honestly told of it But my Brethren I am persuaded better things of you though I thus speak and things that accompany salvation For certainly Obedience to Magistrates is one of those things and if they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation then surely we may safely affirm and that without any breach of Charity or stretching beyond our line That they who oppose 'em in lawful things or refuse to obey 'em in the same without a timely Repentance and Reformation are in great danger of it Suffer me therefore as the Apostles lead the way both by Precept and Example to put you in remembrance of these things though you know 'em as well as I and to inculcate a little further this Duty of Obedience you cannot forget that you are Subjects and you cannot but know that Subjects are bound in conscience to obey their lawful Governors Now that you may perform this Duty not grudgingly or barely of necessity but with chearful and loyal hearts let me commend these following motives to your serious consideration and conscientious practice 1. Let us consider That Obedience to Magistrates is a prime Duty of Piety and Religion wherein the Honor and Authority of God are particularly concerned not only because he requires it by manifold Precepts but because magistrates are his Officers and Ministers by whom he governs the world and administers his Providence towards men and to whom he has given part of his own Power for that purpose He removeth Kings and setteth up Kings says Daniel 2. 21. by him they reign and by him they decree Justice Prov. 8. 15. They are the Ministers of God to us for good says S. Paul Rom. 13. 4. In his name and behalf they act and him they represent being God's visible Deputies upon Earth by his own Commission and instruments of his Power and Providence for our benefit Hence he joyns 'em with himself and sometimes stiles 'em by his own name I have said ye are Gods Psal 82. 6. Jo. 10. 34. and frequently also by his Sons title Mine Anointed I have found David my Servant with my Holy Oyl have I Anointed him Psal 89. 20. An Emblem of their Sovereignty and a Security also of their Persons And again Touch not mine Anointed Psal 105. 15. Which was a Prohibition given in Charge before that Oyl was used to render both sacred and inviolable So that by obeying their Laws and honouring their Persons we own the Authority of God and submit to it but in the violation of either God himself is slighted and affronted and his Dominion in effect disown'd This was that which influenc'd David's heart and tyed up his hands from offering Violence towards Saul and tho' he was next Heir to the Crown and already anointed to it tho' Saul thirsted for his blood and persecuted him by force and fraud tho' he had the hearts of the people and Saul was given up into his hands so that he could as easily have slain him as he cut his skirt I say tho' he had all these plausible incitements and a whole combination of pretences yet this was that which kept him from so great Iniquity 1 Sam. 24. 6. The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords Anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the Lords Anointed But here you 'l say Had Saul his Power from God does God trust his Authority in the hands of Evil Kings So the Scripture tells us For the Authority is still from God tho' it be placed in the hands of a sinfull man and it looseth not its essence by the accession of personal miscarriages For these he must stand or fall only to his own Master and there is no Tribunal upon Earth can judge him Hence Daniel acknowledges the Power of Nebuchadnezzar to be given him of God Dan. 2. 37. The God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory Our Saviour own'd the Authority of Pilate even when he Condemned him to be from above Joh. 19. 11. Thou couldst have no Authority at all against me except it were given thee from above And Nero was Emperor when Saint Paul wrote to the Romans and yet observe in that Chapter of Loyalty and Allegiance Rom. 13. 1. The Powers says he that be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are now in being are Ordained of God ver 4. and to him he Exhorts 'em to pay Tribute and Custome Fear and Honour ver 7. So that you see the sins of the person doe not destroy the Power but that it hath still the same Original For he that ordained David did also set up Saul Solomon and Jeroboam Ezekias and Ahab Manasses and Josias Nero and Constantine Julian and Theodosius alternately good and bad and he that hath said in one place By me Kings Reign Prov. 8. 15. hath said also in another I gave 'em a King in mine Anger Hosea 13. 11. And from Elihu in Job we gather That he maketh an Hypocrite to Reign when he is minded to scourge a sinful People Job 34. 30. The Authority therefore of both is immediately from God To him alone they are subject and to him they must give an account how they use or abuse his Authority But all the rest are subject next under God to them and must give an Account to both how they discharge this Duty of Obedience 2. The exigence of our Civil Affairs and the Preservation of the Publick does exact this Duty from us For the Execution of Justice between man and man the safe and quiet Enjoyment of Gods Blessings and the Welfare and Peace of the whole Community are extreamly concern'd and advanced by it Now as Peace which is an inestimable good in it self and sweetens all other Blessings can never be preserved without Government so neither can Government subsist without Obedience to it If every man should have his will and do that which is right in his own Eyes as they did when there was no King in Israel Jud. 17. 6. there would be as many Wills and Affections as there are men infinite competitions and endless quarrels would arise for every man would strive to draw all to his own Net and Peace would be quite banish'd from the face of the Earth No man could enjoy any thing quietly or safely but must deliver it up to a stronger than himself he that can kill his Neighbor will take his Possessions too and the World would soon become a Den of Thieves The only Remedy against this intolerable inconvenience is being determined by Laws under a common Judge and Arbitrator of differences who is equally concern'd and indifferently affected towards all endued with Authority to decide emergent Cases and arm'd with force to suppress Violence and Rapine To which therefore all men should not only in duty and reason but also in point of interest refer and submit their pretences and he that endeavours to enervate or defeat this excellent Provision for Publick
perform it because nothing can oblige us to do evil But what if the thing commanded be neither good nor evil but of an indifferent nature what must we do in that case why then we must undoubtedly obey it for otherwise there will be nothing left wherein the Magistrate may use his Power What is good or evil in it self must be done or avoided for Gods sake what is not so in it self but only in regard of the end for which it is enacted being judg'd so by the Magistrate for the good of the Community this must be observ'd both for God's sake and his too because God requires our Obedience to him in these things But what then becomes of our Liberty if another must judg for us It is where it was before we must obey and yet we are as Free as Christ hath made us nay I doubt not to add we are most Christ's Freemen when we duly obey our Governors just Laws for seeing Christ hath commanded us to be subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake that so we may avoid the guilt of sin that Obedience which keeps us from sin which is the only vassallage of a Christian can by no means infringe but does rather advance our Christian liberty As free says the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 16. and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God As though he had said Don't urge your liberty for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pretence to cover your craftiness as if that would excuse your Disobedience you are free indeed from sin but not from your Obedience Servants of God and yet Subjects to your Prince and so much the better Servants by how much the more you are good Subjects Another pretence of near a kin to the former is that of Private Conscience for here again 't is pleaded if I judg the thing commanded to be evil I cannot be free from sin for to me at least it is sin if I comply with the command during that persuasion because the Apostle assures me Whatever is not of Faith is sin But what if that persuasion be false and erroneous dost thou not in cur a greater sin What if it be not assuredly grounded on the clear word of God but only in thine own Opinion must a private Opinion weigh down the ballance against the publick good the laws of the Community the conscience of thy Governors and the great Rule of Faith and Conscience which is the Word of God That Word commands thee to Obey and so binds thy Conscience thy Conscience bids thee not and so binds thee which of these in reason shall take place must the Word be null'd by the Conscience or the Conscience guided by the Word What a sad condition is that man in who brings himself into these straits where Conscience which should be his guide becomes his greatest snare For such is the nature of an erroneous Conscience that it unavoidably betrays a man to sin whether he follows it or whether he resists it if he follows his Conscience he sins because it is erroneous if he resists it though it be erroneous he sins against his Conscience What then shall be done or which way shall he turn him in these perplexities Why I know no expedient but one that he speedily burst his shackles which himself has fastned and not God by ridding himself of such a Conscience And the way to do it is this That he be not overwise in his own conceit nor lean too much to his own understanding but allow the possibility at least of his being in an arrear that he is but a man and not infallible That he lay by Passion and Prejudice Partiality and Interest and sincerely examine the grounds of his persuasion not as pleasing men but God who tryeth our hearts That he humbly consult better judgments whose Office it is to inform and ease his Conscience namely his lawful Pastors whose lips preserve knowledg and are set over him in the Lord for that purpose That he believe his Governors have a conscience too for which they must answer as well as himself and seriously consider whose plea is most likely to be admitted at Gods high Tribunal And above all that he earnestly pray for the spirit of meekness and humility the spirit of wisdom discretion and holy fear while he compares his Conscience with the Rule of Gods Word impartially and God himself hath promis'd that he will not deny his Spirit to such an humble Petitioner and Enquirer To these we may add in the last place the pretence of both together I mean liberty of Conscience To which I shall only say two things and I leave 'em to your sober thoughts First that Liberty of Conscience if it be well weigh'd sounds like a contradiction for Liberty imports Freedom without restraint but Conscience was always bound ever since it was plac'd in humane souls and though I am free indeed in regard of my actions which proceed from my Conscience yet my Conscience is not freed from the antecedent rule of my actions which is the law of God for by that it is always bound The second is this There is no such phrase throughout the Bible as Liberty of Conscience not one place in Scripture where these words are joyn'd together but for Obedience to our Governors there are twenty I speak to knowing men judg ye what I say 3. The Duty of Pastors and Teachers inculcated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put 'em in mind admonish 'em often of it and bring it to their remembrance as S. Peter does twice together in another case 2 Pet. 1. 12 13. I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things though ye know them and be established in the present truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance There are some Duties we are apt to forget or very unwilling to remember and some people there are who care not for a Preacher that tells 'em often of their duty insomuch that a moral Preacher is made a by-word to fright the ignorant and to render 'em averse since they know no better to their Parish Guide If he rub up their memories and touch 'em in a sore place they have a present remedy for it by hearing him no more and think it sufficient excuse for their absence or going astray to say They do not like his way But if a man set up a separate Congregation in opposition to the Established Laws and Worship if he fill their heads with aiery Speculations instead of practical and searching Truths if he daub with untemper'd mortar or sow pillows under their elbows and can but help 'em to an evasion from this Duty of Obedience he shall have followers enough This is a certain sign that tho men know their Duty yet they do not love to hear it since they forsake the Assemblies where they are
Peace may justly be reputed an Enemy to the whole Community and ought to be punished as a disturber of it 3. Obedience to our Governors is founded in the highest Equity and Reason For day by day we receive invaluable benefits by the influence of their Government and Conduct Protection of our Lives and Estates of our Priviledges Properties and Religion secure Possession of the Gifts of God and Liberty to encrease our substance by Trade and Traffick and to eat the fruit of our Labour every man under his own Vine while there is no breaking in nor going out no leading into Captivity and no just complaining in our streets Happy are the People that are in such a case if we had but hearts to be thankful for it and if we compare our condition with other Nations we cannot but acknowledge our own happiness Yea Blessed are we of this Island who enjoy these things in Peace and may the Blessing of God rest upon them who promote and preserve our Peace Wherefore let us unanimously shew forth our thankfulness by our Obedience and chearfully endeavour in our several stations to uphold and maintain that Government that maintains and secures us it is but an equal and just return in regard of the benefits we receive from it By that we enjoy great quietness and plenty and therefore we ought to accept it always and in all places with all thankfulness And if it be Equity to uphold the Government because it upholds us what is it but great Iniquity to oppose or disturb that to which we stand so much indebted 4. Obedience to our Governours is a duty incumbent on us in point of ingenuity and gratitude For in preserving the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation they do not only preserve ours but for our advantage also they undergo many cares and troubles great toyl and labour attending continually for this very thing Rom. 13. 6. It is a great mistake in those that judge only by appearances to think the Lives of our Governours more pleasant and easie than other mens whereas indeed they are of all most difficult and full of Trouble Their splendor and Attendances their Riches and affluence of outward things and whatever else is necessary to support their State and Grandeur does not half countervail their continual sollicitudes and cares from within their crosses and disappointments from without the censures and obloquies of querulous and peevish persons the want of ease and liberty they sustain and all for our sakes that we way live in quiet In regard of what they do and endure for us watching early and late for our good they are deservedly stiled Parents of their Countrey and therefore 't is an ungrateful thing to add to their burden and increase their trouble by our frowardness and disobedience 't is not only disingenuous but unjust not to render 'em freely what may encourage and comfort 'em in the discharge of their arduous Office that they may do it with joy and not with grief Obedience will make their Office easie and our own condition safe 5. No man can disobey his Governours without breaking the most Sacred Laws of Justice and Honesty without downright Perjury towards God and perfidiousness towards man Every one as soon as he is born is under the Protection of the Government and becomes a Subject to his Natural Liege Lord and therefore when he comes to exercise his senses and to discern between good and evil as Religion and Reason will engage him to Fear God in the first place who has given him Life and Being so in the next it will teach him to Honour the King and submit to the Government by which under God he enjoys his Well-being and he cannot but conceive himself under a natural obligation of Obedience to the Laws of the Community of which Providence and Nature have made him a Member And in pursuance of this as well as the Law of God the Government has a Right to tye the Consciences of men by the firmest bonds it can and to exact Oaths of Allegiance and Promises of Fidelity and Loyalty that so it may secure and sustain it self and be better enabled to Protect them In which Promises and Oaths being once engag'd it is horrible impiety and wickedness to violate 'em for nothing can excuse us from the obligation of an Oath but the plain unlawfulness of the matter to which we are sworn Now this can never take place when we swear Allegiance only to our Lawful Governours according to the will of God the dictates of Nature the reason of the thing the Example of all Ages and the known Laws of our own Nation Wherefore I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment and to live in Obedience to his Government and that in regard of the Oath of God 'T is the Counsel of the Preacher Eccl. 8. 2. and 't is my Duty to mind you of it These things being seriously consider'd it will easily appear That Disobedience has all that is base in it and that Rebellion contains a whole conjugation of Wickedness of which there seems to be an undeniable sense in all mens minds since even they who love the thing do usually hate the name of Rebels and such as are conscious of the guilt would gladly avoid the reproach of it a plain indication of guilt as guilt is a manifest Argument of Sin and Wickedness And therefore it is well compared by the Prophet Samuel to Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 23. Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft and stubborness is as Iniquity and Idolatry 'T is a Sin next to Blasphemy to speak evil of dignities a degree of prophaness to disobey 'em and intolerable Iniquity to Rebell against ' em It is as bad in its own nature as Murder or Theft being as expresly forbidden as these and in its consequence 't is far more mischievous Witness the dreadful miseries that usherd in and ensued the dissolution of a flourishing Monarchy within our own memories when prosperous wickedness prevail'd and Rebellion rid in Triumph For to rifle one man of his goods is not so bad or hurtful as to rob the Publick of its Peace to set an House on fire is not so pestilent and hainous as to be an Incendiary of the State to make combustions in the Nation and to blow up the Foundations of Publick Quiet To poyson or assassinate one private Person is not so horrid as to stabb a Common-wealth to sow the seed of Sedition in the Peoples minds and to raise intestine commotions in it in a word to wrong one man is nothing in comparison to the injuring of a Prince and in Him the whole Common-weale for in Him you wrong me and my Neighbour and every one that is protected by Him who are concerned in him and ought to defend him as a Common Father I might proceed to shew how Rebellion debauches the Conscience and hardens men in impiety and opens a gap to all sort of Villany till at
length they grow seared and senceless of the evil of Sin and Conscience leaves off to rebuke 'em for it For when Subjects have drawn the Sword against their Sovereign they usually throw away the Scabbard and 't is rare very rare to find a Repenting Rebel How 't is directly opposite to the Spirit and Power of Christianity which is as its Author holy and harmless calm and gentle meek and peaceable and no less destructive to the practise of it while it lets loose the Reins and opens the flood-gates of Ungodliness gives vent to mens Passions Lusts and Outrage cancells all the endearments of Love and Affection and violates all Obligations Sacred and Civil How it makes the very Profession of Religion odious and despicable and exposeth it to contempt and reproach as the great Cause of mischief and disturbance to the world And this Experience hath sadly shewn for there is nothing hath prejudic'd and disparag'd Religion among unconcern'd lookers on more than the Factions and Seditions it hath caused I mean the false pretences and shadow of Religion for the Power of it hath no such thing Woe be to them by whom such scandals come And in brief How 't is contrary to the Example of Christ the Blessed Apostles and the Primitive Saints and Christians who copyed out the precepts of the Gospel by their practise and did never oppose or disturb the Government under which they liv'd And if my time were not almost spent I might also examine the pretences that have been made for Disobedience and Resistance and the evasions men have found to elude if possible those glorious patterns For one has even libell'd the Primitive Christians ascribing their meekness and submission to necessity rather than their Religion or their Virtue as though they wanted sufficient Forces to resist or perhaps Courage So Bellarmine Another sticks not to say that the Apostles themselves in Prescribing Subjection and Obedience did it only to flatter the Emperours and curry favour with them So Salmeron A third has Taught That the Doctrine of Resistance was a Mystery hid indeed from the first Ages and reserv'd for the last days of greater Light Jo. Goodwin Anticav Sect. 6. But what will not some men say when they are put to a plunge and pinch'd with the Evidence of a Plain Truth The Blessed Apostles shall be called Parasites and Daubers rather than a Jesuite will confess himself in the wrong and the Gospel it self belied to countenance that which it every where condemns But of all the Artifices which seditious spirits have taken up there have been none more made use of than the pretence of Religion and Zeal which hath been thought so creditable a Cause to engage in that it could once convert the infamous title of Rebel or Traytor to that of Patriot or Saint and among those that are easily blinded by their interest or success it hath quite smother'd the Odium of such Engagements Besides which it has had this advantage That it always makes Conscience of its Party for fear it should condemn it self and so stifles all doubts and scruples that might otherwise discourage the undertaking and as some men have told a lye so often till they believe it to be true so have some biggoted zealots enur'd their minds so much to Rebellious Principles that they think at last they are bound in Conscience to put 'em in execution We have had so many and such costly evidences of this in this our Nation that they transcend the most tragical description From hence have sprung those dangerous Positions whereby Treason hath been defended and Rebellion openly maintain'd hence those pernicious maxims at once destructive of Religion and Conscience of Laws and Government That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks and That Dominion is founded in Grace I mention both together not only because they were both broached in the same School but chiefly because we of this Nation have smarted so deeply from both The Jesuits first set 'em on foot and the Anabaptists Fifth-Monarchists and other Sectaries followed their steps And as 't is the common Fate of Truth to suffer from both Extreams while one side hath pleas'd to call us Hereticks and the other to stile themselves Saints they have combin'd together tho' they would never own the Confederacy to disturb an happy and well-setled Government and to ruin as much as in them lay the best Constitution of Reformed Religion in the whole world But blessed be God and again I say blessed they are both still in being and they mutually strengthen and uphold each other The Defender of the Faith of Christ is the Shield and Buckler of his Church amongst us and by the Divine Protection of him we are also secured in the quiet enjoyment of our Lives and Fortunes of our Laws and our Immunities and in the free and open Profession of Gods true Religion Let us not forfeit so great blessings by our Ingratitude to God and the King by our evil Lives and froward tempers and disobedience to those Laws which secure these things to us We have an excellent Government to which Forreigners flee for Refuge and stand in admiration at our happiness and they cannot imagine what those People aile who murmur and complain in such a state unless they be surfeited and sick of Ease and Peace and Plenty We have a Church whose Doctrine Discipline and Government is Apostolical and Primitive defective in nothing so much as the Obedience of her Members unless it be the Exercise of her Discipline The hatred and terror of the Romish Party because they know whereon we bottom having prescription from the purest Ages against all their intolerable Innovations and Corruptions maintaining Order and Decency according to the first Pattern and most earnestly contending for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints And if we be malign'd both by them and others for adhering most firmly to the Government it ought to be our joy it is our glory For this Church was always famous for her untainted Fidelity and Loyalty to the Crown Oh that our Lives were as good as our Religion that our conversation were such as becometh the Gospel of Christ in Purity and Peaceableness in Gentleness and Meekness in Brotherly Love and Charity and that we were all united in consulting our Interest as well as Duty by a dutiful Obedience to the Establish'd Laws For believe me among all the Proposals which the various fancies of private men can project you will find this above all The truest Expedient for Peace and Vnion where men cannot agree the Law decides the difference let us therefore agree at least in This To be decided by the Laws And if our Divisions arise chiefly from mens breaking the Laws then it naturally follows and the consequence is so plain that it needs no proof the best way to Vnite us all is To keep the Laws Brethren keep your Laws and your Laws under God will keep your Liberties Properties and Religion safe And more particularly I beseech you For the sake of God and his Church the Kings and your own That you would all as becomes good Subjects give a special Instance of this Duty while you transact the business of this day That so God may be glorified the Government strengthened and the City credited THE END PAg. 13. lin 3. for arrear read errour Pag. 18. lin 22. after God add He calls him twice in one verse the Minister of God