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A47071 Mene tekel, or, The downfal of tyranny a treatise wherein liberty and equity are vindicated, and tyranny condemned by the law of God and right reason, and the peoples power and duty to execute justice without and upon wicked governors, asserted / by Laophilus Misotyrannus. Laophilus Misotyrannus. 1663 (1663) Wing J988; ESTC R5466 77,425 86

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apprehended again for Preaching Acts 5.27 They told the Rulers plainly that they ought to obey God rather than them and charged them with the murder of Christ to their faces If Magistrates command us to persecute the Lord's People to oppress the Innocent to hale the faithful Servants of God to Prisons to be upon the Guard while they spill innocent blood to prevent any from rescuing such as they intend to murder we are not to obey them but God 4. We owe the Magistrate no passive obedience or subjection in case he injure or oppress us If we have done that which is evil we are bound to submit our selves to the Magistrate as the Servant of God and the People to execute wrath upon us but if he punish us for doing well oppress the Innocent and pervert Justice we are not bound to submit our selves to him but may lawfully resist him Which I prove thus 1. Because the Law of God doth not command us to be subject to the Magistrate or forbid us to resist him if he oppress us and offer violence to us Now sin is a transgression of the Law 1 John 3.4 and where there is no Law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 But all the Prelates in England cannot produce any Law of God which forbids us to defend our selves from the injury or injustice of the Magistrate or to resist him in our own defence The great place they urge to prove the unlawfulness of resistance is that Rom. 13. Let us therefore take a survey of that place and see if there be any injunction to obey an unjust or oppressing Magistrate or any prohibition to resist him And truly we shall find just as much reason from that place for subjection and obedience to a wicked oppressing persecuting Magistrate as from 1 Thess 5.12 13. 1 Tim. 5.17 Heb. 13.17 for obedience and submission to an ignorant proud persecuting Minister The Apostle commands us to obey them that have the rule over us and submit ovr selves to them because they watch for our souls that they may be able to render an account of them with joy in our salvation Will it follow therefore we must obey and submit to such Ministers as would poison and destroy our souls and lead us to Hell and Damnation The Elders that rule well are worthy of double honour especially those who labour in the Word and Doctrine Will it follow therefore that we must give double honour to the Elders who rule wickedly and labour not in the Word and Doctrine The very same doth the Scripture assert concerning Magistracy Paul commands us to be subject to the Magistrate and tells us why for he is the Servant of God to us for good he is one that will praise us if we do well and he is not a terror to good works but to evil Will it follow therefore we ●●st be subject to a Magistrate who is a terror to good works and a praise to evil that punisheth good men and praiseth wicked men What a ridiculous irrational Argument is this But to lay open the folly of this Inference a little more plainly and distinctly 1. The Power the Apostle forbids us to resist is The Ordinance of God but a Power to oppress or do injustice is none of God's Ordinance but the Devils therefore we may resist that God hath ordained no Power to oppress or injure the People and therefore in resisting a Power that oppresseth us we cannot resist God's Ordinance The holy Spirit representing the tyrannous Kings of the fourth Monarchy by a beastly cruel Monster Rev. 13.1 2. tells us that the Dragon or Devil gave them their Power Lawful Power to execute Justice and protect the People is derived from God Tyrannous Power to do Injustice and oppress the People is derived from the Devil Now surely to resist that Power which is derived from the Devil is not to resist God's Ordinance nay it is blasphemy against God to say so 2. He that resisteth the Power Paul speaks of shall receive to himself damnation or judgment Therefore it is clear he means not an unjust or oppressing Power but a just rational and righteous Power Tyrants and Oppressors have been often resisted by the Lord's People as I shall shew anon out of Scripture And the French Bohemians Scots and most if not all the Protestant Nations have resisted the oppressing Power of their wicked Rulers Those confident and faithful Witnesses of Christ the Waldenses have frequently opposed their unrighteous Magistrates by force of Arms and now lately done the same and think you they shall all receive damnation for resisting that Power which is derived from the Devil or for resisting Tyrants which are not God's but the Devil's Vicegerents 3. The Power the Apostle forbids us to resist is a Power that if we do well we shall have praise of the same Rom. 13.3 but an oppressing unrighteous Power doth not praise us when we do well therefore we may resist that An unjust Power will praise those that do evil and dispraise those that do well as we see most evidently at present 4. The Magistrate Paul forbids us to resist is one who is a Minister or Servant of God to us for good but an unrighteous oppressing Magistrate is a Servant of the Devil to us for hurt therefore we may resist him 5. The Rulers we are forbid to resist are such as are not a terror to good works but to evil Rom. 13.3 But Tyrants and Oppressors are not a terror to evil works but to good therefore we may resist them 6. The cause why we are commanded to be subject to and forbid to resist a Righteous Magistrate doth not agree to an Oppressor for if you observe the reason which the Apostle urgeth all along that discourse for subjection to the Magistrate cannot be applied to an Oppressor He that resisteth saith the Apostle shall receive to himself damnation One might answer This is a very hard saying that you should threaten us so severely if we resist but sayes the Apostle Consider well the reason and you shall confess there 's reason enough for it For Rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same for he is the Minister of God to thee for good ver 3 4. Indeed if I threatned you for resisting Tyrants or Oppressors who are a terror to good works and a praise to evil who are enemies to you and seek your hurt you might say it were a hard saying but since I forbid you to resist only those that praise you when you do well and are Servants to God and you for your good you have no reason to say I speak harshly for it is a great wickedness to resist righteous Magistrates Again when the Apostle bids us be afraid of the Magistrate if we do evil he gives us this reason for it for he is the Minister
the Shew-bread for the satisfaction of hunger which was not otherwise lawful Mat. 12.4 I conceive we may as lawfully bow the Body or uncover the Head to a Ruler who doth not deserve it from us rather than destroy our selves as one would to a Thief on the high way rather than be killed or wounded CHAP. X. Treating of the Obedience due to the Magistrate I Am now come to the last Particular mentioned in the Description of Magistracy The Obedience which is due to him which I shall resolve First Positively Secondly Nega●●vely 1. Positively To follow the common received Distinction of Obedience Active and Passive we owe both to a lawful Magistrate in all his just and lawful Commands First If the Magistrate command us to do any thing which he hath Authority from God and the People to command we are bound to obey him actively If he command us to perform our part in th● carrying on of Justice to assist in apprehending a Murderer to be of a Jury to make inquisition for Innocent Blood to testify the truth between a man and his neighbour in case of injury to keep watch or ward for defence of the Land from Forreign or Domestick Enemies and abundance of other cases might be mentioned wherein the Magistrate is not able to perform the Trust reposed in him unless the People do their Duty also If the Magistrate command us to depart from any vitious Assembly to restore any man his due to observe just Weights and Measures in our commerce to keep the Peace to render him such Tribute as is due or to obey any other just and righteous law it is our duty to yeeld a ready and chearful obedience thereto Secondly We are bound to obey him Passively if we have by our Transgressions fallen under the condemnation of any just and righteous Law If a Man or Woman have committed Theft Murder Adultery Perjury Extortion or any other wickedness punishable by the Law and be brought before the Magistrate who is by God and the People entrusted with the Sword for the punishment thereof it is their duty patiently to submit to such punishment as they have deserved Whether one may not lawfully fly and with-draw himself peaceably if he be guilty of Punishment especially in a case of Life and Death is a Question I have not time to discourse here But to make any violent resistance or forcibly to oppose the Magistrate in executing just punishment upon us for our evil Deeds is utterly unlawful Thus far I grant the Scriptures command us to obey Magistrates actively in performing all their just and lawful commands passively in submitting to such due punishment as they inflict upon us for doing evil And this is the submission Peter speaks of 1 Pet. 2.13 14. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supream or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and praise of them that do well Mark well the Submission the Apostle requires we are to submit to those Governours that come for the Punishment of evil doers and Praise of them that do well The same doth the Apostle Paul teach Rom. 13.4.5 For he is the minister or servant of God to thee for good ●ut if thou do evil be afraid for hee bareth not the Sword in vain for he is the Servan● of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Wherefore ye must needs be subject not onely for wrath but for Conscience sake It is not left to our liberty whether we will be subject or no to those Magistrates that punish evill doers and praise them that do well but in point of Conscience we are bound to be subject unto them Indeed the very Light of Nature teacheth subjection to such Governours as punish Vice and praise Virtue and to resist the Magistrate in the due punishing of Vice or praise of Virtue is not only a Violation of the Law of God written in the Scriptures of Truth but of the Law of Nature written in the hearts of all mankind But the greatest Question will be what obedience we do not owe to the Magistrate for I need not spend my time and pains to confirm that which is so clear 2. Negatively I affirm as followeth 1. The Obedience due to the Magistrate from the People is no servile obedience but a free liberal and ingenuous Obedience It is not the obedience of Servants to a Master but of Free-men to their own Servant Wherefore ye must needs be subject Rom. 13.5 What means that wherefore it relates to ver 4. For he is a Servant of God TO thee As if he should have said Therefore ye must needs be subject because he is a servant of God To You for good Magistrates ought to command the People not in a lordly proud magisterial manner as if the People were their Vassals but in a humble modest ministerial manner as being Servants to God and them whom they do command mixing Entreaties with Commands Thus did Moses treat the People in a respectful manner entreating them as well as commanding Numb 16.26 Thus did Nehemiah chap. 5.10 11. Yea the very wicked Kings themselves had not so much forgotten their relation but they remembred to speak respectively to the People 1 Sam. 23.22 1 King 20.7 2 Kings 5.7 But now every inferiour Officer commands us after a most insolent and lordly manner as if we were home-born slaves 2. The obedience due to the Magistrate is not excentrical to his Office if the Magistrate command the People to do a thing that is in it self lawful yet if it be extrinsecal to his Office the People owe him no obedience therein because he hath no power to command us any thing besides his Office We owe the Magistrate obedience in every lawful Command but not in every lawful thing For it is unlawful for the Magistrate to command us many lawful things It may be lawful for a man to take the Magistrate's daughter to wife or a woman to take his son for her husband but if he commands them to do so they are not bound to obey him because he hath no power to give such a Command It may be lawful for any one to lend the Magistrate his money or goods without security yet if the Magistrate command a man to do so he is not bound to obey him 3. We owe the Magistrate no sinful obedience To obey him rather than God is a most Atheistical practice Daniel would not obey Darius his wicked Command Dan. 6.10 Daniel prayed the more boldly and openly because the King had forbid him Hananiah Mishuel and Azariah would not fall down to Nebuchadnezzar's Image Dan. 3.16 to 19. The Apostles would not forbear preaching for the Command of the Rulers but continued in their Work notwithstanding all their threats Acts 4.19 20. they told the High-Priest and Council that they would preach And when they were