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A48102
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A Letter from Winchester, in answer to his lordship's time-serving query whether passive obedience is only a bugbear, and fit for fools, or a Christian duty?
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1681
(1681)
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Wing L1548; ESTC R16321
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5,304
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4
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Fortitude joyned with Meekness to dare to endure all things even Death it self rather than do mischief unless the fear of Eternal Misery be Cowardise But some will say that passive Obedience is but a Bugbear and fit for Fools Char. Pop. Suc. fo 24. and the defence of it an effect of Ignorance which brings the reproach home to the very person as well as to the Doctrines of our Blessed Saviour or that such passive Piety was more requisite in former times when God's Design was to convert the World by suffering not subduing when the Seeds of Religion must be watered with the Bloud of Martyrs than now in these purer times of Reformation Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae Yet we see Calvin advises us not to fight for Righteousness Si ab impio sacrilego principe vexamur ob pietatem subeat primum delictorum nostrorum recordatio quae talibus haud dubiè Domini flagellis castigantur Inde humilitas impatientiam nostram fraenavit Calv. Iust l. 4. c. 20. Art 29. Succurrat deinde haec cogitatio non nostrum esse hujusmodi malis mederi hoc tantum esse reliquum ut Domini opem imploremus cujus in manu sunt regum corda regnorum inclinationes If we be persecuted for Godllness by an Impious and Sacrilegious Prince let us first of all remember our Sins which no doubt are corrected by God with Scourges this will bridle our Impatience with humility Then let us entertain this thought that 't is not our part to heal such distempers that this is our only remedy to appeal to God's assistance in whose hand are the Hearts of Kings and the Inclinations of Kingdoms And the same Calvin in another place tells us the Prophet Jeremiah clearly resolves this Question Insignis est memorabilis apud Jeremiam locus Calv. Inst Iib. 4. quem tamet si prolixiorem ideo non pigebit referre quia totam hanc questionem clarissimè definit The words of the Prophet follow Jer. 27.6 8 9 12. viz. I have given all these Lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon And it shall come to pass that the Nation and Kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and that will not put their Neck under the Yoke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the Sword and with the Famine and with the Pestilence until I have consumed the Land Therefore hearken not ye unto your Prophets nor to your Diviners and which speak unto you saying Ye shall not serve the King of Babylon c Upon which place says Calvin Videmus quantâ obedientiâ Dominus tetrum illum ferocemq Calv. Inst l. 4. c. 20. Art 27. Tyrannum coli voluerit non aliâ ratione nisi qui regnum obtinebat We see what obedience the Lord will have given to this wicked and fierce Tyrant for no other reason but because he was a King And Beza says as much Epist 23. ad Peregri Eccl. in Aug. fratres Illud solis praecibus patientiâ sanari potest The remedy against this Poyson is Prayer not Vengeance We must be subject for conscience-sake In a word If it be lawful in no case to retaliate mischief If in all cases it be virtuous to suffer and the more hard the thing the more noble the virtue there is no difficulty in the point as to the matter of duty the Quarrel is only betwixt Duty and Flesh and Bloud When we say 't is an hard case we cannot intend that 't is hard for a Christian to find his duty if he dares do well but rather 't is an hard duty to endure Evil. Our Blessed Saviour had either a Power of force enough to resist and so prevent his Enemies or he had not No Man will be so Impudently wicked as to deny the first or affirm the latter It follows then that he submitted to the Death of the Cross either because he deserved to Die or else because he would not resist the Authority of those that put him to Death But he that knew no Sin deserved no Punishment and when he then Suffers it is on the score of passive Obedience Hence it is Evident that this sort of passive Piety is no Chimaera but a necessary duty to be practised by such as dare imitate the example of the Lamb of God The denyal of this Doctrine renders Christ's Passion and his Holy Gospel light and frivolous meer Enthusiasme and Imposture And although our Saviour did suffer for the Sins of Man-kind and it was necessary that he should die yet he himself deserved no Punishment And tho' the Romane Authority had power of his Life to which he submitted Yet that cannot excuse the sentence of his Judge from being rigid and unjust Every Majestrate that dares Pronounce an unjust Judgment must certainly be accountable to the All-righteous Judge But we must leave our Innocence to be revenged till then and in the mean time In all things submit our selves to our Superiors for the Lords sake And lastly if we should lay aside the duty Argumentum ab inconvenienti may prevail for it is much better for the people to suffer a great deal of Cruelty than to rise up in Arms and overthrow the Government I remember Livy's Nec morbum ferre possumus Of which the Promoters and Prosecutors are deeply Guilty nec remedium Never yet was any Rebellion free from the guilt of powring out a great deal of Innocent Bloud besides the many mighty Injuries and Oppressions that must inevitably fall upon the heads of a great number of men So that we had much better with patience suffer the present Calamities than endure worse and bring by our means much worse upon others closing with the wholsom advice of Tacitus Annal 12. Ferenda Regum ingenia neque usui esse crebras mutationes vitia erunt donec homines sedneque hac continua meliorum interventu pensantur And now my Lord your sufferings have been highly eminent and notorious to the whole World You suffered your self to be transported by the Zeal of Fanaticism to raise Arms against our late Martyr'd Sovereign and afterwards as far as in you lay you did strangely suffer the King's Head to be cut off and then with meekness you did suffer the deserved reproaches of the People for that most abominable Fact You suffered your self to be loaden with heavy burdens of Places of Trust and Confidence to that Cruel and Bloudy Tyrant Oliver You suffered your self even actively to be concerned with those Rebels in rooting up the Monarchy and in imposing the worst of Cruelties on the King's Party In a word your Sufferings of the late Times after this rate are matchless and innumerable You suffered your self when you could not helpt it and for the sake of VARIETY your Lordships Motto to be a little concerned in the Kings Restauration you then soon suffered your self by the contrivances of a cursed Hypocrisie to be thrust into the Kings favour and who so great as your little Lordship you suffered your self after all to be ungrateful and herein you suffered your self to be cryed out against as the greatest Villain upon the face of the Earth You unluckily suffered your self to advise his Majesty to shut up the Exchequer to break the Triple League To divide the Fleet c. You suffered your self to be blowed upon by the stinking breath of the Rabble which swelled you into a Popularity you have likewise suffered your self to be Poysoned by the Venom of Hellish Plots and you now Vomit forth nothing but Devils and Hell and Damnation Sedition in Speeches and Treason in Tricks and Devices Amidst all these Notorious instances of your Lordships passive Patience there is none to be reckoned of more note than this that you have hitherto suffered as t is verily believed much against your own Inclinations this King to wear his Crown and Royal Head Notwithstanding they talk of 60000 Men ready to force the King to coruply with his Parliament or else to bring him to the Block And in many other things of the greatest moment you have suffered in these times Which when time shall discover if your Lordship should suffer your Head to be Chopt off O! the cryes of the PARTY Voe nobis Infamis LONDON Printed for ALLEN BANKS 1681.
A LETTER FROM WINCHESTER In Answer to his Lordship's time-serving Query Whether Passive Obedience is only a Bugbear and fit for Fools or a Christian Duty Printed by the Command of the Noble Peer Praestat per virtutem mori quam per dedious vivere Sen. THis Query was delivered to me by the hands of honest Elk your Lordships Secretary and it will not be amiss in the handling of this Question to premise the worth and beginning of Monarchy which I conceive is as ancient as Time it self for the Obedience which all Subjects at this day yield to Kings is no more than the yielding of that duty which is due to the Supreme Fatherhood Adam the first Father had not only simply Power but Power Monarchical as he was a Father immediately from God for by the divine appointment as soon as he was created he was Monarch of the World though he had no Subjects And although there could not be actual Government until there were Subjects yet by the right of Nature it was Adam's due to be Supreme or Governour over all his Posterity though not in act yet at least in habit he was a King from his Creation And none doubt in the state of Innocency but that Adam had been Governour of all his Children for the Integrity or Excellency of the Subjects doth not take away the Order or Eminency of the Governour And although as long as men continued their state of Innocence they might not need the direction of Adam in those things which were necessarily and morally to be done yet in matters purely indifferent that depended meerly on their own free wills they might be directed by the Power of Adam's Command Eve was subject to Adam before he sinned and the Angels who are of a pure nature are subject to God For the Dignity of Monarchy these are the words of the Almighty By Me Kings Reign c. And again a Ec. 8.4 Where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what dost thou And holy Job put this Query b Job 34.8 Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked much less to expose them to violence But this Command c 1 Ch. 16.22 Touch not mine Annointed being uttered by the Majesty of Heaven renders the Persons of Princes Sacred and puts a Guard upon them which to violate though in our own defence is to proclaim open War against God himself by the breach of his Divine Command And as to the Power of Kings De Benefic lib. 7. c. 4. Ad Scapul c. 2. Seneca tells us Ad Reges potestas omnium pertinet ad singulos proprietas And Tertullian tells us Colimus Imperatorum sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi expedit ut Hominem à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem Hoc ipse volet sic enim omnibus major est dum solo vero Deo minor est Kings are only in the power of God from whom they are second after whom first before and above all others And our late Bishop of Lincoln in his excellent Discourse of Popery p. 4. says England is a Monarchy the Crown Imperial and our Kings Supreme Governours of this Realm and all other their Dominions c. In our Oath of Supremacy we swear That the King is the Supreme so none not the Pope above him and only Supreme so none not the People co-ordinate or equal to him The true Church of Christ hath always known no other Weapons to resist a Lawful Sovereign than Prayers Tears and Sufferings Else why do we bear the Sign of the Cross if we have not Courage Christian Courage of force enough to endure not resist with violence the most exquisite Tortures that can be imposed on us upon the score of our Religion by a lawful Authority St. Ambrose receiving Imperial Command to deliver up the Churches says Quid ergo turbamini volens nunquam vos deseram coactus repugnare non novi dolere potero potero flere potero gemere adversus arma milites Gothos quoque Lachrymae meae arma sunt If I be compelled I may not oppose I may grieve I may weep I may sigh Against Arms Souldiers the Goths also my Tears are my Weapons Such are the Guards of a Priest I neither can nor ought to make other defence But to resolve one doubt by the way Suppose a Prince should send his Officers to take away the Life of an Innocent man how far is he bound by his Christianity not to resist I do not believe that he is obliged to open his Breast to the Dagger No our Blessed Saviour tells us it is lawful for such an one to save himself by flight who bid his Disciples when they were persecuted in one place to fly to another It does as readily follow that for his own Preservation in this Case he may hide himself from their fury or otherwise make all the defence for his own Life that he can without violence For all this while he does but hinder the Officers from doing evil and keeps his Prince from the Guilt of Innocent Bloud and saves himself But whether this person hitherto Innocent may imbrue his hands in the Bloud of the Prince's Officers supposing there is no other way to save his Life but by their Deaths And in this Case I think he is bound by the Rules of Christian Religion rather to permit his own Bloud to be shed unjustly than shed any himself though some imagine that self-preservation in this case doth oblige him to resist even to Bloud For my part I could never learn either by the Doctrine or Example of the Son of God the Obligation of this self-preservation for albeit self-preservation would incline a man to kill in this Case yet I cannot find any dutiful Obligation so to do and though we have a right by Nature to preserve our selves yet in this case if he suffer death rather than resist Authority by Bloud no man will determine that he is thereby guilty of any sin And this is of more force when the Innocent man considers that he may shed Innocent Bloud for these Officers come in Obedience to their Prince and they may be ignorant innocently ignorant whether he be not an Offender that has deserved death Moreover if a man ought to suffer even to death as the Primitive Christians did when the Cause was purely Spiritual much more ought he in all Temporal Cases Now this as I think being the Case of every particular man it is the obligation of the People too Neither indeed can I see what Priviledges of the Subject what Rights what preservation of our Lives can compound for the least Sin unless we prefer this Life to Eternity To suffer meekly out of a regard to my duty is certainly no stupidity as some would have it but an excellent Virtue Nor do I think this passive Patience Phanaticks a piece of Cowardliness or want of mettle but rather