us by it to efface all that is of God amongst men both outward Majesty and Piety when Regal Power as it conveys it self from the Father to the Son to a kind of immortalizing it self here is the legitimate Issue of God himself descended from him for the good and preservation of Men in a safe and religious course of life and ever bears his Stamp and Image in regard of the Power though the Persons that bear it sometimes when they think not themselves safe under the Guard of their own Vertues and Peoples Affections place their security in their strength and their happiness rather in a Power to hurt than in a just care to preserve their Subjects whose hearts they should account their best Treasury and surest Magazines and so degenerate into Tyrants and make that which is life to become death to us as S. Paul saith in another case Yet even then they are to be submitted to upon rational grounds and that Government is to be chosen before any other though Caesar's Image and Superscription were not stampt upon it by Divine Ordinance All others being but Counterfeits of it and of a more base allay little Money in great Medals when this like the noblest Coins contains much in little But as there are many snares beset the Throne of Majesty though there is nothing on Earth so near the Deity nor so commodious for the well-ordering of Humane â—ocieties the best Princes sometimes fall into great perplexities and difficulties because perhaps wanting the Meander's Thread of free and honest Admonitions and Advice to extricate themselves or by having their Ears dull'd with Flattery that Court-Earwig or too tender to endure the too searching air of an ingenuous spirit which speaks his own Duty not his Soveraigns Affections Man having lost the felicity of being a Law to himself that should keep him from transgressing the limits of equal Justice to any other hath cause to submit himself to Monarchical Government as the most silken Rein and gentle Bit he can take on to restrain him in his deviations and startings out of the right way of common Equity though under an ill King rather than a Popular State or Elective Kingdom which make a great show and glorious ostentation of Liberty though it is but Paint artificially laid on like Absalom's m 2 Sam. 15. a Varnish of Piety and publick Utility only to hide a Thraldom For they are the greatest Servitudes imaginable when submitted to and are accompanied with the greatest Mischiefs like the back-doors in great Houses having many in-lets to Disorder more than the other and possess only n Hos 8.4 an Usufructuary and Gubernative Power to Rule without any just Propriety in the Legislative which none can pretend to but such as are Commissioned from God according to his revealed Will and possess their Crowns by a lawful Civil Right as in this Kingdom since the Conquest For first as a good Author observes to me Succession in one Man a King disarms the Ambition of all daring and aspiring Spirits who would be at the Stern every one a Pilot though they wrack the Ship through their Civil Contentions Nay it takes away that ground of Emulation that might justly be among men of one level equals in Worth Birth and ennobled Vertues to ascend the Throne and hinders the fomenting of Factions amongst those that in other Governments have the Suffrages to Elect to the Supreme Power or any other eminent Place Secondly It prevents the exhausting of the Publick Treasure many times which those temporary Rulers are ever guilty of holding it unnatural not to feather a Nest for their own young ones though by the pluming all others and a weakness to live like Gods and dye like ordinary Men And many Drains new-made you know will insensibly take away more water than one Stream where it is always full Sea Thirdly It cures the windy swelling Tympany of Pride in those temporary Rulers that are always in travel to bring forth a thing of their own shaping to succeed them in their Government though against the Rules of it and who so fit a Pourtraict as some of their own Issue or Kindred as may appear in some of the Roman Emperours and most Popular States who rather than fail in it have nursed and raised up their design not only with the Milk of Flattery and many vitious practices and indulgences the making of Factions by the toleration of all evils but fed and brought it to perfection with the blood of Civil Wars and exhausting their Countries Treasure in Bribes and Profuseness ever legitimating all undue ways to keep what they have no Title to but by their Crimes even to the subversion of Religion with Jeroboam not only in making Calves for but of the People never wanting specious pretences to prop and uphold their rotten Pile though not trusting to them For you shall always find such Usurping Tyrants maintain the Martial Sword when once unsheathed to Oppression that the Sword might maintain them and protect them against the just revenge of an injured People Fourthly Elective and Popular States as a breach in a Sea-bank let in a deluge of confusion the Effect of Arbitrary Power which in such a tottering condition is never maintained but by greater wickedness as Cataline said than that which first formed it And therefore read all Stories and you shall find that few Common-wealths and such Kingdoms have ever been happy for present felicity or continuance not having had the poor comfort of being ruined by their Gods but Men by their Servants not Masters or else Aetna-like they have been always wasting themselves by fire in their own Bowels Pride Envy and Avarice ever blowing it up into the flames of a Civil War where there are many equal Competitors or Pretenders to Soveraignty So as not the best and fittest who will not ascend by such winding steps but the most potent gain those Dictatorships all which are just Punishments for endeavouring to form the Weapons of our strength draw the Model and Materials of Government out of our selves Our own Reasons when clouded with Passion Interest and Prejudice not consulting with Religion nor suffering God that made the House to order it For when we so leave our Religion for our Reason we lose both Reason and Religion Which would oblige us to think our selves safer under the protection of God's Ordinances in whose hands are the hearts of Kings the restraints of Conscience than by any outward Force or Humane Providence without them For by God's appointment Gods they are and as the Head from whence all Veins distribute their Spirits equally with respect to the higher and inferiour Members in a Body Politick maintain a happy Commerce and Traffick betwixt it and the most remote parts Direction and Protection descending whilst Love and Obedience ascend But besides this have we not more Reason to expect happiness from a lineal Succession in Kings than the Election of Men to that
of little sins as they make little or no account of great ones and yet assume the disguise of Piety as the hating of Idolatry when they commit Sacriledg i Rom. 2.22 by it and their Hpocrisie making themselves more guilty than they could be in the thing they abhor For as one says wittily the Idolater is but mistaken in his God the other thinks God is mistaken in him the one dishonours the other undeifies his God Yet the men of our times who make themselves the only Church of God and reprobate those who are of the true Church are not only guilty of this but many other crying sins which they not only Act but Enact as a Law as Blood-shed Oppression Prophanation of God's Rights and Ordinances by which you may know them not to be yet born of God k 1 Joh. 3. for those sin not not such great known sins not with a deliberate purpose to sin And therefore let us neither adhere to their Persons how seemingly holy soever they are in other things nor countenance that Cause that causes so many crying Disorders and Impieties For as St. Cyprian saith ea non est Religio sed dissimulatio quoe per omnia non constat when as Religion teacheth us to walk in an orderly sincere universal and uniform observance of all God's revealed Will and so walking to persevere For they and they only who are constant unto death shall enjoy a Crown of Life which I heartily wish to the greatest Enemies of God our just Cause and our Persons beseeching God that though they send us through a red Sea of our own Blood to our Heavenly Canaan and with Mahomet's Tomb hang us between Heaven and Earth as unworthy of either they may yet become Instruments of restoring Peace and Truth in this Kingdom and account those fair and spotless Lillies greater Ornaments to thâ—iâ— Garlands than all their Roses of Bloody Trophies And that they may make God and the Kingdoms good the only Centre and Circumference of all their Thoughts Words and Actions truly repenting of their Sins that by Gods Mercy they may obtain Pardon for them and not be left in hardness of Heart Blindness and Impenitence a Judgment beyond all Judgments as it is a Judgment that hath no sense of Judgment and yet hath both Sin and Punishment in it And though they have resolved all Law into the Sentence of the Sword and almost all Gospel into the private whispers of a seducing Spirit God in Mercy keep them from the destruction of the one and afford them Mercy in the other for their Conviction and Amendment and let not the Spiritual Lethargy of Sin any longer stupifie their Consciences but awaken them to an active endeavour of repairing their Errours and restoring of God's Truth that their Souls may be saved 5. Lastly Prayer is the great Out-rent and Homage the Subject as a duty ows his Soveraign Now as Prayer is the top-Branch of all our Duties to God and the most prevailing Oratory for his Blessings upon a Nation we must pray for them as men but first as Kings that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life under them in all Godliness and Honesty l 1 Tim. 2. And therefore in the practice of that Duty I shall wind up my Discourse Humbly beseeching God that as he hath given us a Caesar for Piety exemplary for Prudence as an Angel of God knowing both good and evil who by day as a Cloud and as a Pillar of Fire by night doth go before us to direct comfort and refresh us in all our wearisom marches and hard sufferings not refusing to wade through another red Sea though tinctured with his own Blood for the regaining and maintaining of Truth and Peace amongst us that God would give us Grace truly to value so great a Blessing in our King and for his Fatherly Kindness to us to pay all filial Obedience to him And let us never cease humbly to pray thee O Lord still to establish the Crown upon the Head of him and His Posterity till Shiloh come Plead thou this Cause of our King O Lord or rather thine own Cause and fight against those that fight against Him hate them not so much as not to seem to hate them at all by letting them still prosper in their Wickedness but correct them to amend them here that they may not be condemned hereafter and make Him the more Pious by His Pressures the more just by their Oppressions and every way the better for and more glorious by His Sufferings Make His Enemies as the Dust before the Wind and the Angel of the Lord scattering them but upon His Head let His Crown ever flourish And thou who art the Supreme Goodness so temper thy Justice we beseech thee as to make thy Strokes become Mercies to Him that He may read thy favour in thy frowns and not turn thy Rod into a Serpent thy Antidote into Poyson but make thou it like Aaron's in the end to bud and bring forth the blessing of a happy Peace to Him and us Yet let Him not so value Peace as to prefer it to Truth for a just War is better tban an unjust Quiet but as His and our Sins have let in one so make our Sufferings by and Sorrows for them to fit us for the Blessing of the other and us by following Righteousness to find a happy rest In the mean time sanctifie and preserve Him from all the Artificial Vnderminings and open Violence of Bloody and Wicked Men prepare him for all Events and give him an holy use of all thy varied Judgments and make Him to make a pious advantage of His Enemies and they to become His best Friends when by sucking the Venom and Poyson out of their Injuries He can by a charitable forgiveness turn them through God's Mercies into the richest Cordial Spirits to refresh His Soul with in His greatest Conflicts and Faintings And ever give Sentence with Him O God and defend His Cause against the Vngodly Let not the Justice of it sink under the weight of the Sins of His Party nor the not only acted but enacted Rebellion Sacriledge and Oppression of His Enemies separate any longer betwen them and thee nor us from one another but unite us all in inward Affections and the Bond of an outward Peace and that we may maintain truly zealous hearts to our God Loyal to our Soveraign and loving one towards another Protect Him by thy Power against all His Adversaries guide Him by thy Grace in all His Actions bring him to His Throne again with Happiness Safety and Honour re-establish Him in all His iust Rights and grant that all those committed to His charge may lead a peaceable and quiet life under Him in all Godliness and Honesty and that as He hath always defended thy Faith so thy Faith may still defend Him and He make it His Endeavours to restore thy Worship to its ancient Purity thy Church and Ministers to their ancient Glory and Himself and Kingdom to a happy and established Peace And for this end calm O Lord the raging of the Sea and the madness of His Pepole bound their Passions turn their outward Form into the substance of Religion let all their Schisms end in a Charitable Accord their Errours in Truth their Rebellion in Loyalty that as they have requited Him Evil for Good and Hatred for His Good-will they may now have hearts to repent of their Evils done and he one to forgive those he hath suffered by them Still preserve Him a Faithful Servant to thee though His Subjects be false to Him and ready to undergo the greatest Injuries rather than to consent to the least Sin Give Him a heart to part with all for thee but nothing of thine and though they would Vn-King Him by their Demands let Him not Vn-man Himself in His Condescentions depose the just Soveraignty of Reason in Himself nor prefer any preservation to that of His own Conscience but in all things to preserve His Subjects just Rights without enslaving Himself or His. Make thy Will O Lord the Rule of His and thy Glory and thy Self the Centre and Circumference of all His Thoughts Words and Actions Give Him a free submission to thee in all Events extricate Him from all His troubles carry Him through all Difficulties increase in him all saving Graces subdue in Him all Corruptions pardon all His Sins sanctifie unto Him all Afflictions guide him in all His wayes supply Him in all His wants lay no more upon Him than He may be able to bear but with the Temptation give Him a means to escape even the Snares of Sin and Malice of His Enemies and make Him not only be ready to suffer but to dye for the name of JESUS in Affections and Habit ever yet never in Act a Martyr unless for the advancement of thy Glory and His by one dying Man to make many living Saints to encrease the joyes of the Saints in Heaven though it would take from us the greatest upon Earth Give Him O Lord a dry Victory over all His Enemies and not the Temptation of a Bloody Conquest But if by those Issues thou wilt recover our weak and dying State come again with healing in thy Wings and once more restore what we have lost and give what is wanting to the manifestation of thine own Glory So be it Lord JESVS Amen Amen FINIS
committed all Judgment to the Son c. And therefore herein a good King ought ever to make God's revealed Will and the known Laws of which his sworn Judges are to be the Interpreters the measure and rule of his proceedings and that under pain of Damnation a severity from God infinitely above the coercion of men nor shall their punishment be less who usurp the Exercise of this Justice without his Commission Thirdly Mercy must all derive from the King as a Flower that groweth only in his Garland a Gem which can shine only from the Diadem of Princes For Jus vitae necis a Power of pardoning Condemned Persons and delivering from the Terrour of the Law though in some cases limited as in wilful Murders and the like belongs only to him being there deposited by God himself and in no other Representative whatsoever so that where Regal Government is setled the Execution of any man though wicked and deserving to dye by the Law is wicked if not having the King's Commission for it Fourthly Honour the ennobling of the Blood is to derive from him when Vertue or some Heroick Acts dignifie the Person for without that he that receives it is but a Label which bears the Wax without any impression of the Seal or as a rotten Post that bears a glorious Escutcheon But for the more clear manifestations of this his Ornamenta Regia Regal Ornaments as a Crown a Throne a Scepter and the like with the universally acknowledged Rights to them speak him to be the only Spring from whence it can flow z 2 King 12. â—2 1 Kings 10.8 and ought still to issue in lesser and greater Streams by it to enrich the humble Valleys and make them shew gay when adorned with those Flowers of the Crown for the encouragement of Vertue as he beareth the Sword to cut down Offenders and prevent their growth And as a Testimony hereof the Romans had wont to send to Foreign Kings in League with them an Ivory-Sceptre a Royal Robe and Chair of State a Tacit. Annal. l. 4. to show in Hieroglyphick what they were Fifthly Kings owe an Example of Vertue and Piety to their Subjects in that instruimur praeceptis sed dirigimur exemplis saith Seneca the Actions of great men have a Compulsory Power in them Regis ad exemplum are an Eye-Catechism and as the Basilisk by seeing they many times kill our Vices or by being seen invite us to Vertue Examples being the shortest way of teaching For from that Milk we usually as from our Mothers Breasts suck our good or bad Inclinations b Gal. 2.14 Nay like the first Mover they carry all the Inferiour Orbs with them as the first Deer the Herd When bad Kings with the ill Influence of the Planets kill more deadly than Poyson in Plants because coming from a more glorious Body though the other be more Infectious But herein we in this Nation have the advantage of all others For if ever the Rayes of Vertue had a Power of affimilating others into their own Divine Nature the Beams of Goodness that shine upon us from the Example of our dear Soveraign who as a Combination or Conjunction of Graces both Divine and Moral hath all in himself that a finite and limited Being is capable of must needs have a prevalency over us Or if they make us not better they will make us much worse as they will rise up in Judgment against us to our greater Condemnation And I am confident as he is an Active Example of Vertue so he would be Passive to teach us how to suffer in a good Cause though it were to pass through a Red Sea of his own Blood for the good of his People Pelican-like to nourish us with the Spirits that flow out of his own Breast and by those Beams to reflect a more glorious Lustre than in his Meridian and height of Greatness But not to suffer my Zeal to carry me besides my purpose there is amongst many others one part of Duty most especially incumbent upon Kings For 6. Lastly as Kings reign by God so they should rule for him and the highest good of their People in matters of Religion both in maintaining the Substance and Essential Parts of it in their Vigour and Power by Active Compulsions and Humane Restraints to force the outward man to Obedience in things good in themselves and to prescribe such Rules Methods and Boundaries in things indifferent as may bring all to Uniformity in Worship and may stand as a Wall or Fence to God's Vineyard against the Invasions of the little Foxes of Schisms and Factions And this not only for Decency Order and Significancy but as that without which Religion it self cannot subsist For though they are no parts of it but Circumstantials Essentials in a Well-formed Church cannot be maintained without them no more than a Tree can be preserved to live without its Bark or Majesty in a King without Reverence For that like the Skin to the Body preserves it both in Being and Beauty which occasioned St. Paul's Precept of having all things be done decently and in order that is according to appointment as the Original c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will bear it so Dr. Hammond renders the Words d 1 Cor. 14.40 For take away those Regulations of our Publick Devotions which are as the Hemme that strengthens the Garment and keeps it Uniform all would resolve into Rents and Schisms Chaos and Confusion So as if the Church of God his enclosed Garden be not fenced by good Laws for Conformity all Methods of Devotion are lost and the Bores of the Forrest unruly men of Factious Spirits will soon break in to destroy and root it up and offer nothing but the blind and lame to God in loose and untruss'd postures unbecoming the Greatness of an Earthly Prince in our Addresses to them much more to our God e Mal. 1. by it to make their Superiours bend to them if pertinacious obstinacy could do it when they should bow to their Superiours f Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Eph. 4. and 6. according to the Oeconomy of Nature it self where the inferiour Orbs are to be guided and move by the highest Spheres Otherwise the whole Fabrick would be unhinged and fall in pieces or at least grow weak by separation For a Dispensation to several Forms of Worship in one Church would prove an Act rather of Division than Comprehension encrease Emulation and Factions and plant a Seminary for a continued Schism In that there could be no such Encouragement but there would be scandal and a way of seduction in it to all Orthodox Protestants and a Transmigration of Souls amongst themselves from the Father to the Son with Encouragements and Supports from their proâ—use Zeal of the Proselites to their Opinions So as they would strengthen with time in that Novelties never want Courtship and Adorers though the old way is Regia via God's way and
or lawful Magistrate in Israel Nay even in Popular States so natural a thing is Monarchy in what hands soever the Power is one Finger will still as in natural Bodies be found longer than the rest and become a Kingly Tyrant by his over-swaying Interest And therefore let us not cast Pelion upon Ossa heap Sin upon Sin by countenancing such mushroom Alterations Nay he that is not against them is with them in this case and so becomes guilty of their unfruitful deeds of Darkness if not discountenancing and preventing them by all lawful wayes according to that of the Apostle t 1 Thes 5. avoid all appearance of evil by appearing to disallow of it never concurring actively with it though we suffer to Bonds and death For that will in the end prove our Crown of rejoycing though the Absoloms of these times would with fair and specious pretences seduce us from our Allegiance For it is better in this Case contrary to David's choice to fall into the hands of Men embalmed with Innocence to preserve our names from Infamy and our Souls from Damnation than into the hands of God besmeared with the Leprosie of Sin that must needs cause his rejection of us But if the Despisers of God and their King will still pertinaciously maintain the black and horrid Sins of Oppression Sacriledge Murder and the like not only deposing but despoyling them as the greatest Delinquents of all their just Patrimonies and Rights by plundering the one and vilifying the other in all things sacred whether Places Persons or Revenues sanctified and discriminated by Gods own Institution by prophaning his Sanctuaries and despising his Priests and Ordinances d Lam. 31. Ps 74. they may be assured of a certain if not swift destruction to overtake them from the Authority of the like Precedents in all Ages and the Word of God it self For their Posterity here like a Plague-sore in the Body growing out of their own putrefaction their soul and ulcerous Sins as the meritorious cause of Judgments will hasten them Nor can they account themselves free from the other's guilt who have not acted in their Crimes if they have not some way opposed them e Judg. 5.23 according to their several Callings and Capacities being bound to it by the Laws of God the Kingdom and that of Natural Obligation to their Civil Parents and common Charity to their engaged Brethren in that Damnation will be chiefly pronounced against Sins of Omission at the last day which I express not to upbraid any but to convince them by it to make them steer a more safe course in Emergencies of the like nature if any shall hereafter happen making God's Law the Compass by which they sail even Heavenly Influences not sublunary Agitations However I hope they will keep themselves from a countenancing of or complyance with the Persons and Actings of those that usurp the Supreme Power both in regard of Scandal to others and contracting Crime upon themselves by avoiding all Appearances of Evil f 1 Thes 5. when Vertue and Vice border so upon one another are so near in their Confines and so contiguous as the least excess or defect makes a Natural Action many times an unnatural disorder and a thing indifferent in it self become the parent of a great Sin Therefore he cannot be innocent that holds Communion with those that are guilty of such high Crimes in any thing that seems to countenance them though God's Service be a thing pretended as in their Thanksgivings and Humiliations so St. Augustine g Serm. 6. de verb. Dom. For two will not walk together unless they agree saith the Prophet h Amos 3.3 So as it is the duty of every Christian not to betray the truth by his Silence or Countenance but to contend for it against all Actions that seem to favour the successes of an unjust Cause grounded in Rebellion or tending to the maintaining an Usurped Power i Judg. 3.11 And therefore we ought by separating from them k 2 Cor. 4.17 to reprove their Errours l Eph. 5.7 11 15. in that our Actions have a Tongue in them as well as the Corn Earth and other inanimate Creatures m Psal 19. So that though Humiliations and Thanksgivings are Pious and Religious Duties in themselves yet when called to advance any unjust Interest or to countenance it our presence there intitles us to their Sin though we abhor it and the Minister at that time preach against it in that the end for which it was commanded terminates and specificates the Duty in all ordinary and publick Interpretation and makes us give by our presence Offence to the Innocent confirm the Wicked and partake of their Crimes so as Disobedience in that case is better than Sacrifice n 1 Sam. 15. Nay I may not only appropriate others Sins o Psal 50.28 by Countenance Approbation or Imitation while living but may be guilty of Sin in others many thousand years after I am dead as well as I did Sin before I was born when they sin by Example or Infusion derived from me For as the long precogitation upon any sin with delight makes it an old and inveterate one before it be produced into Act so another's repetition of any sin by my Example or Authority though committed many Ages hence makes it a new sin to me and to increase my Damnation as is deduced most justly by Divines from the Parable of Dives p Luke 16. who reflected upon himself not his Brethren in his charity And therefore let us walk with all preciseness q Psal 119.53.63 hating Evil with a perfect hatred and doing nothing that either may be made an Argument to confirm others in any evil way or action by our complyance or be matter of just scandal to the Innocent and suffering Party especially if our Judgments approve it not For if I ought not to do a good Action nor favour a good Cause if not of Faith r Rom 14. I am much less excusable in countenancing an ill one my Judgment in any thing dissenting So that none can conscientiously and voluntarily act with those that usurp the exercise of Supreme Power in any Kingdom in any thing that gives countenance to such an Authority or is conducing to the establishing or maintaining of it without contracting the guilt of all those sins and irregularities the others smoothed their way by to that assumed Greatness For there are so many ways to contract others Crimes as Junius and Piscator observes s On Isa 10.1 that the very Scribe or Notary of an unjust decree though but instrumental in it is threatned with a Curse a woe being pronounced both against them that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievous things which the other prescribed as the Prophet expresses it For we are commanded to walk honestly toward them that are without t 1 Pet. 2.12 not giving the least scandal in any thing
of Charity in the doing or not doing it as in the Instance before of eating or not eating of Flesh at any time to the scandal of my weak Brother b 1 Cor. 8. when free in the aequilibrium of choice Yet if any necessity of nature or other great prejudice to my Person or Fortune depends upon my not eating I ought to eat Flesh though to the scandal of another rather than impair my health or bring any great mischief upon my self by the Omission of it For there though the thing be indifferent in it self it is not so to me such Natural or Moral Necessity interposing From whence I conceive I may safely conclude against the former Objection That no conscientious Obedience is due to such an exercise of Power as is there proposed no nor submission in indifferent things if done with scandal to others because not imposed by a lawful Power to determine my choice yet where my personal freedom self-preservation or any great prejudice to my Estate in which my Posterity is concerned be put into the Scale to weigh against an unwilling scandal I may submit for that alters the case in relation to Conscience though not the nature of the thing for there I owe a prudent submission when by the rule of Charity which is but to love my Neighbour as my self I am to prefer the well being of my self and mine to an offence taken by not willingly given to another where a compulsory Injunction and Power inforceth my submission to an indifferent thing it being agreeable to the Law of God Nature and Nations to preserve my self by all lawful ways OBJECTION III. Object 3. If it be so that honest and well-meaning men may not be in any case voluntarily instrumental under an usurped and unlawful Power to the executing the known Laws by which distributive Justice between Party and Party Religion Peace and Propriety may be maintained and perhaps some advantages gained by which they may much improve the Interest of their lawful Soveraign which they prefer in their wishes to their own Being and that if they decline a making use of such opportunities and that all men should walk by the same Rule there must necessarily follow Oppression Atheism and Anarchy the Womb of all Confusion that would reduce all things into the first Chaos so as nothing but darkness and disorder would cover the Earth which their Omissions may contract the guilt of when in acting with the present Power for these ends they do but choose the least of Evils and have no thought of doing the least Evil and so may act Answ As I said The least Evil is not to be committed nor allowed to produce the greatest good c Rom. 3.8 and that there the choice is not between Evils of Punishments where the least may be chosen but between an Evil of Sin which I have proved an outward Compliance in an Unjust Cause or with an Usurped or unlawful Power especially against a just claim to be and no Sin being as the Schools determine in the number of things eligible Malum non est in numero eligibilium propter aliud bonum in that actus peccati non est ordinabilis in bonum finem So Thomas Aquinas d 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 3. And upon the Egyptian Midwives and Rachels Pious Ly it is concluded by St Augustine e sup Ps 5. Peter Lombard f Lib. 3. dist 38. and Thomas Aquinas d 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 3. That no man ought to tell a Ly to preserve a Life nor for any Spiritual Good Though St. Augustine saith wittily g Tract 5. Tom. 9. super Joan. Nemo habet de suo nisi mendacium peccatum when all truth comes from the Fountain of it God h Eccles 7. Jam. 1. And St. Ambrose i Tom. 4. upon those words Quis ex vobis arguit me de peccato Omne mendacium fugiendum est tam in verbis quam in operibus c. all outward dissimulation is to be avoided when Opus exterius naturaliter significat intentionem k Aquin. 2. 2. Qu. 111. Art 11. Qu. 111. Art 2. And we should be the more careful not to make Hell the way to Heaven Vice to introduce Vertue when even lawful Actions become sins if done with scandal to others and that some higher end or duty determine not my choice in them as I have determined in another case of Conscience concerning Actions in themselves indifferent For the least defect or excess makes a lawful Action become sinful and a willing countenancing of any sin draws on the toleration of all and like the Spirits in the Blood will soon run through the whole Body of sin For with Aquinas l 2. 2. Qu. 110. Art 2. veritas aequalis est cui per se opponitur magis minus So as in doubtful Cases Gerson's rule is good m Par. 2. Reg. mor. Ab omni actu cui non est necessario astrictus teneatur desistere where scandal may be given OBJECTION IV. Object 4 Ay but Salus Populi est Suprema Lex So as I may act voluntarily with and under an usurped Power though against legal settlements and known Laws for the preservation of the Common-wealth and that by a Law of necessity which gives the Law to all Laws and warrants the doing of that which otherwise is unlawful for by this our Saviour seems to justifie his Disciples gathering Ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day and urges the Authority of David's Example for it n Mat. 12. Answ 1. It is true that Salus Populi est Suprema Lex in reference to Humane and Municipal Laws for so Kings in whom the Supreme and Legislative Power resides may for the good of their People in great Exigents act besides nay against the known National Laws of their Kingdom but not contrary to any Divine Sanction Answ 2. I acknowledg that necessity is a very powerful Argument both before God and man to excuse not justifie an ill Action For so God himself the Supreme Law-giver hath sometimes been pleased in a Gracious Condescention to man's infirm condition to dispence with his own Laws as well as Kings with theirs in Cases of great necessity as may be instanced But this hath been ever in things only mala quia prohibita evil because forbidden as in Ceremonial and Judicial Laws never in any thing that is malum in se prohibitum quia malum evil in it self and forbidden because specifically so Such as are Schisms Heresies Idolatry Rebellion Usurpation Oppression Murder Sacriledg and the like for in these God never leaves his Servants without a just way of extricating themselves from any such necessity of acting by enabling them to dare to dye rather than do any thing that in its nature is evil and by suffering according to the Will of God to commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator o 1 Pet.