in the World to come which are our truest Interest and our highest Wisdom in this Lastly For the Miracles by which the Gospel was confirmed they are all of them placed in some Event or other that was for the advantage and benefit of the World our Saviour went about continually doing of Good he healed Diseases and cast out Devils he cleansed the Lepers he restored the Lame and Blind to the use of their Feet and of their Sight he stopt running Issues that had been of long continuance he bid the Sick of the Palsie rise and walk and he raised the very Dead out of their Graves to come and give Testimony to the truth of his Doctrine though it might have been perhaps an equal Confirmation of it to have removed Mountains or to have called the Sun out of the Firmament or to have torn the hardest Rocks in sunder but this was not so suitable to the Nature of the Doctrine it self which was all of it Calculated as I have largely shewn to promote the Interest and Welfare of the World So that it being so undeniably clear that all the Duties whether of Natural or of Revealed Religion are placed in the Welfare and Happiness of Mankind give me leave to shew you that this is no Digression by applying it to the Subject we are ingaged in concerning Passive Obedience or Non-resistance to the Supreme Power and if the Mischiefs of Resistance shall appear to be greater upon a just and impartial Survey of the whole Matter than those of Arbitrary Power and in any other case there is no need of Resistance then it follows plainly that Resistance is in all Cases unlawful Wherefore to make short work of the matter If any Man will shew me or will so much as dare to shew his Face and look as if he would pretend to shew me that ever a quarter of so much Blood was split so many Properties invaded so many Estates confiscate by the Arbitrary Power and Humour of any Lawful Prince as in the memory of many that are here present in the last Civil War then I will be content to laugh for company with Julian the Apostate and scoff at Passive Obedience as much as he hath done Caiaphas being High Priest uttered a Prophetick saying as it seems in virtue of his Office That it was expedient that one man should dye for the People For so St. John tells us Joh. XI from 49th to the 51st Caiaphas being the High-Priest that year said unto them Ye know nothing at all nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should dye for the People and that the whole Nation perish not And this spake he not of himself but being High-Priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should dye for that nation Which words though in their Prophetick meaning they did refer to the Expiatory Sacrifice of the Blessed Jesus upon the Cross for our Sins yet it is plain that the reason of them is grounded upon this Maxim that the Interest of a Nation is to be preferred before the Interest or Wellfare of one man It is expedient for us that one Man should dye for the People and that the whole nation perish not So that we have here a sure word of Prophecy that is the Testimony of God himself that a greater Interest of Mankind is to be preferred before a lesser for what is here affirmed of one Man with relatition to the whole People of the Jews the same holds in its proportion and in the Reason of it of any lesser number with reference to a greater From whence it follows plainly though I am by no means a Friend to Arbitrary Government and though God be thanked under so Merciful and Just a Prince whose Goodness is the only thing that is excessive in him we have no manner of occasion to defend it I say from hence it follows plainly that it is unlawful because a few Men suffer in their Fortunes or their Lives by the Cruelty and Injustice of an Arbitrary Power for the People to take up Arms to protect themselves against it because the Cruelties and Desolations of War are incomparably greater than those of an unjust or an unmerciful Prince And therefore if God Almighty may be allowed to be a more competent Judge in the Case than the Author of Julian the Apostate it is much better for the People to be quiet I know the barbarous Persecutions of the Primitive Christians will be urged in this Case they being so numerous as they were so cruelly persecuted so barbarously tormented and for so good a Cause meerly for Believing and Embracing that Doctrine which taught nothing but what was for the good of the Persecutors themselves and because the just and full stating of this matter is a thing of great importance to the true deciding of the Question under Debate Therefore I shall consider in the First Place the matter of Fact and Secondly The Behaviour of the Christians under it and Thirdly The Reason upon which that Behaviour was founded First For the Matter of Fact it is unquestionably certain That the Persecution upon the Christians for many Ages was very heavy and cruel which our Saviour foresaw before he left the World and therefore took care to arm them by his Doctrine against it bidding them not fear those that could kill the Body and pronouncing a Blessing upon all those that suffered Persecution for Righteousness sake And Pliny himself who was Proconsul of Bithynia in the Reign of Trajan confesses in a Letter to his Master upon that occasion which is still extant that he was weary of tormenting them but yet after all I love to give the Devil his due and because I would not so much as imply or insinuate any thing meerly to defend a Cause which is not true therefore I shall presume to say That the Persecution of the Primitive Christians was neither so great nor so unjust as it is commonly represented And First I say it was not so great and I give these Reasons for my Opinion First That the Writers of those times who have given us the accounts we have of those Persecutions have certainly exaggerated and aggravated the matter beyond the truth of things and this among others was the peculiar Fault of Gregory Nazianzen with Relation to Julian the Apostate rather to shew his Wit and to expose a Passionate and Ungovernable mind than that Julian deserved such usage at his hands who bating that he was no Christian was otherwise as Wise and Virtuous and in all points as Gallant and as excellent a Prince as ever wielded Scepter or sat upon a Throne Another thing is That the Romans at the first were so little acquainted with the Christians that they frequently called them by the name of Jews so saith Suetonius Judaeos impulsore Chresto tumultuantes where by In Vit. Claudâ— Judaei or the Jews it is manifest the Followers of Christ were understood so that the
too forward Zeal of such as were Ambitious and Covetous of being Martyrs But in the Second place as the Roman Persecutions were not altogether so great so neither were they altogether so unreasonable or unjust as they have been usually but falsly represented I do not mean that any Power on Earth hath a right of Persecuting the true Religion and a Religion that is so plainly founded in the Interest of Mankind but the thing was this The People that professed Christianity increased so fast and withdrew themselves in so great Numbers from the publick Assemblies into private Meetings by themselves that this was looked upon as it deserved by the Roman Government with a very suspicious Eye as a matter of very dangerous Consequence to the Imperial Eagles whose Wings were like to be clipt by the prevailing Interest of a growing Party who withdrew themselves from the Publick into Corners and what they did there could not certainly be known by any but themselves and though they made never so large professions of Patience and Humility and of their embracing the Doctrine of Non-resistance yet this was no security to the Roman Emperours if ever they should be strong enough to set up for themselves For we may talk what we please and though the Doctrine of Non-resistance be a very wholsome and a very reasonable Doctrine yet when a Party gets Power into their hands it is hardly to be supposed but they will certainly use it to the endangering the Rights of Princes and the Peace of the State If you ask why the Roman Emperours did not rather turn Christians in this Case that so they might secure this growing Party to themselves To this it is to be answered That besides the Prejudices which they had imbibed from their Education in the Pagan Superstition it was at first against the Interest of the State to do it because the Pagan Party was more numerous so that in probability by declaring for Christianity they must have lost their Empire and their lives together but afterwards when Christianity got to such an head that the torrent was no longer to be resisted or stem'd then Constantine rather out of Reason of State than for the sake of the Fabulous Apparition of the Cross found himself obliged to turn a Christian Another very great inconvenience that always goes along with any Party that â—â—parates from the Government is this That though the Principles of a Party be never so peaceable yet this is certain they love themselves better than those that are of another Perswasion and they have a kindness for any man that sides with them and takes their part and therefore they are commonly made use of by Discontented and Ambitious Men to work their Designs upon the State under Religious Pretences which bad men do easily make and weak men do as easily embrace when there is an appearance of strength that they are like to go through with their business From whence it follows plainly that all Separation from the publick Worship is absolutely unlawful unless in such Cases where the Government imposes such terms of Communion as are inconsistent with the Honour of God and the Happiness of Men which I have shewn already to be the Case of Idolatry and by consequence the Primitive Christians are excused though the Dissenters of our times are not and therefore it is more just to make and execute laws against them than it was against the Primitive Christians of old and we may take it for granted for it is certainly true that the Separation from the Church of England was the true cause of that late horrid and lamentable Plot with which the Government was in so great danger of being overturned for the Conspirators would never have dared to lay so detestable and wicked a Design had they not known there was a numerous Party that would have stood by them when they had done and though I am not so foolishly uncharitable to believe but that most of the Dissenters knew nothing of the Design yet it is certain that had it taken Effect they would have sided with the Conspirators against the Laws the Monarchy and the Church of England by which they think themselves to be Opprest and this without question was the great incouragement to the Conspirators as well to enter upon the Design at first as to proceed so far in it as they did and I am really of Opinion we shall never be free from a Plot in some proportion if not against the Life of the King yet against the Peace and Honour of his Government so long as there is one Conventicle in England remaining Another thing which though it cannot make the Persecution of good men and of a good Religion Lawful yet it may in part excuse and justify the Roman Emperours for what they did is That the Christians were represented to them as a sort of Lewd Vicious and Debauch'd People that in their Assemblies they practised a promiscuous Lust and polluted themselves with incestuous Copulations which though it were most scandalously false of such as were truly and in reallity Christians yet it was but too true of many that were accounted of the number such as the Gnosticks were and the lewd Followers of Basilides and Valentinus of whom it is enough to make a Mans Ears tingle and his Hair stand an end to read those lewd Stories which Ephiphanius and Ireneus have reported and it is certain that the Roman Laws were not more severe against any thing than against the practice of unlawful Lust insomuch that by the old Laws and Usages of the Empire all the degrees prohibited in Marriage which by the Mosaick and the Roman Law seem to me Authen Col. h. 9. tit 36. l. 154. Mosaic Rom. Leg. 1. Collat. tit de inâ—eslis Nupt. p. 90. C. Theod. l. 3. tit 12. l. 14. to have been exactly the same were punished with Death and this was the Sanction of a Novel of Justinian still extant and directed to the Inhabitants of Osdroena and Mesopotamia and of another of Dioeletian and Maximinian in the Fragments of Pythaeus and it appears by a Law of Arcadius and Honorius in the Theodosian Code whereby the Marriage of Cousin Germans is dispensed with that the punishment for the said Marriages in the time of Theodosius was no less than ignium proscriptionis both the Parties were to be burnt alive and their Estates to be Confiscate so that upon supposition that they did really believe such horrid Impieties to have been practised amongst them as they were among some that went under the notion of Christians it is no wonder that the Roman Laws were so severe against them Another thing which though it cannot justifie the Persecution of the Christians yet it may render it somewhat less Barbarous and Unjust than otherwise it would appear to be is That their over-forward and over-heated Zeal was such that they were not content according to their Duty barely to stick
who could put up such Indignities in the midest of his Idolatry with a Christian temper and without that just revenge which they deserved But does it appear that ever the Christians of that Age resisted him or took up Arms against him or that the generality of them when we have set aside a few passionate and Seditious Fellows did talk so lewdly and so scandalously concerning him No but on the contrary it appears that in his last Expedition the generality of his Army were Christians and it cannot be supposed otherwise if the Christians were so numerous in Tertullians time but that after the Encouragement given to Christianity by two several Emperours succeeding one another they were still more powerful and formidable than before and yet we know of no Sword that was ever drawn in the Quarrel or so much as intended to be drawn And so much concerning the nature of the Roman Government and the behaviour of the Christians under it in the time of Julian let us now briefly apply this to the Bill of Exclusion and the Point of a Popish Successour to the Imperial Crown of these Kingdoms As for the Bill of Exclusion I shall not reflect upon the Persons that were chiesly concerned in it this Desperate Conspiracy hath I hope opened the Eyes of some of those Gentlemen that were Zealous for it and there are others partly at the call of Nature and partly by the stroke of Justice that are gone to their own place and I shall not insult over any mans Calamity or go about to disturb the Ashes of the Dead but let all the Kings Enemies be as they are unless they will Repent and become Friends to themselves as well as to their Prince and upon that condition let them all be forgiven and forgotten But as for the Bill which they preferred in Parliament though I do not meddle with the Statute of Queen Elizabeth so much talked of about the Succession I do conceive that it was naturally unlawful for the King to pass it and that for these two Reasons First because a Successive Monarchy is without all question the best Form of Government upon the Face of the Earth it being easie to shew if the time would allow it and if it would not be too long a digression that this sort of Polity is the least exposed to Factions and by consequence is the best fitted to procure the Peace and Happiness of the World and the King who is accountable to God for the good of his People hath no natural right to alter or to consent to the alteration of the Establishment from a better Form of Government to a worse and yet this in all probability would have been the Consequence if that Bill had passed For if an Heir may be Excluded upon one Pretence he may also upon another and they that are Enemies to Monarchy will never want Pretences till all the Line be Excluded and the Monarchy it self utterly subverted But then Secondly supposing a successive Monarchy to be but of equal advantage to the World with any other Form of Government whatsoever or let us suppose it to be a little worss which is as much as our Adversaries in reason can desire yet the present Establishment meerly for that reason because it is the present is the best because of the Dangers and Animosities the Strife and War and Bloodshed to which all Alteraâ—ions in Government are exposed and therefore it was excellently well advised of Solomon in the 24th at the Proverbs at the 21st Verse My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are givan to change For which he gives this admirable Reason in the very next Verse For their Calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the Ruine of them both And this ought in all Ages hereafter to be remembered to the Kings Honour that the Dangerous and threatning importunity of a restless Faction was never able to move the Scale of Justice out of its Royal Ballance or prevail with him to consent to any thing though in never so great Straits and Exigences of his Affairs which was like to be of so Dangerous Consequence to the Good of the People as well as to the Rights of the Crown and the Royal Prerogatives which himself and the Kings and Queens of England his Ancestors have enjoyed May he still continue to defend himself and us against the wicked Encroachments and Designs of Men much more Arbitrary than the Government they complain of and as often as they Conspire against his Interest his Honour or his Life so often let them be detected and exemplarily punish'd and let the Kingâ— rejoyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad let him be of thy Salvation For the business of Obedience to a Popish Sucessour if God in his anger should send us such an one I shall now immediately have occasion to consider it under the third and last head in which I will be very brief and in which I have promised to shew the Reasons upon which the passive behaviour of the Primitive Christians was founded which I have in part considered already and shew'd you that the Reason why Obedience even to a Persecuting Prince is of necessity required at our hands is Because it is better for the Peace of the World and for the Happiness of Humane Life that the Prince should be Arbitrary than that the Subjects should be Judges in their own Cause which they are of necessity supposed to be in all the cases of Resistance that can be supposed I shall now only strengthen what I have said already by some other Arguments which are more properly of Theological consideration And first There was the Command of our Saviour who Commanded his Disciples in those times of Persecution by no means to resist their Enemies and Opposers in his Sermon on the Mount And secondly This Doctrine of Obedience was over and over inculcated by the Apostles St. Paul is strangely express to this purpose in the 13th to the Romans Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation for Rulers are not a Terrour to Good works but to the Evil wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same for he is the Minister of God to thee for good But if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the Sword in vain for he is the Minister of God a revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doeth Evil. Wherefore you must needs be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Not only for Wrath that is not only out of a Principle of fear but also for Conscience sake that is out of a Principle of Duty which Duty I have shewn to