their Vice-Gerents whether it can be properly said any otherwise than in sensu diviso that they are their Vice-Gerents Inferiours And whether seeing all sorts of Government are here called the Ordinance of Man and that at the same time it is said they are sent by God the Choice of the People and the Lord 's Anointed be not now one and the same thing But to come to the Point of Resistance The Doctor would do well to explain himself whether he means Resistance in concreto or abstracto if in abstracto we are agreed that the Sin of resisting any Government duly constituted is damnable as well as all other Sins are and in so far Passive Obedience is a true Doctrine If he mean in concreto that it 's unlawful to resist the Person or Persons clothed with the Government I would willingly know whether he understands Resistance to the Persons of all Governours in all cases whatsoever to be damnable or only the Resistance of such as govern according to the Laws of God and the Land If he mean the latter we are agreed but if he mean the former I would know what 's his Reason and if it be drawn from that Text Rom. 13.2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Whether it be not plain from the Text that the Government and not the Governours are here understood or at least both in concreto And the I would ask the Doctor further Whether it be not plain from the third Verse For Rulers are not a Terror to good Works but to the evil that it 's only damnable to resist such as are so and as all indeed ought to be but not those who invert their Commission and are a Terror to Good Works and an Incouragement to Bad tho at the same time we will allow the Doctor that if any private Person or Persons resist the Magistrate by Military Force except it be in case of pure Self-defence I say in this case we all allow that such shall be punish'd as David did the Amalekite for putting out their Hand against the Lord 's Anointed even tho they be guilty of Male-Administration But if the Doctor will not allow of this Doctrine I would fain know how he can clear his Church from meriting Damnation for resisting and dethroning the late King James And if he do allow it I would desire him to answer why he is so very severe and uncharitable to the whole Nation as to imprecate and wish for Judgments upon them because a certain Party without the Consent of the whole cut off King Charles the First who if our Histories be true made as great Invasions upon the Liberty of the Subjects as ever K. James the Second did but with this difference indeed that the Father supported whereas the Son invaded the Doctor 's Church which was the cause of his Ruin for tho they had suffered him and his Brother tamely to devour most of the Civil Rights and Liberties of the People yet when-ever he came to touch the Church they who made Conscience of excluding him before made none to kick him out then So that I am afraid upon due Scrutiny it will be found that it is not damnable to resist the King but damnable to resist the Doctor 's Church But to come to an end with this Point I would advise the Doctor that seeing his Church and the Party against whom he inveighs are guilty of the same Crimes tho in different degrees that he would remember the Lord's-Prayer which he has said so often that I don't doubt but he has con'd it by Heart and as he and his Church would have the Forgiveness of their own Sins they would also show themselves ready to forgive others and not to rip up old Sores by a Yearly Commemoration for the dethroning of King James being of a later Date than the beheading of King Charles it 's ten to one but it may be as long remembred And let the Doctor and his Gang preach while they be weary and charge all the Calamities of those unhappy Civil Wars upon the score of Dissenters for refusing to obey K. Charles's unjust Commands and resisting him when he came to invade their Properties they will constantly rejoin that thousands of the Church-Communion were Socii Criminis and that the Ruin of the King and the Misery of the Nation are owing to those of the Doctor 's Kidney who preach'd the King out of his Duty and the People out of their Liberties and by consequence were the chief occasion of his Tragical End as their Concurrence all along with the Arbitrary Methods of the two last Reigns does entitle them to be called the Instruments of our present Miseries So that it will appear to every unbiassed Reader that the Carriage of the highflown Clergy in times past and present with their loosing the Reins of Discipline and exalting the Hearts of their Kings above those of their Brethren is as good an Argument to prove that they are the Authors of all our Calamities as any thing that they can charge upon the Dissenters in relation to King Charles the First Pag. 19 and 20. The Doctor ascribes it to King Charles's Murder That his Church's Excellent Religion which hath no Foreign Dependances and whose Prosperity alone is founded on that of our Country should be forced to truckle either to the Practices of Rome or to a Riot of Enthusiasts and that they are still threatned either with no Church at all or the worst among Christians But he does not consider that his Antagonist will reply That if the Prosperity of his Church's Religion be founded alone on that of our Country it must then be different from the Protestant Religion which blessed be God hath obtain'd over so great a part of Europe For the Protestant Religion has prospered there when neither it nor our Country prospered here as in Queen Mary's time and since And as for the danger which his Church is in from Papists who are the worst Christian Church or Enthusiasts by which he means Dissenters in general that are no Church it were more rational for him to ascribe the first to the Popish Matches which his Church allow'd their Kings to conclude and the great Privileges which from time to time they granted to their Religion and its Followers And seeing Papists are as great Enthusiasts as any under Heaven he may also charge his Enthusiasm on that same score But seeing he will allow the Papists to be a Church and the Dissenters no Church though the great Body of them do maintain the Doctrine of the Church of England more sincerely than many of her own professed Sons we find that the Doctor himself prefers an Unity in Discipline to an Unity in Doctrine and would shake hands with Papists sooner then Presbyterians which are far the greatest Number of the Reformed Churches and that he looks upon such things to be
the Essential and Constituent Parts of a Church which do not so much as come within its definition I have all along suspected the Doctor 's Enmity to their Majesties Title because of his impugning defensive Arms by which they made a Conquest of England's Affections and then had her Consent to sit down on her Throne But pag. 20. he falls foul on his Majesty's Government reviles the Liberty of Conscience of which K. VVilliam was the Royal Solicitor his Laws as Snares to entrap the Innocent the Fountain it self to be troubled and muddy that he hath set up Spiritual Wickednesses in our High Places and made such to be Fathers to our Church who were never her Sons If the Government don't find themselves oblig'd to make the Doctor explain his Meaning it 's not fit for me to enquire further after it but these are as heavy Crimes if they be true as any that the Church could fasten upon K. James and therefore K. VVilliam has reason to take heed for if the Doctor 's Faction be strong enough they 'l quickly send him a Bill of Divorce But to his Reflections on the Liberty of Conscience for that was the Thing which prov'd K. James's Bane he says That it 's rather a Step to Dominion than Devotion and proves a Liberty of Impiety Licentiousness and Error and to bite and devour one another and the last the Doctor is resolv'd to put in practice But curs'd Cows have short Horns If the Doctor would speak out his true Grievance it 's because he is not at liberty to bite and and devour Dissenters and angry that Men of Moderation have by his present Majesty been preferr'd to Mitres What pity it is that never one of them did fall to the Lot of this Reverend Doctor who as we have already been inform'd by himself has the Spirit of a King and that 's more than of a Bishop And if the Doctor please to put on his Spectacles he may find that his Church's slackening the Reins of her own and neglecting the Use of the Antient Doctrine and Discipline or withdrawing their Concurrence from their Majesties repeated Orders have more influence upon the Impiety and Licentiousness of the Age than the Liberty of Conscience which he ought as little to reflect upon as he would have others to reflect upon his Church seeing both are alike establish'd by Law Well but pag. 22. the Doctor is resolved to try a Healing Touch though aut fabrum forceps c. he has made a horrible Mistake and that is He hopes we shall not be found less sound in the Doctrine of Civil Obedience than the Jews or think it altered by the late Exercise of that provisional Power which is necessarily reserved to a free People upon all extraordinary Emergencies This I suppose the Doctor intends as a Complement to the present Government but does not consider that no such provisional Power can ever be allowed by his Hypothesis who makes it a damnable Sin to resist any King denies Original Contracts or that they are accountable for their Administration Or if he do allow these things then why so many sly Insinuations against their Majesties Title and why so many Declarations against advancing the old Arts that according to him must tend to our Ruine And seeing the Doctor owns that all these are Questions of Law and Constitution and were of old little thought to belong unto Divinity then why does he meddle with them now And how comes his Church to assume the Doctrine of an unlimitted Passive-Obedience and Non-Resistance as her own Characteristick and press it upon others on pain of being ruined both in Soul and Body Pag. 23. he says That the Murder of K. Charles forc'd is Posterity out of their Country and Religion together which is but very little for the Credit of his Church who punish'd others for saying so formerly And I suppose his Friends will give him but little Thanks for this Assertion which is in plain English as much as to say that K. Charles II. liv'd and died a Dissembler both with God and his People But 〈◊〉 Doctor and his Church may do and say what they please Their Tongues are their own and who 's Lord over them Pag. 23. The Doctor grows charitable and having acquainted us with our Danger he tells us also how to avoid it The VVay then says he to appease the VVrath of God and to wash out the guilty Stain of our Soveraign's Blood is not to unite in forgetting it or to add Impudence to the Crime by seeking to depress his Credit but to make the Remembrance of his undeserved Sufferings still more solemn and effectual to turn us from our Transgressions and make us bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance Who can stand before so much Reason The Doctor divides his Text like a skilful Workman and gives you both a Negative and a Positive Receipt and that you may not think it lost Labour to put it in practice consider what you have already suffered for not obeying the Doctor 's Prescription before you heard it viz. Pag. 19. That we so long heard the Cries of the Oppressed and there was none to comfort them that we beheld Servants on Horses and Princes walking as Servants on the Earth that our Law our Liberties and our Religion were made a Prey to such as scoff'd at Kings and made Princes a Scorn that God rais'd up a Foreign Enemy to make VVar upon our Coasts that he sent the Pestilence into our Streets and a devouring Fire to lay waste our Metropolis That this is among the Causes why Distress and Perplexity still remains upon the Nation Mens Hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth P. 20. That we are still left open to a bitter and hasty Nation to land upon our Coasts and possess the Dwelling-places which are not theirs Pag. 23. That it hath entail'd upon us disputed Titles and for ought yet appears endless VVars But that which is worse than all he says pag. 13. that we are at length to meet a Vengeance worthy of God and drink up the Dregs of his Fury Now who would not to avoid all these Evils if they were sure that the Doctor 's Receipt had had a Probatum est put it in execution and make the Remembrance of the Martyrdom still more solemn and effectual But what shall we do for more Men like the Doctor that may be the known Inheritors of his Kingdom and Spirit for he says pag. 2. that his Obsequies were fit only to be solemniz'd by one like himself Nay and that must also be too little for the Doctor says this in respect of Saul who is not to be nam'd on the same Day with the Royal Martyr But now when the Doctor has done his best and raised his Voice a Note above Ela to tell the Presbyterians their Transgressions and the whole House of Dissenters their Sins What if some
A BIRCHEN ROD FOR D R. BIRCH Or Some ANIMADVERSIONS UPON HIS SERMON Preached before the Honourable The House of Commons At St. Margaret's Westminster January 30 1694. In a LETTER to Sir T. D. and Mr. H. Printed in the Year 1694. Worthy Gentlemen THE Honourable Character which is given of you by all who have the Happiness of your Acquaintance emboldens this Presumption from an unknown Hand I doubt not but as you have Capacity enough to judg so you have Zeal enough to resent the Injury which the Doctor 's Sermon may have occasion'd either to the Memory of the Sacred Martyr or the Title and Government of your present Master and seeing it is more incumbent upon you than others to take the Affair into your Consideration and represent it truly to those under whose Cognizance it properly falls I beg your favourable Censure of the following Animadversions A Birchen Rod for Dr. BIRCH MEthinks the Doctor has not done the Royal Martyr any great Honour in comparing him with Saul who tho he was the Lord's Anointed was a very ill Man and one who did actually play the Tyrant and was far more zealous for his own Honour than ever he was for the Glory of God as appears by his laying hold of Samuel's Garment after he had denounc'd the impending Judgments of the Almighty against him 1 Sam. 15.30 and saying Honour me now I pray thee before the Elders of my People but not one word of desiring Samuel to intercede with him at God's Hand for Pardon So that I think it 's Very plain that he was for advancing his own Prerogative over the People tho he was told that God had rejected him And some malicious Persons won't stick to say that seeing the Doctor takes the liberty of comparing the Royal Martyr with Saul that he cannot be angry at them for alledging that the words which were put into Samuel's Mouth to tell the Israelites the Manner of the King that should reign over them seem to have foretold K. Ch. 1. tyrannizing over his Subjects and invading their Property by the Ship-money and Loan-money obliging them to lend him such Sums as he demanded take Patents for Knighthood and serve in his Fleet and Armies against their Wills and forcing the Country to be at the Charge and Trouble of carrying the Baggage of the Court as they removed from place to place exactly according to what was foretold of Saul 1. Sam. 8.11 He will take your Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and some shall run before his Chariots Ver. 14. And he will take your Fields and your Vine-yards and your Olive-yards even the best of them and give to his Officers and to his Servants Ver. 15. And he will take the Tenth of your Seed and of your Vine-yards and give to his Officers and to his Servants Ver. 16. And he will take your goodliest young Men and your Asses and put them to his Work Ver. 17. He will take the Tenth of your Sheep and ye shall be his Servants And all this in direct Opposition to the Law which the King was obliged to read and observe Deut. 17.18 19. viz. That he should not multiply Horses to himself nor cause the People to return to Egypt ver 16. That he should not greatly multiply to himself Silver and Gold v. 17. That his Heart be not lifted up above his Brethren and that he turn not aside from the Commandment to the Right or to the Left and contrary to the Practice of good old Samuel who could ask of them before God whose Ox or whose Ass he had taken whom he had defrauded and oppressed or of whose Hand he had received any Bribe 1 Sam. 12.3 Or if some should have a mind to carry the Parallel further and compare K. Charles's Spirit of contending with his Parliament to advance an unlimited Prerogative to the evil Spirit which was sent from the Lord upon Saul his Pretensions to Divinity with Saul's being among the Prophets his concluding a Cessation of Arms with the Irish Papists after they had cut the Throats of the Protestants with Saul's sparing of Agag and the Amalekites his persecuting of those Ministers who could not comply with the Book of Sports on Sundays to Saul's cutting off the Priests of the Lord his levying War against his Subjects to Saul's unjust pursuit of David his matching his Eldest Daughter to the Prince of Orange like Saul's marrying of Michal to David his seeming Condescensions to Treaties with his Subjects as that at Vxbridg c. with Saul's acknowledging of his Faults to David his continuing Hostility against them afterwards to Saul's continuing his Persecution of David his taking upon him to be the supream Judg in Church-Affairs and countenancing Bishop Laud's Innovations to Saul's usurping the Priestly Office and offering up Sacrifice and his falling upon the Scaffold by his own stubborn Humour and the superstitious Stiffness of his Chaplains to Saul's falling on Mount Gilboa by his own Sword when his Army was defeated by the Philistines I say if any perverse Man should run the Parallel thus the Martyr's Friends will have but small reason to thank the Doctor for putting it in their Heads But the mischief on 't is our Clergymen are never aware of the Consequences of their own Doctrine witness that unhappy one of Passive Obedience which was good nay superlatively good and the Characteristick of the Church so long as the Court and the Church did agree together but whenever the Court came to touch the Church in her own Property then this Characteristick was laid aside and Passive Obedience turn'd to actual Resistance It was horrid nay damnable Doctrine in my Lord Russel the Earl of Essex and the Nobility and Gentry and Laity to Associate for the defence of their Lives Liberties and Religion and Mutinous for them to Petition their Prince on that Head but it gave the Seven Petitioning Bishops a Right to the Title of Confessors to Address and Cabal against King James for giving Liberty to Dissenters But to come to our purpose The Doctor Pag. 1. says That no Raptures but those of a King and a Prophet could present us with Expressions of Grief suted to the Occasion By which one would think that the Doctor condemns himself for medling with the Subject for whatever parity there may be in the Occasions there 's none betwixt the Doctor and David for I know of no body that looks upon the Doctor either as a King or a Prophet Ibid. He tells us that this Lamentation was over the Fall of a Prince that was Literally the Lord 's Anointed and Successor or if any prefer the being VICE-GERENTS TO THEIR INFERIORS the Desire and Choice of the People So that here the Doctor concedes that a King may be the Lord's Successor and the Peoples Vice-Gerent too which I suppose the Jure Divino Men will not thank him for Because this seems to insinuate That Kings