resisteth the Ordinance of God. These are our Institutions these Doctrins are illustrious in our Books in our Sermons and in the manners and modesty of our People The same admirable Prelate in his Epistle Dedicatory to Queen Elizabeth before his defence of the Apology is still of the same mind blaming his Adversary Harding for debasing the Majesty of Kings ‖ sol 318.6 Mr. Harding concerning the Majesty and Right of Kings tells us they have their first authority by the positive Law of Nations and can have no more power than the People hath of whom they take their Temporal Jurisdiction as if he would say Emperors and Kings have none other Right of Government than it hath pleased their Subjects by composition to allow unto them thus he says and says it boldly as if God himself had never said per me Reges regnant by me and mine authority Kings bear rule over their Subjects or as if Christ our Saviour had never said unto Pilate the Lord Lieutenant thou shouldst have no power over me were it not given thee from above or as if St. Paul had not said there is no power but only from God they also hold that the Pope is the Head and Kings and Emperors the Feet If this Doctrine may once take root ☜ and be freely received amongst the Subjects it shall be hard for any Prince to hold his Right And in his Defence he declareth himself to be of the same mind part 1. p. 15. Mr. Harding knoweth right well we never Armed the People ☜ nor taught them to rebel for Religion against the Prince if any thing have at any time happen'd otherwise it was either some wilful rage or some fatal fury it was not our counsel it was not our Doctrine we teach the People as St. Paul doth To be subject to the higher powers not only for fear but also for conscience we teach them that whoso striketh with the sword by private authority shall perish with the sword if the Prince happen to be wicked or cruel or burthenous we teach them to say with St. Ambrose Arma nostra sunt preces lacrymae tears and prayers be our weapons and when ‖ p. 16. Harding himself had said that he condemn'd all such attempts that any Subject or Subjects whatsoever of their own private authority should take Arms against their Prince for matters of Religion why replies Jewel except you only the case of Religion Is it lawful by your Grant for the Subject in any other case either of Life or of Government to Arm himself against his Prince and would you thus perswade the People Is this your Religion Is this your Doctrine Anno 1565. Alexander Nowel Dean of St. Pauls set forth his reproof of Mr. Dorman 's proof and in it vindicates the Church of England from the scandalous imputation pr. at Lond. 4 to p. 94 95. that it taught Men to be Rebels Corah Dathan and Abyron rebelled against Moses and Aaron who were specially by God appointed to be their Governors and his Ministers but what appertaineth that to us who do obey our natural Prince appointed by God to be our Governor and all as well Civil Magistrates as Ecclesiastical Ministers of God under our Prince And therefore do we as we must needs renounce the authority of that foreign Usurper of Rome it is you Papists that are the Successors of the Rebels Corah c. who leaving the Obedience due to your own natural Princes for the serving of a Foreign false Usurper of Rome do rebel not only against Moses that is to say your Governor by God appointed but against God himself also we acknowledg that as Moses and Aaron were Gods Ministers by him appointed to govern his peculiar People Israel so hath God likewise appointed to every several Country their Moses and Aaron their Princes and Pastors or Bishops which ought likewise to be obeyed as Moses and Aaron were to be obey'd of the Israelites and that those who do disobey them do sin by Rebellion ☞ p. 96. as did Corah c as we are most far from Rebelling against our natural Sovereign and other of God's Ministers appointed to govern us and therefore no partakers of Corah and his fellows Rebellion so trust we in God to be most far from their most horrible destruction and we give warning to Mr. Dorman c. who for maintenance of a Forein Pharaoh against their conscience as is to be feared do disobey their own natural Prince and that upon a pretence of holiness and spirituality and are therein most like to Corah c. rebelling against their own special Governors by God appointed as they did that they make speed by unfeigned repentance to mollifie God's most just wrath that they follow not Corah c. in horrible damnation as they have followed them in damnable Rebellion Anno 1569. an exhortation to the Queens Majesties poor deceived Subjects of the North drawn into Rebellion by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland was printed by allowance and in it they are thus accosted Christians I cannot term you that have defac'd the Communion of Christians and in destroying the Book of Christ's most Holy Testament renounced your parts by his Testament bequeath'd unto you their pretences were the foul disorder of the Realm much impoverish'd far indebted the defrauding of due execution of Justice that no Subject can have his Right by Law but falsly whereas they are better taught far doth the proportion of duty of Subjects to the Prince exceed the duty of Servants to Masters or Children to Parents yea or of Wives to their Husbands the very nearest conjoyning in humane fellowship even so far as a Realm exceeds a private Family but if one of your own Servants Children or Wives should do that without your will nay against your will and express commandment that your Captains and you have attempted without and against the Queens Highness pleasure would you account them good Servants good Children or good Wives if they shall put on armour and weapon and become terrible or threaten force to the Master Father Husband or the rest of the Family if the case were your own you would more mislike it The Prince is the Husband of the Common wealth married to the Realm and the same by ceremony of a ring shall you resist her authority and refuse her blessing and say you be her good children Shall your Captains forsake her Service and say they are good Servants note withal how likely they are to profess a true Religion that hold this Principle ☜ to keep no faith use no loyalty regard no oaths and promises made with attestation of God and avowing themselves to renouncing of Heaven and to eternal damnation they regard no Religion that go so irreligiously to work all is but show and hypocrisie Reed I beseech you the excellent Treatise of Sir John Cheek Knight of the hurt of Sedition there see as in a glass
Intercession unto the King's Grace with all due Subjection that his Grace would release that commandment if he will not do it they shall keep their Testament with all other Ordinances of Christ and let the King exercise his Tyranny if they cannot fly and in no wise under the pain of Damnation shall they withstand him with violence but suffer patiently all the Tyranny that he layeth on them both in their bodies and goods and leave the vengeance of it unto their Heavenly Father But in no wise shall they resist violently neither shall they deny Christ's verity nor yet forsake it before the Prince neither shall they go about to Depose their Prince p. 295. as my Lords the Bishops were wont to do but they shall boldly confess that they have the verity and will thereby abide And this he proves by the examples of Peter and John and of Christ of the three Children and Daniel and then adds so that Christian Men are bound to obey in suffering the King's Tyranny but not in consenting to his unlawful commandment always having before their eyes the comfortable saying of Christ Fear not them that can kill the body which when they have done they can no more do c. The Weapons used by the Martyrs in those Days were Patience and Prayers and by those Arms they conquered their Adversaries So when the Martyr Bilney going to his death was upbraided Vid. Answer to Stephen Gardiner's Devilish Detection fol. 203. b. edit an 1547. that he being accounted an holy Man wrought no Miracles He answered with a mild voice and countenance God only works Miracles and Wonders and he it is that hath wrought this one Wonder in your Eyes that I being wrongfully accused falsly belied opprobriously and despitefully handled buffeted and condemned to the fire yet hitherto have I not once opened my mouth against any of you this passeth the work of nature and is therefore the manifest miracle of God who will by my death and suffering be glorified and have his Truth enhaunced This was the true way to get the Crown of Martyrdom and here you see the Patience of the Saints SECT II. The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man tho compiled anno Domini 1540 received not its Approbation in Parliament till ann 154◠being Printed in May following by the King Henry the Eighth's Order who thought it so useful that himself writes a Preface to it directed to all his faithful and loving Subjects with the Advice of his Clergy as a Doctrine and Declaration of the true Knowledge of God and his Word with the principal Articles of Religion allowed also by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Nether House of Parliament In which says our Historian Lord Herbert's Henry VIII p. 495. they handled all things with much moderation the King having labored first to make Tenents understood then to have them observed And tho there be in it Accounts given of the seven Sacraments the Doctrine of Purgatory c. yet the Ruin of the Popish Religion is unquestionably under the Providence of God much owing to the seasonable publishing and dispersing of this Book which came out both in Latin for the Instruction of Foreigners and English for the use of the Natives nor was it to be expected that Heterodoxies of so long continuance should all in a moment be condemned In this Book the Exposition of the Fifth Commandment teacheth us thus In this Commandment by these words Father and Mother is understood not only the natural Father and Mother which did carnally beget us and brought us up but also Princes and all other Governors Rulers and Pastors under whom we be nourished brought up ordered and guided And by this word Honor in this Commandment is not only meant a Reverence and lowliness in words and outward gesture but also a prompt and ready obedience to their lawful Commandments a regard to their Words a forbearing and suffering of them an inward love and veneration towards them c. this is the very Honor and Duty which not only the Children do owe unto their Parents but also all Subjects and Inferiors to their Heads and Rulers And after this having fully shewn the Duties of Children to their Parents and Parents to their Children from the Precepts and Examples of holy Scripture it proceeds This Commandment also containeth the Honor and Obedience which Subjects owe unto their Princes for Scripture taketh Princes to be as it were Fathers and Nurses towards their Subjects Then reckoning up the several Duties of Princes it adds And all their Subjects must again on their parts and be bound by this Commandment not only to honor and obey the said Princes according as Subjects be bound to do and to owe their truth and fidelity unto them as unto their natural Lords but they must also love them as Children do love their Fathers yea they must more tender the Surety of their Prince's Person and his Estate than their own or any others even like as the Health of the Head is more to be tendered than the Health of any other Member And by this Commandment also Subjects be bound not to withdraw their said Fealty Truth Love and Obedience toward their Princes for any cause ☞ whatsoever it be ne in any cause may they conspire against his person ne do any thing towards the hinderance or hurt thereof nor of his Estate And furthermore by this Commandment they be bound to obey also all the Laws c. made by their Princes and Governors except they be against the Commandment of God. They must also give unto their Prince aid ☞ help and assistance whensoever he shall require the same either for surety preservation or maintenance of his Person and Estate or of the Realm And further if any Subject shall know of any thing which is or may be to the noyance or damage of his Prince's Person or Estate he is bound by this Commandment to disclose the same with all speed to the Prince himself or to some of his Council for it is the very Law of Nature that every Member should employ himself to preserve an defend the Head. And that all Subjects do owe unto their Princes and Governors such Honor and Obedience as is aforesaid it appeareth evidently in sundry places of Scripture but especially in the Epistle of S. Paul Rom. 13. and S. Peter 1 Pet. 2. and there be many Examples in Scripture of the great Vengeance of God that hath fallen upon such as have been disobedient unto their Princes But one principal Example to be noted is of the Rebellion which Chore Dathan and Abiron made against their Governors Moses and Aaron For punishment of which Rebels God not only caused the Earth to open and to swallow them down but caused also the Fire to descend from Heaven and to burn up 250 Captains which conspired with them in the same Rebellion And the Explanation of the Sixth Commandment saith thus
ancient Right to his Crowns that any King in the known Parts of the World hath P. 178. Where Government in general in Scripture is establish'd and Obedience to Governors injoin'd it ought to be reckoned as spoken of our Governors and Government Ecclesiastical and Civil as well as of any other in the World. Ch. 7. p. 198. Whatever discouragement the Clergy of England have found they still preach up and persuade Loyalty to the King and by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience to temporal Authority keep People from Rebellion notwithstanding they have so often been jeer'd and abused with it * Serm. 2. of the unlawfulness of resist Ep. Ded. Mr. Payn. I think it my duty as a Minister of that Church and Religion which hath been often the Mark but never the Author of any Treason to publish these Sermons And that none may be so malicious as to think we calculate our Sermons merely for the present Circumstances as if the Pulpit were but a kind of a Weather-glass wherein the Doctrine of Obedience to Governors is higher or lower to the temperature or variation of outward Affairs I have put out a plain Sermon without any Addition that was preach'd long before the Plot c. When the ancient Christians were persecuted P. 7 8 9. they endured unheard of cruelties from their Governors ☞ and this often as they complain'd of in their Apologies against Law too Such as would have stirred up those who had power to defend themselves had they not learnt such Principles from their Religion as forbad it we are under the obligation of Oaths though there have been some who have forgot all Oaths and could as easily unloose them as Sampson did his Wit hs and then set themselves free from the Precepts ☞ and Examples of Christ and his Apostles by this colour and pretence that the Government under which they lived was of another Nature than ours in England and that such is our Constitution as makes all this impertinent and of very little regard here And by the same way might they not discharge Wives and Children and Servants from those Duties the Gospel requires from each of them because there was a great difference between the State and condition of those among the Jews the Romans and the Grecians formerly and with us now And afterward he shews Serm. 2. p. 22. That neither in the Case of Religion nor of Legal Rights nor in the case of Natural Defence and the otherwise remediless case of Mankind by the encroachments of Princes P. 27. it 's any way lawful to take Arms. And proves that the Law of Nature or of Self-preservation does not allow of resistance c. And closes all with these good Prayers God preserve Christianity from that reproach P. 37. and blasphemy which these wicked Men have brought upon it God preserve the Protestant Religion from that advantage which is hereby given to our Enemies to destroy it J. Kettlewell 's Measures of Christian Obedience Book 2. c. 4. A Duty to Kings and Princes being God's Vicegerents here on Earth is a readiness and resolved industry to maintain and support them in their Persons and Government not plotting and endeavouring our selves to give away their Lives and Kingdoms unto others or consenting to them that do so not submitting and subjecting our selves to them but violently resisting and opposing them is called by S. Paul resisting of Power or standing up against it Rom. 13.2 And this when it is made by great numbers and goes on to extremities when men are as the Apostle there saith set in array and posture of Defence against it ☜ and ready by force of Arms to wage War with it is Rebellion Book 3. c. 6. The first pretence whereby men justifie to their own thoughts the indulgent Transgression of several Laws is because those Transgressions wherein they allow themselves are necessary for the preservation of their Religion and of themselves in those times of danger and persecution wherein God's Providence has placed them Religion is in danger and like to be undermined by the close and subtle Arts or overborn by the more open and powerful violence of strong and witty Enemies And this is God's Cause and Christ our Lord and Saviour's Interest So that whatever is done here we think is in Service of our Maker If we fight it is his Battels Some on one Hand that call us Hereticks think no means sinful whereby they can weaken and divide And others again even of our own selves who justly abhor these damnable Instances of Disobedience upon pretence of preserving or propagating Religion in some furious and firy spirited sort of Papists for God forbid that we should think them all to be of this temper do yet run into the same extravagance which upon so great reason they condemn in them For if we look into our zeal for the common Religion of Protestants we shall find that we transgress many and those most material and weighty Laws of it whilst we express our affection and concern to defend and preserve it For doth not this pretence of preserving our Religion carry us beyond all the Bounds of Peaceableness and good Subjection Yea I add further that these same Fears for our endangered Religion transport us into the Transgression of sundry weighty Laws which oblige us towards our very Enemies who have contrived to destroy us Thus full of Sin and Disobedience is this sanctified pretence It is the Cover for every Offence ☞ and the common shelter for all Transgressions for we boggle not at an◠sin so long as it tends to preserve us in the prosperous Profession of our endangered or oppressed Religion But if Men would consider calmly and have patience to look beyond the surface and bare outsides of things they would soon discern the vanity of this pretence and how far it will be from excusing any such sinful and disobedient Practices as they think to justifie and warrant by it For as for true and substantial Religion for protection whereof they would be thought to venture upon all these Transgressions it stands in no need of their help to preserve it in persecuting times altho they should use innocent and just means not such as are sinful and disobedient it would live then without their care and whether they went about by any politick means to preserve it or no. For Religion is not lost when Religious Men are persecuted it doth not suffer when they do that profess it seeing it is not one jot impaired when Men are buffeted and imprisoned nay when they bleed and die for it ☞ Could the violence of Persecution have oppressed our Religion it had been stifled in the Birth For it entered in a persecuting Age and yet was not over-born by the pressure of its Sufferings but bravely overcame them It begun grew up and conquered all the World in the very Heat of Affliction and Opposition the more it
was burdened the more still it spread And indeed what should hinder Religion from thriving in evil Times For the same Religious Duties which are practised with more ease in prosperous are exercised also but with greater honor in an afflicted state of things Nay some of its more eminent Parts and noble Instances are not capable of being exercised at other times It is not Religion then whatever Men may vainly pretend that makes them run into the Breach of Laws and Contempt of Duty lest they should suffer in the profession of it For God and Religion owe them no thanks for such a Course because he is not honored ☞ nor is strengthned and preserved but ruined and destroyed by it But the true and real Cause of such Disobedience whereof God and Religion are only the Color and false Pretence is plainly a great want of Religion and of the Love of God and too great a love of the World and of Mens own selves Mr. Pelling * Ser. on 30. Jan. 1683. on Rom. 13.2 p. 2 3 4. Had not this Duty been a prime part of the Christian Religion we cannot conceive why such great care should have been taken to inform the whole World of it especially in times which afforded not any common encouragement thereunto Were it not a sad Truth that some will believe no more of the Scripture than will serve the present turn we might wonder how it is possible for a Christian to be an undutiful Subject so that it is not either ignorance that can excuse or any allowable Principle of Christianity that can encourage Resistance nor is it Zeal or Conscience that doth it tho that hath been pretended but it is either a haughty and unmanageable Spirit or an hankering after Spoil c. that have been the true Causes of those Riots which have been so vexatious so fatal to Sovereign Princes It being otherwise impossible that Men whose Consciences are so enlightened by God's own Word should be so blind wicked and fool-hardy as to rise up against their Prince at the manifest hazard of the greatest and most intolerable of all Evils for that is the Rebel's portion Damnation By Resistance is meant all undutiful disobedient and contumacious Behaviour and in particular all open forcible and violent Opposition and by the Power is meant not only the Governor's Authority but the Governor himself Shall I take leave to give you a Paraphrase upon my Text. Why ☜ you shall have it not out of any single Commentator But out of an honest Statute of this Realm which makes S. Paul's Divinity to be Law too The Act declares That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever c. After that he proceeds upon the common Topicks that Power is God's Ordinance c. and how reproachful Rebellion is to the Gospel c. Pag. 25. Usurping and pretending Powers Men may be forced sometimes to be subject unto upon pain of Plunder and Sequestration but the Supreme Power the King is he whom we must not refist upon pain of Damnation Such was the Authority of Claudius Pag. 27. and such were his Ministers ☜ that they would not allow Christians either the Exercise of their Religion or the Liberty of their Native Countries or the protection of their own Houses Pag. 29.30 31. and yet both Claudius and his deputies must be submitted to Obj. But when Religion is established by Law then Resistance is not unlawful Answ 1. Religion was established among the Jews by the municipal Laws of that Country And yet tho several Kings introduc'd Idolatry among them they did not resist or if they rational and it is my Resolution to part with all that this World calls dear even Life it self rather than ever own their i. e. the Papists novel Doctrines for true or submit to their Usurpations or communicate in their idolatrous Worship but yet for all this neither for the Preservation of this our most holy and excellent Religion profess'd here in England nor for the keeping out of Popery it self and then I have named the worst thing that I can will I ever by the Grace of God go beyond the Duty of my Calling and that Station divine Providence hath placed me in nor will I ever lift up my finger or open my mouth against the Lord 's Anointed whatever his Religion be whether he hath any or none whether he be a Nero or a Constantine whether he rules by Law or against it we must not wish him evil no not so much as in our secret Thoughts whatever hard things we suffer from him we must not affront disturb or oppose his Government or resist his Authority and if we have not opportunity of flying from such a Persecution as I now suppose because I would put the worst Case that can happen or cannot by prudence decline it I know no other remedy the Gospel allows us but meek and patient Suffering for our Religion after the example of our blessed Lord and Master This is the plain loyal Doctrine of the Church of England which her Ministers have always preach'd and defended both against Papists and Fanaticks of all sorts and for which such an Outcry and Clamor of late years hath been raised against the Clergy and whenever we teach you otherwise give me leave in God's Name to charge you all to forsake us and despise us at as high a rate as our greatest Enemies can do P. 31. nay if an Angel from Heaven preach any other Doctrine let him be accursed Zeal for the best and the greatest things in the World will not excuse private Mens taking upon themselves to reform publick Abuses either against or without the consent of the supreme Magistrate nor will it hallow any Action for which we have not sufficient Warrant and Authority from God's Word For conclusion of all Would we engage God's favour and protection let us at all times adhere close to our duty as well when it is against our temporal Interest as when it is for it let us inviolably in all things observe the Commands of our Religion not only propose good ends but be as careful to choose lawful means SECT XXXVII I shall conclude this Chapter with the Doctrine of the Whole Duty of Man which Book I look upon as a body of practical Divinity owned by our Church and well spoken of even by our very Adversaries Sund. 14. §. 5. The Civil Parent is he whom God hath establish'd the supreme Magistrate who by a just Right possesses the Throne in a Nation this is the common Father of all those that are under his Authority and therefore we owe him Honor and Reverence c. and Obedience according to the Apostles 1 Pet. ii 13. Rom. xiii 1. and it is observable that these Precepts were given at a time when those Powers were Heathens and cruel Persecutors of Christianity to shew us ☜ That no pretence of the Wickedness of our Rulers can free
Magistrates but suffer patiently death rather than to offend God or else our obedience is nothing but hypocrisie and dissimulation Who would accept his own Child's making of Courtesie when all his facts be contrary to his commandment What Masler would be content or think his Servant doth his duty in putting off his cap and in his doing contemneth all his Master's Laws and Commandments the Laws of a Magistrate if they be repugnant to the Word of God they should not be obeyed yet rather should a Man suffer death than to defend himself by force ☜ and violent resisting of the Superior Powers as Christ his Apostles and the Prophets did On verse 2. Because that naturally there is in every Man a certain desire of liberty and to live without subjection and all manner of Laws except such as please himself St. Paul is not content generally to exhort and command all Men to obedience of the Higher Powers but giveth many great and weighty causes wherefore Men should be obedient and in subjection to them The first is because the Office of a Magistrate is the Ordinance of God and therefore the Magistrate must be obeyed except we will say in some respects God is not to be obeyed therefore the Magistrates be called Gods in Scripture ungodly Princes God suffers and appoints for the sins of the People but let the King and Magistrate be as wicked as can be devised and thought ☜ yet is his place and office the Ordinance and Appointment of God and therefore to be obeyed and in case they do any thing in their Offices contrary to the Word of God although the Subjects may not nor upon pain of eternal Damnation ought not by force nor violence to resist the Officer in his High Power yet they are bound to think that God can and will as well revenge the abuse of his Office in them as punish the Subject for the disobedience of his ordinance towards the Higher Power If it be true that St. Paul saith the higher power to be the Ordinance of God it is very damnable iniquity that for any private affection or other unjust oppressions for any Man to depose the Magistrates from their Places and Honors appointed by God or else privily or openly craftily or violently to go about to change or alter the State and Ordinance of God c. The second cause is the great peril and danger it is to resist and disobey God's Ordinances They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation as tho he had said lest ye should think it a light thing but a trifling matter to withstand and disobey the Magistrates understand ye that in so doing ye stand and fight against God and therefore ye provoke Judgment and Vengeance against your selves and be culpable and guilty of God's everlasting displeasure if ye repent not Here St. Paul hath set forth the End and success of Sedition ☞ Treason Conspiracy and Rebellion that is to say destruction both of Body and Soul and who is able to contend and fight with God On verse 5. One cause wherefore we must obey is the fear of pain and punishment which the Magistrate must minister by the commandment of God unto all such as disobey and contemn the Ordinance of God the other is conscience for although the Magistrate do not see nor know how thou dost disobey and break the Order of God or else if thou could'st by power and strength overcome the Magistrates yet thy conscience is bound to obey there be some so indurate and past grace that think themselves not bound to obey this order and Higher Power appointed and commanded of God but doubtless those shall perish with their Captains as Achitophel did with his Absalom if the Higher Power command any thing contrary to God's Word they should not be obey'd notwithstanding there should be such modesty and soberness used as should be without all violence force rebellion as Peter and John used ☞ saying God is more to be obeyed than Man and so in saying of truth they continued in the truth without moving of Sedition and suffered death for the truth c. Nor was this only this excellent Bishop's Opinion while his King was of his Religion and friend to his Person and Principles but as Truth is eternal and unalterable so he persevered in this belief when Queen Mary persecuted the Church of God and this worthy Prelate in a particular manner The Martyrs Letters Lond. 1564. 4to p. 120. for in his Letters just before his death set out by Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon his fellow Confessor he frequently inculcates this Doctrin Remember ye be the workmen of the Lord and called into his Vineyard there to labour till eventide that ye may receive your peny which is more worth than all the Kings of the Earth but he that calleth us into his vineyard hath not told us how sore or how fervently the Sun shall trouble us in our labour but hath bid us labour and commit the bitterness thereof unto him who can and will so moderate all afflictions that no man shall have more laid upon him than in Christ he shall be able to bear these days be dangerous and full of peril p. 136. but yet let us comfort our selves in calling to remembrance the days of our forefathers upon whom the Lord sent such troubles that many hundreds yea many thousands died for the testimony of Jesus Christ both men and women suffering with patience and constancy as much cruelty as Tyrants could devise and so departed out of this miserable World to the Bliss everlasting p. 139. Who would not now rather than to offend so merciful a God fly this wicked Realm as your most Christian Brother and many other have done or else with boldness of heart and patience of the Spirit bear manfully the Cross even unto the death Albeit I know p. 141 / 2 that all those which seek God's honour and the furtherance of his Gospel be accounted the Queens Enemies altho we daily pray for her Grace and never think her harm but we must be content to suffer slander and patiently to bear all such injuries Nevertheless this is out of doubt that the Queens Highness hath no authority to compel any man to believe any thing contrary to God's word neither may the Subject give her Grace that Obedience in case he do his Soul is lost for ever Our bodies ☜ goods and lives be at her Highness commandment and she shall have them as of true Subjects but the Soul of man for Religion is bound to none but unto God and his holy Word p. 148 149 Seeing therefore we live for this life among so many and great perils and dangers we must be well assured by God's word how to bear them and how patiently to take them as they be sent to us from God we must also assure our selves that there is no other remedy for Christians in the time of
to whom Vengeance pertaineth and he in his time will reward it And when Weston told Bradford how the People were by him procur'd to withstand the Queen Ap. Fox tom 2. pag. 1471. Ap. eund p. 1476. and Cover p. 294. Bradford answering again bad him Hang him up as a Traytor and a Thief if ever he encouraged any to Rebellion And in the Postscript to his Mother Brethren and Sisters he exhorts them to be obedient to the higher Powers that is In no Point either in hand or tongue rebel but rather if they command that which with good Conscience you cannot obey lay your Head on the Block and suffer whatsoever they shall do or say by Patience possess your Souls And of the Will of King Edward the Sixth Ap. eund p. 148 6 / 7. and Cover p. 287. he gives his opinion in his Letter to Sir J. Hales wherein after he had given him excellent Advice and set forth the Advantages of Persecution for a good Cause and commended him that he judged after Faith's fetch as he stiles it and the effects or ends of things looking not on the things which are seen but on the things which are not seen he adds Let the Worldlings weigh things and look upon the Affairs of Men with their worldly and corporal Eyes as did many in subscription of the King 's last Will and therefore they did that for the which they beshrew'd themselves But let us look on things with other manner of Eyes as God be prais'd you did in not doing that which you were desired and driven at to have done You then beheld things not as a man but as a man of God c. Ap. Fox p. 1494. Coverd pag. 282 283. And in his Admonition to certain professors and lovers of the Gospel to beware they fall not from it in consenting to the Romish Religion Among other holy Exhortations and Cautions my dearly beloved repent be sober and watch in Prayer be obedient and after your Vocations shew your Obedience to the higher Powers in all things that are not against God's Word therein acknowledg the sovereign Power of the Lord howbeit so that ye be no Rebels nor Rebellers for no Cause ☜ but because with good Conscience you cannot obey be patient Sufferers and the Glory and good Spirit of God shall dwell upon us In his Meditation on the Fifth Commandment v. Meditat. on the Lord's Pr. and Com. printed London 1622. pag. 117. written in the days of Edward the Sixth See pag. 123. he thus devoutly expresses himself In this Commandment thou O good Lord settest before mine Eyes them whom thou for Order sake and the more commodity of man in this life hast set in degree and authority before me comprehending them under the name of Father and Mother that I might know that I am of thee commanded to do that which is most equal and just as the very Brute Beasts do teach us that with childly Affection and Duty I should behave my self towards them i. e. I should honour them which comprehendeth in it Love Thankfulness and Obedience and that ☜ not so much because they be my Parents for it may be they will neglect the doing of their Duties towards me but because thou commandest me so to do whatsoever they do pag. 118 119. And whereas thou addest a Promise of long Life we may gather that a civil Life doth much please thee and receiveth here Rewards especially if we lead it for Conscience to thy Law And on the contrary part a disobedient Life to them that be in authority will bring the sooner thy Wrath and Vengeance in this Life Thus speaks the holiest and devoutest of all Queen Mary 's Martyrs as * Ch. Hist l. 8. p. 21. Fuller styles him SECT V. To the holy Bradford it is requisite to joyn his dear Friend the zealous Lawrence Saunders the man of God who said he was in Prison †Ap. Fox tom 2. p. 1358. till he was in Prison so fervently did he covet Martyrdom they both being entrusted at the same time with the Cure of Souls in the City of London he in his Letter to the Professors of the Gospel in the Town of Litchfield thus exhorts them to stedfastness in the Faith and Patience And now dearly beloved Coverd Coll. Pag. 188. we be taught by that heavenly Spirit which our God hath given unto us to seek Comfort in these times of Affliction not in hope of Rebellion or fulfilling unprofitable yea pestilent Welch Prophecies but in the most comfortable and glad tidings of the heavenly Promises assured in his dear Christ Let us most obediently kiss the Rod of our heavenly Father by obedient Submission to avoid all extremity that man may do unto us rather than to forgo Faith and a good Conscience When the good Bishop of Rome was hurried to Martyrdom in the Decian Persecution his Deacon S. Lawrence would not be left behind Nor is it fit that Lawrence Saunders should appear without his Curate and Brother in Sufferings George Marsh Ap Fox tom 2. p. 1426. Coverd page 671. who in his Exâ—â—rtatory Letter to the Professors of God's Word and true Religion in Langhton after much Discourse about Martyrdom Patience and Resolution says Give your selves continually to all manner of good Works amongst the which the chiefest are to be obedient to the Magistrates ☞ sith they are the Ordinance of God whether they be good or evil unless they command Idolatry and Ungodliness that is to say things contrary unto true Religion for then ought we to say with Peter We ought more to obey God than man but in any wise we must beware of Tumult Insurrection Rebellion or Resistance The Weapon of a Christian Man in this matter ought to be the Sword of the Spirit which is God's Word and Prayer coupled with Humility and due Submission with readiness of Heart rather to dye than to do any Ungodliness Christ also teacheth us that all Power is of God yea even the Power of the wicked which God causeth oftentimes to reign for our Sins and Disobedience towards him and his Word Whosoever then doth resist any Power doth resist the Ordinance of God and so purchase to himself utter Destruction and Undoing We must honour and reverence Princes and all that be in authority and pray for them and be diligent to set forth their Profit and Commodity And thus I commend you Brethren unto God Fox page 1428. and the word of his Grace c. And in another Letter of his to several of his Friends he exhorts them Obey with Reverence all your Superiors unless they command Idolatry or Ungodliness Thus also that hearty and zealous man of God Mr. Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester Coverd page 222. in his Letter to the Christian Congregation discoursing of the Excuses men make use of to hide their Sins says Another sort of Persons do make themselves a Cloak for the
When the People set one over them Sert. 4. p. 17. reserving to themselves Authority either to displace or controul him or if need be to rise up in arms against him and to lay violent hands upon him they give unto him but improperly the name of a King. Obj. Sert. 5. p. 18. But was there no authority to restrain a King if at any time he should be impious or unjust in his Government otherwise the People might be miserably oppress'd Religion defac'd yea all things turn'd upside down and in the end the Commonwealth utterly overthrown Wisdom therefore Reason and Necessity the Glory of God and the good of Men required that there should be in Israel some Authority either in the People Priests Senate or inferior Magistrates against those Kings who did degenerate into violent and bloody Tyrants Answ This reason hath carried many headlong in heat to condemn and reject utterly these absolute Monarchies as Tyrannical and Barbarous c. but we ought not to suffer our selves to be deceived by any appearance to judge that to be unlawful and profane ☞ which God by establishing it in his Church p. 19. hath showed to be holy and lawful the authority of a King over his People was no less than is the authority of a Father in his Family in respect of his Children who if he do injuriously intreat any of them or live any way disorderly it is the duty of his Children if not with silence to suffer it yet with great modesty to admonish him of it but if they should joyn together and offer any violence unto him especially if they should throw him out of his house all Men would count them rebellious and ungracious Children ☞ but if they should take his life from him they were to be esteemed notoriously wicked yea rather as Monsters p. 20. worthy to be abhorr'd of all Men no Subject of what place soever no not the whole People jointly could lawfully use any violence against the King's Person or proceedings and that the King might tho not lawfully in respect of the law of God of Men or of Nature yet safely and freely in respect of his Subjects p. 21. do whatsoever pleased him according as Jacob foretels Gen. 49.9 the dealing of God himself doth prove the same who when he purposed to preserve David against the fury of Saul ☞ would never suffer him to oppose Ceila or any other of Saul's Cities against him but made him fly first into the mountains and deserts and afterward out of the land to the Philistines yea David altho he were appointed by the express Word of God to succeed Saul in the Kingdom yet he was so far from laying violent hands upon him that his heart smote him 1 Sam. 24.6 i. e. his conscience did accuse him that he had behaved himself disloyally against the King in that he had offered violence to the King's Garment because that was as a threatning of death unto him and a great disgrace yea further we do not read that God did ever by any of his Prophets stir up his People to maintain his true worship by violence against the Kings or ever reprove them because they had suffer'd them to set up Idolatry ☞ which is an evident proof of this point for if it had been lawful to resist in any case then surely in the maintenance of the true worship of God p. 22. and of his Glory no Man no company of Men could for any offence committed by the King either against God or Man the first or second Table call him to account summon him to appear in judgment or use any manner of violence either in word or deed against him To the Kings of Israel neither the Kingdom was given Sect. 6. p. 23. Sect. 7. p. 28. nor the conditions imposed by Man but by God and therefore they could not forfeit their Kingdom to Man but only to God but what was the behavior of Loyal Subjects in such cases the weapons which God gave unto his People wherewith to defend themselves against the Tyranny of their lawful Kings were these 1. wisdom carefully to avoid all occasions of the King's anger and injury 2. to avoid and decline from the violence and injury it self by flying 3. the third remedy where the second is wanting is patience to suffer with a quiet mind the violence or injustice of the King which could not be by wisdom either prevented or avoided 4. the last remedy is to appeal from the unjust Sentence of the King not to any Man or to any Court here on Earth but to the King of Kings even to God himself whose ears are always open to hear those who are opprest this remedy is the last and therefore not to be used but in cases of greatest extremity whenas the violence is too too grievous shameful and to Man's infirmity altogether intolerable p. 29. this means did Samuel commend unto the People whereby they should ease themselves of those intolerable burthens of tributes which their King would lay upon them 1 Sam. 8.18 saying then you being thus opprest by your King shall not rebel against him but shall cry unto the Lord. Where it is added that God will not hear them when they cry this is meant that could not afterwards put down their Kings neither be freed from their Tyranny The same Reverend Prelate in his Encounter against Parsons p. 187. says diversity of Religion changeth not the natural right of Inheritance this ancient Doctrine the Protestants still follow they still acknowledged Henry the fourth of France when he revolted from them but the Romanists would not admit him while he profess'd himself a Protestant And in his Causa Regia his answer to Card. Bell. Lond. An. 1620. c. 1. §. 21. p. 26 book de Officio Principis Christiani written by him when he was Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield he shews how vain that compact whether tacit or exprest is whereby Kings as Bell. says stand bound to the Pope so that by virtue thereof whenever they turn Hereticks or would make their Subjects such he may deprive them of their Kingdoms and whereas the Cardinal cited that of our Holy Saviour whosoever doth not hate father and mother c. is not worthy of me he answers ☜ that only ' signifies that we ought not to obey our Parents in those things which they command contrary to the true Faith but by no means what Bell. compact implies to rob our Parents of their Possessions c. 2. §. 9. p. 73 74. that Christ exercised his Priestly Office not actively in Deposing Princes but passively by giving his life as became a good Shepherd for his Sheep and when the Apostle armed St. Timothy he gave him not a temporal Sword to hurt any Man but a Spiritual to be exercised in suffering for so he commands him 2 Tim. 4.5 Watch thou in all things endure afflictions †E
Greg. Tolesano de rep c. 7. §. 1â— And for 300 years after Christ though the Christians suffered innumerable and most cruel torments 20000 being slain at one time yet they never plotted against the Laws the Magistrate the Emperer or his â—â—enrity in the least degree but by this argument they personaded Men to turn to Christianity as to the best Religion because it tâ—â—k Men off from ambition and a desire of change and taught Men to obey Magistrates and accordingly as Nicephorus relates the Christian that but pulled down the Edict of Dioclesian at Nicomedia was lookt upon by his fellow Christians to be justly executed for the Fact it therefore behoves Princes to consider c. 2. Sect. 16. p 83. in what a slippery place their Sacred Majesty stands if this Principle of Deposing Princes unheard of in the Church of Christ for 1000 years be true and this he confirms by the authority of the Fathers c. 6. Sect. 14. p 255. especially St. Ambrose who is famous for this saying against the Goths My tears are my weapons such are the defence of a Bishop ☞ any otherwise I dare not resist Many other passages might be transcribed were not what is already cited more than enough since the Author's practice was so solemn and unquestionable a confirmation of his Opinion and his other Books especially his discovery of Romish Rebellious Positions with his full satisfaction against Parsons c. a proof that he never lived to repent of so truly Primitive and Apostolical Doctrine SECT VI. Mr. Greenham in his short form of Catechising Lond. 1599. 4 to p. 412 413.414 Qu. What do you understand by Father and Mother in the fifth Commandment Answ Not only my natural Parents but those whom God hath set over me for my good as Magistrates c. Qu. What be the duties of Servants toward their Masters Answ Servants ought in fear and trembling to submit themselves to the instructions commandments and correction of their Masters Qu. What if Parents or Masters do not their duty to their Children and Servants Answ Yet they must obey them for Conscience sake to God's Ordinance Qu. What if they command unjust things Answ Then they must obey God rather than Men and submit themselves to their corrections Archbishop Abbot An. 1600. publish'd his Lectures on Jonas Lon. 1600. lect 20. p. 432. and I shall only cite one Quotation out of him Athanaric King of the Goths seeing the triumph of the Emperor Justinian at Constantinople brake forth into these words The Emperor without doubt is a God upon Earth and whosoever shall stir his hand against him shall be guilty of his own blood In the same year on March 1st being the first Sunday in Lent Dr. William Barlow afterwards Bishop of Rochester Prâ—at Lon. 1601. and then of Lincoln Preach'd at Paul's Cross a little time after the Execution of the Earl of Essex on Matth. 22.21 and therein he well instructs us it pleaseth God to be called a King in Heaven Ps 20. and the King is called a God on Earth Ps 82. Therefore he which denieth his duty to the visible God his Prince and Sovereign cannot perform his duty to the God Invisible certainly a mind inclined to Rebellion was never well possest of Religion they therefore who with Sheba 2 Sam. 20.1 will make a secession from their Prince or with Jeroboam and the ten tribes will turn from him because he hath turn'd his Father's scourges into Scorpions 1 Reg. 12. They who think that they may either kill their Liege or sall from him or depose and thrust them out of their Seat or expose them to danger or fear are guilty not only of Rebellion but of Irreligion the Jesuit Parsons al. Doleman dedicates his Book to the Earl of Essex a Principal if not the only poyson of the Earl's heart wherein he would prove that it is lawful for the Subject to rise against his Sovereign c. my exhortation to you is beloved that you will believe Jesus rather than a Jesuit who willeth his Disciples and all Christians to possess their Souls in patience Luc. 10. albeit they be persecuted even to death by their Princes and St. Paul who adjudgeth him to damnation who resisteth the ordinance of God. Rom. 13. If you desire some stories of Scripture Saul an Apostate rejected by God not dejected by Samuel Jeroboam plagued not dispossess'd Ahab reproved by Elias not deprived Nebuchadonosor punished from Heaven not deposed by his Subjects the Law of God is streight in this case it bridles the mouth that it speak not evil of the King. Exod. 21. It binds the heart not to imagine evil against him Eccl. 10. the sum of this part is that of the Prophet Daniel 2.21 that the Inthroning and Deposing of Princes is God's only Prerogative Royal and the conclusion shall be an argument that if obedience be due unto Caesar a Tyrant and a Foreigner much more are we to perform it to our Prince c. SECT VII Thus also says Francis Marbury in his Sermon on Eccl. 10.20 〈◊〉 1602. at the Spittle on Tuesday in Easter Week Printed by authority the Principal question of this Chapter is that Subjects that are Godly wise ought to repress in themselves all insurrection of mind against the supposed scandals of civil administrations and against the doings of Princes and that a disloyal thought ought not to be lent thereunto it being insinuated by an evil subject that it is impossible to stand contented in a Government that perverts and inverts the use of preferments and abasements aiming perhaps at something done by Solomon in his uxoriousness at the instigation of his Idolatrous Wives and that the state of the Country is depraved by the riotousness and dissoluteness of the Governors but God gives us no dispensation for any cause to disreverence the Prince ☞ except that we be able to shew that we do it at God's Commandment the Men of God when they have by mistaking exceeded towards a Ruler though a wicked one have used diligence to excuse themselves and to avoid the scandal so St. Paul Act. 23 5. and David was cut in his heart because he had cut off the lap that was in Saul 's Garment ☞ so that if to refuse God be ungodliness then it must needs be so to admit a contemptuous thought of a Prince in whom God offereth himself unto us and it is sure that they are ungodly Men 1 Sam. 10.27 which offend in this kind that the Holy Ghost calleth them Sons of Belial i. e. unyoked Persons which refuse to be under the yoke of due obedience as for the allegation made by Hereticks of Conscience to God when no disobedience to God is required it is in great Hypocrisie that God is alledged for are they not put together in the Scripture fear God and the King and depart from the seditious or as the Text hath it from the various from those that
rable is a King and Kingdom when every Man that is but audacious enough has a fair pretence if he can but gather force to overturn any settlement that can be in such a case such a Pirate Prince must be always exposed to Tempests King Stephen was none of our worst Princes and one of the most valiant but an Intruder he was and he sped accordingly his reign was the most turbulent of any except that of King John another Usurper c. But be the title of a King P. 18. as good as a Warrant from Heaven can make it be it so undoubted as Hell it self can find no pretence to question it be the King like an Angel of God yet if his Subjects will be Sons of Belial Sons of the Devil so Rebels are called in Scripture Men that will bear no yoke 't is still in their power to be as miserable as they please therefore I commend your strict adherence to your former Protestations P. 27. and to your Oaths of Allegiance take heed of destroying your Country to build your own House destruction and death is not all you are like to get by it take heed of that which follows there is another death to come after ☜ God has warn'd you of it they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation as you would avoid this take heed of that which leads to it thus that great Prelate who as it is justly said of him ‖ Thom. Brown. Ep. praefi conc Jun. 11. 1687. in the whole course of his life and in all the varieties of times and fortune still maintain'd his fidelity to his Prince in an illustrious manner SECT VII And of this opinion was that great promoter of piety and learning Bishop Fell who having in his †On 2 Pet. 3.3 Anno 1675. p. 21 22. Ox. 1675. Sermon before the King asserted that nothing can be so unhappy as Authority when baffled that the Coffee-house rebel is more mischievous than he that takes the Field and that a Prince is sooner murdered with a Label than a Sword and in his * Dec. 22. 1680. p. 3 4. on Mat. 12 25. Oxf. 1680. Sermon before the Lords exprest his astonishment by what Enchantment but that Rebellion is the sin of Witchcraft Men should be perswaded to disturb their own and the publick Peace forfeit all the advantages they enjoy in a settled Government which cannot be so bad as not to be much better than the confusion which sedition brings and run upon that sudden destruction which the Wiseman says is the end of those who are given to change he continues to give the same advice in his Sermon before the Sons of the Clergy wherein having told them that a great part of them present were the Sons of the persecuted Clergy ‖ On Act. 3.16 p. 61 63 68 69. a sort of Men that hazarded their lives unto the death and their Estates to the greater cruelty and grave of sequestration for the cause of God and of their Prince He adds 't is their glory that in the day of trial they did all they pretended to they forsook Father and Mother Houses Brethren and Sisters and those more endearing names of Wife and Children let it therefore be the strict concern of every one here present to maintain a faithful Loyalty to his Prince and Sovereign It is the peculiar glory of the Church of England ☞ that She above all others Principles her Children in Obedience to Superiors and most supports the ends and interests of Government which had so visible an effect in the late unhappy revolutions that the Royal Martyr who fell a Sacrifice to the misguided zeal of his rebellious Subjects ☞ made it his observation that none forfeited their duty to him who had not first deserted their Obedience to the Church nor can you any way more remarkably approve your selves to be Orthodox in your Religion and good Sons of the Church than if you are Loyal in your Principles and good Subjects to the King. On the 23. of June of the same year Dr. Thomas Bishop of Worcester dyed having two days before sent for a Reverend Divine to whom after he had discours'd an hour about the new Oath of Allegiance which he thought altogether inconsistent with the Doctrin of the Church and his former Oaths he said if my own heart deceive me not and God's grace fail me not I think I could dye at a Stake rather than take this Oath The Earl of Clarendon in his Animadversions on Mr. Cressy 's answer to the Dean of St. Paul's P. 72. as a very competent witness avers that there were very few who did so much as pretend to have a reverence for the Church of England that were ever active in the late Rebellion and that it were to be wish'd rather than hop'd that the Profession of Christian Religion in any Church had that impulsion in it as it ought to have that it preserv'd the Professors of it from entring into Rebellion and the practice of any other iniquity and speaking of Archbishop Cranmer who sign'd King Edward the Sixth's Will he adds if that unhappy P. 80. and ill advised Queen who had just reason to be offended highly with that Archbishop could have found that the Law would have condemn'd him for Treason she rather desired to have had him hang'd for a Traytor than to have him burnt for his Religion but the Law would not extend to serve her turn that way if it would no body would have blamed her for having prosecuted him with the utmost rigor whereas many good Men then did and since have for proceeding the other way with him The Popes who have assumed Authority to depose Princes P. 151 152. have caused more Christian blood to have been spilt more horrible Massacres of Kings and Princes and People than all the Heresies in the World and all other politick differences have produced much the greatest part of this destruction ☜ and ruin proceeded from the perjury of Popes themselves after they had promis'd and sworn to observe such parts and agreements voluntarily entred into by themselves or from the dispensation they granted to others to break their faith and not to perform the contracts they had entred into The same noble Person even when under the displeasure of his Prince and in Banishment thought himself still obliged to be unalterably Loyal as he professes in his Epistle to the King I thank God from the time I found my self under the insupportable burthen of your Majesties displeasure and under the infamous brand of Banishment I have not thought my self one minute absolved in the least degree from the strictest duty to your Person And whereas T. H. in his Leviath p. 114. had affirm'd that the obligation of Subjects to their Sovereign is understood to last as long and no longer than the Power lasts to protect them he rejoins P. 90. hereby he gives