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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96595	Vindiciæ regum; or, The grand rebellion that is, a looking-glasse for rebels, whereby they may see, how by ten severall degrees they shall ascend to the height of their designe, and so throughly rebell, and utterly destroy themselves thereby. And, wherin is clearly proued by holy Scripturs, ancient fathers, constant martyrs, and our best modern writers, that it is no wayes lawfull for any private man, or any sort or degree of men, inferior magistrates, peeres of the kingdom, greatest nobility, lo. of the councel, senate, Parliament or Pope, for any cause, compelling to idolatry, exercising cruelty, prastizing [sic] tyranny, or any other pretext, how fair and specious soever it seems to be, to rebell, take armes, and resist the authority of their lawfull king; whom God will protect, and require all the blood that shall be spilt at the hands of the head rebels. And all the maine objections to the contrary are clearly answered. / By Gr. Williams, L. Bishop of Ossory.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1643 (1643)	Wing W2675; Thomason E88_1; ESTC R204121	92,613	114

be good he doth not punish the well-doer but loveth him because he doth well but if the Prince be evill Alex. Hales p. 3. q 48. memb 2. art 1. de offic subd erga Prine and punisheth the well-doer he hurteth him not but purgeth him and therefore he is not a terrour to him that doth well but the wicked ought to seare because Princes are appointed that they should punish evill Aquinas saith the faith of Christ is the beginning and the eause of righteousnesse and therefore by the faith of Christ the order of Justice is not taken away but rather setled and strengthened because as our Saviour saith It became him to fulfill all righteousnesse But the order of justice doth require that all inferiours should obey their superiours otherwise the estate of humane affaires could no wayes be preserved Thom. secunda secundae q. 104. art 6. and therefore by the faith of Christ the godly and the faithfull Christians are neither exempted nor excused but that they are tyed and bound by the Law of Christ to obey their secular Princes Where you see the Christian faith doth not submit the superiour to the inferiour contrary to the rule of justice neither doth it any wayes for any cause permit the power of the sword to any subiect to be used against his Prince because this inordinate power would turne to the ruine of mankinde and the destruction of all humane affairs which can no otherwise be preserved but through the preservation of the order of justice Indeed many times there may happen some just causes Wherein we may disobey and how for which we are not bound to obey the commands of our Magistrates as when they command any thing contrary to the commandements of God and yet then there can be no cause why we should withstand him that executeth the uniust sentence of our condemnation or requireth the punishment that an uniust malitious Magistrate under the colour of his power and authority hath most unjustly laid upon us because he hath as our Saviour saith unto Pilate this ordinary power from God which if he doth abuse he is to be refrained not by the preparation of armes and the insurrection of his subjects to make impressions upon their Soveraigne but by those lawfull meanes which are appointed for them that is Petitions unto him and prayers and tears unto God for him because nothing else remaineth to him that is guilty or condemned as guilty for any fault but to commit his cause to the knowledge of the omnipotent God and to expect the iudgement of him which is the King of Kings and the Judge of all Judges and will undoubtedly chastise and correct the iniquity of any unjust sentence with the severitie of eternall justice Barcl l. 3. c. 10. as Barclay saith These testimonies are cleare enough and yet to all these I will adde this one memorable example Berthetus in explicat contro ver Gallicanae cap. 7. which you may read in Berchetus and Joh. Servinus which tell us that in France after the great Massacre at Paris when the reformed Religion did seeme as it were forsaken and almost extinguished a certain King powerfull in strength rich in wealth and terrible for his Ships and navall Force which was at enmitie and hatred with the King of France dispatched a solemne Embassie and Message unto Henry King of Navarre and other Protestant Lords and commanded his Embassadours to do their best to set the Protestants against the Papists and to arme Henry the Prince of Navarre which then lived at Bearne under the Dominion of the most Christian King against his Soveraigne the French King which thing the Embassadours endeavoured to do with all their art and skill but all in vaine An er ample o a faithfull and excellent Subject for Henry being a good subject as it were another David to become a most excellent King would not prevent the day of his Lord yet the Embassadours offered him many ample fair and magnificent conditions among the rest abundance of money the sum of three hundred thousand Aureorum scutatorum French Crownes which were readie to be told for the preparation of the warre and for the continuation of the same there should be paid every moneth so much as was necessarie but Henry being a faithfull Christian a good Prince a widower and though he was displaced from the publique government of the Common-wealth and for his sake for the dislike the King bare towards him the King had banished many Protestants from his Countrey and had killed many faithfull Pastours yet would not he for all this lift up his hand against the Lords anointed Joh. Servinus pro libertat Ecclesiae statu Regni tom 3. Monarchiae Rom. p. 202. but refused their gold rejected their conditions and dismissed the Embassadours as witnesses of his faith to God his fidelitie and allegeance to his King and peaceable minde towards his Countrey Where you see this prudent and good Prince had rather patiently suffer these intolerable injuries that were offered both to himself to the inferiour Magistrates and to many other good Christians for his sake then any wayes undutifully resist the ordinance of God And surely this example is most acceptable unto God most wholsome for any Common-wealth and most honourable for any subordinate Prince for I am certain this is the faith of Christ and the religion of the true Protestants not to offer but to suffer all kinde of injuries and to render good for evill and rather with patience love and obedience to studie to gaine the favour of their Persecuters then any wayes with force and armes to withstand those that God hath placed in authority which must needs be not onely offensive unto God whose ordinance they do resist but also destructive to the Common-wealth which can never receive any benefit by any insurrection against the Prince 3. 3. Not for any tyranny that shall be offered unto us Though the King should prove to be Nerone Neronior worse then Phalaris and degenerating from all humanitie should prove a Tyrant to all his people yet his subjects may not rebell against him upon this pretence for if any cause should be admitted for which subjects might rebell that cause would be alwayes alledged by the Rebels whensoever they did rebell and whom I and many others should deeme a good Prince and most pious the Rebels would proclaim him tyrannicall and idolatrous And therefore in such a case The difference betwixt King and people to be determined onely by God when some men think their King most gratious and others think him vitious some beleeve him to be good others beleeve him to be evill shall we think it fit that the disaffected party shall presently with armes decide the controversie and not rather have the accused the accuser and the witnesses before a competent Judge to determine the truth of this question Surely this seems more reasonable and more agreeable

us when either for the proofe of our sidelity or the scourging of our sinnes by cruell Tyrants for the healing of our dying and perishing soules he punisheth us then when he heapeth his blessings upon us by most meeke and clement Princes for the comfort and consolation of this present life Neither may we thinke that by this sufferance of God the worse part can take away the better or that the Devill by this means shall be able to overthrow the Church of Christ against which the gates of hell shall never be able to prevail because hee doth not cast his vessel into the furnace of tribulation Vtfrangatur sed ut conquatur and as the Goldsmith doth not cast his gold into the fire to consume it but to purge it so God never did Why God punisheth his servants nor ever will in the greatest persecutions deliver up his inheritance as a prey unto the Tyrants teeth nor submit his people unto the hands of their adversaries that they might be oppressed to destruction but onely that they might be pressed and reduced to amendment or delivered from their miseries to salvation And therefore when the Saints of God lye under the hands of a cruell Tyrant The best means to escape our punishments Christ hath prescribed them farre better meanes both for his glory and their owne comfort to escape his tyranny then by resisting his power And these meanes I finde to be amendment to life teares for our sinnes prayers to God Theodor. Orat. 7. de Providentia flight from them and patience to suffer when we cannot escape For so Theodoret saith as often as Tyrants fit at the sterne of the Common-wealth or cruell masters doe rule over us the wrath of God is to be pacified and the mitigation of these miseries is to be sought for by earnest prayers and serious amendment of our lives And Christ when he was sought to be murdred by Herod fled into Egypt and he adviseth us When we are persecuted in one Citie to flee into another and when by flight we cannot escape then as the Martyrs and godly Confessors did so must we doe either mollifie the Tyrants by our humble prayers Ambrusius in Orat. contra Auxent tom 5. Ep. 32. similia habet or offer up our soules to God by true pattence For so Saint Ambrose saith I have not learnrd to resist but I can grieve and weepe and sigh and against the weapons of the Souldiers and the Gothes my teares and my prayers are my weapons otherwise neither ought I neither can I resist Basilius ut est apud Lonicerum in Theatro Historico pag. 154. And Saint Basil saith I will not betray my faith for feare of the losse of my goods or of banishment or of death it selfe for I have no wealth besides a torne garment and a few books I remaine on earth as one that is alwayes going away and my feeble body shall overcome all sence of paine and torments Vná acceptâ plagà when I shall receive but one stroke And Saint Chrysostrme Chrysost in Epist ad Cyriacum when he was driven from Constantinople said unto himselfe if the Empresse will banish me let her banish me for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse of it If she cut me in pieces let her cut me Esayas suffered the same punishment If she will have me throwne into the Sea I will remember Ionas If she will throw me into the siery furnace the three Children suffered the like doome If she will cast me to wilde beasts let her doe it I shall call to minde how Daniel was cast into the Lyons den If she will stone me to death let her stone me I have Steven the Protomartyr my companion If she will take away my head let her take it I have Iohn Baptist for my fellow If she will take away my goods and substance let her take it for I came naked out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne againe Bernard Epist 221. And Saint Bernard saith whatsoever it pleaseth you to do concerning your Kingdome your Crowne and your Soule we that are the children of the Church cannot any wayes dissemble the injuries and contempt of our mother and therefore truely we will stand and fight unto death if needs be for our mother but with those weapons wherewith we may lawfully doe not with swords speares and shields but with our prayers and teares to God And it would be too tedious for me to set down all that I might collect of this kinde most excellent sayings of those worthy men which never hoped for any glory in the Kingdome of Heaven but by suffering patiently in the Kingdom of the Earth and when they could did faithfully discharge the duties of their places and when they could not did willingly undergoe the bitternesse of death and were alwayes faithfull both to their good God and their evill Kings to God rather by suffering Martyrdome then offend his Majesty and to their Kings not in committing that evill which they commanded but in suffering that punishment which they inflicted upon them 2. As no private men 2. Not the Nobility or Peeres Calvin Instit l. 4. c. 20 §. 31. Beza in confess c. 5. p. 171. Autor vindic q. 3. pag. 203. Althus de poli c. 14. pag. 142. 161. Danaeus depolit Christiana l. 6. c. 3. p. 413. 1. Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of what ranke or condition soever they be so neither Magistratus populares the peoples Magistrates as some terme them nor Iunius Brutus his Optimates regni the prime Noblemen of the Kingdome nor Althusius his Ephori the Kings assistants in the government of the people nor his great Councell of Estate nor any other kinde calling or degree of men may any wayes resist or at any time rebell for any cause or colour whatsoever against their lawfull Kings and supreame Governours 1. Because they are not as Althusius doth most falsly suggest Magistratu summo superiores but they are inferiours to the supreame and chiefe Magistrate otherwise how can hee be Summus if he be not Supremus or how can Saint Peter call the King supereminent 1 Pet. 2.23 if the inferiour Magistrates be superiours unto him and it is Contra ordinem justitiae contrary to the rules of justice as I told you before out of Aquinas that the inferiours should rise up against the superiour which hath the rule and command over them as the husband hath over the wife The inferiour should never rise against his superiour Optat. de schis Donat. l. 3. p. 85 the father over the sonne the Lord over his servants and the King over his subjects and therefore Iezabel might truely say Had Zimri peace which slew his Master And I may as truly say of these men as Optatus saith of the Donatists when as none is above the King or the Emperour but onely God which made him Emperour while the inferiour

take upon you more learning then the chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realme have this was the judgement of that judicious man and I must tell you that Religion never taught Rebellion neither was it the will of Christ that faith should bee compelled by fighting but perswaded by preaching for the Lord sharply reproveth them that built up Sion with bloud Micah 3.10 and Hierusalem with iniquity and the practice of Christ and his Apostles was to reforme the Church by prayers and preaching and not with fire and sword and they presse obedience unto our Governours yea though they were impious infidels True religion never rebelleth and idolatrous with arguments fetched from Gods ordinance from mans conscience from wrath and vengeance and from the terrible sentence of damnation and this truth is so solid that it hath the cleare testimony of holy Writ the perpetuall practice of all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs and I dare boldly say it the unanimous consent of all the Orthodox Bishops and Catholique Writers both in England and Ireland and in all the World that Christian Religion teacheth us never with any violence to resist or with armes to withstand the authority of our lawfull Kings If you say the Lawes of our Land Whether the Lawes of our Land doe warrant us to rebell and the Constitutions of this our Kingdome doe give us leave to stand upon our liberty and to withstand all tyranny that shall bee offered unto us especially when our estates lives and religion are in danger to bee destroyed To this I say with Laelius Laelius de privileg Eccl. 112. that Nulla lex valeat contra jus divinam mans laws can exact no further obedience then may stand with the observance of the divine precepts and therefore wee must not so prefer them or rely upon them so much as to prejudice the other and for our feare of the losse of estate life or religion I wish it may not be setled upon groundlesse suspitions for I know and all the World may beleeve that our King is a most clement and religious Prince that never did give cause unto any of his subjects to foster such feares and jealousies within his breast and you know what the Psalmist saith of many men They were affraid where no feare was And Iob tels you whom terrours shall make affraid on every side Iob 18.11 12 and shall drive him to his feet that is to runne away as you see the Rebels doe from the Kings Army in every place and in whose Tabernacle shall dwell the King of feare for though the ungodly fleeth when no man pursueth him yet they that trust in God are confident as Lyons without feare they know that the heart of the King is not in his owne hand but in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 as the rivers of waters he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him either to save them or destroy them even as it pleaseth God hee ordereth the King how to rule the people Bonav ad secundam dist 35. art 2. q. 1. And therefore in the name of God and for Christ Iesus sake let me perswade you to put away all causles feares and groundlesse jealousies and trust your King if not trust your God and let your will which is so unhappy in it selfe become right and equall by receiving direction from the will of God and remember what Vlpian the great Civilian saith that rebellion and disobedience unto your King is proximum sacrilegio crimen and that it is in Samuels judgement as the sin of witchcraft The remembrance of his oath should be a terrour to the conscience of every rebell whereby men forsake God and cleave unto the Devill and above all remember the oath that many of you have taken to bee true and faithfull unto your King and to reveale whatsoever evils or plots that you shall know or heare to bee contrived against his Person Crowne or Dignity and defend him from them Pro posse tuo to the uttermost of your power So helpe you God Which oath how they that are any wayes assistant in a warre against their King can dispence with I cannot with all my wit and learning understand and therefore returne O Shulamite returne lay downe thine armes submit thy selfe unto thy Soveraigne and know that as the Kings of Israel were mercifull Kings so is the King of England 1 King 20.32 thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty lest as Demades saith the Athenians never sate upon treaties of peace but in mourning weeds when by the losse of their nearest friends they had paid too deare for their quarrels so thou be driven to doe the like for except the sinnes of the people require no lesse satisfaction then the ruine of the Kingdome I am confident and am ready to hazard life and fortunes in this confidence that the goodnesse of our King The Authors confidence of the Kings victory the justnesse of his cause and the prayers of all honest and faithfull Ministers for him and our Church will in the end give him the victory over all those his rebellious enemies that with lyes slanders and false imputations have seduced the Kings subjects to strengthen themselves against their Soveraigne and all the World shall see that as Christ so in Sensu modificato this Vicegerent of Christ shall rule in the midst of these his enemies and shall raigne untill hee puts them all under his feet And because we never read of any rebellion not this of Corah here A rebellion that the like was never seen which of above six hundred thousand men had not many more then 250. Rebels nor that of Absolon against David who had all the Priests and Levites and the best Counsellours and a mighty Army with him such as was able to overthrow Absolon and twenty thousand men in the plaine field nor Israel against Rehoboam because they did but revolt from him and not with any hostile Armes invade him nor the Senate of Rome against Caesar though hee was the first that intrenched upon their liberty and intended to exchange their Aristodemocracy into a Monarchy nor any other that I can remember except that Councell which condemned Christ to death that was growne to that height to bee so absolute and so perfect a rebellion in all respects as that a whole Parliament in a manner and the major part of the Plebeians of a whole Kingdome should make a Covenant with Hell it selfe yea and which is most considerable that as I understand the beginning of this rebellion in this Kingdome of Ireland was the Commenalty therein should so fascinate the Nobility as to allure them so long to confirme their Votes till at last they must bee compelled in all thhings to adhere unto their conclusions that they whose power was formerly most absolute without them must now bee subordinate unto them that the strength of the people may defend

the weakenesse of the Nobility from that desert which they merited by their simplicity to bee seduced to joyne with them to rebell against their King Therefore if any faction in any Parliament should thus combine against the Lord and against his annointed there is no question but their reducement to obedience will make that Majesty which shall effect it more glorious to posterity then were any of all his Predecessours And therefore I say againe Returne O Shulamite returne and remember I pray thee remember lest my words shall accuse thy conscience in the day of judgement that wee are often commanded in many places of the Scriptures to obey our Kings but in no place bidden nor permitted to rise up and assist any Parliament against our King if thou sayest thou dost not doe it against thy King but against such and such that doe abuse the King I told you before that whosoever resisteth him that hath the Kings authority resisteth the King and therefore the whole World of intelligible men laugheth at this gullery and hee that dwelleth in the Heavens shall laugh it to scorne when with such aequivocation men shall thinke to justifie their rebellion and I hope the people will not still remaine so simple as to thinke that all the Canon and the Musket shot which the enemies of a King should make at him must bee understood to bee for the safety of his person And as neither private men nor any Senate nor Magistrate That the Pope hath no power to licence any man to make warre against the King nor Peeres nor Parliament can lawfully resist and take armes against their King so neither Synod nor Counsell nor Pope have any power to depose excommunicate or abdicate or to give immunities to Clergy or absolution to subjects thereby to free them from their duty and due allegeance and to give them any colour of allowance to rebell and make warre against their lawfull King And this point I should the more largely prosecute because the natives of this Kingdome are more addicted to the Pope and his Decrees then any others of all the Kings Dominion Pareus in Rom. 13. Iohan. Bede in the right and prerogatives of Kings and the Treatise intituled God and the King but the bulke of this Treatise is already too much swelled and I hope I may have hereafter a fitter opportunity to inlarge this Chapter and therefore till then I will onely referre my Reader unto Pareus John Bede and abundance more that have most plentifully written of this Argumenh And so much for the persons against whom they rebelled Mosec their King and Aaron their High Priest or chiefe Bishop and both these the prime Governours of Gods people whom they ought by all lawes to have obeyed and for no cause to have rebelled against them CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by tenue severall steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Resistance they ascended to the height of their Rebellion and how these are the steps and the wayes to all Rebellions and the reason which moved men to Rebell VVEe are to consider Quid fecerunt 3. Part. What these Rebels did what these Rebels did Cajetan saith Zelati sunt Tirinus saith Irritaverunt The vulgar Latine saith Aemulati sunt Our vulgar English saith They angred Moses and our last English saith They envyed Moses And indeed the large extent of the Originall word and the diversity of the Translation of it sheweth the greatnesse of their iniquity and the multi-formity or multiplicity of their sinne And therefore that you may truly understand it you must looke into the History * Numb 16. and there you shall see the whole matter the conception birth strength and progresse of their sinne for 1. This sinne was begotten by the seed of Pride they conceived an opinion of their owne excellency excellency that bewitched men to rebell thinking that they are inferiour to none equall to the best if not superiour unto all and therefore they disdained to bee governed and aspired to the government of Gods people Pride the beginning of rebellion And then Pride as the father begat Discontentment as his eldest Sonne they liked not their owne station but would faine bee promoted to higher dignity and because Moses and Aaron were setled in the government before them and they knew not how either to be adjoyned with them or advanced above them therefore discontent begat Envie and they began to pine away at their felicity and so our last English reades it They envied Moses 2. Private meetings do often produce mischiefes This sinne being thus conceived in the wombe of the heart at last it commeth forth to birth at the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and they begin to murmure and mutter among themselves and as Rebels use to have they have many private meetings and conventicles among themselves where they say we are all good 2 Sam. 15.3 4. we are all holy and they are no better than we and as Absalon depraved his fathers government and promised justice and judgement and golden mountaines unto the people if he were King so doe they traduce the present government with all scandalous imputations and professe such a reformation as would make all people happie if they were but in Moses place or made over him or with him the Guardians and Protectors of the Common-wealth And so now you see this ugly monster the sonne of Pride and Discontentment is borne into the world and spreads it selfe from the inward thought to open words Then Moses heares the voyce of this infant which was not like the voyce of Jacob but of the Serpent which spitteth fire and poyson out of his mouth And therefore lest this fire should consume them and these mutterers prove their murderers Moses now begins to look unto himselfe and to answer for his brother he calleth these rebels and he telleth them that neither he nor his brother had ambitiously usurped but were lawfully called into those places and to make this apparent to all Israel he bade these Rebels come out of their Castles to some other place where he might safely treate and conferre with them and that was to the Tabernacle of the Lord that is to the place where wisedome and truth resided and was from thence published and spread to all the people and there the Lord should shew them whom he had chosen And here I doe observe the care and wisedome of the Prophet that at the first appearance of their designe The wisdome of Moses would presently begin to protect his brother before their rebellion had increased to any strength for had he then delivered Aaron into their hands his hands had beene so weakened that he had never beene able afterwards to defend himselfe to teach all Kings to beware that they yeeld not their Bishops and Priests

maintaine that Idoll as they terme it And this false pretext might be a dissembled cloake for all Rebels to say they doe it in defence of their Religion because they are affraid to be compelled unto Idolatry And therefore the truth is if any Tyrant like Julian should endeavour to compell men unto the Idols Temple or to worship my true God with false service I will rather die then doe it but I may not resist when I am compelled by any meanes for so I sinde that Shadrac Meshac and Abednego Elias the Prophets and the Apostles and all the Christians of the Primitive Church did use to doe in the like case And I had rather imitate the obedience of those good Saints to those wicked Kings that would have compelled them to Idolatry then the insolencie of those proud Rebels that under these false pretences will rebell against their lawfull Princes 2. 2. Not for any injury that is done unto us If we may not rebell when we are compelled to Idolatry much lesse may we do it for any other injury for what injury can be greater then to be inforced to Idolatry when as to be robbed of my faith and religion is more intolerable then to be spoyled of all my goods and possessions And therefore No injury greater then compulsion to Idolatry when Christ suffered as great an injury as could bee offered unto his person when the Souldiers came with Swords and Staves to take him as if he had been a thiefe and a murderer and Saint Peter then like a hot-headed Puritane was very desirous to revenge this indignity our Saviour reprehended his rashnesse because he knew what the other as yet knew not that he ought not to resist when the Magistrate doth send to apprehend and so the Christians of the Primitive Church were extreamely injured by their Persecuters And the Catholique faith it selfe suffered no small oppression under Constantius the Arian Emperour and yet that purer age wherein the better Christians lived did not so much as once thinke of any revenge or resistance saith Baronius When and who did first resist and what moved them Baron ad annum Christi 350. But about the yeare of Christ 350. then first saith he alas the Christian Souldiers being swell'd with pride and taken up with a cruell desire of bearing rule have conspired against the Christian Emperours when as before Ne gregarius quidem miles inveniri quidem posset qui adversus Imperatores licet Ethnicos Christianorum quoque persecutores à partibus aliquando steterit insurgentium tyrannicorum not a Christian could be found that stood up against the Heathen Emperours that were the persecuters of the Christians But to make it yet more plaine that no grievance should move good Christians to make resistance no injury should cause them to rebell against their Magistrates our Saviour saith authoritativè with authority enough I say unto you that ye resist not evill Matth. 5.39 but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheeke turne to him the other also and if by our Saviours rule we may not resist any one what thinke you that we may resist our King our Priest or any other Magistrate that correcteth or reproveth us 2 Pet. 2.19 And Saint Peter saith This is thanke-worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure griefe suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when yee suffer for your faults yee take it patiently but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God where you see still the rule of piety is none other but suffering though it be never so unjustly And therefore the Fathers are most plentifull in the explanation and confirmation of this point How patherically the Fathers perswade us to suffer and not to resist for Tertullian that was no babe in the Schoole of Divinity nor any coward in the Army of Christ speaking of those faithfull Christians that suffered no small measure of miseries in his time saith that one short night with a few little torches might have wrought their deliverance and revenged all their wrongs if it had beene lawfull for them to blot out or expell evill with evill but God forbid saith he Vr aut igne humano vindicetur divina secta Tertull in Apologet aut doleat pati in quo probatur that either the divine sect that is the Christian Region should be revenged with humane fire or that it should grieve us to suffer wherein we are commended for suffering Nazianzen that for his soundnesse of judgment and profoundnesse of knowledge was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 termed Theologus the Divine Nazian Orat. 1. saith that the tury of Julian that great Apostata was repressed onely with the teares of the Christians which many of them did most plentifully powre forth to God when they had no other remedy against their Persecuter Marke that they say it is unlawfull to resist because they knew it unlawfull for them to use any other meanes th●n sufferance or else they might having so much strength as they had have repelled their wrongs with violence Saint Ambrose saith as much Ambros op 33. and Prosper in like manner saith the present evils should be suffered untill the promised happinesse doth come the Infidels should be permitted among the faithfull and the plucking of the tares should be deferred and let the wicked rage against the godly as much as they will yet the case of the righteous is farre better because that Quantò acriùs impetuntur tantò gloriosiùs coronantur Prosper in sen 99. by how much the more sharply they are tormented by so much the more gloriously they shall be crowned And Saint Bernard saith if all the world should conspire against me and coniure me Bernard Ep. 170. that I should plot any thing against the royall majestie yet I would fear God and would not dare to offend the King that is appointed of him over me because I am not ignorant of the place where I read Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God And yet he speaketh this of King Lodovicus that offered a monstrous wrong to all the Clergy when he robbed them and took away all their goods without cause and which is worse would hear of no perswasions to make restitution or to give them any satisfaction as Gaguinus testifieth Gaguin li. 6. Thus the Fathers whereof I could heap many more do testifie of this truth The Schoolmen of the same judgement and the Schoolmen tread in the same steps and differ not a nails bredth from them herein For Alexander Hales saith wicked and evill men ought to suffer for the fault of their irrationability and good men ought to suffer Propter debitum divinae ordinationis for the duty that they owe to the divine ordinance Ambrosius in Rom. 13. and the benefit of their own purgation Whereupon Saint Ambrose saith if the Prince

unto the rules of justice when as The Law condemneth no man much lesse the King before his cause be heard And seeing such a competent Judge as can justly determine this controversie betwixt the King and his People or rather betwixt one part of his people and the other cannot be found under Heaven therefore to avoid civill warres and the effusion of humane and Christian blood and the prevention of abundance of other mischiefs That we ought not by any means to resist our Kings Proved both the Scripture teacheth and the Church beleeveth and Reason it self sheweth and the publique safetie requireth that we should transmit this question to be decided onely by him which is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will when he seeth good bind evill Kings in fetters and their Nobles with links of iron CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane reason and the welfare of the weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A threefold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of tyraunies The doubtfull and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 1. THe Scripture saith 1. By the Scriptures I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement and that in regard of the oath of God that is the oath whereby thou hast sworne before God and by God to obey him Be not hastie to go out of his sight that is not out of his presence but out of his rule and government and stand not in an evill thing that is in opposition or rebellion against thy King which must needs be evill and the worst of all evils to thy King for He doth whatsoever pleaseth him that is Ecclesiast 8.2 3 4. he hath power and authority to do what he pleaseth Where the Word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What doest thou or Why doest thou so And Solomon saith A Greyhound an Hee-Goat and a King Prov. 30.31 against whom there is no rising up there ought not to be indeed I will not set down what Samuel saith but desire you to read the place 1. Sam. 8.11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. where you shall see what the King will do and what remedy the Prophet prescribeth against him not to rebell and take up armes but to cry unto the Lord that he would help them And Saint Paul saith Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God Rom. 13.2 and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And Saint Peter saith that they which despise government 2. Pet. 2.10.12 and are not afraid to spoake evill of dignities are presumptuous and doe walke after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse and as naturall bruit beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed they speake evill of the things they understand not and therefore they shall utterly perish in their own corruption And Saint Jude in like manner calleth those that despise Dominion and speak evill of Dignities the very phrase of Saint Peter filthy dreamers Iude 8.10 11. that defile the flesh and therefore shall perish in the gainsaying of Corah This is the doctrine of God therefore Saint Paul exhorteth us not to rebell nor to speak evill of our Kings 1 Tim 2.2 be they what they will but first of all or before all things to make prayers and supplications for our Kings and for all that are in authoritie And I wonder what spirit except it were the spirit of hell it selfe durst ever presume to answer and evade such plain and pregnant places of Scripture to countenance disobedience and to justifie their rebellion And therefore 2. 2. By the Doctrine of the Church The Church of Christ beleeveth this Doctrine to be the truth of God for no man saith Saint Cyril without punishment resisteth the Laws of Kings but Kings themselves in whom the fault of prevarication hath no place because it is wisely said it is impiety therefore against the will of God to say unto the King Cyril in Iohan. l. 12. c. 56. Iniquè agis thou dost amisse for as God is the supreame Lord of all which judgeth all and is judged of none so the Kings and Princes of the earth which do correct and judge others are to be corrected and judged of none but onely of God to whose power and authority they are onely subject and therfore King David understanding his own station well enough when he was both an adulterer and a murderer and prayeth to God for mercy saith Against thee onely have I sinned because I acknowledge none other my superiour on earth besides thee alone and I have no judge besides thee which can call me to examination or inflict any punishment on me for my transgression And so the Poet saith Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis But you will object against Saint Cyril Obiect if it be impiety to say unto the King Thou doest amisse how shall we excuse Samuel that told King Saul he did foolishly and Nathan that reproved King David and Elias that said to King Ahab it was he and his fathers house that made Israel to sinne and John Baptist that told Herod It was not lawfull for him to have his brothers wife I answer 1. Sol. That by the mouth of these men God himself reproved them because these men were no private persons What the Priest or Prophet may do private men may not do but extraordinarily inspired with the Spirit of God to perform the extraordinary messages of God 2. I say as I said before that as Moses may correct and punish Aaron if he doth amisse so Aaron the Priest inregard of his calling may reprove and admonish Moses the chief Magistrate when he doth offend but so that he do it wisely and with that love and reverence which he oweth unto Moses as to his God not publiquely to disgrace and vilifie his Prince unto his people but modestly and privately to amend his fault and reconcile him to God and this is the work of his office which he ought to do as he is a Priest and not of his person which ought not to do it as he is his subject 3. Reason it self confirmeth this truth 3. By humane reason because the King is the head of the body politique and the members can neither judge the head because they are subject unto it nor cut it off because then they kill themselves and cease to be the members of that head and therefore the subjects with no reason can either judge or depose their King 4. 4. From the welware of every Common-wealth The event of every warre is doubtfull The publique safety and welfare of any Common-wealth requireth that the Subjects should never rebell against their King 1. Because the event of a rebellious warre is both dubious and dangerous for who can divine in whose ruine it shall end or which

and Societies doe cease and are even then reduced into him from whom before they were derived But we finde it many times that not the fault of the Prince The true causes that move many men to disturbe the State and to rebell nor the good of the Common-wealth but either the hiding of their owne shame or the hope of some private gaine induceth many men to kindle and blow up the flames of civill discord for as Paterculus saith Itase res habet ut republicâ ruinâ quisque malit quàm suâ proteri It so falls out that men of desperate conditions that with Catiline have out-runne their fortunes and quite spent their estates had rather perish in a common calamstie which may hide the blemish of their sinking then to be exposed to the shame of a private misery and we know that many men are of such base behaviour that they care not what losse or calamity befalls others so they may inrich themselves Paterculus in Histor Roman so it was in the civill warres of Rome Bella non causis inita sed prout merce corum fuit they undertooke the same not upon the goodnesse of the cause but upon the hope of prey and so it is in most warres that avarice and desire of gaine makes way for all kinde of crueltie and oppression and then it is as it was among the Romans a fault enough to be wealthy and they shall be plundred that is in plaine English robbed of their goods and possessions without any shew of legall proceedings But they that build their owne houses out of the ruine of the State and make themselves rich by the impoverishing of their neighbours are like to have but small profit and lesse comfort in such rapine because there is a hidden curse that lurketh in it and their account shall be great which they must render for it Therefore I conclude this point that for no cause and upon no pretext it is lawfull for any Subject to rebell against his Soveraigne Governour for Moses had a cause of justice and a seeming equitie to desend and revenge his brother upon the Aegyptian And Saint Peter had the zeale of true Religion and as a man might thinke as great a reason as could be to defend his Master that was most innocent from most vile and base indignities and to free him from the hands of his most cruell persecutors August contra Faustum Man l. 22. c. 70. and yet as S. Augustine saith Vterque justitiae regulam excessit ille fraterno iste Dominico amore peccavit both of them exceeded the rule of justice and Moses out of his love to his brother and Saint Peter out of his respect to his Master have transgressed the commandement of God And therefore I hope all men will yeeld that what Moses could not doe for his brother nor Saint Peter for his Master and the Religion of his Master Christ that is to strike any one without lawfull authoritie ought not to be done by any other man for what cause or religion soever it be especially to make insurrection against his King contrary to all divine authoritie for the true Religion hath beene alwayes humble patient and the preserver of peace and quietnesse Pro temporali salute non pugnavit sed potius ut obtineret aeternam non repugnavit Aug. de Civit. l. 22. c. 6. and as S. Augustine saith the Citie of God though it wandered never so much on earth and had many troopes of mighty people yet for their temporall safety they would not fight against their impious persecuters but rather suffered without resistance that they might attain unto eternall health And so I end this first part of the objection with that Decree of the Councell of Eliberis if any man shall break the Idols to pieces and shall be there killed for the doing of it because it is not written in the Gospel Concil Eliber Can. 60. and the like fact is not found to be done at any time by the Apostles it pleased the Councell that he shall not be received into the number of Martyrs because contrary to the practise of our dayes when every base mechanick runs to the Church to break down not Heathen Idols but the Pictures of the blessed Saints out of the windows they conceived it unlawfull for any man to pull down Idolatry except he had a lawfull authority CHAP. VI. Sheweth that neither private men nor the subordinate Magistrates 2. Part of the objection answered No kinde of men ought to rebell 1. Not private men Calv Inst l. 4 c. 20. Sect. 31. Beza Confess c. 5. p. 171. I. Brutus q 3. pa. 203. Dan. de Polit. Christ. l. 6. c. 3. Bucan loc com 49. Sect. 76. nor the greatest Peeres of the Kingdome may take armes and make Warre against their King Buchanans mistake discovered and the Anti-Cavalier confuted 2. AS it is not lawfull for any cause so no more is it lawfull for any one or for any degree calling or kind of men to rebell against their lawfull Governours For 1. Touching private men we finde that Calvin Beza Junius Brutus Danaeus Buchanus and most others yeeld that meere private men ought not to rebell at any hand and no wonder for the Scriptures forbid it flatly as Exod. 22.28 Revile not the Gods curse not the Ruler 1 Chron. 16.22 Touch not mine anointed Proverb 30.31 Rise not up against the King that is to resist him Eccles 8.3 Let no man say to the King Why doest thou so Eccles 10.17 Curse not the King in thy thought The examples of obedience to Kings And the examples of obedience in this kinde are innumerable and most remarkable for David when he had Saul a wicked King guilty of all impiety and cruelty in his owne hand yet would he not lay his hand upon the Lords annoynted but was troubled in conscience when he did but cut the lap of his garment Elias could call for fire from Heaven to burne the two Captains and their men a hundred in number onely for desiring him to come down unto the King as you may see 2. Reg. 1.10.12 and yet he would not resist Achab his King that sought his life and was an enemy to all Religion but he rather fled then desired any revenge or perswaded any man to rebell against him Esayas was sawed in pieces by Manasses Jeremy was cast into the Dungeon Daniel exposed to the Lyons the Three Children thrown into the Fiery Furnace Amos thrust through the temples Zacharias slaine in the porch of the Temple James killed with the sword Peter fastened to the Crosse with his head downward Bartholomew beaten to death with Clubs Matthew beheaded Paul slaine with the Sword and all the glorious company of the Martyrs which have ennobled the Church with their innocent life and inlarged the same by their pretious death never resisted any of their Persecuters never perswaded any man to rebell against them never cursed the

omnes Deos it is God alone in whose power Kings are kept which are second from him first after him above all men and before all Gods that is all other Magistrates that are called Gods Athanasius saith Athanasius de summo regum imperio q. 55. that as God is the King and Emperour in all the world that doth exercise his power and authority over all things that are in Heaven and in Earth so the Prince and King is appointed by God over all earthly things Et ille libera suâ voluntate facit quod vult sicut ipse Deus and the King by His own free will doth whatsoever he pleaseth even as God himselfe and the Civilians could say but little more Saint Augustine saith Simulachrum à similitudine dictum Isidot Videtis simulachrorum templa you see the temples of our Images partly fallen for want of reparation partly destroyed partly shut up partly changed to some other uses ipsaque simulachra and those Images either broken to pieces or burned and destroyed and those Powers and Potentates of this world which sometimes persecuted the Christians Aug. ad frat Maduar ●p 42. pro istis simulachris for those Images to be overcome and tamed non à repugnantibus sed à morientibus Christianis not of resisting but of dying Christians See the duty of Subjects or a perswasion 〈◊〉 Loyalty which is a full collection of the Fathers to this purpose and the rest of the Fathers are most plentifull in this theam and therefore to the later Writers Cardinall Alan saith but herein most untruly that the Protestants are desperate men and most factious for as long as they have their Princes and Lawes indulgent to thier owne wills they know well enough how to use the prosperous blasts of fortune but if the Princes should withstand their desires Card. Alan in rep ad Iustit Britannicam c. 4. or the Lawes should be contrary to their mindes then presently they break asunder the bonds of their fidelity they despise Majesty and with fire and sword slaughters and destructions they rage in every place and do runne headlong into the contempt of all divine and humane things which accusation if it were true then I confesse the Pretestants were to be blamed more then all the people of the World but howsoever some factious seditious Anabaptisticall and rebellious spirits amongst us not deserving the name of Protestants may be justly taxed for this intolerable vice yet to let you see how falsly he doth accuse us that are true Protestants and how fully we doe agree with the Scriptures and the Fathers of the purest age of the Church in the Doctrine of our obedience to our Kings and Princes I will only give you a taste of what we teach and to begin with the first reformer Luther saith no man which stirreth up the multitude to any tumult can be excused from his fault though he should have never so just a cause but he must goe to the Magistrate and attempt nothing privately Sleidan Commentar l. 5. because all sedition and insurrection is against the Commandement of God which forbiddeth and detesteth the same Philip Melancthon saith though it be the Law of Nature to expell force with force yet it is no wayes lawfull for us to withstand the wrong done us by the Magistrate with any force yea Melanctgon apud Luther to 1 p. 463. though we seeme to promise our obedience upon this condition if the Magistrate should command lawfull things yet it is not therefore lawfull for us to withstand his unjust force with force for though their Empires should be gotten and possest by wicked men yet the worke of their government is from God and it is the good creature of God and therefore whatsoever the Magistrate doth no force ought to be taken up against the Magistrate Brentius saith The rule of a Prince may be evil two waies that the rule and government of a Prince may be evill two wayes 1. When hee commandeth any thing against the faith of Christ as to deny our God to worship Idols and the like and herein we must give place to the saying of the Apostle It is better to obey God then men but in this case the subiect must in no way rage or rise against his Magistrate but he should rather patiently suffer any evill then any way strike againe and rather endure any inconveniences and discommodities then any wayes obey those ungodly commands 2. The Prince his government may be evill when hee doth or commandeth any thing against the publique Justice of which kinde are the exaction of our goods or the vexation of our bodies Brentius in re spon-ad artie rusticorum and in these kindes of injuries the subject ought rather then in the former to be obedient to his Magistrate for if hee steps forth to armes God hath pronounced of such men He that smiteth with the sword shall perish with the sword Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury together with the rest of the bishops and most famous Divines of this Kingdome saith if Princes shall doe any thing contrary to their duties God hath not appointed any superiour Judge over them in this world but they are to render their account to God which hath reserved their judgement to himselfe alone and therefore it is not lawfull for any subjects how wicked soever their Princes shall be to take armes or raise sedition against them but they are to powre forth their prayers to God Cranmer in lib. de Christiani hominis institut in whose hand Kings hearts are that he would inlighten them with his spirit whereby they might rightly to the glory of God use that sword which he hath delivered unto them Gulielmus Tindall a godly Martyr of Christ when Cardinall Lanio's sonne did leade the Lambes of Christ by troopes unto the slaughter doth then describe the duty of subjects according to the straight rule of the Gospell saying David spared Saul and if he had killed him he had sinned against God for in every Kingdome the King which hath no superiour judgeth of all things and therefore he that endeavoureth or intendeth any mischiefe or calamity against the Prince that is a Tyrant or a Persecuter or whosoever with a froward hand doth but touch the Lords anointed he is a rebell against God and resisteth the ordinance of God as often as a private man sinneth he is held obnoxious to his King that can punish him for his offence but when the King offendeth he ought to be reserved to the divine examination and vengeance of God and as it is not lawfull upon any pretence to resist the King Tindall l. de Christiani bominis obedient so it is not lawfull to rise up against the Kings Officer or Magistrate that is sent by the King for the execution of those things which are commanded by the King for as our Saviour saith Hee that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth

party can assure themselves of victory It is true that the justest cause hath best reason to be most confident yet it succeeds not alwayes when God for secret causes best known unto himself suffereth many times especially for a time as in the case of the Tribe of Benjamin the Rebels to prevaile against the true Subjects And as the event is doubtfull so it must needs be mournfull what side soever proveth victor for who can expresse the sorrows and sadnesse of those faithfull subjects that shall see the light of their sunne any wayes eclipsed the lampe of Israel and the breath of their nostrils to be darkned or extinguished and also to see the learned Clergy and the grave Fathers of the Church discountenanced and destroyed On the other side it will not be much lesse mournfull to see so many of our illustrious Nobles ancient Gentry and others of the ablest Commonalty brought to ruine and to pay for their folly not onely their dearest lives but also the desolation of their houses and decay of their posterities Quis talia fando temperet à lachrymis When the Kings victory shall be but like that of David after the death of Absolon Bella geri placuit nullos babitura triumphos Luca. l. 1. and the Nobles victory but as the two victories of the Benjamites over their own brethren the Israelites and the best triumph that can succeed on either side shall be but as the espousall of a virgin on the day of her parents funerall or as the laying of the foundation of the second Temple when the shout of joy could not be discerned from the noise of weeping And therefore a learned Preacher of Gods Word saith most truly Mr. Warmstry in Ramo Olivae p. 23. that it is a hard matter to find out a mischief of so destructive a nature that we would exchange it for this civill warre for Tyranny Slavery Penury or any thing almost may be better born with peace and unity then a civill war with the greatest libertie and plenty seeing the comfort of such associates would quickly be swallowed up like Pharaohs fat kine by such a monster feeding with them Had we a Tyrant like Rehoboam that would whip us with Scorpions which the Devill dares not be so impudent as to alledge we have yet better it were to be under one Tyrant then many which we are sure to have in civill broyles when every wicked man becomes a Tyrant when he seeth the reines of government cut in pieces Were we under the yoke of an Egyptian slavery to make bricks without straw yet better it were for us to be in bondage then that fury and violence should be set free and malice suffered to have her will because there is more safety in being shut up from a Tyger then to be let loose before him to be chased by him or were we wasted and oppressed in our states yet the wisest of men tels us that Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Pro. 15.16 17. then great treasure and trouble therewith And therefore seeing civill warre is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affliction full of calamitie and one of the greatest punishments that God useth to send upon a Nation it is apparent that the welfare of any State calleth upon every subject to be obedient unto his King yea though he were never so vile an Idolater or so cruell a Tyrant for though a King could be proved and should be condemned to be cruell and Tyrannous unjust and impious towards God and men yet hereby that King will not yeeld what hee doth hold from God but though the confederate conspirators should have a thousand times more men and strength then he yet he will call his servants and friends his Kinsmen Allies and other circumjacent Kings and Princes unto his aide and he would hire mercenary Souldiers to revenge the injury offered unto him and to suppresse the Rebels both with fire and sword and if he should happen to have the worse and to loose both his Crowne and Kingdome and his Life and all yet all this would be but a miserable comfort and a lamentable victory to a ruined Common Wealth whose winnings can no wayes countervaile her losses The miseries that follow the disturbance or deposing of any King are unspeakable For wee never read of any King that either was disturbed expelled or killed but there succeeded infinite losses to that Kingdome and therefore Writers say that the death of Caesar was no benefit unto the Romans because it brought upon them farre greater calamities then ever they felt before as you may find in Appian those infinite miseries that succeeded in severall fields and battels which could never end untill the overthrow of Anthony by Augustus Caesar and when Nero perished it fell out with no good successe but the next yeare that followed after his death felt more Oppression and spilt more Bloud then was spilt in all those * His first Quinquennium was good nine yeares wherein he had so Tyrannically reigned So when the Athenians had expelled one Tyrant they brought in Thirty and when the Romans had abandoned their Kings they did not put away the tyrannie but changed the Tyrants for wicked Kings they chose more wicked Consuls which is nothing else but as the Proverbe goeth Antigononum effodere to go out of Gods blessing into the warme Sunne or rather to change a bad Master for a worse And this is contrary to the judgement of that ulcerated wretch in the fable A fable worth the observing who when the traveller saw him full of flies swarming in his sores and pitying his miseries would have swept them off prayed him to let them alone for that these being now well filled would suck the lesse but if these were gone more hungry flies would come which would most miserably suck his blood And so Histories tell us of many other Kings that by Heathens and rebellious subjects were for their injustice cruelty and tyrannie either expelled or murdered but very seldome or never with any publique benefit when the chiefest plotters of any rebellion do most chiefly ayme at their own private revenge or profit Why do many times rebell and why Yea many times those very Parasiticall Lords that have most perswaded the King to do things which he knew not to be illegall and made benefit of those Monopolies and exactions to their own advantage to fill their own purses and then upon either discontent with the King or to content the people and to escape their own due deserved punishment will be the chiefest upbraiders of their King the greatest sticklers of rebellion and the head leaders of all the disloyall Faction What fools then are the people upon the false pretence of publique good to take up armes to destroy themselves when this name of publique good is nothing else but a vain shadow to hide their private ends Or were it granted that it might happen for