upon the Usurpers account We may not commend his Government nor write Panegyricks nor erect Monuments to the Commendation of his Person and Virtue We may not enter into Engagements of Maintaining his Authority against the just and legal Title of the excluded Prince nor positively abjure the Royal Family If we proceed thus far in Subjecting our selves we are guilty of perjury the downright breach of our Sacred Oaths at least may bring our Consciences into such a Snare that if ever Providence turns our Captivity and Restores our Soveraign we are reduc't into this Streight of Necessarily forswearing our selves For to adhere to the Usurper to be active in his Defence is a Violation of our first Oath which Eternally obliges us not to resist our natural Prince And to be active in our Princes Cause is manifest perjury for the same Reason The Sin of forswearing our selves and unfaithfulness Will one of these Ways of a surety Cleave to us But if any think to avoid this Dilemma by being a Neuter he is so grossly mistaken that he is perjur'd in both Respects and doubly forswears himself He defends neither the Prince nor the Usurper at least he resists neither as he has oblig'd himself For the avoiding of which inconvenience it is our Wisdom and Duty tho to be Subject yet not active under the Usurper Because When Opportunity offers its self of recalling the Prince and Re-establishing the Lawful Government which oft times has and will happen even when it has appear'd impossible then our former Obligation revives and returns upon us For Providence which I always maintain is the Finger of God a Demonstration of his Will not onely admonishes us of our Duty but by putting it into our Power invites us to pull him down who Ceases to be the Divine Ordinance and as a rod is flung into the Fire Thus Jeremy after he had exhorted the Jews to be subject to Nebuchadnezzar to his Sons and to his Sons Sons adds after shall many Nations and great Kings serve themselves of him that is When Providence should put the Power and Opportunity into their Hands The whole that has been said in Answer to this first Question seems in my Judgment agreeable to the Principles and in a great measure to the Practice of that Learned Lawyer that honest Gentleman that good Subject that excellent Christian the Lord Chief Justice Hales in that account given of him by a late Learned Pen and of that renown'd Roman Knight Pomponius Atticus whose Life the said Eminent Lawyer has publish'd having I suppose singled if out for a Pattern and Coppy of his own Life Now if what has been delivered upon this Argument be well laid together I shall be so far from giving any just Offence or that I judg my self to have bound such strong Shackles upon the Conscience as will not be easily shook off by any that have any Spark of Religion and Loyalty left in them I proceed now to a second Query what if the Natural Prince stretches his Dominion beyond the Line exercises his Power beyond the Compass against the Rule of the Law To this I reply He is still the Higher Power the Ordinance of God Thou mayest not revile him nor by Force resist him nor with danger to his Life his Person his Crown and Dignity or the Publick Peace defend thy self Thou art notwithstanding bound to pay him all Reverence in Patience and Humility to possess thy Soul This I take to be St. Peters Doctrine who when he had perswaded Submission to the King and Subjection to Masters even to the froward backs his Doctrine thus For this is Thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience towards God indures grief suffering wrongfully not so much as Answering again as St. Paul to Titus commands that is not saucily not reproachfully Which also is by Peter recommended from the Example of Christ who when he was reviled reviled not again Now because there are among us many that ridicule this Doctrine and with much Confidence explode that Principle of betaking our selves only to Prayers and Tears humble and modest Petitions which the Primitive Saints and we at this day affirm the onely Conscientious Rule and Remedy against Injury received from the Supreme Magistrate 'T is worth our pains to observe how those Apostles encourage the Christians and by what Motives they press them unto this patient Suffering Says Paul Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the Inheritance And he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done that is of God Again he saith Knowing whatsoever good thing any Man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord. Says Peter If when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God For hereunto are ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example When he suffer'd he did not so much as threaten but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Paul and Peter comforted not their Disciples with hopes of Opportunity some time or other to assert their just Rights and Natural Liberty which had been safe enough to have done in these their private Letters Nor do they talk of a Natural transcendent Power to resist when they should be able but as became good Subjects and Preachers of righteousness dealt plainly with them putting them in Remembrance what they were to trust unto scil to the righteous Judgment of God to the future Recompence of reward and to the Divine Punishments to be inflicted upon their Oppressors They had now perfectly learnt their Lesson not so much as to call down Fire from Heaven to consume their Enemys nor muster whole Legions of Angels in their own just Defence and Preservation much less not insist upon their Natural Right against the Publick Peace Whence I conclude that in Case of Injury and Oppression God is the onely Judg to him we are to appeal to his Care and Goodness is the Cause to be committed Our Obligations of Honour Obedience patient Submission and peaceable Subjection cannot cease in the Mean Time If any should now reply that the foresaid Passages concern the Duty of Servants to their Masters not of Subjects to the Higher Powers I shall answer that St. Peters Discourse and St. Pauls in Titus seems plainly intended of both and I farther reply that since Christians were commanded to be Subject not indecently to answer their Patrons tho froward and unjust that since they were not allowed by Disobedience to recover their Natural Liberties but to abide in the same Calling wherein they were called that is as Erasmus glosses upon that Place to bear their Lot with contended minds not to plead the Law of Nature against the Dominion of their Masters nor upon Pretext of Religion to disturb the Common-wealth if it were thus with Christian Slaves it must be understood thus by parity of Reason with Christian Subjects tho they
for a Curb to the Sinner and not for a Punishment to the Righteous since the Wisdom and Goodness of God has therefore Ordained all of us unto Subjection to Magistrates and made it our indispensable Duty yea our Interest and Security so to be And in particular since we Preachers of the Gospel are Commanded to put you in mind that ye be subject to Principalities and Powers and that ye Obey Magistrates I make no more Account of these spightful Insinuations than I would of the Drunkards Songs or the Atheists Witticisms that are so plentifully in these days exercis'd upon us for no other Reason that I know of but because we tell them the Truth We are indeed by the more cunning part of the Enemies of the Government in a cooler manner blamed for making Princes Gods as if they immediately came down from Heaven which looks like a piece of high Presumption and Sacriledge And 't is true we do so in some sort God himself having vouchsafed that Title of Honour to them and our Lord confirmed it Besides St. Paul in my Text fetches them from Heaven telling us they are of God or from God that they are Ordain'd of God I cannot pass by observing on the other hand how that God condescends also to assume the Titles of Earthly Governours the word King and Prince Lord and others of the like sort being frequently attributed to him in Holy Scripture And whereas God by way of Excellence is styled King of Kings nevertheless the Prophet Daniel scrupled not to give the same Appellation unto Nebuchadnezzar also So frivolous in my judgment is that Exception of a Learned Man against Soveraign Princes assuming Divine Titles They are therefore called Gods because they resemble God in Supream Power And as Man is said to have been Created in the Image and likeness of God because of his Dominion over the Creature according to the Opinion of some Learned Men so may the Prince be said to bear the Image and likeness of God in a special manner upon the Account of his Soveraignty over the People In fine there being you see so near an Affinity between God and the King 't is not to be wondred that we make so great a difference between the Prince and the Subject And in our Discourses lay upon you the same burden of Reverence Obedience and Non-resistance as St. Paul before us has done teaching no other Doctrine than what the Holy Ghost has warranted and Commanded us to Teach That ye be subject to the Higher Powers which are of God that they who resist resist the Ordinance of God And oh that ye would lay to Heart that terrible Punishment which awaits all Rebellious and Disobedient Subjects They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation But after all is said the Grand Debate will be How shall we be satisfied who is this Higher Power among us and in whom that Soveraignty rests to whom Subjection is due Especially in this mixt Monarchy where not only the greatest share of the Property but a considerable part of the Legislative Power is in the People For Answer I say that this notwithstanding the King is the Higher Power that Ordinance of God in the Defence of whose Person and Authority this Discourse is intended Or do I say it only Does not the Municipal Law of the Land say as much And this is I am certain I speak it with somewhat more than ordinary Confidence an Universal an Infallible way of knowing the Supream Power in order to our Non-resistance according to the Doctrine of the Gospel viz. He that beareth not the Sword in vain in whom alone the Military Power remains He whose Person is inviolate whose Life is Sacred whose Power cannot be taken from him Legally without his consent who is Accountable to none but God for any Misgovernment and these are His Majesties Prerogatives even by the Political Contract the express Statute-Law of the Realm he is that Higher Power St. Paul speaks and I have been Discoursing of if there be any such thing as an Higher Power among us Nay I shall further add though I will not positively affirm it submitting my self herein to better Judgments That Prince who is not responsible to the People is in effect the sole Soveraign Power if he pleases to Usurp and Exercise it Nor can the Subject Conscientiously resist him For I cannot apprehend that any resistance can be Lawful in point of Conscience that is forbidden by the Positive Law of the Land which is our Case in this Nation Though the Prince may be culpable in the sight of God for so doing yet the Subjects cannot be Justified in Rebelling when the Law has taken from them that Liberty and Power Common Reason and Equity the Law of Nature and the Original of Government and extream Necessity will by no means Justifie such violent Attempts upon the Supream Magistrate It is one main ground of Political Government to deprive the Subject from being his own Judge and Assertor of his own Priviledges Without this Fundamental Principle there will be only the Name and Shadow of Government when as really 't is but meer Anarchy If the Subject might be permitted to fly in the Face of Authority and to Assault him when ever he apprehends himself injur'd we should but be Populus virorum an Independent Herd of Licentious and ungovernable Men not Corpus Politicum not a Compact Body of Citizens United together in Peace Order and Subordination But it is commonly Argued Is not the Prince Oblig'd to Govern by Law and if he transcends that Power by Invading the Peoples Liberty and Property are we bound to Obey him I Answer He is Oblig'd but the Obligation is between God and his own Conscience God only is the Revenger of the Breach of the Coronation-Oath though the Peoples Liberty and Property and the Laws are the subject-matter of it Secondly I grant that in the Case put we are not bound to Obey him but we are bound patiently to suffer not actively to resist Thirdly I am of Opinion but speak it still with Submission that the King being by all sober understanding Men acknowledged the King of Right before he gives the People that Assurance of his Governing by Law that that Oath is therefore a voluntary Act of Grace unto which he is not Oblig'd by the Fundamental Constitution For if so he could not Exercise the Supream Governing Power before the Oath was taken which yet neither he nor his Predecessors were ever thought uncapable to do Supposing then that the Prince would not give to the People this Assurance I ask whether he is then Oblig'd to Govern strictly by the present Law 'T is my Judgment he is not Obliged He ought indeed the Law of God and Nature and the first Reason of Government requires him to Rule with regard to the good of the Governed yet that he is strictly ty'd unto the particular Methods of Government declared
and Representatives both of God and the King that as the Supream Governour is Gods immediate Ordinance so are they that are sent by him the mediate and derivative Ordinance of God To deal freely with you I question not that Obedience and Subjection in all its branches in its utmost latitude is due to one as well as t'other that in case of the greatest outrages committed by them either through neglect or mistake or Passion or private Interest or Revenge or Servile Flattery of the Princes Humour the Subject ought not to seek redress but by such Peaceable methods as the Law prescribes and allows that in the mean time he ought to abstain from Violent Defence and Active Resistance For so is the Will of God that we suffer Patiently that we Honour and Reverence not Revile not Libel the Persons of the Subordinate Governours sent or commissioned by the King Let no one think here to avoid the strength of this Scripture argument by distinguishing between the Government of an absolute Arbitrary Prince such were the Emperours of Old and a mixt or limited Government as our's is at this day This makes no difference gives the Subject no Priviledge of resisting the Kings Ministers The Power of the Subordinate Magistrate is of the same Nature in both these Governments limited in the former by the will of the Emperour in his publick Edicts and private Instructions limited in the latter by the known Laws of the Nation let the Prince be Arbitrary or not still his Ministers are always limited though they transgress and depart from their Rule the People has in neither case Liberty turbulently to defend themselves with the breach of the Publick Peace the preservation whereof is still the Fundamental Principle and Care of every Government whether Absolute or Limited For which reason the Subjects in the Roman State were directed to appeal unto Caesar as their last refuge and we in this Nation unto the Kings Supreme Court of Justice as our only remedy against injury if they fail'd or we be disappointed of our expectations we have nothing more to do than patiently to submit to the Will and Providence of God This I take to be St. Peters Doctrine and am sure was St. Pauls Practice as is before prov'd and I lay it down as the first Reason of my resolution of the Question under debate We must not forcibly resist the inferiour Magistrates because it is the express Doctrine of the Scripture Because violently to resist the Kings Instruments Legally commissionated by him is inconsistent with our Duty to the Person of the King himself By the Doctrine of the Gospel we are to Love to Honour the Kings Person not Libelling Him not defaming Him What is the meaning of this We are not to bring into Question his Abilities his Justice his Wisdom his Vigilance his Integrity his Fidelity to his Oaths and Assurances given us of Good and Legal Government But he who by Force resists the Kings Officers Dishonours the Kings Person and Stains his reputation in all those respects by his turbulency and sturdy resistance of the Magistrate he does in effect tell the World that the King is unable or unwilling to Protect him resolved to crush and oppress him He thereby suggests the Higher Power to be either Fool or Knave or Tyrant or Perjur'd under which imputations 't is dishonourable for him to Lie For no man that thinks his Prince able to defend him will Riotously defend himself No one that judges him upright but will peaceably appeal to him none that believes him a Man of Honour and Conscience will question to be relieved by him and his Superior Courts of Justice In a word there can be no resistance no affront Offer'd to the Kings Ministers but tends directly to the Dishonour of the Kings Person The King has the same reason to complain of those that Violently persecute his Ministers as God had of the Israelites whom nothing would satisfy but to have Samuel depos'd They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me Against me principally is this Rebellion and Change of Government design'd Every Indignity cast upon the Servant reflects upon the Master and as Naturally and Necessarily ascends unto the Head the Supreme Governour of the Body Politick as the pains and anguish of a wounded Member arises unto the Head of a Natural Body He that breaks my Bones and bruises my Flesh and yet tells me he is tender of my Head the Seat of Sensation may if he please Value his wit upon the distinction but cannot satisfy me thereby for the injury done me And again as upon pretence of Putrefaction to lop off all the Members one after another is certain destruction both to the Body and the Head which cannot consist without the Integral parts so they who will never acknowledg the Prince to have any faithful Servants and Counsellors but are still ready to cut them off so soon as they are received into his Favour and Service whatever kindness they make show of to him yet forcing him to be thus Naked and to shift for himself leaving him as it were to wander alone on the Mountains as a Partridg to sit as a Pelicane in the Wilderness or as an Owl in the Desart do indeed destroy the Government and by Necessary Consequence murder the Kings Person also And if Reason will not I am sure sad Experience has once convinc't us of this Truth To use Force against the Kings Legal Instruments is a Breach of the Publick Peace Frustration of the Chief Ends of Society the Good of the People and endangers the Dissolution of the whole Frame of Government For without Order and peaceable Subjection there is nothing but Confusion and Violence and perfect Anarchy our Persons our Lives our Liberties and Properties when once a Civil War is commenc't being expos'd to the Dominion and Cruelty and Avarice of the Revengeful and Successful Conqueror And because I have made the Preservation of the Publick Peace the Ground of much of my Reasoning in this Discourse I the rather choose here a little to enlarge my self upon that Topick I shall readily grant if it be demanded that the Good of the Governed is the first Reason and the great End of Government but the next and in order to it is the Publick Peace which is the very Life and Soul of Government and absolutely necessary to the Peoples both Private and Political Happiness As therefore 't is the Princes Office by any means to secure it so it is the Subjects Duty and Interest to keep it tho with the loss of their private personal Concernments Peace is an unvaluable Blessing like that rich Jewell in the Gospel 't is Worth our while to sell all we have for the purchase of it I have seldom read nor does it often happen that the Subjects Circumstances were so hard their Condition so miserable where 't was worth their while to hazard their Lives and Fortunes by Civil
own Conscience He was indeed oft times pleas'd to discover his mind to the Israelites by his Prophets What Prophesy and Revelation was to them the same is Providence unto us a manifest and sufficient Proof of the Divine Will All Mankind the most Religious and Loyal bare witness to this Truth in their Practise and the best the wisest Princes allow their Subjects this Liberty evermore passing bills of Amnesty upon the Recovery of their Kingdoms This was the Motive which prevail'd with one of our Kings for enacting that equitable Law whereby the People are acquitted of Treason when they submit to a crown'd Usurper that Ceremony it seems being intended for a Legal Token of Gods Providential Will. Thus far I am apt to believe the most Disloyal among us will agree with me Wherefore that I may not be misunderstood it will be necessary to lay down these following Rules and Limitations 1. That it is the duty of every Subject to assist his Prince to maintain the present Government against an Usurper to the utmost of his Power and this not only in the beginning of Rebellion which should always be nipt in the Bud but continue so doing with the hazard of his Life and Fortune whilst their remains any Hopes any Legal Methods of Defence For I would not be mistaken as if I accounted it a matter of small Moment to depart from our Oaths and Assurances given to the Government or as if I took upon me to licence People to practise against the Peace of the State or to herd themselves with tumultuous and ungovernable Men. No it will not be easy for a Loyal and Religious Subject to prostitute his Conscience upon every first appearance of danger or to violate his Contracts by a ready complyance with the Usurper before he does or suffers or makes any opposition in behalf of the Natural Prince But then only he may and is to submit when Providence has put an end to the dispute and clearly decided the Controversy And this may happen two ways 1. When 't is become morally impossible to restore the oppressed Prince as appears to have been the case of the Jews when Jehojakim was captive in Babylon then the hand of Providence has laid a necessity upon us to acquiesce in the Alteration of Government For as necessity has no Law according to the vulgar saying so impossibilities fall under no Law according to the Maxim of the Schools This is taken for granted by all men and even the supreme Rulers themselves approve it No one is or can in the Nature of the thing be oblig'd to impossibilities either by God or Man neither will the Powers in this Extremity require Subjects out of Fondness to run themselves head long into destruction in vain and to no purpose at all It is an Aphorism in the Divine Oeconomy it self God has thus yea more favourably resolved the Case between him and us I says he will have Mercy and not Sacrifice We are not strictly tied to the observation of his Positive Precepts His negative Laws oblige semper ad semper as the Learned speak That is plainly thus our Circumstances will never allow us to blaspheme God to murder to steal or to commit Adultery Because 't is said Thou shalt not c. The Holiness of the Divine Nature cannot will not in any wise dispense herein But his Positive Commands do not oblige ad semper It is permitted us upon urgent Occasions for instance to absent our selves from the Publick Worship to do works of Necessity and Charity and we are not always bound to publish our Opinions or to profess our Faith tho we may not deny it The Goodness and the mercy of the Divine Nature thus far indulges us as to the performance of our Duty to him And may we not reasonably expect the same Measure from our Earthly Governours It can never I own be lawful for us to blaspheme their Honour to fight against them or murder them because 't is said Thou shalt not speak evil of the Rulers thou shalt not resist them these negative Dutys oblige ad semper but 't is not always our indispensible Duty to fight for them In extream necessity then we may submit to an Oppressor Natural Prudence and self-preservation will warrant and enforce us to it Our Religion our Conscience and Fidelity to our Soveraign being to be guided by the Rule of Reason and Discretion to be concluded by the almighty Power of Providence we must sit down and like reasonable men examine whether we are able with ten thousand to march into the Field and meet our Adversary with twenty thousand as our Lord advises When there is no humane probability of Success there God has put a stop to our Endeavours Hitherto we are to go and no farther For the Relation between the Leige Prince and the Leige People the mutual Offices of Protection and Assistance are now tho not wholly and eternally dissolved yet suspended for a while As the Prince deprived cannot be taxt justly because in the Discharge of his publick Trust he does not desperately run himself into certain ruine for the Protection of his Subjects So neither can he reasonably expect his People should do so in his Quarrel when there is no Hopes of Success Both the one and the other are patiently to suffer under the Disappointment Reservare se meliori fortunoe waiting a more favourable conjuncture of asserting their Rights and Liberties Secondly when the Natural Prince and his Legal Heirs are all extinct or lost then certainly the Usurper is the Divine Ordinance and ought to be recogniz'd as such having the best visible Title i. e. actual Possession of the Crown On whom by Providence and the Divine will the supreme Authority is devolved And I am well satisfyed that if this Rule is not to be followed 't is impossible for us to submit unto any Higher Powers at this day so many Invasions Usurpations and violent Changes having been made in all Governments Were we permitted to trace every Princes Title from the beginning downward to this present time and then to resist upon the Discovery of any one Flaw in the several Alterations and Successions we should find scarce one just and might upon that score resist I verily think But then When I affirm we may and ought to be Subject to a Usurper yet if there be but a bare Natural Possibility of our Soveraigns return I would be understood to speak of an unactive Submission as I may call it that is of sitting down patiently under his Dominion as Sufferers and as a conquered People not actual Promoters or Defenders of the Change For considering our former Oaths 't is Indecent and Treacherous so far to comply with Usurpation as to become active Instruments in the new Tyranny We may not then ingage in publick Offices and places of Trust We may not inform against nor implead nor judg nor persecute our Fellow Citizens
my reasons and moreover to consider with themselves how that there are many other strict Precepts laid upon us by our blessed Lord no less difficult in themselves and altogether as repugnant to the Law of Nature Self preservation How often how peremptorily are we commanded in general to crucifie our selves to the world and the world to us to mortifie our earthly members to moderate our selves in the desire and fruition even of such things which nature prompts us to and allows us to vanquish our Passions which as the Wise man tells us is a more heroick atchievement than to conquer a City How frequently are we directed to lay aside those inclinations which Nature and the God of Nature has implanted in us to subdue those appetites which our natural temper inclines us to which Interest Self love and Self preservation dictates to us What a paradox is it the Natural man yea to many Pretenders unto strict Holiness to hear that by the Doctrine of God our Saviour they must not render evil for evil nor railing for railing but contrariwise blessing That they must not be their own Judges nor revenge their own quarrels that being the prerogative of God and is only communicated to our earthly Governours What will these men say or think when I shall put them in mind of that restraint God has laid on us all how he has limited the Natural Law of preserving our selves When I shall repeat those excellent Sayings of Christ and his Apostles If thine Enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you What can the Troublers of our Israel answer if I help them to remember the prudent Caution of the Apostle of abstaining from all appearance of evil those admirable Passages that 't is better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing Why do you not rather take wrong To him that smites thee on the right cheek turn the other also When and where I pray and in what Relation are these Gospel Precepts applicable to us if not in our Political State And is it not much more reason that we avoid appearance of evil and offences towards our Superiors and Rulers than towards one another To suffer patiently from the Civil Magistrate to take wrong from the Kings Ministers rather than from our equals and Fellow Subjects I can never enough admire the confidence of some men who are not asham'd to ascribe the preservation of Gospel Holiness solely to the Dissenters amongst us whereas I cannot discern the Spirit of the Gospel among them at all Where almost will you find that Modesty Humility Peaceableness Gentleness easiness to be Intreated Moderaton Obedience Condescention I shall for once on this occasion call it so unto Governours which are required in the Scriptures and are reckon'd up as the fruits of the Spirit I would once again here ask Why may not our Religion be suppos'd to restrain and interpret the general Law of Nature Self preservation in the point of Subjection and Non-resistance of Authority as well as in the case of private Revenge Why should we not be thought oblig'd to cut off one of our hands or feet and to pluck out our right eyes those darling usefull and necessary Members for the sake of Publick Peace as well as to avoid Private Offences It is no small argument to me of the Wisdom and Goodness of God in setting his stamp and approbation upon the precept of Subjection that to our own personal Contracts he has superadded an immediate tye of Conscience in the Revelation of his Will That God who best knows our Hearts the frowardness of our Wills the violence of our Passions the stubborness of our Affections what Lovers of our selves we naturally are what partial Judgers of our own Rights and Interests has therefore thought good to inclose that Law of Nature Self preservation allowing it unto us in no case to the breach or hazard of the publick Peace of the Commonwealth And if I may not defend my self against the injuries of my private Brother and Fellow Citizen but as the Law and the Peace of the State permits how shall I challenge that Liberty in a violent and tumultuous resistance of the Civil Magistrate God who is a God of Order and not of Confusion has himself so dispos'd and methodiz'd the Polities and earthly Governments of men as that 't is impossible if we would Conscienciously attend our duty that Wars and Fightings and cutting of Throats should in any wise be justifiable If so then Government is defective and in effect dissolv'd then is not Magistracy the Ordinance of God but at the Will of the People and alterable at their pleasure when ever they think fit to quarrel at the Princes conduct or at his Ministers pretended outrages and encroachments For where every one may do what is right in his own eyes that State which admits the Subject in any case whatever to call the Rulers to account to punish or to dethrone them or to make any violent changes in the Commonwealth there is no Government at all among them but Anarchy and Confusion and every evil work But To draw to a Conclusion these Discourses I confess administer but cold Comfort to the greatest part of men who like Beasts live by Sense and not by Reason are led by an excessive Love of themselves more than by the Will of God and the publick good of Societies What Security in the mean while say they have we of our Liberties and Properties of enjoying in any tolerable measure the labour of our own hands and of transmitting the benefit thereof to posterity I answer You have all the Security this uncertain world can afford You have the Almighty God taking care of you in whose hands are the Spirit of Princes and he will restrain them His word and promise is engaged His hands are not short that they cannot save neither are his ears heavy that they cannot hear You have his Almighty Power to rely on his Unsearchable Wisdom to depend on his Infinite Goodness to shelter you his Truth and Faithfulness to trust in and the eyes of his Providence continually watching over you You have the consideration of the natural frailty of your earthly Governours to comfort and to uphold you Though they are Gods bearing the image of God in the Political Government yet are they but meer moral men whose breath is in their Nostrils they must die like men and fall like Princes Look how dieth the greatest Potentate even as the meanest Subject There will be no difference between you and them at the Great day the day of Judgment They must then at least whatever privilege they claim in this life give an account at the Tribunal of God where there will be no respect of persons where there Cruelty and Tyranny