against their Kingdom and their Laws as the People are against them and the Laws when they transgress Do Subjects obey the commands of their Princes which they may lawfully command and which they of right ought to obey without intrenching on God's commands Do they pay them Tribute Sute and Service not contrary to God's Laws as they ought So to obey Cesar is just lawful and praise-worthy But to obey Cesar's exceeding their just bounds commanding without warrant of Law affecting and designing a greater Impery without the consent of the governed or if they invade or violate the Laws of God perverting the right Worship of God who is above all Kings and Governments it is unjust and to assist Cesar's in such cases is unlawful and they that do make themselves partakers of other Men's Crimes Anno Domini 1300. Pope Boniface VIII challenged some Regalia which belonged unto Phillip the Fair King of France whereupon Philip sharply reproved the Pope by his Letter even in those days when the Pope was accounted the Vicar of Christ on Earth and Head of the Universal Church according to Communis error Juris loco erat Notwithstanding the Sorban answered That both King and Kingdom might safely withdraw themselves from their Obedience to the Pope without any guilt of Schism because not Separation but the Cause made Schism and that they did not oppose the Vicar of Christ but a wicked Man guilty of many Crimes Sieur de Mezerai Annales Franciae Archivae Camerae Ratiociniorum Lutet L. Barbar Ph. de Senat. If the Cause be just the Separation is from the high Priest or Bishop not from the Church Or more properly from Boniface not from the high Priest Unless such distinctions and discriminations are allowed for true and Authentick how can the Souls of whole Kingdoms be distinguished and separated from the Church If Kings invade the Rights of God Almighty and oppress his People who are the Temple of God with servitude denying their Rights Priviledges and Liberties which God hath given them and for which Christ died we may much more use the same distinction and in opposition to such Kings or rather Tyrants we may justly say That not the King but the Tyranny is opposed Anno 1408. Benedict XIII did grieviously oppress the Gallican Church with Tributes and Exactions whence a Convocation of the French Clergy being called by Charles VI. they decreed That the King and Kingdom ought not to obey Benedict as being an Heretick and Schismatick and unworthy of any honour which the States of the Kingdom allowed and the Parliament of Paris approved by their Arrest Annales Car. 6. Monstreletus Moreover they whom Benedict did excommunicate as Enemies of the Church they judged them forthwith absolved of such Excommunications and that thereby they were not excluded or deprived of any Benefit or Priviledge of the Church Ibid. The like we read to have been done as at other times in France so in other Kingdoms Which evidently shews That if Kings and Princes or States do tyrannize or extend their Power beyond it's just bounds Subjects may without any just imputation of Delinquency or Rebellion withhold their Tributes withdraw themselves from their Obedience or resist their Tyranny It being one thing to resist an evil Pope another thing to resist the Church one thing to resist a King another thing to resist a Kingdom or Tyranny We read That Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a King over themselves And Libnah revolted from Jehoram 2 Kings 8. 20 22. yet after the true Worship of God was restored we find Libnah numbred among the subjects of Ezekiah Chap. 19. 8. If this distinction be of force when the Pope who arrogantly assumes to himself Superiority over Kings and Princes invades their Rights or the Rights of the Church is it not much more just if Princes I might say Vassals invade the Rights and Regalia of the great God of Heaven and of Earth It stands therefore sure that Princes commanding unlawful things or forbidding Holy things or introducing a False or Idolatrous worship the People or rather Parliaments Dyets Senates the several Officers or inferior Magistrates having a share in the Government and intrusted with the common concerns of the Kingdom by the People both may and ought to hinder or resist unlawful commands All or at least the Governing Magistrates of Kingdoms and Cities as first impowered by God and then constituted by Princes by Authority derived from the People ought to promote in their several Stations and Provinces first the Glory of God and of Holy Church and then the Good and Welfare of Kingdoms Cities and Free States and if they do not it is in them Crimen laesae Magistatis and they become participes criminis by such their sinful connivence Let us now consider what Bishop Bilson Bishop of Winchester as learned and as honest a Bishop and as sound a Divine as ever sate on that See and who hath written a most learned Treatise of the difference between Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion in the days of Queen Elizabeth The Romans did not love the name of King and the Commonwealth of Venice Millan Florence and Genoa are of the same mind many States have Governors for Life and for Years and yet a Sovereignty still remaining in the People or Senate or in the Prelates and Nobles that elect or assist the Magistrate who hath his Jurisdiction allotted and prefixt unto him and may be resisted and recalled from any tyrannous excess by the general and publick consent of the whole State. In Germany the Emperor himself hath his bounds appointed him which he may not pass by the Laws of the Empire and the Princes Dukes and Cities that are under him have Power to use and govern the Sword as God's Ministers in their own charges And though for the Maintenance of the Empire they be subject to such orders as shall be decreed in the Convent of all their States and according to that direction are to furnish the Emperor with Men and Mony for his necessary Wars and Defences yet if he touch their Policies infringe their Liberties or violate the Specialties which he by Oath and Order of the Empire is bound to keep they may lawfully resist him and by force reduce him to the Ancient Government or else repel him as a Tyrant and set another in his place by the Right and Freedom of their Country Bilson's Subjection p. 513. Zuinglius saith That if the Empire of Rome or any other Sovereign should oppress the Truth and they negligently suffer the same they shall be charged with contempt no less than the Oppressors themselves Zuingl lib. 4. Epist Zuing. Occol f. 186. And elsewhere when Kings rule unfaithfully and otherwise than the Rule of the Gospel prescribeth they may with God be deposed as when they punish not wicked Persons but especially when they advance the ungodly and idle Priests such may be deprived of their Dignity as Saul
become forfeited for Mal-government should not return unto them who delegated it as well from Kings as from Consuls Senates Tribunes Duumvirates Triumvirates Decemvirates Ephori or any other form of Government is past all understanding It is also scornfully objected this is to be a Duke of Genoa a Duke of Venice not a King. They who have so mean conceits of such Governments which in reality are as much approved and allowed by God as Kingly even by the same Scripture are not worthy to preside in any Government If the Opinion of the Millenaries be true and Christ shall come and reign upon the earth 1000 Years will he not do all things for the good of the Governed Will not his eyes be on the faithful of the Land and on them that excel in virtue will he not hate the works of them that turn aside will he know a wicked Person except to condemn him will he suffer them that have High Looks or Proud Hearts will not his eyes be on the faithful of the Land that they may dwell with him shall not they that walk in a Perfect way serve him shall they that work Deceit dwell in his House or they that tell Lies tarry in his sight and will he not destroy all the Wicked of the Land and cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord And cannot Kings do the same whether their power be absolute from God or delegated from the People Hath not Christ been among us already as him that serveth and shall his Vicegerents think it below them to be like their Master Were it not the most desirable condition in the World for Kings Christian to be so seated on Thrones as it could not possibly be in their power to do the least injury to the meanest of their Subjects and yet do good to all Would not this be a condition acceptable in the sight of God and Man would not they thereby become Deliciae humani Generis as once Titus was Will nothing please but quod libet licet their Wills and Pleasures to be their Laws that Justinian-like when instigated by an Imperious Whorish Comedian Theodora they may securely commit Outrages and Cruelties sans nombre or when tickled with a Dancing Herodias shall take off any Head though of a John Baptist or when in the midst of Adulterous Embraces shall betray the strength of a Nation to a Dalilah at pleasure and all these uncontrollably When the Romans had cashiered Proud Traquin their King and in him Kingship they delegated their Power on Two Consuls to be check one upon the other that if one exceeded or abused his Power he might be curb'd by the other and though both should agree to usurp or extend the power given to the prejudice of the People yet both Consuls and all other Magistrates were to be obedient to the Senate whenever the Patricians and People thought fit which was always had in esteem as the Peoples Champion and Defender of their Rights and Laws Tull. orat pro Sestio The like subject were the Decemviri and all other the Magistrates to the Senate insomuch that sometimes the Counsuls were esteemed Enemies before they quitted their Consulship and the Senate took Arms against them So War was raised by the Authority of the Senate against Anthony the Consul for his misdemeanors during his Consulship On the contrary Trajan that Excellent Emperor believing him to have been sent from Heaven to redeem them from the slavery of former Tyrants and to restore unto them their antient Liberties when he gave the Sword the Ensign and Badge of Majesty and Power unto Saburanus Praefect of the Praetorian Cohorts saying Accipe hunc Gladium pro me si recie agam sin aliter in me magis quod moderatorem omnium vel errare minus fas est Use this Sword for my Defence whilst I govern as I ought if otherwise to my Destruction Comite Cestriae Gladium Sancti Edvardi qui Curtein dicitur ante regem bajulante in signum quod comes est Palatii Regem si oberret habeat de Jure Potestatem cohibendi suo sibi scilicet Cestrensi Constabulario ministrante virgâ— Populum cum se incrdinate ingereret subâ—rahente Matth. Paris lib. 3. p. 563. N. 10. At the Marriage of Henry III. King of England with Elianor Daughter of Raymund Earl of Provence the Earl of Chester carried the Sword of St. Edward called Curtein before him in token that he was Master of the Palace and that he had publick Authority to curb the King if he erred The same Ensign of publick Authority is continued to this very day before the Kings of England King Charles II. at his Coronation being set in a rich Chair under a glorious Cloth of State Sir Gilbert Talbot Knight Master of the Jewel-House presented the Sword of State also the Sword called Curtana and two other Swords to the Lord High Constable who took and delivered them to the Lord High Chamberlain and laid them on the Table before the King. The like Powers had the Masters of the Palace in France and other Countries It is plain that though that great and just Emperor Traj an had so great Power conferred on him yet was so just as to appoint a Judge though inferior to him over his Actions How much more just therefore was he when he superior in Power having all the Armies and Conquests at his beck and consequently could not be forced to obey the Senate or People yet would do it in respect of his Office and Duty to his Delegators and thereby acknowledge them to be his superior of whom Pliny in his Panegyrick saith That senatus ut susciperet quartum Consulatum rogavit jussit Which are words of Command and they that might Command might Judge and Censure So Marcus Aurelius the Emperor when Cassius the Praefect of Syria endeavoured to deprive him of his Kingdom offered himself to the judgment of the Senate and the People of Rome as it should seem best unto them Now who could better judge of Kingly Power than such just and upright Kings and in their own Cause Certainly by the Law of Nature all good Kings have the Senate or the People both for their Peers and Superiors in some Kingdoms though Tyrants hated both of God and Man will neither have Superior nor Peer As of old Laws the Law of Nature guiding by force were devised so when Laws came to be despised and slighted by the same Law of Nature there must recourse be had unto force again so to think is just and prudent so to do is true courage so to think and do is the height of a prudent vertue This remains indelible in Nature That the Senate or People are always Superior in some Countries to Kings good or bad the reason is natural for that the People do transfer their own Power or to speak yet more properly the use and exercise of some of their own Power unto Kings the
that in the beginning all Power did flow from the People and still doth which Tully excellently demonstrates De lege Agraria Cum omnes potestates Imperia curationes ab úniverso Populo proficisci convenit tum eas profecto maxime quae constituuntur ad populi fructum aliquem commodum in quo universi delegant quem populo maxime consulturum unusquisque ' studio suffragio suo viam sibi ad beneficium impetrandum munire possit Seeing all Powers Commands Curations i. e. potestas seu munus administrandi bona do proceed and flow from the People then those more especially which are constituted and do respect the good and benefit of the People in which the universality do chuse them whom they judge will most especially study and procure their good and every one by their study and suffrage may have easie access to obtain Justice and Favours And all Lawyers do agree and hold That all Laws repugnant to the Laws of God of Nature or of Reason are not to be accounted as Laws And whereas the Power of judging was Originally in the People and the English by no Lex Regia have at any time transferred it out of themselves no King of England hath been wont or hath Power to judge any Man unless by the known and approved Laws Fleta lib. 1. c. 17. What Power Kings have are given to them by the People that they may know by the Authority to them committed that they may do nothing contrary to the Law and keep our Laws but not impose their own Laws on us and the Kings Power is really and truly in the Courts of Law wherein the People by their Juries have their share also And their chief Power is in their Senates and Parliaments who have a Right and Authority over all Courts and Powers in all which Courts Kings may both sue and be sued and the reciprocal Causes to be indifferently tried according to established Laws If at any time Kings act any thing contrary to Laws they act then as private Men or as Tyrants and not by any Authority transferred on them by God or Man so to do Hence Bract. l. 1. c. 8. Non est Rex ubi dominatur voluntas non Lex c. 1. 3. c. 9. Rex est dum bene regit tyrannus dum populum sibi creditum violenta opprimit dominatione c. ibid. Exercere debet Rex potestatem Juris ut vicarius minister Dei potestas autem injuriae Diaboli est non Dei. Cum declinat ad injuriam Rex Diaboli minister est As nothing contrary to the Laws of God and Reason can be accounted a Law so neither can a Tyrant be a King nor a Minister of the Devil be a Minister of God seeing therefore Law is but the product of right Reason and Obedience is due to Kings as the Ministers of God so by the same Reason and Law Tyrants and Ministers of the Devil may be censured and resisted Either the People to be governed have a Right and Power to chuse their own Governor or they have not If they have not then Kings chosen by them are not Kings but Usurpers and Oppressors If they have Power to chuse then they have Power to oblige him to what Conditions they please and to keep them and if they fail of performing then they are free of the Covenant as it was between Rahab and the Spies FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. line 18. dele it ibid. l. 50. for Iliad r. Myriad p. 9. l. 11. f. doth only r. not only ib. l. 38. f. the way r. the right way p. 11. l. 15. f. our r. your ib. f. Black-guard r. Peasants p. 13. l. 3. dele and. p. 14. l. 28. f. this r. those p. 17. l. 23. f. Zalencus r. Zaleucus p. 16. l. 43. r. St. Edward p. 22. l. 20. r elegerit alibi ib. l. 58. r. Martyrs p. 24. l. pen. f. the r. thy p. 25. l. pen. dele to p. 28. l. 25. dele in the Posterity of ibid. l. 31. f. did r. should p. 30. l. 22. f. taking r. taken ibid. l. 58. dele hundred p. 31. l. 17. f. Timens r Fabius ib. l. 32. r. Fabius p. 33. l. 24. f. or r. and. ib. l. 46. f. never r. ever p. 42. l. 12 r. Commonwealth p. 43. l. 38. dele Obj. p. 44. l. 46. f. necesset r recesset p. 46. l. 10. r. elegerit p. 47. l. 16. r. perfectiora p. 48. l. 35. r. differemus cui quam p. 51. l 43. dele we p. 56. l. 41. f. magis r. majes ib. l. 46. r. saies p. 57. l. 57. f him r. them ib. l. 33. r. proscribed p. 60. l. 38. dele the second no. p. 61. l. pen. f. beareth r. bear p. 62. l. 47. after yet r. God. p. 63. l. 19. r. prepossessed p. 69. l. 27. f. ye r. yea p. 75. l. 18. f. his r. their p. 76. l. 5. in the Contents f. returns r. return ib. 5. in the Chapter f. was r. were ibid. l. 33. f. lawful r. unlawful p. 78. l. 19. f. Proplancio r. pro Plancio p. 82. l. 7. r. is seated p. 87. l. 23. f. Florentio Dianysio and Coss r. Florentio Dianysio Coss ibid. l. 35. f. Valerius r. Valeria In 4â— printed 158â— Arlstotle Pindarus Tuâ—â—y Plato alias Lex Regia v. Dr. Sherrock c. 4. n. 9. p. 282 283. Lex P. Vallerii 2. Martii Fab. Maximi Scyllae C. Gracchi plebiscitum Lex Annaria c. Vid. A. A. A. lib. 4. cap. 6. p. 181.
the Earth to stay the Righteous with the wicked Gen. 18. 25. or take vengeance on the People for the Sins of the King the Soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. 4. Every Man shall be put to death for his own Sin Deut. 24 16. was it not rather because the People did not resist or restrain but assisted Saul their King violating the Law of God and wickedly persecuting the Man after Gods own Heart and killing the Priests of the Lord. Saul desiring to inlarge thē Borders of the Tribe of Judah at his entrance into Canaan broke publick Faith with the Gibeonites and destroyed many of them the Children of Israel having sworn unto them by which he broke the third Commandment God being witness to his Covenant with the Gibeonites he broke also the sixth Commandment and so the breach of both Tables God himself would revenge the breach of which Covenant and Oath was justly laid to Saul and his Family Now Saul being dead and David constituted King 2 Sam. 21. 1 2. God sent a Famine in the days of David three Years Year after Year upon the whole Land and David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered It was for Saul and his bloody House because he slew the Gibeonites which Famine ceased not till David delivered seven Sons of Saul to the Gibeonites whom they hanged in Gibeah of Saul unto the Lord v. 6. 8. But was the Famine over all the Land for Sauls fault only No both King and People were both punished the one for breaking Covenant the other for not resisting and not hindring the King or as being accessary to do this Evil. How came it to pass that God never punisheth the sins of the King upon the People nor the sins of the People upon the King and yet he sent a Famine on the whole Land Saul the chief Actor being Dead and consequently Actio moritur cum persona but because the People suffered so manifest a Sin to be committed by their sinful connivance and used no endeavours to resist or hinder him as they ought Can Punishment by any right be inflicted on any for a Crime whereof they are not guilty Alieni secleris quenquam poenas pati Jura non sinunt 2 Kings 14. 6. Wherein did the Israelites sin if not by tolerating Saul to do as he did when they ought and might have hindred him When Menasseh had polluted the Temple of the Lord and shed Innocent Blood which the Lord would not pardon 2 Kings 24. 4. why did the Lord threaten not only Menasseh but his People with Judgments but because they being under the same Covenants with Manasseh they would not restrain the King from persisting in his wickedness but did connive countenance and assist him in his Impieties 2 Chron. 33. 17. Herod and Pilate condemned Christ the Priests delivered him to Death yet the Curse fell upon the whole Nation and why because the People might have delivered him as well as they did Barrabas and did not but impricated Curses upon themselves and their Children It is the duty of all Nations to take care not only that Criminals be punished but that no Crimes be committed which made Hezekiah pull down the Brazen Serpent though set up by Moses when it came to be abused 2 Kings 18. 4. It being the duty of the People by common consent to hinder Kings as much as in them lies from violating the Law of God and from injuring his Church and Saints and if they do not they are guilty of the same crime and liable to the same punishment Resist they may by opposing words to words force to force stratagem to stratagem always avoiding perfidiousness which is always disallowed and hateful to God and Man. For in War it matters not whether it be managed by open Force or secret Stratagems By People is not meant the Many headed-Monster-Multitude but by the Universal People is to be understood those who have any share in the Government or any Authority from the People conferred upon them by any Laws made by publick consent as inferior Magistrates either chosen by the People or any other way constituted to take care of publick Peace and concerns of the Laws of the Land and worship of God in their several qualifications be they Tribunes of the People Ephori Praefects Praetors Judges Justices of the Peace Constables Captains of Thousands Captains of Hundreds Captains of Fifties or other inferior Officers or Magistrates which are as Consorts of the Empire and are in the vacancy of the publick Sanhedrims Dyets Parliaments c. As it were the Epitome of every Kingdom and Ephori of Kings and Conservators of the Publick Peace thereof to and among whom all the publick concerns of a Nation are referred of which sort in a manner were the Seventy Elders in the Kingdom of Israel among which there was a Chief Priest which did judge de Arduis Regni which were not to be Hobby-horsed in and out by the High Priest according as they would or would not serve a sinister turn and they were chosen out of the Seventy Families which went down into Egypt the Elders of which were first chosen and made Heads over the People Rulers of Thousands Rulers of Hundreds Rulers of Tens and the hard causes they brought unto Moses Exod. 18. 25. We read often in Scripture of all Israel of all Judah and Benjamin c. when in all probability every Individual did not at all times meet of which sort and kind there is in all well constituted Kingdoms several Congregations of the Kingdoms Officers of the Kingdom as the Privy Council Peers Patricians Judges Sessions Assizes Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Mayors Bayliff's of Towns and Cities as the ordinary Councils and Officers of a Kingdom and as Councils extraordinary chosen out of them all to consider de Arduis Regni which are Officers of the Kingdom and called by several names in several Kingdoms as Dyets Parliaments c. which provide that no detriment come to either Church or State in which tho' every individual be inferior to the King yet the Joynt Body being the Representative of the whole Kingdom is superior and to be preferred before him For as the Council of Basil and Constance decreed that a General Council was superior to the Pope and the Chapter to the Bishop for that they which receive any Authority from any Company of Men must needs be inferior to that Company though he be personally superior to every Individual of that Society So without all doubt Israel which petitioned for and chose Saul from among themselves to be their King as a publick Actor for the common good of them all was superior to Saul When we attribute any power to the People it is to be understood of the Officers Princes Elders Parliaments Dyets that have a share in the Government and in the Legislative Power Take Athaliah 2 Chron. 24. for an Example in which Act the Kingdom was not opposed but
of Christians True but not the only Weapons lawful resistance of unlawful Force is as true which Divines both Popish and Protestants Bellarmine Turrecremata Cajetan Dominicus Soto Franciscus Victorius Pareus Calvin Eccolompadius Beza Martyr Luther Lavator Zuinglius Bucer Padre Paolo eminent for his great Learning Judgment and Faithfulness in all his Writings Bishop Bilson famous for his incomparable works especially for maintaining Christian Subjection against Unchristian Rebellion Willet Dr. Sherrock Bishop Bedel and other Modern Writers innumerable who following one another confirm the same But yet the said Mr. Clifford in the same Sermon pag. 11 12. is pleased with great confidence to Pulpit it That those that hold such Opinions are but a few deluded Creatures in the Church of Rome and a handful of zealous Fools in the reformed Churches a very severe censure on so many great and learned Men. I much wonder at his daring confidence thus to censure and which is worst to imploy his Priesthood and his Pulpit to rail and to delude his Congregation and the World with Paralogisms and false glosses and misapplications of plain Texts of Scripture as he hath done contrary to the very duty of his Priesthood which is to feed us with Wisdom and Knowledge and not to prevaricate and juggle with plain Texts To instance only in that golden Sentence as he calls it of the Psalmist viz. touch not my anointed Psalm 105. 15. which very Text though more particularly spoken of the Seed of Abraham his Servant and of Jacob his chosen yet it is so clearly and undeniably applicable to God's People in general in whom is all his delight and not of Kings in particular that it cannot be denied nay it is a reproof even to Kings themselves viz. He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm verse 14 15. which also is reinforced Psalm 149. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his People and will put a two-edged Sword in their Hands to bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron to execute upon them the judgment written This honour have all his Saints What is this but to betray and smother and reproach Truth it self very ill becoming Priests of the most high God. He hath done as much by other Texts as Psalm 51. 4. 1 Sam. 8. Prov. 8. 15. And indeed most Texts he quotes he dissembles and puts false glosses upon them But let these pass I only wonder how Priests dare be so sawcy with the Word of God. Neither is it true as often objected That infinite scandals would arise and grow from such Doctrines on the Christian Religion but it is true that they would grow out of the contrary for so should Tyranny be brought into Commonwealths which as a publick fault is more pernitious Even as no more is it true that by this Doctrine there would grow confusions in Families Cities and Kingdoms because every one might defend himself from the Sergeants from the Comito in Gallies and from the Prince who would force them to pay Impositions and Taxes not granted by publick consent For indifferences between Princes and Subjects both cannot have right on their sides but of necessity that if they who use force do it lawfully the defence must be unlawful and where the force is unlawful the defence of necessity must be lawful and therefore vim vi repellere licet is always to be understood of that force which is unjusty used And these Doctrines are most especially to be understood of publick Kingdoms Commonwealths free States and Cities and to preach Patience unto such under Tyranâ—â— and Oppression is a Medicine fitter for mad Dogs than for reasonable 〈◊〉 especially Christians for whose sakes God rebukes even Kings saying Touch not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and do my Prophets no harm Psalm 105. 15. To which sort of Remedy no Man â—bound nay rather oftentimes a Man should sin in using it as when the remedy were not only prejudicial to themselves but also to others Another Remedy often urged is Obedience be it so This is a Remedy but when unjust and prejudicial and not only to the Liberty which God hath given to the governed but also to their Lives Goods and Honours they are not bound to use it and by reason of prejudicing another they should sin if they should use it Obedience is a Divine Precept and is to be yielded to a just and holy command but when it is referred to unjust and tyrannical commands it is not good but natural defence doth then succeed in its room Submission to unjust commands is Obedience in name but indeed an extreme disobedience towards God and the governed Gregory II. Quest 7. yields the reason Admomendi sunt subditi ne plus quam expedit sint subjecti ne quum student plus quam necesse est hominibus subjici compellantur etiam vitia eorum venerari That Subjects must be admonished that they make not themselves more subject than is convenient lest they are inforced to flatter them in their Vices whose subjects they make themselves more than they should Besides one abuse of Power and Authority gives a greater scandal to the World and is a cause of greater mischiefs than many disobediences and the Prince as more eminent is much more bound by his greater Obligation to God to do his duty Kings that have a serious intent to live Christianly in good earnest will be careful to observe the Commandments of God and that they be preferred before his own These Doctrines of Resistance and Passive Obedience have of late been very bitterly controverted by our Spiritual Guides and Mr. Miles Barne tells us That it is the duty of private Men to submit their judgments in matters of Religion to the determinations of those whom God hath constituted to be their Spiritual Guides and Governors in his Sermon preached before his Majesty October 17. 1675. which undeniably is false Doctrine and makes us not their Disciples but their Slaves and we are never the nearer the Truth if we do For Prester John may believe with Julian and John of Jerusalem with Jovian both Spiritual Guides and so the Position satisfied and yet the Controversie as indeterminable and as far undesided as before And for certain private Men are no more obliged to believe their Spiritual Guides because such than Spiritual Guides are obliged to believe private Men but both the one and the other are to be believed or disbelieved according to the Doctrines they do deliver are true or false But this is not the only false Doctrine he hath preached Besides his faculty of preaching false Doctrine he excels in the faculty of Railing and dares to Pulpit more against Julian than Michael the Archangel durst do against the Devil for in his Sermon on Luke 19. he tells us That amongst Phanaticks and Atheists transformed into malicious Fiends by the Hellish Divinity of that