Power in pulling down and setting up whom he pleaseth are we authorized to pull down our Superiors and to set up our selves because Christ hath redeemed us and made us Free-men of his spiritual Kingdom doth this warrant us to make our selves the Lords and Masters of the World because we must not subject our selves to serve Mens Lusts and Vices must we not therefore submit our selves to their legal Authority and Power because a State of civil Freedom is more eligible than a State of Bondage 't is better to be at our own disposal and liberty than to be in servitude and confined to the Will of another are we therefore to effect and endeavour to be above the Check and Controulment of the Sovereign Powers cannot Men be Masters of themselves but they must be Masters of their Superiors too 't is remarkable how very differently sincere and hypocritical Christians argue from the Principle under Consideration because 't is said That Christians are made free by Christ Joh. 8.36 and therefore every Christian Servant is the Lord's Free-man 1 Cor. 7.22 therefore some hypocritical Christians conclude themselves licensed to cast off all Subjection and Obedience to Magistrates and Masters and to live as discharged from all Conscience of Duty to them though by their present Circumstances constrained and necessitated externally to perform it but on the contrary part sincere Christians obey Governours as free but as servants of the Lord 1 Pet. 2.16 Serve the Lord in obeying their Governours submit themselves the one for Conscience sake to the other the highest Engagement and strongest Bond of Obedience that can be Sect. 61. I appeal to all considering Men if it be reasonable to believe that since Jesus Christ came not into the World to destroy the Law but to fulfill it Mat. 5.17 That is not to evacuate or relax any moral Duty but by his Doctrine and Example to fill up and re-inforce the Authority and obliging Power thereof and to commend his quiet and patient Submission to the injurious Affronts and destructive Violence of the Higher Powers as a Pattern for us to conform unto and imitate 1 Pet. 2.21 I say this considered is it credible that he hath cancelled the Obligation of any moral Duty by his death to his Followers and discharged them from Non-Resistance of the Higher Powers when they are too strong for them Sect. 62. But since 't is generally confessed that the moral Law is of universal and immutable Obligation of which the fifth Commandement is a Part and expresly requires us to Honour our Governours as all will acknowledge how comes it to pass that the Duty of this Commandement should be released or relaxed rather than of any other Is not the Observation of this Commandement of as much account with God as the Observation of the rest Is not the Honour of God and the Safety of human Societies as much concern'd in the keeping of it now as formerly why then should Christians be more limited in the Terms of their Subjection to the Higher Powers and less restrained from resisting them than the Jewish Nation when 't was govern'd by Rulers of God's own immediate Appointment The Authority Necessity Ends and Reasons of it are still the same and how comes it to pass that the Nature Grounds and Reasons of Subjection and Obedience are alter'd and the Pretenders to the Management of the Scepter of Christ must command and dispose that of the King If Conscience as God's Vicegerent must not be forced so neither must the King who represents as my Lord Coke tells us God's own Person Why should not God's Ordinance be as irresistible in the one as in the other the one hath as great a Supremacy over us without us as the other within us Sect. 63. Moreover if we are to be guided and governed by the positive Laws and Constitutions of our own Country as proper Rules and Measures to determine and limit our Allegiance and Obedience then 't is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and we are to abhor that Traitorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissionated by him as 't is Stat. 14. Ch. 2. And since saith Grotius on Mat. 26.52 there is no Man that doth not favour himself if it be once admitted that private Men being injuriously dealt withall by the Magistrate may repel force with force all places will be full of Tumults the Authority of Laws and Judicatures will be null and void And in his Votum pro pace ad Art 16. He affirms that Subjects ought by no means to resist their King or Prince by force or ought they to take either offensive or defensive Arms against their King or Prince for the Cause of Religion or for any other cause whatsoever and further affirms that no Government can be any longer safe than whilest those who have such Sentiments want strength And how Men that are for resisting the Higher Powers can expect to be owned as Friends to Government and presume on any Trust or Favour from the Administrators thereof I cannot imagine I shall conclude this with the Affirmation of the Church of England in her fourth part of her Homily against willful Rebellion God alloweth neither the Dignity of any Person nor the Multitude of any People nor the Weight of any Cause as sufficient for the which Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes Sect. 64. I am not altogether ignorant of the Reasonings of some discontented and interested Men to plead for the lawfulness of resisting the Higher Powers with armed Force in some cases and perhaps it may be expected that I should engage my self in the solemn Examination and Confutation of them But having proved from divine Revelation that God hath forbidden it I may warrantably say to every such Reasoner as the Apostle in another case alike depending on the Sovereign Authority of God Rom. 9.20 Nay but Oh Man who art thou that repliest against God Shall not God govern the World as he pleaseth hath he not an absolute and unaccountable Power to impart after what manner and measure he judgeth fit his own Sovereign Authority and Power to his Vicegerents and if God do not limit and restrain the Extent of their Authority and Power who shall we frequently find Jesus Christ and his Apostles endeavouring to impress on Mens Consciences a quick Sense of their Obligations to yield Subjection and Obedience to the Higher Powers but never determining or limiting the manner of obtaining their Titles or the Righteousness of their Prerogatives and Rights or their way of administring and executing them which I take to be a plain Intimation that the Welfare of Mankind and the Safety of all Societies depends on the dutiful and peaceable Deportment of the governed part thereof and that Subjects are principally concerned Conscientiousness to attend their own Duties and to leave the Menageries of the governing part of that
as it was an horrible wickedness in Saul so a great Temptation I mean of an apt tendency to provoke David to defend himself by armed Force He might have pretended that Saul had violated all the Bonds of Reason and Religion He had not only murthered great numbers of his innocent common Subjects but also of the Lord's Priests as if he designed an extirpation of God's public Worship and that he had not only Self-preservation to engage him to a Resistance but also that the common Rights of all the Kingdom challenged his Protection Sect. 30. This was really David's case and yet when God put Saul once and again under the Power of David's Hands all the Use that he made of it was to convince Saul that he was his Faithful and Loyal Subject and though he had suffered many and great Injuries causlesly from him yet no provocation should induce him to do his Sovereign any harm Indeed David's Servants and Followers were forward enough to perswade him to dispatch him out of the way as a Fact that would make way for the accomplishment of God's gracious Promise to David and the whole Kingdom But David abhors the Motion and crys out God forbid that I should do this thing to my Master the Lord 's anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him And the Reason which restrain'd him was founded on this Fundamental Law of Sovereignty That 't is not to be resisted or controuled by armed Force Seeing he is saith he the Lord 's anointed 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6. c. And so when Abishai would have smote Saul he forbad it for the same Reason 1 Sam. 26.8 9. Abishai said to David when they found Saul sleeping within a Trench God hath delivered thine Enemy into thy hand this day now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the Spear even to the Earth at once I will not smite him the second time and David said to Abishai destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be innocent or guiltless q.d. He is our King and hath from the Lord a Noli me tangere on him and the Hand of Violence cannot be laid on without Sin and a fearful Expectation of divine Vengeance Which Words did not proceed from cowardly Fears or ignorant Scrupolity but from Conscience of Obedience to God and clear Motives of Duty to the King For David was a Man of invincible Courage and being a Prophet could not but be well instructed in his Duty and 't is said of him that he was not only wiser than his Enemies but also wiser than all his Teachers Psal 119.98 99. and wiser than all the Servants of Saul 1 Sam. 18.30 And 't is highly probable that he Penn'd about the same time the 54th and 57th Psalm as the Titles of them intimate and consequently that he was directed in what he did by the special Conduct of God's Holy Spirit and well understood both his Duty and Interest and if you consult the 23d and 24th Verses of this Chapter you shall find that he made very comfortable Conclusions from his Loyal Deportment in the Case The Lord said he render to every Man his Righteousness and his Faithfulness for the Lord delivered thee into mine hand to day but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed and behold as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes so let my life be much set by in the Eyes of the Lord and let him deliver me out of all Tribulation And his commanding Death to be executed on the Amalckite which slew Saul though Saul was mortally wounded before and 't was done at his own request to save him from further Torture and Disgrace and to preserve the Regalia is a further Evidence that David thought it an unlawful thing to assault his King with armed Force and his question to the Amalekite manifestly implies it How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed 2 Sam. 1.14 15. Sect. 31. But perhaps you may think That the very Ceremony of Anointing being done by God's special Command was that which bound up David's Hands and priviledg'd Saul from violent Resistance and Coercion because this is every where mentioned as the moving Cause of David's restraint from defensive and offensive Resistance 'T is manifest That the Priests as well as Saul were Anointed by God's Command and yet that did not exempt from being accountable for their Actions and free them from the Danger of coercive Force and Punishment It was not therefore barely the Ceremony of Anointing but the Sovereign Authority thereby signified which priviledg'd him from Resistance His Anointing was no addition to his Power but only signified God's Designation Constitution and Approbation of his Power 'T was the Nature of his Regal Dignity and Power and not the manner of collating or conferring it which exempted from coercion and correction 'T is the Essence and not the Ceremonies of Things which constitutes and denominates them For Ceremonies are things extrinsecal both to Being and Operation And although Saul and David who were the first of their respective Families that were invested with Regal Dignity were anointed yet such as succeeded by Inheritance to the Kingdom as Jehosaphat Hezekiah Josiah were not anointed and yet had as much Authority as their Predecessors and as great Priviledges Sect. 32. Those Arguments which are ordinarily drawn from the Armed Men which were with David and over which he was Captain 1 Sam. 22.2 and Ch. 23.13 which are called Helpers of the War 2 Chr. 12.1 And from his residing at Keilah a place fit to be garrison'd 1 Sam. 23.7 8 9 10 11. to prove that 't was lawful for David to resist Saul with armed Force are nothing to the purpose for David being Son-in-Law to a King expectant of the Crown in which he was like to meet with Opposition subject to private Assaults and needing good Intelligence to prevent a Surprise from Saul and his public Enemies 't was highly expedient that he should have a considerable Retinue about him to be as a Life-guard to him and to be in a readiness to serve him whensoever God by his Providence should call him to succeed in the Throne neither doth the Peoples Rescue of Jonathan from the Death his Father threatned to inflict upon him 1 Sam. 14.44 45. in the the least discover any hostile Violence offer'd to the King much less that they might lawfully assault him with armed Force Their act was an act of Mediation and not of Coercion And a learned Man observes that the Orginal Word translated they rescued him signifies they redeemed him That is Jonathan's Life by Saul's Vow being forfeited to God the People by a general Consent substituted an offering to God for the Vow according to the Law in such a Case Lev. 27.2 and so 〈◊〉 Jonathan from Death not by forcing Saul but by appeaâ—ing Goâ— This was the Case under the Jewish
the patient Deportments of Christian Subjects under their Tyrannical Governours when they have strength enough to resist them and can but will not for Conscience sake towards Christ Jesus as their Teacher and Leader Sect. 58. The Christians of the first and purest Ages were not such a fierce and military sort of Men so addicted to unpeaceable and seditious Factions riotous Tumults rebellious Insurrections and bloody Warrings against the Higher Powers as some called Christians and they which stile themselves the godly Party of them too are in our times For Three hundred and forty Years after Christ there cannot be an instance given of any number of Christians how injuriously soever dealt withal that ever made a forcible Resistance against the Higher Powers or were found in a Conspiracy to depose them though those they lived under were sometimes the worst of Men and bitterest Persecutors of the best Religion Origen tells Celsus who inveighed against Christianity it self from a pretence that Christians were no Friends to the Civil Powers that he could discover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no act of Sedition among them how much soever provoked by their Persecutors and that this peaceable and patient Submission to Sufferings for their Religion did not proceed from the want of strength to oppose their Persecutors but from Conscience of Obedience and Conformity to the Doctrine and Example of Christ is manifest from the Writings of the Fathers who lived in the first Ages of the Church Tertullian tells the Roman Emperor and Senate that if the Christians would act the part of open Enemies to them they did not want Numbers and Armies We have filled saith he your Cities Isles Castles Camps c. and though our Numbers were unequal yet for what War should we be unfit who can so readily lay down our lives if our Religion did not require us rather to dye than to draw our Swords to kill others and St. Cyprian Writing to the Proconsul of Asia acquaints him That though the Christians were very numerous yet they would not endeavour to revenge themselves against the unjust Violence of their Persecutors And Maximus the Emperor who was a great Persecutor of the Christian Profession in his Epistle to Sabinus recorded by Eusebius saith That almost all Men had left the Worship of the Roman Gods and joined themselves to the Christians And 't is evident that Julian the Emperor who was an Apostate from Christianity and used his Wit to the utmost to restore Paganism had an Army which mostly consisted of Christians who were subject to him not so much for fear of Wrath as for Conscience sake Sect. 59. And in truth If the Apostles did Command the first Christians to be subject to the Roman Higher Powers as ordained of God over them and not to resist them because in so doing they would resist the Ordinance of God and incur the Guilt of Damnation but to submit for the Lord's sake and that they must needs be subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake for so was the Will of God and yet allow them to take up Arms against them when they had strength enough to make their party good would undermine the Simplicity of the Gospel and by a crafty Pretence of Religion and Conscience carry on a politic Design to weaken the temporal Powers of the World and to advance their own Followers to greater advantages of Numbers and Strength and therefore such Insinuations of some Popish and Fanatick Authors are to be abhorred as defamatory to the Design of Christianity for such Collusion was far from their intention their plain meaning was that Christians ought to suffer quietly and patiently as Christ himself did without resistance for well-doing as became a Self-denying People to do who had learned a suffering Religion from a suffering Master and Saviour which required their Submission in all things to the Will of God and gave them no warranty from their Rulers abuse or Power to dispense with their Duties to their Rulers it being equally as unlawful for the Subject to exauctorate depose and usurp Power over his Sovereign as 't is for his Sovereign unjustly to punish him and exacteth their Obedience for Christ's sake to their Governours which being conscientiously performed is a well-doing that puts to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 2.15 That is doth silence such as pretend Exemptions and Priviledges against the Obligations and Interests of Obedience and such as accuse Christians as Enemies to Civil Government who when they cannot do what is commanded as they pretend will not suffer if they can resist what is inflicted So that the Practice of Passive Obedience is acting the part of a Christian and not the part of a Vassal or Slave or Enthusiast as some affect to speak and a Justification of the peaceable Design of the Gospel and a Vindication of the genuine Spirit of a Christian And hence I do infer Sect. 60. Then they that pretend Religion to excuse or justify themselves in traitorous Conspiracies and Rebellions blaspheme Religion and pervert it to quite contrary purposes than those it was designed for and it naturally and properly tends unto what ever Inferences and Conclusions seditious and ungovernable minded Men may make from the Evangelical Doctrine 't is in it self and the Design of the Author thereof subservient and plyable to no purposes destructive or prejudicial to the Security and Ends of Civil Government or of their Persons who have the Management and Administration thereof they therefore that apply that Passage in the Virgin Marys Song He hath shewed strength with his Arm he hath scattered the Proud in the Imagination of their heart He hath put down the Mighty from their seats and hath exalted them of low degree Luk. 1.51 52. to countenance and encourage themselves to renounce and reject a State of legal Subjection and Servitude as they term it and to assume the State of Empire and Government as if called thereunto by their Christian Profession and strengthen themselves therein from that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.21 22 23. Art thou called being a Servant care not for it but if thou mayest be made free use it rather for he that is called in the Lord is the Lord's Free-man likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's Servant Ye are bought with a Price be ye not the Servants of Men Do wrest the Scriptures and transfer them from a spiritual and heavenly Intendment to a carnal and diabolical One For by what Rule of Interpretation of Scripture do these Scriptures signify that by Christ the Civil Governments of the World are dissolved and Subjects and Servants are recovered to their natural Rights and Liberties as they speak and they are no longer under an Obligation to submit themselves to the tyrannical and oppressing Powers of the World but may deliver themselves by resistance as soon as they have strength enough for it because God sometimes magnifieth his