careful our blessed Saviour was to pay all due respects to any person invested with Authority and that St. Peter recommends a meek behaviour even towards them from whom we receive hard measure P. 94. That such a continued respect and practice of duty to Governours even under hard usage is that which Conscience to God will oblige to perform This duty of respectful submission is not founded upon the good temper of our Superiours but upon the Authority they receive from God and the Precepts which God hath thereupon given to us P. 97. Obj. But if Religion be concern'd and in danger doth it not behove every good Man to be zealous c. Ans 1. It is requisite he should be zealous in the diligent exercise of a holy Life and in frequent and devout prayer c. But he must not be active as an evil doer in giving himself the liberty to behave himself undutifully towards his Superiours 2. Religion can never be so in danger that God can need any sinful practices of Men to uphold his interest his Kingdom is not so weak that it cannot stand without the affistance of the works of the Devil P. 99. 3. Religion can never be opposed with greater enmity and malicious designs than it was when our Saviour suffered and yet then he reviled not P. 100. nor allow'd St. Peter's rashness The Jews aimed utterly to root out the Christian Name and there were great oppositions against Religion even fiery Tryals 1 Pet. 4.12 When yet Saint Peter requires Christians to follow the Example of our Lord's patience and meekness and to reverence Superiours 4. True zeal for Religion consists in pious and holy living not in passionate and sinful speaking To Dr. Falkner I should join his Pupil Dr. Sherlock but his Book of Non resistance is so strong and his arguments from Scripture so cogent that it is needless to make any extracts out of it and till his Adversary writes both a more becoming and a more demonstrative Answer it will be still by all wise Men look'd upon as unanswerable SECT XXIX Among the unanswerable Treatises I also reckon Dr. Hicks the Dean of Worcester's Jovian for unless scurrility confidence and a desertion of the main Argument may pass for an Answer the Reply that is yet extant deserves no Rejoinder Out of that Elaborate Commentary on the Doctrine of Passive Obedience I shall only quote one passage because it is a History of the Author's Principles and Resolution I had rather dye a Martyr than a Rebel P. 259 and I resolve by God's assistance neither to turn Papist nor Resist but if I cannot escape I will suffer according to the Gospel and the Church of England and I will Preach and Practise Passive Obedience after the example of the Prophets and Martyrs who suffered against Law and in my most melancholy prospect of things I can comfort my self with the hopes of a reward for dying at a Stake which he shall never have for dying in the Field To this purpose also the Sermon at bow-Bow-Church Jan. 30. 1681 / 2. Together with the same Author's Artillery Sermon are worth the perusing Dr. South I have read heretofore of some Serm. 2. p. 80 81. that having conceived an irreconcileable hatred of the Civil Magistrate prevailed with Men so far that they went to resist him even out of Conscience and a full perswasion and dread upon their spirits ☜ that not to do it were to desert God and consequently to incur Damnation Now when Mens rage is both heightened and sanctified by Conscience the War will be fierce for what is done out of Conscience is done with the utmost activity and then Campanella 's Speech to the King of Spain will be found true Religio semper vicit praesertim armata which sentence deserves seriously to be considered by all Governors and timely understood lest it come to be felt P. 212. P. 236. We have seen Rebellion commented out of Rom. xiii He that makes his Prince despised and undervalued blows a Trumpet against him in Mens Hearts c. * See Dr. Freeman's Ser. before the L. Mayor 1682. p. 8. P. 242 243. To imagine a King without Majesty a Supreme without Sovereignty is a Paradox and direct contradiction The Church of England glories in nothing more than that she is the truest friend to Kings and to Kingly Government of any other Church in the World. It is the happiness of some Professions and Callings that they can equally square themselves to and thrive under all Revolutions of Government but the Clergy of England neither know nor affect that happiness and are willing to be despised for not doing so And so far is our Church from encroaching upon the Civil Power as some who are back-friends to both would maliciously insinuate that were it stript of the very remainder of its privileges and made as like the Primitive Church for its bareness as it is already for its Purity it could chearfully and what is more Loyally want all such Privileges and in the want of them pray that the Civil Power may flourish as much and stand as secure from the assaults of Fanatick Anti-Monarchical Principles grown to such a dreadful height during the Churches late confusions as it stood while the Church enjoyed those Privileges Dr. Serm. on Heb x. 36. p. 2. John Moor. Our Saviour was the first that did effectually recommend this Passive Virtue to the World and furnished Men with such true Arguments to bear their Cross as made the most afflicted state not only supportable but to be preferred before the happiness of this life P. 16 17. A good Man when he is persecuted for his Religion neither deserts it nor by any unlawful means defends it He will not renounce his Faith to escape Persecution and yet he dreads by resisting of Authority to promote the cause of Religion P. 19. it being a blasphemy against the Divine Wisdom and Power to suppose God can stand in need of our sins to bring to pass his most glorious designs and this he says of those who under pretence of defending their Rights or Religion resist lawful Authority He then in whom this virtue of Patience dwells keeps a due regard to the commands laid upon him to submit himself to the Supreme Powers and he dares not lift up his Hand against the Lords Anointed ☞ nor Levy War upon the most plausible account whatsoever nay to him it cannot but seem a wonder that the Doctrin of Resistance should have gone down so glibly with any who have read the New Testament and are baptised into the Christian Faith. All Resistance to the Supreme Authority is unlawful The Popes of Rome being the first pretenders from Scripture to a right to resist the Civil Power P. 20 21. c. And it is most certain that by the same Argument they would take off their obligation to this plain Christian Duty they
first brought from another Country and is no way natural to our own tho the Infection hath been taken by too many who had an ill Temper prepared for it Cons Dr. Jackson's Works Tom. 3. l. 12. ch 8. p. 978. their Loyalty and Peaceableness may be the Fruits of their Education or their good temper but not of their Faith or as Dr. Sherlock says they may be loyal as Englishmen but they cannot be so as Papists Would we therefore judge of the Doctrine of our Church we must consult her Articles Canons publick Homilies publick Offices of Devotion General Orders of her Bishops Censures of her Universities and Writings of her greatest Men who have vindicated her Doctrine and explained her Belief and this Method I shall use to discover what hath been owned by the Church of England as to the Doctrine of Non-resistance or Passive Obedience CHAP. I. The Doctrine of the Thirty nine Articles THE Articles of our Church have been always looked upon as the stated Doctrine of our whole Church to which all her Priests are obliged to make their Subscriptions they are allowed a place in the Body of the Confessions of the Protestant Churches and are highly commended by Foreigners as well as by our own Writers for * Bishop Ridley's Farewel Letter apud Fox tom 3. p. 506. this Church hath in matters of Controversie Articles so penned and framed after the Holy Scriptures and grounded upon the true understanding of God's Word that in short time if they had been universally received says Bishop Ridley the Martyr they should have been able to have set in Christ's Church much concord and unity in Christ's true Religion and to have expelled many false Errors and Heresies wherewith this Church alas was almost overgone Nor is this that excellent Prelate's peculiar Opinion but of the whole Church which ordains †Can. 3. an 1604. That whosoever shall affirm that the Church of England by Law establish'd under the King's Majesty is not a true and Apostolical Church teaching and maintaining the Doctrine of the Apostles let him be excommunicated ipso facto And Can. 5. Whosoever shall affirm that any of the thirty nine Articles agreed in the Synod 1562 are in any part superstitious or erroneous let him be excommunicate ipso facto Anno 1552. In the Convocation held at London Articles of Religion were agreed upon of which the Thirty sixth runs thus The Civil Magistrate is ordained and allowed of God and therefore is to be obeyed not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake And expresly asserts That the Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England In the Articles of our Church under Queen Elisabeth anno 1562. it runs thus and so continues to this day The Queens Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Cases doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any Foreign Jurisdiction And it is remarkable ‖ Rogers's Praef. to the 39th Artic. that these Articles of 1562. were published in the same year in which the Massacre at Vassey in France was committed by the Duke of Guise and when all the Protestants in the Country were sentenced to Death by the Parliament of Paris It is true this Doctrine is not limited to the particular Case of Subjects taking up Arms but it seems to me by two necessary Consequences to be deduc'd from it 1. Because if the Pope who pretended by a Divine Right had no power over Kings much less have the People any power who pretend to an inferior Right that of Compact 2. Because the Article makes no distinction but excludes all other Power as well as that of the Pope And in truth the Plea is the same on either side the Pope says as long as the Prince governs according to the Laws of God and the Church of which he is the Interpreter so long the Censures of the Church do not reach him and say the People as long as the Prince governs according to the Laws of the Land and of the meaning of those Laws themselves are the Interpreters so long are they bound to be obedient but as soon as the King doth any thing that may contradict the Pope then he is deservedly say the Romanists excommunicate deposed and murdered and when he usurps upon the Peoples Liberties then he ought to be deposed by the Peoples the Arguments on either side are the same and for the most part the Authorities for as * Moderat of the Church of England ann 17. §. 19. p. 481. Dr. Puller well observes both Papists and Dissenters deny the Supremacy of the King one attributes it to the Pope originally the other to the People and the same Arguments that the Pope useth for his Supremacy over Kings the Disciplinarians use for establishing their Sovereignty CHAP. II. The Doctrine of the Injunctions and Canons IN the Infancy of the Reformation under Henry the Eighth for there I begin the Restoration of Religion to her Purity in this Kingdom as Dr. Burnet does †Burnet hist Reform l. 3. p. 226. tom 1. And Fox tom 2. p. 387. Anno 1536. Injunctions were issued out the first of which is That every Man that hath Cure of Souls shall for the Establishment and Confirmation of the King's Authority and Jurisdiction sincerely declare manifest and open for the space of one quarter of a year next ensuing once every Sunday and after that at the least wise twice every Quarter in their Sermons and other Collations that the Bishop of Rome 's usurp'd Power and Jurisdiction having no Establishment or Ground in the Law of God was of most just Causes taken away and abolish'd and that the King's Power is in his Dominions the highest Power and Potentate under God to whom all men within the same Dominions by God's Commandment owe most Loyalty and Obedience afore and above all other Potentates in Earth Now if a King be above all other Powers then he cannot be accountable to any other Power and so ought not to be resisted Anno * Burnet's Collect. of Records p. 181. 1538. came out the Lord Cromwel's Injunctions as they were called wherein the same Duty is injoyned in the same Words This also is the first of the Injunctions of Edw. the Sixth †Sparr Collect. p. 1 2. An. 1547. the Preface to which Injunctions acknowledges that part of them were formerly set out by Henry the Eighth and the rest added by King Edward the Sixth This also was the first of the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth with a very little variation and accordingly in the Articles of Enquiry of Archbishop Cranmer in the Diocess of Canterbury under Edward the Sixth the first is Whether all Persons c. have preach'd against the usurp'd Power of the Bishop of Rome Secondly Whether they have preach'd and
Doctrines to murder Princes are not of the Gospel-Spirit Bishop Hacket's Sermons on Psal xli 9. on the Gowry's Conspiracy p. 740. 741. Surely above all Men if the Clergy be not careful to set forth the honor of this day with great Honour and Solemnity it is their Ignorance or their Negligence Had these furious Sword-men that laid their Weapons to his Throat found an austere Master nay a Tyrant they must have born with it and not touch the Man that bears the Character of the Lord 's Anointed Dr. Sharp before the House of Commons Apr. 11. 1679. p. 35. O may God so inspire you That by your means the Person of his sacred Majesty and the Rights of his Crown may be secured against all wicked Attempts And p. 39. Let us hate all Tricks and Devices and Equivocations both in our Words and in Carriage Let us be constantly and inflexibly loyal to our Prince and let no consideration in the World make us violate our Allegiance to him And in his Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor 1680. speaking of the upright Man He is one studiously endeavouring to preserve his Allegiance to his Prince Pag. 19. He is a Man that honors the King that is observant of the Laws that is true to the Government and meddles not with them that are given to change In his Sermon preached at the Yorkshire Feast Feb. 17. 16 79 / 80. p. 17. We may do a great deal of good by our good Examples of Loyalty SECT XXII And to evince that this hath been the unquestion'd Doctrine of all the Members of this Church I shall subjoin many other Testimonies * Bish of Lincoln Principl and Posit p. 7. That England is a Monarchy the Crown Imperial and our Kings supreme Governors and sole supreme Governors of this Realm and all other their Dominions will I believe I am sure it should be granted seeing our Authentick Laws and Statutes do so expresly and so often say it In our Oath of Supremacy we swear That the King is the only supreme Governor supreme so none not the Pope above him and only supreme so none coordinate or equal to him so that by our known Laws our King is solo Deo minor invested with such a Supremacy as excludes both Pope and People and all the World God Almighty only excepted by whom Kings do reign from having any Power Jurisdiction or Authority over him This Book hath its Imprimatur not from any mean hand but from my Lord Bishop of London himself which is to me a plain implication that his Lordship did then own the Doctrine and so we have another Testimony to the Truth †Burnet's Vind. c. printed at Glascow p. 7. c. The Vindication of the Authority c. of the Church is full to this purpose Obj. May not Subjects when opprest in their establish'd Religion defend themselves and resist the Magistrate doth not the Law of Nature direct Men to defend themselves when unjustly assaulted Answ We must distinguish between the Laws of Nature and the Rights and Permissions of Nature now self-defence cannot be a Law of Nature ☜ for then it could never be dispenc'd with without a Sin nay were a man never so criminal he ought not to suffer himself to be killed neither should any Malefactor submit to the sentence of the Judge but stand to his defence by all the force he could raise and it will not serve turn to say for the good of Society he ought to submit for no Man must violate the Laws of Nature were it on never so good a design Christ's dying for us shews that self-defence can be no Law of Nature otherwise Christ who fulfilled all Righteousness had contradicted the Laws of Nature ‖ Pag. 10. He then proceeds to demonstrate that Magistrates derive not their Power from the Surrender of the People for none can surrender what they have not ☜ Take then a multitude of People not yet associated none of them hath power of his own Life neither hath he power of his Neighbor's since no Man out of Society may kill another be his Crime never so great much less be his own Murtherer A multitude of People not yet associated are but so many individual Persons therefore the Power of the Sword is not from the People nor is any of their Delegation but is from God. * Pag. 35. Consider that Christ was to fulfill all Righteousness if then the Laws of Nature exact our Defence in case of unjust Persecution for Religion ☜ he was bound to that Law as well as we for he came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law both by his Example and Precepts if then you charge the Doctrine of Absolute Submission as brutish or stupid or as contrary to the Law of Nature see you do not run into Blasphemy by charging that Holy One foolishly for whatever he knew of the secret Will of God he was to follow his revealed Will in his Actions †Pag. 39. If fighting at that time when Saint Peter drew his Sword for preserving Christ from the Jews were contrary to the Nature of his Kingdom so the Rule of the Gospel binding all the succeeding Ages of the Church no less than those to whom it was first deliver'd what was then contrary to the nature of Christ's Kingdom will be so still * P. 42. I shall add one thing which all Casuists hold a safe Rule in matters that are doubtful viz. That we ought to follow that side of the doubt that is freest from hazard ☞ here then damnation is at least the seeming hazard of resistance therefore except upon as clear evidence you prove the danger of absolute submission to be of the same nature that it may ballance the other then absolute submission as being the securest is to be followed * P. 41. Obj. But he is the Minister of God to thee for good and if they swerve from this they forsake the end for which they were raised up and so fall from the Power and right to our Obedience Answ It is true the Sovereign is a Minister of God for good so that he corrupts his power grosly when he pursues not that design but in that he is onely accountable to God whose Minister he is c. The same Author continued stedfast to this Doctrine when he left Scotland and came into England * Ser. on Jan. 30. 1674 / 5. p. 7. 9. David when Saul was most unjustly hunting his life would not stretch forth his hand against him seeing he was the anointed of the Lord from Almighty God the King had his Power and to him he knew he was to give an account of his Administration Affirming that the Enemies of that Royal Martyr P. 38. by Oaths and Counter-Oaths which they often took had their Consciences so seared as to be past feeling till they threw off all sense of God and Religion and set up professedly
and Prophets submitted their persons to those wicked Princes whose Idolatry they reproved with the loss of their lives P. 359. If the Prince wilfully maintain Heresie and open Impiety the Bishops are to reprove admonish c. but still they must serve him honor him pray for him and teach the People to do the like ☜ and with meekness enduring what the wrath of the Prince shall lay upon them without annoying his person resisting his power discharging his Subjects or removing him from his Throne Which says he to the Jesuit is your way of censuring Princes P. 366. P. 382. The Church of Christ offers not any Example of resisting and deposing Princes for a thousand years ☜ It is not enough for you to have Laws of your own making to license you to bear Arms against your Prince you must have God's Law for your Warrant or else you may come within the compass of heinous and horrible Rebellion Theoph. P. 384. that is the Protestant Interlocutor That 's the Case which you take in hand that the People may punish the Prince offending as the Prince may the People Phil. i. e. the Jesuit Either the people or none must do it Theoph. And seeing the people may not do it it is evident that God hath reserved the Magistrate to be punished by himself and not given the people power over their Prince P. 502. Do not with violence restrain them but in patience possess your own souls This is the way for all Christian Subjects to conquer Tyrants and this is the Remedy provided in the New Testament against all Persecutions not to resist Powers which God has ordain'd lest we be damn'd but with all meekness to suffer that we may be crowned P. 512. If Princes presume to violate the Dominion which God hath reserved to himself we may not rebel that 's your Jesuitical Doctrine but disobey them in that or any point that is prescribed by man against the will of God and submit our selves to endure persecution for righteousness sake P. 541. If Princes embrace the Truth you must obey them if they pursue Truth you must abide them And these Passages with what hath been formerly cited out of the said Book will I think sufficiently vindicate both the Author and his Doctrine from all that is usually objected against them Especially if we consider that when the Jesuit had quoted Goodman's Book of Obedience as applauding Wyat's Rebellion the Protestant answers It is much that you measure the whole Realm by one man's merit Par. 3. p. 273 274. and more that you draw the words which he spake from the meaning which he had to warrant your Rebellions The party ☞ which you name at the same time took Queen Mary for no lawful Prince which particular and false supposal beguiled him and made him think the better of Wyat's War but our Question is of lawful Princes not of violent Intruders and therefore Goodman's Opinion which himself hath long since disliked is no way serviceable to your Seditions or as it is in the Margin Goodman's private Opinion long since corrected by himself cannot prejudice the whole Realm Goodman did not hold that lawful Princes might be thrust from their Crowns but that Queen Mary was no lawful Magistrate One of his great Arguments against her being taken from her Sex which was made by God as he dreamed uncapable of Government this being one of his and Knox's beloved Paradoxes but he lived to repent and retract them SECT III. To give the King at his entry into England a Specimen of the temper of the Zealots they tender'd him a Petition called the Mille manus Petition as if they would have intermixed their desires with threatnings by telling the King that 1000 Ministers An. 1603. as they loved to be called had influence enough on many thousands of People to incline them to give disturbance to his Government if he did not comply with their requests to which the University of Oxford wrote a full and satisfactory answer wherein they affirm that the Presbyterians allow the King not potestatem Juris p. 29. but only facti while they make him a maintainer of their proceedings but no commander in them and all the while the King submits his Scepter unto the Scepter of Christ and licks the dust of the Churches feet for which they Quote T. C. lib. 1. p. 180. This assertion they condemn together with the other Antimonarchical Antiepiscopal Doctrins of that Petition nor was this the sole judgment of that Famous University but of her Famous Sister at Cambridge whose Epistle is published at the end of that answer and wherein they aver Quicunque Ecclesiae Anglicanae doctrinam vel disciplinam vel ejus partem aliquam legibus publicis stabilitam c. that whosoever shall by writing speaking or any other way publickly oppose the Doctrine or Discipline of the Church of England or any part thereof established by publick Laws shall be uncapable of taking any Degree and suspended from any Degrees he hath formerly taken Dated Octob. 7. 1603. Dr. Anthony Rudd Bishop of St. pr. at Lond. 1604. Davids Preach'd before the King May 13. 1604. on Ps 101. v. 2. and in it gives an account of David's demeanor both before and after he attained the Crown of Israel and among other things he commends him for his patient waiting on God till Saul's Death p. 26 27. David had given proof of his rare patience in his distressed Estate during the expectancy of the Kingdom of Israel for though in that Interim of sundry years attendance after that Samuel had Anointed him ☜ before the Crown fell unto him by the death of King Saul he sustain'd many grievous troubles inconveniences and dangers yet he still possessed his Soul in patience without seeking unlawful means to hasten his own advancement by the making away of his Sovereign Insomuch as though Saul who deadly pursued him was twice by the Providence of God offer'd into his hands that he might have dâ—ne his pleasure with him first in the Wilderness of Engedi and secondly in the desert of Zâ—ph yet he spared his life and did no violence to his Person leaving him to God's Judgment and referring his own cause to God's merciful providence patiently attending the Lord's leisure till he should vouchsafe to come and put him in possession of the Kingdom To King James at his first coming to the English Throne the Learned Dr. Feild was a Chaplain as he was also an eminent Champion for the Church against her adversaries of Rome and his arguments against the Usurpations of the Popes are equally cogent against the Republicans * of the Church l. 5. c 45. p. 610. If they shall say that Sovereign Princes are subject to none while they use their authority well but that if they abuse it they lose the independent absoluteness thereof their saying will be found to be Heretical
the hearts of Princes like Rivers of Waters You know how before the coming of Christ the Jewish Church by the command of Ahasuerus was to be destroy'd Esth 4. both young and old c. here the whole Church by the barbarous designment of Ahasuerus seem'd to be in the very Jaws of death yet they take no arms they consult not how to poyson Ahasuerus or Haman they animate no desperate Person suddenly to stab them but there was only great sorrow among them and fasting and weeping c. This Book gave so much disgust to a party of Men in this Kingdom that they could not be quiet till something was Printed under the name of an answer to it tho every Pamphlet that is so called does not deserve that name and to make it pass the more plausibly it assumes the same title Deus Rex and is said to have been Printed at Colen An. Dom. 1618. the Author of which tho unquestionably a Papist as appears by many passages in the Book affirms p. 13. that the Scots had undoubtedly the true spirit of the Gospel who profess'd and for it he quotes Knox 's History of the Scotch Church that they would be Subjects to no one unless they could enjoy their desired Reformation p. 19. and that the former Dialogue falsly asserts that Kings have their Power only from God and are accountable only to him and that the duty of Subjects cannot be dissolv'd if the King turns Tyrant Infidel Heretick or Apostate and that Kings are not to be deposed or resisted unless by prayers and tears tho they are fall'n into so much impiety and madness as to seek the ruin of the Church and the destruction of Religion Which Assertions the Author condemns but with no reason and a great deal of injustice while he owns and improves the Romish Doctrins of resisting and deposing Princes in many places so easily are Men inclined to be despisers of Dignities and blasphemers of Dominions Gabriel Powel says De Adiaplyris Lond. 1606. c 8. §. 34 p. 69 that when St. Paul bids us be obedient for conscience sake that he means we must no way offend the Magistrate by rebelling against him but that we must keep a good Conscience in his sight who hath set the Magistrate over us ‖ §. 93. p. 71. for his Power is from God and to the just praise of our Reformation he adds * c. 9 Sect. 35. p. 79 that no Church in Europe reform'd her self more orderly than the Church of England in which nothing was done tumultuarily by force and arms or by fraud but all alterations were made by the supreme Power of the Nation agreeable to the Word of God and the Example of the Primitive Church Oliver Oâ—mered in his picture of a Papist It is not lawful for Subjects to attempt the murthering of their Sovereign for Religion sake or for any pâ—etence whatsoever Go with cresset and torchlight throughout the whole Book of God and throughout the spacious volumes of the Ancient Fathers and tell me whether any Priest Levite Evangelist Apostle Ancient Father ever hath taught counsell'd and much less practised the like I say not against Lawful Magistrates ☜ but tyrannous Rulers and such as were reprobated of God p. 176. the Prophet Isaiah complain'd of the Exactions and Oppressions of the Kings of Israel shew'd them their faults and admonish'd them of God's vengeance but he did not animate encourage and incite the People to avenge themselves of their Princes and to lift up Arms against them the Prophets Amos Micah and Zephaniah give sufficient testimony that the Rulers in their times were very wicked Men and such as did grind the faces of the Subjects and yet all this notwithstanding they did not advise the Subjects to mutiny or rebel against their Princes When Rome was pure and primitive you shall find p. 179. the arms of the Church were tears and prayers but now they are degenerate from their former purity and openly threaten the lives of Kings the ancient Romans shall in judgment rise against you and condemn you for they conspired not the death of Pagans Infidels and Tyrants that made havock of the Church of God c. SECT VI. Among these Divines I will place one Civilian the famous Albericus Gentilis who tho Born in Italy yet lived long in England the King's Professor of the Laws in the most Famous University of Oxon of which he was one of the greatest Ornaments I shall not mention what he says on this subject in his Books de Jure belli since he hath undertaken it professedly in his three Royal Disputations London 1605. 4 to as he calls them in the first of which treating of the absolute power of a King wherein his Notions are very agreeable to the Sentiments of his Master King James in his true law of free Monarchies to which he refers he affirms that he is absolutely supreme p. 9 10 17. who acknowledges nothing above him but God to whom only and not to any other he is to render an account he confesses there were some Magistrates improperly called Kings such as the Kings of Sparta and of Egypt to which last there were laws set how far they should walk and how often bath themselves who might be accus'd when they were dead and being convicted be denied decent Burial but those do not deserve to be called Kings whose Subjects pay them no more obedience than they please A Prince is a God upon Earth his Power is greater than either that of a Father of old over his Children or that of a Master over his Servants All Princes are feudataries to God p 17. to whom they ought to render an account of their Government who is their only Judge p. 34. 't is a Maxim in the Civil Law Princeps legibus solutus est a Prince is free from laws the Greek Interpreters understand it of his freedom from Penal Laws for a Prince hath no Judges who can compel him others that he is exempt from the coaction not from the direction of the law but all agree against any force to be used against him This and much more to this purpose the Reader will meet with in that first disputation while the third treats largely how unjust any violence is p 39. p. 100. which Subjects use against their King by King he says he means such a Prince as hath no Superior no Judge or Governor over him he means also a lawful Prince not a Tyrant but such a lawful Prince who rules Tyrannically i.e. seeks the destruction of the Commonwealth It is a fundamental and unquestionable Law that Men ought to honour their Prince p. 101 102. and not to speak evil of him and that what injuries ought not to be done to a Parent parad 3. ought much less to be done to a Prince but no Man says Tully can take away the life of his Father without
them when the rebellious Israelites in Moses's absence would needs make a God that is a Leader or Ruler to go before them they contributed their ear-rings to the carrying on that design but the effect and issue of that contribution was only a Calf I beseech you remember from all our contributory Plate from the silver basin even to the smallest bodkin whether we have any productions amongst us better than this P. 30. Men who decry the Pope yet cry up themselves into an Authority as great as his not only over the People Id. Visit Sermon at Lewis Octob. 8. 1662. p. 43. but over the Prince whatsoever therefore teacheth Children Obedience to their Parents Subjects Loyalty toward their Sovereign whatsoever teacheth the afflicted patience the happy temperance the faithful perseverance and all sorts of People Charity is that sound Doctrin which we must Preach the Congregation learn. Dr. Gardiner It is high time for Sovereign Majesty to send a strict injunction of taking heed Sermon at St. Mary's Ox. on Act Sund. 1622. p. 25 c. that we poyson not our studies with the Writings of Puritans and Jesuits for the one no less than the other under colour of Zeal and pretence of Holy Discipline corrupt and spoil green age before it can discern and season new Vessels with unseasonable liquor witness that detestable and trayterous instruction encouraging Subjects to resist their supreme Rulers when they are notoriously tax'd of injustice and cruelty so that Kings according to them shall be no longer Kings than they serve their turns are not these Gospellers where they broach such Tenets mere Popes are they not like to Antichrist that sits in the Temple of God but advanceth himself against all that is called God or do they not work like Sampson who laid hold on the Pillars whereon the house did stand that overthrowing them the house and the men might fall into a common ruin I am sure God's word says Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm and this Commandment of Obedience is without distinction Jeremy chap. 29. commands the Israelites even those which were Captives under Heathen Kings not to resist but to pray for them and for the Peace of Babylon and it is acceptable to the Lord says St. Paul 1 Tim. 2. not that ye resist but that ye make supplications and prayers for Kings and for all that are in authority the Prophets the Apostles and Christ himself subjected themselves to the Power of Magistracy and therefore when the Disciple did draw his Sword in Christ's defence he was commanded to put it up the examples are not to be numbred of God's punishments upon those that have resisted authority by God ordain'd and establish'd In the Old Law it was death if a Man had resisted the Higher Power Corah with all his was consumed with fire Dathan and Abiram were swallowed up of the earth because they seditiously resisted Moses and Aaron We know what end Absalom came unto when he had expelled his Father out of his Kingdom what seem'd more goodly to the eye of the World than that notable act of Brutus and Cassius who destroyed Caesar reputed a Tyrant and yet that those their doings were not allowed of God the end declared wherefore it is not lawful to resist supreme Rulers the they swerve from the line of justice for it pleases God sometimes to punish his People by a tyrannous hand and in such a case to resist what else is it but tollere martyrium to take away the occasion the Glory and Crown of Martyrdom Anno 1647. Dr. Jasper Mayne publish'd his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 5. or the Peoples war examined c. and in it he affirms that suppose the King invade the Peoples Liberties which could not possibly be preserved but by Arms taken up against the Invader yet the King being this Invader unless by such an Invasion he could cease to be their King and they to be his Subjects I cannot see how such Rights could make their defence lawful and this he proves P. 6 7 c. by shewing the Divine Institution of Kings and what rights God allowed them particularly that of being supreme independently Lord of his own actions whether unjust or just as not to be accountable to any but God after which he proceeds to shew P. 12 c. wherein the supreme Power consists P. 16 17. and that those particular rights do belong to the Kings of England wherefore the Crown is Hereditary where the tenure is not conditional nor hangs upon any contract where the only obligation upon the Prince is the Oath that he takes at his Coronation to rule according to the known Laws of the place tho every breach of such an Oath be an offence against God to whom alone a Prince thus Independent is accountable for his actions yet 't will never pass for more than perjury in the Prince no warrant for Subjects to take up Arms against him were a King misled by evil Counsellors ☞ did actually trample upon the Laws of the Kingdom and the liberty of his Subjects yet unless some Original Compact can be produced where 't is agreed that upon every such incroachment it shall be lawful for them to stand upon their defence that where the King ceases to govern according to Law he shall for such Misgovernment cease to be King to urge such unfortunate Precedents as a deposed Richard or a dethroned Edward two disproportioned examples of popular fury the one forc'd to part with his Crown by resignation the other as never having had legal title to it may shew the injustice of former Parliaments grown strong never justifie the pitch'd Fields that have been fought by this If this supposition were true the King being bound to make the Law his rule by no other obligation Sect p. 20 21 c. but his Oath at his Coronation than which there cannot be a greater I confess and where 't is violated never without repentance scapes unpunish'd yet 't is a trespass of which Subjects can only complain but as long as they are Subjects can never innocently revenge but they will say they have all this while fought for the defence of the Protestant Religion c. all which resolves it self into this unchristian bloody conclusion P. 36. that an Assembly of profess'd Protestant Divines have advised the two Parliaments of England and Scotland confess'd Subjects to take up Arms against the King their lawful Sovereign have thereby set three Kingdoms in a flame Id. def of his Serm. against Cheynel p. 4. c. This Doctrin that it is not lawful to propagate Religion how pure soever it be by the sword is that Religion to which I profess my self ready to fall a Sacrifice is that defamed true Protestant Religion for which the Holy Fathers of our Reformation dyed before me Dr. Peter Heylyn Anno 1643. Print Oxf. p. 2 3 c. publish'd
Griffith Serm. 25. Mar. 1660. called fear God and the King p. 11. v.p. 39. and p. 8 9. If God command one thing and the King should command another then God's command is to be preferred and yet let me tell you that the King is not to be disobeyed for a true Christian is obliged to a twofold obedience Active and Passive Where the King commands things Lawful there yield Active Obedience and know that it is your duty to do them but if he should command such a thing as you may not lawfully do then you must not resist but suffer patiently for your not doing it and that is your Passive Obedience and in both these you may still keep a good Conscience for though God be to be preferred yet God will not have his Anointed to be disobeyed Dr. Jane Dean of Gloucester Ser. at the Consecr of Doctor Crompton Bishop of Oxon p. 30 31 32. Such is the peculiar genius of Christianity that where ever it is either Preacht or Received it can create no jealousie in the State. The ground upon which this Assertion stands is this that it disclaims all title to the Sword but leaves him that takes it to perish with it though it be drawn in defence of Christ himself In the Church then as of old in Israel there was no Smith to provide Swords and Spears though against their persecuting Philistines To obey Authority was taught and practised under a Nero and their Submissions were as unparallel'd as their Provocations And we may truly suppose under the Roman Emperors that had the Doctrine of Obedience been as truly received by their Heathen Subjects as it was Preacht by S. Paul and practised by the believing Romans they had effectually provided for the publick Tranquillity without any further need of Forts and Armies to secure it Dr. Outram The Glory of the King Ser. Jan. 30. 1664. p. 141 149. the Privileges of the Parliament the Liberty of the Subject the Purity of Religion these are written upon the Face of the design The Principle is doing evil that good may come of it and breaking Laws that we may the better observe them These Men went to Rome to whet the Ax and borrowed an Arrow out of the Roman Quiver secretly to shoot the Lord 's Anointed Were the Prince a Nero p. 160. Paul would charge us we should not resist and would charge resistance with damnation Sir Orlando Bridgman at the Tryal of the Regicides says Try. p. 10 12. v. p. 15 52 182 283. I must deliver to you for plain and true Law that no Authority no single Person no Community of Persons not the People Collectively or Representatively have any coercive Power over the King of England And this he proves at large in the same place The Crown of England is and always was an Imperial Crown Now I do not intend any Absolute Government by this It is one thing to have an Absolute Monarchy another thing to have that Government absolutely without Laws as to any coercive Power over the Person of the King. God is my witness what I speak V. p. 13 14. p. 280. V. p. 281 282. I speak from mine own Conscience that is that whatsoever the case was by the Laws of these Nations the Fundamental Laws there could not be any coercive Power over the King. And this he there proves from the obligation of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy c. Mark the Doctrine of the Church of England and I do not know with what spirit of Equivocation any Man can take that Oath of Supremacy Her Articles were the judgment not only of the Church but of the Parliament at the same time And the Queen and the Church were willing that these should be put into Latin that all the World might see the Confession of the Church of England So also Sir Heneage Finch P. 51. then the King's Sollicitor General The King is not accountable to any coercive Power See also the accurate Treatise See also Nalson's Counter p. 35 c. 3â—9 Com. Interest of Kings p. 139 c. p. 3. called the Harmony of Divinity and Law which proves that it is a damnable sin to resist Sovereign Princes and answers all the little objections of the Republicans to the contrary I shall here only mention Mr. Foulu's History of the Plots and Conspiracies of the pretended Saints and briefly transcribe a passage or two out of Dr. Sprat Bishop of Rochester his True account of the horrid Conspiracy At that time under the color of the only true Protestant the worst of all Unchristian Principles were put in Practice all the old Republican and Antimonarchical Doctrines whose effects had formerly proved so dismal were again as confidently owned and asserted as ever they had been during the hottest rage of the late unhappy Troubles p. 21. See p. 41. The Lord R was seduced by the wicked Teachers of that most Unchristian Doctrine which has been the cause of so many Rebellions That it is lawful to resist and rise against Sovereign Princes for preserving Religion p. 43 44. Other Principles were that the only obligation the Subject hath to the King is a mutual Covenant that this Covenant was manifestly broken on the King's part ☞ that therefore the People were free from all Oaths and other tyes of Fealty and Allegiance and had the natural Liberty restored to them of asserting their own Rights and as justly at least against a Domestick as against Foreign Invaders p. 131. v. p. 132. The whole design of A. S's Papers was to maintain That Tyrants may be justly Deposed by the People and that the People are the only Judges who are Tyrants That the general Revolt of a Nation from its own Magistrates can never be called a Rebellion which Positions the Historian calls with great Truth and Justice Villanous Opinions p. 133. and such as if allowed it will be impossible for the best Kings or the most happy Kingdoms in the World to be free from perpetual Treasons p. 164. and Rebellious Plottings But his Majesty hath just reason to acknowledge that the main body of the Nobility and Gentry stood by him so has the whole sound and honest part of the Commonalty so the great Fountains of Knowledge and Civility the two Universities so the wisest and most learned in the Laws so the whole Clergy and all the genuine Sons of the Church of England ☞ a Church whose glory it is to have been never tainted with the least blemish of disloyalty Dr. Pocock In ch 8. Hos 4. p. 388 389. Some Interpreters by Setting up Kings but not by me would understand Saul but that cannot with reason be imagined Others looking on the sin of the Israelites to be their defection from the House of David on which God had intayled the Right and Title of the Kingdom and their changing of the Kinghom and Priesthood of their own heads
of other Mens sins that will retain their integrity and rather than do would suffer evil P. 〈…〉 what can there do These are they that are so pityed in the Text down then ☞ down to the place of darkness from whence it came with that Antichristian Principle that it is lawful for the People upon the ill managers and abuse of their Power by Arms and force to depose and punish their Princes this once admitted layeth the Ax to the Root of all Civil Society c. Dr. 〈…〉 p. 37. Nath. Hardy D. R. The Enemies of the King accuse him for being a Traytor to his People which was so far from being true that it was impossible since he never received any trust from them after which addressing himself to the Lord Mayor and his Brethren he adds you have taken care that Rebellion may be destroyed in that which was its Principal Engine the illegal League and Covenant and in its rotten Principles those Doctrins which give Power to the two Houses of Parliament in some cases to take up Arms without and against the Kings command and distinguish between the Personal and Politick capacity of the King as to the point of resistance c. Dr. Serm. before Lord Mâ—yer Fâ—â— 11. 16 Sâ— p. 22 24. Goodman Kings are God's Vicegerents and he maintains and upholds them in their Offices under himself a King hath the Stamp and Character of Divine Authority upon him it is the Divine Providence that is the Peoples caution and security against the weaknesses passions and extravagances of Princes so that they shall not need to resort to Arms or any seditious and unlawful means in their own defence we use to appeal to an Higher Court when we are opprest in an inferior Judicatory and this is our proper refuge when our Rights and Properties are invaded to look up to God the Supreme Potentate of the World that he will restrain the exorbitances of his Ministers P. 25 26. God is the King of Kings the safety of Religion Liberty and Property are mighty Concerns but certainly they are not too great a Stake to trust in the hands of God unless the means we use be as certainly and manifestly lawful as the cause we pretend to shall be just and honorable we shall but provoke Providence instead of subverting it P. 34. let the People be quiet not listen to noice and rumors but be sure to Banish all disloyal thoughts of resorting to irregular means for the asserting their pretensions Is not God in the World c. SECT XIII Dr. Burnet in his modest and free conference †Printed Ann. 1669. p. 6 7. Shew me one place in either Testament that warrants Subjects fighting for Religion you know I can bring many against it yea tho the old dispensation was a more carnal and fiery one than the new one is yet when the Kings of Israel and Judah made Apostasie from the Living God into Heathenish Idolatry some of the Kings of Judah polluting the Temple of Jerusalem as did Ahaz and Manasseh so that God could not be Worship'd there without Idolatry yet where do we find the People resisting them or falling to popular Reformations neither do the Prophets that were sent by God ever provoke them to any such courses and you know the whole strain of the New Testament runs upon suffering it seems you are yet a Stranger to the very design of Religion which is to tame and mortifie nature and is not a natural thing but supernatural therefore the Rules of defending and advancing it must not be borrowed from nature but grace are not Christ's injunctions our Rule Since then he forbad his Disciples to draw a Sword for him with so severe a threatning that whosoever will draw the Sword shall perish by the Sword this must bind us and what he says to Pilate on this head my Kingdom is not of this World c. is so plain language P. 24. that I wonder it doth not convince all Pope Gregory VII Armed the Subjects of Germany against Henry IV. the Emperor upon the account of Religion because the Emperor laid claim to the Investiture of Bishops they being then Secular Princes and this prospering so well in the hands of Hildebrand other Popes made no bones upon any displeasure they conceived either against King or Emperor to take his Kingdom from him and free his Subjects from their Obedience to him the Authors who plead for this are only Courtiers Canonists and Jesuits now are you not ashamed in a matter of such Importance to symbolize with the worst gang of the Roman Church for the soberer of them condemn it yet fill Heaven and Earth with your clamors Burn. Vind. of the Authority c. of the Ch. of Scotland ad Lector if in some innocenter things the Church of England seem to symbolize with them one great rule by which the peace and order of all humane Societies is maintain'd and advanc'd is Obedience to the Laws and submission to the Authority of those whom God hath set over us to govern and defend us to whose commands if absolute Obedience be not paid ever till they contradict the Laws of God there can be neither peace nor order among Men now it cannot be denyed to be one of the sins of the Age we live in that small regard is had to that Authority God hath committed to his Vicegerents on Earth the Evidence whereof is palpable since the bending or slackning of the Execution of Laws is made the measure of most Mens Obedience and not the Conscience of that duty we owe the commands of our Rulers for what is more servile and unbecoming a Man not to say a Christian than to yield obedience when overawed by force and to leap from it when allured by gentler methods hence it appears how few there are who judge themselves bound to pay that reverence to the Persons and that Obedience to the commands of those God hath vested with his Authority which the Laws of Nature and Religion do exact and the root of all this disobedience and contempt can be no other but unruly and ungovern'd Pride which disdains to submit to others and exalts it self above those who are called Gods ☜ the humble are tractable and obedient but the self-will'd are stubborn and rebellious yet the heigth of many Mens pride rests not in a bare disobedience but designs the subverting of Thrones and the shaking of Kingdoms unless governed by their own measures Among all the Heresies which this Age hath spawned there is not one more contrary to the whole design of Relligion and more destructive of Mankind than is that Bloody Opinion of defending Religion by Arms and of forcible resistance upon the colour of preserving Religion ☞ the Wisdom of that policy is earthly sensual devilish savouring of a carnal unmortified and impatient mind that cannot bear the Cross nor trust to the Providence of God and
the Conscience and indispensible because the King's Power is from God pag 62. to whom only Kings are accountable They pray for him three or four times by Name in all their solemn Offices their Sermons are frequent and pressing upon this Theme and their Books are numerous against Papists and their factious Scholars for the Right of Kings yea and their Actions being always Loyal do justifie they sincerely believe as they teach Dr. Sec. Edit ad Lectorem Pelling's Apostate Protestant Those Republicans who were the Movers of the Bill of Exclusion very well knew that by the sam ePower which they pretended to have to dispose of the Heir they might pretend afterwards to have to devest and destroy the Possessor of the Crown And I will presume to declare on my own and my Brethrens behalf too without begging their pardon that we still act ☞ and by the Grace of God resolve stedfastly to act upon the same loyal Principles wherewith we have hitherto endeavor'd to season the Kingdom The People cannot but be tickled at the heart p. 6 7. when they are told that they have a Sovereign Power in them which they did not dream of that they can make and unmake Kings that Crowns and Scepters lye at their Worship's Feet must make Court to them for Succession and that they can if they will bar them out and come like the Tribunes of the People of Rome with an uncontroulable Veto I am grieved at the heart and 't is enough to raise the indignation of every honest Man to find that so many among us do so inconsiderately not to say maliciously run altogether upon this Jesuit's Principles c. V. p. 9 10 11. p. 14. Doleman confidently insists on this that the Crown is not a bare Inheritance but an Inheritance accompanying an Office of trust and that if a Man's defects render him uncapable of the trust he hath also forfeited the Inheritance and from this Principle he concludes that even a true King may be deposed when he answers not the trust which the People had reposed in him This Jesuitical Doctrin did not long ago cost one of our Kings his Throne and his life too I pray God it be not so chargeable to another but t is ominous when pretending Protestants will be nibling at such Jesuitical Principles Observe that the Power of Deposing a King P. 19. naturally follows from the Doctrin of the People's Power to chuse one if any of our Clergy hold our Kings to be Divine they hold no more than what all Christians have ever held P. 21. V. p. 24 25. P. 33 34. v. loc p. 36. no more than what the Church of England hath declared no more than what the Laws of our Country do own and will bear them out in Doleman is positive that Princes may lawfully be deposed and he observes too is a remarkable instance as he calls it that God hath wonderfully concurred for the most part with such judicial Acts of the Commonwealth against their evil Princes not only in prospering the same but by giving also some notable Successor in the place of the deposed had Father Parsons been alive in our days perhaps he would have instanc'd in that blessed Bird Oliver Cromwell among the rest I happen'd to read a new Assemblies Catechism called a Political Catechism p. 38. v. p. 40 41 c. and I found it as full of the Jesuit's Venom as if it had been spit out of Doleman's own Mouth these are some of the Principles in it word for word 1. That the Government being a regulated Monarchy the King is not above the Law but is accountable to the Law and not to God only 2. That whatsoever is done by the King without and beyond the limits of the Regulation is not Regal Authority 3. That to resist the notorious transgressions of that regulation is no resisting the Regal Authority that the immediate Original of the King's Power is from the People and many other such Principles upon which the late Rebellion was raised and maintained After this he proceeds to shew that the little arts made use of to evade the obligations to Passive Obedience have been also borrowed from the Jesuits and to vindicate Dr. Hicks's Sermon on that Subject as also to shew the Parallel between the Jesuit and the Puritan particularly in their disobedience to Government violation of Oaths c. And then subjoins that when once Men are Jesuited P. 50. they will never stick at any manner of wickedness Lying Libelling Sedition defaming of Government Perjury c. you see how basely partial these Folks are in their ordinary censures P. 51. let a Man be a true Friend to the King and to the Establish'd Government and presently forsooth he is a Papist let him resuse to do evil that good may come tho that was St. Paul's way and he is called a Papist let him be for subjection to a Lawful Prince ☜ and when time serves for Passive Obedience and he is a Papist with a witness but let these Men profess the Faith and Doctrins of the Jesuits let them lye and equivocate like the Jesuits let them violate Oaths v. p 52 53 57 58. or construe them in their own sense like the Jesuits let them dispense with one another in doing any wickedness that is serviceable to their cause as the Jesuits do yet who but they the true Protestants we dare not be dishonest unless we will be Hypocrites nor be Rebels P. 54. unless we will be damn'd Some in Solomon's time were given to change out of 〈◊〉 strange kind of levity and inconsistency of mind Id. Serm. on Prov 24.21 1632. p. 25. and therefore some Expositors render the place thus cum inconstantibus with Men that are fickle and unsteady in their Loyalty would we not think it strange that Men who have shewed their fidelity all along Men who have acted taught suffered and ventur'd their Lives for the sake of Majesty should such I say start aside and suffer themselves to be wheadled into Faction at last Truly we might wonder at it the less when we consider that it was the case of several Men in the Reign of David and especially two very eminent Persons Abiathar the Priest and Joab that brave Commander the former had been David's secret and sure Friend and the later had not turn'd after Absalom both of them had been faithful hitherto but when Adonijah usurp'd the Kingdom both of them were concern'd in that Plot the Priest turn'd an Apâ—state and the General a Renegado upon what provocations I do not know nor can I gather any reason thereof unless it be that I now have mention'd a strange inconstancy of Spirit in Men who in David's Old Age thought it their best cunning to take up the Persian custom and worship the Rising Sun. Thus the Letter to a dissenter on occasion of the Declaration of Indulgence We are
defensive ☜ against his Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors Neither is the King accountable to them or to any other besides God These are the Essentials of Sovereignty There is but one Case wherein a good and loyal Subject will refuse to obey his Prince and that is p. 60 61 v. p. 66 96 97 119 120 154. when such Obedience will by no means consist with his Obedience to God But there is no Case whatsoever wherein he dares either to resist or reproach the Person or Authority of the King or to offer any Indignity to him To fight against him is to fight against God whom the King represents upon any pretence whatsoever it cannot be done without open Perfidiousness and Rebellion Such are Monsters of Men and are as natural brute Beasts made to be taken and destroyed So S. Peter describes them 2 Pet. 2.10 12. Mr. David Jenner in his Prerogative of Primogenitures * Lond 1635 P. 48. asserts the same Cause Altho the Law of God is indeed above all Kings and if they wilfully transgress the same they are all accountable unto God and unto God only for the same yet in this Kingdom of England no Statute Law is or can be above the King because it was the King that first gave life and being to the Law of the Land the King by his Royal Assent made the Law to be what it is viz. a Law But the Law of the Land did not make the King to be what he is viz. a King for the King was King before the Law. That the Doctrin and Practice of Deposing lawful Kings P. 122. and Excluding the right Heir from succeeding in the Throne for his being an Heretick Idolater ☜ tyrannical and wicked is grounded upon nothing but Popery and Fanaticism Mr. Hancock in his Answer to the Viscount Stafford's Memoires Lond. 1682. p. 31. I could make it evident that the same Maxims of Political Divinity the same Arguments and many times the same Phrases and Expressions are to be found in the Heads of both Factions I know 't is disputed whether the Ring-Leaders of Sedition among us poyson'd the Jesuits or the Jesuits them but I do not envy the Bishops of Rome the Honor of having first poyson'd them both with Antimonarchical Doctrins If Milton the great Oracle of one of the Factions had own'd himself to be a Papist there had been no reason to wonder at the Impiety of his Doctrins which he either did or might have learnt from the Popes and greatest Divines of the Roman Church It was truly alledg'd by Salmasius that the Doctrin of the sacred and inviolable Authority of Princes was preserved pure and uncorrupt in the Church till the Bishops of Rome attempted to set up a Kingdom in this World paramount to all Kings and Emperors but he with his usual Confidence acquits the Popes and charges his Antimonarchical Principles on Luther Zuinglius Calvin Bucer Martyr Parcus and all the Reformed Divines Bellarmine P. 50. Parsons Creswel Suarez c. are the Men that furnish'd the leading Faction among us with Principles and Precedents with Arguments and Texts of Scripture ☞ out of whom they either did or might have derived the Grounds of the War against the King of erecting an High Court of Justice and of bringing him to the Block John Goodwin P. 53. in one of his Pamphlets hath this remarkable Expression As for offering Violence to the Person of a King or attempting to take away his Life we leave the Proof of the lawfulness of it to those profound Disputers the Jesuits P. 166 c. I have fairly represented those Doctrins and Principles which strike at the very root of our establish'd Religion and Government with the Arts and Instruments which have been used by the prevailing Faction of the Roman Church for the Subversion of them ☞ And I know no stronger Argument against the truth and goodness of any Religion than that it supplants moral Righteousness and serves to be a Bond of Conspiracy allowes of Sedition and Treachery Injustice and Cruelty for how can that Religion be from God which maketh Men unlike to God as had or worse than if they were left to the Principles and Inclinations of their own Natures Of the Church of England I will only say It hath establish'd the Right of Kings upon such sure and unalterable Foundations that it is the Interest as well as the Duty of the Civil Power to support and defend it Mr. Animadv on Ob. Ch. Govern. Preface Smalridge Certainly that Doctrin which invades the just Rights of Princes can hope but for few Proselytes among those who have constantly defended them in their Writings asserted them in their Decrees and upon all occasions vindicated them with their Swords For we do not lye open to the imputation of a condition'd and distinguishing Loyalty who have shewed our readiness to imitate the glorious Examples of our Fathers and were prepar'd had not God's good Providence prevented our Service to have transcribed that Copy lately at Sedgmore which they set us formerly at Edg-hill And in truth our steady Fidelity to the Prince is so unquestionable that our Enemies have been pleased to ridicule what they could not deny and have made Passive Obedience bear a part in our Character when the Muse hath been enclin'd to Satyr Thus also the Person of Quality who wrote the Reasons Why a Protestant should not turn Papist P. 30 31. I am then quite out of conceit with your Religion since I cannot embrace it without endangering my Loyalty by reason of the Deposing Doctrin in case I live up to the pitch of its real Principles But 't is all one to me so long as I remain a Protestant what Religion my Prince is of tho I could wish he were of the same I profess because his Authority over me and my indispensible Obligation to submit to him do not depend upon his Opinion or Religion but upon his Birth-right yet have we not reason to doubt if the zealous sort of Roman Catholicks would not think it lawful to take Arms against their Prince turn'd a Heretick since the French League against Henry the 4th was upon this very account styled Holy and had I not been particularly acquainted with the Principles of the Church of Rome I had never conceived how it came to pass that such great Numbers of learned and well-meaning Men too could be guilty of such a horrible wickedness as that was and forget themselves so far as to pretend Holiness in an open Rebellion against their lawful Prince I am then more satisfied with the Loyalty of a Protestant especially of the Church of England who acknowledgeth the Prince to be a Supreme Governour over all his Subjects and Sovereign Judg in all Cases than with that of a Roman Catholick who seems to set limits to his Power by such restrictions as neither Reason nor Scripture can warrant Mr. Pomfret