Political Aphorisms OR THE TRUE MAXIMS OF GOVERNMENT DISPLAYED Wherein is likewise Proved That Paternal Authority is no Absolute Authority and that Adam had no such Authority That there neither is or can be any Absolute Government De Iure and that all such pretended Government is Void That the Children of Israel did often Resist their evil Princes without any Appointment or soretelling thereof by God in Scripture That the Primitive Christians did often Resist their Tyrannical Emperors and that Bishop Athanasius did approve of Resistance That the Protestants in all Ages did Resist their Evil and Destructive Princes Together with a Historical Account of the Depriving of Kings for their Evil Government in Israel France â—â—â—in Portugal Scotland and in England before and sinâ—â— the Conquest By way of Challenge to Dr. William Sherlock and Ten other New Dissenters and Recommended as proper to be Read by all Protestant Iacobites He that being often Reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenlâ— be destroyed and that without Remedy Prov. 29. 21. LONDON Printed for Tho. Harrison at the West End of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1690. THE PREFACE AFter all the signal Deliverances God hath vouchsafed to these Brittish Islands and the many eminent Appearances of Divine Providence in our late happy Revolution even to this day one would think no Protestant should repine at this happy and advantageous Change from an Arbitrary to a Legal Monarchy but reckon it his Felicity to have lived to this day to see the Imperial Crown of England worn by a Protestant King and Queen an Happiness which our Fathers wished and longed for in King Charles the first 's and second 's time but could not obtain the evil Consequence thereof this Nation hath sufficiently felt therefore I may well say O thrice happy England didst thou know thy Happiness and hadst an Heart to be thankful for it Who could have thought that notwithstanding the visible hand of God in this unparallel'd Revolution we should still have amongst us a Korah a Dathan and an Abiram a murmuring still in our Streets Our Fore-fathers never bought their Liberty at so cheap a rate as we have done now which makes it so much despised and slighted at present as if Liberty could never be good without wading through a Sea of Blood to obtain it We commend our Fore-fathers for standing up for their Rights and Priviledges without which we should have been Slaves to this day and yet that we should Condemn one another for the same thing though our Religion which is infinitely more dear to us than a few worldly Liberties lies at stake is such an intollerable Folly that succeeding Ages will hardly give Credit to But what is more strange is that some Protestants are for the Restauration of the late King James with the young Impostor the consequence whereof can be nothing less than Slavery and the total Subversion of the Protestant Religion in England as well as the endangering it throughout the World But that the World may see what rare Notions of Civil Government our Murmurers have I shall here set down some of the Sayings of one of their mighty Pillars of Passive Obedience Dr. William Sherlock as they are in his Case of Resistance of the Supreme Powers No Man wants Authority says the Dr. pag. 59. to defend his Life against him who has no Authority to take it away but yet he tells you most learnedly p. 113. that The Prince is the Powers or Authority not the Laws and in p. 198. that The King receives not his Sovereign Authority from the Law and in p. 89. he sayes that there could not be greater nor more absolute Tyrants than the Roman Emperors were and yet they had no Power over the meanest Christian but by an express Commission from Heaven And he tells you further p. 116. that When we resist our Prince we resist the Ordinance Constitution and Appointment of God What Invincible Arguments are these for Passive Obedience which makes God the Author of all the Outrages Cruelties Rapinâ—s and Blood-shed that have been committed in the World by Sovereign Princes but I think the Dr. has taken the right way if there be any to establish the Doctrine of Passive Obedience without reserve St. Peter exhorted the Christians to submit to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake which plainly signifies sayes the Ingenious Dr. p. 146. that whatever hand Men may have in Modelling Civil Governments yet it is the Ordinance of God and Princes receive their Power from him What a rare Argument is this for Tyranny Oppression and Idolatry c. for according to the Doctor 's Notion if the Legislative Authority of a Nation should abolish the Christian Religion and set up Paganism Mahometanism and Popery and make never such Unjust and Tyrannical Laws yet it would be the Ordinance of God Since I can hardly find throughout all the Doctor 's Book he knows what any part of Civil Government is and least he should take an established Religion to be no part thereof I shall make bold to tell him that when a Religion is established by the Legislative Authority of any Nation it becomes part of the Civil Government and is to be defended and supported by the Administrator of that Government The Dr. hath many more as rare Arguments as these but for brevity sake I omit them these being sufficient to shew upon what rock this sort of Men build their Notions of Passive Obedience I challenge all the New Dissenters in England and all the Conformists who have sworn Allegiance to their Majesties only as King and Queen De Facto but more particularly Dr. Will. Sherlock Shadrach Cook John Leke Dr. Francis Thompson Person Dr. Audley Will. Gefford of Suffolk John Hart of Tanton Wood Cuff John Norris of Cambridge Richard Stafford and the Author of the History of Passive Obedience together with Sir R. Lestrange and all his Pupils to Answer the following Tract I desire these Learned Men to resolve me this Case of Conscience Whether or no those who joyned with or assisted the Prince of Orange upon his Arrival are not guilty of Rebellion and whether or no those Divines and Laicks who invited him over are not more guilty of Rebellion according to the Doctrine of Passive Obedience without reserve as being the first Cause thereof than they that joyned with him upon his first Arrival and whether upon the Bishops refusing to disown their inviting him over it does not follow that they did invite him over and upon their refusing to subscribe to the form of an Abhorrence of the Invitation it did not plainly imply that they disowned the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and allowed the resisting of Arbitrary Power and when they desired the Prince of Orange our present King to take upon him the Administration of the Government it did not imply that King James had deserted the Government and that the Throne was thereby become Vacant The reason why I take this
Right of Eleanor Prince Arthur's Sister At the Death of Henry the Third the States of the Kingdom met and setled the Government by appointing Officers and what else was necessary for the Defence of the Realm and Edward the Fourth was set up by the People during the Life of Henry the Sixth Now it is plain that the Kings and Queens of England ever since William Rufus's Time have proceeded from those who were set up by the People against the next Heirs King Edward the Second Richard the Second and Richard the Third were for not governing according to the Laws of the Land deprived of the Government and Edward the Third and Henry the Fourth and Seventh were preferred in their rooms which were most Rare and Valiant Princes who have done many Important Acts in this Kingdom and have raised many Families to Nobility put down others changed States both abroad and at home altered the Course of Descent in the Blood Royal and the like which was unjust and is void at this Day if the Changes and Deprivations of the former Kings were unlawful and consequently all those Princes that have succeeded them which yet never failed of a constant Lineal Descent were Usurpers and those that do pretend to the Crown of England at this Day have no Title at all which was yet never denied for that from those Men they descended who were put in the place of the aforementioned deprived by the Common-Wealth And this is and hath been the Custom and Practice of all Kingdoms and Common-Wealths to deprive their Princes for their Evil Government and that God hath and does concur with the same is plain from the Examples before-mentioned of the Prosperity and Happiness that hath attended those Acts. The Barons Prelates and Commons took a solemn Oath That if King John should refuse to grant and confirm their Laws and Liberties they would wage War against him so long and withdraw themselves from their Allegiance to him until he should confirm to them by a Charter ratified with his Seal all things which they required and that if the King should afterwards peradventure recede from his Oath as they verily believed he would by reason of his double-dealing they would forthwith by seizing on his Castles compel him to give Satisfaction He afterwards breaking his Oath and Promise the Barons said What shall we do with this wicked King if we let him thus alone he will destroy us and our People it is expedient therefore that he should be expelled the Throne we will not have him any longer to reign over us and accordingly they sent for Lewis the Prince of France to be their King and swore Fealty to him but they afterwards discovering that he had sworn that he would oppress them and extirpate all their Kindred they rejected him and set up Henry the Third The Bishops of Hereford Lincoln and several Earls Barons and Knights for each County being deputed to go to Edward II and demand a Surrender of the Crown said to him That unless he did of himself renounce his Crown and Scepter the People would neither endure him or any of his Children as their Soveraign but disclaiming all Homage and Fealty would elect some other for King who should not be of the Blood upon which the King resigned his Crown c. By the common Usage of England which is the common Law of England Kings may be deprived for evil Government and others set up in their stead is plain from the afore-going Examples Richard the First being taken Prisoner by the Emperor in his Return from the Holy Land it was decreed that the fourth part of all that Year's Rents and of all the Moveables as well of the Clergy as of the Laity and all the Woolls of the Abbots of the Order of Cistersians and of Semphringham and all the Gold and Silver Chalices and Treasure of all Churches should be paid in towards the Ransom of the King which was done accordingly If all this was given for the Liberty of one Man certainly much more ought to be given now when all our Liberties and Properties and even our Religion too lies at stake if Necessity required it which God forbid By the Law of Nature Salus Populi the Welfare of the People is both the supream and first Law in Government and the scope and end of all other Laws and of Government it self because the Safety of the Body Politick is ever to be preferred before any one Person whatsoever No Human Law is binding which is contrary to the Scripture or the general Laws of Nature Religion doth not overthrow Nature whose chiefest Principle is to preserve her self and God doth not countenance Sin in the greatest but rewards the Punisher witness Jehu c. The end for which Men enter into Society is not barely to live but to live happily answerable to the Excellency of their Kind which Happiness is not to be had out of Society All Common-wealths are in a State of Nature one with another As Magistrates were designed for a general Good so the Obligation to them must be understood so as to be still in Subordination to the main End for the reason of all Law and Government is the Publick Good Government being for the benefit of the Governed and not for the sole advantage of the Governours but only for theirs with the rest as they make a part of that Politick Body each of whose Parts and Members are taken care of and directed in their peculiar Function for the good of the whole by the Laws of the Society The end of Government being the Preservation of all as much as may be even the Guilty are to be spared where it can prove no prejudice to the Innocent The publick Power of all Society is above every Soul contained in the same Society and the Principal use of that Power is to give Laws unto all that are under it which Laws in such cases we must obey unless there be reason shewed which may necessarily inforce that the Law of Reason or of God doth injoyn the contrary Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 1. §. 10. T. Cicero saith there is one Nature of all Men that even Nature it self prescribes this that a Man ought to take care of a Man who ever he be even for this very cause that he is a Man If otherwise all human Consociation must necessarily be dissolved therefore as there are two Foundations of Justice First that no hurt be done to any next that the Profit of all if it can be done be advanced That all Magistates and Governours do proceed from the People is plain from the following Examples in Scripture Deut. 16. 18 19. the Children of Israel are commanded to make Judges and Officers throughout their Tribes Deut. 17. 14 15. When thou art come into the Land c. and shalt say I will set a King over me like as all the Nations that are about me Thou shalt in any wise set him King over
have one of their Race left that pisseth against the Wall Now what were their Faults but Idolatry and Oppression of their People Then how can it be a Sin in a Nation to free themselves from an idolatrous and oppressing King When it is done by the greatest and most considerable part thereof it does silently imply a Consent of God for it cannot be Covetousness or Ambition that moves such a Multitude When once the Christian Religion is become a part of the Subjects Property by the Laws and Constitutions of the Country then it is to be considered as one of their principal Rights and so may be defended as well as any other Civil Right since that those different Forms of Government that the Jews were under is no Rule for the Government of any Nation or People whatsoever The Principles of Natural Religion give those who are in Authority no Power at all but only secure them in the Possession of that which is theirs by the Laws of the Country That Cause is just which defends the Laws which protects the Common Good which shall preserve the Realm And that Cause is unjust which violates the Laws defends the Breakers of the Laws protects the Subverters of the Country That is just which will destroy Tyrannical Government that unjâ—st which would abolish just Government that lawful which tends to the Publick Good that unlawful which tends to the Private But alas that Bug-bear Dagon of Passive Obedience is a Notion crept into the World and most zealously and perhaps as ignorantly defended Here all our Laws and Decrees by which we are governed are of the Peoples Choice first made by the Subject and then confirmed by the King Here a King cannot take our Sons and Daughters our Fields and Vineyards away unless we please to give him them Where was the Doctrine of Passive Obedience when Elisha prayed for Blindness to come upon those who were sent by the King of Syria to fetch him And when he commanded the Door to be shut and the Messenger to be held fast who was sent for his Head by the King of Israel And when Azariah with fourscore valiant Priests thrust out Uzziah their lawful King out of the Temple And when Elijah destroyed the two Captains with Fire from Heaven with the hundred Men under their Command who were sent at twice by King Ahaziah to fetch him And when the Children of Israel slew Amasiah their lawful King for his Idolatry without any appointment in Scripture or prophecy of his Downfal and yet that is no where called Rebellion neither were they punished by his Son whom they had made King in his Father's stead And when Mattathias slew the King's Commissioner for compelling Men to Idolatry And when Mattathias and his Friends pulled down the Altars which were adapted to Idols 1 Macc. 2. 25 45. Where was the Doctrine of Passive Obedience when the Edomites revolted from Jehoram and made themselves a King And Libnah did also revolt because of his Evil Government 2 Chron. 21. without any appointment or foretelling of their Revolt by God in Scripture or being callâ—d Rebels And when Saul's Subjects swore that Saul should not kill Jonathan and they reseued him that he died not 1 Sam. 14. 45. And when David though a private Man armed himself with six hundred Men no doubt but he designed to have fought Saul and his Army if the Men of Keliah would have assisted him and have been true to him when he enquired of the Lord Whether the Men of Keliah would deliver him and his Men into the Hands of Saul upon the Lord 's answering They would deliver them up he and his Men departed the City 1 Sam. 23. Can any Man imagine their meaning was to run up and down the Country together and fly before Saul and his Army if they had been able to cope with any Number he could bring or send against them If Resistance was Unlawful and a Sin surely David a Man after God's own Heart would have known it and then he would not have involved the six hundred Men that came to his Assistance in the Sin of Rebellion but have told them that the Prince was not to be resisted though never so great a Tyrant Where was the Doctrine of Passive Obedience when Constantine the Great aided the oppressed Christians and Romans against the Tyranny and Persecution of the Emperors Maxentius and Maximinius with Force of Arms with which he conquered those Persecutors in several Battels fought against them at the Christians earnest Importunity And when the Primitive Christians resisted Lucinius their Emperor for persecuting them contrary to Law and Constantine the Great joined with them who held it his Duty saith Eusebius to deliver an infinite multitude of Men by cutting off a few wicked Ones as the Pests and Plagues of the Time And when the Primitive Christians of Constantinople opposed Asper's being made Emperor but Leo being named they consented thereto And when the Christians under the King of Persia resisted him for persecuting them and was assisted by Theodosius the Roman Emperor who told the King of Persia He was ready to defend them and no ways to see them suffer for Religion And when the Christians of Armenia the Greater made a League with the Romans for the securing of their Persons and their Religion against the Persians under whom they lived And when the Novatians assisted by the Orthodox resisted and beat the Macedonians though they were assisted by Constantius the Emperor with four thousand Men to drive them from Paplelagonia And when the Primitive Christians destroyed Julian's Idolatrous Temple in his Reign Where was the Doctrine of Passive Obedience when the Lutheran Churches defended themselves against the Emperor Charles the Fifth And when the Protestants of Austria took up Arms Anno 1608 against Matthias King of Hungaria for denying them the free Exercise of their Religion And when Queen Elizabeth assisted the Hollanders against their lawful Soveraign And when she assisted the Protestants of France against their lawful Soveraigns Charles the Ninth and Henry the Third And when King Charles the First and the Bishops and Clergy of England assisted the Protestants of France And when the Protestant Princes of Germany invited Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweeden to come into Germany to assist the Protestants against their lawful Prince for persecuting them And when the Protestants joined with him upon his Arrival And when King Charles the First assisted them with Men from England So that according to this Christian Doctrine of Passive Obedience Queen Elizabeth and King Charles the First with the Bishops and Clergy of England and several other Princes and States have been guilty of St. Paul's Damnation for they that are a ding and assisting to Rebels are as guilty as those that are actually in it Lucifer Calaritanus a famous Christian wrote a Book against Constantius the Emperor which he sent him to read wherein he calls him and his Idolatrous Bishops Blasphemers