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A63917 A sermon preached at Epsom upon the 9th of September, being the day of thanksgiving appointed by His Majesty for the discovery and disappointment of the Republican Plot, and now made publick to obviate false reports by John Turner ... Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50. 1683 (1683) Wing T3317; ESTC R38379 29,169 46

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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. Claud● Judaei or the Jews it is manifest the Followers of Christ were understood so that the