the Covenant Printed at Lon. 1640. disproves their pretended conformity with the French Churches in the points of Church Discipline and Obedience to Superiors averring solemnly P. 2. that it was ever far from our wishes that your conformity with the Reformed Churches of France should be misapplyed as a pretence of your expelling your Bishops much less a president for you to take Arms against your Gracious Sovereign P. 37 38. take it for granted that the Orders imposed upon you by His Majesty are Ungodly and Antichristian are you therefore allowed to defend Religion with Rebellion will ye call the Devil to the help of God Sure it is a prodigious kind of Christian Liberty for a Subject to draw his Sword against his Sovereign you that stand so much upon the point of conscience ought ye not to be subject for Conscience sake ☞ Were your Sovereign unjust and froward and his commands injurious unto God had ye instead of our pious defender of the Faith a fierce Dioclesian illud solis precibus patientiâ sanari potest nothing will mend it but prayers and patience it is Beza's counsel to the discontented Brethren of England conformable to that of St. 1 Pet. 3.17 Peter for it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing if the Sovereign come to kill the Subject for his Religion the Subject must yield him his throat not charge his Pike against him and this he proves by Calvin's Practice and Writings P. 38 39 40. the Churches of France have lately declared to His Majesties Ambassador there their utter dislike of the Insurrection of Scotland under pretence of a Covenant with Christ P. 41. there can be no just cause to take Arms against a Lawful Sovereign after this he treats of the French Protestants taking Arms P. 46. and concludes that till the Reign of King Lewis the Arms of the Protestants were either justifiable or excusable but their Wars in his time were neither and they prosper'd accordingly P. 48. the French Protestants had to do with a King of a contrary Religion they were incens'd by many wrongs and oppressions they were in danger to lose with their Forts and Towns their Liberty their Religion and their Life the privileges which they enjoyed were rewards of their long Services by the Charter of Rochel when they yielded to Lewis XI it was granted to them that they should be no longer the King's Subjects ☞ than the King should maintain their immunities and yet these true reasons and just fears could not justifie their defensive Arms against their Sovereign but they were condemn'd by the best of their own and of their neighbors and God shewed his dislike by the ill success he gave them And much more to this purpose is to be seen in his answer to Philanax Anglicus and in his Regii sanguinis Clamor ad caelum contra Parricidas Anglicanos Hagae Com. 1652 C. 1. 〈◊〉 5. for that being is du Moulin juniors and not Alexander Morus's as was conjectured affirming with the Apostle that even the Jews would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory had they known him while the Parricides of King Charles I. wittingly and wilfully Murdered their Lawful King and with the King beheaded also the Church of England and brought upon the neighbouring Protestant Churches abundance of Dishonor and much danger while the same madness was imputed to all the Reformation which had only infected a few who falsly called themselves Reformed Nothing hath happened since the beginning of the World more contrary to the glory of God or that hath cast a greater blot upon holy Truth while the Wickedness defends it self by the Doctrin of the Gospel and is said to be perpetrated to vindicate the Protestant Religion to the just indignation and abhorrence of all the foreign Churches for which reason Salmasius P. 7. Heraldus Porree and others wrote smartly both against the Men P. 17. and their villanous Principles It is a Law not only written but born with us and springs from the most pure fountains of Nature That it is a most horrid crime for Subjects to punish their Princes and therefore we do too much honour to Parricides when we use Arguments against them for as Aristotle says they who doubt 1 Top. c 9 whether God is to be worship'd or Parents to be honoured are not to be convinc'd by Reasons but by Scourges and Salmasius hath proved by unanswerable Reasons by divine and human Authority that the Majesty of Kings is unaccountable and that Subjects have no manner of Authority over them Cap. 2. p. 29 30. There is no fallacy of Satan which more prevails upon good Men to engage them in an evil Cause than when Men contrary to God's Word believe that it is lawful to do evil that good may come thereof and that God hath need of our sinful assistance to promote his Kingdom and that whatever is design'd to promote God's Glory immediatly commences good P. 52. the Judges at Westminster were turn'd out by the Army because being consulted they had given this opinion that to judge the King was against the Laws of England Cap. 5. p. 107. to argue from Providence and Success to the goodness of a Cause is impudent one man is hang'd for that by which another gets a Crown Junius Brutus by expelling the Kings of the Family of Tarquin saved his Country another Brutus by murdering a Tyrant ruined it perhaps the later Brutus did an act of justice when he slew an Usurper but the first was very unjust who drove away a lawful King by the murder of King Charles I. Cap. 6. p. 121. the Parricides taught the rest of the World that Kings may be guilty of breach of trust to their People that the People are their Judges and may condemn and execute them and these Tenets they are not ashamed to own in their Writings that they had freed the World of its old Superstition that Kings are only obnoxious to God and can be punish'd only by him that they had set an example to all other Nations conducive to their safety and to be dreaded by all Tyrants as Cromwel wrote to the Scots after Dunbar fight what an occasion of insulting is hereby given to the Papists to say Cap. 7. p. 135. this is the Religion which brings down Reformation to us from Heaven these are the Men who cry out against the Usurpations of the Popes upon the Crowns and lives of Princes only that they might themselves have that power over Kings when they had snatched it from the Pope But the Papists would suggest this with less fierceness if they remembred that those few who left us in this point went to them and borrowed their Weapons from them C. 8 p. 148. these Monsters do not content themselves with being simple Parricides but they turn Rebellion into a
defensive ☜ against his Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors Neither is the King accountable to them or to any other besides God These are the Essentials of Sovereignty There is but one Case wherein a good and loyal Subject will refuse to obey his Prince and that is p. 60 61 v. p. 66 96 97 119 120 154. when such Obedience will by no means consist with his Obedience to God But there is no Case whatsoever wherein he dares either to resist or reproach the Person or Authority of the King or to offer any Indignity to him To fight against him is to fight against God whom the King represents upon any pretence whatsoever it cannot be done without open Perfidiousness and Rebellion Such are Monsters of Men and are as natural brute Beasts made to be taken and destroyed So S. Peter describes them 2 Pet. 2.10 12. Mr. David Jenner in his Prerogative of Primogenitures * Lond 1635 P. 48. asserts the same Cause Altho the Law of God is indeed above all Kings and if they wilfully transgress the same they are all accountable unto God and unto God only for the same yet in this Kingdom of England no Statute Law is or can be above the King because it was the King that first gave life and being to the Law of the Land the King by his Royal Assent made the Law to be what it is viz. a Law But the Law of the Land did not make the King to be what he is viz. a King for the King was King before the Law. That the Doctrin and Practice of Deposing lawful Kings P. 122. and Excluding the right Heir from succeeding in the Throne for his being an Heretick Idolater ☜ tyrannical and wicked is grounded upon nothing but Popery and Fanaticism Mr. Hancock in his Answer to the Viscount Stafford's Memoires Lond. 1682. p. 31. I could make it evident that the same Maxims of Political Divinity the same Arguments and many times the same Phrases and Expressions are to be found in the Heads of both Factions I know 't is disputed whether the Ring-Leaders of Sedition among us poyson'd the Jesuits or the Jesuits them but I do not envy the Bishops of Rome the Honor of having first poyson'd them both with Antimonarchical Doctrins If Milton the great Oracle of one of the Factions had own'd himself to be a Papist there had been no reason to wonder at the Impiety of his Doctrins which he either did or might have learnt from the Popes and greatest Divines of the Roman Church It was truly alledg'd by Salmasius that the Doctrin of the sacred and inviolable Authority of Princes was preserved pure and uncorrupt in the Church till the Bishops of Rome attempted to set up a Kingdom in this World paramount to all Kings and Emperors but he with his usual Confidence acquits the Popes and charges his Antimonarchical Principles on Luther Zuinglius Calvin Bucer Martyr Parcus and all the Reformed Divines Bellarmine P. 50. Parsons Creswel Suarez c. are the Men that furnish'd the leading Faction among us with Principles and Precedents with Arguments and Texts of Scripture ☞ out of whom they either did or might have derived the Grounds of the War against the King of erecting an High Court of Justice and of bringing him to the Block John Goodwin P. 53. in one of his Pamphlets hath this remarkable Expression As for offering Violence to the Person of a King or attempting to take away his Life we leave the Proof of the lawfulness of it to those profound Disputers the Jesuits P. 166 c. I have fairly represented those Doctrins and Principles which strike at the very root of our establish'd Religion and Government with the Arts and Instruments which have been used by the prevailing Faction of the Roman Church for the Subversion of them ☞ And I know no stronger Argument against the truth and goodness of any Religion than that it supplants moral Righteousness and serves to be a Bond of Conspiracy allowes of Sedition and Treachery Injustice and Cruelty for how can that Religion be from God which maketh Men unlike to God as had or worse than if they were left to the Principles and Inclinations of their own Natures Of the Church of England I will only say It hath establish'd the Right of Kings upon such sure and unalterable Foundations that it is the Interest as well as the Duty of the Civil Power to support and defend it Mr. Animadv on Ob. Ch. Govern. Preface Smalridge Certainly that Doctrin which invades the just Rights of Princes can hope but for few Proselytes among those who have constantly defended them in their Writings asserted them in their Decrees and upon all occasions vindicated them with their Swords For we do not lye open to the imputation of a condition'd and distinguishing Loyalty who have shewed our readiness to imitate the glorious Examples of our Fathers and were prepar'd had not God's good Providence prevented our Service to have transcribed that Copy lately at Sedgmore which they set us formerly at Edg-hill And in truth our steady Fidelity to the Prince is so unquestionable that our Enemies have been pleased to ridicule what they could not deny and have made Passive Obedience bear a part in our Character when the Muse hath been enclin'd to Satyr Thus also the Person of Quality who wrote the Reasons Why a Protestant should not turn Papist P. 30 31. I am then quite out of conceit with your Religion since I cannot embrace it without endangering my Loyalty by reason of the Deposing Doctrin in case I live up to the pitch of its real Principles But 't is all one to me so long as I remain a Protestant what Religion my Prince is of tho I could wish he were of the same I profess because his Authority over me and my indispensible Obligation to submit to him do not depend upon his Opinion or Religion but upon his Birth-right yet have we not reason to doubt if the zealous sort of Roman Catholicks would not think it lawful to take Arms against their Prince turn'd a Heretick since the French League against Henry the 4th was upon this very account styled Holy and had I not been particularly acquainted with the Principles of the Church of Rome I had never conceived how it came to pass that such great Numbers of learned and well-meaning Men too could be guilty of such a horrible wickedness as that was and forget themselves so far as to pretend Holiness in an open Rebellion against their lawful Prince I am then more satisfied with the Loyalty of a Protestant especially of the Church of England who acknowledgeth the Prince to be a Supreme Governour over all his Subjects and Sovereign Judg in all Cases than with that of a Roman Catholick who seems to set limits to his Power by such restrictions as neither Reason nor Scripture can warrant Mr. Pomfret
enforcing to Idolatry assumed all Religious Worship to himself yet the Prophet acknowledges and honors him as his King and Sovereign observe Religion requires Subjection to those Kings that deface the Worship of God and would compel to Idolatry Now if it be said that Idolatry was the Worship injoin'd by the Laws of the Land We answer that Idolatry is against the Law of God and so the Jews were under a superior Obligation and I think if Men may take Arms when any thing is done to them contrary to human Laws there seems to be more reason that they should do so when any thing is done contrary to the Laws of the great King of Heaven and Earth but the latter is by our Adversaries disallowed therefore with much more reason the former But it is time to return to Bishop Brownrig who avers That active and actual Obedience to ungodly Laws we may not we must not yield and perform thus to submit to Men were to rebel against God but yet protestation of Subjection must continue tho our particular active Obedience be denied or restrain'd tho we dare not perform our active Obedience in doing what they command Pag. 34. yet we must perform our passive Obedience in submitting to their punishments Papists teach that Heretical Kings forfeit their Crowns and Lives if they command against God. No we must here with Daniel honor their Persons and Calling when Conscience forbids us to fullfil their Commandments Darius also was now the Author of Daniel's destruction his Law ensnared him his Power condemn'd him his Seal shut him up in the Den of Lions yet for all this the holy Prophet honors him as his King. Observe No worng or injury can exempt or discharge our persons from our Lawful Sovereign ☜ He upbraids not the King with Tyranny and Impiety charges him not with the cruelty of his usage threatens him not with Vengeance and Judgments from God much less as a Prophet doth he denounce sentence of deprivation against him but fergetting his wrongs forgiving his Injuries sends up a devout Prayer for his life and welfare c. SECT XV. In Justice I ought to have given King Charles the First the Preference to some of the forecited Authors but I have reserved him to lead the Van of the remaining Writers who were particularly engaged in the Service of that Truth for which that great Prince became a Martyr and when I have mentioned this I have said enough to those who consider what he suffered by the Men who were Enemies to the Doctrine of Nonresistance and what he unanswerably wrote in Defence of that Doctrine being resolved at present to quote no more of him than that one Sentence in his Second Paper to Henderson that to reform as Grosthead said in ore gladii cruentandi is a wicked and ungodly saying This Prince shall be attended as he ought by his Chaplains and Dr. Hammond comes first of whom it were enough to say that he was a Member of the Convocation anno 1640 for that discovers his Sentiments since he gave his consent to those Canons But he hath more particularly declared his Opinion especially in his * L. 2. § 5. p. 53. Practical Catechism Some Wars are unjust as that of Subjects seditiously raised against the Supreme Power in a State. †Sect. 9. p. 69 70. But what may we fight for if we may not fight for Religion Resp It is the most precious thing indeed and that to be preserved by all lawful proper proportionable means but then War or unlawful resistance being of all things most improper to defend or secure or plant this and it being acknowledged unlawful for Peter to use the Sword for the Defence of Christ himself to do it meerly for Religion must needs be very unlawful Religion hath still been spread and propagated by suffering and not by resisting and indeed it being not in the power of Force to constrain my Soul or change my Religion or keep me from the Profession of it Arms or Resistance must needs be very improper for that purpose And the same Author in his Section of Meekness says if they be our lawful Magistrates then our Meekness consists in Obedience active or passive acting all their legal Commands and submitting so far at least as not to make violent resistance to the punishment which they shall inflict upon us I shall put you in mind of this great Truth that Christ and his Disciples were Id. sect 11. p. 79 80. of all the Doctors that ever were in the World the most careful to preserve the Doctrine and Practice of Allegiance even when the Emperors were the greatest Opposers of the Christian Religion and if ever you mean to be accounted a Follower of them you must go and do likewise S. But was not Tiberius an Usurper and yet Christ saith Render to Cesar the things that are Cesars C. Julius Cesar wrested the Power out of the Hand of the Senate but before the time of Tiberius the Business was accorded between the Senate and the Emperors that the Emperor now reigned unquestioned without any competition from the Senate Which Case how distant it is from other forcible Usurpations where the Legal Sovereign doth still claim his Right to his Kingdoms and to the Allegiance of his Subjects no way acquitting them from their Oaths or laying down his Pretensions tho for the present he be over-power'd is easily discernable to any who hath the Courage and Fidelity to consider it and is not by his own Interests bribed or frighted from the performance of his Christian duty And this Doctrine he ex professo maintains against S. Marshal Godwin and others in his Treatise of resisting the lawful Magistrate under the color of Religion c. in which he condemns Subjects taking Arms against their Prince * p. 54. c. by Arguments taken 1. From the nature of Religion 2. From the Examples of Christ and Christians 3. From the making of Christianity and particularly of the Protestant Doctrine 4. From the Constitution of the Kingdom affirming that in the New Testament there is no one Christian Virtue or Article of Faith more clearly deliver'd more effectually inforc'd upon our Understandings and Affections than that of Obedience to Kings Bishop Ferne hath written purposely on this Subject his Resolution of Conscience whether upon supposition the King will not discharge his Trust but is bent or seduced to subvert Religion Laws and Liberties Subjects may take Arms and resist Resolved That no Conscience upon such a Supposition or Case can find a clear ground for such Resistance whence it follows that the Resistance made against the higher Powers is unwarrantable and according to the Apostle damnable Rom. xiii You are told says Dr. Ferne the Gospel and your Liberties Epist and all you have are in most eminent danger and without taking Arms for the defence irrecoverably lost and that it is lawful by the fundamental Laws of
☜ and bear all the ill administration that might be in the Government but never to rise in Arms upon that account * Id. third Letter to the E. of Middl. p. 168. I will do that which I think fit for me to do to day though I were sure to be assassinated for it to morrow but to the last moment of my life I will pay all duty and fidelity to his Majesty * Ans to the New Test c. p. 48 49. The Church of England may justly expostulate when she is treated as seditious after she hath rendred the highest Services to the Civil Authority that any Church now on Earth hath done she hath beaten down all the principles of Rebellion with more force and learning ☜ than any body of Men hath ever yet done and hath run the hazards of enraging her Enemies and losing her Friends even for those from whom the most learned of her Members knew what they might expect We are the only Church in the World that carries these principles to the highest We acknowledg that some of our Clergy miscarried in it upon King Edward's death yet at the same time others of our Communion adhered more steadily to their Loyalty in favour of Queen Mary than she did to the promises that she made to them The Laws of Nature are perpetual P. 51. and can never be cancell'd by any special Law so that if these Gent. own so freely that this is a Law of Nature that every individual might fight in his own defence they had best take care not to provoke Nature too much P. 52. As we cannot be charg'd for having preach'd any seditious Doctrine so we are not wanting in the preaching of the duties of Loyalty P. 55. even when we see what they are like to cost us Of all the Maximes in the World there is none hurtful to the Government in our present circumstances than the saying That the King's promises and the people's fidelity ought to be reciprocal and that a failure in the one cuts off the other for by a very natural consequence the Subject may likewise say that their Oaths of Allegiance being founded on the assurance of his Majesty's protection the one binds no longer than the other is observed and the Inferences that may be drawn from hence will be very terrible if the Loyalty of the so much decryed Church of England does not put a stop to them But for that we may cite the Testimony of the Right Reverend Bishop of S. Asaph in his Seasonable Discourse c. We are Members of a Church Pag. 4. which above all other Constitutions in the Christian World enforces the great Duties of Obedience and Submission to the Magistrate and teaches to be subject not only for Truth but Conscience sake And among other Motives which he mentions in the behalf of the Established Religion The fourth says he is this The Safety of the King's Person and the Prerogative of the Crown which hath no higher or more necessary Appendent than his Supremacy in his Dominion in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Secular according to the Powers invested in the Jewish Kings under the Law ☞ and exercised by the first Christian Emperors To whom we may add the Right Reverend Doctor Sprat in his Sermon before the House of Commons Jan. 30. 1677 / 8. by them ordered to be Printed Where speaking of King Chalres the Martyr Who saith he not only by his Birth had a Successive Right to the Crown which he could not forfeit but also by his Personal Vittues might have deserved another Title to it if his Crown had been elective and as his Murderers impudently pretended at the Disposal of his Subjects pag. 3. So that he terms him the Vicegerent of God's Power ibid. pag. 44. He pleaded and prayed for his Enemies at the Bar of Heaven which only was above him And pag. 47. May all of us be most industriously watchful that the same Schismatical Designs and Antimonarchical Principles which then inspired so many ill Men misled some good Men and cost our good King so dear may not once more revive and insinuate themselves again under the same or newer and craftier Disguises and find an opportunity to attempt the like mischiefs And in another Sermon of his at White-Hall Pag. 44 45. December 22. 1678. Let us withdraw our thoughts and lift up our minds to the imitation of the most Christian Examples As of our Saviour himself so of his Apostles and Disciples in the first and therefore the best Ages How were they zealous for the Glory of God Not by violence or malice or revenge against any not eve nagainst their Oppressors but only by their own Labors and Prayers and Patience and Magnanimity in suffering How were they zealous in respect to their Temporal Governors Not to resist for conscience sake but rather to be subject for that very reason not by open Rebellion not by private Machinations but in blessing and serving and submitting to their Emperors tho they were Idolaters and obeying them in all things except their Idolatry Whom to imitate is our Duty SECT XXIII Mr. Thorndyke * Apud Falkner's Christian Loyalty p. 429. from the Instance of the Maccabees avers that it was lawful for Subjects to take Arms in Defence of their Religion under the Jewish State tho in that he be mistaken but expresly condemns taking Arms upon that or any other pretext under the Christian State. Dr. Spencer †Serm. at S. Mary's Cambr. Jun. 28. 1660 p. 4. the now Dean of Ely The Gospel doth very sparingly meddle with State matters but when it doth it engageth to Obedience by as obliging Principles as it doth to Religion even a Principle of Conscience we must be subject for conscience-sake not barely for safety's sake and a principle of highest fear They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation A Doctrine taught the World in the Type long before by that Fire and Earthquake which destroyed the Opposers of lawful Authority Numb xvi 33 34. P. 11 12. God hath attested unto Sovereignty by suffering none of his Servants in Scripture few or none in story to be guilty of willful opposing lawful Authority We find many a wicked Man guilty of this Sin but as Reverence to other Divine Commands wore off in time as the power that exalteth it self above all that is called God obtained in the world so to this among the rest of Obedience to lawful Authority P. 14. The Heathens used to reproach the Gospel on this account but the Pulpit was never intended to be a Circle in which to raise up the evil Spirits of Sedition and State-Commotions no Religion in the Doctrine of it so greatly secures the Power of Kings and the Peace of States ☜ as the Christian doth we are bound by the Gospel to be obedient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. ii 18. to the crookedest and frowardest Masters
trouble than Christ himself hath appointed us In St. Luke he giveth us this commandment ye shall possess your lives in patience saith he in the which words he giveth us both commandment what to do and also great consolation and comfort in all troubles he sheweth also what is to be done and what is to be hoped for in troubles and when troubles happen he biddeth us be patient and in no case violently ☜ nor seditiously to resist our persecutors because God hath such care and charge of us that he will keep in the midst of all troubles the very hairs of our heads so that not one of them shall fall away without the will and pleasure of our Heavenly Father Wherefore the Christian Man's Faith must be always upon the Resurrection of Christ p. 150. when he is in trouble and in that glorious Resurrection he shall not only see continual and perpetual joy and consolation but also the victory and triumph of all persecution trouble sin death hell c. the pains also they vex us withal for the time if they tarry with us as long as we live p. 153. yet when death cometh they shall avoid and give place to such joys as be prepared for us in Christ for no pains of the World be perpetual and whether they shall afflict us for all the time of our mortal life we know not for they be the Servants of God to go and to come as he commandeth them But we must take heed we meddle not forcibly nor seditiously to put away the persecution appointed unto us by God ☞ but remember Christ's saying possess your lives by your patience and in this commandment God requireth in every Man and Woman this patient obedience He saith not it is sufficient that other Holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Evangelists and Martyrs continued their lives in patience and patient suffering the troubles of this World but Christ saith to every one of his People by your own patience ye shall continue your life Now therefore as our Profession and Religion requireth patience outwardly without resistance and force so requireth it patience of the mind and not to be angry with God although he use us that be his own creatures as him listeth c. Nor is it to be pretermitted that Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon who published the Letters of Bishop Hooper and other the Martyrs in his Epistle to the Christian Reader praiseth God for these and such other Monuments which he had preserved and brought to light by his singular great providence because the more nigh that mens words and works approach unto the most wholsom sayings and fruitful doings of the old ancient Saints and chosen Children of God which loved not only to hear his word but also to live thereafter the more worthy are they to be esteemed embraced and followed and we have just cause to rejoyce that we have been familiar and acquainted with some of those which walked in the trade of their footsteps for the which cause it doth us good to read and hear not the lying Legends of feigned false counterfeited and Popish Canonized Saints but such true holy and approved Histories Monuments Orations Epistles and Letters as do set forth unto us the blessed behavior of God's dear Servants By which it appears that he was of their opinion in this as well as other Primitive Doctrins of the Reformed Church of England in opposition to the Novel and false assertions of the Church of Rome and so we have another eminent Confessor of those early days of the Reformation attesting the truth in the point of Non-resistance It is also remarkable that at that time the Protestants were no contemptible party of Men in the Nation that Queen Mary had been disinherited by Act of Parliament a Bill of Exclusion past into the formality of a Law and that for illegitimacy as it is their declared that the Crown was given to another by the Will of Edward VI. that Queen Mary was both a Papist and a Persecutor and turn'd the Protestant Bishops out of their Sees even before a Parliament made it Law and yet the Holy Men of those days in their Letters to their Friends and Followers treat only of Patience and Submission to Providence of looking to our Blessed Saviour and suffering without Murmuring as he did and that to resist even the Queen was a damnable sin when they wanted not abettors nor opportunities of conveying their thoughts privately to them and I am sure they were not to seek for courage and resolution who so frankly and undauntedly condemn'd the Popish Superstitions and Idolatries when they had nothing in prospect but Prisons and Executions nay those Protestants who had given their Votes for her Exclusion repented of their crimes while others of the same belief stood by her in her distress and placed her on her Throne SECT III. In the Reign of this Pious and Learned Prince Edward VI. Old Father Latimer * In Coverdale's Collect. of Letters p. 56. that Old True Apostle of our English Nation and of Christ as Bishop Ridley his Fellow Prisoner and Companion in Martyrdom calls him that generous and honest Man who when the Parliament Anno 1539. had confirmed the Six Articles the Whip with Six Cords as they were justly called voluntarily chose to abandon his Bishoprick Godwin's Annals p. 172 173. 229. rather than conform to so unjust a Law and abstained Ten years from Preaching till after the death of Henry VIII he was restored did notwithstanding his great plainness dominari in concionibus filling the Pulpit with a mighty Grace nor was he wanting in those days to bear witness to this Doctrin for in his explanation of that Petition of Our Holy Saviours Prayer Thy will be done he says Our Rebels 4th Serm. on the Lord's Prayer p. 142. Lond. 1635. which rose about two years ago in Norfolk and Devonshire they consider not this Petition they said it with their lips only but not with their hearts Almighty God hath reveal'd his will as concerning Magistrates how he will have them to be honour'd and obey'd they were utterly against it he revealed this his will in many places of the Scripture but especially by St. Peter where he saith 1 Pet. 2.13 subditi estote omni humanae creaturae that is to say in effect be subject to all the common Laws made by Men of Autority by the King's Majesty c. be subject unto them and obey them saith God and here is but one exception that is against God when Laws are made against God and his word then I ought more to obey God than Man ☞ then I may refuse to obey with a good Conscience yet for all that I may not rise up against the Magistrates nor make any uproar for if I do so I sin damnably I must be content to suffer whatsoever God shall lay upon me yet I may not obey their wicked Laws to do them only in
of the pretended Holy Discipline And if I mistake not by his directions the Account of Hacket's Coppinger's and Arthington's Treason was drawn up and Printed in the Book called Conspiracy for pretended Reformation the Design of which is expresly against the Doctrin of taking up Arms against the Lord's anointed especially on the Account of Religion SECT V. Anno 1594 Dr. Richard Eedes Printed with five other Sermons London 1604. p. 70 72 73 74. Dean of Worcester Preached before the Queen on Isai 49.23 Wherein he says That the Strength even of Heathen States was in their Religion by the which they were persuaded that their Princes were the Children of their Gods and their Laws drawn from the Oracles of some Divine Power They found by experience how hard it was for men to be brought to obey men unless they had the authority of more than men c. And what doth more teach either Obedience or Peace than the Religion of Christ Obedience is rightly called Nervus Imperii the Sinew and Strength of a Kingdom as well because it is grounded upon the Obedience of Christ who as Bernard noteth Ne perderet Obedientiam perdidit vitam did rather chuse to lose his life than to leave his Obedience As also because it requires in Christians Obedience without respect of persons to all without difference of Degrees higher Powers Rom. 13.2 Without exception against their Qualities not only to them that are good and courteous but to them also who are froward 1 Pet. 2.18 ☜ And that in all things Tribute to whom tribute c. and that not with eye-service as men-pleasers c. and that not because of wrath but for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 That if all the Laws and Policies of States and Kingdoms were gathered into one they could not be so strong to work peace and to persuade Obedience as these few but very forcible Rules of the Religion of Christ How much therefore is it to be lamented that in so great Light there should be so little Fruit That whereas the Truth of Religion is the Preserver of Government and the Mother of Obedience the name of Religion is made the Firebrand of Kingdoms and the armor of disobedience and that not only to maintain the Tyranny of that Usurping Power who takes upon him to Depose Kings but also to bring in that Anarchy of factious Subjects who presume to give Laws to their lawful Princes Wherein besides that it is true which Leo wrote unto Theodosius private causes are handled with pretence of Piety and every Man makes Religion which should be the Mistress the Handmaid of his affections it is intolerable to see how far some busie heads fetch the beginning of Kingdoms p. 7â— Vindic contr Tyran Bachâ—n de juâ—e regin and so as they please the right of Kings from the pleasure of the People how contemptuously they term the titles of honour and reverence the solecisms of the Court how seditiously they give wings to ambitious humors to plead the right of a â—aconical Ephory against Kings but for themselves and to arm that beast of many heads the multitude which ever goes as Seneca not whither it should but whither the stream bears it against that which to want of judgment is ever most heavy the present Government Whereas the right rules of Religion give no remedy to Subjects against the Highest Authority ☞ but the necessity of either suffering or obeying and therefore they that open that gap whether it be to the Tyranny of ambitious Popes or to the Anarchy of seditious Subjects howsoever they pretend the name of Religion they shall sooner prove themselves to have no Religion than that there is any defence for them in the Religion of Christ which teacheth as to be thankful to God for good Princes so to be patient of those whom in anger as the Prophet Hosea speaks Hos 13.11 he setteth over us for the punishment of our sins and against whom the first Professors of our faith had no weapons but prayers and tears p. 2. the same Author in his first Sermon before King James saith that promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but from God. Ps 73.6 that their power is of God Rom. 3.1 and their judgments God's judgments Deut. 1.17 and that therefore they who resist them not only by a consequence resist the ordmance of God Rom. 13.2 but God in them as he told Samuel they have not rejected thee but me 1 Sam. 8.7 The Reverend Bishop Moreton begun very early to assert this Doctime in his Writings and he lived long enough to assert it by his sufferings being a great sharer in that affliction which in the great Rebellion the Doctrine of resistance brought upon both the King and the Church Anno 1596. he publish'd his Solomon or a Treatise declaring the shake of the Kingdom of Israel pr. Lond. as it was in the days of Solomon Wherein he proves after the words as it was in the days of Solomon insert these following that the Kingdom of Israel was a most true and lively picture of the State and Crown one egg being not more like another than the State to that under which we live so that all his arguments without any further comment are applicable to our Kingdom and whereas he foresaw ‖ Ep. ad Lect. that it would be objected to him that he gives the Christian Magistrate especially in great and absolute Monarchies greater authority than seems to stand with the good of the Church or the truth of God's Word he desires the Reader not to attribute it to flattery but to a constant and settled persuasion he intending in publishing the Treatise the good and peaceable State of the Kingdom and the maintaining of that powerful and majestical Authority whereunto it hath pleased God to make us subject and in the discourse he affirms †Sect. 2. p. 4 5. that Magistracy is not a mere device of Man as they who contemn and labor to overthrow all Authority speaking evil of those things which they know not have imagined but an ordinance of God. Rom. 13. there is no power but of God he therefore that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. Obj. But it cannot be shewed that it was ever establish'd by God throughout the World except only among the Jews but was invented and continued by Men excelling others in strength and ambition Answ The abuses of Magistracy tho many and grievous p. 6. cannot take away the lawful use of it and altho Magistracy hath been by the express commandment of God establish'd only in the Church yet it belongs as much to Infidels for it is instituted by God not as he is the Saviour of his Church but as he is the Creator and Preserver of all Men. p. 7. God sets up this his Ordiannce among Infidels by the light of nature remaining in the minds of Men c.
who can lift up his hand against the Lord 's Anointed and be innocent 1 Sam. 26.9 or do they consider his commands in the Proverbs of Solomon 24.21 my Son fear God and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change or his counsel in the Book of Ecclesiastes 8.1 I counsel thee to keep the King's commandment and that in regard of the oath of God or because they possibly may pretend that they are exempted from or unconcern'd in the commands of Obedience delivered in the Old Testament do they know and remember the Precept given to all Christians by St. Peter submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake c. or that terrible Sanction of the same command they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation left by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans who then were the miserable Subjects of the worst King the worst Man nay I think I may add truly the worst Beast in the World that so all Rebels mouths might be stopt for ever ☜ and left without all colour and pretence whatsoever to justifie resistance of Sovereign Power Undoubtedly if they did know and consider and lay to heart these places of Scripture or the fearful judgment which befel Corah Dathan and Abiram for this very sin which they now commit and with a high hand still proceed in it would be impossible but their hearts would smite them as David 's did upon an infinitely less occasion and affright them out of these ways of present confusion and eternal damnation SECT III. Dr. 10 Serm. Prâ—at Lon. 16 â— P. 10â— Arthur Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells Magistrates are from God and he resides among them Magistrates must proceed like God God can and will redress the evils that spring from them because he is Sovereign in and over those places and persons which are misgoverned by them P. 131. what is our lesson truly first as Nazianzen advises as near as we can though we cannot as constantly as God not to have a heart and not a heart but to say with King David I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed it were to be wish'd there were such a constancy in our Oaths so many would not retract the Oath of that Allegiance which they owe without an Oath Dr. Sermon at St. Mary's Cambr on Judg. 21.25 1642. p. 27 28 29. Stephens The King's Commission is signed from Heaven by me Kings Reign his Authority is conferr'd by Heaven he is the Anointed of the Lord his power descends from Heaven obedience to him is required from Heaven 1 Pet. 2. it is the will of God that you submit your selves to the Government of your Kings I have heard the Prophet David suspected by some as partial in his own cause just like the Northern Borderers who conceived the Eighth Commandment thou shalt not steal to be none of God's making but foisted in by Henry the Eighth to shackle their thievish fingers but I dare oppose the 13th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans against the power of Men or Devils which would trample upon the necks of Kings suppose thy King very wicked he hath more need of thy Prayers to make him better suppose him to be a Tyrant he will give thee the fairer occasions to exercise thy virtue of patience suppose him to be a Persecutor he 'll do thee a courtesie he 'll send thee to Heaven by violence Saul was an unnatural Tyrant against his own Son Jonathan P. 30 31. ☞ a bloody Persecutor of the Priest's of God a Sacrilegious Usurper of their Holy Offices a demoniacal furious Man possest with a Devil and on David 's part his life was sought for and by sparing Saul he should undo himself he had all the opportunity that might and security could administer unto him he was Saul 's adopted Son by Michal 's Marriage he was a Successor to the Kingdom by the Prophet's Unction and yet for all this who can lift up his hand c. are we Christians do we know the virtue of an Oath What think we then of the Solemn Oath of our Allegiance an Oath which can receive no dispensation no absolution from any power whatsoever contrary to the assertions of Bellarmine and Parsons is the establish'd Doctrin of the Church of England in the 37 Article the King's Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and his other Dominions and is not nor ought to be Subject to any jurisdiction whatsoever the six parts of the Homily against Rebellion are so full and apposite that we must either disclaim them from being the Interpreters of the Doctrin of our Church or sit down convinc'd in the manifest truth of this assertion c. Consider seriously against whom would you take up Arms Id. Serm. on Judg. 4.23 p. 78. is it not against the Power against the Ordinance of God they are Men before God but they are Gods before Men. the whole earth combining could not make St. Bernard willingly offend his King and shall the fear of a threatned plundering make us oppose our King shall the common rout persuade me to go to Hell for company 'T is true God sometimes refines his Church in the Furnace of Persecution neither then does he leave it naked and disarm it but what are the Churches weapons St. Ambrose had his dolere potero potero flere his sighs and groans against the Gothish Soldiers St. Bernard fought to death against Lewis of France non scutis aut gladiis sed precibus fletibus prayers and tears were his Sword and Buckler Nazianzen overcame Julian but it was lacrymis ubertim effusis by softning his Adamantine Heart with salt drops from their eyes thence flows the only Sea we can overthrow Pharaoh 's Host in SECT IV. P. H. Corah of the tribe of Levi joyn'd with Dathan c. Sermon at Cambr. 1640. on Numb 16. 3. p. 5 6. of the tribe of Reuben the Levite or Clergy alone would have wanted power and strength the Laity or Reubenite alone could not have had so fair a colour and cloak of Religion to cover their rebellious practices but both join'd together make a strong Faction and a fair show our surest course is to judge Mens Persons by their actions if their actions be unsound and irregular P. 10. 2. p. 11 c. if they gather themselves together against God's express word and commandment against their Prince and Sovereign be their outward appearance never so specious we may assure our selves that they neither fear God nor regard Man but only to serve their own turns if God in absolute and unlimited terms pronounce ☜ whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God I cannot see how the goodness of the end be it Religion or Reformation or the common good can warrant any such resistance from the transgression of God's Ordinance P. 15. cons the place unless these and the like limitations
THE HISTORY OF Passive Obedience Since the REFORMATION AMSTERDAM Printed for Theodore Johnson in the Calver-Straet 1689. THE PREFACE HAving always thought that the Doctrine of Passive Obedience or Non-resistance of our lawful Superiors had been a Doctrine founded in the Holy Scriptures recommended to the Christian World by the Precepts and Example of our Blessed Saviour and the Practices of his more immediate Followers which Copy the Church of England hath exactly transcribed to whose immortal Glory it must be said that She alone in contra-distinction both to Papists and Dissenters hath asserted the Principles of Obedience to Princes as the best Ages of Christianity own'd and practised it and having lived so long to see that Doctrine ridicul'd and call'd the Doctrine of the Bow-string and the Assertors and Practisers of it exploded as Old Lacrymists and the matter of fact as to the first Ages of the Reformation denyed while some affirm that the Tenet was no older than Archbishop Laud and was introduced by a few Court Bishops Bishop Saunderson's Preface to Arch-Bishop Vsher of The Power of the Prince and Obedience of the Subject The Apostle saith put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers Tit. 3.1 Tho' S. Paul was certainly no Man-pleaser far from seeking himself or from making merchandize of the Word of God or handling it deceitfully for filthy Lucre sake nor were there hopes of Preferment when the Church had no setled Revenue nor was there any Christian Prince in the Universal World but he draws his Arguments from the Ordinance of God the discharge of Duty and a good Conscience the advancement of the Gospel and the honor of the Christian Religion See more in that admirable Preface the better to make way for the attainment and establishing of their own Grandeur by reason of which the Enemies of our Communion both Romanists and others have confidently averred that our Obedience to our Sovereigns is nothing but our Interest and that we have vindicated the Rights of Kings because they have vindicated the Rights of our Church and have prosecuted all that dislik'd our Constitutions I could no longer forbear writing in the behalf of that truth which is eternal and unalterable as are all the Doctrines of Christianity tho we must acknowledg to our shame that they are more illustrious in our Books than in our Lives and shewing that from the infancy of the happy Reformation the Church of England hath always believed and avowed That it is the duty of every Christian in things lawful actively to obey his Superior in things unlawful to suffer rather than obey and in any case or upon any pretence whatsoever not to resist because whoever does so shall receive to themselves Damnation Nor can the Doctrine be unseasonable since no Government can be safe without it Mens Passions naturally inclining them to think well of themselves and to make Complaints of hard Vsage even then when they are most gently treated what Instances have we in the Writings of the last Ages When Parsons in the name of his Party resolving to expose the admirable Reign of Q. Elizabeth renders her worse than the worst of Tyrants and asks Where are the Neroes and Dioclesians where are the Genserics and Hunnerics As if neither Pagan nor Arian Persecutors were as cruel as she And when another Classis of Men blackned one of the best of Men and the best of Princes the Martyr CHARLES I. as the great Enemy of his Country the Invader of the Religion and Liberties of his Subjects and have not former Ages labored under the same Discontents When the disaffected Jews could say We have no portion in David nor any inheritance in the Son of Jesse every man to his tents O Israel And yet that Prince was of Gods own immediate designation and a Man after Gods own heart Now if upon such Pretensions Subjects may right themselves by resisting their lawful Superiours how soon will a fruitful Land be turned into a barren Wilderness and Paradise it self become a Field of Blood And I have with some regret and confusion reflected heretofore that in the Romish Communion Preston Widdrington and Barnes in England VValsh and Caron in Ireland and in Scotland Barclay to omit other Countries all profest Papists and all but Barclay Priests and consequently more obliged to uphold the Grandeur of the Pontifical Chair should honestly and stoutly appear to the Vindication of this Truth which we seem either weary or asham'd of I never wondered to see the Enemies of our Church make a Fasting-day of our Blessed Saviours Nativity as if they were sorry that he came into the World and perhaps with reason because their Actions were so contrary both to his Precepts and Example but I stand amazed to see her Sons disown her Doctrine and Constitutions Did we seriously study the Laws of Providence and consider the indispensible Obligations laid on us of taking up the Cross did we remember that Affliction is the Churches Portion and that not the least Evil may be done to procure the greatest Good this a Aug. de haeres Epiph. Doctrine would be more easily believ'd and more readily embrac'd They were the Gnosticks of the Primitive Church who taught Men to swear and forswear and to sly from Persecution when it was the Lot of Religion And for these among other Reasons I conjecture does b Stillingfleet's Ser. Jan. 30. 168 â— / 9. p. 3. 4. a learned Man of our Church call Simon Magus the Institutor of that vile Sect The Leviathan of the Primitive Church who de stroyed all the differences of good and evil And that probably because as the Leviathan makes himself sport in the waters so the Gnosticks played with Oaths and all Laws divine and human c Id. p. 4. setting a mighty Value upon themselves and having mean and contemptible Thoughts of the Authority which God had established in the VVorld and it may be because he was the Hobbs of that Age who gave being to Opinions contradictory to the whole Tenour of the Gospel For the Gnosticks thought d Id. p. 5. all the Governments of the VVorld to be nothing else but the contrivance of some evil Spirits to abridg Men of their Liberty which God and Nature had given them and that this is the speaking evil of Dignities which they are charged with by S. Jude And the same great Man says e Sermon Novem. 5. 1673. pag. 2 3. that it was one of Machiavel 's Quarrels against Christianity that by its Precepts of Meekness and Patience it rendered Men unfit for such great Undertakings as could not be accomplish'd without something of Cruelty and Inhumanity whereas the old Religions by the multitude of Sacrifices did inure Men to Blood and Destruction and so made them fit for any Enterprize And Machiavel was certainly in the right if Religion were intended only to make Men Butchers or to instruct them in the use of Swords and
Gun-powder nay the Religion of Mahomet is in this respect to be very much preferr'd before the Christian c. And having mention'd Hobbs how am I asham'd to find that his Authority and the Reasons which he derived from Milton and both from Doleman i. e. Parsons the Jesuite are of a sudden so generally received as if the Doctrine were Apostolical and ought to be preached in all the World That Power is originally in the Body of the People that the Foundation of all Government is laid in compact and that the breach of Conditions by one Party dispenses with the Duty of the other tho confirmed by Sacraments Oaths B. Saunderson's Case of a rash Vow §. 9. The several Duties that by Gods Ordinance are to be performed by Persons that stand in mutual relation either to other are not pactional or conditional as are the Leagues and Agreements made between Princes but are absolute and independent wherein each Person is to look to himself and to the performance of the Duty that lies upon him tho the other Party should fail in the performance of his Cons Praelect 5. de Juram and reiterated Promises that a Prince may be opposed in his Politick tho not in his personal Capacity that when Religion is a part of our Property it may be defended and that the Determinations of Providence are to be followed or that the Prosperity of a Cause is a Mark of its goodness And what encouragement hath the owning and complying with such Principles given to many weak and ignorant Persons who cannot distinguish between the steady Doctrines of a Church and the Opinions and Practices of some of her Members to embrace the Roman Faith and Communion I need not declare the Matter of Fact is visible while we are accused that all our former Declarations have been only pretence and juggle and that we have been Loyal no longer than we could get by it I speak this God knows not to upbraid but to deplore and if I could to confute the Calumny and with the deepest sense of the Interests of a poor despised Church which is still and will be the best the most Orthodox and most Primitive of all Christendom Nor is this Account strange and new any otherwise than as it concerns the Church of England as distinct from other Protestants since a Exomologes cap. 12. I confess I wondered that they could hope to make any Christians believe that their Reformation came from the Spirit of Christ when instead of those spiritual Arms of Charity Humility Patience and most indispensible Obedience even to Nero himself by which Christ enabled his Apostles to conquer the World to the belief of the Gospel Calvin and Luther put into the hands of their Sectaries Malice Pride Hatred to suffer for Conscience sake active Resistance against all Authority in a word the very same Weapons which the Devil suggested to Mahomet After the best enquiry I could make I could not find or hear of during our bloody Civil War so much as one single Person of the Presbyterian Calvinist Party but did actively oppose his King nor one single Minister of that Party but was a Trumpet to incite to war. Cons Loc. Cressy makes it one of the most cogent Reasons why he when he vainly thought the Church of England quite destroyed so as never to be restored could not communicate with other Protestant Churches because they tho in that Accusation he falsifies and calumniates as I shall make it appear in the following Discourse taught men That it was lawful to take Arms in defence of Religion and that when Princes persecuted the Truth their Subjects were no longer bound to obey them Nor is Cressy the only Person of the Popish Communion who hath laid this Imputation at the door of the Protestants tho without Reason or Justice while the Romish Church in one of her General Councils determins the Deposition of Princes who are not in all things obedient to her Injunctions And I hope no man can imagin that I intend to promote any disturbance by this Writing 1. Because I only do the office of an Historian not wilfully misquoting any Passage nor citing it contrary to the Authors intention and meaning as far as I understand it and this also must excuse me from being obliged to make good every Argument from Authority or Reason which my Authors use for that Province those of my Authors which are alive are obliged to manage or to acknowledg their Mistakes I intending only to shew the concurrent Testimony of our greatest Men in this momentous Point 2. Because I am told a Dr. Burnet's Royal Martyr page 6. that the Incendiary and Incendiarism were among the much abused words of the late times yet those were the great Incendiaries who kindled God's wrath and that it is from such that we may justly fear the like or rather severer Judgments if our Sins be greater than they were then i. e. When under the specious Pretexts of Liberty and Religion they first opposed and then murdered the Lord 's Anointed 3. Because he who preaches up the Necessity of Suffering and the Unlawfulness of Resisting Superiors and who avers that the Gospel teaches the followers of our Blessed Saviour to dye but not to fight for Religion is little likely to be a Disturber of Government whose Original he acknowledges to be only from Heaven and accountable only to that Tribunal For at last it will be found true that no Government can be safe while those who live under it do not own this Principle That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against our Lawful Sovereign since he who is Obedient and Loyal only because his Compliance advances his Designs either of Profit Pleasure Honor Revenge or any other Lust as soon as his Point is gained his Duty ceases but he who is obedient to his Sovereign Dr. Tennison Hobbs's Creed p. 159. Except a Man obey for Conscience sake all the Cords of outward Pacts and Covenants will not hold him when he dreams that the Philistines are upon him and that he can deliver himself by force from the power of his Enemies in which number the Prince himself is reckoned by ambitious Subjects out of favor Mr. Pelling's Sermon Jan. 30. 1683. p. 43. Some are for the King as long as he is rich powerful able to maintain their Interest this is the Loyalty of the Leviathan c. because he is God's Vicegerent and because God hath obliged him to be subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake can never be shook from his good resolutions and will be unalterably true to his Oaths and his Duty And when so many Men eminent for their Piety Learning and Station have unanimously agreed in delivering their Sentiments in this Point to say that whatever they said or did was to gratifie or advance their ambitious or covetous Appetites as if their Honesty like Quicksilver in a Weather-glass rose
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
Doctrines to murder Princes are not of the Gospel-Spirit Bishop Hacket's Sermons on Psal xli 9. on the Gowry's Conspiracy p. 740. 741. Surely above all Men if the Clergy be not careful to set forth the honor of this day with great Honour and Solemnity it is their Ignorance or their Negligence Had these furious Sword-men that laid their Weapons to his Throat found an austere Master nay a Tyrant they must have born with it and not touch the Man that bears the Character of the Lord 's Anointed Dr. Sharp before the House of Commons Apr. 11. 1679. p. 35. O may God so inspire you That by your means the Person of his sacred Majesty and the Rights of his Crown may be secured against all wicked Attempts And p. 39. Let us hate all Tricks and Devices and Equivocations both in our Words and in Carriage Let us be constantly and inflexibly loyal to our Prince and let no consideration in the World make us violate our Allegiance to him And in his Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor 1680. speaking of the upright Man He is one studiously endeavouring to preserve his Allegiance to his Prince Pag. 19. He is a Man that honors the King that is observant of the Laws that is true to the Government and meddles not with them that are given to change In his Sermon preached at the Yorkshire Feast Feb. 17. 16 79 / 80. p. 17. We may do a great deal of good by our good Examples of Loyalty SECT XXII And to evince that this hath been the unquestion'd Doctrine of all the Members of this Church I shall subjoin many other Testimonies * Bish of Lincoln Principl and Posit p. 7. That England is a Monarchy the Crown Imperial and our Kings supreme Governors and sole supreme Governors of this Realm and all other their Dominions will I believe I am sure it should be granted seeing our Authentick Laws and Statutes do so expresly and so often say it In our Oath of Supremacy we swear That the King is the only supreme Governor supreme so none not the Pope above him and only supreme so none coordinate or equal to him so that by our known Laws our King is solo Deo minor invested with such a Supremacy as excludes both Pope and People and all the World God Almighty only excepted by whom Kings do reign from having any Power Jurisdiction or Authority over him This Book hath its Imprimatur not from any mean hand but from my Lord Bishop of London himself which is to me a plain implication that his Lordship did then own the Doctrine and so we have another Testimony to the Truth †Burnet's Vind. c. printed at Glascow p. 7. c. The Vindication of the Authority c. of the Church is full to this purpose Obj. May not Subjects when opprest in their establish'd Religion defend themselves and resist the Magistrate doth not the Law of Nature direct Men to defend themselves when unjustly assaulted Answ We must distinguish between the Laws of Nature and the Rights and Permissions of Nature now self-defence cannot be a Law of Nature ☜ for then it could never be dispenc'd with without a Sin nay were a man never so criminal he ought not to suffer himself to be killed neither should any Malefactor submit to the sentence of the Judge but stand to his defence by all the force he could raise and it will not serve turn to say for the good of Society he ought to submit for no Man must violate the Laws of Nature were it on never so good a design Christ's dying for us shews that self-defence can be no Law of Nature otherwise Christ who fulfilled all Righteousness had contradicted the Laws of Nature ‖ Pag. 10. He then proceeds to demonstrate that Magistrates derive not their Power from the Surrender of the People for none can surrender what they have not ☜ Take then a multitude of People not yet associated none of them hath power of his own Life neither hath he power of his Neighbor's since no Man out of Society may kill another be his Crime never so great much less be his own Murtherer A multitude of People not yet associated are but so many individual Persons therefore the Power of the Sword is not from the People nor is any of their Delegation but is from God. * Pag. 35. Consider that Christ was to fulfill all Righteousness if then the Laws of Nature exact our Defence in case of unjust Persecution for Religion ☜ he was bound to that Law as well as we for he came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law both by his Example and Precepts if then you charge the Doctrine of Absolute Submission as brutish or stupid or as contrary to the Law of Nature see you do not run into Blasphemy by charging that Holy One foolishly for whatever he knew of the secret Will of God he was to follow his revealed Will in his Actions †Pag. 39. If fighting at that time when Saint Peter drew his Sword for preserving Christ from the Jews were contrary to the Nature of his Kingdom so the Rule of the Gospel binding all the succeeding Ages of the Church no less than those to whom it was first deliver'd what was then contrary to the nature of Christ's Kingdom will be so still * P. 42. I shall add one thing which all Casuists hold a safe Rule in matters that are doubtful viz. That we ought to follow that side of the doubt that is freest from hazard ☞ here then damnation is at least the seeming hazard of resistance therefore except upon as clear evidence you prove the danger of absolute submission to be of the same nature that it may ballance the other then absolute submission as being the securest is to be followed * P. 41. Obj. But he is the Minister of God to thee for good and if they swerve from this they forsake the end for which they were raised up and so fall from the Power and right to our Obedience Answ It is true the Sovereign is a Minister of God for good so that he corrupts his power grosly when he pursues not that design but in that he is onely accountable to God whose Minister he is c. The same Author continued stedfast to this Doctrine when he left Scotland and came into England * Ser. on Jan. 30. 1674 / 5. p. 7. 9. David when Saul was most unjustly hunting his life would not stretch forth his hand against him seeing he was the anointed of the Lord from Almighty God the King had his Power and to him he knew he was to give an account of his Administration Affirming that the Enemies of that Royal Martyr P. 38. by Oaths and Counter-Oaths which they often took had their Consciences so seared as to be past feeling till they threw off all sense of God and Religion and set up professedly
God sets over us So that Religion can never be pretended against Loyalty and therefore when I take a sad review of the Evil of our late Disturbances It ake not so much notice of the Loss of King Liberty Property Parliaments Blood tho very great as of impairing so far the Credit of Religion in the Violences offered to the person of his Sacred Majesty and that by persons so highly pretending to it I am sorry the Papists seem to have now a thirtieth of January Pag. 18. to return us for a fifth of November Christianity disowns all consecrated Daggers in Heathen Writers indeed nothing of more familiar occurrence than Panegyricks in commendation of the Assertors of publick Liberty by the assassinating of a Tyrant a thing easily pardonable in them being able by the dim Light of Nature to discover no more in a King than a Head of Gold supported by the Clayie Toes of popular Election and Acceptance but Scripture shews a higher Charter than so Pag. 19. by which Kings hold their Crowns Prov. 8.15 By me Kings reign c. the taking Arms to redress some Evils in the Government of a Nation proves generally but as the cutting off of the Hand to get rid of a cut Finger Pag. 23. It is a Truth of everlasting Faithfulness That can never be brought about safely by bad means which could not be by good SECT XXIV Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury * Letter to the Lord Russel Jun. 20. 1683. In tender compassion of your Lordship's Case and from all the good will that one man can bear to another I do humbly offer to your Lordships deliberate thoughts these following Considerations concerning the Point of Resistance if our Religion and Rights should be invaded ☞ 1. That the Christian Religion doth plainly forbid the resistance of Authority 2. That tho our Religion be established by Law which your Lordship urges as a Difference between our Case and that of the Primitive Christians yet in the same Law which establishes our Religian 14 Car. 2. c. 4. 14 Car. 2. c. 3. it is declared That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms c. Besides that there is a particular Law declaring the Power of the Militia to be solely in the King and this ties the Hands of Subjects tho the Law of Nature and the general Rules of Scripture had left us at liberty which I believe they do not because the Government and Peace of human Society could not well subsist upon these Terms 3. Your Lordship's Opinion is contrary to the declared Doctrine of all Protestant Churches ☜ and tho some particular persons have taught otherwise that have been contradicted herein and condemn'd for it by the generality of Protestants I beg of your Lordship to consider how it will agree with an avowed asserting of the Protestant Religion to go contrary to the general Doctrine of the Protestants my end in this is to convince your Lordship that you are in a very dangerous and great Mistake and being so convinced that which before was a sin of Ignorance will appear of a much more heinous nature as in truth it is 〈◊〉 calls for a very particular and deep repentance which if your Lordship exercise by a particular acknowledgment of it to God and Man you will not only obtain forgiveness of God but prevent a mighty scandal to the Reformed Religion I am very loth to give your Lordship and disquiet in the distress you are in but am much more concern'd that you do leave the world in a delusion and false peace to the hinderance of your eternal happiness And in his Prayer on the Scaffold with the same Lord he hath this expression Grant O Lord that all we who survive by this and other instances of thy Providence may learn our Duty to God and the King. Dr. Stillingfleet Dean of S. Paul's Serm. on Jan. 30. 166 8 / 9 on Jude 11. p. 2 3. The Christian Religion above all others hath taken care to preserve the Right sof Sovereignty by giving unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's And to make resistance unlawful by declaring that those who are guilty of it shall receive to themselves damnation Of such men we have a description in this short but smart Epistle who believ'd it a part of their Saintship to despise Dominions c. P. 7 8. Whose design like that of Corah was the sharing the Government among themselves which it was impossible for them to hope for as long as Moses continued a King in Jeshurun nor were they awed by the solemn Vows and Promises they had made of Obedience to him for factious men know they must address themselves to the people and in the first place persuade them that they manage their interests against the usurpations of their Governors while the people take a strange pride in hearing and telling all the Faults of their Governors P. 11 12. The common grounds of all Seditions being usurpations upon the Peoples Rights ☜ arbitrary Government and ill management of Affairs as if they had said we appear only in the behalf of the Fundamental Liberties of the People both Civil and Spiritual That Moses was guilty of the Breach of the Trust committed to him so that now by the ill management of his Trust the Power was again devolved into the Hands of the People and they ought to take account of his Actions Pag. 21. Cons p. 22 23 c. There were then two great Principles among them by which they thought to defend themselves 1. That Liberty and a Right to Power is so inherent in the People that it cannot be taken from them 2. That in case of Usurpation upon that Liberty of the People they may resume the Exercise of Power b◠punishing those who are guilty of it And I believe they will be found to be the first Assertors of this kind of Liberty that ever were in the world ☞ and happy had it been for this Nation if Corah had never found any Disciples in it Of the later of the two Propositions Pag. 26 27 28 29. it is said that there can be no Principle imagined more destructive to Civil Societies and repugnant to the very nature of Government for it destroys all the Obligations of Oaths and Compacts it makes the solemnest Bonds of Obedience signifie nothing it makes every prosperous Rebellion just c. and if Corah Dathan and Abiram had succeeded in their Rebellion against Moses no doubt they would have been called the Keepers of the Liberties of ISRAEL The Supposition of this Principle will unavoidably keep up a constant Jealousie between the Prince and his People and there can be no such way to bring in an arbitrary Government into a Nation Besides this must necessarily engage a Nation in endless Disputes about the forfeiture of Power into whose Hands it falls whether into the People in common or some persons
welfare and prosperity Rebellion against their Governours they hated as Witchcaft and ever thought it safer to suffer than to resist Hence they paid Tribute without marmuring for their opinion was that no Man could have that Power except it were given him from above His Tyranny could not make them neglect their duty nor his ill Government tempt them to forget their Allegiance Where the Man was rough and hard-hearted that was over them they look'd upon the Providence as a means to try their faith and even then when they might have resisted and conquer'd they would not because they thought it was unsuitable to their Religion SECT XXVI Doctor Tennison says the same * Mr. Hobbs's Creed examin'd p. 149 15 151. This then is the Doctrine of Politicks that Rebellion is not Iniquity if upon probable grounds it becomes prosperous It is blamed as an opinion of Mr. White That part-boil'd Romanist as he is called that a dispossess'd Prince ought neither to be desired nor to endeavour to return if the people think themselves to be well and their Trade and Employment be undisturb'd And he adds Who can answer they shall be better by the return of the dispossess'd party surely in common presumption the gainer is like to defend them better than he who lost it ☜ Certainly for this Sentence publish'd at such a time to this Nation if for any other cause those Books ought to be burnt in England as well as some of them have been burnt at Rome there is no tye so strong as that of Religion p. 158 159. which eternally binds a conscientious Subject in Allegiance to his Sovereign and Wars arise from mens self-interests and lusts and true goodness is both the Creator and preserver of peace unless a Man obeys for Conscience-sake all the Cords of outward Pacts and Covenants will not hold him * V. pref p. 7. c. Neither will such Covenants hold the people that pretend to Religion if they be mis-taught that God is glorified in their private good and that their private good is to be valued before the life of a Prince if they can safely deprive him of it What Hobbs hath written three times over in his de Cive p. 161. de Corpore Politico and his Leviathan ought rather to be esteemed seeds of Sedition than Elements of Government and Society and I am sure among those Principles one is that Government is founded in compact The people p. 167. if they believed that a company of Delinquents joyning together to defend themselves by Arms do not at all unjustly but may lawfully repel lawful force by force they would soon be stirred up and suffer none for whom they have respect to be brought to justice SECT XXVII Thus Doctor Hooper * Serm. at Whitehal on Math. 22.21 p. 11. Is he not the Vicegerent of God Wherever therefore his Sovereign the Almighty hath not prevented him by any precedent Commands there he hath right and liberty to put forth his and in those cases to expect an active chearful Obedience ☞ and that we should in no case and for no reason resist Be this Civil Government heretick or Infidel we are not discharg'd of our Allegiance we are obliged by the same divine Authority to preserve our Religion under it and to continue to it our subjection p. 18 19. the Church of which we have the blessing to be Members has restored to Princes and those that are in Authority the full exercise of their lawful Power their Countries and their people no place priviledg'd nor person exempted no forein Potentate sharing the Authority nor dividing their Revenue ☞ their Subjects bound in an Allegiance not to be withdrawn on any pretence of Schism or Heresie in the power of no Consistory to discharge And here we see no politick reserve that our Church hath not provided for it self any other refuge but in the providence of God and the piety of the Civil Power What was not her own she hath given out of her hands where she cannot communicate yet there she will obey and where she cannot obey she is ready to endure expecting her reward in Heaven ☞ not ignorant how much she suffers now from the contradiction of disloyal Men for the truth of this Doctrine and how much by its meekness she stands exposed to future persecution yet she professes to know too that her Saviour's Kingdom is not of this World that the rendezvouz against a Prince is not protected by being in a Church turns not her Congregations into Armies c. And though Parties seemingly opposite agree in the contrary Opinion we take not that for an argument of its truth equally detesting the holy League of the one and the solemn League of the other Doctor Harscard Dean of Windsor * Serm. before L. Mayor 1680. p. 13. Contempt of Government springs from that leud Opinion that Dominion is nothing else but strength and might that Philosophy that resolves all Beings and Actions into matter and motion lays the foundation too of all Obedience not Conscience and divine Commands ☜ but the strongest Arm and longest Sword only Subjects because they are over-power'd What doth vilifie our Governours more than this Principle Whom we beautified before with the Titles of sacred and divine but now are made a common lump onely of strength and power and are really weaker because their Subjects too like them are onely Arms but no heart or Conscience no internal Principle to oblige unto Obedience For if no inward persuasion or dread of an higher power but only fear and interest weakness and convenience are the bottom and reason of our Obedience where these shall change and the Man hath swell'd his Coffers procured firm Alliances and muster'd up his Armies and Confederates and other instruments of Rebellion he may then by the Title of Power lay claim to Dominion and set up for himself What signifies religious Oaths and solemn Vows to engage us unto Obedience which is onely an acknowledgment of weakness if onely external power must be their keeper SECT XXVIII Doctor Falkner's Christian Loyalty is written wholly upon this Subject proving that Government is appointed by God and is of divine Institution own'd so by the Christians who were persecuted by the Civil Powers and his whole second Book is employed in shewing the unlawfulness of Subjects taking Arms against the King upon any account and this he proves from the obligation of Oaths and solemn declarations from the Laws of Nature and humane policy from the prohibitions of both the Old and New Testament especially the New proving that this resistance is not onely sinful in private persons but in the whole body of the people and in subordinate Magistrates and I would willingly see a sober Answer to that discourse instead of puzling the World with little distinctions of persecuting according to or against Law. And in his Treatise of Reproach and Censure he shews how
their Doctrine to have been of God had their Actions been so contrary to all the Precepts of Natural Divinity And in this matter does the Learned Dr. Dr. Dove's Serm. before the Sons of the Clergy 1687. Dove vindicate the Integrity of our Church in a few but as significant Words as any of his Brethren when speaking of some who suffered much for their Constancy to the Faith and their Fidelity to the Crown he terms them Two inseparable Notes of a genuine Son of the Church of England Dr. Puller * Moderat of the Ch. of Engl. ch 12. § 5. Other Sects deny the King's Supremacy in Matters Ecclesiastical either claiming a Power of Jurisdiction over him or pleading a Privilege of Exemption from under him where as the Clergy of the Church of England like good Christians and good Subjects neither pretend to any Jurisdiction over the Kings of England nor withdraw their Subjection from them †Sect. 6 7. And then he vindicates that Expression of Can. 1. of the Synod 1640. That the Order of Kings is most high and sacred The Moderation of our Church doth not favour any Doctrines or Practices which are prejudicial to the safety of human Society in general It doth no where pretend to remit the Divine Laws or dispense with Oaths or transfer the Rights of Kingdoms c. Contrariwise it requires of all of its Communion to give the King such Security of their Allegeance and Fealty as may be a sufficient Security to his Government ‖ Chap. 17. The Romanists and Separatists extremely agree in their Principles against the Civil Magistrate according to that of Bishop Lany * Bishop Lany's Serm. on 1 Thess 4.11 The Papists and Presbyterians hunt in Couples against the King's Power and Supremacy It is admirable to see how the Commonwealths Men in the times of the late Rebellion received their Principles from the ancient and modern Writers of the Jesuits and other Papists and still agree with them in most of the Republican Doctrines and Tendencies of them to the like Practices Both deny the Supremacy of the King one attributes it to the Pope originally the other to the People and the same Arguments which the Pope useth for his Supremacy over Kings the Disciplinarians use for establishing their Sovereignty The Pretence of the King's Authority against his Person was hatch'd under the Roman Territories and was made use of in the Holy League of France The Rules for making a King to be a Tyrant and then ceasing to be a King that it may be lawful to attempt any thing against his Person and Life are so much the same §. 20. that they cannot be more I need not here relate how many Doctrines of the Romanists tend to dissolve the very Bonds of relative Duty one towards another absolving People from their Oaths and Allegiance No Faith to be kept with Hereticks c. How do many Principles of our Enthusiasts and Separatists tend to destroy the Relations of King and Subject Bishop and People c. SECT XXXII Dr. Scott * Serm. July 26. 1685. p. 2. P. 13 14. Absalom accomplish'd his design partly by declaiming against the Maleadministrations of his Father's Government partly by promising them a thorough Reformation if ever he arrived to be a Judge in Israel Every Man knows or might easily know if he were not extremely wanting to himself that his King is the Vicegerent of his God and that being so he is indispensibly obliged by all the ties of Reason and Religion to submit to his Will and reverence his Person and bow to his Authority and that he cannot lift up his hand against him without fighting against God himself the Truth of which is as obvious to our natural Reason and as plainly asserted in holy Scripture as of any Proposition in Religion ☜ so that I dare boldly affirm a Man may find as many Pretexts for any Vice whatsoever even for Drunkenness Whoredom or Perjury as ever were made for Rebellion and were I to set up for a publick Patron of Wickedness I hardly know a Villany in nature so black and monstrous which I could not more plausibly recommend to Mens Reason and Consciences than this of Resistance against lawful Authority which is such a complication of Villanies such a loathsome mixture of hellish Ingredients as is enough to nauseate any Conscience but a Devil 's And tho Conscience and Religion are the Colors it usually marches under yet is the imposture of this Pretence so fulsome and bare-fac'd that no Man in his Wits can be innocently abused by it for certainly that Man must have a great mind to rebel his Will must have a strong Byass of Pride or Discontent Faction or Ambition in it that in despite of all the evidence from Reason and Scripture to the contrary can persuade himself that it is lawful for him and much less P. 15 16. that it is his duty to lift up his hand against his Sovereign And therefore for Men to appeal to God in a Cause so apparently wicked is not submissively to refer themselves to him but openly to mock and affront him and to make a vexatious Appeal to God's Judgment again in a Case which he hath so often and so expresly judged already is a common Barretry 't is not to consult but to tempt him and under pretence of submitting to his determinations openly to defie his Authority in effect it is to appeal from his Will to his Providence and to bespeak him to declare himself against his own Declarations In the case of Rebellion there is not only a peremptory Disobedience to those Laws of God which require our dutiful Submission to our lawful Superiors ☞ but also a direct Renuntiation of the divine Authority it self for all Sovereign Power is immediately founded in the Dominion of God who being the supreme Lord of the World no person can have right to govern in his Kingdom under him but by Commission from him Kings therefore are only accountable to him P. 17.18 and if so then for any of their Subjects to presume to call them to account by a publick form'd resistance is to arraign God's own Authority and invade his peculiar it is to thrust him out of his Throne and set themselves down in it and then to summon his Authority before them and require it to submit its awful Head to their imperious doom and sentence While therefore we behave our selves factiously and rebelliously towards those whom God hath set over us we live as Out-laws in the Kingdom of God without any respect to that visible Authority by which he governs the World and if this be so then for Subjects to rebel against their Prince is neither better nor worse than to appeal to God against his own Authority and to put this impious Case to him Whether it be he or they that have the Right of Governing the World. I profess * Id. Serm.
of Testimonies Yet after the Popes Deposing Power came into request the Commonwealth Principles did so too and the Power of Princes was said to be of another Original and therefore they were accountable to the People And having shown the Affinity of such Doctrines and Principles in both by some Tragical effects of them as well at home as abroad he proceeds thus Pag. 12. If we enquire farther into the Reasons of these Pretences we shall find them alike on both sides The Commonwealthsmen when they are asked how the People having once parted with their Power come to resume it They presently run to an implicit Contract between the Prince and the People by vertue whereof the People have a Fundamental Power left in themselves which they are not to exercise but upon Princes violating the Trust committed to them The very same Ground is made the Foundation of the Popes Deposing Power viz. An Implicit Contract that all Princes made when they were Christians to submit their Scepters to the Popes Authority c. And where he reasons against these Principles from the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Pag. 15. The Religion they taught says he never meddled with Crowns and Scepters but left to Cesar the things that were Cesar's and never gave the least intimation to Princes of any Forfeiture of their Authority if they did not render to God the things that are God's Concluding that Head with this Reflection upon the whole In my 〈◊〉 there is very little difference between Dominion being founded in Grace and being forfeited for want of it But then secondly as to the breaking of Oaths and Bonds of Allegiance he first lays down That the Duty betwixt Princes and Subjects is natural and antecedent to their embracing the Christian Religion And therefore secondly the absolving Subjects from that is in plain terms nulling the Obligation to a natural Duty and taking away the Force of Oaths and Promises And thirdly That all Mankind are agreed that it is a sin to break a lawful Oath and the more solemn and weighty the Oath is the greater is the Perjury And then proceeds to shew that the Power which absolves from such Oaths is a Power of turning Evil into Good and Good into Evil of making civil Obedience to Princes to be a Crime and Perjury to be none and such as from the Schoolmen he proves to be greater than they allow of in God himself Pag. 18. where there is intrinsick Goodness in the Nature of the thing and inseparable Evil from the contrary to it As in the Case says he of Disobedience to Parents and Violation of Oaths lawfully made and after a clear Confutation of the Sophistry of Popish Casuists in this matter he concludes Wo be to them that make good evil Pag. 24. and evil good when it serves their turn For this is plainly setting up a particular Interest under the Name of the Good of the Church and violating the Laws of Righteousness to advance it If Men break through Oaths and the most solemn Engagements and Promises and regard no Bonds of Justice and Honesty to compass their Ends let them call them by what specious Names they please The Good Old Cause or The Good of the Church it matters not which there can be no greater sign of Hypocrisie and real Wickedness than this c. And lastly as for the justifying Rebellion upon the account of Religion having cited the Boucher de justâ abdicat Hen. 3 Sorbon Doctor who not only called it lawful to resist Authority on the Account of Religion but folly and Impiety not to do it where there is any probability of Success And said that the Martyrs were only to be commended for suffering because they wanted Power to resist With a Note of Admiration says he Most Catholick and Primitive Doctrine And a little after pag. 28. Cardinal Bellarmin having given his Reason amongst others for the Pope's deposing Power Because it is not lawful for Christians to suffer an Heretical Prince if he seeks to draw his Subjects to his Belief The Learned Dean makes this Reflection upon it And what Prince that believes his own Religion doth it not And what then is this but to raise Rebellion against a Prince where-ever he and they happen to be of different Religions With a great deal more to the same purpose which it would be much more profitable for the Reader to learn from the ingenious Preface it self than from this imperfect Transcript of it A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF Passive Obedience Since the REFORMATION AMSTERDAM Printed for Theodore Johnson in the Calver-Straet 1690. A PREFATORY EPISTLE TO THE AUTHOR Of the First Part of the History of Passive Obedience SIR THE first part of the History of Passive Obedience having been favorably received by the generality of Readers tho unjustly censured and undeservedly reproach'd by some Men who think themselves injured thereby I have thought fit to publish a second Part of the same History not doubting your leave for my so doing wherein the Reader may find that Doctrin carefully and at large deduc'd through the first Ages of our Reformation down to the times of Archbishop Laud and from thence to the present time to shew the World that the Opinion was not first hatch'd and brought up in that great Man's days who dyed a Martyr to the constitutions of our most excellent Church and among them to the true Principles of Loyalty Nor do I believe that any one Primitive Doctrin wherein we differ from the Papists can shew even in that Age when the whole drift of our Writers was to expose and confute the Romish Synagogue more Authors that uniformly assert it than this of Non-Resistance as if God in his wise and good Providence had so order'd it to stifle an Objection which he foresaw would afterwards be made against it in the degenerate Ages of the same Church nor is there need of any other Apology to you or the Reader for my medling with this Province for my adding some Passages to what hath been already publish'd and illustrating and enlarging others since if the interest of truth be promoted See the History unmask'd it matters not how many are engaged in that service nor that whether they are called Papists Atheists and Hobbists for their pains I have often heretofore wondred at the assurance of the Romish Authors who wrote against our Church a little after the Reformation that they could so confidently accuse the whole Body of Pretestants as the Preachers and Practisers of Rebellion for so says Stapleton ‖ Counterblast p. 20. that Protestants obey no longer than till they have power to resist And Card. Allen * Answ to the Just of Gr. Bri. cap. 4. that the Protestants are desperate and Factious that as long as the Laws are favorable to them they are obedient but when the Laws are against them and their Princes their Enemies they break all the Bonds of Allegiance despise
he suffered the most bitter and cruel kind of Death for our sakes and the points of Office of him that is his Vicar are to be in subjection not to command Princes but to acknowledge himself to be under their power and commandment not only when they command things indifferent and easily to be done but also when they command things not indifferent so they be not wicked in checks in scourgings and beatings unto death yea even unto the death of the Cross Indeed these are Christs footsteps Now if it be objected against what hath been said that the Author of the Treatise Gardiner was a virulent Papist I answer this strengthens the Authority for the Testimony of an Enemy to the Truth of Religion is worth an hundred other Witnesses and it is very remarkable that a Romish Bishop should assert the Divine Right and unaccountableness of Kings when his Church teacheth him to believe that the Pope hath power to depose Princes and many of their eminent Writers affirm that all power is originally in and derived from the people And if it be further objected that Gardiner retracted and disowned this Doctrine in the Reign of Queen Mary I grant it and I wish that he and Bonner had been the only men in the world who had altered their Opinions for the worse being prevailed upon by the love of the world which is the root of all evil But Truth is never the less venerable because some Professors of it have turned Apostates Gardiner 's and Bonner 's Reasons * Vide Cranmer's Translat in praef before his Book of unwritten Verities being so pithy and Arguments so strong as neither they themselves nor any other after them shall be able at any time rightly to assoil and answer And it must be observed that before they condemned these their Orthodox Tenets they wilfully broke the Oaths which they had taken in the Days of Henry the Eighth and the venerable Dean * Reproof of Dorman p. 1.6 Lond. 1565. Nowel thus urges the Argument Ask your forsworn Fathers with what face they did give to the King the Title of Supreme Head did swear it to him and so long time continued so calling him If they did not so think as they said and had sworn but dissembled deeply ask of them with what face they played so false dissembling Hypocrites with their Sovereign Lord Ask of them what manner of Subjects they were all that while feigning in face in word in writing yea and taking a Solemn Oath to be with their Prince therein and being in heart and deed on his sworn Enemy his side But if they thought indeed as they pretended in words then ask of them with what face they did change their Copy ☞ and forswear the same and themselves withal so easily afterward yea and compelled all others to be forsworn with them for company Then you shall find who they were that changed their Copy and turned with the Wind as the Weather-cock that so falsly swear reswear trieswear and forswear themselves and not content therewith did by all most terrible Torments and dreadful Deaths compel others to Perjury with them And whoso considers Bonner's juggling Fox Martyrs To. 2. p. 1192 1193. Edit 1610. anno 1547. with King Edward the Sixth's Commissioners about the Injunctions at one time protesting against them at another recanting that his Protestation swearing Obedience to the King receiving his Injunctions giving his assent and consent to the State of Religion then established to the abolishing Images abrogation of the Mass setting up of Bibles in Churches giving the Sacrament in both kinds and such like And then two years afterward anno 1549. on the Death of the Lord High Admiral and the many tumultuous Insurrections of the King's Subjects neglecting to be present or to officiate in his Cathedral at Divine Service and permitting others to frequent the Mass may see his temper throughly and be convinced that his Authority is of no worth while his Reasonings are unanswerable it being unjust that his personal Faults should make void the weight of his Arguments especially when he spake not his own sense but the sense of the whole Church of England which will undeniably appear by the continuation of his story For when Bonner was for his prevarication suspected and complained of and convened before the King's Council among other Injunctions then given him one was that he should personally preach within three weeks after at Paul's Cross And among the special points and Articles that were to be treated of by him in his Sermon this was the first 1. That all such as rebel against their Prince get unto them damnation and those that resist the higher Powers resist the Ordinance of God and he that dieth therefore in Rebellion by the word of God is utterly damned and so loseth both body and soul and therefore those Rebels in Devonshire and Cornwal in Norfolk or elsewhere who take upon them to assemble a Power and Force against their King and Prince against the Laws and Statutes of the Realm and go about to subvert the State and Order of the Commonwealth not only to deserve therefore death as Traitors and Rebels but do accumulate to themselves eternal damnation even to be in the burning Fire of Hell with Lucifer the Father and first Author of Pride Disobedience and Rebellion what pretence soever they have as Corah Dathan and Abirom for Rebellion against Moses were swallowed down alive into Hell altho they pretended to sacrifice unto God. And 4. That our Authority of Royal Power is as of truth it is of no less authority and force in this our young Age than is or was of any of our Predecessors tho the same were much elder as may appear by example of Josias c. How Bonner discharged his Obedience to these Injunctions is not my present Province the Martyrology will inform the Reader but what is already related undeniably proves what was the Doctrine of the Church of England in those Days Anno 1541. was Dr. Robert Barnes martyred Vide his Life prefixed to his Works and at the stake he professed That he never to his knowledge taught any erroneous Doctrine but only those things which the Scripture led him unto and that in his Sermons he never maintain'd any Error nor gave occasion of any Insurrection but with all diligence did study evermore to set forth the Glory of God the Obedience to our Sovereign Lord the King and the true and sincere Religion of Christ desiring the People to bear witness that he detested and abhorred all evil Opinions and Doctrines against the Word of God. And his Writings are agreeable to his dying Protestation In his Supplication to King Henry the Eighth when condemned to die treating of the Cruelties of the Popish Clergy among other things he says If they cannot make a Man a Heretick P. 183. to colour and maintain their Oppression they add Treason against your Grace tho
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
Now as touching that mine adversaries say that I and my Preachers teach disobedience unto the High Powers and encourage their Subjects rather to make Insurrection against them than they should lose any thing at all of their sensual pleasures I know not if mine Enemies in any point have utter'd their maliciousness against us than in this one thing that ye may know how they shame nothing at all to lie hear I pray you the sum of our Doctrine concerning this matter Rom. 13.1 Pet. 2. Let every Soul be obedient to the Powers that bear rule c. again be ye obedient to every humane creature c. here have I given you a tast of Doctrine concerning the duty of Subjects unto the High Powers what disobedience do ye perceive by these words that we teach do we move the Inferiors and the base commonalty or any other unto such carnal liberty that for defence of the same they should either shew disobedience or make Insurrection against the head Rulers as our adversaries falsly report of us who brought the Higher Powers again unto the true Authority which God from the beginning gave them but I and my Ministers contrariwise who usurp'd this Power and brought the Magistrates in Subjection but these Enemies of God's Word who goeth about to maintain it still but they only I alone and my Ministers have set the Princes again in their Authority and valiantly delivered them from the Tyranny of the Papists as ye may perceive not only in our Sermons but also in our Writings CHAP. IV. The History of Passive Obedience in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth SECT I. THE Jews say that before one Prophetick light was by death extinguish'd another was set up to illuminate a degenerate World and thus did God in his mercy order it in our Church tho many eminent Confessors commenc'd Martyr's under Queen Mary yet the divine goodness did not leave it self and the truth without Witnesses who for a while sung the Songs of Sion in a strange Land but upon the advancement of Queen Elizabeth to the Throne of these Nations they return'd to vindicate that faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints and for which they had earnestly contended being ready to resist unto blood and because the Churches most eminent and most envied Advocate was Bishop Jewel I shall begin the History of this Reign with an account of his Sentiments When I have recited a Passage or two out of the Homily against Rebellion which are omitted in the first part of this History The first Author of Rebellion the root of all vices p 4th and the Mother of all mischief was Lucifer first God's most excellent creature and most bounden Subject who by rebelling against the Majesty of God of the brightest and most Glorious Angel became the blackest and most foul Fiend and Devil and from the heighth of Heaven is fallen into the Pit and bottom of Hell tho not only great multitudes of the rude and rascal Commons but sometimes also Men of great Wit Nobility and Authority have moved Rebellion against their lawful Princes tho they should pretend sundry causes as the redress of the Common-wealth or Reformation of Religion ☜ tho they have made a great show of Holy meaning by beginning their Rebellion with the counterfeit Service of God and by displaying and bearing about divers Ensigns and Banners which are acceptable unto the rude ignorant common People great multitudes of whom by such false pretences and shows they do deceive and draw unto them yet were the multitudes of the Rebels never so huge and great the Captains never so noble politick and witty the pretences feigned to be never so good and holy yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels of what number state or condition soever they were or what colour or cause soever they pretended is and ever hath been such ☜ that God doth thereby shew that he alloweth neither the dignity of any Person nor the multitude of any People nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for which Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes and how severely the same Homilies censure p. 6. and condemn the Barons who broke their Oath of Fidelity to their natural Lord King John is acknowledged by all Men. Bishop Jewel in his justly admired Apology taking notice p. 34. c. edit Lond 1581. that among many other false accusations then laid to the Charge of the Church this was one that its members were turbulent snatching Scepters out of the Hands of Princes Arming their Subjeâ—â— against them rescinding their Laws and changing Monarchies into popular Government whereby the minds of Princes were exasperated to believe that every Protestant in their Jurisdiction was their Enemy and a Rebel subjoins that it would have been most troublesom to those good Men to be so odiously accused of so grievous a crime as Treason had they not known that Christ himself and his Apostles and an infinite number of pious Christians had been accused of the same crime for tho Christ had taught the World to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars yet he was accus'd of Sedition and the desire of reigning and it was loudly cried at the Tribunal If thou let this man go thou art no friend to Caesar and tho the Apostles constantly taught Men to obey Magistrates that every Soul ought to be Subject to the higher powers and that not only for wrath but for conscience sake yet they were said to stir up the People and to invite the multitude to Rebellion So did Haman accuse the Jews Ahab accuse Elias and Amasias the Priest accuse the honest Prophet Amos in short Tertullian says all the Christians of his time were so accused as also did the ancient Enemies of Christianity Symmachus Celsus Julian Porphyry accuse the Christians of their Ages so that the charge is not new nor can it seem strange tho our very Enemies cannot deny that in all our discourses and writings we diligently admonish the People of their duty to be obedient to Princes and Magistrates tho they are wicked p. 84 c. c. If we are Traytors who honour our Princes who pay them deference and obedience in all things as much as is lawful for us to do by the Word of God who pray for them c. what are they who have not only done all that we speak of but also have approved of such proceedings We neither throw off the Yoke nor disturb Kingdoms we neither set up Kings ☞ nor dethrone them nor transfer their Empires nor give them Poyson nor make them to kiss our Feet nor tread on their Necks This rather is our Profession this is our Doctrine that every Soul whosoever it be whether a Monk or Evangelist or Prophet or Apostle ought to be subject to Kings and Magistrates we teach publickly that obedience ought to be paid to Princes as to Men sent by God and that whosoever resisteth them
great sin This perhaps he spoke like a Stoick but it was also spoken like a great Lawyer for the Roman Lawyers were great followers of that Sect of Philosophers Rom. 13. the Power of a Prince is by Divine Right not by the sole Constitution of Men. Suppose a Prince going about to destroy his own Country p. 103. as Nero did even Tyranny is more tolerable than Anarchy 〈◊〉 what happened when Nero was slain In the Reigns of the three following Princes p. 105 106 107. which lasted but a few Months more blood was spilt than in the 14 years of Nero 's Government When it is objected that we owe more to our Country than our Prince he flatly denies it affirming that the very Heathens knew that God sent evil Princes and that to reclaim Men from their sins and that God hath left us remedies for such evils such as repentance of our Vices obedience to our Sovereign ☞ thereby to encline them to be kind and gentle patience to take off the edge of their fury p. 112. and sighs and tears If the case of the Low Countries be objected and that our excellent Queen Elizabeth both praised and defended them the same answer must serve for this as for all examples that we must judge not according to examples but according to Laws or the case of the Men of Libnah who rebelled against Jehoram 2 Chron. 21.10 be insisted on we must answer says Drusius and so we have another witness to this truth the Learned Drusius that every action that is related in Holy Scripture is not praised nor was the cause good that because the Prince had deserted the true Religion therefore they might desert him for the Christians did not desert the Apostate Julian ☞ and that action is not to be made a pattern that is done contrary to reason and law nor does our defence of the Dutch confirm the Justice of their cause for we may justly defend those who themselves are engaged in an unjust War p. 116. as I have in more than one place proved as to this fact of Queen Elizabeth If Equals have no power one over another how much less hath an inferior power ove◠his superior a Subject over his Prince he shall be restrain'd by his superior who is God is it not in every Mans mouth that a Prince hath no other Judge but God Shame and conscience p. 118. p. 121 122 123. and honour may check them but not their Subjects Obj. But do not Aquinas Luther Peter Martyr and Beza allow of resistance Answ the book de regimine Principis is not Aquinas 's says Sigonius lib. 17. de regn Ital. Luther was deceived by the German Lawyers and brought to alter his opinion for the worse and what he spoke he said only of feudataries and of a Defensive War. Martyr was swayed by examples not reason as if because the Jews resisted the Macedonians and Romans whose Subjects they were not therefore Subjects may resist their lawful Sovereigns the example of St. Ambrose does not reach this case for he used no force nor had he any right to deny the temple to the Emperor which was his and Beza says only p. 12◠c. that the Laws must authorize such resistance But there are cogent reasons to encline to the practice of Passive Obedience 1. It is a rule that we must not speak evil of the Prince 2. Force towards a Father is unlawful therefore towards a Prince 3. A less evil is not to be removed if a greater will follow 4. If a Man in defence of his Mother ought not to resist his Father neither ought he to resist his Prince in defence of his Country 5. No one can depose a Prince but he who made him but the People did not make him c. 6. No evil is to be done that good may come of it 7. How can a King have absolute Power when he hath so many Ephori over him as he hath Subjects 8. The Authority of the Ancients Plato and Tully If it be objected that Plato says that Parents when they grow mad must be restrain'd and that others say that a Tyrant is a Madman I answer we constitute a Guardian over a mad Prince ☜ but we deny that a cruel Tyrannical Prince is to be reckoned a Madman Plato and Tully and Bartolus are of the opinion p. 132. that there can be no just cause of rebelling against or resisting a Prince The sentence of Mr. l'Hospital is observable that the Faction of the League was very potent the defence the Hugonets made seem'd necessary but that only the King's cause was just that both the Hugonots and Leaguers were guilty of waging War against their King but the Hugonots in a lesser degree because the necessity of self defence is more excusable than the Ambition of a Crown bu◠no Cause was just but the King 's for there cannot be any just cause of resisting a lawful Prince SECT VII The treasonable Design of Garnet and his Accomplices gave occasion to the making and imposing the Oath of Allegiance as good Laws generally owe their Rise and Original to men's ungoverable Passions and irregular Manners but no sooner did the Oath appear but out came two Breves of Pope Paul the Fifth to forbid the taking of it and Cardinal Bellarmine's Letter to the Archpriest Blackwel upon the same Account To these Adversaries that Learned King wrote an Answer Tripici nodo triplex cuneus and immediately Books multiplied on both sides to a great number Bellarmine Gretser Suarez Eudaemon Johannes Scioppius Becanus Parsons and others attempting to relieve the baffled Papacy while Bishop Andrews Bishop Barlow Bishop Buckeridge Bishopt Abbot Bishop Moreton Bishop Prideaux Isaac Casaubon Burhil Thompson Collins and others stoutly defended their King as they ought And tho their Arguments seem particularly levelled against the Papists yet by parity of reason they condemn all such for the like Opinions and Practices whoever asserts or is guilty of them It were a Subject worth a wise man's pains who had abilities and leisure to give an accurate Account of that Controversie but I shall only cite the Authors as they occur and make for the present purpose The King's Opinion we need not doubt of since the severest Enemies of this Doctrin confess that it hath been a commendable policy in Princes to popagate such Opinions nor have the Atheistical Politicians spared even Solomon himself as he served his own and not the interest of Truth when he said By me Kings reign Bishop Andrews's Sentiments have been published in the first part of this History to which may be added other Passages in the Writings of the same Author * Vol. of Serm. p. 803 804. Upon misconceiving this point some have fallen into a fancy that his anointed may forfeit their Tenure and so cease to be his If after he is anointed he grow defective prove a Tyrant fall to favor
follow the murder of Kings is lawful and honorable Consider with your self P. 254. what a gap you open to popular Licentiousness when you praise those Men who magnifie the parricides of Princes The same Author in his Epphata to F. T. being a Vindication in English of the same Prelate vindicates the same Doctrin Cambr. 1617. in his Epistle Dedicatory he says That tho Kings die like men i. e. Quatenus homines non quatenus Reges yet we are to remember that they fall like one of the Principes i. e. one of the Angels says the Cardinal himself among others on that Psalm who we know are not judged till God judges them though no doubt but that aggravates their Judgment so much the sooner It were worth the considering what correspondence such Grounds have with the ancient Doctrine which the Cardinal and his Followers would seem so close to follow Of Chrysostome ☜ that a Sovereign King is accountable to none not only to his Subjects but not so much as to his Successor as David said that he is to be judged by God only The same Chrysostom noting that whereas the Psalmist passes over other miracles of the Wilderness in deep silence he insists only on the Death of Og and Sehon two mighty Monarchs because Kings lives are so wholly in God's Hands and the Disposition of them is alway miraculous reserved and appropriated to God himself Of S. Basil that a King is subject to no Judge Of Ambrose that nullis tenetur Legibus not only the King of Israel but not the King of Egypt Of the Pope in Theodoret who told Theodosius that it was not lawful to implead a King not only in his person but not personating another not fictione juris as the Lawyers say ‖ Ch. 1. p. 58 59. Now Obedience is become among the Ceremonies and the honoring of our Parents i. e. in truth of our Princes Patres Patriae by ancient stile ☜ and so Ezechias called the Priests his children 2 Chron. 29.11 is as subject to alteration as the Sabbath Day And because the Jewish Ceremonies may not only be omitted but may not be retain'd without heinous crime therefore it shall be Conscience to wax wanton against Princes to shake off their Yoke yea merit virtue and what not as if the Precept of honoring Parents which is the primum in promissione Ephes 6. were now secundum in omissione after that against Images P. 60 61 62. which is usually cancelled in the Popish Catechisms Against the Emperors under the Old Testament there was no rising up and as for the Emperors in the New Testament tho as they were Heathen they were neither by Christ nor his Apostles obey'd I hope Sir 't is enough that they were not resisted Kings when transported by Error they forsake their Duty Pag. 75. yet forfeit not their Supremacy We yield no Abdication of our King ☞ tho his Fault be Heresie remembring that Deus defendit oleum suum as Optatus says and Caesar non desinit esse Caesar even in Alto Gentilisino as our Saviour acknowledg'd of him Matt 22. So beinous is the Heresie of Deposing Magistrates for moral Misdemeanours A bad Head I should think which the Body will be the better for the cutting off No Iniquity can abolish Authority And if it be objected Pag. 94. P. 137. 139. that Kings must be hamper'd with a coercive Power or all must run to nothing and the Church be clean extinguishâ—d It is answered The Church gains by Patience in Persecution therefore she loses by Resistance and Opposition SECT VIII Among these domestick Champions of the King and the Truth it may not be amiss to reckon an eminent Foreigner if I may call Isaac Casaubon so who lived some Years in this Kingdom and dyed here one of the Glories of his Age before he came into England he just after the Quarrel between the Pope and the Republick of Venice An. 1607. printed a Discourse De Libertate Ecclesiastica or rather but a part of a Discourse for whereas he promises Eleven Chapters the first three are not entirely printed the rest being stopt at the Press by Order of the French King tho as imperfect as the Book is Goldastus hath thought it worth a place in his Collections and in it he shews that the true Church of God never usurp'd the Rights of Kings * Ad Lect. p. 6. Pag. 12.13 while the Popes spoil Kings of their Liberty and their Majesty too for under them it sometimes happens that Kings may be safe but they can never be secure for they so value this Liberty that to defend it they tumble all things upside down mingle Heaven and Earth things sacred and profane And whereas our holy Master's Precepts ought not to be contradicted since he hath joyned his Example to his Commands and recommended to us the Love of our Enemies Subjection to the Powers ordained of God ☞ and Obedience to them for Conscience sake they to build up and to confirm this Liberty unknown to the Primitive times do every where inkindle Wars become a Terror to Kings and Princes dispense with their Subjects Allegiance and arm them against their own Sovereigns and pretend that to violate all Laws divine and human is a holy undertaking and most acceptable unto God. As ifby an ill management of supreme Authority Pag. 17. the Authority were forfeited And if once Princes shall suffer the Foundations of their Government to be shaken in the minds of their Subjects their Government and Empire must of necessity reel and totter and fall into the dust God commands all orders of Men to render to Cesar the things that are Cesar 's Pag. 69. and let every soul be subject to the higher powers c. therefore Gregory Nazianzen says that the Civil Magistrate doth reign together with Christ nor does it make any difference that some Kings arrive to the Throne by hereditary Succession others by Election a third sort by Conquest for tho God in the establishment of a King as in the Ordination of a Priest uses the Ministry of men yet it is impious not to acknowledg that the Dominion and Power is received originally from God By God Kings reign as the holy Scriptures in almost infinite places do testifie P. 102 103. The Primitive Christians did so use the World as those that used it not as S. Paul advises for while their Zeal for Piety was flagrant while the Innocency of their Manners their mutual Love and Affection their unfeigned Humility ☜ their constant Meditation on the Joys of Heaven their Fidelity and Obedience to their Princes as far as their Conscience would give them leave lastly their incomparable Constancy in suffering all manner of Torments for the true Religion made them every day a Spectacle to the whole World they ravish'd their very Enemies to admire them and their Virtues these were the beginnings of Christianity this 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
makes a Hypocrite to reign for the sins of a people Now the Supremacy of Kings and the subjection of every Soul to them are so joined that the King cannot be said to be supreme unless every Soul be subject to him nor will the duty of subjection agree to every Soul unless the King be invested with this Supremacy Sect. 3. p. 21. for all Men universim omnes sigillatim singuli whether singly or contained in a body are bound in conscience by this Apostolical Precept to pay the duties of subjection and observance to Kings and whereas Bellarmin as others urged the deposition of Athaliah Sect. 5. p. 33. to prove the lawfulness of Dethroning Princes he answers that Athaliah had no right to the Crown that she had the Kingdom by violence that the true King lay hid that by her Parricide and Treason she had made herself guilty of death by the Law and ought to have suffered Prelect 4. Sect. 3. p. 44. p. 47. and that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power which St. Paul uses never signifies force and violence but a just Power which must be lawful because it is from Heaven that Christ was subject by the law to the Power of Pilate and the Apostles to the Heathen Princes Prel 5. Sect. 1.2 p. 70 71. and that in the Primitive Church there were no Traytors who either openly or privately contrived or attempted any thing against the Life or Crown of the Emperor when they wanted neither numbers nor force but they durst not turn Rebels or Traytors ☜ lest by breaking the command of Christ they should lose Heaven and Bellarmin belies them when he says they wanted not a right nor good will to depose Kings but only forces sufficient P. 73. it was of old their Doctrine that the Church ought not to rebel against Princes and this the Gospel taught them let them therefore shew from the Gospel that it is lawful for else let a Man pretend to Inspiration if he speaks from himself and not from the Gospel believe him not says St. Chrysostom Prelect 8. Sect. ult p. 96. and having shewn from David's saying against thee only have I sinned that Kings are accountable only to God he closes his Lecture with these words a King is under the coercion of no Laws because there is no power among Men on Earth that can punish him so that when Kings transgress we must expect the judgments of God upon them SECT XIV In the same year Dr. Lewis Bayly Bishop of Bangor set forth the Practice of Piety ‖ P. 479. edit 1675. in the end of which he shews that the Doctrine which St. Paul taught the Ancient Church of Rome is diametrically opposite in 26 fundamental points of true Religion to that which the new Church of Rome teacheth and maintaineth and the 24th is this that every Soul must of conscience be subject and pay tribute to the Higher Powers i.e. the Magistrates which bear the Sword. Rom. 13.1 2 c. and therefore the Pope and all Prelates and by parity of reason all other Subjects must be subject to their Emperors Kings and Magistrates unless they will bring damnation upon their Souls as Traytors that resist God and his Ordinance and therefore let the Jesuits P. 480. c. take heed and fear lest it be not Faith but Faction not Truth but Treason not Religion but Rebellion which is the cause of their deaths ☜ because they cannot be suffered to persuade Subjects to break their Oaths and to withdraw their Allegiance from their Sovereign to raise Rebellion to move Invasion to stab and poyson Queens to kill and murder Kings c. Some years before this Dr. Richard Crackenthorp Preach'd at Pauls Cross viz. Mar. 24. 1608. and in his Epistle Dedicatory he affirms pr. Lond. 1609. that his desire therein was to testifie his unfeigned love first to God's truth and then to the Peace of our Jerusalem and in the Sermon he commends King James's Book of Free Monarchies but especially his Learned Apology for the Oath of Allegiance and proves that as Solomon had his Kingdom neither from the Priest nor the People but immediatly from God so the Scriptures call Kings the Ministers or Lieutenants of God Rom. 13. and that all the Ancient Fathers did believe that the Imperial Authority of Kings was immediatly and only derived of God immediatly depending of God and of God alone this was the judgment and just defence of all the Christians and of the Church at that time and to prove this to be agreeable to the Law he cites a Statute made 16. Ric. 2. c. 5. of purpose to keep sacred and inviolable the Sovereignty and regality of this Kingdom ☞ it was therein declared that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times not then only but which is specially to be remembred at all times that it hath been in subjection to no Realm but immediatly subject to God and to none other in all things touching the regality of the same in defence of which Statute they in the Parliament then Assembled promised to live and dye as it is there noted by all which it is evident that this Doctrine which is now at Rome counted most ridiculous it in it self most sacred as being grounded on the Scriptures of God and as most sacred hath been embrac'd by all the Christians in the Primitive Church taught and maintained with a general consent by the Ancient and Godly Fathers in their several Ages and Successions constantly defended by whole Kingdoms and Empires and that under pain of High Treason to the Gainsayers thereof even in those latter times also when superstition had dimin'd but not quite extinguish'd and put out the Truth that cannot possibly be true loyalty or sincere obedience which ever attending to an higher command includes in it as in a Trojan Horse that condition of rebus sic stantibus durante beneplacito or the like out of which if strength and opportunity might serve they might let out whole Armies and Troops of Armed Men suddenly to surprize both Church and Kingdom and much more to that purpose To Dr. Crackenthorp it is requisite to join his Friend Dr. P. 334 ed. Lon. 1675 Daniel Featly who in his Handmaid to devotion on the Feast of the Fifth of November gives all good Christians this useful admonition All that fear God ought to abhor and detest all Traiterous and Bloody conspiracies against the Prince and State because God strictly forbids dreadfully threatens miraculously discovers and severely punishes all Treasons and Conspiracies as we see in Corah Absalom Adonijah Zimri the Servants of Ammon Sullam Haman the servants of the Nobleman in the Parable Judas for God forbids conspiracies Touch not mine Anointed c. SECT XV. The Famous Peter du Moulin the Father the Cicero of the French Churches was by King James made a Prebendary of the Church of Canterbury and
Man who hath such a respect to Religion that whatsoever he promiseth by Oath he will perform tho be loses never so much by keeping his faith and * in Ps 51. p. 361. that David confess'd to God against thee only have I sinned not because I stand in fear of punishment from Men who have no Power over me but because I am so obnoxious to thee whose judgments I ought to dread the more the less I am lyable to give an account of my actions unto others O how it afflicts me that I presumed because I had none to controul me here on Earth to offend thy Majesty thy All-seeing Majesty at whose Tribunal ☜ the highest must be judged Politicians when they do unwarrantable actions Id. Jewish Hypocrisie p. 371 372. Lond. 1660. think to excuse themselves with the Reason of State and pretence of Common good and therefore will break their Faith and their Oaths and at the rate of their honesty purchase the common welfare as if God had need of Mens sin or we could tell what is his Interest better than himself I am somthing angry at this vile abuse of his Holy Name that tho God hath told us what is his mind and pleasure yet they will instruct him and teach him what is more for his benefit and shew him a way that he thought not on for the advancement of his Glory The same Author in his Epitome of Man's duty annex'd to his Treatise of the Jewish Hypocrisie is of the same mind as we love our selves P. 41. let us endeavour to live in all good conscience before God let us not do the least evil for to avoid the suffering of the greatest evil and let us not neglect any good for the purchasing of the best good the World affords it cannot be long before thou feelest that hidden Whip the cords of which thou art continually twisting for to lash thy self all impatience comes by pride P. 67 68. and our murmurings are bred by too goodly thoughts of our own selves but if we thought with our selves what we are c. we should become very humble i. e. meek and patient and contented under all that befalls us one act of humility begets another and he that thinks meanly of himself will not be angry that he is afflicted Be peaceable and obedient to Governors who are Gods in the World and to whom God hath bidden us that we should submit our selves submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake c. 1 Pet. 2.13 It is an high act of Pride and Insolency to controul the Authority that is over us and to set up our own wills above God's Vicegerents for it is a great contempt of the Majesty of God whose Image they more remarkably bear and with whose Effigies they are more visibly stampt than other Men we must always therefore do what they command us or else suffer what they inflict upon us ☜ and if we chuse the latter we must suffer as meekly and peaceably as if it was an immediate hand of Heaven upon us for if Solomon says of every Man that proud and haughty scorner is his name who decleth in proud wrath Prov. 21.24 Then much more is he to be branded in the forehead for a Man superlatively proud who cannot endure to be touch'd in Body or Estate but it casts him into the highest Inflammations of anger even against the Highest Powers Dr. Tillotson There is a Spirit in the World which is not only contrary to Christianity Ser. on Nov. 5. 1678. p. 17 18. but to the common Principles of natural Religion and even to humanity it self which by falshood and persidiousness by secret Plots and Conspiracies or by open Sedition and Rebellion by Deposing and Killing Kings in a word by dissolving all the bonds of humane Society and subverting the Peace and order of the World i. e. by all wicked ways imaginable doth incite Men to promote and advance their Religion P. 19. When Religion once comes to supplant Moral Righteousness and to teach Men the absurdest things in the World to lye for the truth P. 20. and to kill Men for God's sake and to be a bond of Conspiracy better it were there were no revealed Religion ☜ and that humane nature were left to the conduct of its own Principles and Inclinations which are much more mild and merciful than to be acted by a Religion that inspires Men with so wild a fury and is continually supplanting Government and undermining the Welfare of Mankind In short such a Religion as teaches Men to propagate and advance it self by means so evidently contrary to the very nature and end of all Religion how much better Teachers of Religion were the Old Heathen Philosophers P. 21 22. in all whose Books and Writings there is not one Principle to be found of Treachery and Rebellion Panaetius Antipater and Diogenes the Stoick Tully and Plutarch P. 28. and Seneca were much honester and more Christian Casuists than the Jesuits are c. I am not sure that the Pope is Antichrist but I challenge Antichrist himself whoever he be and whenever he comes to do worse and wickeder things than these Serm. on 1 Cor. 3.15 p. 11 15. I hope no body expects that I should take the pains to shew that this was not the Doctrin of our Saviour and of his Apostles nor of the Primitive Christians viz. the Doctrin of deposing Kings our Church hath this peculiar advantage above several Professions P. 3â— 34. that we know in the World that it acknowledgeth a due and just subordination to the Civil Authority and hath always been untainted in its Loyalty Dr. Meggor Serw. before the L. 〈◊〉 on Ps 11.3 〈◊〉 30 p. 14. Altho there were Laws to guide and direct the Kings of Judea and Aegypt yet if they forgot themselves so much as to violate and break through them there were none by which they might resist and punish them their Ministers and Instruments were ever accountable but as to themselves it was a Maxim every where that they could do no wrong P. 16. he who resists Kings is in danger of receiving to himself damnation in the other World for such unjustifyable and forbidden practices there never yet was any Rebellion where Religion or Liberty were not one or both pretended yet he who examineth the most judicious and impartial Wâ—â—ters of Story will be hugely put to it to produce an instance of any one where Personal disgusts and selfish designs were not the first Promoters and Fomentors of it they P. 28 29. v. p 43 44 c. that can dispense with their Oaths and comply with Usurpers be instruments of the illegal Innovations and Zealous for the Statutes of Omri may receive some wages for their unrighteousness and ravish to themselves fortunes as unexpected as ignominious but for those that dare not debauch their Consciences nor be partakers
Emperor while the good Bishop in his Embasly to Maximus carried himself as the Father or Guardian of his Prince ☞ tho he had been provok'd in the most tender part by his Prince's endeavors for the introducing of Arianism others perhaps if they had been in his condition would have look'd upon this Tyrant's Maximus declaring for the truth as such an opportunity that Providence had offer'd for the Preservation of the Faith and since the Empress was of a false Religion and the Emperor was govern'd by her why should they not set up this Maximus as the Protector of the true Faith But Ambrose and the Bishops were of another mind they knew what it was to dye for their Religion p. 346. but did not understand what it was to brigue or to resist and I pray how did the Bishops comply with the Usurper Maximus were any of them instrumental to his advancement did they Preach up his cause and the lawfulness of his revolt did they ever press the People to bring in their Plate and contributions or after his successes and the Murther of Gratian did any of the Bishops justifie the Usurper's Proceedings and Preach and Print in defence of that barbarous Regicide did they flatter him as the preserver of Religion the David the Champion of Israel with much more to the same purpose Dr. Williams Printed his Sermon Preach'd July 26. 1685. Seâ—â—ful 26. 1685. on Rom. 3â—7 8. p. 11. being on the day of publick thanksgiving for the late victory over the Rebels to vindicate the City Clergy and particularly himself who was censured as if the Sermon was not to the purpose of the day and occasion as he says in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Bishop of London Grant this that evil becomes lawful by a good end and when we think our selves secure we make all compacts broken Oaths dissolved all difference betwixt Superiors and Inferiors confounded it exposes the Church and State to every pretender and any one that hath a mind P. 20 21. will never want a reason for Insurrection and Rebellion as no Religion hath more discountenanc'd such Principles and Proceedings than the Christian so no Nations nor Persons have more discountenanc'd the thing than those who have profess'd it it is too notorious to be dissembled for that there have been Rebellions against and depositions of Princes dissolutions of Governments taking and breaking of Oaths and other things apparently evil of that and the like kind done to serve a Cause a Party or a Church is no Mystery now a days Christian Religion teaches the wholsom Doctrin of being subject to the Higher Powers and that they that resist p. 22. shall receive to themselves damnation from the confessions of Faith in all the â—rotestant and Reformed Churches nothing can be drawn p. 23. that will justifie Opposition or Rebellion against Civil Authority but they expresly declare against it when Queen Mary was a known Member of the Roman Church yet the Protestants first joyned with her against the Lady Jane Grey who was invested with the title of Queen and was a Protestant And this particularly is the avowed Doctrin of the Church of England in all its Articles and Homilies at large three of which are against Rebellion Do they find in the Sermons of the Ministers of the Church of England Id. Apol. for the Pulpits p. 3 4. the Doctrines of the Peoples Power over Princes of the lawfulness of resisting their Sovereigns or rather where have the Rights of Princes and the Subjection and Obedience of the People in all lawful Cases and the Non-resistance in any Case ☜ been so much asserted That Loyalty which concerns all of all Perswasions is taught in the Pulpits of the Church of England which obliges them to be as loyal when the Prince is of a different Religion as when he is of the same with them The same Author also in his Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome having cited our Articles Homilies c. to prove the chief Power of the King and that he ought not to be resisted and shewn how contrary to this Doctrin the Decrees of the Church of Rome are he subjoins pag. â—1 The Church of England teacheth the King in all his Realms hath Supream Power in all Causes whether Ecclesiastical or Civil For 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 rebel So Dr. Grove in his Examination of Bell. 15th Note viz. Temporal Felicity pag. 393. Since the Power of Deposing Princes hath been openly assumed and frequently practised and never yet condemned by any either Pope or Council since the Doctrin of Equivoeation and many other absurd and Impious Opinions are taught by their Casuists and made use of by their Confessors in directing the Consciences of their Penitents and since these and many more very dangerous Errors do not only escape without a Censure but are approved of and encouraged by their Governors I cannot see how they and their Church can possibly be excused from the Guilt of them Mr. Thomas Stainoe B. D. and Archdeacon of Brecknock preach'd Sept. 6. Ann. 1686. Seem on Rom. 13.5 Epist Ded. before the Lord Mayor and says that he publish'd it That it might be instrumental to convince the People of their Duty to their King because it was for that very reason that he preach'd it That there is no Man so much a ravening Wolf inwardly pag. 3. but he will put on Sheeps Cloathing and tho his Resolutions are bent upon Rebellion yet his Discretion and Prudence will prompt him to pretend Religion The least that can be inferr'd from the words will be a Subjection to lawful Authority and by consequence also to our own Prince For the truth of all which I shall urge no more at present than the tacit Confession of his most avowed and professed Enemies who after all their contrivance of Wit Anger and Malice could at length pitch upon no better expedient to prevent his Right of Accession than a Bill of Exclusion Now such a Bill either presupposes an antecedent Right or it does not if it does not then it must be confess'd that they did most elaborately trifle whilst they took a great deal of pains to bring that about that was already done to their hands If it does then we have what we look for and that is that the Injustice of their Actions does make good the Justice of his Title and affords us a tacit Confession that there was no other way to overthrow that Title but by overturning the very Foundations of the Government it self pag. 7. We are therefore obliged in Conscience to be in subjection to the Superior Powers because God himself commands us so to be God hath given the lawful Magistrate a Title to that Authority pag. 12. to which we