have an Historian or Advocate for the Cause of King James who thinks to be friend him by telling the World that so many of the chief of the Clergy for so long time together did preach Passive Obedience Now it is as clear as the day that there can be no exercise of this Duty nor ought there be any popular Exhortation to it but at such a time when there is a very ill Prince and a miserable People what then would our Author have does he design to publish an everlasting blot upon the memory of the late King James does he design to tell the World that he was resolved to do mischief to his People That nothing could correct or retain him That he would go on tho the Pulpits sounded out Passive Obedience and his People were taught that there was no hope of Justice or Equity from him and that they must think of suffering and dying rather than obey him This is severe it will furnish out a worse Character of King James than any of his Adversaries have yet given him it will justifie the Recession of his People from him and show to Posterity how it came to pass that so easily and suddenly he fell to the ground For who can read all these so many Pleas Advices Instructions Exhortations to Passive Obedience but he must reflect upon the Causes and Reasons of them and if he does so he will be forced to think that at that time wicked Counsels governed and lawless Violence prevailed and that the whole Nation was clouded with a dismal Appearance of Oppression Persecution and Tyranny For seeing that a Prince ruling by Law and with Justice cannot be put off with any thing less than Active Obedience and nothing can exercise the Passive Obedience of Subjects but vile and base and wicked Commands contrary to Law and Religion we must either blame those Preachers for amusing their Auditors with needless Thoughts of unjust Sufferings or we must blame the late King for giving too much cause for just and reasonable fears of them Now what can be said in his behalf to acquit him no Man has yet told us But our Historian has effectually vindicated the Preachers he every where commends them and their Writings this he tells us was well said that excellently that incomparably He likes their Doctrine and finds no fault in the timing of it and likely enough he had reason to believe the Doctrine as proper to the Time in which it was delivered as it was true in it self If so the late King is again deserted by this Historian as well as by the rest of his People and his Cause like himself falls to the ground for why must he do ill things and why must he load his People with dreads of worse Why did not all this noise about Passive Obedience awaken him Why did he not give stop to his Proceedings when his People owned so loudly their fears of Mischief Could he think it a small thing to make his People miserable or to be thought one that would do so All this was intimated by those Sermons and Tracts From thence he ought to have taken warning to desist and his Counsellors ought to have persuaded him to it for certainly popular Discourses about Passive Obedience are as instructive to a Prince to move him from designs of doing ill as they are to the People to engage them to be willing to suffer wrong From hence I am forced to blame our Historian for perpetuating the Memory of these Discourses it were for the honor of the late King that they were forgotten Those excellent Divines would never have revived past Actions or the grievous sad Thoughts which they had when they composed or delivered their excellent Arguments and Persuasions for Passive Obedience They could wish from their Souls that they never had occasion for them tho they are ready to morrow to write the same things upon the same grounds which with good reason they hope that they are not like to see as long as they live Why then does the Historian take pains to collect all these things together He can do no Service to the late King by it and he does not seem to design the Honor of the Preachers It is hard to guess his meaning but if he tempts out an ill Thought he must blame himself He gives us nothing else to think but that he might be one of the Adepti one of those who knew the Secret for in the late Times they tell us there was a Secret The Ministers of State they say who knew the Resolves of the Court to be harsh and severe made it their business to persuade Men to preach and talk up Passive Obedience that what could not be done by the Power of the King might be gained by the easie Submissions of the People This was Machiavel to purpose It is sad and lamentable that so excellent a Doctrine should be abused by such designs of naughty Men. If our Author was one of their Instruments and knew what he did he can neither excuse himself to God nor Man I will undertake for our excellent Divines whom he commends and I and all others must do the same that they were never thought so base as to be trusted with the Knowledge of such a pernicious Design They out of Honesty and Sincerity preached against Rebellion and persuaded Men rather to suffer than obey evil Commands but they would not for all the World that the innocent and conscientious should be cheated of their Lives and Fortunes by any Discourses of theirs Therefore when it was proper they preached up this Doctrine but when it was not they let it alone because they would not have the People to rebel nor would they give Encouragement to such as might be willing to oppress them in both these things they did their Duty both to the King and to the People It had been well if others would have done the same and spoke as plainly to the King as they did to the People But it was very ill done if done at all to persuade the King that the People of England were so subdued by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience grown so tame and easie that he might do what he would pull down and set up what Religion what Law he pleased It is certain that all the Preachers in the World could never persuade them to this for tho the People be Loyal and willing enough that the King should have his Dues yet they were never thought a Nation of Asses fit only to bear Burdens As they are not born Slaves and by the Constitution of the Nation ought not to be made Slaves so they have more Spirit and Wit than to suffer themselves to be cheated into Slavery Their Forefathers for many Ages have made a difference between the King and his Counsellors tho they would suffer the one yet they would not suffer the other and certainly the Men of this Age should not be thought so dull
as not to distinguish between Honoring the King and Obeying Father Petre and that tho all the Protestant Preachers had talked of nothing else but Passive Obedience For Preachers can do no more than tell the People their Duties and they must tell them all their Duties but if they stretch beyond and require more than they ought the People will find it out and will not part with their Rights for a Word tho it sound never so well But they did their Duty they preached Passive Obedience not Slavery they would have Men to be true to their King but not false to their God or false to their Country this was understood and their Doctrine was received kindly and practised faithfully Thence it came to pass that all Sorts and Orders of Men prepared themselves for Suffering some of all ranks actually did it for Nobles Judges Magistrates Gentlemen Citizens Burgesses every where took up the Cross and chose rather to Suffer than to Obey that is do what by Law and Reason and Conscience they ought not to do This was well But others went beyond these for tho they suffered much yet they seem at this day to be grieved that they did not suffer more They had so fixed their Thoughts upon the performance of this Duty that with a Scrupulosity not to be presidented they take no pleasure in their Deliverance because they have lost the opportunity of dying for their Religion to gratifie no very commendable Humor of their Prince These are very extraordinary effects of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and such as may be accepted but some Men will be satisfied with nothing for our Historian is angry and it is likely the Politicians of the late King his Jusuits and his Priests are angry too inasmuch as their Expectances are not answered they have not all which they designed and hoped for the Nation is not enslaved they have it not in their power to cast Church and State into a new Model and to give Laws to the People of England as well as they did to the late King This is cause enough to make Men angry for they have lost a rich Booty and such Advantages as they are never like to get again besides they have lost their Credit and Reputation so as never before happened to Men of their fineness in Sophistry and Contrivance and that by a despised clot pated People such as had no higher reach than to do their Duties to God and to their King Thus Righteousness God be blessed must sometimes triumph in this World Honesty and Probity have their Successes as well as Slight and Craft and may they always have so But tho the Jesuit had cause to be angry at this yet why should our Historian we know him not and cannot guess what Designs he had nor how his Plots are defeated but yet he is angry and as much as if he had lost a good Bishoprick or a good Deanery He gives us a History and sets a Preface before it and a Conclusion at the End of it the Head and the Tail are his he frowns and bites with the one and then he stings with the other He tells us that he finds Passive Obedience much in Writings little in Practice That we must acknowledge to our shame that this with other Doctrines are more illustrious in our Books than in our Lives Preface p. 2. But then in the seventh Page of his Preface he has a long sharp biting Character of certain Persons which is to be read one way and to be understood another for tho it seems to say no ill but to provide for the Acquittal of all yet it is so phrased that according to the modern Figure called Innuendo some Readers will find in it a very severe Reproof and others a mere Calumny All this comes from Anger and something worse and it shews that the design of our Historian was not to teach the Doctrine of the Church in this point what it was in it self how it ought to be stated by whom it had been owned and by what Arguments it had been proved and who had best cleared it from Objections Mistakes and Misapprehensions This had been a Work worthy of an Historian But this was none of our Author's Business they are the Writers upon this Subject that have offended him he would do them a mischief shoot at them in the dark and wound them in secret he would have the World to think that they and their Writings their Lives and their Books do not agree he desires nothing else but this and seems resolved to have his Point whether his Reader grant it or no. At the first Onset in his Preface he says it boldly and says it with Advantage That they ought to be ashamed it is so Then he gives us a large Catalogue of the Sayings of excellent Persons transcribed out of their Books but does not give us one Word of their Lives nor does he tell us whether all of them are alike guilty or only some nor does he give us any one Action of any one of their Lives to justifie his Reproof This is certainly a gross dull way of calumniating should another imitate it with that Indignation would he read and despise the Author For suppose another should take for his Theme Murder or Adultery or Drinking or Swearing or Lying and gather together out of his Writings and out of all his Friends his Acquaintance or Neighbors Writings and many others too all they have said against any one of them suppose it be Lying only and compose as large a History as this and then say in a stout scornful Preface That we must acknowledge to our shame that a sense of the Sin of Lying is more illustrious in our Books than in our Lives Such a thing as this might be done but when it is done it can tend to no other end but to beget an Opinion in the Readers that such and such Writers all of them were a pack of lying Knaves Now this were basely done our Author would think it so were it his own case Horace makes an instance of a like Treatment and with Indignation says of the Practice that it was meer Canker and Venom Hic nigrae succus Loliginis haec est Aerugo mera Ser. Lib. 1. Sat. 4. Had our Author annexed to his History the due Praises of those who had performed their Duties of which sort he might have found many amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and amongst the Commons too and then given us the Grounds upon which he judged that others failed in theirs he would have deserved Thanks for his Remarks as well as for his History for then his Book might have done good by exciting some to repent for what was past and others to be more cautious for the future But to give a stop to this sort of Discourse let Anger be gone and all unwarrantable Passion laid aside I will now endeavour fairly to consider our Author's Notion of
Preachers suffered in King James his Time all that he laid upon them and that with patience enough and since his Descrtion they have had no Temptation to speak either of Resistance or Non-resistance for the truth is that this is one of those sort of Doctrines which is in the Text but is not yet got into the Creed it may come into the Pulpit and may be kept out of it it will neither do King nor People good but when external Emergencies call for it In peaceable and quiet Times when Law and Justice flourish and there is little complaining either in House or Street if Preachers harangue upon Non-resistance they puzzle and confound the People and give 'em ill Work to find out possible Causes of Resistance and to examine the Grounds and Reasons for Non-resistance But when the People grow peevish and froward quarrelling and complaining against daring and designing upon the Government then the Doctrine of Non-resistance and S. Paul's Text for it may be brought forth to awe and scare them to terrifie and affrighten them to allay their heat and fury and to bring them to a more discreet Temper to the Exercise of Christian Patience and Modesty Upon this account many have much commended the Labors of the Church of England Divines in the late Times of Contrasts and Oppositions of Plottings and Counter-plottings because they did much good in supporting of the Government and for the restraining of the Madness of People and toward the prevention of Intestine Broils and Civil War But yet seeing the Preaching or not Preaching upon that Subject is matter of Prudence and depends upon times and seasons and many by considerations from whence it may either do good or harm it must be confess'd that Sermons of that sort were not every where received with the like favour and submission Because some feared that great Evil to the Kingdom and Nation might come from them inasmuch as they naturally tended not only to tame and subdue the People by allaying their zeal for their Civil Rights and Interests but likewise they might embolden evil Ministers and Counsellors to set the King upon the pernicious Project of making his advantage of the Subjects good nature and easiness toward the subverting of their Religion Laws Rights and the enslaving of the whole People For that reason many said that the Preachers were too warm and went beyond their boundaries for they ventured sometimes to treat upon matters that were only to be concerted betwixt the King and his People in a Parliament they did not think that the Magna Charta was against the Law of God tho it is not altogether the same with Samuel's Declaration 1 Sam. 8. They did not think that God would damn Men for defending and securing in all just and fair ways those Rights which they have received from their Forefathers by vertue of a National Constitution that has remained one and the same for some Hundreds of years They observed that there is but one Text declaring the damnation of Subjects resisting but there are Hundreds that threaten as highly Kings and Governors and Potentates who are injurious and oppressive of those that are under them Now if Charity govern Men in the choice of that Subject and it be designed to save the Souls of the People from damnation they wished that there were intermixed a little Charity toward the Souls of Kings that they too might be rescued from the damning sin of Oppression And it was thrown our with an under Correction that if Kings would venture against so many Texts upon Gods pardon to enlarge their Powers the People might as well venture against one to preserve their Rights Besides it was somewhat sharply and angrily said by the Men who had been intrusted in Parliaments and in the management of publick Affairs That seeing the Clergy challenged spiritual Powers by vertue of the Text and would not allow Kings or Parliaments to limit abridge or straiten their Rights They might well leave the temporal Power to the Text too which is the Law of the Land and the proper Interpreters of it which is a Parliament and not presume dogmatically to determine against the use of that which at sometimes is the onely natural and necessary means to obtain and secure to themselves Right and Justice Thus Men differed and spake their thoughts freely concerning the usefulness and effects of those Discourses especially as to the point of Prudence in the timing of them But yet whatever they said it is manifest that the Preachers designed no base or mean thing to betray their Countrey their Religion or the Laws to the arbitrary disposition of the King whilst they persuaded to Christian Patience and Submission because the same Men that preached up Non-resistance did with Courage and Spirit enough in proper time and place appear in the behalf of the Laws and the established Religion both against Popery and against all unjust usurpation of the peoples Rights and if at other times they did any thing toward the correcting a tumultuous and rebellious humor to prevent Civil War and Confusion the Nation has the benefit of their labours and all persons of Justice and Equity owe them due thanks But yet our Historian is as angry as if a Hare had crossed him in the way something has happened which he thought not of and who can help that He might have thought better They are in and perhaps he is out for that reason he will think that they have changed their Principles Alas this is gross mistake They did their duty in declaring to the people that they ought not to resist but they never became Warrantees to the late King that in case of Wrong and Injury they would not All the World knows that it is good for a Nation that the People should think that they ought not upon any pretence whatsoever resist their King so that the King does but at the same time remember that Oppression makes a wise Man mad and that an injured people always did and always will endeavour to recover or secure their Rights as well against their King as against their Neighbours He must have rare Skill in Language and Argument who can prevail upon a people to be willing to be Slaves when they may and ought to be free or to stand still and see their Goods taken from them merely because another has a mind to them If they must lose in one kind they expect to gain some other way for generally they are of Saint Peter's mind when he said to our Saviour Matth. 19. 27. We have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore The Question deserved an Answer and upon it our Saviour gave a most gracious promise of advantages in this World and in the other too Had we the like Promise in the Case of Submission or Non-resistance to Princes who will be Absolute and Arbitrary Divines would have a better Argument and might expect better effects of their
likely that I am for King William and think him as truly and as much King as ever King James was We do not stand in the same light we do not think of the same things and so we differ And had we lived in many other Periods of time it is very likely that we might have differed too Had we lived when Saul was made King over Israel I know not but he might have been against him and I for him At Saul's death it is probable that he might have been for Saul's Son Ishbosheth and I for David At David's death he might have been for Adonijah and I for Solomon For Adonijahs Appearances are very taking he was the eldest Son then living of King David he was a goodly Personage and his Fathers Darling 1 Kings 1 6. Yet my Solomon reigned and the People obeyed with a very good Conscience and that though he himself was somewhat suspitious of his Title for he did not trust to his Anointing by King David's order but got himself to be made King a second time 1 Chron. 29. 22. But to go on Let us pass over the instances of Rehoboam and Jeroboam of Zimri and Omri and many others who gave occasions to like difficulties Suppose we had lived in the days when Jehu took possession of the Kingdom of Israel it is very possible that he might have been for Joram or Joram's Son or some of the Family of Ahab and it is as possible that I might have been for Jehu he for a King according to the modern Phrase de jure and I for a King de jure and de facto too For he was a Conqueror tho' not of the People neither he nor they ever thought so yet of the King he was and so if the Cause of the War was just his Title was certainly good Some think he was a Rebel I am not concerned to dispute that Point but if he were he came to the Throne in the same way that Jeroboam did who was the first beginner of that Kingdom and so could transmit to his Successors no more Title to the Regal Dignity than he had himself Be that as it will let my Adversary be for Joram or Joram's Son and I for Jehu he has the Point of Loyalty to a late King on his side and I the Point of Loyalty to my God on my side both great Pleas. But at such a time mine seems at least to me to be the better because there is something in Religion that tyes me faster to my God than any thing else can tye another to his Prince Now if an Ahab or a Joram will not only be disloyal to their God but require me and use all the Tricks and Slights in the World to gain me and the rest of the People to a like Disloyalty if he will daringly and boldly trample upon the Religion established by Law if he will require absolute Obedience and Obedience without Reserve and make his Will the Law and me without Law or pretence to Law his Slave Why must I in such a Case as this be against my God and against my self for one who has the Name of King but has thrown away from him all that which should and all that which can speak him in the Exercise of true Kingly Power over Israel I cannot tell but some may think me in the wrong for declaring to be for God and Jehu against Baal and Joram but if I am I may be rectified by being informed that either now there is or ever was such a man who could perswade himself that any one true Servant of the God of Israel in those days did not heartily close in with Jehu and submit to his Government or that any Worshipper of Baal who was so in reality did do it and then there could be no Grumbletonians in those days except the Halters those that were betwixt God and Baal and could be very indifferent whether they worshipped the one or the other Thus we must see that the things which are have been of old there are difficulties in human Affairs and men have had great Grounds to differ about the Subject of Regal Power and so about the Object of Non-resistance and that not only in Israel but as might be easily shewn among the Assyrians Persians Romans Britains English and very much in this Nation since the Norman Conquest Now this difficulty may be an Argument to move Men not to be over-positive in determining that Damnation in the strict sense shall be the Portion either of the one or the other in case he acts sincerely according to his best knowledge whether he stands up for his King or his God whether he stands to Defend a former King in the Rights he had or another who takes possession upon the supposition of a Desertion or a Conquest Whether he be willing to have continued or to have been made a Slave and lose his civil Rights and the Exercise of the true Religion or whether he had rather to have been made free and so let easily into his Rights by the Assistance of another who might justly do it and if he would might have left 'em in full enjoyment of their folly and misery Thirdly As to the Punishment here denounced by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Damnation whether nothing less can or ought to be understood by it but downright Hell or Eternity of Torments Here many things ought to be well weighed before we determin positively in so great a point As 1. That all Men agree that there are different Senses of this Word in Scripture 2. Commentators do much differ and contend about the true meaning of it in this place And tho' Dr. Hammond be resolute in this assertion yet by the multitude of Objections which in his Notes he labours to answer he shews that his Opinion was neither general nor clear 3. That as the Commentators differ so the interpreters seem somewhat to differ too For what is in King James's Translation shall receive to themselves Damnation is in the Bishops Bible Translated in Queen Elizabeth's time shall receive to themselves Judgment Some may think that both these words signify the same But if they cast an Eye upon another Text Rom. 5. 16. they will hardly do it for these we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that is rendred in the Bishops Translation for the fault came unto Condemnation but in King James's it is for the Judgment was to Condemnation Fault or Judgment here is not the same with Damnation or Condemnation but that which leads to it And if we look into 1 Tim. 5. 12. it will be worthy of a little remark That tho' the Translators differ in the former places yet they intirely agree to render here the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Damnation but if you look into St. Chrysostome and most of the old Writers and Dr. Hammond himself you will find that Hell-punishment is by no means to be understood in that Text.
Seasonable Reflections On a late Pamphlet Entituled A HISTORY OF Passive Obedience Since the REFORMATION WHEREIN The true Notion of Passive Obedience is Settled and Secured from the Malicious Interpretations of ill-designing Men. Malè dum recitas incipit esse tuum Mart. LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Sign of the Peacock in St. Pauls-Church-Yard 1689-90 REFLECTIONS ON THE History of Passive Obedience WHAT must we do must we be always Reading and Writing Will Pens and Presses never give over It was pleasant of late to see Men generously undertake the Defence of the Protestant Religion and the Vindication of the despised and almost ruin'd Church of England They did it effectually and they undertook it by the best Principle for the honour of God and the safety of Religion for this they ventured their Credits their Fortunes their Lives they knew they had malitious Adversaries and curious and prying into Secrets and such as would and must discover who they were who durst speak against Error when supported by a King and maintained by all the Art and Sophistry of Priest or Jesuit Yet they wrote and certainly did well in writing for they have carried their cause and shewed to all the World upon what good grounds the Protestant Religion stands and how excellent is the Constitution of this Church of England Something must be owned to be due to their Labors for the clear understanding that the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation have of the Cheat and Mischief of Popery and it may be from thence many who have been unconcerned and indifferent for any Religion have taken courage to act heartily for Truth against Error and perhaps thereby they have help'd to give a stop to the designs of some very ill-minded Men. In all this it must be acknowledg'd that they have done very well as became Divines and Scholars Men of Religion and Men of Knowledg Why now may they not take their rest and quiet their Enemies are vanquished and fled away and one would think that there should be nothing left in this Nation but their Friends and Admirers But it is not so they have Enemies not open in the streets but sculking in Corners such as will not perhaps cannot or perhaps scorn to speak for Popery but they have Malice and can envy the success of a Conquerer throw dirt at him or give a secret wound to him These now come from under their bulks and lurking holes And since they will do no good resolve to do evil and will be at the pains and cost of writing and divulging of Tales or Stories or Histories to what purpose or what end they themselves dare not tell But we must guess that they have a design to blacken some very good Men. That is the reason as far as we can guess that a Book is lately sent abroad entitled The History of Passive Obedience since the Reformation Certainly never was any thing called History written to so little purpose so little instructive or pleasing Why must so much pains be taken in the perusal of Sermons popular Discourses and lesser Tracts to find out and report to the World what such and so many Men have said upon this Subject They have writ excellent things and those many but all of them it seems are insipid to the palate of this Searcher save their delicious touches of Passive Obedience This looks odly and seems to come from Spleen Melancholy or some Hypochondriacal Affection for at this time of the day we have no need of Passive Obedience or any Discourses about it God has delivered us from our dangers and the dismal miseries which hung over our heads he has given us a Deliverer an excellent Prince under whom our Laws our Rights our Fortunes our Lives our Religion are all secure and ascertained to us we doubt not to have Justice and all that honestly our hearts can wish He gives us Parliaments and leaves them to their Freedom he sets over us upright Judges and allows us to have honest Juries He will not be any other sort of King than what the Constitution of this Nation requires who is one that can do no wrong And if he neither will nor can do wrong but lets the Affairs and Interests of his People be conducted in the methods of Justice and Righteousness here can be no suffering but for evil deeds and as evil doers Here can be no hopes of the Crowns of Martyrs and no use at all of Passive Obedience Why then does our Author drudg and mâ—yl tire himself and tire us that we may have before our Eyes a whole History of Passive Obedience He knows the subject is sad and melancholick grievous to flesh and bloud and but just tolerable to Reason fortified with the best Religion it is the last resort of the wretched and perhaps the heaviest burden that ever God laid upon Men. It is a Duty we grant it but such a one as cannot always be practised nor ought it at all times to be discoursed of because it carries fire in its tail that which may heat and inflame the angry and froward The talking of this can never be seasonable but when it is necessary it is to come out as Mahomets Banner does to serve a turn when all things else fail As long as we can serve God and Man too there is no use of Passive Obedience And as long as there are fair hopes that our duties may not clash one against the other it is not good to move People to prepare themselves for Sufferings As long as we can obey we must obey and as long as we obey we shall not suffer But if a Prince will command things unjust unreasonable against Law against Conscience against Religion we can no longer obey him because we must obey God and there we are under a calamity most deplorable that we must suffer by the rage and fury of Man because we do our duty to God At such a time as this Passive Obedience becomes necessary it ought to be practised and it ought to be preached for Men must know that it is their duty rather to suffer than to obey and they must resolve within themselves so to do Thus S. Irenaeus S. Cyprian and S. Augustine and all the chief Bishops of the Primitive Church taught their people And to the lasting honour of the Church of England her Divines have done the same as our laborious Historian has shewn beyond contradiction or doubt this was well done but why are we told all this Here we must stop awhile and lament the misfortunes of the late King James Certainly never had any Prince worse Counsellors before his Desertion nor ever had any worse Advocates since His Counsellors persuaded him to go on in ill Designs because the Preachers taught the People the duty of Passive Obedience that is that he might do any ill thing because the People out of Conscience to God were moved to be willing to suffer And here we
pardon and so may very well pardon their King too because as he hopes better from them they may hope for better from him The common Offices which Charity requires from one private Christian to another are certainly as well due to Kings Subjects must look upon themselves under Obligation to suffer long and to be kind not to behave themselves unseemly not to seek their own not to be easily provoked not to think evil to bear all things to believe all things to hope all things If these Duties were but well discharged towards Princes all the rest that can be truly comprehended under the name of Passive Obedience would be much more easie Let Subjects do these sincerely and heartily and stop a little and think they will soon find that they must yield more and give greater allowances to Princes than to fellow-subjects because they are higher Powers they are ordained of God they bear the Sword they are to execute wrath upon them that do evil and they are to give Praise to them that do good These things are of high consideration and they should beget in the minds of People a great Awe and Veneration for the Persons of Princes for infinite are the Advantages that every single Man receives from the Administration of Justice and the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments What if Praise and Wrath sometimes mistake their way and the first flies to the evil and the latter to the good This is no more than what God 's own Thunder does as far as we can understand The best Marks man may sometimes miss and the worst hit the Mark. When we undertake to vindicate God's Providence we are forced to bring in extrinsick Pleas and when we have done all we confess that we do not understand the reason of Events but we believe that all is well because all comes from God If we did but use a little of like Submission when we examine the Actions of Princes in many Cases we may be content to say that we do not understand thereby we shall shew not only a Reverence to them but a Reverence to God too they are but Men and may oft fail and are always fallible they do mistake but the cause of their Mistakes are mostly from Subjects these design and contrive one against another and misrepresent and the Prince hears from them and sees by them and the Law provides Punishments for those Misrepresenters and acquits the Prince because it seems impossible that one Man should find out such a number of honest and good Men to supply all the Trusts which he is to provide for and never be cheated with one Knave therefore if such a one will crowd in the Prince is abused and it cannot be help'd but the Knave is to be punished and the Prince excused from blame Besides The Work and Business of Princes is the hardest and most difficult that any sort of Men upon Earth have because they have so many to order and so many to defend so many to reward and so many to punish so many that expect from them and so many that must be disappointed in their Expectations so many to deal withal that are false and base and so many that are dull and sluggish so many Knaves and so many Fools Upon these Accounts and many others innumerable Princes ought to have all Favour and all reasonable Allowances in Miscarriages all fair Abatements for Mistakes and Errors in the choice of Ministers and Instruments that are to serve the Interests of the Commonweal For it is certain that all the Laws Rules and Methods of conducting publick Affairs which the Wisdom of Ancestors for thousands of Years have found out will not answer all the Behoofs of a Kingdom Old Rules are oft laid aside other Expedients found out and new Laws made All the Prudence and all the Wisdom in every Age when best imployed is little enough to keep Government steddy and the People in good order to repress the Outrages of the Factious at home and give stop to the Contrivances of ambitious Enemies abroad Princes therefore are to be supported defended excused pleaded for as long as any plausible Pleas can be made for them it is not enough that they are not taxed censured reproached calumniated blackened but there is great reason that they should be gently treated kindly dealt withal the best Construction and the fairest Interpretation is to be put upon theâ—â— Actions Law makes the Persons of Kings sacred and their Actions are not to be examined without great Respect and Veneration If Subjects suffer not altogether according to Rule loss of Goods of Honors of Powers they may and ought to bear it patiently as long as they see any thing like Reason for it if they can but think that the Good of a Nation requires it that the Necessities of humane Affairs will have it or that their Sins against God call for it they do well to indulge themselves in all such meek and humbling Thoughts thereby they will really practise two great Duties of Fearing God and honoring their King Thereby they shew their Abhorrence of Plots and Conspiracies of the Counsels of the Factious and Seditious that they have no part with those who would overturn Kingdoms and States Princes and People Religion and Laws to greaten themselves to advance Projects and Devices Tricks and Humors of their own They shew that they are good Men whilst they submit their private Concerns to the publick Good and they shew themselves to be good Subjects seeing they in reverence to their Prince bear all that which in reason can be thought tolerable They that do this do a great Duty a thing very commendable in it self it is that which God requires all that which the Interests of Princes can need and as much as the Good of a Kingdom can allow The excellent Divines of the Church of England have endeavoured with all Care and Attention to ingraft this upon the Hearts and Minds of their Auditors and they have had extraordinary effects of their Labors for if all things be fairly considered since the beginning of K. James's Reign it may perhaps be found that no Nation in the World did ever deport themselves with greater Submission Resignation and hearty Obedience toward a Prince than this has done View the Actions of his Parliament of the Nobility Gentry chief Burghers reflect upon their Fears and Jealousies and let him that can challenge them for the least provoking Action or neglect of their Duty until all things tended to confound him and them too about the time of the fatal Desertion For what could the late King wish what could he desire Would he be great and powerful formidable to Enemies abroad or Enemies at home He had all things at Pleasure his Parliament gave him Monies beyond Example largely his Nobility raised him Forces the Commonalty readily offered their Lives to serve him he had Hands and Hearts and Purses of all Orders of Men at his Command
each strove to outvy the other in Loyalty and Dutifulness He had the best opportunity that ever Man had to be great if he could have been contented to have been King of England or would have considered that he was a King of Englishmen Why should he think his People to be Fools or Rascals that they would part with their Laws or Religion for an Humor merely because he thought that they might be as well without them Their Forefathers had for many Ages past laboured hard to get their Laws fixed fairly and evenly betwixt Prince and People for the good of both And their Religion at the Reformation had singular Advantages to be cleansed from all the Corruptions which Folly and Vanity had brought upon other Churches and the Professors of it have in all Times since been as industrious and curious to find out and as free and impartial to discover any thing that looked like Mistake or Error in the first Settlement as ever Men were We have all that Christ and his Apostles taught all that the Primitive Fathers recommended as Christian Doctrine We can part with nothing as the Papists own because all we profess is pure and simple Christianity and if we would take in what they have superadded we must submit to a most heavy Burden of gross Cheats and Errors But yet the late King would try he would make the Experiment whether we would be willing to part with our Laws and our Religion he would use his Art and Policy to get them from us and he has had the unhappy Fate of Projectors Upon this Account our Historian is not satisfied with what we have done or suffered He thinks himself concerned to lay before us so many Sayings of our eminent Divines on purpose to convince us that we have not yet fulfilled all the Measures of a Passive Obedience he would have it thought that we have apostatised from the Doctrine of this Church or as he says that this Doctrine is more illustrious 〈◊〉 our Books than in our Lives The Truth is we are not hanged the Northern Heresie is not yet extirpated we are not put into the condition of French Refugees that we should be forced to leave our Goods and fly from our Country to save out Lives Our Church is preserved and we are delivered from the Rage and Fury of petulant Enemies We bless God for this If he be grieved let him find out that Fool who is willing to be hanged to gratifie his Humor with a scurvy Sight or to put him into a better Mood Neither can God nor Man please some Persons Passive Obedience is a Duty but it is no further a Duty than God hath made it to be so it is large enough of it self it will not endure to be put upon the Tenters if you stretch it never so little you will make that which is good in it self to be stark naught it is a Vertue as long as it stands upon its own grounds if it steps beyond those it is no longer a Vertue but a Fury We must Obey we confess and submit to Suffering as far as God and Reason call for it as far as publick Good and the Constitution of the Government requires it But must we not only submit but court Suffering must we expose our selves to it run upon it make it our care and business to find it A certain Divine has said and Hand in Margin directs us to note it That Obedience we must pay either active or passive if we can't do one we must the other But it was not his Mind that we should pay Sufferings just as we do Money go at a certain Time and Place and tender it and then be sure to give good Coin and full Tale. We may not pay we may escape we may get away from mischief our Savior has given us leave when they persecute uâ— in one City to 〈◊〉 into another Can any Man be so barbarous as to blame the French Refugees for following that Rule of our Saviour They have fled out of the Dominions of their Prince and saved their Lives and if they could they would have saved their Fortunes â—oo and not paid him one Farthing of that Passive Obedience Do they sin in this Are they disobedient for this Men submit to the Outrages of a Prince and so they do to a Fever or the Plague and tho they submit to God's Providence under those Calamities yet they use all fit and proper means to lessen to abate them and if possible to be recovered from them In the utmost Extremities of Subjects and highest Insults of Princes against Religion and Right many things may and ought to be done 1. They may make their Defences and plead their Causes Thus did S. Peter and thus did S. Paul and thus did the Primitive Fathers when they could be heard and when they could not they published their Apologies and made the People Judges between their Prince and them by disclosing the merits of their Cause to all the World Our Savior himself encouraged them to this by promising to give them a Mouth and Wisdom which all their Adversaries could not gainsay He promised them too the best Advocate that can be the Holy Spirit to speak in them and for them and that too when Rulers and Governors Kings and Princes should appear against them Matt. x. 18. 20. Ye shall be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake Take no thought what ye shall speak for it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father Our Reverend Bishops when of late they were brought before Judges I think for Christ's sake and the Gospel's sake they did not wholly abandon themselves to the Will of their Prince nor so act as if they thought it Duty forthwith either to do or to submit either to pay him Active or Passive Obedience for when they could not do the first they did what they could to avoid the second They stood upon the Defence and used the best Mouths and best Wisdoms the best Pleaders and Advocates in the Nation to justifie their Actions to clear up their Innocence And tho that Vindication of themselves did more affect the Interests of the late King than if they had raised up Arms against him yet do I not hear that any one of them has repented of it nor do I see cause why he should 2. But then further they may pray to God to find a way for their Deliverance All grant that Preces Lachrymae Prayers and Tears are Weapons which the Christian always may and upon all occasions ought to use but yet the Stretchers of this Doctrine ere they are aware seem to extort these from us for if it be our Duty to give unto our Prince either so much in Active Obedience or in lieu of that so much as is equivalent in his Opinion of Passive we cannot pray to God for deliverance because we cannot pray to God to free us from giving to our Prince his
Rights or to deliver us from doing our Duties 3. We may accept of deliverance and that in ways extraordinary without making the strictest examination of all the niceties doubts scruples which may occur in the case Thus certainly St. Peter did in that remarkable action related Acts 12. He left his Chains his Goal his Guards and followed his Deliverer tho he had all and many more causes for scruple than those which now adays give so much trouble and seem so insuperable For First He was committed to Prison by his King upon that account he might have thought it his Duty to obey in all things lawful and patiently to submit in the rest or else according to the other way of expressing it That what he could not give to his Prince in Active obedience he ought to make up in the Passive Secondly His King went in the way of Justice and designed to bring him to a Tryal Upon that he might have thought that a secret withdrawing of himself would disparage his Cause and in the Opinion of others speak him guilty Thirdly His King acted in behalf of the established Law and Religion Josephus tells us he was one who had a great zeal for the Jewish Constitution Polity and Worship Upon that account St. Peter might think that his King acted from Conscience according to his Duty in prosecuting of him and therefore he was bound at the command of his King to declare plainly and openly upon what grounds he a private person undertook to draw people off from the settlement and a long and most legally established Worship to a new one especially he could not but see what himself taught 1 Pet. 3. 15. That it is the Duty of every Christian to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in him Fourthly The Case of his Guards of the Keepers of the Prison-gates was most deplorable he could not but see that his escape would be charged and revenged upon them upon that he might think that he ought not to do evil that good may come of it to save his own life he ought not to give cause and reason for executing of so many innocent Men. Fifthly There is another thing which though much less yet may give matter of scruple for what will not that in this sudden flight it is not likely that he should pay his Jaylor for Fees or Diet. Upon this account he might think that his Honesty would be questioned and he would be accused of doing wrong and defrauding another of his dues and that other Christians who should afterwards be committed would suffer hardship and ill usage for his sake and therefore he had better stay where he was and give his Jaylor and his Prince and the Law all they could require and take from him and so pay down a compleat Passive Obedience in full measure and tale by dying to gratifie his Prince's humor and expect the Reward of his Action from God This he might have thought but he did not for he followed his Deliverer out of the Prison and took care to make good his deliverance by absconding for near five years after as Computers reckon it Had he been under those strait boundaries of Conscience in this case which others think they are Had he had their Rules of Duty could he have seen it to be his Duty to stay in Prison and suffer according to the will of his King he could not have followed his Deliverer though he had been an Angel Gal. 1. 8. and he could never have prevailed upon himself to have believed that an Angel of God would have moved him to act contrary to his Duty He accepted of deliverance and the whole Church that then was blessed God for it and in like cases so may and ought others to do and that without penetrating into all the grounds of nicety and scruple which Men seldom do but when they design to seem extraordinary and then usually they refine upon Morality and set down Rules of Duty which neither Humane Nature can bear nor Christianity requires and for the most part they are against the good of Societies and do alike mischief to Kings as to Subjects Seeing then we are not by Gods Law so abandoned to the will and humor of a Man though he be our King but that when he proceeds in Methods of doing wrong and injury of ruling by Power against Law we may flee from him we may plead our Cause and Right against him we may pray to God to give a stop to him and we may accept of deliverance from him We must say that the modern Doctrine of Passive Obedience is stretched beyond its bounds for we are not obliged to make it our business to give and pay him that which he has no right to take we are not obliged to put our selves into his way and give him opportunity to cut our throats We are not obliged not to move others to intercede for us and if they can with justice to defend and preserve us we are not obliged to refuse a deliverance if it comes to us But if Force prevails and we are to be knock'd down by Violence against Right and Justice we must take care to fall as decently as we can submitting to God's Providence and giving all respects to our King as far as our Case will allow if our Calamity comes from him For this will bring credit to our Memories and to our Religion and may do good to others who shall be in our condition by appeasing of wrath and displeasure how unjustly soever conceived against them or us I will end this Discourse with one Remark upon the Case of Isaac He was a noble instance of a very extraordinary Obedience he submitted entirely to the Will of his Father and of his King for Abraham was both to him but yet the Praise of that wondrous Action related Gen. 22. falls to the Father and not to the Son Much is said of Abraham's Faith and little of Isaac's Obedience whatever other Reasons there are for it one is very obvious and plain That it might not be a President from whence Kings might measure their Rights and Subjects their Duties So much of Obedience Active and Passive The next thing to be treated of is the Doctrine of Non-resistance This our Historian tells us has been avowed by the Church of England ever since the Reformation Preachers and Writers have declared for it and that with a great deal of warmth and much advantage especially in latter days Upon this Account he would have it thought That Men have swerved from their Principles and that this Doctrine as well as the other is more illustrious in Writings than in Lives Now this Censure I challenge to be very hard and unreasonable because it does not appear that those Men who preached up Non-resistance before have ever preached for Resistance since nor have they who persuaded others to Non-resistance resisted themselves The