Man was for the Lady Jane but besides his Temper I have this to say for him that the several and contrary Acts of Parliament limiting and changing the Succession according to the King's Pleasure in the latter end of Henry the Eighth's Reign might very well in such a juncture of Affairs as happen'd on the Death of Edward the Sixth stagger a wise Man and incline him to believe that the Son had the same Right that his Father had as unquestionably he had if it were a Right of the Crown especially while that Right was recogniz'd and confirm'd in Parliament To this excellent Prince was Sir John Cheek a Tutor as he also was the Restorer of the Greek Tongue in England he in his Advice of the True Subject to the Rebel Ed. Oxon. 1641. p. 2 3 4. or the hurt of Sedition thus bespeaks the Rebels of that Age For our selves we have great cause to thank God by whose Religion and holy Word daily taught us we learn not only to fear him truly but also to obey our King faithfully and to serve in our own Vocation like Subjects honestly ye which be bound by God's Word not to obey for fear like Men-pleasers but for conscience sake like Christians have contrary to God's holy will whose Offence is everlasting Death and contrary to the godly Order of Quietness set out by the King's Majesty's Laws the breach whereof is not unknown to you taken in hand uncalled of God unsent by Men unfit by reason to cast away your bounden Duties of Obedience c. yet ye pretend that partly for God's sake partly for the Commonwealth's sake ye do rise How do you take in hand to reform Be you Kings by what Authority or by what Succession Be you the King's Officers by what Commission Be you called by God by what Tokens declare you that Ye rise for Religion what Religion taught you that If you were offer'd Persecution for Religion you ought to fly so Christ teacheth you and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth you ought to suffer like Martyrs and you slay like Tyrants thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Counsel of Christ nor the constancy of Martyrs whatever the Causes be that have moved your wicked Affections herein Pag. 11. as they be unjust Causes and increase your Faults much the thing it self the Rising I mean must needs be wicked and horrible before God and the usurping of Authority and taking in hand rule which is the sitting in God's Seat of Justice a proud climbing up into God's high Throne must needs be not only cursed newly by him but also hath been often punished afore of him and that which is done to God's Officers Pag. 12. God accounteth it done to him Ye be bound in God's Word to obey your King and is it no Breach of Duty to withstand your King See also Bishop Hooper's Comment on the Fifth Commandment SECT III. But the outward Felicity of the Church as it was very great under Edward the Sixth so it was short-lived a black Storm gathering under Queen Mary and at last falling severely upon her Protestant Subjects who dealt with her as they were in duty bound they assisted her chearfully till she got her Crown and when contrary to her Duty and her Promises she persecuted them some of them resolutely suffered Martyrdom others as our Saviour advises fled into Foreign Countries for Protection the great Men of that Party solemnly disowning the Principle of taking up Arms against their Sovereign even when she had falsified her promises to them And this is attested by more than a few of the greatest Men of that Reign ‖ Burn. Hist Res part l. 2. p. 285. the Bishops of Exeter S. Davids and Glocester Taylor Philpot Bradford Crome Sanders Rogers Laurence and others who having given an account of their Principles conclude thus as the Historian says These things they declared that they were ready to defend as they often had before offered and concluded charging all People to enter into no Rebellion against the Queen but to obey her in all points except where her Commands were contrary to the Law of God. But their own words will most properly give us their meaning as * Tom. 3. p. 100 c. Fox records Because we hear that it is determined to send us speedily out of the Prisons of the King's Bench c. where at present we are and of a long time some of us have been not as Rebels Traitors seditious persons Thieves or Transgressors of any Laws of this Realm Inhibitions Proclamations or Commandments of the Queen's Highness or of any of the Councils God's Name be praised therefore but only for the Conscience we have to God and to his most holy Word and Truth to one of the Universities there to dispute We write and send abroad this our Faith humbly requiring and in the Bowels of our Saviour Christ beseeching all that fear God to behave themselves as obedient Subjects to the Queen's Highness and the superior Powers which are ordained of God under her rather after our Example to give their Heads to the Block than in any point to rebel or once to mutter against the Lord's anointed we mean our Sovereign Lady Queen Mary into whose Heart we beseech the Lord of Mercy plentifully to pour the Wisdom and Grace of his Holy Spirit now and for ever Amen First we confess and believe all the Canonical Books of the Old Testament c. And having reckoned up what Doctrines they owned and what they condemned they go on thus And we doubt not but we shall be able to prove all our Confessions here to be most true by the Verity of God's Word and Consent of the Catholick Church In the mean season as obedient Subjects we shall behave our selves towards all that be in Authority and not cease to pray to God for them that he would govern them all generally and particularly with the Spirit of Wisdom and Grace and so we heartily desire and humbly pray all Men to do ☞ in no point consenting to any kind of Rebellion or Sedition against our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Highness but where they cannot obey but they must disobey God then to submit themselves with all patience and humility to suffer as the will and pleasure of the highest powers shall adjudge as we are ready through the goodness of the Lord to suffer whatsoever they shall adjudge us unto rather than we will consent to any Doctrine contrary to this which we here confess unless we shall be convinced thereof either by Writing or by Word c. and the Lord of Mercy endue us all with the Spirit of his Truth and Grace of Perseverance therein unto the end Amen May 8 Anno Dom. 1554. This Letter was subscribed by Bishop Ferrar Bishop Hooper and Bishop Coverdale and by nine others who were the Flower of Confessors at that time
Magistrates but suffer patiently death rather than to offend God or else our obedience is nothing but hypocrisie and dissimulation Who would accept his own Child's making of Courtesie when all his facts be contrary to his commandment What Masler would be content or think his Servant doth his duty in putting off his cap and in his doing contemneth all his Master's Laws and Commandments the Laws of a Magistrate if they be repugnant to the Word of God they should not be obeyed yet rather should a Man suffer death than to defend himself by force ☜ and violent resisting of the Superior Powers as Christ his Apostles and the Prophets did On verse 2. Because that naturally there is in every Man a certain desire of liberty and to live without subjection and all manner of Laws except such as please himself St. Paul is not content generally to exhort and command all Men to obedience of the Higher Powers but giveth many great and weighty causes wherefore Men should be obedient and in subjection to them The first is because the Office of a Magistrate is the Ordinance of God and therefore the Magistrate must be obeyed except we will say in some respects God is not to be obeyed therefore the Magistrates be called Gods in Scripture ungodly Princes God suffers and appoints for the sins of the People but let the King and Magistrate be as wicked as can be devised and thought ☜ yet is his place and office the Ordinance and Appointment of God and therefore to be obeyed and in case they do any thing in their Offices contrary to the Word of God although the Subjects may not nor upon pain of eternal Damnation ought not by force nor violence to resist the Officer in his High Power yet they are bound to think that God can and will as well revenge the abuse of his Office in them as punish the Subject for the disobedience of his ordinance towards the Higher Power If it be true that St. Paul saith the higher power to be the Ordinance of God it is very damnable iniquity that for any private affection or other unjust oppressions for any Man to depose the Magistrates from their Places and Honors appointed by God or else privily or openly craftily or violently to go about to change or alter the State and Ordinance of God c. The second cause is the great peril and danger it is to resist and disobey God's Ordinances They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation as tho he had said lest ye should think it a light thing but a trifling matter to withstand and disobey the Magistrates understand ye that in so doing ye stand and fight against God and therefore ye provoke Judgment and Vengeance against your selves and be culpable and guilty of God's everlasting displeasure if ye repent not Here St. Paul hath set forth the End and success of Sedition ☞ Treason Conspiracy and Rebellion that is to say destruction both of Body and Soul and who is able to contend and fight with God On verse 5. One cause wherefore we must obey is the fear of pain and punishment which the Magistrate must minister by the commandment of God unto all such as disobey and contemn the Ordinance of God the other is conscience for although the Magistrate do not see nor know how thou dost disobey and break the Order of God or else if thou could'st by power and strength overcome the Magistrates yet thy conscience is bound to obey there be some so indurate and past grace that think themselves not bound to obey this order and Higher Power appointed and commanded of God but doubtless those shall perish with their Captains as Achitophel did with his Absalom if the Higher Power command any thing contrary to God's Word they should not be obey'd notwithstanding there should be such modesty and soberness used as should be without all violence force rebellion as Peter and John used ☞ saying God is more to be obeyed than Man and so in saying of truth they continued in the truth without moving of Sedition and suffered death for the truth c. Nor was this only this excellent Bishop's Opinion while his King was of his Religion and friend to his Person and Principles but as Truth is eternal and unalterable so he persevered in this belief when Queen Mary persecuted the Church of God and this worthy Prelate in a particular manner The Martyrs Letters Lond. 1564. 4to p. 120. for in his Letters just before his death set out by Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon his fellow Confessor he frequently inculcates this Doctrin Remember ye be the workmen of the Lord and called into his Vineyard there to labour till eventide that ye may receive your peny which is more worth than all the Kings of the Earth but he that calleth us into his vineyard hath not told us how sore or how fervently the Sun shall trouble us in our labour but hath bid us labour and commit the bitterness thereof unto him who can and will so moderate all afflictions that no man shall have more laid upon him than in Christ he shall be able to bear these days be dangerous and full of peril p. 136. but yet let us comfort our selves in calling to remembrance the days of our forefathers upon whom the Lord sent such troubles that many hundreds yea many thousands died for the testimony of Jesus Christ both men and women suffering with patience and constancy as much cruelty as Tyrants could devise and so departed out of this miserable World to the Bliss everlasting p. 139. Who would not now rather than to offend so merciful a God fly this wicked Realm as your most Christian Brother and many other have done or else with boldness of heart and patience of the Spirit bear manfully the Cross even unto the death Albeit I know p. 141 / 2 that all those which seek God's honour and the furtherance of his Gospel be accounted the Queens Enemies altho we daily pray for her Grace and never think her harm but we must be content to suffer slander and patiently to bear all such injuries Nevertheless this is out of doubt that the Queens Highness hath no authority to compel any man to believe any thing contrary to God's word neither may the Subject give her Grace that Obedience in case he do his Soul is lost for ever Our bodies ☜ goods and lives be at her Highness commandment and she shall have them as of true Subjects but the Soul of man for Religion is bound to none but unto God and his holy Word p. 148 149 Seeing therefore we live for this life among so many and great perils and dangers we must be well assured by God's word how to bear them and how patiently to take them as they be sent to us from God we must also assure our selves that there is no other remedy for Christians in the time of
to whom Vengeance pertaineth and he in his time will reward it And when Weston told Bradford how the People were by him procur'd to withstand the Queen Ap. Fox tom 2. pag. 1471. Ap. eund p. 1476. and Cover p. 294. Bradford answering again bad him Hang him up as a Traytor and a Thief if ever he encouraged any to Rebellion And in the Postscript to his Mother Brethren and Sisters he exhorts them to be obedient to the higher Powers that is In no Point either in hand or tongue rebel but rather if they command that which with good Conscience you cannot obey lay your Head on the Block and suffer whatsoever they shall do or say by Patience possess your Souls And of the Will of King Edward the Sixth Ap. eund p. 148 6 / 7. and Cover p. 287. he gives his opinion in his Letter to Sir J. Hales wherein after he had given him excellent Advice and set forth the Advantages of Persecution for a good Cause and commended him that he judged after Faith's fetch as he stiles it and the effects or ends of things looking not on the things which are seen but on the things which are not seen he adds Let the Worldlings weigh things and look upon the Affairs of Men with their worldly and corporal Eyes as did many in subscription of the King 's last Will and therefore they did that for the which they beshrew'd themselves But let us look on things with other manner of Eyes as God be prais'd you did in not doing that which you were desired and driven at to have done You then beheld things not as a man but as a man of God c. Ap. Fox p. 1494. Coverd pag. 282 283. And in his Admonition to certain professors and lovers of the Gospel to beware they fall not from it in consenting to the Romish Religion Among other holy Exhortations and Cautions my dearly beloved repent be sober and watch in Prayer be obedient and after your Vocations shew your Obedience to the higher Powers in all things that are not against God's Word therein acknowledg the sovereign Power of the Lord howbeit so that ye be no Rebels nor Rebellers for no Cause ☜ but because with good Conscience you cannot obey be patient Sufferers and the Glory and good Spirit of God shall dwell upon us In his Meditation on the Fifth Commandment v. Meditat. on the Lord's Pr. and Com. printed London 1622. pag. 117. written in the days of Edward the Sixth See pag. 123. he thus devoutly expresses himself In this Commandment thou O good Lord settest before mine Eyes them whom thou for Order sake and the more commodity of man in this life hast set in degree and authority before me comprehending them under the name of Father and Mother that I might know that I am of thee commanded to do that which is most equal and just as the very Brute Beasts do teach us that with childly Affection and Duty I should behave my self towards them i. e. I should honour them which comprehendeth in it Love Thankfulness and Obedience and that ☜ not so much because they be my Parents for it may be they will neglect the doing of their Duties towards me but because thou commandest me so to do whatsoever they do pag. 118 119. And whereas thou addest a Promise of long Life we may gather that a civil Life doth much please thee and receiveth here Rewards especially if we lead it for Conscience to thy Law And on the contrary part a disobedient Life to them that be in authority will bring the sooner thy Wrath and Vengeance in this Life Thus speaks the holiest and devoutest of all Queen Mary 's Martyrs as * Ch. Hist l. 8. p. 21. Fuller styles him SECT V. To the holy Bradford it is requisite to joyn his dear Friend the zealous Lawrence Saunders the man of God who said he was in Prison †Ap. Fox tom 2. p. 1358. till he was in Prison so fervently did he covet Martyrdom they both being entrusted at the same time with the Cure of Souls in the City of London he in his Letter to the Professors of the Gospel in the Town of Litchfield thus exhorts them to stedfastness in the Faith and Patience And now dearly beloved Coverd Coll. Pag. 188. we be taught by that heavenly Spirit which our God hath given unto us to seek Comfort in these times of Affliction not in hope of Rebellion or fulfilling unprofitable yea pestilent Welch Prophecies but in the most comfortable and glad tidings of the heavenly Promises assured in his dear Christ Let us most obediently kiss the Rod of our heavenly Father by obedient Submission to avoid all extremity that man may do unto us rather than to forgo Faith and a good Conscience When the good Bishop of Rome was hurried to Martyrdom in the Decian Persecution his Deacon S. Lawrence would not be left behind Nor is it fit that Lawrence Saunders should appear without his Curate and Brother in Sufferings George Marsh Ap Fox tom 2. p. 1426. Coverd page 671. who in his Exâ—â—rtatory Letter to the Professors of God's Word and true Religion in Langhton after much Discourse about Martyrdom Patience and Resolution says Give your selves continually to all manner of good Works amongst the which the chiefest are to be obedient to the Magistrates ☞ sith they are the Ordinance of God whether they be good or evil unless they command Idolatry and Ungodliness that is to say things contrary unto true Religion for then ought we to say with Peter We ought more to obey God than man but in any wise we must beware of Tumult Insurrection Rebellion or Resistance The Weapon of a Christian Man in this matter ought to be the Sword of the Spirit which is God's Word and Prayer coupled with Humility and due Submission with readiness of Heart rather to dye than to do any Ungodliness Christ also teacheth us that all Power is of God yea even the Power of the wicked which God causeth oftentimes to reign for our Sins and Disobedience towards him and his Word Whosoever then doth resist any Power doth resist the Ordinance of God and so purchase to himself utter Destruction and Undoing We must honour and reverence Princes and all that be in authority and pray for them and be diligent to set forth their Profit and Commodity And thus I commend you Brethren unto God Fox page 1428. and the word of his Grace c. And in another Letter of his to several of his Friends he exhorts them Obey with Reverence all your Superiors unless they command Idolatry or Ungodliness Thus also that hearty and zealous man of God Mr. Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester Coverd page 222. in his Letter to the Christian Congregation discoursing of the Excuses men make use of to hide their Sins says Another sort of Persons do make themselves a Cloak for the
infant Age of the Church whom Tortures made happy Infamy glorious the Contempt of Gold rich and the Crown not of a Kingdom but Martyrdom made august And as Truth is the same in all Climates so was this learned Man in whatsoever place Providence fixt for when he came into England he had the same Notions as fully appears by his Epipistle to Fronto Ducaeus written Ann. 1611. wherein discoursing of S. Gregory Nazianzen's Observation of old that Mens preposterous Zeal had destroy'd their Charity he adds But Good God! Pag. 82 Lond. 1611. Had the Father lived in our Age what Complaints would he have made To see so many Men acted by a preposterous Zeal under the pretext of Religion and Piety most wickedly and irreligiously not only break the Peace of the Church about Trifles but undertake Rebellions Treasons most cruel Massacres of innocent People overthrowing of lawful Governments and the Murther of Princes this is your privilege at this time of day as he addresses himself to the Roman Catholicks that not only the grave Citizens and Senators of a Nation assembled in a general Convention tho what they should do of this kind is unlawful but even the Mobile assume to themselves a Power of Abdicating Kings forfeiting their Kingdoms and giving them to whom they please and of abolishing all Laws under the pretext of Piety which Villany no Religion tho never so profane and impious except yours meaning the Popish ever allows P. 100 c. or hath ever formerly allowed Garnet 's chief Crime was that he had either forgotten or neglected S. Paul 's Advice consenting to the doing of evil that good might come thereof this he ought not to have done had he demonstrated himself a true follower of Jesus Christ for what Precept or Example bad he of our holy Saviour for his so doing Who was a Lamb without blemish and reprov'd the preposterous Zeal of James and John the Apostles with You know not what spirit you are of i. e. You think your Zeal is commendable which hates the Samaritans and would destroy them but I do not require such a cruel sanguinary and destructive Zeal from my Followers what I require is Charity that is Patient Edifying and which covers a multitude of Sins this I approve of and this I would have practised by those to whom I am to leave my Peace This he would not have done had he remembred P. 104 105. how severely our holy Saviour chastised Peter when he rashly cut off Malchus 's Ear. But Zealots are very seldom removed from their purposes by any consideration of Laws either divine or humane whatever School teaches this Doctrine is not Christian it is the School of Antinhrist and of Satan for the Devil was a Murderer from the beginning ☞ a true Abeddon and Apollyon but the Doctrine of our holy Saviour Jesus Christ is perfectly contrary to this for he prescribed no other remedy to his Disciples against all manner of Injuries but Flight Patience and Prayers that rejoycing in hope being patient in Tribulation and praying continually as the Apostle advises they might triumph over all their Adversaries These were the only Arms that the Apostles used wherever they laid the foundations of the Gospel these were the only Weapons which the Fathers of the ancient Church only knew no man took Arms or raised Rebellion against his Prince these were the fruits of the Hildebrandine Doctrine which flyes at the Crowns of Emperors Kings and Princes c. SECT IX Against this modest and learned Epistle of Isaac Casaubon did Eudaemon Johannes write which Dr. Prideaux * Pr. at Oxford 1614. c. 2. p. 76. afterward the King's Professor of Divinity and Bishop of Worcester answered in which he compares the Jesuits and Buchanan and Knox together branding them justly with the name of Traytors as King James had done before him and avers P. 107. that the Popish Writers bred in the School of Hildebrand call a lawful King a Tyrant if excommunicated by the Pope whereas a Tyrant according to the Doctrine of the Sorbon and of the Men of ancient sincerity and simplicity is opposed to a lawful Prince and signifies one who hath invaded an Empire that is not his own by Force and evil Arts and then adds If an Apostate should reign in France P. 109. or England who exceeded Julian or the Grand Signior it is not the duty of his Subjects to dethrone him For who can lift up his hand against the Lord's anointed and be innocent ☜ Did the Israelites attempt any thing against Nebuchadnezzar or the Christians against Julian and the Heathen Emperors Did they use any other Weapons besides their Prayers and their Tears Let us use these Arms and if the King do amiss let us expect when God will punish him let not his Subjects tumultuously oppose him And whereas Mariana had affirmed P. 123. that when Princes openly invade the Rights of their Subjects and there is no other way left to maintain the publick Safety then it is lawful to take Arms and murder Kings he replies here is no mention made of the Patience of the Subjects the just Judgments of God the Obligation of Oaths the sacred Authority of Princes conferr'd on them immediately by God the Duty of Subjection not only when we live easie under the Government for our Profit but when we suffer under it for Conscience sake by the Maxims of the Jesuits P. 130 131. the People are made the King's Judges to enquire into his Faults and to punish him as they think fit when he does amiss What difference is there if this be true between the Rights of Princes and their Subjects A Subject breaks the Laws and he is punish'd by the King the King violates his Promises and his Subjects tell him We will not have this Man longer to rule over us Admirable security of the Persons and Crowns of Princes We obey our Princes for Conscience sake P. 60. we believe them to be immediately constituted by God if they rule well they are God's greatest Blessing if they degenerate into Apostasie or Tyranny they are God's Scourges to punish the Sins of a People as * Rom. 13. and in 1 Pet. 2. Calvin says truly If a King abuse his Power he shall render an account to God in time but for the present he doth not lose his Authority We urge not Compact but we pour out our Prayers our Bishops do advise not threaten †Id. Serm. on Gowry's Conspir p. 4 6 7. The same learned Bishop in his Sermon on the 5th of August at S. Maries before the University preaches the same Doctrine When occasion is offer'd howsoever they otherwise strive to appear good Subjects Traytors will be ever ready to vent their Treasons Hypocritical Traytors watch their times and are ready to vent their Villany upon the least advantage In the 2 Kings 19.37 where we read that Adrammelech and Sharezer slew their
were to subvert order and measure it is High Treason by the Law of the Land to levy War against the King to compass or imagine his death c. follow the Monition and Counsel of the Lord Cook 3. P. 141. part Instit p. 36. peruse over all Books Records and Histories and you shall find a Principle in Law a Rule in reason and a Tryal in experience that Treason doth ever produce fatal and final destruction to the Offender and never attains to the desired end two incidents inseparable thereunto and therefore let all Men abandon it as the poysonous bait of the Devil and follow the Precept in Holy Scripture Serve God Honour the King and have no Company with the Seditious Dr. Stewart in his Sermon Preach'd at Paris called Hezekiah's Reformation P. 38 39. he can be no Martyr for the first Table of the Law who is in the same deed a transgressor of the second nor will God at all thank him as a Reformer of his Church who in the self same act is no less than a Traytor to his Deputy so that as for Subjects to take up Arms against their Kings is by the Doctrin of St. Peter ☞ and St. Paul in all cases damnable so especially to do this in point of our Religion which so much commends and blesses Patience and Sufferings and Martyrdom either upon pretence to plant it where now it is not or to reform it where it hath been planted is of all other kinds of contentions or Wars most Turkishly Antichristian Rabshakeh himself was grown so much a Divine as to aver openly that he P. 54. who puts his hand to overturn that Religion he professes yea that puts his hand to overturn it too at the same time while he likes it pretend what he will he trusts not in God he trusts perhaps in the Syrians or in Aegypt To what is quoted in the first part of this History out of Bishop Brownrig's Sermons may be added a remarkable Passage or two of his life P. 183 186 187. recorded by Bishop Gauden the first that having Preach'd at Cambrige that Christians had neither Christ's Precept nor any good Christians practice to resist their Sovereign Princes but that there was only left them the choice to obey actively or passively to do or suffer he was immediatly for this Doctrin proscribed and outed of his places in the University and deprived of his liberty and put in Prison the second that when O. P. with some shew of respect to him demanded his judgment in some publick Affairs then at a non plus his Lordship with his wonted gravity and freedom replyed My Lord the best counsel I can give you is that of Our Saviour render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods with which free answer O. P. rested rather silenc'd than satisfied There are many observations worth the noting made by Bishop Hacket on this Subject in his Sermon on the day of the Coronation of King Charles I. on Ps 118.24 but I refer the Reader to the Discourse it self while I relate what is recorded of him in his life written by Dr. Plume that in the time of the great Rebellion P. 17. no Man Preach'd more boldly against the licentiousness of those times than he challenging the boutefeu's to shew where ever the Scripture gave countenance to Uproars and Rebellions Julian the Apostate reading the Bible with a malicious intention to quarrel at it said that Christianity was a Doctrin of too much patience but he could never find any place in it to object that it was a Doctrin of Rebellion If the administration of a Kingdom be out of frame it is better to leave the redress to God than to a seditious Multitude the way to continue purity of Religion being not by Rebellion but by Martyrdom to resist lawful Powers by seditious Arms and unlawful Authority was not the Primitive and Apostolical Christianity but Popish Doctrin not taught the first three hundred years but much about a thousand years after Our Saviour's Ascension into Heaven by the Pope of Rome the very time the Spirit of God says Satan should be let loose viz. by Gregory VII who first taught the Germans to rebel against the Emperor Henry IV. this poyson was given the English People to drink out of the Papal cup tho they pretended quite contrary but Bishop Hacket ever asserted this was not the way to pull down Antichrist but Protestant Religion and therefore he warn'd the Non-conforming Divines to have a care how they cryed up a War and became famous in the Congregation only as Erostratus by setting the Temple on fire SECT IV. Thus the truth was asserted in the days of distress till God was in his infinite mercy pleased to restore the King under whom the Confessors for Loyalty who had during his Exile Preach'd this truth by their sufferings asserted it as vigorously from the Pulpit and Press and among them the most Reverend Primate Dr. Sancroft challenges an Eminent Station who in his most Learned Sermon Preached at the Consecration of Seven Bishops comparing the State of our Native Country with that of the Island of Crete adds have we not outvyed the Cretans lyed for God's sake P. 31. and talk'd deceitfully for him what pious frauds and holy cheats what slandering the footsteps of God's Anointed when the Interest was to blacken him Pliny hath observ'd it nullum animal maleficum in Cretâ and Solinus adds nec ulla serpens but they should have excepted the Inhabitants and I wish there were no other Island could shew Vipers too many that have eat out the Bowels of their common Mother and slown in the face of their Political Father without whose benigner influence their chill and benumm'd fortunes had not warmth enough to raise them to so bold an attempt fulness of bread was also one of their sins and now I cannot wonder if it be observ'd from the Records of History as Grotius assures us who knew them well that the Cretans were and I wish there were no other such a mutinous and a seditious People and had but too much need to be put in mind by Titus to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates The Devil of Rebellion and Disobedience Id. lex ignea p. 15. which not long since possess'd the Nation rent and tore it till it foam'd again and pin'd away in lingring Consumptions that cast it oft-times into the Fire and oft-times into the Water calamities of all sorts to destroy it this ill spirit this restless fury this unquiet and dreadful Alastor the Eldest Son of Nemesis and heir apparent to all the terrors and mischiefs of his Mother walks about day and night seeking rest and finds none and he says in his heart I will return sometime or other to my house from whence I came out Oh! let us take heed of provoking that God who alone
chains up his fury lest for our sins he permit him to return once more with seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and so our last Estate prove worse than the former Dr. Pr. 1661. P. 34. v. p. 14 19 21. Morley Bishop of Winchester's Sermon at the Coronation of King Charles II. is full to this purpose as no Man can take upon himself the Honor or Office of a Priest so much less can any Man take to himself the Honor or Office of a King but he must have it from God himself either by God's own immediate designation as Moses and the Judges had for the Judges were Kings and as Saul and David had or by God's ordinary way of Dispensation which was by Succession of Children unto their Fathers according unto which method as Families grew into Nations so Paternal Government grew into Regal and consequently an Usurper as he hath no claim to Divine Institution so he hath no title to Divine Benediction or Protection and besides because what is gotten by the Sword must be maintained by the Sword an Usurper must be a Tyrant whether he will or no. Lastly a Monarchy by Usurpation is res sine titulo a possession without a title which seldom lasts long or ends well for he that takes the Sword shall perish by the Sword says Our Saviour Mat. 26.52 Again as Monarchy by Usurpation is res sine titulo so Monarchy by Election is titulus sine re for Elective Kings are but conditional Kings and conditional Kings are no Kings besides P. 35. a King is to have the power of life and death which none that have it not themselves can give unto him and therefore how he that is Elected by those that have not the power of life and death comes to have the power of life and death and consequently how he comes to be a King is I conceive not easie to imagine the best and surest way for Prince P. 38. State and People is to protect cherish and allow of that Religion and that only which allows of no rising up against or resisting Sovereign Power no not in its own defence nor upon any other pretence whatsoever but tho Princes are called Gods yet they shall die like Men P. 46. says one that was a Prince himself Ps 82.7 and tho they be accountable to no Tribunal here yet they are to be judged hereafter by one who is no respecter of Persons a Prince therefore is to take care to govern himself not according to that licence which his exemption from the penalty of humane Laws may prompt him to but according to that strictness which the severity of the Divine Justice doth require of him The same Prelate in his Vindication of himself against Baxter P. 29 c. among Baxter's Maxims of Treason Sedition and Rebellion reckons these That unlimited Governors are Tyrants and have no right to that unlimited Government If God permits Princes to turn so wicked as to be uncapable of Governing so as is consistent with the ends of Government he permits them to depose themselves If Providence disableth a Prince from protecting the just c. it deposeth him if any Army of Neighbours Inhabitants P. 31. or whoever do tho injuriously expel the Sovereign and resolve to ruin the Commonwealth rather than he shall be restored and if the Commonwealth may prosper without his Restoration it is the duty of such an injured Prince for the Common good to resign his Government and if he will not the People ought to judge him as made uncapable by Providence and not to seek his restitution to the apparent ruin of the Commonwealth If a People that by Oath and Duty are obliged to a Sovereign P. 33. shall sinfully dispossess him and contrary to their Covenants chuse and covenant with another they may be obliged by their later Covenant notwithstanding their former and particular Subjects that consented not in the breaking of their former Covenants yet may be obliged by occasion of their later choice to the Person whom they chuse with many more such Rebellious Treses all which the Bishop with great reason censures and to the Book it self I must refer the Reader where he will find ample satisfaction in a Manly confutation of the abovecited and other such popular errors And among these venerable Fathers of the Church I must beg leave to introduce a Lay-man concern'd in the same controversie for when Baxter had publish'd his Key for Catholicks and in it p. 321. treated of the King's murder of which he says Providence had so order'd it that it could not be laid on the Protestants with much more to that purpose John Nanfan Esq in those worst of times writes a censure of the Passage P. 3. and in it avers that all War taken up by Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever or by whatsoever caution or limitation evermore in the nature of it intends the destroying of King and Kingdom P. 4. that all the bringing the People into a body by Covenant is unlawful because Government merely consists in having no contracts of the People acting of themselves that in such Covenants Men swear things contradictory as to fight against the King and to be true to him there is no such thing in nature as a defensive War against the King by Subjects to subdue a King and deprive him of his Power P. 5. is the same thing as killing it stays but the acting I should be very glad P. 7. that the World should be satisfied that Supreme Power should be unquestionable I would trust God and Man and Humane casual events with my share out of it because I see pretended Reformations never countervail the mischief of Rebellions nothing in nature can go higher than its first cause P. 9. a Power derived out of the King cannot be understood to be against the King for no Power can create a Power against it self P. 10 11. all attempts to bring a King under the Power of his People are the same as to destroy him and this was resolved in the case of the Earl of ‖ Cambd. Annal. p. 547 548. Essex and it never came into the conceit of any Person to except a Parliament for committing Treason the nature of Man is to think any thing that hath been done P. 12. may be done and so never finds end of wickedness but to make it infinite any extraordinary or transcendent acting upon Government tho never so unlawful and violent yet if it become powerful it commonly creates somthing to others to derive from it thus the Long Parliament declared long before that execrable murder was committed that in case they should act to the highest president they should not fail in duty or trust ☞ having their eye and aim upon the deposing of Kings Edw. 2. and Ric. 2. and the last actors that completed the Tragedy conclude power of Parliaments from former destroying Kings and