of its Administration may be determined and limited and the Individual Person or Persons Family or Families who shall be the Subjects Recipients of governing Authority and Power may be designed and nominated by the Interposition and Consent of the whole Community over which they preside and rule yet their Authority and Power is originally and immediately from God alone 't is here as in the Case of Marriage the Authority and Power of the Man over the Woman is originally and immediately from God but the determination of the particular Person who shall be this or that Womans Husband proceeds from the free Election and Consent of the Woman and although by a Pre-contract she may limit the Exercise of his Authority and Power respectively to her Estate and Proprieties yet she annot bound his Matrimonial Authority and Power over her Person nor will his abuse hereof be a Forfeiture of it to her And the Supreme Authority and Power with which all Sovereign Princes and States are invested being originally and immediately from God â—â—one and not communicated and derived at all from the Community there can be no â—â—rfeiture made by any male-Administration to the Community be the Contracts reâ—â—ectively to its kind of existence and manner of its exercise what they will what as not gotten by Vertue is not loseable by Vice nor can it by any abuse whatever escheat to the Power and Disposal of the Community they cannot take â—â—ay that which they did not give 't was therefore well said by Tacitus Principi sumâ—um rerum arbitrium dii dederunt subditis obsequii gloria relicta est God hath invested the â—â—ince with Sovereign Power leaving to Subjects the Glory of Obedience To the same purpose is at of Salust impunè quid vis facere hoc est regem esse He that will do a thing without fear 〈◊〉 Punishment he acts the part of a King For as Mark Anthony urged in Herod's case If he 〈◊〉 accountable for what he hath done as a King he could not be a King And the Reason is â—â—ause the Supreme Power is only under God and to be accounted for to him alone And â—â—all endeavour agreeably hereunto to prove to you That the Doctrine of Non-Resistance of Supreme Powers is founded on immutable Grounds of Reason and Religion And when there is â—â—inty of the Bond of Obedience to the Higher Powers from the Principles of Reason and Religion from the Necessities of common Equity and Order and the Interest of Conscience and Christian Duty there must needs be a very strong Obligation which is the Case of Non-Resistance against the Higher Powers as by Law established among us Sect. 11. 1. I will endeavour to evince that the Allowance of Liberty to Subjects to resist the Sovereign Power is against the Principles of Common Reason and that in divers Particulars 1. 'T is against Common Reason That the Higher Powers should be resisted by armed Force of Inferiours and Subjects because the Allowance of such a Thing would render all setled Government impracticable and indeed impossible and consequently destroy all the Means devisable for Administring Public Justice securing Private and Public Rights and Properties and preserving the Peace and Prosperity of all Human Societies The Primary End of all Government is to procure and preserve the Peace of Human Societies and where this cannot be sufficiently provided for the Government is null'd and destroyed which is the Case under consideration For if it be allowable for Subjects in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever to resist the Sovereign Powers with armed Force then it follows that they have a right to judge in what cases 't is fit for them to submit and in what cases 't is fit and lawful for them to resist and then the Subjects are the Supream Judges of the Government and their Governours which undeniably implies that the Subjects are bound to Subjection only so long as they themselves think fit and consequently may claim and exercise Authority and Judicature over their Governors and pass Judgment upon them and their Government whensoever they shall think it needful or requisite so to do And being to judge for themselves 't is very probable they will judge favourably for themselves And whereever the Supremacy of Judgment resides there is the Sovereign Authority and Power wherefore if the Higher Powers may be judged by their Subjects they are not Supream but Subordinate and Rule meerly precariously even so long and no longer than their Superiour Judges will give them leave so to do And when Men are in effect Subject to no Authority and Power but that of their own Judgments and Wills a Foundation is laid for a General and Great Confusion Where all will be Sovereigns who shall be the Subjects Where all are to command there are none to obey Let us allow Men Liberty to judge for themselves when 't is fit they should be subject to the Higher Powers and when 't is not and they may at Pleasure dissolve any Government in the World There is therefore no one Law so beneficial to the Subject as this Fundamental Law of Sovereignity That 't is unresistible and unaccountable for its determinations and from which there is no appeal For though a Society may be Governed by Mutual Consent and Agreement yet let Sovereign Authority and Power be lodged in one or many Persons it must be absolute and uncontroulable or else those Differences and Controversies which arise in that Society can never be decided and finally determined And whatever unthinking Men may fancy the Security of the Public Government from the Resistance of its Subjects is the best Security of every Mans Liberty Property and Safety Sect. 12. Let the Public Government be once Invaded and Confronted by the Open Resistance and Defiance of its Subjects and we are unavoidably and immediately in a State of War and then no Man hath any thing he can call his own and all the Admistrations of Justice are stopped and in truth all Laws lay dead and are ineffective to the Purposes of Government Wherefore if we set aside all regard to Duty and Honesty and do but consider our own interest quiet and safety we shall find Submission to the worst Government more for the Ease and Security of the Subject than Rebellion and War Let any Man of Common Ingenuity and Sense consider if a State of War be not the most defenceless and deplorable condition in the World for in such a Case no Mans Private Interest can be secured against the Injuries and Violences of other Men and when a Man hath lost his Proprieties and Safety what hath he more to lose And yet this is the Case when Men endeavour to shake off Submission to the Higher Powers by a Forcible Resistance of them they pull down all those inclosures by which their own Quiet Propriety and Safety were defended and protected Sect. 13. Let the Men of Politicks who pretend very highly to a Zeal for the
the patient Deportments of Christian Subjects under their Tyrannical Governours when they have strength enough to resist them and can but will not for Conscience sake towards Christ Jesus as their Teacher and Leader Sect. 58. The Christians of the first and purest Ages were not such a fierce and military sort of Men so addicted to unpeaceable and seditious Factions riotous Tumults rebellious Insurrections and bloody Warrings against the Higher Powers as some called Christians and they which stile themselves the godly Party of them too are in our times For Three hundred and forty Years after Christ there cannot be an instance given of any number of Christians how injuriously soever dealt withal that ever made a forcible Resistance against the Higher Powers or were found in a Conspiracy to depose them though those they lived under were sometimes the worst of Men and bitterest Persecutors of the best Religion Origen tells Celsus who inveighed against Christianity it self from a pretence that Christians were no Friends to the Civil Powers that he could discover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no act of Sedition among them how much soever provoked by their Persecutors and that this peaceable and patient Submission to Sufferings for their Religion did not proceed from the want of strength to oppose their Persecutors but from Conscience of Obedience and Conformity to the Doctrine and Example of Christ is manifest from the Writings of the Fathers who lived in the first Ages of the Church Tertullian tells the Roman Emperor and Senate that if the Christians would act the part of open Enemies to them they did not want Numbers and Armies We have filled saith he your Cities Isles Castles Camps c. and though our Numbers were unequal yet for what War should we be unfit who can so readily lay down our lives if our Religion did not require us rather to dye than to draw our Swords to kill others and St. Cyprian Writing to the Proconsul of Asia acquaints him That though the Christians were very numerous yet they would not endeavour to revenge themselves against the unjust Violence of their Persecutors And Maximus the Emperor who was a great Persecutor of the Christian Profession in his Epistle to Sabinus recorded by Eusebius saith That almost all Men had left the Worship of the Roman Gods and joined themselves to the Christians And 't is evident that Julian the Emperor who was an Apostate from Christianity and used his Wit to the utmost to restore Paganism had an Army which mostly consisted of Christians who were subject to him not so much for fear of Wrath as for Conscience sake Sect. 59. And in truth If the Apostles did Command the first Christians to be subject to the Roman Higher Powers as ordained of God over them and not to resist them because in so doing they would resist the Ordinance of God and incur the Guilt of Damnation but to submit for the Lord's sake and that they must needs be subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake for so was the Will of God and yet allow them to take up Arms against them when they had strength enough to make their party good would undermine the Simplicity of the Gospel and by a crafty Pretence of Religion and Conscience carry on a politic Design to weaken the temporal Powers of the World and to advance their own Followers to greater advantages of Numbers and Strength and therefore such Insinuations of some Popish and Fanatick Authors are to be abhorred as defamatory to the Design of Christianity for such Collusion was far from their intention their plain meaning was that Christians ought to suffer quietly and patiently as Christ himself did without resistance for well-doing as became a Self-denying People to do who had learned a suffering Religion from a suffering Master and Saviour which required their Submission in all things to the Will of God and gave them no warranty from their Rulers abuse or Power to dispense with their Duties to their Rulers it being equally as unlawful for the Subject to exauctorate depose and usurp Power over his Sovereign as 't is for his Sovereign unjustly to punish him and exacteth their Obedience for Christ's sake to their Governours which being conscientiously performed is a well-doing that puts to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 2.15 That is doth silence such as pretend Exemptions and Priviledges against the Obligations and Interests of Obedience and such as accuse Christians as Enemies to Civil Government who when they cannot do what is commanded as they pretend will not suffer if they can resist what is inflicted So that the Practice of Passive Obedience is acting the part of a Christian and not the part of a Vassal or Slave or Enthusiast as some affect to speak and a Justification of the peaceable Design of the Gospel and a Vindication of the genuine Spirit of a Christian And hence I do infer Sect. 60. Then they that pretend Religion to excuse or justify themselves in traitorous Conspiracies and Rebellions blaspheme Religion and pervert it to quite contrary purposes than those it was designed for and it naturally and properly tends unto what ever Inferences and Conclusions seditious and ungovernable minded Men may make from the Evangelical Doctrine 't is in it self and the Design of the Author thereof subservient and plyable to no purposes destructive or prejudicial to the Security and Ends of Civil Government or of their Persons who have the Management and Administration thereof they therefore that apply that Passage in the Virgin Marys Song He hath shewed strength with his Arm he hath scattered the Proud in the Imagination of their heart He hath put down the Mighty from their seats and hath exalted them of low degree Luk. 1.51 52. to countenance and encourage themselves to renounce and reject a State of legal Subjection and Servitude as they term it and to assume the State of Empire and Government as if called thereunto by their Christian Profession and strengthen themselves therein from that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.21 22 23. Art thou called being a Servant care not for it but if thou mayest be made free use it rather for he that is called in the Lord is the Lord's Free-man likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's Servant Ye are bought with a Price be ye not the Servants of Men Do wrest the Scriptures and transfer them from a spiritual and heavenly Intendment to a carnal and diabolical One For by what Rule of Interpretation of Scripture do these Scriptures signify that by Christ the Civil Governments of the World are dissolved and Subjects and Servants are recovered to their natural Rights and Liberties as they speak and they are no longer under an Obligation to submit themselves to the tyrannical and oppressing Powers of the World but may deliver themselves by resistance as soon as they have strength enough for it because God sometimes magnifieth his
Subjection is refused two ways either by disobedience and acting contrary to the Laws and Edicts of the Higher Powers or else by using Strength and making a violent Opposition against them with armed Force Sect. 5. 1. We may resist and oppose our selves to the Higher Powers by disobedience and counteracting the Laws and Edicts thereof when we unwarrantably refuse Obedience to the Laws of the Higher Powers we break out of the Rank of Subjects and resist the Higher Powers for they that will not be commanded by the Higher Powers are not subject to them and when this is circumstanced with Stubborns the Disobedience is resolute and unreclaimable 't is not only Contempt but Defiance to Authority and they which resist the proper Effect of the Supreme Authority its Laws and Edicts resist the Supreme Authority it self And therefore they sin hainously against God who are not willingly obedient to the lawful Commands of the Higher Powers but counteract them in a Deportment contrary to them because herein they violate and disannul the Commission of God himself The Higher Powers have a Right granted to them from God himself to enact and impose Laws upon us if we therefore refuse Obedience to their Laws we usurp a Superior Authority to that of God himself for we take upon us to Cancel God's Grant to them and herein are Fighters against God as well as Resisters of the Powers which are of of God a Matter well deserving serious consideration Sect. 6. 2. We may resist and oppose our selves to the Higher Powers by force and violence when Subjects contend with Higher Powers by force either defend themselves against them with armed Power or else seek to depose them or to compel them to do though it be what they apprehend they ought to do this being a kind of judiciary act and which carries a vindicative Power with it 't is the most aggravated Resistance that can be made against the Higher Powers and the Resistance here especially condemned by the Apostle in my Text and that against which I shall chiefly direct my Discourse Sect. 7. 2. What the Apostle designs by Damnation 't is evident that by Damnation the Apostle intends some thing Minatory and Penal but what particular kind of punishment the Word immediately denoteth in this place is questioned by some learned Men 't is certain the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifieth in the Scriptures a present temporal Punishment from Man and sometimes a future eternal Punishment from God For my part I think with many others both sorts of Punishments are here intended because the Apostles Arguments against Resistance are taken from Considerations which look both ways Ye must needs be subject saith he v. 5. not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake that is not only for fear of punishment from the Higher Powers but also lest by offending God by who 's Authority the Higher Powers are set over you Conscience accuse you which binds to a Condemnation to eternal Death 'T is probable that the way of Rebellion will bring those that are in it to a Gibbet but 't is certain that without Repentance 't will bring them to Hell if they escape a shameful Death from the Higher Powers on Earth they shall not escape the Punishment of eternal Death from the God of Heaven that this is the Intendment of the Apostle seems evident to me For the Apostle having lain down this as a Fundamental Article of the Christian Faith That there is no Power but of God And from that Consideration strictly charged it as an indispensable Obligation upon every Soul to be subject thereunto which cannot be resisted without resisting the Ordinance of God himself he plainly enforceth this Duty with this threatning as the Sanction upon which it was established They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Now as the Threatnings of which the Mosaical Precepts were established did primarily respect corporeal and temporal Evils so the Threatnings on which the Christian Precepts are established do primarily respect spiritual and eternal Evils And the Apostle elsewhere expresly affirms That wheâ— Vengeance shall be taken on such as obey not the Gospel they shall be punished with everlasting Dâ—struction 2 Thes 1.8 9. By Damnation therefore in the Text we are to understand primarily a Condemnation to eternal Torments in Hell Fire but not exclusively of a Condemnation to those corporeal and temporal Punishments to which Rebels are expose by the Higher Powers Sect. 8. 3. The last thing to be expounded is what 't is for those that resist to receiâ—â— to themselves Damnation the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is variously translated sometiâ—â—â— 't is rendred acquirunt they procure to themselves Damnation this is the great Purchaâ—â—â— Rebels make the Wages they contend and fight for by resisting the Higher Powers is 〈◊〉 bring themselves into a State of Damnation and to make Hell sure to themselves othâ—â—â— render it by accipient they shall receive as our translation hath it that is as Men receâ—â— a painful an intollerable Burden to which punishment is frequently compared 2 Kings 9. â— Isa 23.1 When Subjects resist the Higher Powers they design to free and ease themselâ—â—â— of conceited Burthens and Grievances but the final issue and event of their Resistance 〈◊〉 Submission to an irresistible and insupportable load of Guilt and Misery and this they â—â—ceive to themselves as their proper Portion and Fruit of their own Doings for when they are utterly destroyed they reap nothing but what they have sown nothing is poured upon them but their own wickedness Jer. 14.16 and all the World hath cause to say that they have destroyed themselves and as Solomon speaks by provoking the Higher Powers to Wrath they sinn'd against their own Souls Prov. 20.2 became Executioners to themselves Having thus expounded the Scope and Intent of my Text I shall discourse two Things from it whereof the one is manifestly implied and the other plainly expressed 1. That Subjects must not resist the Higher Powers 2. That they which resist the Higher Powers bring themselves under the Guilt of eternal Damnation Sect. 9. 1. That Subjects must not no Subjects whatsoever may resist the Higher Powers let them be the worst that can be 'T is past all doubt That one Subject may resist the unjust force of another and Sovereign Princes and States may likewise resist the unjust Force Encroachments or Usurpations of other Sovereign Princes and States and the Subjects of one Sovereign Prince and State may in some cases resist the Sovereign Powers of another Kingdom and State but no Subjects of what Quality soever they are or whatever their Provocations be may warrantably resist with armed Force the Higher Powers that are over them whether considered as supreme or commissionated by them and subordinated to them Sect. 10. All the lawful Supreme and Sovereign Powers in the World are God's Officers and although the Specification of the Government and the manner
every body knows frequently patronize such hazardous Engagements and therefore no body is bound to believe such a Mans Profession where there is so great an odds in the perswasive Motives to War but when a Man prefers Submission before Rebellion his Innocency before his Safety patiently suffers the loss of Life and lays it down obedientially to his Governours as a Sacrifice to his God acquitting all possible earthly interests to safe-guard one spiritual one he makes such a Profession according to Human Judgment as is not capable of a reasonable Suspicion of Imposture and Hypocrisie And this is the middle Way of Subjection to which God directs us betwixt active Obedience and forcible Resistance When we cannot obey actively we can and ought to obey passively Though we cannot obey unlawful commands yet we can be quiet and peaceable yea we may do any thing to prevent and redress grievances except strive against our Governours with armed Force And why this in no case whatsoever is lawful I shall now shew you more particularly from the Principles of Religion Sect. 47.1 Because the higher Powers are of God ordained of him v. 1. and therefore whosoever resisteth them resisteth the Ordinance of God as 't is in the Words immediately preceding the Text. That Human Societies may be setled in peace and quietness God by his Ordinance and Constitution hath provided Government for them and though he hath not peremptorily appointed the particular Species or Form of Government nor by any special Revelation from Heaven immediately designed or nominated the individual Person or Persons who shall be invested with and exercise the Sovereign Authority and Power in every Community of Men as hath been formerly said yet that his appointment of Government might not be fruitless and in vain he hath lain an obligation on all Societies of Men to do such act or acts as shall appropriate unto some Person or Persons the Supremacy of Dominion and Rule and invest him or them with a Propriety and Peculiarity in that Station and Relation and the Person or Persons so entitled to the Sovereign Power may as truly be denominated God's Ordinance as if God by an immediate interposition had declared it so to be Be the Dominion Elective or Hereditary and Successive the Case is the same when once the Sovereign Power is regularly and legally determined and appropriated to one or more all that stand in the Relation of Subjects thereunto are to acknowledge and perform Subjection and Obedience as to God's Ordinance Hence the Supream Ruler is termed in v. 4. of this ch the Minister of God Because he partakes of God's Authority and Power and acts by his Commission in his stead and whoever is obliged to yield Subjection unto God is also obliged to yield Subjection unto him for Gods sake And answerably the Apostle tells us v. 5. that we must needs be subject for conscience sake Which only is obliged by Gods Law And consequently as every single Person seperately considered and the whole Body of the People collectively considered are subject unto God so to the Sovereign Power too and cannot resist the Sovereign Power but they must likewise resist God himself because the Power is given from the Lord and Sovereignty from the most High Wisd 6.3 't is the most High which ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will as Daniel speaks ch 4.25 who acknowledged to Belshazzar ch 5.18 that the most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar his Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honour So that the Concurrence of the People in any case to the making of a King hath only a Subserviency to the Designation of his Person and contributes nothing at all towards the Collation of his Power For there is no Power but of God And therefore by him only Authority immediately derived from him do all the Kings in the World Reign and Princes decree Justice who are Supream and Sovereign Kings and Princes Psal 8.15 when therefore 't is said that all the People made Saul King 1 Sam. 11.15 and anointed David King 2. Sam. 2.4 and made Solomon the Son of David King 1 Chron. 29.22 the Meaning is they made a Declaration that they consented and acknowledged that they were their Kings For they were all Kings before by the especial Appointment of God himself and could thereby derive no Authority or Power from the People only this voluntary acknowledgment rendred the Exercise of their Office the more grateful to themselves and the People Which may be as formerly intimated illustrated by the chusing of Mayors Sheriffs Stewards Bayliffs and other Officers in Corporate Towns and Cities where the Persons chosen receive no Office or Authority from the Electors but wholly derive it from the King's Charter So all the higher Powers are God's Ordinance and not the Peoples And therefore the higher Powers are dignified with God's own Name Ps 82.6 I have said ye are Gods Because they are his Vice-gerents and act in his Name and what they so do God doth by them and therefore 't is said He judgeth among the Gods Ps 82.1 and their Throne is called the Throne of the Lord 1 Chr. 29.22 And they are said to judge not for Man but for the Lord 2 Chr. 19.6 which is a convictive Evidence that the Supream Powers depend immediately upon God only for their Dignities and Authorities And hence by the Stile of our Laws the King being the Supream Power is Rex Dei gratia King by the Grace of God because he owes his Sovereign Dominion to God alone and is to be accountable for it only to him And the Statute of 16 Ric. 2. thus declares That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to no other And the King being God's immediate Substitute and exercising Dominion and Authority next and immediately under him as he that resisteth the King's Vice-Roy resisteth the King so he that resisteth the King resisteth the Ordinance of God Sect. 48. 2. Because such a Resistance is utterly inconsistent with that aweful reverence and observance the Laws of our Religion exact from us to the higher Powers We are as peremptorily commanded to fear the King as to fear the Lord Pr. 24.21 Fear the Lord and the King And what God hath joyned together we must not put asunder We must fear to displease the one as well as the other fear to displease the King because we fear to displease the Lord For God hath made this fear as properly due to the King as the most Legal Custom or Tribute which is paid to him Rom. 13.7 Render therefore to all their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour And he cannot be restrain'd with this Fear who Assaults his King with Force Elsewhere we are commanded to Honour
in such a State of Anarchy and Confusion For though the former like a Tempest may do considerable mischief here and there in some particular Cases and Instances the latter like a Deluge or epidemical Disease will carry down and destroy all that stand before it And thus it was determined by Fronto the Consul in Nerva's Reign Melius est sub his esse sub quibus nihil licet quam sub quibus omnia 't is better to be subject unto them under whom nothing is lawful than under them under whom all things are lawful That is the severest Restraints are more eligible than a boundless Liberty because 't is better and safer to be exposed to the danger of suffering than to the danger both of finning and suffering So that a rebellious Resistance breaking down and levelling the Boundaries of Government and Laws doth as it were let Hell loose upon us hearten and encourage all sorts of licentiousness and wickedness amongst us and bring us under a kind of present Damnation and fill us with Confusion and Terror round about Wherefore as one said of an ungrateful Man Ingratum dixi omnia dixi I have called him ungrateful and so have called him all that is naught So say I of a rebellious Man his guilt is so complicated that he is compounded of all that is naught Sect. 135. 3. The next thing to be considered is the Grounds upon which the Decree and Ordination of God to condemn rebellious Resisters of the Higher Powers to an everlasting destruction is founded O the Depth saith the Apostle Rom. 11.33 34. both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out for who hath known the Mind of the Lord or who hath been his Councellor intimating that it becomes us rather to admire than to enquire into the Reasons of his Purposes Ways and Actings For He giveth not account is not obliged to account of any of his matters as Job speaks Ch. 33.13 and therefore it will be no absurdity to resolve the Reason of the Matter under consideration principally into the Sovereign Council and Pleasure of God's Will So he hath done even because so it pleased him to do Mat. 11.25 and this is as firm a Ground as the Mind of Man can rest or acquiesce on For God alone knows what becomes him to do and we may be sure that all his Ordinations and Dispensations are such as well beseem his infinite perfection in Knowledge and Wisdom Goodness and Righteousness and therefore he doth not will not cannot decree or do any thing amiss Wherefore God having expresly declared that they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation we cannot be much concerned by searching to find out the particular Reasons of this divine Constitution Sect. 136. But since God is pleased from his incomprehensible Grace to condescend to an Appeal sometimes to the Reason of his People to judge of the Equity of his Dealings especially in Matters of a Penal Nature Isa 5.3 Mic. 6.3 I shall endeavour to discover to you the particular Reasons of this Decree and Ordination from that Revelation as I conceive God himself hath made thereof to us And they are these Sect. 137. 1. Because a rebellious Resistance of the Higher Powers is a protested Defiance to God's own Order and a practical Condemnation and Subversion of it This reason is plainly assigned in the Words immediately precedent to the Text They that resist resist the Ordinance of God and therefore they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation God that made and preserveth all the World is essentially the absolute Sovereign Lord thereof The great King over all the Earth Psal 47.2 the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Rev. 17.14 He is exalted as Head above all 2 Chr. 29.11 and he as the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will Dan. 4.25 and all Dominions serve and obey him Dan. 7.27 Act as his Ministers and Officers as 't is vers 4. and 6. of this Chapter Wherefore respectively unto God Obedience is the Duty and Work of all the World and as all that Authority and Power with which Men are invested to make and execute Laws is derived from him and to be administred in his Name so all that Subjection and Obedience which is exacted as due thereunto is from the Constitution of his Will 1 Pet. 2.15 and to be observed and performed for his sake vers 13. or as our Apostle in vers 5. of this Chapter for Conscience sake or from a Sense of that Duty we owe to the Sovereign Authority and Dominion of God himself Let the Ranks and Orders of Men be what they will Rulers or Ruled as their several Stations and Conditions are of God's appointment who will not have all to stand on the like Level but pulleth down some and setteth up others will have some to command and others to obey so their several Duties respectively to each other as well as to himself are of his prescription and injunction and consequently as Rulers cannot abuse their Authority and Power without violating the Trust committed by God to them and usurping upon the Authority and Power of God himself pretending to more than they partake of from him and have Commission to execute in his Name so neither can Subjects refuse Subjection and Obedience due to their Rulers without a Violation of a Trust from God and a confronting of his Authority and Power For the Authority and Power of their Rulers is the Authority and Power of God himself as hath formerly been proved and consequently a striving and contending against the Higher Powers is a fighting against God himself and they who presumptuously endeavour to destroy and trample on the Authority and Power of their Governours endeavour to destroy and trample on the Authority and Power of God himself and is not this a provoking of God to jealousy a Presumption that they are higher and stronger than he 1 Cor. 10.22 and doth such presumption deserve less than a State of Damnation 't is the Duty of all to submit unto God and to be contented yea well pleased with all that he requireth of them or imposeth on them and therefore it must needs be extreamly sinful and provoking to strive and fight against him Isa 45.9 Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker For when any man walketh contrary unto God God will also walk contrary unto him Lev. 26.23 24. and when the Contrariety of the Engagement and Action on the Sinners part is attended with the Perversness and Obstinacy of a rebellious Resistance the contrariety on God's part will be in fury vers 28. i. e. a contrariety to the utter-Destruction of the Rebel the fullest and compleatest Punishment Sect. 138. 2. Because a rebellious Resistance of the Higher Powers is a Sin of deliberate Choice inveterate Passion strong and confirmed Resolution a Conscience wasting Sin or in Tertullian's Words
conflicts within from the Turbulency of their own unruly and domineering Passions and Lusts have kindled coales in their own bosoms and are at odds with themselves cherish the Insurrections and Rebellions of their Passions and Lusts against the Sovereign Powers of Reason and Conscience then they are disposed to make quarrels oppositions disorders and tumults and confusions in that Community to which they are related For they which stubbornly resist and reject the Dominion Authority and Dictates of their own Reasons Judgments and Consciences they will never bear a due reverence and regard to the Dominion Authority and Edicts of others 'T is not evil usages from without so much as evil Principles from within which make Men make-bates and bontifieus Indeed the Tyrannies and Oppressions of Princes may occasion but exorbitant and rancorous Passions and Lusts are the prime efficient Causes of Seditions Mutinies and Rebellions against the higher Powers And what is the state of Men thus addicted and exercised The Apostle tells us that Hatred envyings variance strife Seditions are the manifest Works of the Flesh and they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20 21. Sect. 121. 4. A rebellious Resistance of the Sovereign Power proceeds from covetousness If Covetousness be the root of all Evil 1 Tim. 6.10 'T is the Root of this too A covetous Man is ever ready to catch what he can and if he might have his Will he would have the Possession and Power of all that is And though the impulses of covetousness are not so loud and clamorous so raging and furious as the motions of wrathful passions are yet they are more strong and uncontrolable and not less cruel and barbarous as the instances of Ahab and Judas evince For covetousness doth not only imply the Engagement of the lower and lighter Part of the Affections which are eager and violent for a Fit but also the deliberate and steady-bent of the Will which is the most imperious and self-determining faculty of the Soul And therefore he that will be rich runs on his Course without fear or wit 1 Tim. 6.19 and cares not what legal Establishments and Foundations he overturns and removes so he may obtain those Ends his greedy Appetite fastens on and pursues 'T is gain is his godliness and to serve his Interest he will tread down the Authority of God and Man like the Mire of the Streets And how doth God account of such a disposed Man He reckons him as an Idolater a most horrible and detestable Offender one that hath not any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Eph. 5.5 Col. 3.5 Gal. 5.20 21. Sect. 122. 2. Let us consider the sinful and pernicious Evils which are Concomitants with a rebellious Resistance of the higher Powers and we shall further discover the hainous and Damnable Nature thereof 1. Idleness is one Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels are some of those busie-bodies the Apostle speaks of 2 Thes 3.11 Who work not at all and are mischievous as well as useless Better in the Earth than on it For starting out of their proper Place they are a Burden to it Rebels are of that sort of Men of whom Seneca complained who spent their time either nihil agendo aut aliud agendo aut male agendo in doing nothing at all or nothing to the purpose of advantage or nothing but evil they never do what they should do And partaking with the Sodomites in their abundance of idleness Ezek. 16.49 they deserve to share with them in their measure of wrath and vengeance Sect. 123. 2. Neglect of Family duties is another concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels neither attend for the present a Provision for the Bodies or Souls of their Wives and Children or any other who have a dependance on them And hereby making themselves worse than Infidels 1 Tim. 5.8 't would be strange if they should not be in a state of Damnation Sect. 124. 3. Forsaking the solemn worshipping Assemblies of God's People is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels assemble themselves in Troops but not in the House of God Their Congregations are seperations from religious Assemblies Their exercises interruptions yea dissolutions of the holy Congregations of the Faithful When they meet the Shepherds are divided from their Flocks and their Flocks scatter'd and perhaps butcher'd and their Sanctuaries laid wast and made desolate And when Men like Cain go out from the Presence of the Lord wilfully excommunicate themselves from the ordinary and standing means of Salvation we have no reason to think that God will by a miraculous Act of Sovereign Grace deliver them from damnation Sect. 125. 4. Hypocrisie is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels will not seem to be as they are nor to do as they do but like the Spies the high Priests and Scribes sent to entrap Christ They fame themselves just Men Luk. 20.20 pretend they act by a lawful Authority in a just and weighty Cause for a good and necessary End and have set up their Banner in the Name of the Lord of Hosts Psal 20.5 and engaged not themselves herein till they saw Matters reduced to an undoing extremity and will use this last Remedy for the redress of public Grievances without prejudice to the Innocent or injury to any Man observing all along the direction of St. John the Baptist Luke 3.14 alas good Men they are for a Pacification without contending and if Matters in difference were fairly adjusted they would put off their Animosities with their Arms. Whereas their hearts are set upon mischief cover red Inclinations with a pale Face and under specious Pretences of defending and preserving the public Safety and Welfare creep into opportunities to hazard and destroy them And such Hypocrisies are so hateful unto God that he makes the evil Portion of Hypocrites the Standard of the severest punishments allotted to Sinners as if Hell were primarily designed for them Mat. 24.51 and our Saviour comparing the Priests and Elders to the Son in the Parable that said I go Sir but went not the Emblem of an Hypocrite tells them That Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before them Mat. 21.30 31. Sect. 126. 5. Lying Defamation is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels ever have will and do stretch their Mouths and shoot their Arrows even bitter words of detraction and reproach against the higher Powers Oh! said Absolom when his Head was filled with seditious and rebellious Projections and Designs That I were made Judge in the Land that every Men that hath any Suit or Cause might communto me and I would do him justice 2 Sam. 15.4 insinuating that justice was not so saithfully and seasonably so universally and impartially administred as it might and ought to be and should be were it in his Power A manifest endeavour to undermine the reputation of his Fathers Government in the Opinion of his Subjects and to