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
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
Bozra Wherefore art thou red in thine Apparel and thy Garments like him that treadeth in the Wine Fat When our Saviour talk'd to his Disciples of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood and that no man could be his Disciple that did not eat the one and drink the other they understanding him in the literal and first sense said among one another This is an hard saving who can hear it And the Evangelist tells us a very little after That from that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him Nay the twelve themselves were startled at the thing and in some doubt whether they also should forsake him or no as appears by our Saviours question immediately subjoyned will ye also go away So grievously were they Scandalized and Offended at the very thought of eating Flesh and drinking Bloud But the religious Canibals of our times make it a light matter to eat the Flesh and pick the Bones of a Nation they exceed in Barbarity the Sarmatians of old who though they drank the Bloud of Horses yet could not down with that of Men this is a knack peculiar to the Sober Party and yet their Consciences are tender all this while their Consciences are tender but their Bowels are hard their Mercies are cruel their Fore-heads as impudent and impenetrable as the Adamant it self and they make amends for the softness of their Heads by Necks as stiff as the Obelisk at Rome or the tall Monument at the Bridge-Foot Who would ever believe that these were the very men that were wont to declaim so loudly against the Popish Murthers that talkt of nothing but Piedmont and the Fifth of November and the Marian Days and the invincible Armada and the Albigenses the Persecutions of Hungary and France the Churches of France that have been lately so perfidiously demolished and the Ministers of Hungary that were condemned to the Gallies and used to quiet their Children when they cryed with the Names of Stephen Gardiner and Bloody Bouner but it is nevertheless true for being strange the Papist and Fanatick the Dissenter and the Jesuit as bitter Enemies as they are to one another yet they tend to a Point and move about a Centre they are like Simeon and Levi Brethren in Iniquity Instruments of Cruelty are in their Habitations Cursed be their anger for it is fierce and their wrath for it is cruel O my Soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly be not thou united This Age stands amazed at so horrid a Discovery and the next would scarce believe that so much Wickedness was designed in this were it not that the Conspirators themselves have all of them so unanimously confessed their Guilt not the Witnesses only whom a suspicious Malice may pretend to have accused others that they might save themselves but some have confessed the Treason by their Flight even before they were known to be accused others have confessed it by practising those barbarous Cruelties upon their own Persons which were designed to be practised upon ours others have owned it at the Bar and at the place of Execution where men do not use to tell lies against themselves and he that will not believe a Criminal when he comes to dye acknowledging his Guilt will remain still in a state of Infidelity though he and all the Accomplices of his Crime should arise together to vouch it from the Dead They have Conspired together in acknowledging the Treason as well as in committing it and by that acknowledgment they have prevented themselves and we are delivered from the snares of Death They have shown by so miraculous so seasonable a Confession just almost at the very nick of time when the dismal Tragedy was about to be acted that there is a Providence presiding over Humane Affairs that will not suffer Disloyalty to prosper and so much Wickedness to go unpunished that God will defend and prosper his Anointed the Defender of the Faith and the Majestique Image of his Person and make every Loyal Subject take up the Song of David in his Mouth Verily there is a reward for the Righteous surely there is a God that judgeth the Earth They have verified the English Observation that Treason and Murther will never fail to come out and justified the Counsel of Solomon in my Text Curse not the King no not in thy thought for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath Wings shall tell the matter Upon occasion of which words I shall do these following things First I will demonstrate to you that Resistance against the King or the Supreme Power is in all Cases unlawful Curse not the King no not in thy thought Secondly I shall apply that general Theory to the particular Circumstances of this Conspiracy which was an horrid Complication of the most barbarous Cruelty the most perfidious Treachery and the most vile Ingratitude together Thirdly I shall reflect upon the Fatal Consequences that would have happened if the intended Wickedness had taken effect Fourthly I shall observe that there is a secret Providence running through all things and watching over all the Affairs of humane Life that will not suffer such execrable Villany to escape either undetected or unpunished For a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter Fifthly and Lastly You shall give me leave to exhort you as my Duty is and as yours requires of you upon this Solemn occasion that you would lift up your Hearts with Joy and Thankfulness to God who hath done so great things for us and hath wrought so great Deliverance for the King and his People to whose especial Providence and Watchful Goodness we can only ascribe it that we are not at this day in the same Condition with some of the Conspirators themselves who have deservedly suffered for their Crime that we have not been given over as a prey to our Enemies as for our manifold Iniquities and crying Sins we have very well deserved to be that the Sword hath not been drunk with the blood of the slain and surfeited with the fat of the Mighty and that the same voice is not heard howling and shrieking in our Streets that was of old heard in Ramah of Galilee The voice of lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not Of all these in their order And First I say That Resistance against the King or the Supream Power is in all Cases unlawful Curse not the King no not in thy thought Now the reason why Resistance is in all Cases and in all its Degrees and Circumstances absolutely unlawful is in short this That it supposes an Appeal of the People from the King to themselves and makes them Judges of their own Cause which if it be allowed in one Instance there is no avoiding it but it must be granted in all and by that means the