‡ P. 201 202. We are not satified in being obliged to preserve the King's person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and the Liberties of the Kingdom forasmuch as 1. No such limitation of our Duty in that behalf is to be found either in the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which no Papist would refuse to take with such a Limitation nor in the Protestation nor in the Word of God. 3. Such a Limitation leaves the Duty of the Subject at so much loosness and the safety of the King at so great uncertainty ☞ that whensoever the People shall have a mind to withdraw their Obedience they cannot want a pretence from the same for so doing 4. Hereby we make our selves guilty of an actual and real diminution of his Majesties Power and Greatness which in the same Breath we call the World to witness with our Consciences that we had no thought to diminish c. P. 210 211. The Tyranny and Yoke of Antichrist if laid upon the Necks of Subjects by their lawful Sovereigns ☜ is to be thrown off by Christian Boldness in confessing the truth and patient suffering for it not by taking up Arms or violent resisting the higher Powers Pag. 217 Because some have inferred from the very Order that the Defence of the King's Person and Authority ought to be with subordination to the preservation of the Rights and Privileges of Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdom therefore we cannot take this Oath Especially being told in a late Pamphlet P. 219. that the King not having preserved the Liberties of the Kingdom c. as of duty he ought is thereby become a Tyrant and so ceaseth to be a King and consequently that his Subjects cease to be Subjects and ow him no longer Subjection which Assertion since we heartily detest as false and scandalous in the Supposition and in the Inference seditious and devilish we dare not by subscribing this Article give the least countenance thereto And that we may take the Covenant in our own sense is contrary to the nature and end of an Oath which must be full of simplicity P. 223. contrary to the end of Speech c. and will bring a scandal upon our Religion that we practise that our selves that we condemn in the Paqists viz. Swearing with Jesuitical Equivocations and mental Reservations that we play fast and loose with God in as much as what we swear to day in one sense we may swear the direct contrary to morrow in another P. 225. And if this would fatisfie the Conscience we might with a good Conscience not only take the Covenant but even subscribe to the Council of Trent also yea and to the Turkish Alcoran P. 229. if the King should not protect us but neglect his part too having power and ability to perform it his voluntary neglect ought not to free us from the faithful performance of what is to be done on our part Ann. 1683. July 21. in a full Convocation many opinions were condemn'd that had been publish'd in diverse Books and writings in English and also in the Latin tongue P. 2. repugnant to the holy Scriptures decrees of Councils writings of the Fathers the Faith and profession of the Primitive Church and also destructive of the Kingly Government the safety of his Majesties Person the publick Peace the Laws of Nature and Bonds of Humane Society as Proposition 1. All civil Authority is derived originally from the People Proposition 2. There is a mutual compact tacit or express between a Prince and his Subjects and if he perform not his Duty they are discharged from theirs Proposition 3. P. 3. that if Lawful Governours become Tyrants or Govern otherwise than by the Laws of God and Man they ought to do they forfeit the Right they had unto their Government Prop. 7. Self-preservation is the Fundamental Law of Nature and supersedes the Obligation of all others when they stand in competition with it Prop. 8. The Doctrine of the Gospel concerning patient suffering of Injuries is not inconsistent with violent resisting of the higher Powers in case of Persecution for Religion Pr. 9. P. 4. There lies no obligation upon Christians to Passive Obedience when the Prince commands any thing against the Laws of our Country and the Primitive Christians chose rather to die than to resist because Christianity was not yet settled by the Laws of the Empire And besides the Condemnation of the Doctrines the Books of Milton P. 7. Baxter Goodwin Owen Johnson c. were ordered to be publickly burnt by the Hand of the Marshal in the Court of the Schools as Books that were fitted to deprave Mens Manners stir up Seditions and Tumults overthrow States and Kingdoms and lead to Rebellion Murther of Princes and Atheism it self And a Prohibition issued forbidding the Reading any of the said Books under great Penalties This Decree was drawn up by Dr. Jane Dean of Glocester and the King's Professor of Divinity at Oxon and subscribed by the Vicechancellor other Professors and the whole Convocation And pursuant to this Decree Parkinson a Fellow of Lincoln-College for maintaining that the Right and Foundation of all Power was in the People that Kings are accountable for their Maleadministration c. And particularly that King Charles the First was justly put to death for making War upon his Subjects was an 1684. expelled the University And it is observable that our excellent Homilies that so expresly require Obedience to Princes and condemn Rebellion and Resistance upon any pretence whatsoever were Printed at the Theatre the same year that the abovementioned Decree was made CHAP. VII The Opinions of Learned Men. WHen Men would know what are the Sentiments of any Church in her Articles or Sanctions the most rational Course is to make inquiry among those who were concern'd in making them or those who may be presumed best to understand them by reason of their nearness to the time their acquaintance with the Compilers or their extraordinary Sagacity and Honesty and of suchpersons in the Church of England must we make Inquiry concerning the Doctrine of Obedience and Non-resistance In * Burn. hist Ref. part 1. l. 3. p. 245. the Days of Henry the Eighth when the Reformation began to dawn an 1537. a Convocation was held upon the Conclusion of which there was Printed an Explanation of the chief Points of Religion signed by nineteen Bishops eight Arch-Deacons and seventeen Doctors of Divinity and Law in which there was an Exposition of the Creed the Ten Commandments c But this was but a rude Draught the beauteous Stroaks were given it †Id. p. 286. anno 1540. when a select number of Bishops sate by Virtue of a Commission from the King confirm'd in Parliament among which were Cranmer Ridley Redman and other extraordinary men their first work was to draw up a Declaration of the Christian Doctrine for the
that to do evil though for our own preservation instead of procuring our peace and settlement would be most likely to unsettle and ruin us for having once broken down the fences of Duty which are placed about us who can tell where we shall stop or abide Having allowed our selves the liberty of doing one sinful action we may easily be prompted on to commit a thousand for the same pretences will justifie all sins alike and if for the sake of Religion a Tumult may lawfully be raised a Rebellion also may be promoted c. SECT XXXIV Mr. Long is so well known for his Zeal in this good Cause to all that have seen his answer to Johnson and Hunt his no Protestant but a Dissenters Plot and other such Treatises that it is wondered that of late he should own himself the Author of the Solution of the Popular Objections c. In which he musters up for unanswerable Arguments the very same Objections of Julian of Persecuting according to and against Law c. which himself had formerly so luckily both answered and exploded But he tells us that St. Austin wrote his Retractations in which he corrected his errors and he might have told the World too that Bellarmine wrote his Recognitions in which he multiplies and confirms his Heterodoxies I shall therefore briefly represent his former Judgment out of one of his Printed Sermons * On Sept. 9. 1683. p. 13. Rebels should shew so much of ingenuity and serious Penitence as the Sorcerers did Act. xix 19. Who burnt their Books for I dare aver that there are more Arguments for Resisting of Lawful Princes which they cannot but know is threatned with damnation Rom. xiii 2. in the Books of some who term themselves true Protestants than are in all those which are written by such as they justly condemn for Idolatrous and Trayterous Papists P. 19. What greater encouragement can be given Men pretending to Religion and Conscience than when their Guides ☜ to whom they have committed the Conduct of their Souls shall Prophesie lyes in the name of God and urge them to Rebellion by Scripture and Examples They are like them in the Gospel whom no Bonds or Chains could restrain from practising the mischief they had imagined No Obligation of Laws of Conscience of Fear or Favour no Oaths or Promises could hold them but they mock God himself that they may the more unsuspectedly destroy his Vicegerent Pag. 22. If the Principles allowed of in any Community of Men ☞ do countenance the Resisting Deposing and Mur hering of Princes be it on pretence of Heresie or Tyranny or for the good of the Kirk reforming Abuses or redressing Grievances though there be but a few Actors yet all are Criminals When Absalom was Sacrificing at Hebron P. 25 26. the Conspiracy was strengthned saith the Text. It seems that Absalom had his Levites and these were they that strengthned the Rebellion By him the People were instructed in their great Priviledges and Power that there is Idolatry and Superstition in the Church Oppression and Tyranny in the State that they ought to shake off these Yoaks of Bondage and vindicate themselves into the glorious liberty of the Sons and Daughters of God. P. 27 28. One tells the People That they are the Original of Authority ☞ That it is not against Scripture or the practice of the Primitive Christians violently to resist the Higher Powers when they Persecute them for Religion and when the Prince commands against the Laws of the Country that Success justifies a good Cause and to pursue it is to comply with the Will of God and the Conduct of Providence Vnder such Doctrines as these the Presses have sweat the Church hath groaned the Peoples souls been led Captive in Chains of darkness and under these this horrid Conspiracy hath been hatched The Devil himself when he appeared in the Mantle of Samuel never did nor could teach Saul more pernicious Doctrine than this Philostratus saith that the murther of Domitian was more owing to the Doctrine of Appollonius than the Hands of Stephanus and Parthenius who slew him Dr. Fowler * Design of Christianity chap. 16. The most calm meek peaceable gentle and submissive temper recommended in the Gospel did mightily declare it self in the Primitive Christians that though they were for the most part sorely Persecuted yet saith Tertull there was never any uproar or hurlyburly among them nor was this owing to necessity as is plain from Tertullian and the History of the Thebaean Legion Chap. 24. p. 346. It is the most strange and unaccountable thing for Men in defence or favour of that way of Religion which they take to be most truly the Christian to do that which is essentially and in its own nature evil for these things are quite contrary to the design of Christian Religion Pag. 248 249. What Villanies are there which the Pope and his Proselytes have stuck at committing for the propagation of their Religion Such as exciting Subjects to take Arms against their lawful Sovereigns to whom they are obliged in the Bonds of most solemn Oaths c. I would I could say that of all that are called Christians the Papists only are lyable to this charge but alas It is too manifest to be denyed or yet dissembled that not a few of those that profess enmity to Popery are sadly guilty though not equally with the Papists in this particular SECT XXXV The Author of The Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man. I pay all Men their dues all Officers Chap. 3. p. 63 64. and Offices in Church and State according to St. Paul's command Rom. xiii I pay all Honor and Service to the King as God's Vicegerent and I cannot endure to hear him evil spoken of P. 66. I consider my self as to all the Capacities and Relations that I am in the World and endeavour to behave my self suitably to them Which Duties are fully exprest in the excellent Book of the Whole Duty of Man and I am sure that excellent Book plainly asserts the Doctrine of Non-resistance I look upon Government and Magistracy as one of the most sacred things in the World Chap. 6. p. 137 138 139. 140. for it is of God's Appointment Of all kinds of Government I like Monarchy which seems naturally to derive it self from paternal Authority And if there be any Right on Earth surely Monarchy hath Right with us and hath at least as good a Title to all its Powers Rights and Privileges as any of its Subjects can have to their Honors Properties and Estates The Monarchy of England being always esteemed as truly an hereditary and successive a Monarchy as any in the World not liable to be disposed alienated or sold nor depending on any Election Choice or Approbation of the People And according to this method our present King enjoys the Crown who hath as I believe the truest and most
makes a Hypocrite to reign for the sins of a people Now the Supremacy of Kings and the subjection of every Soul to them are so joined that the King cannot be said to be supreme unless every Soul be subject to him nor will the duty of subjection agree to every Soul unless the King be invested with this Supremacy Sect. 3. p. 21. for all Men universim omnes sigillatim singuli whether singly or contained in a body are bound in conscience by this Apostolical Precept to pay the duties of subjection and observance to Kings and whereas Bellarmin as others urged the deposition of Athaliah Sect. 5. p. 33. to prove the lawfulness of Dethroning Princes he answers that Athaliah had no right to the Crown that she had the Kingdom by violence that the true King lay hid that by her Parricide and Treason she had made herself guilty of death by the Law and ought to have suffered Prelect 4. Sect. 3. p. 44. p. 47. and that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power which St. Paul uses never signifies force and violence but a just Power which must be lawful because it is from Heaven that Christ was subject by the law to the Power of Pilate and the Apostles to the Heathen Princes Prel 5. Sect. 1.2 p. 70 71. and that in the Primitive Church there were no Traytors who either openly or privately contrived or attempted any thing against the Life or Crown of the Emperor when they wanted neither numbers nor force but they durst not turn Rebels or Traytors ☜ lest by breaking the command of Christ they should lose Heaven and Bellarmin belies them when he says they wanted not a right nor good will to depose Kings but only forces sufficient P. 73. it was of old their Doctrine that the Church ought not to rebel against Princes and this the Gospel taught them let them therefore shew from the Gospel that it is lawful for else let a Man pretend to Inspiration if he speaks from himself and not from the Gospel believe him not says St. Chrysostom Prelect 8. Sect. ult p. 96. and having shewn from David's saying against thee only have I sinned that Kings are accountable only to God he closes his Lecture with these words a King is under the coercion of no Laws because there is no power among Men on Earth that can punish him so that when Kings transgress we must expect the judgments of God upon them SECT XIV In the same year Dr. Lewis Bayly Bishop of Bangor set forth the Practice of Piety ‖ P. 479. edit 1675. in the end of which he shews that the Doctrine which St. Paul taught the Ancient Church of Rome is diametrically opposite in 26 fundamental points of true Religion to that which the new Church of Rome teacheth and maintaineth and the 24th is this that every Soul must of conscience be subject and pay tribute to the Higher Powers i.e. the Magistrates which bear the Sword. Rom. 13.1 2 c. and therefore the Pope and all Prelates and by parity of reason all other Subjects must be subject to their Emperors Kings and Magistrates unless they will bring damnation upon their Souls as Traytors that resist God and his Ordinance and therefore let the Jesuits P. 480. c. take heed and fear lest it be not Faith but Faction not Truth but Treason not Religion but Rebellion which is the cause of their deaths ☜ because they cannot be suffered to persuade Subjects to break their Oaths and to withdraw their Allegiance from their Sovereign to raise Rebellion to move Invasion to stab and poyson Queens to kill and murder Kings c. Some years before this Dr. Richard Crackenthorp Preach'd at Pauls Cross viz. Mar. 24. 1608. and in his Epistle Dedicatory he affirms pr. Lond. 1609. that his desire therein was to testifie his unfeigned love first to God's truth and then to the Peace of our Jerusalem and in the Sermon he commends King James's Book of Free Monarchies but especially his Learned Apology for the Oath of Allegiance and proves that as Solomon had his Kingdom neither from the Priest nor the People but immediatly from God so the Scriptures call Kings the Ministers or Lieutenants of God Rom. 13. and that all the Ancient Fathers did believe that the Imperial Authority of Kings was immediatly and only derived of God immediatly depending of God and of God alone this was the judgment and just defence of all the Christians and of the Church at that time and to prove this to be agreeable to the Law he cites a Statute made 16. Ric. 2. c. 5. of purpose to keep sacred and inviolable the Sovereignty and regality of this Kingdom ☞ it was therein declared that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times not then only but which is specially to be remembred at all times that it hath been in subjection to no Realm but immediatly subject to God and to none other in all things touching the regality of the same in defence of which Statute they in the Parliament then Assembled promised to live and dye as it is there noted by all which it is evident that this Doctrine which is now at Rome counted most ridiculous it in it self most sacred as being grounded on the Scriptures of God and as most sacred hath been embrac'd by all the Christians in the Primitive Church taught and maintained with a general consent by the Ancient and Godly Fathers in their several Ages and Successions constantly defended by whole Kingdoms and Empires and that under pain of High Treason to the Gainsayers thereof even in those latter times also when superstition had dimin'd but not quite extinguish'd and put out the Truth that cannot possibly be true loyalty or sincere obedience which ever attending to an higher command includes in it as in a Trojan Horse that condition of rebus sic stantibus durante beneplacito or the like out of which if strength and opportunity might serve they might let out whole Armies and Troops of Armed Men suddenly to surprize both Church and Kingdom and much more to that purpose To Dr. Crackenthorp it is requisite to join his Friend Dr. P. 334 ed. Lon. 1675 Daniel Featly who in his Handmaid to devotion on the Feast of the Fifth of November gives all good Christians this useful admonition All that fear God ought to abhor and detest all Traiterous and Bloody conspiracies against the Prince and State because God strictly forbids dreadfully threatens miraculously discovers and severely punishes all Treasons and Conspiracies as we see in Corah Absalom Adonijah Zimri the Servants of Ammon Sullam Haman the servants of the Nobleman in the Parable Judas for God forbids conspiracies Touch not mine Anointed c. SECT XV. The Famous Peter du Moulin the Father the Cicero of the French Churches was by King James made a Prebendary of the Church of Canterbury and
not to be laught out of our Passive Obedience and the Doctrin of Non-Resistance tho even those who perhaps owe the best part of their security to that Principle are apt to make a jest of it SECT XVII Dr. C. 26. §. 1 2 6 8. Pierce Dean of Salisbury in his body of Orthodox Divinity avers that the Church of God consists of a Civil as well as an Ecclesiastical Hierarchy that Magistrates are constituted by a Divine right as well as Priests that he who resists the Magistrate so constituted by God wounds his Conscience deeply in this World and shall be damn'd in the next after which he smartly censures both the Fanaticks and the Jesuits the scandals of Christianity as he calls them condemning the Doctrins of both sorts of them and shewing the unreasonableness of that proposition that Inferior Magistrates may controul a Prince if he does not do his duty since by the Laws of the Land as well as the Laws of God a King can do no harm i.e. that the King is unaccountable inferior only to God and obnoxious only to his Tribunal so that no Mortal much less his Subjects can have any Authority over him Id. exceeding sinfulness of Schism §. 5 6 7 11. v. Ser. on 1 Pet. 2.13 §. 4 5 7 8. Obedience to Magistrates being of Divine Right strongly founded upon the Will and the Word of God and even a part of the Obedience to God himself whilst it is paid to that Authority which God hath commanded us to pay an Obedience to cannot possibly be due to the Men as Men or to the good as they are good but to the Magistrates as they are such 't is due to the Governors as they are Governors and as the Ordinance of God let their Practices and Opinions be what they will. When God and his Deputies do stand in competition for our Obedience God must have our whole active and his Deputies our Passive Obedience only Saving the dignity and priority of the first and great commandment as the ground and foundation of all the rest our Obedience to our Governors and Humane Laws in force among us is as really an Essential and Fundamental of Christianity ☞ and of as absolute necessity to our Salvation as the belief of one God or any other that can be named it being as rigidly commanded by God in Scripture under the very same promises of reward if we obey and under the very same threats of endless punishments if we rebel Dr. Serm. on Tit. 3.1 p. 4 5. c. D. Whitby Chantor of the same Church in the time of the D. of Monmouth Rebelbelliâ—n laid down this position That Christians must be subject to their Civil Magistrates and in no cases are allowed or authorized forcibly to resist or bear Arms against them and this he proves at large from the expressions of the Holy Scriptures from the deportment of David to King Saul that Jeroboam's revolt is by God himself called Rebellion 1 King. 12.19 p. 8 9. for as a Father doth not forfeit his Authority over his Children nor are they freed from that Obedience which they owe him because he deals severely with them so neither can the King i. e. the Father of his Country lose his Authority over his Subjects because he governs them severely or lays afflicting burthens on them the Scriptures of the New Testament expresly call for our subjection Let every Soul be subject saith St. Paul so let him yield subjection to them as never to resist on any provocation temptation or specious pretence whatsoever whence it is clear ☜ p 10. Serm. 〈…〉 13.1 p. 24 26 27 2â— 29 30 31. that by the Christian Doctrin it is unlawful to resist the Higher Powers upon pretence of Male-administration Tyranny Injustice or to rebel for the defence of our Religion against the worst of persecuting Princes for if Resistance in the forementioned cases was a damning sin when can it be excusable after this he answers the common objections from the Coronation Oath and Self-Preservation c. Mr. Long 's Sermon called the causes of Rebellion Preach'd Jan. 13. 1683. on Jâ—â— 4.1 P. 14 15. was Printed by the joint desires of the Bishop of Exon and the Justices of the County of Devon and the Dedication gives an account of an order of theirs that concurs with the Doctrin of the Sermon nor can any complaint of Tyranny or Oppression justifie a War among us did we suffer under some miscarriages in Government some passions and excesses in our Governors neither Scripture nor reason will warrant any resistance Obj. But the Primitive Christians had no Laws to confirm their Religion P. 16. and therefore it was not so lawful for them to defend their Religion by Arms as it is for us Answ It is strange that our Laws should be made a pretence for Resistance which declare that it is not lawful to resist upon any pretence whatsoever then the Subjects are made Judges of the Actions and Conduct of their Governors P. 22 23. I take those and only those who do agree with the Jesuits in Preaching ☜ and propagating Seditious and Traiterous Principles and Practices such as the lawfulness of Resistance and taking up Arms in defence of Religion against the Supreme Magistrate that the Original of the Magistrate's Power is in the People who may call them to an account and Depose and Murder them as they see cause those who have Murdered one King already and use the same Methods to destroy another in a word V. p. 23 26. all such as will not declare that it is unlawful to take up Arms against the King on any pretence whatsoever or that they will not endeavour any alteration of the establish'd Government for such false Prophets as our Saviour bids us to beware of This also is the Doctrin of his Sermon on July 26. 1685. and his Vindication of the Primitive Christians c. Dr. Fuller Chancellor of Lincoln those Men have but little sense of the honor of Christian Religion that abuse its Name Ser. bef the King June 25. 1682. p. 56 c. and pervert its obligations to justifie Sedition and Rebellion who with great pretences and zeal for Christianity forsake her in her more principal commands of meekness patience and submission and defend the Doctrin of Resistance and Disobedience from those Holy Scriptures that have forbidden them under the penalty of Damnation that those Men do little deserve the Character of Reformed who have forsaken our Reformation in its Principal and Fundamental Doctrin of the King's Supremacy and renounced the Protestant Church of England in all her Principles of Christian Loyalty and indeed all the Enemies of the Church of England how distant soever in other points are perfectly united in the Doctrin of disobedience all agreeing in one conclusion against the express commands of Holy Scripture that it is lawful to resist the Higher Powers c. Dr.
Serm. called Subjection for Conscience sake p. 16. Must the free-born Subject break in upon the Birthrights and Liberties of the Crown and reduce it to Submission and Slavery that the humersom Christian may enjoy what he is pleased to call his Christian Liberty Christ gave not his Blood for this end nor did he make a purchase of a disobedient and gainsaying People Be confident no man can be God's Servant unless he be also a good Subject P. 22. Some mens Opinions and other mens Interests is the Conscience they so much talk of and then it is no wonder at all they cannot for their hearts obey when they themselves are setting up for Superiority Id. Pass Ob. stated and asserted pag. 3. P. 15. Passive Obedience is a patient and mild Suffering the hard and unjust Usages of Kings being both the Christian's Duty and Profession But this meek and Christian Principle was of late called to an account and with Arguments of Railery and Contempt endeavour'd to be hooted out of the World. Under the old Law when the King should usurp upon their Lands and Wives and Children 1 Sam. 8.11.18 all their Remedy was Ye shall cry out unto the Lord in that day c. They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation p. 17 18 19 21. It is in vain to say more being so plain to any Man to understand that seriously thinks of a day of Judgment when all the dawbing of Liberty and Property and Religion shall be wiped off and no pretence nor distinction satisfie against the evidence of Truth and so plain Expressions Mr. Nicolas Claget Disloyal Principles dispose Men to be unquiet Subjects Serm. on 1 Thes 4.11 p. 27. p. 22 23 38 39 40. such as these That all Power is from the People and is put into the King's hands upon trust that it is lawful for Subjects to enter into Covenants and Associations for the defence of themselves and their Religion against the Command of the Prince c. which are the Doctrins of Jesuits and Fanaticks See also Wilson's Disourse of Monarchy p. 15. 22 70 72.81 82. 106. 198. 207. 209. 248. 258 259. Mr. John Cook Serm. before the L. Mayor May 13. 1683. pag. 8 9. it 24 25. Dr. Jo. Price Seem Sept. 9. 1683. pag. 2. 12. 15. 18. Mr. Will. Bolton Coreh Redivivus pag. 9. 14. 29. Mr. Higham on Prov. 24.21 pag. 45 c. 86. 108. 123. 137. 157. 160. 175. c. Mr. Whitfield's Sermon before the L. Mayor Jul. 30. 1632. on Jude 8. Mr. Gifferd's Assize Sermon p. 12. Mr. Hyrick's Sermon July 26. 1685. p. 6 10 23 26. Mr. Brown's Sermon at the Visitation Apr. 12. 1681. p. 27 34. Dr. Smith Prebendary of Norwich Assize Serm. Sept. 13. 1668. p. 8 9. c. Id. Assize Serm. Feb. 27. 1672. p. 28. B. Rively's Sermon at Norwich July 19. 1679. on Rom. 13.4 p. 6 7. Dr. Thompson Dean of Bristol Serm. June 21. 1685. on Tit. 3.1 p. 3 5 6 14. 16 17 18 c. Mr. Bura's Serm. May 29. 1684. p. 25 27 c. Mr. Ethorowe's Scriptural Catechism p. 59. Mr. Alsop's Serm. on Exod. 20.12 p. 9 10 12 13 15 c. 24 25 30. Dr. Fr. Gregory's Serm. Nov. 5. 1679 p. 6 9 25. Mr. Will. Godman's Sermon May 24. 1660. p. 21 22 c. Mr. Luce's Serm. on 1 Pet. 2.16 p. 14 17 18. Mr. Fisher's Serm. Jan. 30. 1672. p. 11 13. Mr. Sayer's Assize Serm. Feb. 25. 1672. p. 38 40. Dr. Barnes's Serm. before the Univers of Cambr. p. 10 19 20 Mr. Crisp's Visir Serm. 1686. And very many other such Discourses and I have reason to suppose that if the Sermons of all the Divines of the Ch. of England on this subject were in Print the very Catalogue would swell to a very great bulk Doctrines of so pernicious a consequence to the publick Peace that it is enough to make us reject them as false without examining them further Such impious Doctrins and Principles as are destructive of the State and do leave Governments and Governors insecure * P. 44. And is Religion and God's Cause a Pretext for Treason and Rebellion This is next to Blasphemy and is an impious Reflection on the Wisdom and Power of God as if to bring about his own Designs he stood in need of our Devilish Devices I shall close this Chapter with the Testimony of Dr. Carswell Vicar of Bray Serm. at she Assize Mar. 3. 1683 / â— p. 25. in his State Reformer enquir'd into Designing Men still cunningly hide the disloyal Treachery in their Hearts their ambitious Designs their Disgusts and Disgraces at Court their Discontents for missng Places of Trust Command Profit or Honor under the Vizard or fair-fac'd Pretences of Religion or Justice P. 3â— they are only concern'd as Patriots of their Religion and Country c. If our Judges are unjust or the King had deputed none to hear p. 44. or none that would do Justice it were not then lawful to oppose or revile Be wise now therefore O ye Kings c. Tho the People may not daâ—e to revile p. 41. or presume to call you to an account yet the King of Kings whose Deputies you are will exact an account of your Stewardship God made not the People Judg of Moses's Actions but him of theirs The End of the Second Part. Some grosser ERRATA of the First Part. IN the Catal. of Authors read B. Montague p. 7. for primitive r. more early p. 18. for subscribed v. assented to for An. 1684. r. the same Year p. 32. r. Ficlerus p. 35. r. Al Kum p. 43. after or better him add the Paragraph in p. 46. And according to this Doctrin unto Malignants p. 54. r. Goodwin p. 74. for L. r. lastly p. 88. r. irreligious ERRATA of the Second Part. PAg. 1. for ought to read would willingly p. 5. l. 12. r. do deserve p. 9. r. an 1542 / 3. p. 11. marg r. Barnes p. 14. l. 18. r. as they p. 20. r. a Friend p. 32. l. 24. r. as he p. 36. must p. 53. how much p. 57. l. 1. the state dele after the words to following p. 59. l. 26. they could p. 70. l. 31. p. rend c. p. 79. l. 27. r. then p. 82. l. 36. for which r. and. p. 84. r. or Merode p. 88â— as if he p. 91. r. sorer p. 94. Abbadon p. 95. l. 2. r. whom p. 96. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 101. r. then only B. p. 104. marg Bowsin p. 105. l. 28. r. was the first p. 109. dele the Cicero of the Fr. Church dele Buckler of Faith. p. 112. l. 37. r. that Book is p. 127. r. 1661. p. 138. r. Theses p. 144. after B. Fell should be placed D. Allestry who is placed p. 147. and instead of Dr. Allestry should be placed p. 147. B. Thomas p. 149. r. wickedly The rest the Reader is desired to correct ADVERTISEMENT The Power communicated by God to the Prince ☞ and the Obedience required of the Subject Briefly laid down and confirmed out of the Holy Scriptures the Testimony of the Primitive Church the Dictates of right Reason and the Opinion of the wisest among Heathen Writers By the most Reverend Father in God James late Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland Faithfully published out of the Original Copy written with his own hand by the Reverend Father in God Robert Saunderson L. Bishop of Lincoln with his Lordships Preface thereunto Sold by the Booksellers in London
☜ and bear all the ill administration that might be in the Government but never to rise in Arms upon that account * Id. third Letter to the E. of Middl. p. 168. I will do that which I think fit for me to do to day though I were sure to be assassinated for it to morrow but to the last moment of my life I will pay all duty and fidelity to his Majesty * Ans to the New Test c. p. 48 49. The Church of England may justly expostulate when she is treated as seditious after she hath rendred the highest Services to the Civil Authority that any Church now on Earth hath done she hath beaten down all the principles of Rebellion with more force and learning ☜ than any body of Men hath ever yet done and hath run the hazards of enraging her Enemies and losing her Friends even for those from whom the most learned of her Members knew what they might expect We are the only Church in the World that carries these principles to the highest We acknowledg that some of our Clergy miscarried in it upon King Edward's death yet at the same time others of our Communion adhered more steadily to their Loyalty in favour of Queen Mary than she did to the promises that she made to them The Laws of Nature are perpetual P. 51. and can never be cancell'd by any special Law so that if these Gent. own so freely that this is a Law of Nature that every individual might fight in his own defence they had best take care not to provoke Nature too much P. 52. As we cannot be charg'd for having preach'd any seditious Doctrine so we are not wanting in the preaching of the duties of Loyalty P. 55. even when we see what they are like to cost us Of all the Maximes in the World there is none hurtful to the Government in our present circumstances than the saying That the King's promises and the people's fidelity ought to be reciprocal and that a failure in the one cuts off the other for by a very natural consequence the Subject may likewise say that their Oaths of Allegiance being founded on the assurance of his Majesty's protection the one binds no longer than the other is observed and the Inferences that may be drawn from hence will be very terrible if the Loyalty of the so much decryed Church of England does not put a stop to them But for that we may cite the Testimony of the Right Reverend Bishop of S. Asaph in his Seasonable Discourse c. We are Members of a Church Pag. 4. which above all other Constitutions in the Christian World enforces the great Duties of Obedience and Submission to the Magistrate and teaches to be subject not only for Truth but Conscience sake And among other Motives which he mentions in the behalf of the Established Religion The fourth says he is this The Safety of the King's Person and the Prerogative of the Crown which hath no higher or more necessary Appendent than his Supremacy in his Dominion in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Secular according to the Powers invested in the Jewish Kings under the Law ☞ and exercised by the first Christian Emperors To whom we may add the Right Reverend Doctor Sprat in his Sermon before the House of Commons Jan. 30. 1677 / 8. by them ordered to be Printed Where speaking of King Chalres the Martyr Who saith he not only by his Birth had a Successive Right to the Crown which he could not forfeit but also by his Personal Vittues might have deserved another Title to it if his Crown had been elective and as his Murderers impudently pretended at the Disposal of his Subjects pag. 3. So that he terms him the Vicegerent of God's Power ibid. pag. 44. He pleaded and prayed for his Enemies at the Bar of Heaven which only was above him And pag. 47. May all of us be most industriously watchful that the same Schismatical Designs and Antimonarchical Principles which then inspired so many ill Men misled some good Men and cost our good King so dear may not once more revive and insinuate themselves again under the same or newer and craftier Disguises and find an opportunity to attempt the like mischiefs And in another Sermon of his at White-Hall Pag. 44 45. December 22. 1678. Let us withdraw our thoughts and lift up our minds to the imitation of the most Christian Examples As of our Saviour himself so of his Apostles and Disciples in the first and therefore the best Ages How were they zealous for the Glory of God Not by violence or malice or revenge against any not eve nagainst their Oppressors but only by their own Labors and Prayers and Patience and Magnanimity in suffering How were they zealous in respect to their Temporal Governors Not to resist for conscience sake but rather to be subject for that very reason not by open Rebellion not by private Machinations but in blessing and serving and submitting to their Emperors tho they were Idolaters and obeying them in all things except their Idolatry Whom to imitate is our Duty SECT XXIII Mr. Thorndyke * Apud Falkner's Christian Loyalty p. 429. from the Instance of the Maccabees avers that it was lawful for Subjects to take Arms in Defence of their Religion under the Jewish State tho in that he be mistaken but expresly condemns taking Arms upon that or any other pretext under the Christian State. Dr. Spencer †Serm. at S. Mary's Cambr. Jun. 28. 1660 p. 4. the now Dean of Ely The Gospel doth very sparingly meddle with State matters but when it doth it engageth to Obedience by as obliging Principles as it doth to Religion even a Principle of Conscience we must be subject for conscience-sake not barely for safety's sake and a principle of highest fear They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation A Doctrine taught the World in the Type long before by that Fire and Earthquake which destroyed the Opposers of lawful Authority Numb xvi 33 34. P. 11 12. God hath attested unto Sovereignty by suffering none of his Servants in Scripture few or none in story to be guilty of willful opposing lawful Authority We find many a wicked Man guilty of this Sin but as Reverence to other Divine Commands wore off in time as the power that exalteth it self above all that is called God obtained in the world so to this among the rest of Obedience to lawful Authority P. 14. The Heathens used to reproach the Gospel on this account but the Pulpit was never intended to be a Circle in which to raise up the evil Spirits of Sedition and State-Commotions no Religion in the Doctrine of it so greatly secures the Power of Kings and the Peace of States ☜ as the Christian doth we are bound by the Gospel to be obedient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. ii 18. to the crookedest and frowardest Masters
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-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
their Doctrine to have been of God had their Actions been so contrary to all the Precepts of Natural Divinity And in this matter does the Learned Dr. Dr. Dove's Serm. before the Sons of the Clergy 1687. Dove vindicate the Integrity of our Church in a few but as significant Words as any of his Brethren when speaking of some who suffered much for their Constancy to the Faith and their Fidelity to the Crown he terms them Two inseparable Notes of a genuine Son of the Church of England Dr. Puller * Moderat of the Ch. of Engl. ch 12. § 5. Other Sects deny the King's Supremacy in Matters Ecclesiastical either claiming a Power of Jurisdiction over him or pleading a Privilege of Exemption from under him where as the Clergy of the Church of England like good Christians and good Subjects neither pretend to any Jurisdiction over the Kings of England nor withdraw their Subjection from them †Sect. 6 7. And then he vindicates that Expression of Can. 1. of the Synod 1640. That the Order of Kings is most high and sacred The Moderation of our Church doth not favour any Doctrines or Practices which are prejudicial to the safety of human Society in general It doth no where pretend to remit the Divine Laws or dispense with Oaths or transfer the Rights of Kingdoms c. Contrariwise it requires of all of its Communion to give the King such Security of their Allegeance and Fealty as may be a sufficient Security to his Government ‖ Chap. 17. The Romanists and Separatists extremely agree in their Principles against the Civil Magistrate according to that of Bishop Lany * Bishop Lany's Serm. on 1 Thess 4.11 The Papists and Presbyterians hunt in Couples against the King's Power and Supremacy It is admirable to see how the Commonwealths Men in the times of the late Rebellion received their Principles from the ancient and modern Writers of the Jesuits and other Papists and still agree with them in most of the Republican Doctrines and Tendencies of them to the like Practices Both deny the Supremacy of the King one attributes it to the Pope originally the other to the People and the same Arguments which the Pope useth for his Supremacy over Kings the Disciplinarians use for establishing their Sovereignty The Pretence of the King's Authority against his Person was hatch'd under the Roman Territories and was made use of in the Holy League of France The Rules for making a King to be a Tyrant and then ceasing to be a King that it may be lawful to attempt any thing against his Person and Life are so much the same §. 20. that they cannot be more I need not here relate how many Doctrines of the Romanists tend to dissolve the very Bonds of relative Duty one towards another absolving People from their Oaths and Allegiance No Faith to be kept with Hereticks c. How do many Principles of our Enthusiasts and Separatists tend to destroy the Relations of King and Subject Bishop and People c. SECT XXXII Dr. Scott * Serm. July 26. 1685. p. 2. P. 13 14. Absalom accomplish'd his design partly by declaiming against the Maleadministrations of his Father's Government partly by promising them a thorough Reformation if ever he arrived to be a Judge in Israel Every Man knows or might easily know if he were not extremely wanting to himself that his King is the Vicegerent of his God and that being so he is indispensibly obliged by all the ties of Reason and Religion to submit to his Will and reverence his Person and bow to his Authority and that he cannot lift up his hand against him without fighting against God himself the Truth of which is as obvious to our natural Reason and as plainly asserted in holy Scripture as of any Proposition in Religion ☜ so that I dare boldly affirm a Man may find as many Pretexts for any Vice whatsoever even for Drunkenness Whoredom or Perjury as ever were made for Rebellion and were I to set up for a publick Patron of Wickedness I hardly know a Villany in nature so black and monstrous which I could not more plausibly recommend to Mens Reason and Consciences than this of Resistance against lawful Authority which is such a complication of Villanies such a loathsome mixture of hellish Ingredients as is enough to nauseate any Conscience but a Devil 's And tho Conscience and Religion are the Colors it usually marches under yet is the imposture of this Pretence so fulsome and bare-fac'd that no Man in his Wits can be innocently abused by it for certainly that Man must have a great mind to rebel his Will must have a strong Byass of Pride or Discontent Faction or Ambition in it that in despite of all the evidence from Reason and Scripture to the contrary can persuade himself that it is lawful for him and much less P. 15 16. that it is his duty to lift up his hand against his Sovereign And therefore for Men to appeal to God in a Cause so apparently wicked is not submissively to refer themselves to him but openly to mock and affront him and to make a vexatious Appeal to God's Judgment again in a Case which he hath so often and so expresly judged already is a common Barretry 't is not to consult but to tempt him and under pretence of submitting to his determinations openly to defie his Authority in effect it is to appeal from his Will to his Providence and to bespeak him to declare himself against his own Declarations In the case of Rebellion there is not only a peremptory Disobedience to those Laws of God which require our dutiful Submission to our lawful Superiors ☞ but also a direct Renuntiation of the divine Authority it self for all Sovereign Power is immediately founded in the Dominion of God who being the supreme Lord of the World no person can have right to govern in his Kingdom under him but by Commission from him Kings therefore are only accountable to him P. 17.18 and if so then for any of their Subjects to presume to call them to account by a publick form'd resistance is to arraign God's own Authority and invade his peculiar it is to thrust him out of his Throne and set themselves down in it and then to summon his Authority before them and require it to submit its awful Head to their imperious doom and sentence While therefore we behave our selves factiously and rebelliously towards those whom God hath set over us we live as Out-laws in the Kingdom of God without any respect to that visible Authority by which he governs the World and if this be so then for Subjects to rebel against their Prince is neither better nor worse than to appeal to God against his own Authority and to put this impious Case to him Whether it be he or they that have the Right of Governing the World. I profess * Id. Serm.
he be never so true a Subject and all unlikely to make any resistance or to think any evil unto your Grace P. 184. Whereas it is they that go about to make Insurrection to the maintaining of their worldly pomp and pride and not the true Preacher Who is he that would be a Traitor or maintain a Traitor against your most excellent and noble Grace I think no Man yea and I know surely that no Man can do it without the great displeasure of the eternal God. For S. Paul commandeth straitly unto all Christians to be obedient in all things Rom. 13. on this manner Let every man submit himself to the authority of the higher power for whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation 1 Pet. 2. Also S. Peter confirmeth this saying Submit your selves unto all manner of ordinance of man c. Wherefore if every man had the Scriptures as I would to God they had to judge every Man's Doctrine ☞ then were it out of question that the Preachers thereof either would or could make or cause to be made any Insurrection against their Prince seeing the self same Scripture straitly commandeth all Subjects to be obedient unto their Princes as Paul witnesseth saying Warn them saith he that they submit themselves to princes and to powers and to obey the officers Now how can they that preach and exhort all Men to this Doctrine cause any Insurrection or Disobedience against their Prince Call to mind the old Prophets and with a single eye judge if any of them either privily or apertly stirred up the People against their Princes P. 185. Look on Christ if he submitted not himself to the high powers paid he not Tribute for all he was free and caused Peter likewise to pay Suffered not he with all patience the punishments of the Princes Yea Death most cruel altho they did him open wrong and could find him guilty in no Cause Look also on the Apostles and if ever they stirred by any occasion the People against their Princes yea if they themselves obeyed not to all Princes altho the most part of them were Tyrants and Infidels Consider likewise those Doctors which purely and sincerely have handled the Word of God either in Preaching or Writing if ever by their means any Insurrection or Disobedience rise among the People against their Princes but you shall rather find that they have been rather ready to lay down their own Heads to suffer with all patience whatsoever Tyranny any Power would minister unto them giving all People example to do the same Now to conclude if neither the Scripture neither the Practice of the Preachers thereof teacheth nor affirmeth that the People may disobey their Princes or their Ordinances but contrariwise teacheth all Obedience to be done unto them it is plain that those Bishops or rather Papists do falsly accuse those true Preachers and Subjects which thing would appear in every Man's sight if by their violence the Word of God were not kept under Now is this the Doctrin that I do Preach and Teach ☜ and none other as concerning this matter God I take to record and all my Books and Writings that ever I wrote or made and only I allow and favor them which further this Doctrine of Christ and of this I am sure mine Adversaries or rather Adversaries to Christ's Doctrin must bear me witness After this he proceeds to demonstrate that the Pope and the Papistical Bishops are they who Preach to the People the contrary Doctrin as that St. Peter exempts himself and his Successors from being subject to Superiors that Subjects may be disobedient to their own Lords and that the Pope may Depose Kings that he hath autority to break all Oaths Bonds and Obligations and other such like positions and then adds there is no Officer that hath need to be afraid of Christ's Gospel nor yet of the Preachers thereof ☜ but of those privy Traitors can no Man be too wary the Scripture commandeth us to obey to wicked Princes and giveth us none autority to Depose them who was more wicked than Herod and yet St. John suffer'd Death under him Who was wickeder than Pilate and yet Christ did not put him down but was Crucified under him Briefly which of all the Princes were good in the Apostles days and yet they deposed none So that God's word and their own learning and the Practice of our Master Christ and his Holy Apostles are openly against them p. 190. there is no People under Heaven that more abhors and with earnester heart resisteth and more diligently doth Preach against Disobedience than we do Yea I dare say boldly let all your Books be search'd that were written this 500 Years and all they shall not declare the autority of a Prince and the true obedience toward him as one of our little Books shall do that be condemn'd by you for Heresie p. 202. 204. And then he impeacheth them of denying that the King's Power is immediatly of God while it can never be proved that ever we spake against God or our King. The same Learned and Holy Martyr in his Discourse that Mens Constitutions not grounded in Scripture bind not the Conscience is of the same mind If the power command any thing of Tyranny against Right and Law always provided that it repugn not against the Gospel p. 292. 293. 294. nor destroy our Faith our Charity must needs suffer it for as St. Paul saith Charity suffereth all things also our Master Christ If a man strike thee on the one Cheek turn him the other For if he doth exercise Tyranny if he command thee any thing against right or do thee any wrong as for an example cast thee in Prison wrongfully if thou canst by any reasonable and quiet means without Sedition Insurrection or breaking of the common Peace save thy self or avoid his Tyranny thou may'st do it with a good Conscience but in no wise ☞ be it right or wrong may'st thou make any resistance with a Sword or with Hand but obey except thou canst avoid as I have shewed thee but if the Cause be right lawful or profitable to the Common-wealth thou must obey and thou must not sly without sin But suppose the King should condemn the New Testament in England and command that none of his Subjects should have it is he to be obeyed or not this will be a great Scourge and an intolerable plague My Lords the Popish Bishops would depose him with short deliberation and make no Conscience of it they have Deposed Princes for lesser Causes than this is a great deal But against them will I always lay Christ's Fact and his Holy Apostles and the Word of God. If the King forbid the New Testament c. under a temporal pain or else under the pain of Death Men shall first make faithful Prayers to God and then diligent
You dispose not only their Affairs but their Crowns at your pleasure you hunt them not to covert but to death You train up your Followers in the high mystery of Treason To these ends you wrest Scriptures you corrupt Histories you counterfeit Reasons you corrupt all Truth And all you say is directed to a holy and religious end Away then with your Devotion and so we shall be rid of your dangerous Deceit This was his Opinion in the Days of King James nor was it newly taken up to comply with that Prince for Ep. Dod. ante Answ to Doleman as Sir John Heyward himself informs us he wrote his Account of the Deposition of King Richard the Second and the Usurpation of King Henry the Fourth to shew that the People have no lawful power to resist their Prince nor to hinder the Succession according to Proximity of Blood. SECT II. On S. James's day being July 25 of the same year was this Learned Prince crowned Pr. London 1604 the Sermon on that Solemnity being Preached by Dr. Bilson Bishop of Winchester on Rom. xiâ—â— 1. The powers that are are ordained of God. In which we are told That the likeness which Princes have with the Kingdom of God and of Christ consists in the Society of the Names and Signs which they have common with Christ in the Sufficiency of the Spirit wherewith God endueth them in the Sanctity of their Persons which may not be violated in the Sovereignty of their Power which must not be resisted ☜ By the anointing of Kings God hath taught us that their persons once dedicated to his Service are not only protected by his stretched-out Arm but are and ought to be sacred and secured from the violence and injury of all mens hands mouths and hearts Touch not mine anointed P. 105. saith God by his Prophet which is chiefly verified of Princes whom God anointeth to be the chiefest of his People Neither is violence only prohibited towards them but all offence in speech or thought Yea the very Robes which they wear are sanctified The Sovereignty of their Power will soon appear as well by the persons subjected as by the things committed to their Charge Let every soul be subject c. He that brings an Exception useth but a Delusion says Bernard for who can loose what God hath bound neither is this an Exhortation to Obedience but a plain Injunction You must needs be subject c. You must imports a necessity for conscience declares a Duty to God the danger of resisting being as great as the Commandment of obeying is streight Whosoever resists resists the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves judgment ☜ Dare any man promise himself success and protection in Conspiracy and Treason when the Spirit of God so plainly threatens ruin and condemnation to all that resist whosoever they be To maintain Peace and Tranquillity God hath allowed Kings power over the Goods Lands Bodies and Lives of their Subjects and what private men may not touch without theft and murder that Princes may lawfully dispose as God's Ministers taking vengeance on them that do evil ☞ He that resisteth and dishonoreth them resisteth and dishonoreth the Ordinance of God to his own confusion in this life where Princes are permitted to revenge the wrongs done to them and in the next where God everlastingly punisheth the contempt of his Ordinance What kind of Honor is due to Princes is shortly delivered in that Commandment Honor thy Father Rom xiii 1. The Apostle in this place nameth three things due to Princely Dignity Subjection Honor and Tribute teaching us that Princes must be obeyed with Conscience Reverence and Recompense It is therefore sin to despise or refuse their Laws commanding that which is good and likewise to resist or reproach their Power punishing that which is evil even in our selves Howbeit when Princes cease to command for God or bend their Swords against God whose Ministers they are we must reverence their Power ☞ but refuse their Wills. It is no resistance to obey the greater before the lesser neither hath any man cause to be offended when God is preferred Yet must we not reject their Yoke with violence but rather endure their Swords with patience that God may be Judge between Prince and People with whom is no unrighteousness nor respect of persons The man of sin hath not more grosly betrayed his pride and rage in any thing than in abasing the Honor and abusing the Power and impugning the Right of Princes by deposing them from their Seats and translating their Kingdoms to others by absolving their Subjects from all Allegiance ond giving them leave to rebel by setting his Feet in Emperor's Necks and spurning off their Crowns with his Shooe c. In all which he hath shewed himself like himself to yoke whom God hath freed and to free whom God hath yoked to deject whom God hath exalted and to erect whom God hath humbled to challenge what God hath reserved and to cross what God hath commanded And whatever Citations may be made out of this Learned Prelate's Book Of the true Difference c. Printed at Oxford 1585 in Quarto and the next year at London in Octavo to prove the contrary Yenet the Quoters and some of them I fear wilfully mistaking what he says of such Republicks and States in which upon the Invasion of Sabjects Privileges they are allowed by fundamental written known Compact as in Germany by the Bulla Aurea to resist as if it were applicable to free Monarchies and particularly to England contrary to his own express Assertion * P. 518 519 c. where be proves it at large That the Subjects in England have not that lawful Warrant to draw their Sword without consent of their Prince as the Germans have without consent of the Emperor He also teaches us our Duty agreeable to the holy Scriptures and primitive Antiquity in many places of that Book †P. 339 c. What Question can this be between the Prince and the People whether the Magistrate shall be deposed since God hath expresly commanded the People to be subject to the Sword and not to resist Against which Precept no earthly Court may deliberate ☜ much less determine to break his Law or license the People to frust are his Heavenly Will. It is one thing to disbuâ— then the Conscience from obeying the Evil which a Prince commandeth which a Priest may do and another thing to take the Prince's Sword out of his hand for abusing his Authority which the Priest may not do Manasses was carried Captive out of his Realm in the midst of his furious Idolatry and yet in his absence and misery no man stirred against him but his Kingdom was reserved for him until he was released out of Prison and sent back from Babylon It was therefore not for fear of Death but for regard of Duty that the zealous Priests
follow the murder of Kings is lawful and honorable Consider with your self P. 254. what a gap you open to popular Licentiousness when you praise those Men who magnifie the parricides of Princes The same Author in his Epphata to F. T. being a Vindication in English of the same Prelate vindicates the same Doctrin Cambr. 1617. in his Epistle Dedicatory he says That tho Kings die like men i. e. Quatenus homines non quatenus Reges yet we are to remember that they fall like one of the Principes i. e. one of the Angels says the Cardinal himself among others on that Psalm who we know are not judged till God judges them though no doubt but that aggravates their Judgment so much the sooner It were worth the considering what correspondence such Grounds have with the ancient Doctrine which the Cardinal and his Followers would seem so close to follow Of Chrysostome ☜ that a Sovereign King is accountable to none not only to his Subjects but not so much as to his Successor as David said that he is to be judged by God only The same Chrysostom noting that whereas the Psalmist passes over other miracles of the Wilderness in deep silence he insists only on the Death of Og and Sehon two mighty Monarchs because Kings lives are so wholly in God's Hands and the Disposition of them is alway miraculous reserved and appropriated to God himself Of S. Basil that a King is subject to no Judge Of Ambrose that nullis tenetur Legibus not only the King of Israel but not the King of Egypt Of the Pope in Theodoret who told Theodosius that it was not lawful to implead a King not only in his person but not personating another not fictione juris as the Lawyers say ‖ Ch. 1. p. 58 59. Now Obedience is become among the Ceremonies and the honoring of our Parents i. e. in truth of our Princes Patres Patriae by ancient stile ☜ and so Ezechias called the Priests his children 2 Chron. 29.11 is as subject to alteration as the Sabbath Day And because the Jewish Ceremonies may not only be omitted but may not be retain'd without heinous crime therefore it shall be Conscience to wax wanton against Princes to shake off their Yoke yea merit virtue and what not as if the Precept of honoring Parents which is the primum in promissione Ephes 6. were now secundum in omissione after that against Images P. 60 61 62. which is usually cancelled in the Popish Catechisms Against the Emperors under the Old Testament there was no rising up and as for the Emperors in the New Testament tho as they were Heathen they were neither by Christ nor his Apostles obey'd I hope Sir 't is enough that they were not resisted Kings when transported by Error they forsake their Duty Pag. 75. yet forfeit not their Supremacy We yield no Abdication of our King ☞ tho his Fault be Heresie remembring that Deus defendit oleum suum as Optatus says and Caesar non desinit esse Caesar even in Alto Gentilisino as our Saviour acknowledg'd of him Matt 22. So beinous is the Heresie of Deposing Magistrates for moral Misdemeanours A bad Head I should think which the Body will be the better for the cutting off No Iniquity can abolish Authority And if it be objected Pag. 94. P. 137. 139. that Kings must be hamper'd with a coercive Power or all must run to nothing and the Church be clean extinguishâ—d It is answered The Church gains by Patience in Persecution therefore she loses by Resistance and Opposition SECT VIII Among these domestick Champions of the King and the Truth it may not be amiss to reckon an eminent Foreigner if I may call Isaac Casaubon so who lived some Years in this Kingdom and dyed here one of the Glories of his Age before he came into England he just after the Quarrel between the Pope and the Republick of Venice An. 1607. printed a Discourse De Libertate Ecclesiastica or rather but a part of a Discourse for whereas he promises Eleven Chapters the first three are not entirely printed the rest being stopt at the Press by Order of the French King tho as imperfect as the Book is Goldastus hath thought it worth a place in his Collections and in it he shews that the true Church of God never usurp'd the Rights of Kings * Ad Lect. p. 6. Pag. 12.13 while the Popes spoil Kings of their Liberty and their Majesty too for under them it sometimes happens that Kings may be safe but they can never be secure for they so value this Liberty that to defend it they tumble all things upside down mingle Heaven and Earth things sacred and profane And whereas our holy Master's Precepts ought not to be contradicted since he hath joyned his Example to his Commands and recommended to us the Love of our Enemies Subjection to the Powers ordained of God ☞ and Obedience to them for Conscience sake they to build up and to confirm this Liberty unknown to the Primitive times do every where inkindle Wars become a Terror to Kings and Princes dispense with their Subjects Allegiance and arm them against their own Sovereigns and pretend that to violate all Laws divine and human is a holy undertaking and most acceptable unto God. As ifby an ill management of supreme Authority Pag. 17. the Authority were forfeited And if once Princes shall suffer the Foundations of their Government to be shaken in the minds of their Subjects their Government and Empire must of necessity reel and totter and fall into the dust God commands all orders of Men to render to Cesar the things that are Cesar 's Pag. 69. and let every soul be subject to the higher powers c. therefore Gregory Nazianzen says that the Civil Magistrate doth reign together with Christ nor does it make any difference that some Kings arrive to the Throne by hereditary Succession others by Election a third sort by Conquest for tho God in the establishment of a King as in the Ordination of a Priest uses the Ministry of men yet it is impious not to acknowledg that the Dominion and Power is received originally from God By God Kings reign as the holy Scriptures in almost infinite places do testifie P. 102 103. The Primitive Christians did so use the World as those that used it not as S. Paul advises for while their Zeal for Piety was flagrant while the Innocency of their Manners their mutual Love and Affection their unfeigned Humility ☜ their constant Meditation on the Joys of Heaven their Fidelity and Obedience to their Princes as far as their Conscience would give them leave lastly their incomparable Constancy in suffering all manner of Torments for the true Religion made them every day a Spectacle to the whole World they ravish'd their very Enemies to admire them and their Virtues these were the beginnings of Christianity this the