convened about that time Throgmorton the two Pagets Englefield Babington Salisbury c. were proscribed So that the Nation being continually alarmed with the news of Invasions Insurrections and Conspiracies during the life of that unfortunate Queen who can blame the Parliament for solliciting the execution of a Just Sentence Of all men living our Author ought not to object it much less to charge the Bishops with that if they had been guilty for which they are ready now to pronounce them Papists as not consenting to the Exclusion of a Popish Successor But secondly what the Judgment of those Reformers was concerning the Doctrine of Resisting lawful Princes on any pretence I shall now demonstrate P. 103 104. of his Book our Author is pleased to recommend the Homilies of our Church to every bodies reading as one of the best Books that he knows in the world next to the Bible as Mr. Hunt had done before him I shall therefore intreat him to judge of the Opinion of our Reformers and Confessors in point of Obedience out of the publick Doctrines set forth by them in that excellent Book In the first Homily against Disobedience and wilful Rebellion they say p 277. If Servants ought to obey their Masters not onely being gentle but such as be froward much more ought Subjects to be obedient not onely to their good and courteous but also to their sharp and rigorous Princes 1 Pet. 2.18 And p. 278. It cometh not of Chance or Fortune nor of the Ambition of Mortal men climbing up of their own accord to Dominion that there be Kings Queens Princes and other Governours over men being their Subjects but all Kings Queens and other Governours are specially appointed by the Ordinance of God P. 279. A Rebel is worse than the worst Prince and Rebellion worse than the worst Government of the worst Prince that hitherto hath been Whatsoever the Prince be or his Government it is evident that for the most part those Princes whom some Subjects do think to be very godly and under whose Government they rejoyce to live some other Subjects do take the same to be evil and ungodly and do wish for a Change If therefore all Subjects that mislike of their Prince should revel no Realm should ever be without Rebellion P. 280. But what if a Prince be evil indeed and undiscreet and it is evident to all mens eyes that he is so I ask again What if it be long of the wickedness of his Subjects that he is so shall the Subjects by their wickedness both provoke God for their deserved punishment to give them an evil and indiscreet Prince and also rebel against him and withal against God who for the punishment of their sins did give them such a Prince Will you hear the Scripture in this point God maketh a wicked man to raign for the sins of the people Again God giveth a Prince in his anger meaning an evil one and taketh away a Prince in his displeasure meaning when he taketh away a good Prince for the sins of the people as in our memory he took away our good Josias King Edward for our wickedness Again God maketh a wise and good King to raign over that people whom he loveth and who love him And again If the people obey God both they and their King shall prosper And for Subjects to deserve through their sins to have an evil Prince and then to rebel against him were double and treble evil by provoking God more to plague them let us either deserve to have a good Prince or let us patiently suffer and obey such as we deserve and whether the Prince be good or evil let us according to the Scriptures pray for him for his continuance and increase in goodness if he be good and for his amendment if he be evil The Bishops that were their Predecessors and our first Reformers in the days of King Henry the Eighth and King Edward the Sixth were of the same judgment as appears in a Book called The Institution of a Christian man whereof Cranmer Ridly and other Martyrs were the Compilers On the Fifth Commandment they say Subjects be bound not to withdraw their Fealty Truth Love and Obedience towards their Prince FOR ANY CAVSE WHATSOEVER ne for any Cause may they conspire against his Person ne do any thing towards the hindrance or hurt thereof nor of his Estate And by this Commandment they be bound to obey all the Laws Proclamations Precepts and Commandments made by their Princes except they be contrary to the Commandments of God With much more to that purpose And on the Sixth Commandment No Subjects may draw their Swords against their Princes FOR ANY CAVSE WHATSOEVER IT BE. And though Princes which be the Supreme Heads of their Realms do otherwise than they ought yet God hath assigned no Judges over them in this world The contrary to this is a Popish Doctrine who think it cause enough to depose a King because he is a Protestant and it is a Lesson which some sorts of Protestants have learnt from them to depose any that is a Papist A Doctrine which all the Reformed Churches have hitherto condemned and yet this is the Sophistry which our Author hath detected to his own shame and the honour of those Worthies whom he hath reproached and if our Author's Politicks should be embraced Kings would be of all men most miserable for if they be Protestants the Papists may depose them and if they be Papists Protestants may resist them which is tantamount P. 19. Is a discourse against the Oath of Allegiance which he forms in an Objection and Answer The Objection is this You are pre-engaged and cannot consent to a Bill of Exclusion if you do you are forsworn having long since sworn Allegiance to the King his lawful Heirs and Successors His Answer Now though the Lawyers tell us an hundred times no man can have an Heir as long as he liveth yet this will not overcome that deceitful prejudice which is occasioned by our common speech Reply Yet our Author presently adds That a man and his Heirs may live at once in the some house and eat and drink together every day I pretend not to the knowledge of Law-terms yet I am confident those Lawyers which penned that Oath did not put it in in vain nor would they make it Treason to conspire the death of the Heir of the Crown of England if there could be no such person in being One clause of that Oath is this I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majestie his Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the utmost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their persons their Crown or Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or Declaration or otherwise and will do my best endeavour to disclose and make known to his Majestie his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and treacherous Conspiracies which I
to molest another for his Religion Our Author might have gone for one of the Godly partie in those daies I do not read that there was one Law extended throughout the whole Roman Empire which was almost Vniversal but that several Kingdoms and Cities were governed by their own Laws So were the Jews and Heathen as well as Christian Subjects in their several Cities and remote Provinces As Julian told the Bishops that were of several Perswasions that they should not disturb the publick peace of the Empire and then they might enjoy their own Liberties and Religion Constantine seemed to be almost of a like perswasion for why else did he not suppress the Arian Heresie which from Alexandria infected the whole Empire He did take care to prevent Schism and Sedition among Christians that the administration of the Government might be more easie But this great man banished Athanasius into France where he remained till Constantine his Son recalled him as Eusebius in his Chronologie But what if there were some Edicts for the establishment of Christian Religion in Constantine's days nothing was confirmed by the Senate that was accounted then a needless thing Nor did the Edicts of one Emperour bind another by the same Authoritie as Constantine might have setled the Orthodox Religion Constantius setled the Arian and after him Julian the Pagan Religion I mean by his own Imperial power and Edicts For the Roman Emperour was an Absolute Monarch their Will was a Law as Gregory Nazianzen quoted by you p. 13. The Will and Pleasure of the Emperour is an unwritten Law backed with Power and much stronger than written ones which were not supported by Authority So that though he did not as you term it fairly enact Sanguinary Laws yet had he the Law of the Sword in his hands And I think it was a great mercie of God to the Christians under him that he did not by publick Edicts put the Sword out of his own hands into the hands of his Heathen Magistrates who would have written them all in bloud Therefore Mr. Baxter saies p. 20. of 4th part of his Direct Julian was a protector of the Church from Popular Rage in comparison of other Persecutors though in other respects he was a Plague Valentinian was a right Christian Emperour and when he was chosen the Souldiers were importunate that he should assume another as an Associate in the Empire he tells them It lay in you to chuse me your Emperour but being chosen what you desire is not in your power but mine it belongs to you as Subjects to be quiet and rest contented and to me as your King to consider what is fit to be done Zozomen l. 6.86 Justinian was another good Emperour and he assumed the sole administration of the Empire to himself and demands in his Novels Quis tantae authoritatis ut nolentem Principem possit ad convocandos Patres caetorosque Proceres coarctare Who can claim so great Authority as to constrain the Prince to assemble the Senate against his will And Justinian Novel 105. excepts the Emperour from the coercive power of the Law to whom says he God hath subjected the Laws themselves sending him as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living Law unto men And the Gloss noteth That the Emperour is the Father of the Law whereupon the Laws also are subject to him When Vespasian was Emperour it was declared by the Senate That he might make Leagues with whom he pleased And though Tiberius Claudius or Germanicus had made certain Laws yet Vespasian was not obliged by them And Pliny in his Panegyrick to Trajan tells him how happie he was that he was obliged to nothing So that the Christians had no more pretence of having the Laws on their side under Julian than under Dioclesian Maximus or Constantius nor did they ever plead them to justifie a Rebellion against him for want of such an Advocate or Leader as our Author Gregory Nyssene tells us also what the power of the King or Emperour was he defines him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that hath Absolute power in himself no Master nor Equal Cont. Eunomium l. 1. So that our Author 's great Babel is fallen viz. that the Julian Christians had their Religion established by Law and that they were long possessed of it For Laws or no Laws by the Lex Regia the Emperour could reverse the old and establish new as it pleased him and for want of Laws where the word of the Emperour was there was power and none might say to him What dost thou Thus it was with Constantine and Constantius and why not with Julian And now I hope the good Christians of our Age will no longer trust to such broken Reeds as our Author puts into their hands much less that they should take up the Sword which will be no other than a broken Reed also not onely to fail them but to pierce through their sides Now if we should turn the Tables and ask our Author Whether when Jovian and Valentinian were Emperours and had made some new Edicts for the Orthodox Christians as well as against the Arians and Pagans it had been lawful for the Arians or Pagans to rebel in defence of their Religion Or to come nearer home Whether when Queen Mary had established Popery by Law in this Nation it had been lawful for the Papists to have rebelled against Queen Elizabeth they having the Laws on their side yea and questioning her Right of Succession too yet we do not read that they did contrive a General Rebellion though for ought I see our Author would have justified them when he tells us from Zozomen what men may do for the Religion whereof they are well perswaded Or neerer yet when the Long too Long Parliament pretended against the King that their Religion was in danger by Poperie and Superstition their Laws and Liberties invaded by an Arbitrary Power did they well or ill from these pretences to raise that War against the King that turned the Nation to an Aceldama Were the Laws such as could justifie that Rebellion or no If they could not then I am sure they cannot now since the late Act for Treason in the 13th of our King and a Declaration of Parliament That it is not lawful on any pretence whatsoever c And by several Statutes it is declared That the King is the Onely Supreme Governour of his Dominions over all Persons and Causes whatsoever And the power of the Sword or Militia is put into his hands as well by the Law of the Nation as of God and I trust he will not bear it in vain Having thus stript this full-fac'd Bird of a few borrowed and painted Feathers how justly is he exposed to be hooted at by every boy or dealt with as in the Apologue of such another bird that seeing the Pidgeons to be well meated and live securely he would get himself to be coloured and arrayed like one of them and feed among
Majestie yet never were Christians found to be Albinians Nigrians or Cassians i. e. they never sided with any Factions against the Emperours though if they had so done their numbers were so great that they might have overthrown his Forces They might in one night with a few Fire-brands avenge themselves if they held it lawful to revenge evil with evil Had we been minded to profess open Hostilitie could we want numbers of men or force of Arms we have filled your Islands Castles Towns Tents Tribes and Wards yea even the Palace Senate and place of Judgement For what War were not we able though fewer in number than you who go so willingly to our Martyrdom if it were not more lawful in our Religion to be slain than to slay And yet under all their Persecutions they multiplied Ligabantur includebantur torquebantur urebantur laniebantur tamen multiplicabantur saith St. Augustine de Civit. Dei l. 22. c. 6. Grotius l. 1. c. 4. de Jure Belli c. speaking of that Sacred Maxime of the Apostles Acts 4. It is better to obey God than man discourseth thus If either for this i. e. our obedience to God or for any other cause he that hath the Soveraign power offer us an injurie it ought rather to be patiently tolerated than forcibly resisted for although we do not owe an Active Obedience to such Commands of Princes yet we do owe a Passive we may not transgress the Laws of God or Nature for the pleasure of the greatest Monarch yet ought we rather patiently to submit to what shall be inflicted on us for disobeying than by resistance to disturb our Countries peace The best and safest course in such a case is either to preserve our selves by flight or resolutely to undergo whatever shall be imposed on us His Reason is cogent Because Civil Societies being instituted for the preservation of Peace there accrues to that Commonwealth a greater Right over us and ours so far as is necessarie for that end And if a promiscuous Right of forcible Resistance should be tolerated it would be no longer a Commonwealth i. e. a Sanctuarie against Oppression but a confused Rabble For this among other things he quotes that noted Saying Principi Summum rerum arbitrium dii dederunt subditis obsequii gloria relicta est God hath given to Princes the Soveraign power leaving to us the glorie of Obedience If a Souldier resist his Captain striking him and but lays hold of his Weapon he is casheered if he break it or strike again he shall be put to death That this was the Hebrew Law he proves from Josh 1.18 1 Sam. 8.11 Deut. 17.14 which he so expounds That the Governours may not be resisted though they command what is not right And therefore it is added in that place of Samuel v. 18. that when the people are so oppressed by their King that there is no remedie they are to invoke his help who is the Supreme Judge of Heaven and Earth And when our Saviour commands in the New Testament to give Caesar his due he intended doubtless that they should yield as great if not greater Obedience both Active and Passive unto the Higher Power than what was due from the Jews which St. Paul Rom. 13. expounds more largely and chargeth those that resist the power of Kings with no less Crime than rebellion against Gods Ordinance and with a Judgment as great as their sin So that as there is a necessitie for our Subjection there is also for our Not Resisting Wherefore the Powers set over us are to be obeyed not servilely superstitiously or out of fear but with free rational and generous Spirits tanquam à diis dati as being Gods Ordinance and being commissioned by him cannot do more or less than he orders and permits them to do Another reason is drawn from our benefit the Government being constituted for our good and therefore in conscience not to be resisted for the Apostles Argument respects that universal good for which Government was first instituted i. e. the publick Peace wherein every one is concerned more than in his private Now he that resists doth as much as in him lies dissolve his Countries Peace and so will burie himself in the Ruines of it at the end and were it not for Governmens a Kingdom would be but like a great Pond wherein the bigger Fishes devour the lesser Omnia erit fortiorum Object The Commands of Princes do not alway tend to the publick good and when they decline from that end they are not to be obeyed Answ Though the Supreme Magistrate doth sometime through fear anger lust or other passions swerve from the path of Justice and Equitie yet these hapning but seldom are to be past by as personal blemishes which as Tacitus observes are abundantly recompensed by the benefit of better Princes Laws may be called good though they fit not every mans case if they obviate such disorders as are frequently practised and so do good to the generalitie of the People Thus Grotius If the People may resist their Prince I would know in what Cases it may be done It may be done say some in case of Religion when that is in danger in case of Libertie when that is invaded in case of Oppression when that is heavie in case of the King 's exercising an Arbitrarie power in case of his denying his Peoples Priviledges and Immunities Nay we have known that meer Fears and Jealousies which were fancied onely to promote a Rebellion have been used as an Argument to justifie it But will any of these things justifie the resistance of a Son against his Father or a Servant against his Master Or if we may make the People Judges of the lawfulness of resisting in one or more of these Cases why may they not in all and in as many more as they shall please to be sufficient But if any cause can justifie Resistance it must be that of Religion and if any Religion that which is the true Religion Now if we admit the Christian Religion to be the truest Religion that condemns Resistance above any other as hath been demonstrated by its Precepts and the practice of those Primitive Christians who best knew the sence and the mind of our Saviour in those Precepts and if any Christians should maintain the contrarie it would give the Princes of the World a just occasion to be jealous of it and root it out of their Dominions for what Prince would permit any such number of men to abide and multiply in their Dominions that profess it to be lawful to make resistance against them Besides there are few men bred up in any Religion but they think their own to be the true Religion and then they may resist their Prince how false and destructive soever it be and so a Papist or Anabaptist a Jew or a Pagan may think it lawful for them to resist and so no Prince can be secure of the Obedience of
whose Authoritie alone the Laws are executed for it is he that beareth the Sword And Plutarch says of him that he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely govern according to the Laws but hath a power above them He hath so indeed for the good of his Subjects to whom the rigorous execution of the Laws in many cases would be an insupportable burden if by the Kings Authoritie they might not be moderated and interpreted by Rules of Equitie against which our Dissenters have the least reason of any men alive to object And if we grant him this power for our good how can we deny it to him for his own That Learned Casuist Bishop Sanderson whose modesty in other Resolutions is eminent in resolving this Question Whether it be lawful for the Prince in cases extraordinary to do any thing besides or against Law undertakes to prove the Affirmative with an extraordinary confidence and which is more to prove it by that abused Maxime which some would invert against the King Salus Populi Suprema Lex That the Peoples Safetie is the highest Law And if I prove not this as your selves shall confess from that very Maxime saith he then say that I cannot see at noon-day and censure me to have been not a Defender of this good Cause but a Betrayer and Praevaricator Which thus he doth First he tells us the Original of that Sentence viz. from Cicero de Legibus in these words l. 3. Regio Imperio duo sunto iique praeeundo judicando consulendo Praetores Judices Consules appellantur Militiae Summum Jus habento nemini parento Ollis Salus Populi Suprema Lex esto Now to whom doth this power belong to them says the very Letter of those Laws to whom the Imperial power was committed that is to the two Consuls for the time being Come now says the Bishop all you that are the Patrons of Popular confidence read weigh and examine every Word Syllable and Comma and shew where you can find the least hint of any power granted to Subjects against their Princes will either to judge concerning the safety of the people or to determine and do any thing against the Laws Doth not the whole series both of Things and Words loudly proclaim that the Supream Authoritie which is above all Law and that the care of the Publick safetie properly belongs to him alone to whom the Imperial power the right of the Militia and that Supream Authoritie which is subject to none is granted When the Law commands one thing says Aeneas Sylvius de Ortu Imperii c. 20. and Equity another it is fit the Emperour should temper the rigour of the Law with the bridle of Equity Seeing no Decree of the Law though made by never so deliberate advice can sufficiently answer the various and unthought-of plottings of mans nature and it is manifest that the Laws which aforetime were just in after-times may prove unjust harsh and unprofitable to moderate which it is needful that the Prince who is Lord of the Laws interpose his Authority And where it is said that a Law though it be severe should be observed this respects inseriour Magistrates not the Emperour to whom the power of moderating the Laws is so connexed that by no decrees of man it can be pull'd from him Bishop Sanderson gives a pertinent instance to this purpose in his Book de Oblig Consc p. 384. That when upon discovery of the Gunpowder-plot the Traitors fled some of them were pursued by the High Sheriff of Worcester-shire who having hunted them from place to place came to the Confines of his Countie beyond which he was not to pass with his Souldiers by the Law yet fearing that they might otherwise escape he pursues them into another County takes them and brings them Prisoners Yet knowing he had transgressed the Law and lest others in matters of less moment should be encouraged to do the like or himself be exposed to future trouble he presently goes to the King and obtains his Pardon What excellent Chymists were they who out of those golden Laws should draw out so many Swords and Axes against their Soveraign and Fellow-subjects on such a vile pretence And is not our young Empyrick neer of kin to them who by his Mountebank-Receipts would poyson the People with a conceit that they may by the Laws arm themselves against the King if they shall judge that he doth transgress those Laws that then he is no longer a Minister of God but of the Devil and may be persecuted as a Midnight-Thief or Highway-Robber or in the words of Gregory as a common Cut-throat pag. 25. And that he is hardly to be blamed who shews himself so courageous for God and for that Religion which he approves as to assassinate his Prince To conclude it is the judgement both of Divines Civilians and States-men that there must be in Kings and Governours a Supream Power to mitigate the rigour of the Laws and to suspend the execution of them to pardon some Delinquents and in case of necessity to provide for the safety of the People besides and against the Laws and that to arm the People and teach them on pretence of the Law to resist their Prince is a pernicious Tenet destructive to Government It is Criminal saith Mr. Hunt p. 41. and no less dangerous to the being of any Polity to restrain the Legislative Authority and to entertain principles that disable it to provide remedy against the greatest mischiefs that can happen to any Community No Government can support it self without an unlimited Power in providing for the happiness of the people No civil Establishment but is controlable and alterable to the Publick Weal Whatever is not of Divine Institution ought to yield and submit to this Power and Authority And this is all that I or any of my Brethren that I know of ever intended to say of the extent of the Kings Power That such distempers as are incurable by common and prescribed Remedies such as the Kings Evil usually is must have extraordinary applications such as the Kings hand and none but his may successfully administer Nor doth any among us plead that the King is above the Directive power of the Laws but onely that he is not under the Coercive power of them For which cause Antonie would not permit that Herod should be called to an account of what he did as a King for then he should in effect be no King at all for what power can judge him who is the Supreme power on Earth The Emperour saith Tertull. is solo Deo minor inferiour to God onely and under the power of God onely In cujus solius potestate sunt à quo sunt secundi post quem primi And St. Ambrose spreaking of David applieth it to other Kings He was a King and obnoxious to no humane Laws because Kings are free from punishment for their offences being secured by the power of their Empire If the People have power to
call the King to an account the Estate is Democratical if the Peers it is Aristocratical but if indeed it be Monarchical neither nor both can judge their Prince In the first Homily against Rebellion p. 1. our Church says that in reading of the Holy Scriptures we shall find in very many places as well of the Old Testament as the New That Kings and Princes as well the evil as the good do reign by Gods Ordinance and that Subjects are bound to obey them The Augustan Confession Article 16. Christians must necessarily obey the present Magistrates and Laws except when they command to sin French Confession Article 11. We ought to obey Laws and Statures pay Tribute and bear other burdens of Subjection and undergo the Yoke with a good will although the Magistrates should be Infidels so that Gods soveraign Authoritie remains inviolate The Belgick Confession All men of what dignitie qualitie or state soever they be must subject themselves unto the lawful Magistrates pay them Imposts and Tributes and please and obey them in all things not repugnant to the Word of God Also pray for them that God would be pleased to direct them in all their actions that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life under them in all pietie and honestie The Helvetick Confession Let all Subjects honour and reverence the Magistrate as the Minister of God Let them love and assist him and pray for him as their Father let them obey him in all his just and equitable Commands and pay all Imposts Tributes and other Dues faithfully and willingly And in case of War let them also lay down their lives and spill their bloud for the good of the Publick and of the Magistrate willingly vailiantly and cheerfully For he that opposeth himself to the Magistrate provoketh the heavie wrath of God upon himself The Bohemian Confession Let every one yield subjection in all things not contrarie to God to the Higher Powers and their Officers whether good or bad The Saxonick Confession The more a Christian is sincere in Faith the more he ought to subject himself to the publick Laws But I shall end where I began with the Doctrine of our Martyrs and Confessors who sealed with their bloud the Truths that they published with their Pens for whom in vain do we build and garnish Monuments of Fame to their memories while we are Apostates from their Doctrine and Practice The first Reformers of our Religion in the Institution of a Christian man on the Fifth Commandment say That Subjects be bound not to withdraw their Fealtie Truth Love and Obedience from their prince FOR ANY CAVSE WHATSOEVER IT BE ne for any cause may they conspire against his person ne do any thing towards the hinderance or hurt thereof or of his estate And by his Commandment they are bound to obey all the Laws Proclamations Precepts and Commandments made by their Princes and Governours except they be against the Commandment of God And likewise they be bound to obey all such as are in Authoritie under their Prince as far as he will have them obeyed They must also give unto their Prince aid help and assistance whensoever he shall require the same either for suretie preservation or maintenance of his Person and Estate or of the Realm or of the defence of any of the same against all persons And there be many examples in Scripture of the vengeance of God that hath fallen upon RVLERS and such as have been disobedient to their Princes But one principal example to be noted is of the Rebellion of Core Dathan and Abiram made against their Governours Moses and Aaron For punishment of which Rebels God not onely caused the Earth to open and to swallow them down and a great number of other people with them with their houses and all their substance but caused also a fire to descend from Heaven and to burn up two hundred and fiftie Captains which conspired with them in the Rebellion And again on the Sixth Commandment No Subjects may draw their Sword against their Prince for what cause soever it be nor against any others saving for lawful defence without their Princes license And it is their dutie to draw their Swords for the defence of their Prince and Realm whensoever the Prince shall command And although Princes which be the chief and supreme Heads of Realms do otherwise than they ought yet God hath assigned no Judges over them in this world but will have the judgment of them reserved to himself Sir John Cheek who was Tutor to King Edword the Sixth and a person of great Learning and Integrity in his Book called The true Subject to the Rebel speaks to this purpose If you were offered persecution for Religion you ought to fly for it and yet you intend to fight If you would stand in the truth you ought to suffer like Martyrs and you would slay like Tyrants Thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Council of Christ nor the Constancy of Martyrs And then asking the people why they should not like that Religion which Gods word established the Primitive Church authorized and the whole consent of the Parliament confirmed and his Majesty had set forth he says Dare you Commons take upon you more Learning than the Chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realm have I suppose that the Author of Julians Life might transcribe that Act of Queen Mary above-mentioned out of Mr. Prynnes second part of the Loyalty of pious Christians c. where we have it printed at large p. 65. from whence he might very honestly have told us Mr. Prynnes Judgment of such Prayers as were made against the Queen who p. 64. says That Queen Maries zealous Protestant Bishops Ministers and Subjects likewise made constant prayers for her But some over-zealous Anabaptistical Fanaticks using some unchristian expressions in their prayers against her That God would cut her off and shorten her daies occasioned this special Act against such prayers And having repeated the Act he adds p. 66. These prayers were much against and direstly contrary to the Judgment of Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Farrer Bishop Hooper Rowland Taylor John Philpot John Bradford Edward Crome John Rogers Laurence Sanders Edward Laurence Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon and others of our Godly Protestant Bishops and Ministers who soon after suffered as Martyrs They in their Letter May 8. 1554. professing that as Obedient Subjects we shall behave our selves towards Queen Mary and all that be in authority and not cease to pray to God for them that he would govern them all generally and particularly with the Spirit of Wisdom and Grace and so we heartily desire and humbly pray all men to do in no point consenting to any kind of Rebellion or Sedition against our Soveraign Lady the Queens Highness but where they cannot obey but they must disobey God there to submit themselves with all patience and humility to suffer as well what the will and pleasure
when he faithfully loves him who reigns by Gods authoritie P. 151. Mr. Hunt hath another Observation that deserves a special remark Neither will we saith he make use in our defence of the Papists excluding the King of Navarre a Protestant King in France no more than we will allow the French to murder a Protestant Minister because we execute a seditious traiterous Roman Priest Ans It is well known the Romish Priests are not executed in England upon the account of their Religion but for such crimes as are made Treason by the Laws of our Land And if the Protestants were not executed but upon the breach of such Laws the cause of Complaint would be less than now it is But why on your Principles a Protestant Prince may not be excluded by Papists who perhaps are as fully perswaded of the truth of their Religion as we are of ours and do aver that Salvation is not to be attained in any Communion but that of their own Church I see no sufficient reason For they may as well plead that Dominion is founded in Grace as you do and that may equally justisie both parties in case of Resistance i. e. it can justifie neither And the consequences of that Act of Exclusion may dread us from doing the like For when the Guises and other contrivers of the Holy League as they called it had by great importunitie prevailed with the present King Henry the Third to agree to the Exclusion of Henry the Fourth the dreadful slaughters of the Subjects on both sides were not the onely evil consequences that ensued but the Guisian Faction grew so insolent as to affront and distress the King himself so far that fearing his own destruction he was constrained to joyn his Partie to that of the King of Navarre to whose Exclusion he had consented that he might preserve himself from being excluded by the prevailing Faction So that your Quere p. 153. Whether if the Crown should devolve upon a Roman Successor we could justifie the dethroning of him which the Author of Julian resolves we may not though the French Papists could not be justified in rejecting the King of Navarre requires no long consideration Tum tua Res agitur partes cum proximus Ardet I cannot omit another bold attempt of Mr. Hunt in his Preface where he conjures up the old Smectymnuan Monster of Curse ye Meroz to affright all men from an accursed Nutralitie to bring them into the blessed Association It was a wise Law of Solon saies he that if the Commonwealth at any time should be divided into Factions that the Neuters should be noted with infamie And that you may know what he means he addes If all that are TRVE PROTESTANTS and TRVE LOVERS OF OVR GOVERNMENT would declare themselves on the behalf of our Religion and Government in such terms as befit honestmen and as the exigencie of our present state shall require we shall find the numbers of Addressers reduced to the Dukes Pensioners and Creatures And again Our Traitors would disappear if we had no Neuters And to slur the proceedings of his Majestie against E. S. he says that the name of E. S. in the Abhorrences of the Nation were but like the name of John-a-Styles and John-an-Oakes in putting a fictitious Case So that it is most evident that he invites and threatens all men that refuse to joyn in an Association and to what that tends the Nation is indisserently well satisfied already If not the Comments which these men make upon that Text the Authors and Instruments which they make use of such as were the most notorious Incendiaries in our late War some Jesuites and eminent Factors for Rome some Regicides that died in their impenitencie these and the present endeavours to act over all the Tragedies that were plotted by them a second time may fully convince us that there is Mors in Olla some deadly Colloquintida that hath so imbittered and poisoned such sort of Writings I must beg the Readers pardon that I have not been more particular in my Remarks on Mr. Hunt his Book came but lately to my hands a part of mine being first in the Press and the rest called for so that I made it onely an Essay to provoke some more eminent persons of his own Gown to chastise him according to his demerit who have more health and help more time and advantages than I have And all that love their Religion and Peace will abhor such persons as by the same Methods the same Libels and pretences of Arbitrarie Government and Poperie the same Arguments as were used to defend the War and the Murder of Charles the First seek to involve us in another such and rather than not effect it will employ and associate with any sort of Fanaticks Jesuits and Regicides such as Doleman White and Milton their great Exemplar and Tutor I cannot stand to give this Age a character of that Pest of the former I mean this Milton whose very Sores and Impostumes these Authors suck and spit them out to poyson the People He was one that wrote against the whole Ministrie and their Maintenance that would have Divorces practised on every slight occasion And when I shall say that against his knowledge and Conscience he maliciously opposed the best of Kings I need say no more to prove him the worst of men That Mercenarie wretch was I confess a man of more than ordinarie parts and when he came in his Chap. 4. to defend the Doctrine of Resistance and Regicide against that Argument of Salmasius which proved that none of the Christians before St. Augustine's time did practise or allow of resisting the lawful Magistrate though a Heathen or an Arian he stretched his Wit and his Reading so far as to bankrupt the reputation of them both as will evidently appear in my Answer to the same Arguments which both Mr. Hunt and our Author have borrowed from him And because it hath been creditably reported that Milton died a Papist and it is certain that he had been at Rome and was there caressed by some great men Cardinals and others I shall desire the Reader to consider with me whether that defence which he makes of the Popish Doctrine for deposing of Kings in the same Chapter be not a probable Argument of the truth of that Report For thus saith Milton chap. 4. p. 47. As to what concerns the Pope against whom you DECLAIME MANY THINGS TO NO PVRPOSE I give you libertie to talk till you are hoarse yet that which you assert so largely to take with the vulgar and unlearned That every Christian was subject to their Kings whether they were just or whether they were Tyrants until the power of the Pope was acknowledged to be greater than that of the King and till be absolved Subjects from their Oaths of Fidelitie I have shewn that to be most false by many examples Nor doth that seem more true which you say in the last place that Pope
Zachary did abselve the French from their Oath of Allegiance his reason is for Hottoman a French-man and a Lawyer denieth that Chilperick was deposed by the Popes authoritie or that his Kingdom was given to Pepin but that all this was transacted by the authoritie of the great Council of that Nation as appears by ancient Annals which shew that there was no need of absolving the Subjects from that Oath which also Pope Zachary utterly denied for in the French Histories it is recorded as Hottoman and Girardus witness That the French did from the beginning reserve to themselves a power as of chusing so of deposing their Kings and that they were not wont to swear any other Fidelitie to the Kings whom they created than that they would yield them Faith and Allegiance if their Kings did perform that which they also swore to do So that if the King by male-administration first broke his Oath there was no need of the Pope the perfidiousness of the King having absolved the subjects from their Oath Yet lest this Invention of Milton's own should not be of weight to clear his Holiness he brings the Popes infallible testimonie for himself Pope Zachary says he who you say did arrogate that authoritie to himself excuseth it and lays it on the People for the Popes words are these If the Prince be obnoxious to the People by whose beneficence he possesseth his Kingdom the People that make the King may depose him So that the result of all is the Pope and Fanatick are agreed in this Principle The Majestas realis is in the People as Bellarmine with Buchanan do assert and They that create the King may destroy him with the same breath How industrious this Mercenarie man is to vindicate the Pope whenas his own Creatures acknowledge that he was the Dux Gregis the grand Instrument of dethroning that King and sharing his Inheritance In a Dialogue between Theophilus a Christian and Philander a Jesuit Bishop Bilson p. 418. of Christian Subjection brings in Theophilus saying Your Law doth not stick to boast that Zacharias deposed Childerick King of France and placed Pepin in his room Philander answers And so he did Theoph. Who says so besides you Philand Platina saith Ejus authoritate regnum Franciae Pipino adjudicatur By Zachary 's authoritie the Kingdom of France was adjudged to Pepin And Frisingensis affirmeth that Pepin was absolved from the Oath of Allegiance by Pope Steven which he had given to Childerick and so were the rest of the Nobles of France and then the King being shaven and thrust into a Monasterie Pepin was anointed King which you think much the Pope should do in our days Theoph. Zachary was consulted with whether it might lawfully be done or no he did not openly intermeddle with the matter whatever his privie practices were though many of your Bishops and Monks to grace the Pope make it his onely act But hear Zachary 's own words when Volorade and Burchard were sent to understand his judgment I find saith he in the sacred storie of Divine Scripture that the people fell away from their wretchless and lascivious King that despised the Counsel of the Wise men of his Realm and created a sufficient man of themselves King This was likely the case of Jeroboam who had a special Warrant from God God himself allowing their doings All power and rule belongs to God Princes are his Ministers and therefore chosen for the people that they should follow the Will of God and not do what they list All that he hath as Power Glorie Riches Honour and Dignitie he receiveth of the People the People create the King and may when the cause requireth forsake the King It is therefore lawful for the Franks refusing this Monster Childerick to chuse one able in War and Peace by his wisdom to protect and keep in safetie their Wives Children Parents Goods and Lives This is the Popes Divinitie saith Bishop Bilson that Kings have their power of the People which the Scripture saith they have from God Now as to the Annals of France it is true that the Pope had not intirely grasped the power of deposing Princes in those days but made use of other Instruments yet this was done say the Annals Pontifice prius consulto as Sabellicus and the Gloss in verb. Deposuit i. e. deponentibus consensit The true reason was this Pepin was a man on whom the Pope relied to quell the Lombards and defeat the Grecians that he and Pepin might divide the Spoils of the West as it came to pass for the Emperour was turned out of Italy Now let the Reader judge how diligent an Advocate Milton is for the Pope that notwithstanding his own words advising it and the testimonie of his own creatures affirming it and the matter of fact and the event demonstrating it would yet excuse him from having a hand in deposing of that French King And is this a fit Guide for our Modern Writers Is it not possible as our Author says but to take many things from Doleman in the case of Succession and many more from Milton when you would irritate or defend the People of England in case of Resistance and Regicide Have the Boutefeus of this Age nothing to set the Nation into a flame but those Firebrands which were rak'd up in the Ashes of that prosligate Villain Milton who pleaded the Cause of the Pope Gratis and for money that of Good God! what a Spirit of Rebellion is spread over the Land when as it was observed by Dr. Heylen at the beginning of the last unnatural War No times were more full of Odious Pamphlets no Pamphlets more aplauded nor more dearly bought than such as do most deeply wound those Powers and Dignities to which the Law hath made us subject Methinks we are like the man in the Gospel Matth. 12.44 out of whom the unclean Spirit being cast out it walked up and down through drie places seeking rest and finding none then said he I will return to my house from whence I came out and finding it emptie swept and garnished he taketh with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first Deus avertat Omen I beg my Readers pardon that I may animadvert a little on these Libellers and acquaint them that to their Progenitors we owed the kindling fomenting and inflaming those late Wars that made us a confusion at home a scorn and a reproach abroad Prynne Burton and Bastwick were like so many Foxes let loose and encouraged like the Priests and Preco's of Mars to scatter Fire-brands through the Nation Nor would the times permit a little water to be sprinkled for the quenching of them but fed them with oyl The Laws were silenced and out-lawed then as they are now as if indeed we were inter Arma there wanted not scourges to punish them but an arm to inflict the legal
according to the Imprecation of David against those that were enemies to so good a King Set thou an ungodly man to have rule over them Regis quando boni sunt muneris est Dei quando mali sceleris est populi When good Kings bear rule it is a token of Gods Favour when wicked ones it is the effect of the peoples Iniquity As Job says Chap. 34.30 juxta Septuag Regnare facit Hypocritam propter peccata populi God takes away good Kings in his anger and sets evil ones in their rooms yea many times for the sins of the people he permits good Princes to fall as he did David in numbring the people that they and their King might suffer under a common Calamity It is an observation of Aeneas Sylvius de Ortu Imperij c. 16. Deus saepe propter peccata Subditorum deprivari permittit vitam Rectorum When Rehoboam hearkned to evil Counsellors 1 Kin. 12.15 The Cause was from the Lord that he might bring to pass his saying c. Now who shall judge whether the thing commanded be for our good or not We have very plain precepts which require our Obedience to Princes in all things that are not against the word of God And we ought to have as plain precepts Affirmative or Negative for the things that we resolve to do or not to do according to the Kings command i. e. Nothing can justifie our disobedience to our Prince except there be as plain Scripture-proofs for the intrinsecal evil of the action commanded as there are for the necessity of Christian Obedience Where is it said Ye must needs disobey your Prince when he commands you to worship God in the publick assemblies or to pray uncovered or to receive the Sacrament on your knees as it is said Let every soul be subject to the higher powers and Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man and Obey Magistrates and them that have the rule over you In this one Common Good of Order and Government many good things are included for as Cicero said de Legibus 3. Without Government neither House City or Nation nor Mankind nor Nature nor the World it self could subsist And St. Chrysostom on Rom. Hom. 23. Take away the higher Power and all goes to wrack neither City nor Family nor Assembly or any thing else can stand the stronger will devour the weaker and all things be turned upside down It is therefore concluded by all Wise men That a bad Prince is better than none For a demonstration whereof the Persians after their Kings death permitted the people to live in a Lawless manner for five days together that after the experience of the outrages and violences committed in the interregnum they might be the more endeared to their Prince Consonant to which is that in Judges chap. 21.16 when there was no King in Israel every one did that which was right in his own eyes which made them on any terms to desire a King 2. We are to obey them that we may silence the ignorance of foolish men that think and speak evil of Christianity as if it set up Christs Kingdom against Caesars and a good Christian could not be a good Subject which slanders we should confute by our peaceable conversations and this will gain us favour at home by mitigating the Princes displeasure or toleration abroad if we be put to flie for our lives when it shall be known that we are of peaceable and patient Conversations The Christian Religion was from the beginning reproached as a disturber of the Secular powers and therefore it was the Care of Christ to clear his Disciples from this Crime by paying tribute and living in subjection to the Rulers of this world that he might give them no offence And the Apostles knowing that they were reported to be Seditious and such as would turn the world upside down have taken all possible care to undeceive the enemies of the Gospel by obliging the professors thereof to obey their Rulers under the greatest obligations that the wit of men could invent So that in case the King do command such things as are evidently forbidden by God we see what is then to be done we must peacebly acquiesce in the providence of God as Tacitus said we may bonos Imperatores voto expetere quoscunq tolerare l. 4. Submit to them as Instruments and Rods in the hand of God correcting or punishing us for our sins God hath the devil himself in a Chain and hath set bounds unto him as in the case of Job whose life he could not take away nor go beyond Gods Commission Commit your selves therefore to God in well doing who hath said Vengeance is mine and I will repay it And as David to Saul 1 Sam. 24.12 The Lord judge between thee and me and the Lord avenge me of thee but my hand shall not be upon thee or as in 1 Sam. 26.10 The Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall descend into the battel and perish the Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lords Anointed We may not impute all that we suffer to our enemies the hand of God is in it and we must as David did acknowledge it to be the Lords doing We must receive evil at the hands of God as well as good and bless him when he takes away as well as when he continues his Mercy to us Jer. 29.7 The Jews were commanded to seek the peace of that City though it were Babylon wherein they were Captives and to pray to the Lord for it for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace and doubtless in the disturbance of it they were like to be the first and greatest sufferers Obj. But may we not resist wicked Princes when they unjusty seek our destruction Ans This says our Author is the Mahometan Doctrine of the Bow-string which I think is a most scandalous if not blasphemous expression For this example our Saviour hath set us who though most innocent and most afflicted yet was most patient under all his sufferings and we must look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith And it is directly contrary to 1 Pet. 2.19 where in the judgment of all Expositors we are in the same manner to obey Magistrates as Masters i. e. though we suffer wrongfully to take it patiently as our Saviour hath given example who when he suffered he threatned not c. Read chap. 4.12 13. and chap. 3.14 15 c. Those Christians who wrote their Apologies to the Emperours and Governours that were then persecuting of them would not dare to speak any thing but what was an apparent truth yet they all disclaim the practice of Resistance as contrary to the Doctrine that they had received viz. to be Subject to the Higher Powers c. Thus Justine Martyr Lactantius Athenagoras Cyprian c. I shall name one for all We are defamed saith Tertull. ad Scapulam touching the Imperial
humour was in his nature from the God of Nature and who hath resisted his Will The same Argument will the lascivious man who was born under the Planet of Venus and the Rebel and Murtherer who was born under Mars use in their defence as the scrupulous and obstinate who were born under Saturn And so any vice may be defended and the whole blame transferred on God who sent them into the world with such inclinations But on second considerations our Author might have told them that these wicked dispositions were the effects of the corruption of their natures contracted and propagated by original sin and that there is yet so much light from Nature but much more from the Grace of God as to discover and assist them in the correction of these unreasonable and ground less affections and passions and not to encourage them in them by telling them they are from God and infused into devout men that they may put a bar to such dangerous Innovations that are stealing on the Church and for the maintenance of the simplicity and purity of the Christian Religion and Worship This is a New Plea to encourage them to a New Rebellion as well as to justifie the Old And we know what slender pretences scrupulous and obstinate persons are wont to lay hold on to defend themselves in very unlawful practices in such cases as are confessedly unreasonable and dangerous and to which they have a natural inclination The Vulgar need a Curb to restrain them and not a Spur to provoke and haste them on When therefore you ask p. 86. What affrightment all this while either to Church or State from this weak and pitiful scrupulosity Where lies the Treason or Sacriledge Let our Author consult the History of the late War and Experience which some say is the Mistriss of Fools may resolve him It is no more agreeable to a scrupulous man about a Ceremony of the Church to depose and murder his lawful Prince than for a man of a nice Conscience to be impiously wicked p. 33. Pref. Yet Mr. Baxter and others will tell you that the greatest Impieties and Outrages have been committed by such men as pretended niceness and scruples of Conscience for their justification And who they were that would strain at Gnats and swallow Camels our Saviour told us long since But to return Upon this very Ground of a natural complexion c. p. 19. of the Preface he would excuse a vile sort of Presbyterians in Scotland as he calls them who have deservedly put that name under eternal infamy by their turbulent and contumacious carriage against the Kingly Authority Which yet he there says is not imputable so much to Presbytery as to the barbarous Manners and rough Genius of that Nation And is it not strange that neither the Learning and Knowledge of that Nation which afforded some men of all Ages of great excellency and which usually emollit mores nec sinit esse feros doth correct the brutish dispositions of men nor the power of Godliness and purity of Doctrine and Worship to which especially in latter times they pretended beyond all other Nations and was proposed by them and accepted by some of our own Nation as the great Rule next to if not above the Word of God for our Reformation could so far reform them as to teach them Obedience to their lawful Princes but they must still remain infamous as our Author observes for Disloyalty and a barbarous Treatment of their Kings And is it not yet more strange that we who are of a better Genius should learn of them who as you note do boast of one hundred and fifty Kings in succession in that Kingdom and you certainly aver that they really imprisoned deposed and murdered fifty at least before the time of Mary Queen of Scots that such an Original should be proposed to the English Nation that their Chronicles may also be defiled with the bloud of their Kings As for what you say p. 20. Pref. concerning the Queen of Scots that her prosecution was promoted by the English Bishops which putrid Vomit the Author of Julian's Life licked up and hath disgorged again to make the whole Nation stink I have said enough to vindicate the Bishops from that foul Aspersion It being designed by the Wisdom of the Parliament and by them justified for many Treasonable actions and Insurrections by her practised and contrived for which she was legally condemned not as a Queen nor as a Popish Successour much less as our Queen but as a professed Enemy to her Majestie that then happily reigned over us from whom she actually claimed the Crown and endeavoured by force to usurp it And she having first resigned her Crown and came hither for protection which she forfeited by her frequent practices of Treason was tried and condemned as the Wife of a Subject of this Land And happie had it been for this Nation if they had never learnt any other Regicide than this Fictitious one wherewith the Bishops are chiefly charged for no other reason that I can divine but because they will not give consent to another more unexcusable action now This rash Assertion of yours destroys all that laudible endeavour which you have worthily attempted for the vindication of our Bishops in other matters this is a Scandalum Magnatum with a witness and I hope you have yet so much ingenuity as to put your self to the voluntarie Penance of a Recantation the slander being so notoriously false And I am perswaded that the convictions of your Conscience will not give you any rest till you have made them as publick satisfaction as the injury you have done them is I proceed now to the third Head of his Discourse which leads me to shew the endeavours used to engage the Nation in a second unnatural War And I shall begin with that Speech of this Author p. 52. of Postscript The panick fear of the change of the Government that this Doctrine of the Divinitie of Kings occasioned and the divisions it made among us was the principal cause of the late War And p. 102. That War would have been impossible if the Church-men had not maintained the Doctrine that Monarchie was Jure Divino in such a sence as made the King absolute and they and the Church in consequence perished by it Now you have heard already how loudly the young Divines are accused for preaching this Doctrine And how false soever the Accusation be the Nation is called to stand upon her guard and the Royal Standard is feigned to be set up and perhaps the Seditious partie are really listed and associated And every man is called on to declare for what Partie he will engage The Neuters are accursed the Associators declared to be such as retain the old English Loyaltie after the taking of the Covenant and all that oppose these betrayers of their Religion their Countrie and the Laws yea they are told p. 149. that they ought not to subject