of necessity note the Person and the Superiority of the Person that hath that Power conferred upon and given to him and such Power no Person in England hath but only the King of England His great Council may Jus dicere propose Lawes but He only can jus dare make Lawes They the Lords and Commons may give weight and Testimony to the Law but He only The King can give Force and Authority to the Law And therefore by Higher Power we English men must needs understand the King of England To whom the King every Soul i.e. All People in the Kingdom of England must be subject subject Actively If He commands not what is against Gods word Subject Passively if He do whether He do or do not we must be so far Subject as that we may not Resist For if we do we shall receive to our selves Damnation Not the Plundering of our Goods at Home not the hanging of our Bodies in the street or field but the Damnation the everlasting Damnation of our Souls and Bodies in Hell for ever Now search and examine your selves Art thou any where in the whole word of God commanded to bear Arms or to contribute to maintain a War against thy Lawful and Rightful King Art thou any where forbidden by the word of God to Assist thy King in his just Wars Nay Doeth not the word of God forbid thee That and command the This It does thou knowest it does and so I conclude this Proposition from the Scripture and say Therefore it is not lawful for any man to bear Arms or to contribute to the maintenance of a War against the King For no man may curse the King in his thoughts for no man may revile the King by his words For no man may resist the King with his Hands yea Therefore every man must assist the King with Arms and contribute to the maintetenance of a War for him with his Purse because they that do not are the Children of Belial The Children of Belial said How shall this man save us and they despised him and brought him no presents And this I shall endeavour to make good Thirdly 3. Fathers By the contemplation and conversation of the Fathers by their Practise and by their Opinion and that I may not tyre you or my self I shall give you but a Taste instead of a Feast and name you but Few instead of Many I begin with Justine Martyr Ad inquisitionem vestram Secund. Apolog ad Anto. Imp. p. 113. Christianos nos esse profitemur c. says he to Antoninus an Emperour bad enough At your Inquisition we Professe our selves to be Christians though we know Death to be the Guerdon and reward of our Profession Did we expect an Earthly Kingdom we would deny our Religion that escaping Death we might obtain our desires For the preservation of publick peace we Christians O Emperour yield you our help and assistance We Christians says Tertullian to Scapula the Vice-Roy are defamed for Seditious Persons against the Imperial Majesty Lib. ad Scap. but we were never yet found to be either Albinians Nigrians Cassians or any other sort of Traytors No we know the Emperour is ordained of God and therefore we love him we honour him we reverence him we pray for him and for the welfare of his whole Empire Una nox pauculis faculis c. says he In Apolog. in his Apologetical Defence of the Christians One short night with a few Fire-brands or Torches would work our deliverance and revenge our wrongs if it were lawful to requite evil with evil Vetat autem Deus ut aut ab igne humano vindicatur Divina secta aut doleat pati in quo probatur But God forbid that the Christian Religion should be revenged with humane fire or that Christians should grieve for suffering because in suffering they are refined and for suffering they are rewarded Apol. Atha ad Constant Holy Athanasius in the clearing of himself against the Accusation of the Arians to Constantius the Emperour thus expresses his own Duty and the Duty of all good Subjects I am not so mad neither have I forgotten the voice of God which says Curse not the King no not in thy heart and backbite not the Mighty in the secreets of thy Chamber for the Birds of the Aire shall tell it and the winged Fowle shall bewray thee It is not for any man to say otherwise then well of his Majesty in the opinion of this holy man and therefore certainly it is not for any man to do otherwise then well To bear Arms or to contribute to maintain War against the King Orat. 1. in Julian Nazianzene the Divine so termed for his Excellent Knowledge and profound Learning speaks to this purpose Repressus est Julianus Christianorum lachrymis quas multas multi profuderunt hoc unum adversus persecutorem medicamentum habentes Julian that great Apostata and persecutor of Christians was restrained by the Tears of Christians which many of them shed and powred forth aboundantly unto God nor had they any other remedy against the Persecutor because they knew it to be unlawful to use any other means then Sufferance or else they might having so much strength as they had have repelled their wrong with violence St. Ambrose being commanded to deliver up his Church in Millane to an Arian Bishop Contr. Aux Ep. 31 32 33. his people being very sorry for his departure he thus resolves and comforts both himself and them Quid turbamini Volens nunquam vos deesram Why are you troubled I will never willingly leave you Repugnare non novi dolere potero potero slere potero gemere adversus Arma Milites Gothos Lach rymae meae mea sunt Arma aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere If I be compelled I have no way to resist I can grieve and sorrow I can weep and sigh my Tears are my Weapons against Souldiers Armors Goths such is the Artillery and Ammunition of a Priest otherwise then with Tears I neither may nor must nor ought resist St. Chysostome in one Epistle tells us Ep. ad Tim. 2. That though Kings continue obstinate in Infidelity yet they must be prayed for they must not they may not be resisted The Apostle commands prayers supplications and intercessions to be made for all men especially for the King What he hath said in another you have heard before and thither I refer you St. Augustine is of the same opinion Julianus extitit Imperator Infidel is Julian was an unbelieving Emperour In Ps 124. he was an Apostata an Oppressor a Tyrant and Idolater yet the Christian Soldiers served this anbelieving Emperour They obeyed him in all things for Christ and when he commanded them any thing against Christ yet they resisted him not though they did not obey him Gregory the Great might if he would Ep. l. 7. Ep. 1. but would not though he could destroy the Lombards
fift was made by Josia King of Israel with God that he and his People would walk after the Lord and keep his Commandements and his Testimonies and his Statutes with all his heart and his soul and that he would accomplish the words of the Covenant and he caused all the people to stand to it 2 Cron. 34.30 The sixt and last was requested by the people of the Captivity from Ezra who was then Instar locâ— Râ—gis in these words now therefore let us make a Covenant with our God to put away all our strange Wifes These are all the Covenants I have read of or can remember in the whole Bible and all these were made by and with the severall Kings Ezra 10.3 none without or against them But the English Engagement and Covenant was made without and against the King of England and howsoever those were commendable and extenuated the Israelites sins yet this must needs aggravate the English sins and condemne them who contrived it and took without much Repentance in themselves and more mercy in God and the King to which mercy God incline the heart of the King for Jesus Christ his sake Amen And 〈…〉 â—orse then the former for the former 〈◊〉 only engage against the Kings person 2. â—â—tion and the other part of it promised and pretended to fight for him in order to the preservation of Religion which might and did easily beguile many simple and well minded people but this same Oath of Abjuration was against the Kings Posterity not one of his Race or Name to raign over us any more nay against Lords of both sorts Ecclesiasticall and Temporall yes against the office of Episcopaâ—y so that we should not have had so much as a Skeleton of Monarchy nor a shape of any one of the Royal Tribes none of Benjamin or Nepthali none of Asher or Ephraim not a Duke Marquess Earl Lord or Barron nor any one of an Apostolicall Church not a successor of Aaron not a successor of St. Peterâ— St. Paul or any other of the Apostles some of the Tribe of Levi we might have had in a settell'd Presbytery to the loss of the English and gaine of the Romish Church And had not this been a greater Aggravation of our Countrymens sins in compelling some to be their Prosolites and ten times more the Children of Satan then themselves then a bare knowing and doing those sins with delighting in others that do the same comes short of compelling others to do those things which we know to be sin Delectation comes short of Compulsion and therefore once more I pray O thou Eternall and Mercifull God suffer not againe such Commanders to rule over us or if thou had'st not yet sufficiently punisht us for our former Malignity and Murther yet give us not over to obey such evill Commands that when thou makest Inquisition for blood for common blood for sacred blood or Noble blood for Royall blood our souls may be sprinkled with the saving and all sufficient blood of Jesus Christ 〈…〉 â—â—â—scription which these Master Murtherers required and would have compelled us to do under the specious pretence of against the Common Enemy but in truth with the horrid guilt of shutting out if possible for ever of King Charles the second whom God Almighty preserve to these three Kingdomes England Scotland and Ireland till in a good old age he be received into the Kingdome of Heaven for Jesus for Jesus for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Amen Amen FINIS
dy Well fare St. Chrysostome who being threatned with banishment from the Empresse of a good name but bad condition Eudoxia Et vult me exulem Regina And will the Empresse banish me said he Agat Let her do it Domini est terra the Earth is the Lords and the fullnesse thereof Another bids him hide himself and save his life For the Empresse would sawe him secet Content says he let her sawe me I am not afeard to follow the Prophet Isaiah in his way to Heaven A third bids him shift aside For the Empresse would cast him into the Sea Immergat said he Content still let her drown me I doubt not to find as good a plank as Jonas did to preserve me from perishing in the waters A fourth adviseth him to secure himself For the Emperesse would cast him into a Furnace of fire Injiciat said he As she pleases I am not afeard of a fiery Chariot The three children will bear me company and the Son of God will drive the Coach so fast that the Flames shall neither scortch my Flesh not singe my cloaths A fifth bids him take Sanctuary For the Emperesse would throw him to the wilde Beasts Jaciat said he let her do it I make no question but the Angels will muzzle them for hurting me Yet a sixth perswaded him to convey himself away for a while that the Church of Christ might receive some further benefit by him else the Emperesse would have him stoned to death Fiat voluutas Dei said he Let Gods will be fullfilled and hers too I will use all lawful means for my preservation being persecuted in this City I will fly into another but with this resolution still I am not afeard to follow St. Stephen thorow a whole shower or Quary of stones into the Kingdom of Heaven If these Examples be procul at too far a distance for us to follow Look we then upon a late Noble Glenham who was more conquered by an empty dish then by an insulting and increasing Foe and yet was afeard of neither but left his Garrison with more honour then his Enemies possest it Look upon a valiant Fawcet who was more conquered by the mutiny of his unfaithful Slaves for they are not worthy the name of Soldiers that will mutiny then by his thundring Enemies and yet was afeard of neither but came off with more honour then he left behinde him Look upon a Loyal Compton who notwithstanding the improbability of relief and the continuation of an hard Siege and the multiplication of a cruel Enemy yet resolved not to be afeard of any evil tydings Look upon an undaunted Arundel who being Summon'd to deliver up the Remainder in the West and whether threatned or allured thereunto I know not because the Kings party was utterly defeated returned an Answer as full of Resolution as Religion as full of Courage as Christianity and such as became both a Souldier and a Christian I have lived untainted threescore seven years and I have not any minde to go a Rebel to my Grave Remember if you revolt you turn Rebells and if you dye in that Apostacy you dye Rebels and leave an Odium upon your Name and a curse upon your Estates Look we upon those Gentlemen but look we upon them with the Eyes of imitation who in the year 1646 when all Royall hopes were low enough and Rebellious Ambitions high enough came from Plimouth Excester what brought them so many weary steps when they might have lived quietly there or gone safely to â—heit own habitations but the Example of a Loyall Wagstaffe and the fear of being tempted unto a Rebellion and desire to live and dye in his late Majesties service Look we upon his late Majesty who notwithstanding so many Waves of the Sea and so much madness of the People in the losse of Shrewsbury Hereford in the losse of Bristol Bridgewater in the losse of Excester a brave Cavalry was yet so far from being afeard of those evil tydings that he doubted not to recover all or at least to requite all his and his loyaly Subjects miserys with the blessing of Peace and honourable Conditions And when all this fail'd by a Scotch treachery which surpassed that of Judases by two hundred thousand pounds bating but thirty pieces of Silver and by a breach of Faith and Trust in his Parliament and their Army why yet his admirable constancy and perseverance his yet unimitable piety and patience bid us look upon him again with Sighs and Tears that so good a King should have so bad Subjects to present him with so evil tydings as the dark hurrying of him from Holmby to Hampton from Hampton to the Isle of Wight from the Isle of Wight to Windsor from Windsor to St. Jameses from St. Jameses to White-Hall and there to a Decollation to a Beheading to the losse of his Life was not yet afeard He was not afeard of any evil tydings And now look we upon his present Majesty whom the late Majesty his Father desired might be rather Charles le boon then Charles le Grand and I doubt not nor need you but that he will be Charles le Grand because he is Charles le Boon in his Enterprize of this year advancing from Scotland as far as Worce ster into England where when he was betrayed by the Cowardise or Treachery of the Scots I know not which I am sure by the obstinacy and obduracy was yet preserved by a Miracle from the Bloody hands and hearts of those who pursued him as a Partridge and still perseveres in his Fathers steps without fearing any evil tydings expecting faithfuller hands fairer opportunities and better successes And better successe he will have by Gods providence sooner then by Humane reason I can hope within these six years For as Tychâ— Brachy said The year 1640 would be Totius Mundi insania erga Reges An universal madnesse of the World against Kings so will that year 1656 prove Totius Mundi benevolentia erga Reges An universal goodnesse of the world towards Kings Sooner by Gods providence he may be established in his Birth and Undoubted Rights without any worldly assistance but then by Gods providence and the worlds subservance He will be restored and my Divine reason for it is As his Father appeared the best of men in being his Subjects Martyr So will he appear the best of Kings in being his Subjects Master because his heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord. It is my third and last Consideration Quare non timet ab auditu malo Why he that feareth God feareth not any evil tydings Pars. 3. Paratum est cor ejus or Confirmatum est cor ejus Read it which way you please His heart standeth fast believeth in the Lord or His heart is prepared to believe in the Lord. Sure I am the very Object Lord is enough to make our Heart stand fast and believe Were it but El There is