.6 I have said ye are Gods Because they are his Vice-gerents and act in his Name and what they so do God doth by them and therefore 't is said He judgeth among the Gods Ps 82.1 and their Throne is called the Throne of the Lord 1 Chr. 29.22 And they are said to judge not for Man but for the Lord 2 Chr. 19.6 which is a convictive Evidence that the Supream Powers depend immediately upon God only for their Dignities and Authorities And hence by the Stile of our Laws the King being the Supream Power is Rex Dei gratia King by the Grace of God because he owes his Sovereign Dominion to God alone and is to be accountable for it only to him And the Statute of 16 Ric. 2. thus declares That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to no other And the King being God's immediate Substitute and exercising Dominion and Authority next and immediately under him as he that resisteth the King's Vice-Roy resisteth the King so he that resisteth the King resisteth the Ordinance of God Sect. 48. 2. Because such a Resistance is utterly inconsistent with that aweful reverence and observance the Laws of our Religion exact from us to the higher Powers We are as peremptorily commanded to fear the King as to fear the Lord Pr. 24.21 Fear the Lord and the King And what God hath joyned together we must not put asunder We must fear to displease the one as well as the other fear to displease the King because we fear to displease the Lord For God hath made this fear as properly due to the King as the most Legal Custom or Tribute which is paid to him Rom. 13.7 Render therefore to all their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour And he cannot be restrain'd with this Fear who Assaults his King with Force Elsewhere we are commanded to Honour
the King 1 Pet. 2.17 Fear God Honour the King Where the Fear of God is lain as the Foundation of a Mans actings towards the King Honour to the King will be the Superstructure Piety necessarily disposeth to Loyalty because our obligations to God comprehend our obligations to the King and the prime Perswasive Motives to discharge our Duty to the King are inferr'd from the Duty we owe to God Hence we are required to submit to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supream or unto Governors as to those that are sent by him why For so is the Will of God 1 Pet. 2.13 14. and so in the Place before quoted v. 7. of this ch we must be subject for conscience sake Wherefore the most visible and immediate Evidence we can possibly give for our fearing of God is that we Honour the King And for my part I cannot but fear That they who do not obey the King who is a visible God that they do not heartily obey God who is an invisible King For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joh. 4.20 Sect. 49. Those whom God haith raised into a Communion with himself in the Eminency of his Authority and Power and are exercised in high Employments under him they are to be raised high in our Estimations of them and are to be held in great reputation for God's sake but how can we value them highly whom we violently oppose As he honours his Father and Mother who submits to their Government so he dishonours them who resists and rejects it He that did but uncover his Fathers nakedness which exposed him to contempt and scorn though he did not try Masteries with him was cursed Gen. 9.25 and Solomon tells us that the Eye that mocketh at his Father and disdaineth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it Pr. 30.17 that is they shall come to an untimely death and be denied Burial as Traitors to the Paternal Government of our Country are and thereby exposed to be devoured by ravenous Birds And the Stubborn and Rebellious Son which would not obey the Voice of his Father and Mother tho' he did not Assault them with Force of Arms endeavour to thrust them out of doors or to subject them to his disorderly passions yet he was to be condemned by the Elders and stoned to Death Deut. 21.21 and can you believe that he is less faulty that dishonours and disobeys his civil Parents who are the nursing Fathers of his Country than he which dishonours and disobeys his natural Parents Whatsoever is essential to the Paternal Power belongs to the Regal and whatsoever Authority is in a dispersed manner found amongst any sort of inferiour and subordinate Rulers is cumulatively and in much larger proportions seated in the King and if lesser Governours are to be honoured with reverend esteem and submiss obedience than à Fortiori they that partake of Regal and Sovereign Dignity are not to be dispised and resisted Sect. 50. Yea God is so far from allowing us Liberty of using Force of Arms and doing Evil to the Ruler of our People that he forbids us to speak evil of him Exod. 22.28 Acts 23.5 and if we must hold our Tongues from Violence I 'm sure we must hold our Hands from Violence against him I take this to be an unanswerable Argument for Non-resistance for if it be unlawful to dishonour and affront the King with words 't is much more so to do it with blows When St. Jude characterizeth some of the worst Men and vilest Hereticks of that Age he describes them by this infallible Mark of infamous Criminals That they despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities v. 8. Yet further God doth not only restrain from doing and speaking evil but also from thinking evil of the King Eccl. 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thought If we must not curse him we must not curb him if we must not wish him any harm we must not destroy him And 't is a received Rule for the Interpretation of all Scripture Prohibitions of sin That when any sin is expresly forbidden the contrary Duty is implicitely commanded When therefore we are forbid to speak evil of the King we are commanded to speak honourably of him And when we are forbid to curse him we are commanded to bless him That is to acknowledge his Excellency magnifying him as worth ten thousand of us 2 Sam. 18.3 pray for his welfare crying out God save the King 1 Sam. 10.24 2 Sam. 16.16 2 Kings 11.12 2 Chron. 23.11 and to minister to him in all Offices of well-doing for him to the utmost of our Power saying with Mephibosheth Let them take all that the King may be at his House in Peace 2 Sam. 19.30 and answerably we are commanded not to meddle with them that are given to change Pro. 24.21 that is with seditious spirited Men who affect to make innovations in Matters of Government to the Disturbance of the King's Peace And if we must not break the King's Peace I 'm sure we must not break his Head much less his Heart and destroy him quite out of the Way by Insurrections and Rebellions upon any Pretence whatsoever Sect. 51. 3. Because such a Resistance is directly contrary to that peaceable mindedness which the Christian Religion requires from all that embrace and profess it The Wisdom that is from above is peaceable as well as pure Jam. 3.17 the Christian Religion which maketh wise unto salvation makes all that partake of it lovers of peace and haters of contention and strictly and strongly obligeth them to pursue the one and shun the other It commands us to study to be quiet 1 Thes 4.11 to follow Peace with all Men Heb. 12.14 and if it be possible and as much as in us lyeth to live peaceably with all Men Rom. 12.18 to pray that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives 1 Tim. 2.2 if there are therefore any busie-bodies amongst us Religion doth not employ them if there be Controversies Schisms and Rebellions amongst us Religion doth not raise or grant indulgences to them if there be contentions and warrings Religion doth not blow the Trumpet or beat up the Drum foment and encourage them but engageth all its Powers to set up as a Bulwork against them a quite contrary disposition to them and where they prevail they destroy all those affections and lusts which incline and irritate to wars and fightings Gal. 5.19 to 25. and will allow nothing to be done through strife and vain glory Phil. 2.3 yea further the Christian Religion is so far from countenancing a violent Resistance of injurious Superiours that it forbids a vindictive Resistance of equals Mat. 5.38 ye have heard saith our Saviour that it hath been said an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth
Invading the legal Rights Properties Liberties and Priviledges of the Subject and Subversion of the established Religion and Tolleration yea Introduction of Idolatrous Worship c. As every English Man knows who is but competently instructed in the pretended Motives of that Rebellion to which these Laws directly refer but 't is further said for the countenancing of this apocryphal Sense of the Declaration aforesaid That when there seems to be a Contradiction betwixt two Artioles in our Constitution as there seems to be betwixt the publick Liberty of the Nation and the renouncing of all Resistance in case it be invaded we are to examine which of the two is most evident and most important and to fix upon that and the publick Liberty of the Nation being the most Plain and most Important of the two the Article against Resistance ought to be softned that it do not destroy the other But to the States of England who certainly are the most Competent Judges in this case there seemed no contradiction but a very fair consistency betwixt these two Articles and to every unprejudiced Man who is not captivated to an Hypothesis from Passion and Interest The Renunciation of resistance upon any pretence whatsoever is as evident an Article in our Constitution as can be expressed in Words and being directly designed for the Preservation of publick Order and Peace and the Security of the Government it is not easily imaginable how any Article should exceed the Importance of it Yes but that of the Publick Liberty may because the Chief Design of our whole Law and of all the several Rules of our Constitution is to secure and maintain it This passage sounds like the Shibboleth of the Scotish Kirk for so it is translated in the Third Article of the solemn League and Covenant We shall endeavour with our Estates and Lives mutually to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliament and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the King's Maiesty's Person and Authority in the Preservation and Defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms Where the Preservation and Defence of the King's Majesty's Person and Authority is not only limited to the Preservation and Defence of the true Religion and Liberâ—ies of the Kingdoms but sate in order after the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Kingdoms as the less evident and less important Matter to be attend and â—ndeavoured This is rare Policy Men of a lower Elavation in that Science which we â—all plain meaning Men do ordinarily believe that the Chief Design of our whole Law â—nd all the several Rules of our Constitution is to secure and maintain the Ends of Government Order and Peace and consequently the Government it self and how Order and â—eace can be preserved and maintained and the Government secured when the Subjects â—e authorized and allowed in cases which they being Judges seem evident and â—â—portant â—â—ough to them to disturb the one and resist the other with force of Arms I â—â—nnot apâ—â—ehend because ordinarily the Majority of Subjects have not that veneration fâ—â— their Goâ—â—rnours and respect for the public Welfare becomes them but are suspicious and creduâ—â—â—s and led more by rash Passions and feigned Interests than by wise Judgment and the â—â—blick Safety But suppose the Liberties of the Nation must be acquitted or the Command of God violated what is the Subjects Duty then And therefore as I do not believe that the Terms King Sovereign Supreme so frequently used in our Laws are equivocal Ones so neither do I believe that the Law which requires a Renunciation of Resistance upon any pretence whatsoever is of an equivocal signification but intends that the Subject mean honestly when he declares against Resistance without exceptions or reserves because 't is a Thing unworthy of the Wisdom and Honour of our Government to impose a Law of an equivocal signification and such an Interpretation can serve no good end Sect. 97. 5. Another Objection against Non-resistance and to warrant and encourage the taking of Arms against the Kings of England in case they exceed their limited bounds is this The Supreme Power must still be supposed to be lodged with the legislative Power and not with the executive Power when that is appropriated to a distinct Subject from the Legislative Now 't is certain that the executive Part of the English Government is lodged singly in the King so that the whole Administration of that is in him but the Legislative is lodged between him and the Two Houses of Parliament so that the Power of making and repealing Laws is not singly in the King but only so far as the Two Houses concur with him Wherefore the Power of the King is fiduciary only nothing but a Trust and all Trusts saith this Author by their nature import that those to whom they are given are accountable and consequently censurable and punishable and therefore the Kings of England may be resisted with force of Arms and deposed and then dealt withal if under equal guilt as other Criminals guilty of the most Capital Offences Ans That a distinction is to be made between the Legislative and Executive part of Power is not to be doubted but whether this Author have rightly applied it is to be questioned and from as plain evidence as any in the World to be denied for the Legislative Authority of the English Government is not divided into distinct hands from the Executive but lodged in the same Subject even in the King of England only Sect. 98. 1. All the Laws of England are the King's Laws receive their denomination from him only and therefore all offences committed against them are principally and ultimately said to be committed against the King and his Crown and Dignity for although the Matter perhaps of all Laws in some latter Ages is prepared by the Two Houses of Parliament and no Law is or can be enacted without their concurrent Approbation and Consent yet every Law receives its formal Being and Obligation from the Authority of the King only and no Law is repealed but by his Authority only The Authority of the Two Houses is the Authority of Councellors and not of Legislators as Judge Jenkins saith and Sir W. Rawleigh tells us That that which is done in Parliament is done by the Kings absolute Authority The Three Estates do but advise as the Privy Council doth which advice if the King embrace it becomes the King 's own Act in the one and the King's Law in the other And therefore when they have addressed themselves to the King in order to the enacting or abrogating of a Law they have prefaced it in a petitionary Stile as acting in the capacity of Loving and Loyal Subjects Sir Edward Coke tells us 4 Inst p. 25. That in Ancient time all Acts of Parliament were in form of Petitions For instances thus 't was in 1 Edw. 3. When Magna Charta was confirmed there you shall find
Ground and manner of his sufferings who from a Principle of self-denial took up his Cross and meerly from a Conscientious Submission to the appointment of his Father gave himself into the Hands of the higher Powers to be dealt withal as they pleased When a Man suffers no more than what he deserves and common Justice requires there is nothing of commendation or gloriation in it but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God And this is thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully 1 Pet. 2.19 20. and ch 4.15 he suffers only as a Christian who suffers wrongfully for well-doing and then follows Christ's steps in conforming to the Manner of his sufferings when his sufferings are a probation to his patience but no provocation to his revenge will not defend himself from an unjust punishment by an undutiful Resistance Sect. 55. 'T is to be considered by every Christian That Jesus Christ was sent into the World and dwelt amongst us to be the Example of our Religion as well as the Teacher of it And there is such an exact concordance betwixt his Doctrine and Practice that the latter is a Practical Demonstration of God's determinate and unchangeable Method of dispensing eternal life and glory to the Children of Men. As Christ was brought to glory so must they and no otherwise Rom. 8.29 30. for whom he God did fore-know fore-approved and fore-acknowledged for his he also did predestinate fore-appointed according to the Purport of the Gospel to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first Born amongst many Brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified In which Words is represented the Method Order and Degrees of God's Decrees Dispensations and Transactions for the Effecting of our Salvation according to the Terms of the Gospel and they shew the inviolable connexion betwixt God's acceptance of us as objects of his special love and our conformity unto Christ and that according to the immutable ordination of God whosoever answers the Call of the Gospel and obtains justification and glorification according to the Purport and Tenour of it he must resemble Christ in his doings and sufferings And this is likewise the express Doctrine of Christ himself Mat. 16.24 If any Man will come after me let him take up his Cross and follow me No wearing of a Crown with him but by bearing his Cross after him Luke 26.16 ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter so and upon such Terms into his glory And our way of enterance thereinto is the same Luke 22.29 therefore I appoint unto you a Kingdom after the same manner and upon the same Terms as my Father hath appointed unto me And is it not enough for the Disciple to be as his Master and for the Servant as his Lord Mat. 10.15 can we reasonably expect greater honours exemptions and priviledges than our Lord and Master had And may we not be well enough contented to be allowed admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven the same way with him This is the Evangelical stated way of Salvation and to a Conformity hereunto are all Christians called because Christ also suffered for them leaving them an example that they should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 who when he was oppressed and afflicted opened not his Mouth when he was reviled reviled not again but was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter and as a Sheep before her Sharers is dumb so open'd he not his Mouth Isa 53.7 Acts. 8.32 1 Pet. 21.23 and as he restrained himself from evil words as well as blows against the higher Powers so must we and however Tyrannically the higher Powers abuse their Office and Authority acknowledge with him that their Power is given them from above Joh. 19.11 and submit thereunto without Resistance as to the Appointment of God saying with him the Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18.11 Who calleth the most harmless Christians sometimes thus to suffer for well doing from the higher Powers but never to a violent Resistance of them Sect. 56. You cannot but well know and I would also have you to consider well the Case of Shadrach Meshach Abednego and Daniel who when they were prohibited to pray to the living God and commanded to Worship dead Idols by the Heathenish Persecutors of God's Church though they utterly refused to yield an Active Obedience to their commands yet they yielded a Passive Obedience to their Sovereign Powers without repining reviling or opposing yea they prayed for them and blessed them Dan. 6.21 Which is an Argument that they did not believe that any persecutions injurious usages or oppressions from the Sovereign Powers could exempt or discharge them from subjection to them and warrant a destructive Resistance of them and though their sufferings were in their Circumstances unavoidable and they really wanted sufficient Strength to redress and help themselves against the overpowering Force of their Persecutors and Oppressors yet the manner of their submission thereunto plainly declared that they accounted themselves as appointed and called of God by a suffering Condition to bear witness to his Truth and to demonstrate to the World that suffering was better and more eligible than sining and to give a Proof that they did not believe that God did authorize and allow any of his Servants to threaten reproach revile or resist their Rulers how hardly injuriously and cruelly soever they are treated by them but requires them to reverence their Persons acknowledge their Authority and patiently to submit to their Power when 't is exercised to the utmost Evil to them Sect. 57. And this Gospel-Call to a quiet and patient Submission to the injurious infliction of punishment from the Higher Powers is was and ever will be a Vindication of the Christian Religion from the false and scandalous Imputations charged on it by its Enemies and Persecutors who do did and will reproach it as an Engine contrived and designed for the Disturbance and Subversion of Civil Empires and Dominions Both Jews and Gentiles traduced Jesus Christ as no Friend to Caesar represented his Doctrine as dangerous to the State Joh 19.12 and reputed the Gathering of Churches the Dissolution of Kingdoms or in their own Words a turning of the World upside down Acts 17.6 That is an inversion of Order a pulling down of Rulers and the setting up of Subjects in their room which Stratagem was and may be marvellously successful to bring the Christian Religion into disgrace with the Civil Powers who are ever very watchful to endeavour to their utmost to reject and suppress all those Doctrines which they suspect to be prejudicial and destructive to their Authority and Government and how can this slanderous Imputation to the Christian Religion be more effectually confuted than by
the patient Deportments of Christian Subjects under their Tyrannical Governours when they have strength enough to resist them and can but will not for Conscience sake towards Christ Jesus as their Teacher and Leader Sect. 58. The Christians of the first and purest Ages were not such a fierce and military sort of Men so addicted to unpeaceable and seditious Factions riotous Tumults rebellious Insurrections and bloody Warrings against the Higher Powers as some called Christians and they which stile themselves the godly Party of them too are in our times For Three hundred and forty Years after Christ there cannot be an instance given of any number of Christians how injuriously soever dealt withal that ever made a forcible Resistance against the Higher Powers or were found in a Conspiracy to depose them though those they lived under were sometimes the worst of Men and bitterest Persecutors of the best Religion Origen tells Celsus who inveighed against Christianity it self from a pretence that Christians were no Friends to the Civil Powers that he could discover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no act of Sedition among them how much soever provoked by their Persecutors and that this peaceable and patient Submission to Sufferings for their Religion did not proceed from the want of strength to oppose their Persecutors but from Conscience of Obedience and Conformity to the Doctrine and Example of Christ is manifest from the Writings of the Fathers who lived in the first Ages of the Church Tertullian tells the Roman Emperor and Senate that if the Christians would act the part of open Enemies to them they did not want Numbers and Armies We have filled saith he your Cities Isles Castles Camps c. and though our Numbers were unequal yet for what War should we be unfit who can so readily lay down our lives if our Religion did not require us rather to dye than to draw our Swords to kill others and St. Cyprian Writing to the Proconsul of Asia acquaints him That though the Christians were very numerous yet they would not endeavour to revenge themselves against the unjust Violence of their Persecutors And Maximus the Emperor who was a great Persecutor of the Christian Profession in his Epistle to Sabinus recorded by Eusebius saith That almost all Men had left the Worship of the Roman Gods and joined themselves to the Christians And 't is evident that Julian the Emperor who was an Apostate from Christianity and used his Wit to the utmost to restore Paganism had an Army which mostly consisted of Christians who were subject to him not so much for fear of Wrath as for Conscience sake Sect. 59. And in truth If the Apostles did Command the first Christians to be subject to the Roman Higher Powers as ordained of God over them and not to resist them because in so doing they would resist the Ordinance of God and incur the Guilt of Damnation but to submit for the Lord's sake and that they must needs be subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake for so was the Will of God and yet allow them to take up Arms against them when they had strength enough to make their party good would undermine the Simplicity of the Gospel and by a crafty Pretence of Religion and Conscience carry on a politic Design to weaken the temporal Powers of the World and to advance their own Followers to greater advantages of Numbers and Strength and therefore such Insinuations of some Popish and Fanatick Authors are to be abhorred as defamatory to the Design of Christianity for such Collusion was far from their intention their plain meaning was that Christians ought to suffer quietly and patiently as Christ himself did without resistance for well-doing as became a Self-denying People to do who had learned a suffering Religion from a suffering Master and Saviour which required their Submission in all things to the Will of God and gave them no warranty from their Rulers abuse or Power to dispense with their Duties to their Rulers it being equally as unlawful for the Subject to exauctorate depose and usurp Power over his Sovereign as 't is for his Sovereign unjustly to punish him and exacteth their Obedience for Christ's sake to their Governours which being conscientiously performed is a well-doing that puts to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 2.15 That is doth silence such as pretend Exemptions and Priviledges against the Obligations and Interests of Obedience and such as accuse Christians as Enemies to Civil Government who when they cannot do what is commanded as they pretend will not suffer if they can resist what is inflicted So that the Practice of Passive Obedience is acting the part of a Christian and not the part of a Vassal or Slave or Enthusiast as some affect to speak and a Justification of the peaceable Design of the Gospel and a Vindication of the genuine Spirit of a Christian And hence I do infer Sect. 60. Then they that pretend Religion to excuse or justify themselves in traitorous Conspiracies and Rebellions blaspheme Religion and pervert it to quite contrary purposes than those it was designed for and it naturally and properly tends unto what ever Inferences and Conclusions seditious and ungovernable minded Men may make from the Evangelical Doctrine 't is in it self and the Design of the Author thereof subservient and plyable to no purposes destructive or prejudicial to the Security and Ends of Civil Government or of their Persons who have the Management and Administration thereof they therefore that apply that Passage in the Virgin Marys Song He hath shewed strength with his Arm he hath scattered the Proud in the Imagination of their heart He hath put down the Mighty from their seats and hath exalted them of low degree Luk. 1.51 52. to countenance and encourage themselves to renounce and reject a State of legal Subjection and Servitude as they term it and to assume the State of Empire and Government as if called thereunto by their Christian Profession and strengthen themselves therein from that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.21 22 23. Art thou called being a Servant care not for it but if thou mayest be made free use it rather for he that is called in the Lord is the Lord's Free-man likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's Servant Ye are bought with a Price be ye not the Servants of Men Do wrest the Scriptures and transfer them from a spiritual and heavenly Intendment to a carnal and diabolical One For by what Rule of Interpretation of Scripture do these Scriptures signify that by Christ the Civil Governments of the World are dissolved and Subjects and Servants are recovered to their natural Rights and Liberties as they speak and they are no longer under an Obligation to submit themselves to the tyrannical and oppressing Powers of the World but may deliver themselves by resistance as soon as they have strength enough for it because God sometimes magnifieth his
for good And as he is so by the Designation of God so he shall actually and eventually be so to those who submit themselves dutifully and peaceably as becometh good Men and Christians to his Government Pro. 16.12 It is an abomination to Kings to commit wickedness for the Throne is established by righteousness And God doth implicitly say to every King as he did by Abijah to Jeroboam If thou wilt bearken unto all that I the Lord command thee and wilt walk in my ways and do that which is right in my sight to keep my Statutes and Commandments then will I be with thee and build thee a sure House 1 Kings 11.30 31 38. Sect. 94. It cannot be denied but they may pretend an exemption from the obligatory Force and coercive Power of all Laws of their own making but they cannot pretend so respectively to any Laws of God's making and imposing nor from the checks and restraints of their own Reasons and Consciences If therefore they usurp upon the Rights of their innocent and dutiful Subjects and in defiance to their Oaths to God and promisâ—â—y Engagements to their Subjects exercise a destructive or oppressive Power respectively â—o their Persons Proprieties Liberties and Priviledges they cannot reflect on themselves aâ—d illegal excises of Power without tremendous apprehension of the Divine Justice and Vengeance remonstrances upbraiding reproaches and severe censures and condemnation of that Judge which God hath immediately substituted within their own Breasts to pass â—entence in his Name And as it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 so a wounded Spirit who can bare Pro. 18.14 Surely that Prince will mâ—â—e a very bold adventure who shall usurp an Arbitrary Power that will render his coâ—â—ition so dangerous and troublesome How can he expect to live in Peace and Safety who lives without regard to the Bonds thereof Tyrannizing Adonibezek was Tyrannically dealt withal and forced to acknowledge God's Justice therein Judg. 1.7 As I have done so God hath required me And how terribly did God revenge on Ahab the spilling of Naboth's innocent Blood and the spoiling of his Vineyard 1 King 21.19 and 22.58 and was not insulting Nebuchadnezzar driven from Men and made to eat Grass as Oxen and his Body wetten with the Dew of Heaven till his Hairs were grown like Eagles Feathers and his Nails like Birds Claws Dan. 4.33 and was not persecuting Herod eaten of Worms till be gave up the Ghost Acts 12.23 In a word how can any Prince hope that God will protect him or his Subjects obey him who makes Conscience of discharging his Duty to neither Isa 33.1 Wo to thee that spoilest and wast not spoiled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously they deal treacherously with thee A fair warning is this to all that are oppressively and treacherously inclined Wherefore though it be not impossible that a Political Prince whose Power is limited in the Administration of his Government should shake off the restraints of his established Laws and refuse to regulate his Power thereby and consequently assume and exercise an absolute and arbitrary Power yet 't is exceedingly improbable that he will do so and by a long Succession of Princes here in England for near two thousand Years having never found it so we have no reason to be disturbed much less distracted with fears concerning it Let the worst be supposed and yet we have relief in Psal 37.5 7. Sect. 95. 4. The States of England who have ever been very tender of the Legal Liberties of their Country and very watchful to prevent all Encroachments of the Prerogative on the Subjects Rights and Proprieties and upon all due occasions have manifested aversation unto and detestation of absolute and arbitrary Power have yet acknowledged and ratified it as a standing Law That 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that 't is a Traitorous Position That we may take Arms by his Authority against his Person or against them commissionated by him Which to all unprejudiced Men is an unquestionable Argument That the States of England did not believe That 't is not inconsistent with the Nature of a limited Sovereign Power to be uncontroulable and irresistble with armed Force Sect. 96. To enervate this invincible Argument from our Legal Constitution for Non-Resistance a learned Man thus dictates to us That all general Words how large soever are still supposed to have a tacite Exception and Reserve in them if the Matter seems to require it Which being spoken with express reference to the Matter under consideration seems to me an imputation of such Collusion to the venerable States of the Nation as is altogether unworthy of that Character they ought to have in the Reputation of the whole World Let it bâ— supposed that the English Parliaments may warrantably impose Laws for the regulating of the Subjects deportment towards their Sovereign Prince composed in the most comprehensive Words devisable which are yet to be understood according to a legal Intentioâ— with Exceptions and Reservations and there is no doubt to be made that the Subject being left to spell out the equitable Intention of such Laws but they will find out such Eâ—ceptioâ—s and Reservations as shall in effect render all such Laws frivolous to the purpâ—â—â— of the King's Preservation respectively both to his natural and political Capacity And I pâ—â—sume to that this is a Rule of good Accomodation to subserve some Jesuitical Doctriâ—â— and Praâ—â—ices which by all good Men ought to be exploded and condemned This Authoâ—â— Rule of Construction being observed respectively to the Case under consideration the 〈◊〉 Intent of â—â—posing this Declaration That 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to 〈◊〉 Arms againâ—â— the King c. must be this excepting and reserving some Cases which ought 〈◊〉 be suspected and are too odious to be named Now those Cases which ought not to be suspected and are too odious to be named being no where mentioned or explained in this or any other Act of Parliament 't is evident that 't is left to the Subjects to put what Interpretation thereon they please provided they will affirm that the Prince hath done what they suspected he would not do and that he hath done a Thing very odious and abominable to them and if a Law subject to such an Intepretation become serviceable to the Security of any Prince or Government 't will be beside the Intention of the Imposer and the Matter under consideration in that Act of Parliament is so far from seeming to require such Exceptions and Reservations that they are an evident subversion of the Design of it which was to prevent the taking of Arms against the King upon pretences of the most odious Things imaginable such as is the Vsurping an Arbitrary Power