It must be the care then of every good Subject to countermine those secret and hellish Engineers who thus undermine the Throne and by false and aggravating suggestions prepare the People to rise up against the Lords anointed towards whom not only our words but our very thoughts are restrain'd Eccles 10.20 We must demonstrate our Honour for him in our just representation of his Actions to the People and disswade them from the Itch of prying into State Affairs and censuring the Actions of Princes and their faithful Ministers they are beyond our Ken and we can't judg rightly of them weak and false Opticks may fancy every molehill a mountain and the ignorant will think Stars fall when they only shoot or glance soon may our Senses be deceived when we look at inadequate Objects and at too great a distance Perswade we men then to move Regularly in their own spheres to mind their own business and not to judg of those above them and let us never without just indignation and reproof hear the least Reflection on our Governours 'T is not generous to hear those we love ill spoken of and 't is unnatural and disloyal to suffer the least Pasquil against our Prince the common Parent of our Countrey we should vindicate him and his Substitutes from all factious and seditious Aspersions and suffer none to revile the Gods Exo. 22.28 nor curse the Rulers of our People but always shew the greatness of our Love to them in being zealous for their Honour in raising them all we can in the Esteem of the World and cheerfully paying all Tribute and Taxes which is another Demonstration of our Honour to them and next to be discoursed on 2. Praestatio Tributorum or Maintenance is contained in the word Honour and all who pretend Honour for the King must willingly perform it 'T is the signification of the word 1 Tim. 5.17 The Elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double Honour i.e. Esteem and Maintenance alluding to the Elder Brothers Portion which was double Deutr. 21.17 Princes then must be supported by their Subjects Tribute and Custom must be conscienciously paid unto them for which you have Christs Command and Example Matth. 22.21 where he orders them not to give but to render or restore unto the King his Taxes not as Gift but as Debt as the just Reward of that Protection and Safety which we have from him and so 't is explained and confirmed Rom. 13.6 And so observant was Christ in it that he wrought a Miracle to perform it and Justin Martyr and Tertullian declare the great readiness of the Primitive Christians to pay Tribute in the midst of all their Persecutions And if you reflect on the great Care and Disquietude which continually attend the Throne the vast and unavoidable Expences which must support its Glory the publick Dangers and private Assassinations which they are subject to and their Readiness to hazard their Royall Persons in your defence you can't without the greatest violations of duty and gratitude deny your proportion of Taxes Their whole life is full of trouble and their days are spent in misery like the Lamp to give light to others they wast themselves They stand in slippery places and the Throne is covered with Ice their Crown is surrounded with Thorns and has often proved so very ponderous and uneasy that many of our own and Forraign Princes have groaned under its insupportable pressures the Conservation of their Fame at home and abroad their watching the Actions and Designs of all neighbouring States and the ballancing or suppressing the Factions and Intrigues of their own aspiring covetous and unruly Subjects give them but few quiet and refreshing slumbers Nay in the greatest confluence of Enjoyments when they have been sated with Victories so troublesome have their very Laurels been that they have deserted their Thrones longing for a quiet Retirement and secure Obscurity and some have complained they never had one days ease after their Heads were incircled with the Royal Diadem In a word they spend their whole life in consulting our good and let us therefore pay Tribute to maintain them their inferiour Magistrates and Armies by whose care and vigilancy we sleep in safety and let us honour them most who bear the greatest share in the Troubles of Government and are most assisting to the King To raise great Sums when the support of his Grandeur and the Kingdoms Honour require it is but a just sign of our Gratitude and Loyalty unto him and let the next be our Obedience to all his lawful Commands for that also is included in the word Honour 3. We must shew our Honour to the King in obeying him The Law of God and the Law of Nature and the Laws of all Nations give Kings Supremacy and Authority over their native Subjects and without a manifest breach of those we cannot resist their lawful Commands And such all are to be esteemed which do not plainly thwart and positively contradict the revealed Law of God for if the thing which the Magistrate requires be undetermined by the Law of God and indifferent in it self his Command in such cases must be binding to us and obtain our Obedience as for instance Reason and the Custom of all places shews there must be a Determination of Circumstances in every Society otherwise there will be nothing but Confusion Now if the decision of these be not plain in Scripture the Governours who have the Charge over us may do it to promote Regularity and certainty of time and place in the Worship of God according to the Apostles Canon Let all things be done decently and in order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Command or Appointment Res ordinatim in Ecclesiâ faciendae is Mr Cartwrights own gloss upon it In matters both real and ritual substantial and ceremonial Decency and Order is to be observed and when they have determined such Circumstances and Ceremonies in Gods Service as are not contrary to Scripture nor forbidden by it but are harmless in themselves and undecided by the Law of God we ought to observe them The very Commands of lawful Magistrates take away the indifferency and require a Conformity and Observance under sin They conclude and limit our choice and it is sin in us not to obey them when they are indifferent Nay if what they enjoyn be doubtful their Command should weigh down our private Opinion till we are cleerly convinced of the Sinfulness of what they impose and then and not before must we disobey them Damnum dat qui jubet dare ejus vero nulla culpa est cui parere necesse est The Laws of the Romans and other Nations excused the Person who obeyed the Magistrate from all punishment or trouble of Law and so St. Austin states it in the case of the Souldier L. 22. c. 74. Con. Faus who is not certain whether what he is ordered to do be against the Law of God or
A SERMON Preached at the Primary Visitation OF THE Most Reverend FATHER in GOD MICHAEL Lord Arch-Bishop of ARMAGH PRIMATE and METROPOLITAN OF ALL IRELAND AND Lord High Chancellor of the Same Held at Drogheda August 20. 1679. By RICH. TENISON Dean of Clogher DVBLIN Printed by Benjamin Took and John Crook Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty and are to be sold at His Majesties Printing-House in Skinner-Row 1679. To the most Reverend Father in God Michael Lord Arch-Bishop of Armagh Primate and Metropolitan of all Ireland and Lord High Chancellor of the same May it please your Grace SO great and high are your Graces zealous Affections and just Veneration for the best of Kings that no Sermon which is perswasive to Allegiance can pass unregarded by you but receives incouragement beyond its merit of which observed truth your Commands for this mean Discourse are an evident Demonstration I little thought having so happily escaped your learned Ear to undergo the Test of your most piercing Eye but having then preached Obedience to others I must practise it my self and submit to the kind Injunctions of so great a Superior 't is therefore laid at your Graces feet hoping my Loyalty will attone its many imperfections and the dayly fears of our Soveraigns Assassination may justifie its zeal and warmth For what tongue can be silent to see the Father of our Countrey assaulted with such variety of Deaths To see the Ponyard at his sacred Breast the fatal Dose preparing and the Gun ready to fire must fill every true Subject with horrour and resolution He is the Head of the Body Politick and as in the Natural all the Members strive to defend the Head and share in its pain so should it be in this the bloody hand which is lift up against him must wound all loyal souls the cursed Sword which strikes at him must pierce their hearts they must value the Life of their Prince infinitely above their own and run through the greatest difficulties to preserve him and if they dye in his defence they perpetuate their Name on Earth and receive the Reward of their Fidelity in Heaven which true Protestant Principle made many thousands in the late times leap into the midst of dangers and run through the armed Troops of their too potent Enemies their greatest force could not make them yield but they covered that Post with their Bodies which they could not maintain with their Arms and willingly died martyrs for their King their Religion and Country This my Lord many places can witness but none more in this Kingdom than this Loyal Town in defence of which your Graces valiant Brother famous for Courage and Conduct and many hundreds more did triumphantly lose their lives their blood ran in streams through our streets and like the brave Leonidas in the Straits of Thermopyle they with a small number opposed an Army and no doubt but there are vast multitudes in each of these Kingdoms who will imitate those Heroick spirits and cheerfully fall for the King and the Church And if ever good Subjects should demonstrate their Courage it is now if ever Protestants should love honour and obey their King it is now when the cruel Jesuits are plotting and consulting to murther him and subvert our Religion in this they are closely combined this they hold lawful and just as I have proved out of many of their Books besides Mariana though a Jesuit lately executed would confess none else of that Judgment But alas instead of uniting against them we bandy into Sects and Factions we run into Schisms and Divisions and make way for them to destroy us we forget how the Civil Discords of our Ancestours brought our King and Countrey under the Subjection of the Roman Emperour and I wish our violent heats about Religion do not at last bring our Church under the vassalage of the Roman Bishop and our State into some imminent danger for without an agreement in that our Kingdoms cannot flourish Where men differ in Ecclesiasticks they usually clash in Politicks and have their own intrigues and designs to promote their Opinions they are jealous and doubtful one of another and like the several Factions in Rome and Carthage while they pretend the good of the Commonwealth they destroy it Of this our late bloody and tragical Devastations are an undeniable Evidence and that we are falling into the same miseries again is more than probable for seditious and fiery spirits do now as formerly fill the floating heads of the vulgar with causless fears and jealousies and make the King and his greatest Ministers the common Subject of their Discourse and if all things be not done and timed according to their humour as if they knew all Reasons of State and had Intelligence from all parts of the world then do they calumniate and slander the Government and asperse those most who have ever been most eminent for their Loyalty to the King and the Church and would now die in their defence and thus are the people deluded and made subservient to some aspiring male-contents who by their Agents and Emissaries do in all places reflect on the Management of Affairs and make them Patrons of Popery who have ever abhorred it and were lately for their aversion to it to be cruelly murthered as is constantly affirmed by * Dr Oats's Nar. p. 16. 23 25. those on whose Evidence most of our late Discoveries depend But your Grace well remembers this was their method in the beginning of our late troubles they according to Machiavals Advice did boldly libel and calumniate and to destroy both Church and State they subverted their strongest Pillars under the pretence of being corrupted and rotten with Popery and by clamour and noise made all Papists who were not as rash furious and disloyal as themselves Nay those holy Prelates whose most learned Works will be eternal Armeries and most impregnable Fortresses against the whole power of Rome were most unjustly and ingratefully branded with the same Character and such are now their Designs and Practices They would perswade the people to have an ill opinion of our Governours that they might the more securely carry on their own Designs But I hope God will infuse a spirit of Discerning into our King our Parliaments and Counsellors and that all who are in any Authority will fix one Eye on those subtile Vnderminers both of Church and State that while they are most zealous and intent and blessed be God they are so on the suppression of Popery our rigid Sectaries may not grow too numerous and formidable for when greedy and voracious flames seize on both ends of a Ship the middle part is like to perish and we know Diseases long neglected may prove destructive In the beginning of the Reformation the Genevian Infection did spread it self and the good Queen could not easily prevent it her Thoughts being chiefly employed in the Extirpation of Popery which dangerous Evil the wise King James
did soon perceive and resolve to redress as appears by his Proclamations against them and his first Speech to his Parliament in which speaking of the Sectaries and Novelists he says They are ever discontented with the present Government and impatient to suffer any Superiority which makes their Sect unable to be suffered in any well governed Commonwealth yet he did not do it for the Gunpowder Plot turned his Eyes wholly on the Papists and so had the Separatists an opportunity to increase to such prodigious number as proved destructive to his Son the Church and these Kingdoms Which with the two late Rebellions in Scotland may move our Governours to look back sometimes and watch the motions of the Kirk But I presume too far and must beg your Graces pardon for the loss of your minutes in viewing this rude Address so low a Style is no way fit for your Graces view who are as was said of Clem. Alex Inter Doctos summè Eloquens inter Eloquentes summè Doctus In you the Piety and Zeal the Wisdom and Courage and other justly admired Accomplishments of your Graces late great Predecessors are most happily met You every way fill and adorn your Chair in which that your Grace may long sit and continue what you are one of the greatest Pillars both of Church and State is the Prayer of May it please your Grace Your Graces most Humble and Obedient Servant RICH. TENISON 1 Pet. 2.17 Honour the King AMong the Plots and Conspiracies of the Conclave and the Consistory amidst the unjust Pretensions of the Roman Bishop and the Presbyterian Kirk to a Superiority over Monarchs This Apostolical Canon may not unseasonably be discoursed on for when the Papists have besides all their former bloody Treasons now lately contrived the Murther of our Sovereign and our disloyal Separatists in Scotland have run again into Rebellion and published a trayterous Declaration denying his Supremacy and calling his Government an Usurping Power though their own Chronicles witness him to be the Hundred and Tenth King of his Line 't is high time for all Orthodox and Loyal Clergy men to declare their Detestation and Abhorrency of such unchristian Tenets and Practices which are so directly opposite to this Injunction of St. Peter whose Successours the Popes desire and glory to be esteemed and whose peculiar Followers our fiery Zealots do no less proudly boast themselves But I shall quote him against them and from him prove them great Enemies to Princes and Invaders of the Rights of Kings for in this Epistle v. 13. he more than once commands Obedience to be given unto them and that in most general terms Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut ostendat non Qualitates Personarum sed Officium hic respici debere Magistracy whether in Jew or Gentile Christian or Infidel was then to be regarded none did presume to absolve Subjects from their Allegiance neither was Dominion then founded in Grace nor the Qualifications of Kings to be judged by the People but according to the preceptive Will of God the very Throne and Seat of Judicature did exact Obedience Which least they being Christians should refuse the Pagan Monarch who then reigned who was so cruel and outragious against them least they should fail in their Duty to him deny to pay him Tribute as other subjects did or take up Arms in defence of their Lives he twice minds them of their Allegiance charges them to submit unto him and all his Prefects and Governours in their several Provinces and not only and barely to submit to live peaceably and quietly under him but which was more to honour him Honour the King in discoursing of which I shall shew First The meaning of the words the Duty which arises from them and wherein it consists Secondly Who are the great Violators of it and their unjust Pretences Thirdly Who are the best Observers of it and consequently the best Christians and the truest Subjects First The meaning of the Words and the Duty c Honor est clara cum laude Notitia or Testificatio de Excellentiâ 't is that esteem and respect which is paid to a man in regard of the Place he is in or the Excellency he is endowed with 't is a deserved Fame Advancement and Exaltation above others an Acknowledgment of their worth and merit and a suitable Reverence and Observance paid unto it By the King is understood the Emperour and all his Lieutenants and Vicegerents so that he requires them to give all due submission and veneration to the Supream Magistrate and to all who were in Authority under him to shew them all just honour and regard in the Observation of their Laws and the payment of their Tribute Imperatori summos exhibete honores quos capit humana natura Gro. Observatione Legum Proestatione Tributorum Esti And the Prince to whom this duty was to be paid was that Portentum hominis as Suetonius calls him the inhuman Nero who thirsted after their Blood and put them to the most exquisite Torments he could invent for he wrapt them in the skins of beasts and let the dogs devour them he burnt them in pitched coats and made them serve for Torches in the night Even to him was this great Honour to be given and the Primitive Fathers do largely witness all his Cruelty did never make them fail therein From which you may soon note That it is the Duty of all Subjects to honour the King be he good or Evil. No sooner had Almighty God made Moses his Vicegerent and setled him in the Government of his People but he made Laws for them to walk by and wrote them in Tables of Stone to denote their perpetuity and duration and no sooner had he secured his own Worship in the first Table but he fixes Honour and Obedience to Magistrates in the front of the second and made it the first of those Laws which relate to humane Society because a man can't perform Acts of Justice to his Inferiours and Equals who is unnatural and disobedient to his Superiours And for the same reason in the Roman Laws are the Crimes against Magistrates and their several Punishments first reckoned up it being impossible for any to be good Members of a Commonwealth who do not first learn and practice Obedience to Governours The Laws will never be well observed where men don't honour the Magistrate Fear may make us go but it s the true Honour we have for our Superiours which adds wings to our loyal inclinations and makes us cheerfully perform their Commands The word is very comprehensive and takes in all that Loyalty and Fidelity that Reverence and Duty which we owe to those above us and by consequence shews them their Duty to us so that this short Precept is the great Ligament of human Society and the very Foundation of all Obedience for while we reserve that honour for the Magistrate
did reform Religion and banish Idolatry and in the New Testament Christ and his Apostles were all obedient to the Heathen Emperours paid them Tribute and owned their Authority in appealing to them from inferior Jurisdictions And long after them The Bishops of Rome were so far from having Supremacy over Kings that other Bishops would not yield to their Usurpation for Ann. 325 when Constantine called the Council of Nice the four Patriarkships were setled by the Suffrage of 318 Bishops and then it was decreed that the Bishop of Alexandria should have as much Authority in his Patriarkship as the Bishop of Rome had in his only the first Place was allowed him in General Councils he being Bishop of the Imperial City The Council of Constantinople in which were 150 Bishops and which was called by the Emperour Theodosius granted only a Primacy of Order to the Bishop of Rome and no more and Ann. 434 the Council of Ephesus which was summoned by the Emperours Order as the Acts do often shew which was honoured with the presence of 200 Prelates ordered no Bishop should usurp any Authority but what was always his And about eighteen years after when 430 Mitred Heads did adorn the great Council of Chalcedon they declared that though the Roman Bishop had the Precedency of Place yet was the Bishop of Constantinople equal to him in all things St. Peters Charter was not then urged Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give unto thee the Keys of Heaven they knew no more was meant by the words than that as Peters Name signified a Rock such should he be strong and solid in the building of the Church and that nothing should prevail against the Faith he then had publickly professed so Chrysos Hil. and Cypr. understood it and so did St. Bernard long enough after them for he loudly inveighs against the Tyranny of the Roman Bishop and says to Eugenius who was Pope about 1145 Quid vos alienos fines invaditis disce tibi sarculo opus esse non Sceptro he denies St. Peters Charter and says Esto ut quacunque aliâ ratione hoc tibi vindices non tamen Apostolico jure nec illud dare tibi Petrus potuit quod non habuit He thought a Sheephook did better become that great Shepherds hand than a Scepter and that Peter could not consign that power to others which was never granted to him and as to the power of the Keys Christ gave it equally to all the Apostles Joh. 20.21 He did not then give it but according to his promise I will he afterward imparted it unto them so that 't is clear Peter had no personal Authority from Christ over the rest of his Brethren neither did he arrogate the Name of Universal Bishop as Pope Gregory himself declares l. 4. Epis 76 and much less should his Successours claim that Title His Age and Gravity might give him a Primacy of Order but more we do not find And therefore the Priority of place was all that the first General Councils would allow to the following Bishops of that See and that only because Rome was the Seat of the Empire and when the Emperour removed to Constantinoplo or Ravenna the Bishops of those Places did contend with him for superiority Neither would the Bishops of Carthage Alexandria Millain and other Places yeild any thing more to Rome but said they were equall in their several Precincts The Greek and Roman Patriarcks and Archbishops governed their own Provinces without Usurping upon each other according to the Division of the Roman Empire they were quietly setled in the Principle City of each Province where the Roman President lived there did the Christian Metropolitan dwell the Bishops were Placed in their several Diocesses and were subordinate to their own Metropolitan and no other This was the true State of the Church then the Bishop of Rome had no Supremacy over Forraign Bishops much less over Kings but gave both that honour which was due unto them And thus did it continue till about 606 when Boniface the Third and sixty sixth Bishop of that See according to the best Chronologers usurped the Title of chief of the Bishops by the help of the cruel Phocas for Sabianus his Predecessor had it not and Gregory who was just before him did sharply exclaime against the Bishop of Constantinople who then began to assume it he called it Nomen Blasphemiae L. 4. Epis 76. and in his 83 Epis In isto scelesto Vocabulo nihil est aliud quà m fidem perdere But the judgment of that good Pope weighed little with his successours they Triumphed in that swelling Title But tho they dealt thus injuriously with their Brethren the Bishops to which some near them were soon drawn to consent but others in Africk and Cappadocia would not hear of it but severely rebuked them for their Pride they themselves did meekly Submit to the Authority of the Emperours De. Concil L. 3. C. 6. who did then and long after convocate and Dissolve Synods And as Cardinal Cusanus himself confesses did in Person or by their Deputies preside in Eight General Councills which they could not have done had the Pope been then Head of the Church They disposed of spiritual preferments and judged made Laws in Ecclesiastical affaires one was made by Honorius about the very Election of the Pope Gratian Dist 63. C. 23. what Edicts they decreed Damasus and other Popes made be read in all the Churches of Rome see the decree for the Consecration of Leo the 8. and the Council which gave Jus et potestatem eligendi pontificem to Charles the Great when he had secured and setled the western Empire which power his successours held till the Reign of Henry the fourth who confirmed the Election of Gregory the 7. C. 16.17 but was afterwards excommunicated by him There also will you find that the Pope durst not Consecrate Colonus without the Emperours licence There was no opposing them in any thing then the very time and place for holding Councils were ascertained by them You find Pope Leo with weeping Eyes begging Theodosius to have a Council in Italy which he refused Epis 24. and kept at Chalcedon and Commanded him to attend it and in all Places the Bishops then obeyed the Princes they lived under and did not pretend the Popes supremacy to defend them they thought it a sin as the sixth Council of Toledo declares it to question his Power to whom God hath given Authority over all but did every where patiently submit to what they inflicted upon them How silently did Eusebius Bishop of Samosatena go into banishment at the Emperours command and did not St. Cyprian do the like at the Injunction of the Proconsul of Affrick was not St. Cyril imprisoned by Theodosius junior and St. Chrysostom banished by Arcadius and many more by other Emperours what need I insist longer on this the greatests Bishops
and Fathers of the Church did throughout the world submit to their Kings and gave them all imaginable Honour and Reverence This they did till Boniface the Eight about 1295 advanced the Papal Grandeur and claimed Authority over Princes and by degrees and with difficulty he and his successors obtained it Generally beyond Seas In which yon may observe the policy of the Popes first they did exact Superiority over the Bishops and then over Kings To ascend the Throne they pull down the Mitre In which method they were lately followed by the aspiring Separatists of these nations but neither abroad nor here could Princes be brought under till the Bishops were first cast down whence by forraign and domestick Experience we may conclude that Aphorism of King James will be eternally true No Bishop No King They who rob the Bishops of their honour will next fly at the Kings If they once get the Rich Stones out of Aarons Ephod the Jewells of the Crown will be thought too Splendid If they get the Crozier in one hand they will be impatient till they hold the Scepter in the other Thus did the Pope Thus did the Kirk But though the Pope did exalt himself above many forraign Princes our Kings would not submit to such Usurpation most of them before and since the Conquest opposed it and his Nuncio's and Legats have been often rejected and his Bulls and Breves vilified and contemned his Supremacy denied the Clergy consenting thereunto and Appeals to Rome most strictly Prohibited forbdiden of which our ancient and modern Historians give many instances too tedious now to mention Do but consult the Acts of Parliament made in the Reigns of Edw the 1st Rich the 2d Edw the 3d. Henry the fifth and you 'l find they unanimously declared that the King of England ought not to answer before any Judge Ecclesiastical or Secular and that the Crown of England was subject to none but to God and ought not to be submitted to the Pope and that he was to exercise no Jurisdiction in England And Anno 601 Dionothus Abbot of Bangor proved by many Arguments that the Church of England owed no subjection to the Pope of Rome and as Bede assures you Neque precibus L. 2. C. 2. Ecles Hist neque hortamentis neque increpationibus Augustini c. They would by no means recede from their own ancient Customs and traditions they would not at all submit to what he desired nor own him for their Arch-Bishop tho he came from the Pope the Abbot owned they had love and service for the Pope and for every true and pious Christian but he knew no other obedience to be due unto him whom they called the Pope Neither was he Father of Fathers and moreover they were under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Caerleon The Britains and Saxons would not in those early times own the Pope for an Infallible judge tho he sent Preachers among them they consulted him as a Patriarch but no more and did not follow the Rites of the Roman Church till the Reign of Henry the first They were subject to their own King and he only subject to the King of Heaven and memorable are the words of William the Conqueror to Greg. the 7th I neither have nor will own Fealty to you neither do I find that my predecessors did ever doe it to yours which is fully made out by the Sages of our Law The Kings of Scotland have anciently done the like as is Evident from their Historians and by the advice of their Bishops and Clergy they prohibited Legats from Rome to enter the Kingdom And in this Country Fealty was sworn by the Clergy and Laity at Lismore to Henry the 2d He convened a Synod at Cashel and there and at another General meeting of the Clergy at Ardmagh was the Kings Soveraignty acknowledged and the conformity of this Church with that of England in all divine offices agreed on and in Henry the Eights time they did not only unanimously by act of Parliament but particularly under their hands to the then Lord Deputy renounce the Papal jurisdiction and then did all the Bishops of England but one take the Oath of the Kings Supremacy The Convocation which is a National Council consented to it and they gave under their hands that the Pope had no Jurisdiction in England Nay Q. Mary her self commanded the Popes Nuncio not to come into England Thus did these three Kingdoms both of old and of late disown the Popes power tho they were all then of the Romish Religion Notwithstanding all which the Scripture Councils Fathers say the Pope has no authority over Princes yet has he usurped it their Subjects who would not submit unto him have been absolved from their Allegiance and instigated by his Emissaries to Rebell and Kings have been Excommunicated deposed and Murthered and none has violated this Canon of St. Peters more then his pretended successors I need not instance in P. Zachary who deposed Childerick and Ordered Pipin the Kings high Steward to Govern France In the Histories of Greg. the 7th and Vrban the 2d you 'l find the Emperours Son urged to Rebell against his Father the Bishop of Leige excommunicated and he and his Clergy commanded to be put to death for not renouncing their fidelity but giving that honour which this Text injoyns to their Native Soveraign You know Pius Quintus urged the English to Rebell against our own Queen E. And the Divines of Salamanca and Valadolid incouraged the Irish to rise up against her and Gauran their Primate was killed in the head of the Rebels tho I now find him enrolled with many other such Subjects among the Martyrs of this Nation in the Tripartite Epitome of their Modern Saints who had many contrivances to destroy that good Queen The like practices they had in the Reigne of K. J. and how much they contributed to the Ruine of the late King and how zealously they have of late attempted the destruction of this is obvious to all their Clergy being the Chief Incendiaries to all these Villanies And that which is most lamentable is John Gavan alias Gawen lately Executed all these Mischiefs proceed from the Principles of their Religion for these Actions have been Justified by many of their best writers and greatest Jesuits On which allow me to enlarge a little seeing one who was lately executed for the Plot did out of zeal to his order and knowing how apt the words of dying men are to melt and Influence the too Credulous vulgar openly and solemnly deny it 't is strange he could remember but one of his Brethren who allowed of that Doctrine when many of their books run that way Becanus will not suffer us to question the Lawfulness of Killing refractory and disobedient Princes Angl. Cont. 1.15 p. if the Pope so Order it And Lessius thought it surely the doctrine of the Church when he says 't is heretical
to Charles the fifth by the Pope and the Grant afterwards ratified to his Son Philip and the Natives of this Country were told in Bulls and Breves that the English ought to be as much opposed as the Turks they were promised Victory and the same Rewards which they should have had in a Holy War against Saracens And was not a Plenary Indulgence and Pardon of Sins granted by Vrban the Eighth to all who would joyn in the late Rebellion I could name other Jesuits and Popes who are of these bloody Principles but I fear I am already irregular in this long Collection which is extorted from me by the late Jesuit's forgetfulness at his death who out of politick Charity to others yet untryed and to prevent Scandal could think of none that held this Opinion but Mariana And now do you judge what sort of Religion this is which allows and enjoyns such open violations of the Laws of God and Nature which reconciles Treason to the fith and Murther to the sixth Commandment which saints Men for Rebellion and damns them for Allegiance such Tenets are surely scandalous to Christianity most dangerous and destructive to Princes and highly against this Text and have and will much hinder the Propagation of the Gospel in Infidel and Pagan Countries where the Light of Nature the Practice and Tradition of their Forefathers and the moral Instructions of their Priests teach men to be more Humane and Loyal than are many Votaries of the Roman Church And would to God I could accuse no others for the Violation of my Text but alas O grief and shame to speak it Is not this Doctrine countenanced by many Bigots of Geneva and our neighboring Kirk who would manacle our free-born Princes invade their Prerogative and strip them of those Honours which their Royal Ancestors have always enjoyed who would reduce these three Kingdoms into a Seigniory and make our Imperial Crown as narrow as the Duke of Venice his Cap They would allow the King a kind of Regal but dependant Authority He should have the Robes of the British Monarch but nothing of his antient Power and in short if their Instructions were followed he should be only a Noble Servant to the People whom they might call to an account and punish when they please For does not Buchanan say the People may give the Crown to whom they will that if Princes do not excel in virtue De Jure Reg. they are not to be deemed Kings but should want the benefit of all humane Society and if they wont walk according to the Laws made by the People they are Enemies to God and Man and should be reckoned among Wolves and other destructive Beasts he would have the People carry them into some remote parts or drown them in the Sea as the Romans did their Monsters he says Major pars Populi de Magistratu judicare judices ei forre queat aut si Trib. plebis Romani Ephori Lacedemonii ad leviendam vim imperii quesiti sunt c. which surely he took from Calvin Instit l. 4. c. 20. s 31. who says If there be popular Magisirates to moderate the unruliness of Kings such as the Ephori were to the Lacedemonian Kings the Tribunes to the Roman Consuls or the Demarchi to the Athenian Senate which Power it may be the three Estates have in every Kingdom they are perfidious if they connive at them which very words Bradshaw used when he condemned our late gracious Soveraign or from Beza who affirms 24 Epsi that Inferiour Magistrates are bound to protect the People from domestick Tyrants or from Bucanus de Magistratu who speaks much to the same purpose but he far exceeds them all in most subtle and bitter instigations to rebel against the King and tells them how some have been perpetually imprisoned and others banished and the Actors not censur'd for it and instanceth in James the Third whose Death says he was not revenged but here he forgot what horrour of Conscience seized on his Son whom they forced with them into the Field that he lamented it all his life after and wore an Iron Chain about him in token of his great grief and sorrow of heart And how remarkably God punished him his Nobles and Commons at the Battel of Flowden where many of those Parricides or their Children were signally vanquished and destroyed as their-own Books witness He runs on in that rebellious strain and commends Thebe for killing her Husband Timolean his Brother and Cassius his Son and Fulvius and Brutus for murthering their Sons and near Kinsmen for consulting how to restore the Emperour and says Honours and Rewards were given by many of the Grecian Cities to the Killers of Tyranical Princes and blames Domitius Corbulo for not deposing Nero when he might c. His whole Book is full of such traiterous Incentives and is indeed the Quiver whence showrs of barbed and empoysoned Arrows have been shot at Monarchs by all the Pamphleteers in the late times which makes me quote him so largely Thus did he honour the King in broaching such rebellious Principles among his Subjects in which Knox Cartwright and Goodman three of their great Writers do exactly agree with him in them many more are the Jesuits Principles asserted If Bell says the Ecclesiastical Estate is higher than the Civil L. de Cler. 28. See Rogers 's Preface to the 39 Articles See Cartwrights Reply to the same purpose Mr. Travers will say of the Presbyterian Discipline Omnes orbis Menarchas c. all the Monarchs of the earth ought to submit their Scepters to it I might shew you the like agreement between the Jesuit Parsons and Buchanan between Emmanuel Sa Mr. Melvil and Mr. Gibson and many others but I offend your Ears in naming so many like Herod and Pilate they go hand in hand to destroy the Lords Anointed though they differ in other points and they joyntly violate my Text. The most learned of them declined the Judgment and Authority of K. James and affirmed that what was spoken in the pulpit ought first to be tryed by the Presbytery and that neither he nor his Council might meddle with it in primâ instantiâ though the Words were treasonable they have called him Persecuter in their Sermons said he was possest with a Devil Spotswoods Hist and made the people rise up against him neither the Holiness of the Place nor the Sacredness of his Person could protect him from their rebellious Invectives But least some think these were private and particular persons and what they did ought not to reflect on the whole Kirk pray observe that their general Assemblies and Synods have denied the Regal Power And although in France in Holland in Geneva it self Councils and Synods are still called by the Permission and License of the chief Magistrate yet would the Kirk convene Assemblies and make Acts of the highest Consequence contrary to the Kings express Commands And
when he would have dissolved them they have proclaimed openly that their Assembly was the Supream Judicatory in all Causes Ecclesiastical and that it was their antient Grievance that his Majesty took upon him spiritual Authority and therefore they instigated the Commons to rebel for to give him power in Spirituals was to erect a Popedom in his Person Nay in the year 1582 when K. James did Ass at St. And. by his Royal Letter by express Messengers by his Master of Requests and Herald at Arms prohibit their Assembly they slighted all and did proceed then and afterward they would allow of no Appeals to the King but punished those who did so Print 47. Decret Syn. though Paul was permitted to appeal unto Cesar In their Theorems they say no Power on earth can challenge Command or Dominion upon the Church but that all Estates within that Realm 1 Book Disc 7. Head as well Rulers as others must be subject to the Discipline So that you see the most learned of their Writers their most admired Preachers their General Assemblies which are the Representative Body of the Kirk rob the King of the honour and authority which belong to him diminish his Power and with the Pope raise themselves above all that is called God which the Apostle makes a Mark of Antichrist and they justly urge it so against him but what will they say if he retort it upon the Kirk 2. Bork Disc C. 12. seeing they say their jurisdiction is independent and that all men as well Magistrates as others are subject to their Judgment What dos the Pope say more They both have deposed Princes for not owning this Doctrine and by these fiery Principles have set the world in a flame How miserable then are those Monarchs whose Crown life depend on the pleasure of such men What Protestant King and Country can be long quiet where they are All our late Troubles sprung from these sanguinary Doctrines they ruined both Church State made these three Kingdoms one great Akeldama while there is the same cause may we not fear the same effects What has either party Printed in detestation of these ungodly Tenets Practices which may awaken the Government to fixt their Eyes upon both for tho their Heads look several ways like those of a Spread Eagle yet are they united in heart with their sharp Claws are still grasping to pull down the most Apostolical Church under Heaven Let them for shame renounce these Rebellious opinions be no longer the great violators of this Apostalical Canon let them become good Christians and good Subjects and unite themselves to the true old Protestants who are free from the blood of Kings who have ever been the best observers of this Text and consequently the best Subjects which is the last thing to be discoursed on 3dly And very justly may I call them the best Subjects it being against the Doctrine of our Church any way to dishonour the King she enjoyns obedience to him in spiritual as well as temporal things and gives him the same authority which Godly Kings had among the Jews and Christian Emperours in the primitive Church her Liturgy her Homilies her Canons her Articles do all own his Supremacy while both Papists and Fanaticks deny it pretend a Superiority over him and that by Divine right Where by the way I may note the great Partiality and Injustice of our Separatists who when they exalted their new Discipline above all other Forms of Church Government call it the Scepter of Christs Kingdom and exact obedience from all Monarchs to it enter into a rebellious Covenant to defend it and murther thousands who opposed it even then did they cry out against Episcopacy as intolerable intrenching on the Kings Prerogative and taking away his Power because some had learnedly defended the Order to be Apostolical Divine How great was this Injustice to abolish Episcopacy which had flourished in all ages and all places of the world even in Aethiopia and India where the Popes Supremacy is disowned from the very Apostles days for pretending to stand by the same Authority which their upstart Model had against Scripture and Antiquity most illegally usurped How highly did these men sin against this Text abuse and dishonour the King in urging him with Force and Arms to pull down that holy Order which he and his Ancestors were at their Coronation most solemnly sworn to preserve and which with all the Priviledges and Liberties of the Church more than thirty Parliaments had wisely and maturely confirmed And have they not again attempted by the Sword their only powerful Argument to compel our present Soveraign contrary to all Rules of Justice and Providence to alter that Government which has ever been obedient to him for that which always rebelled against him and turn out a Clergy who would vindicate his Prerogative and seal their Allegiance with their blood and place those in their Seats who were ever disloyal and yet claim Authority over him to whom as his martyred Father said of them nothing will give content but the alteration of the whole frame of the Government and the total overthrow of Royal Authority Decl. after the Pacif. at Ber. or as his Royal Grandfather wrot of them who will judge and give Law to their King but be controul'd by none whom no deserts can oblige neither Oaths nor Promises bind breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies Bas Dor. and aspiring without measure c. This and much more was the Character that wise King who had a long and sad experience of them left to his Son and their many Rebellions ever since shew it not only true of them who vexed his righteous Soul but a Prediction of others who would afterward strictly adhere to their Principles and in bloody Letters have they in most places since recorded themselves the great violaters of this Text. But blessed be God the true Episcopal Protestants have always observed it and most conscientiously honoured their King they have adhered to him in the worst of times and have been the greatest presidents of Fidelity in the world they have cheerfully suffered plundering and sequestration imprisonment and exile some were Martyrs at Home and others were Confessors abroad neither Chains nor Gibbets could terrifie them from their Allegiance their Religion and Loyalty were grounded on the same Foundation and they could not be Sons of the Church and Traytors to the King they must lay down old Protestancy when they lift up a hand against the Lords Anointed For their Principles are the same with those of the Primitive Christians and they will on no pretence whatsoever rebel against their Prince though he were a Presbyterian both in Opinion and Government they durst not dishonour or disobey him but would with those of old flere mori weep and dye and never draw a Sword against him They would imitate the Thebean Legion under Maximianus submit to a second Decimation and be cut in pieces before they would strike at their lawful Soveraign This was and is still the Doctrine of our Church in which she may justly triumph over all the World which we should at this juncture of time frequently preach and defend with all true Protestant Courage and Resolution Let us with the brave Mauricius and Exuperius who commanded that Loyal Army call to our Parishioners Mori magis quà m vincere rather to dye and fall innocently than live victorious Rebels let us often shew them the eternal Rewards of Fidelity and the dreadful Punishments of Disobedience 3. Ser. against Rebel let us convince them as 't is in our Homilies which also shews the Doctrine of our Church that as Heaven is the place of good obedient Subjects so is Hell the Prison and Dungeon of Rebels against God and their Prince c. By which allowed President let us with Loyal and Religious Zeal cry aloud against the Breakers of this Text let us assert the Supremacy of Princes in their own Territories against all the Delusions and Impostures of Rome and Geneva let us privately discourse them and publickly preach them into a devout Reverence and Loyal Admiration of the present Government which for the security of Religion and Property is most certainly the best under Heaven t is easie and gentle not Arbitrary and Tyrannical and gives the Subject all the Priviledges he can rationally desire no Sequestrators or Committy-men are seen among us the Cry of Widdows and Orphans is not heard in our streets the Peasant does not groan under Taxes but every man enjoys his own and is protected by the Laws from the Oppressions and Injuries of others for which and all other Blessings we here enjoy perswade we our Auditors to be truly thankful to God and the King and to express it in all Godliness and Honesty in all Loyalty and Affection in unity and uniformity and let us in all respects be burning and shining Lights unto them In a word let us in our Lives and Actions contribute all we can to the Honour of our King who is a most tender indulgent and nursing Father to our Church Let us shew it in our exact Conformity to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws in our great Honour and Obedience to those whom he hath set over us in Church and State and especially to him who for his vast abilities his great Sufferings and untainted Loyalty is now most deservedly set in the ancient Throne of this Diocess let his Comfort in his Clergy increase with his Honour and let us by the Holiness of our Lives our Constancy in Preaching and other Ministerial Duties on which I have formerly on the like occasion discoursed shew our Obedience to our Metropolitan our Fear to God and Honour to the King FINIS
no. Fortasse reum faciat Regem iniquitas imperandi innocentem verò militem ostendat Ordo serviendi The Magistrate may offend in commanding but not he who obeys the Principium actionis is in him and he must answer for it Thus should we behave our selves when what is commanded is only doubtful or indifferent we should have meekness of Judgment complying and condescending Spirits we should distrust and reject our private humours and fancies for the general quiet of the Kingdom and by our Conformity to the Rules imposed shew our Honour to the King and never resist them unless they be clearly against the revealed Law of God In such case only have we liberty to deny but even then we must refuse it with all humility and meekness patiently undergo Imprisonment or Death but never use any open resistance and thus have all Nations understood the Power and Prerogative of Princes for were there Decrees to be opposed with Force and Violence no Order or Government could be in the World And therefore the very Heathens advise Subjects to dye Tacit rather than lift up a hand against their King though he were Tyrannical and did exact unlawful things The Gods have given Princes Power to govern and nothing is left to the Subject but the Glory of Obedience let them be what they will we must obey without resistance Many are the Laws and most severe were the Punishments which they ordained to defend the Majesty and Grandeur of their Kings their Prefects and Officers if the Souldier broke the Stick with which the Centurion struck him he was put to death This Nature taught them and there is natural Allegiance due from every Subject to the Prince of the Country where he is born though that Prince did not make him swear he transgresses the Law of Nature if he denies Fealty to him and whether ever he is sworn or no he is bound to be true to his native Prince for the Fidelity of Subjects proceeds originally from the Law of Nature which is eternal and unalterable and not from the obligation of Oaths and he violates this Law who doth not pay all Honour and Subjection to that Prince in whose Country he his born and resides though he never took Oath of Allegiance or Supremacy But if my King require an Oath from me to assure him of my Fidelity I must take it and I am guilty of Perjury as well as Disloyalty if I ever swerve the least tittle from it He is the Head of the Society or Community of which I am a member to him before my Oath I owed homage by nature and no Power under Heaven can discharge me from that natural Allegiance which I owe him nor absolve me from the Oath I have taken without his consent Beside all which the Law of God has in many places enjoyned Obedience to Kings and there are not more positive and plainer Commands for any Duty than for Honour Maintenance and Obedience to Princes and we find no persons exempted from it but both Clergy and Laity are subject to it as I shall fully prove by Scripture and Antiquity and all who derogate from the Honour of their native Prince who lessen his Authority and deny his Supremacy act quite contrary to this Text and in so doing are neither good Christians nor good Subjects But they who walk exactly according to this Rule who honour the King and no way entrench upon his Prerogative but support it in its just height and exaltation they are the best Christians and the truest Subjects and consequently ought to receive all Countenance Incouragement and Protection from Princes and so I hast to the next thing 2. Who are the great Violaters of this Text and their unjust Pretences They who chiefly oppose the true Protestant Doctrine of Obedience to Secular Princes are the Papists and the Separatists in this they agree and their Principles are very destructive to Government quite contrary to the Practice of the Primitive Christians and the indispensable Rules of Scripture for the Law of God requireth all persons to obey their Kings if St. Peters words can have any influence on the Papists I need but name my Text which has no limitation in it but is directed to all men not imagining his Successors would have pretended the contrary but if they won't be concluded by him in this and other Texts let them hear what St. Paul says Ro. 13.1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher Powers if every soul must be subject the Pope and the Clergy are included and all are there commanded to obey under the dreadful penalty of Damnation But the Popes have since through Ambition and Avarice usurped a Power over Princes and the Jesuits the great Pillars of the Papal Throne have wrote much in defence of it though they can't but know that the Popes themselves observed this Rule for many hundreds of years and all the Bishops both of the East and West did exactly conform unto it L. 5. Orat in Aux Repugnare non novi dolere potero potero flere potero gemere lachrymae meae arma sunt c. says St. Amb. They claimed no Authority over them and made no resistance but with their Prayers and Tears Cum nefanda perpetimur ne verbo quidem reluctamur sed Deo remittimus ultionem Lact. l. 5. And Athanasius says Obedience to Magistrates was the universal Doctrine of the Church the antient Councils and Synods were called by the Emperours the Titles of their Acts are Sacra Synodus juxta religiosissimorum Christianissimor úmque Imperatorum nostrorum Praescriptum coacta Sacra Synodus juxta piissimorum nostrorum Imperatorum Decretum per Dei gratia m congregata Sometimes the Acts run Ex Jussu Ex Evocatione Ex Ordinatione Regum nostrorum c. They met by the Emperours Order Appointment and Writs 2 Cone Const as they acknowledge in their Letters to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their Acts were made Authentick by their Confirmation The Bishops humble Addresses to the Emperours for Establishing their Canons and Decres and their Ratifications and Orders for Obedience to them are frequently recorded and all the Clergy of Rome as well as other places observed their Edicts and no news then of the Popes Supremacy as is confess'd by the Bishops who met at Bononia to settle the Church in the time of Julius the Third which Power did all along both under the Law and the Gospel belong unto Princes If you look in the Old Testament you 'l find they had power over the Clergy from the first settlement of Government amongst Gods own People Aaron obeyed Moses who was King in Jesurum in the 2 Chr. 23.21 You see both Clergy and Laity entring into a Covenant of Allegiance to young King Joash and then did Kings punish spiritual persons as well as others Abiathar was removed from the high Priesthood by King Solomon and Josiah Jehoshophat and other Kings