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
chusing and so known to be 2 Sam. 16.12 He was for his personal qualification a Man after Gods own Heart Acts 13.22 and fulfilled all his Wills And in his Government over Israel 't is said that be fed or ruled them according to the Imagrity of his Heart and guided them by the Skilfulness of his Hands Psal 78.72 He Fought their Battles with Victorious Successes against their Enemies and managed all Public Affairs to their best Advantage Yet his Son Absolom being an Ambitious Aspiring Prince taking State upon him by his Magnificent Attendants and Departments easily obtained the Popular Reputation of a Brave Spirited Man and by his familiar Compliances and insinuating Discourses and Harangues to the Common People easily endeared himself to them and soon possessed them with hard thoughts of their King and a Perswasion that if his Father David were deposed and he succeeded him in the Throne they should be more tenderly dealt withal and all their Grievances redressed 2 Sam. 15.1 2 3 4. Oh! That he were a Judge in the Land If the Power of Government were in his hand Public Affairs should be so well Accommodated that there should not be a Grievance to be complained of Which plausible Pretence made such deep Impressions on the Minds and Affections of the Giddy Subjects that almost all the Kingdom of Israel conspired with him to make Head against David 'T is said so strong and spreading was the Conspiracy that the People increased continually with Absolom 2 Sam. 15.12 and a Messenger told David that the Hearts of the Men of Israel were after Absolom v. 13. and David's Danger was so Great that though he were a Man of an undaunted Courage and in a Cittadel of Great Strength and well Garrison'd with Valiant and Experienced Souldiers and had many Loyal and Faithful Subjects about him yet for his own Preservation and the Good of the City of Hierusalem he and all that were with him fled before Absolom and his Conspirators 2. Sam. 15.12 13 14. Sect. 17. And although God was manifestly graciously present with David and brought this Rebellious Insurrection to nothing 2 Sam. 18. and 2 Sam. 19. Yet the Men of Israel having been possessed with an Opinion that 't was lawful for them to take up Arms against their King even whilst the Bitter Effects of their former Rebellion and the Sense of the King's Indulgence and Pardon was fresh in their Minds upon some hot words betwixt the Men of Judah and the Men of Israel Sheba sounds a Trumpet of Rebellion and every Man of Israel went up from David and followed after Sheba in a New Rebellion 2 Sam. 20.12 which suggests to us this Observation That Rebels are not obliged by the Indulgences Pardons and Favours of their Princes against whom they have once made Resistance but those who have been Engaged in a Rebellion against their King how remarkable soever their overthrow was and how much soever the Hand of God was against them are so fatally bewitched with the Charmings of Rebellious Principles and Affections that they readily comply with an opportunity of involving themselves in a New Rebellion A Rebellious Disposition is too stubborn to yield to the Victorious Successes of his Prince Conquest and a Pardon will change the Condition but not the Disposition of a Rebel Yea favours will rather exasperate than extirpate their ungovernable Passions And from this instance 't is likewise manifest That if it be warrantable for Subjects in any case whatsoever to make Resistance against the Higher Powers the most Innocent and Righteous Government may easily be disturbed and destroyed Sect. 18. 3. 'T is against Common Reason That the Higher Powers should in any case and upon any pretence whatsoever be resisted with armed Force because the Jus gladij the Power of Arms the Power of making Peace and War doth properly belong to them only The Apostle tells us Rom. 13.4 that he beareth not the Sword in vain Implying that the Supream Power hath right to the Sword and consequently the Subject cannot take the Sword without Invading and Usurping the Right and Propriety of the King That which is proper to the King is inseperable from him and cannot be communicated to his Subjects 'T is a Great Truth which a Learned Man Asserts That the Power of the Sword is Potissima pars Regis the Chiefest Propriety of the Sovereign Power Devest the King of this and he is rather a Nominal than a Real King For whatever Authority he hath he hath no Power to Defend himself Protect his Subjects or to offend his and their Enemies Sect. 19. Now if the Power of the Sword be only in the King it cannot be lawful for his Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever to wrest it from him and turn the Force of it against him because 't is an Usurpation made upon his Propriety and an assuming to them that in which they have no right Who but the King with us is to appoint Martial Officers He shall make Captains over Thousands and Captains over Fifties and he shall go out before them and Fight their Battles 1 Sam. 8.12 No Man or Men but the Supream and Sovereign Power hath Authority to raise Souldiers Levy War and Fight Battles Whosoever therefore maketh use of the Sword in a military sort without Authority derived from thence deserves to perish by the Sword as our Saviour told Peter upon that occasion Mat. 26.51 I pray who had under the Law the Power of the Trumpet by which the People were alarmed and assembled for War but Moses who was the Supream Ruler of the People And when Jonathan by Sauls command smote the Garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba who blew the Trumpet that is caused it to be blown throughout the Land to call the People together for a general Rendezvouz but King Saul 1 Sam. 13.3 4. Sect. 20. War being the Highest Act of Vindicative Justice as it must not be undertaken without a just Cause and very weighty Reasons and for very good Ends and such too as cannot be obtained without it so neither must it be undertaken and engaged in without good Authority to warrant it And the Supream Authority which hath Power to make and execute Laws being the only Authority that can warrant a War and give Men a Lawful Call to it there cannot be a Lawful Assembling and Confederacy for any War without such a Lawful Call and the King having the only Power of the Sword here with us as the Laws of all Ages declare to us he only can call us to engage our selves in a War and therefore certainly we cannot lawfully resist him upon any pretence whatsoever In the Statute of the 25th of Edw. 3d. it is Declared without the Allowance of any Pretence whatsoever to be Treason for any Man or Men whatsoever to Levy War against our Lord the King or to be Adherent to his Enemies giving them any aid or comfort in the Realm or elsewhere And in
Constitution which is not chargeable with weakness or wickedness because the Contrivance and Establishment of the most wise and righteous Lord of Heaven and Earth and if God doth not make the best Provision for the Rights Safety and Peace of all Men who willeth the Salvation of them all who will or can Sect. 33. And as it is evident from the instance of Saul that the Abuse of the Regal Power in male-Administration and Tyrannical Usages of the best the most innocent and serviceable Subjects is no forfeiture thereof nor warranty for the Subjects to resist with armed Force and depose their Sovereign so we shall find in the succeeding Generations after the Translation of the Regal Dignity from Saul's to David's Family that how much soever the Regal Power was abused either respectively to Civil or Religious Matters and how much soever God was provoked thereby there was no Tiberty granted or allowed for Resistance or endeavours for a Reformation of corruption in the King or his Officers I shall instance in Solomon and compare his duty with his practice You have the Kings duty described Deut. 17.16 17 18 19. He shall not multiply Horses to himself nor cause the People to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply Horses forasinuch as the Lord hath said unto you ye shall henceforth return no more that way Neither shall he multiply Wives to himself that his Heart turn not away neither shall he greatly multiply to himself Silver and Gold And it shall be when be sitteth on the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a Copy of his Law in a Book and he shall read therein all the Days of his Life that he learn to fear the Lord his God c. Let us now take a View of Solomons Practice and we shall find that he acted as if he had been under no such restraints and limitations He sent into Egypt for Horses 1 Kings 10.28 He loved strange Women together with the Daughter of Pharoah Women of the Moabites Ammonites Edomites Zidonians Hittites And he had Seven Hundred Wives Princesses and Three Hundred Concubines and his Wives turned away his Heart 1 Kings 11.1 and 2. that is after other Gods v. 4. and seven hundred Wives that were Princesses and three hundred Concubines with their respective Idol Gods could not be supported and maintained in a State of Magnificence at a cheap rate and therefore he made Silver to be in Jerusalem as Stones 1 Kings 10.27 and he had so many Vessels of Gold that their abundance made Gold to be nothing accounted of in his days v. 21. which great Treasure was probably obtained either by heavy exactions from or the great hazards of his Subjects And yet here was no suggestion that there was a justifiable occasion for his Subjects to Rebel and set up another King Indeed God threatned to rend his Kingdom from him because he had not observed the direction of the standing Law of his Kingdom but his Subjects had no Authority to controul or punish him Sect. 34. Yea you shall find that when the Jews were a Conquered People and carried away Captive into Babylon God obliged them to submit to the Sovereign Power thereof Jer. 29.7 seek the Peace of the City whither I have caused you to be carried away Captive for in the Peace thereof ye shall have Peace And in obedience to this command Mordecai discovered the Traitorous Conspiracy of Bigthana and Terish the King's Chamberlains against the King Ahasuerus Esth 2.21 22 23. compt With ch 6.2 and though they were reduced to as great an extremity as ever a People under Heaven were by a Decree obtained by Haman from Ahasuerus to destroy to kill and to cause to perish all Jews both young and old little Children and Women in one day Esth 3.13 and they were a very numerous People and could have made a considerable Defence yet Mordecai durst not think of using armed Force but resolved upon Passive Obedience unless they could obtain a Decree from the King to defend themselves The King's Decree by the Fundamental Constitution of the Medes and Persians was not reversible but must be executed Esth 8.8 Esthers Petition therefore to have the King's Letters devised by Haman to destroy the Jews reversed could not be granted Esth 8.5 but the King grants her a Decree that the Jews which were in every City might gather themselves together and stand for their Life to destroy to slay and to cause to perish all the Power of the People and Province that would assault them Esth 8.11 and being favoured with this liberty of Self-defence the Jews gathered themselves together in their Cities to lay hand on such as sought their hurt and no Man could withstand them for the Fear of them fell upon all the People Esth 9.2 and vers 16. they had rest from their Enemies and slew of their Foes seventy and five thousand And if they who were Captives of War and so well able to defend themselves from the Execution of such an inhuman bloody and undeserved a Decree to destroy them root and branch durst not defend themselves by force of Arms against Regal Power nor those thereby commissioned without liberty and allowance therefrom first granted and obtained what shall we think of those Men by what Spirit are they guided and acted who only from some particular personal or Family-grievances and some public Inconveniences and perhaps Mischiefs betake themselves to armed Force to Resist and Depose their lawful and natural Prince Sect. 35. 2. Having thus proved it utterly unlawful under the Jewish Constitution upon any pretence whatsoever to resist the Higher Powers I shall now likewise as evidently discover the unlawfulness thereof under the Christian Constitution When our Saviour first entered on his Ministerial Office the first Thing he did was to declare the Approach of a New Kingdom and the next to instruct his Disciples That this Kingdom was no Kingdom of this World for 't is said when Jesus began to preach he said Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 4.17 i. e. By an usual Hebraism an heavenly Kingdom and so called in opposition to earthly Kingdoms implying that this Kingdom which the God of Heaven was by him now setting up and which was never to be destroyed as Daniel had prophesied Ch. 2.44 Was not a Kingdom of this World was not to be founded supported and propagated by the Assumption and Exercise of any Civil temporal Power but was to be introduced and established from the Strength and Power of divine Truth and its own goodness without the help of any Civil Power or worldly Interest being altogether different in its Nature and Constitution and in its design and administration from all earthly and secular Empires Wherefore the Institution and Erection of Christ's Kingdom was no way prejudicial to the Being or Rights of any earthly Kingdom but as the Civil Governments of the World were settled before so they still
Sword and might warrantably oppose force to force from worldly Powers they would in a military Way have assisted and defended me against the Jews when they apprehended and dealt with me as a Malefactor but they could not pretend any Commission from me to repel with armed Force the most injurious and violent Usage from the Higher Powers for I did expresly forbid it vers 11. Put up thy Sword into thy Sheath said he there to St. Peter who rashly from a wild and ungoverned Zeal drew it in his defence Sect. 38. If you compare the Evangelists together you shall find that Christ's Disciples asked him If they should smite with the Sword Luk. 22.49 and St. Peter probably being naturally somewhat too eager and having an extraordinary tenderness for his Master's Person and perhaps a little leavened with an expectation of a temporary Kingdom without staying for an Answer drew his Sword and smote of Malchus the High Priest's Servants Ear who was likely most forward and busy in seizing of Christ and what was the Event our Saviour for the Reparation of the Injury miraculously pieced it up again to his head vers 51. and severely reprimands Peter for his bold and unwarrantable Action vers 52. Put up thy Sword again into his place and he gave him a Reason for it which obliged him and will have an unlimited and universal Obligation on all Subjects to the End of the World for all they that take the Sword shall perish by the Sword Which Words as you may learn from the Margine of your Bibles have reference to Gen. 9.6 and Rev. â— 10 and are in truth part of the moral Law and clearly intimate that when private Persons not authorized by the Higher Powers do use the Sword in a vindicative and destructive Way they are Murderers let their pretensions be what they will and must expect their allotment Vengeance is mine saith the Lord Rom. 12.19 I will repay and none but such as are commissioned by God can wield the Sword of Justice and claim a Power of Life and Death over Men which Private Subjects cannot pretend And if St. Peter's Resistance not of Caesar himself or the High Priest himself but only of Inferiour Officers Commissioned by them for the Preservation of Christ and Christianity too for the Assailants aimed at the Destruction of both and this done too rashly and indeliberately without any prepensed prejudice and malice be so blamable and an usurpation upon God's prerogative because he was a Subject and had no claim to the Power of the Sword I 'm sure no Man in the same Relation can have a warrantable Ground to avenge himself on his Sovereign Lord the King or resist his Commissioned Officers Sect. 39. And our Saviour having chid and threatned Peter into Obedience he presently declares to him that it was a plain Resistance to the Nature of the Design he was to accomplish in the World to attempt the Defence or Promotion of it by armed Force and Violence Jo. 18.37 to this end saith he was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the Truth every one that is of the Truth heareth my Voice q. d. my Kingdom is to subsist by the Power of the Truth and not by the Power of the Sword and all that are heartily zealous for the Truth will voluntarily submit themselves to my institutions And that I have no mind to Rescue my Person and settle my Kingdom by Force of Arms levied against the Powers of the World thou mayest infer from hence for thinkest thou said Christ to Peter that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give Twelve Legions of Angels Mat. 26.53 Who owed Subjection and Obedience to no earthly Powers and so were fitter Assistance in such a Case than Peter and the rest of his Disciples were Wherefore if it had been necessary proper or agreeable to that constitution of Things he was about to Establish he could have relieved himself without St. Peter's help with a forcible Resistance but that would not effect his Ends but destroy them For how then said he shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Mat. 26.54 Which foretold that he should quitely and patiently without any resistance submit himself to all sorts of ignominious and cruel sufferings from the Legal Powers of the World Is 53.3 to 8. Sect. 40. And as Christ preached and practiced the Doctrine of Non-resistance so did his Disciples and Followers also St. Paul in the first Verse of this Chapter where the Text is chargeth every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers All Men of what Rank Order Degree or Quality soever the whole Body of the People as well as every individual Person which he enforceth with irresistible Reasons for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And the Roman Power of Government was at this time probably in Nero's hand who was not only an Heathen but also a Man most prodigiously Tyrannical a fierce and barbarous Enemy to Christians and their Religion and such a Monster of Villany and Wickedness as hath scarcely been known in the World and St. Peter taught the same Doctrine Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the Punishment of evil Doers and for the Praise of them that do well for so is the Will of God that with well-doing you put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men 1 Pet. 2.13 14 15. and as the Apostles taught others to do so they themselves did They submitted themselves to the Civil Powers where ever they came honoured their Persons and obeyed their Laws unless inconsistent with their Obedience unto God and then they chose rather to obey God than Man Acts 3.29 and when punished for disobedience to unreasonable and unjust Laws they suffered with great serenity and submission of Mind without passionate Perturbations or bitter Reflections or appearance of any Inclination to Resistance When they were injuriously imprisoned Acts 4.3 and beaten Acts 5.41 they did not exclaim revile or calumniate but went away rejoycing So when Herod had butchered St. James and consign'd St. Peter to the same Portion there was no spreading of Libels raising of Tumults or confederation of Factions in the City but they possessed their Souls in Patience and Prayers and Tears were their only Weapons of Defence And certainly there is scarce any particular Instance wherein Christianity did more triumph in the World than in their exemplary Submission to the Civil Powers especially in the patient Endurance of unjust Penalties on their Persons and Possessions Sect. 41. And hereby they declared an acknowledgment That God had decreed and predestinated them as they were Christians to be conformed to the Image of his Son in his