the Reigns of the Kings of England by any Tyrannical acts of theirs in 500 years The Persians therefore after the death of their Kings allowed the liberty of five days wherein every one might do as when there was no King in Israel to convince them that submission to the worst Governours is better than to have none 4. Nor can any plea from Religion warrant wars and fightings among us for we are Christians and not Jews and we are under such obligations to peace that unless we can produce as clear warrant from Scripture for war and fightings among our selves we act more like Pagans than Christians Peace is the last legacy that our Saviour left us and by his Apostle he enjoyned us if it be possible and as much as in us lyeth to live peaceably with all men and he makes peace a condition equal with Holiness without which we can never see God On which grounds the Primitive Christians thought it unlawful to exercise war on any pretence whatsoever they were enjoyned to take up the Cross and not the Sword they were to love their enemies and not to hate their friends they prayed for those that persecuted them but did not persecute those who prayed with and for them The Apostles of our Lord did by preaching the Gospel subdue Kingdoms but they wrought righteousness too and did more for the securing the Imperial Crowns than all their own Laws could do And this was one argument by which Tertullian recommended the Christians to the clemency of the Roman Emperours That none of them were Nigriani or Cassiani they never abetted the Rebellions of Niger or Cassius And this should for ever endear the Communion of the Church of England that as it teacheth That it is not lawful on any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King so it was the testimony of the Royal Martyr to our present Soveraign that scarce any one who was a beginner or active prosecutor of the late war was a true lover embracer or practiser of the Protestant Religion established in England which neither gave such rules or set such examples And on the contrary ever since those twin-Monsters of Jesuitism and Fanaticism were born into the world together there hath not been one considerable League Covenant or Association of people against their Prince any single Assassination of Kings or Massacre of the people any Consults for Division War and Confusion but one or more of the Conclave of Rome or Conventicles of Separatists and both under a pretence of zeal for Religion have been the first contrivers and executioners of them Ob. But it hath been objected that the Primitive Christians had no Laws to confirm their Religion and Worship as we have and therefore it was not so lawful for them to defend their Religion by Arms as it is for us Ans 1. It is strange that our Laws should be made a pretence for Resistance which declare that it is not lawful to resist on any pretence whatsoever 2. The Primitive Christians who never bore Arms against their persecuting Princes would much more abhor to do it against Christian Governours that favoured and protected them they would never turn the Laws against the Law-makers and use them as Forts and Sanctuaries to secure and protect Rebels 3. If this plea might be admitted the best Princes would be in most danger for by this rule if we lived under a Pagan and persecuting Prince that never favoured us with one good Law we might not resist him but if under a Prince that made it his business to secure Religion by the best Laws such as presume they are of a better Religion than their Prince and can judge of the Laws better than the Law-giver might justifie a Rebellion against him and so the best Prince would be most miserable and the same Laws that secure our Religion would destroy his Crown On such a principle when Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown and found Popery established by a Law her Popish Subjects which were then the greatest number might have rebelled against her which yet they durst not do on this false principle of some true Protestants 4. If Subjects may resist as often as discontented and designing men shall tell them that the King doth not favour that Religion which the Laws do and shall influence the people with fears and jealousies that their Religion is in danger and make them Judges of the Actions and Conduct of their Governors the best of Princes who certainly ought to have some allowance for humane passions and infirmities as well as other men would daily forfeit their Crowns But lastly when the Religion and worship which we profess is established by Law how vile and absurd is the pretence of those men for Resistance who live in open defiance of those Laws and in opposition to that Religion and worship which is established by them to which if they did with Christian meekness conform there would be no hurting nor destroying in all the Land And if neither Religion nor Law will warrant wars and fightings among us then the pretence of Conscience will vanish for Conscience is nothing else but a conformity of our actions to the known Laws of God and of our Superiors not contrary to the Laws of God Now when the Law of God says we must obey our Superiors for Conscience sake and our Superiors command nothing contrary to those Laws which Laws forbid us to resist on any pretence whatsoever there can be neither Law nor Conscience to justifie Resistance but it proceeds from the lusts of ungodly men whereof this is a certain proof that when such Pretenders to Religion and Conscience do succeed in their Rebellion the Cloak is thrown off and those lusts which seemed dormant or couchant appear rampant and grievous Wolves creep out from under the Sheeps clothing which spare neither Sheep nor Shepherds nor those that helped to run down the Prey with them so they may kill and take possession Having thus proved our Apostles assertion in general That Wars and Fightings among us can proceed from no other cause but our Lusts I shall onely point you to a few of those Lusts that are the principal Incendiaries The first and chieftain of which is that Pride and Vain-glory which abounds in the hearts of Pharisaical men who seek to have their Persons had in admiration because of advantage and for want of ordinary qualifications and honest means pretend to extraordinary gifts and revelations of the Spirit and speak great words of vanity or by fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple and speak perverse things contrary to the Doctrine received from the Apostles to draw away Disciples after them When Josephus relates the miserable Wars of the Jews he gives us an account of the several Factions and Sects among them that acted in those Wars such as the Pharisees and Sadduces the Essenes and the Zealous who were the chief Boutefeus And our Saviour and his Apostles observe
you may do God and the King your selves and your Country most acceptable Service For in this Text you have a discovery of the first most secret motions that tend to War and Confusion which as it is said of the Basilisk being first seen they die but if they surprize us we perish I shall therefore wave all formalities and delays and become your humble Sollicitor to take immediate cognizance of the merits of the Cause that OLD CAUSE which hath formerly involved the three Nations in War and Confusion and is like to set us all on a flame a second time And I doubt not to produce such clear and unquestionable evidence concerning the matter of fact that not one though interessed and prejudiced person shall return an Ignoramus but agree fully in the Verdict with St. James That the wars and fightings among our selves can proceed from no other cause but those lusts that war in our members And in this I dare make every man a Juror being as well under the Oath of God in his Baptism as the Oath of the King in his Allegiance both which oblige him to discover and bring to condign punishment those lusts that fight against God against the Peace of our Soveraign Lord the King and the temporal and eternal Peace of our own Souls Three things the Text directs us to enquire into 1. The matter of Fact Wars and fightings 2. The Persons engaged Among you or between your selves viz. the twelve Tribes to whom St. James writes this Epistle 3. The Original whence these Wars came which our Apostle assures us was from no other cause but those lusts which did war in their members First of the matter of Fact which was more than private Stirs and Heats as some term them there was some fire and flames and Behold saith our Apostle how great a matter a little fire kindleth it proceeded to Open Hostility and Murther For although by Gods just Judgment upon them they had been for above an hundred years under the Power and Government of the Romans and owned no King but Caesar by whom they were permitted the enjoyment of their Religion Laws and Liberties under the easie tribute of one peny yearly for each person which was the ordinary pay of a Labourer or Souldier for one days service yet did they not onely often rebel against their lawful Governours on the account of that Tribute but frequently by more than Civil Wars did execute most barbarous and bloudy Fights among themselves being divided into many restless Factions each striving to be uppermost until they were all ruined This our Apostle plainly expresseth v. 2. Ye fight and war and again ye kill and desire to have i. e. to get dominion and unlawful possessions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word is and it seems to refer to a Generation of men that called themselves Zealots who under a pretence of Justice and Religion made it lawful to kill and destroy all that opposed their ingrossing the Power Wealth and Trade of the Nation for that was the Religion of those men And thus began those unnatural Wars the People were perswaded by these Zealots that their Religion Laws and Liberties were invaded by their King that Prince of Peace the anointed and Holy One of God Against whom the great Council and some chief Priests stirred up the People and conspired to put him to death And having all the Factions at their beck against him as their common Enemy that would let in the Romans upon them and having by many intolerable affronts and indignities driven him from his Royal City and hunted him from place to place they corrupted a Judas to betray him for a sum of money and by Subornation of false Witnesses and a Pagan Judge and mockery of Justice they murthered him as it were at the Gates of his great City Jerusalem whose thirst of bloud he had a little before endeavoured to quench by a floud of tears O Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets c. This our Apostle observes ch 5. 6. Ye have condemned and killed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Just One Parallel to Acts 3.14 Ye denied the Holy One and the Just and desired a Murtherer to be granted unto you And now that the Royal sence was digged down what could be expected but a deluge of Bloud even the days of Vengeance wherein all things that were written were to be fulfilled Luke 21.22 And Judgment was to begin first at the house of God Accordingly we find Acts 6.9 that Some of the Synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians c. accused St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr For they being not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake and by his sharp but just reproofs ch 7. 5. being cut to the heart v. 54. the People Elders and Scribes caught him and brought him to the Council and set up false witnesses which said that he had spoke blasphemous words against Moses and against God and would change their customs ch 6. 11. And him they prosecuted with a rage that reached up to Heaven for they gnashed on him with their teeth and cried with a loud voice for his bloud and stopped their ears to all sober counsels and ran upon him with one accord and stoned him calling upon God and praying for his enemies Lord lay not this sin to their charge Acts 7.60 Then Herod their usurping king vexed the whole church imprisoned St. Peter and slew James the Brother of our Lord with the sword And those men of whom the world was not worthy were counted worthy to die and die they did like worthy men for they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods and had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings bonds and imprisonment and being tempted to deny the faith chose rather to be sawn asunder and slain with the sword What havock was made of the Flock of Christ by these grievous Wolves after that the chief Shepherds were smitten is too large to be repeated Onely as Geographers are wont to describe great Countries and Cities Battels and Devastations in a little Map I shall present you with a prospect of those Wars as it was delineated by our Saviours own hand whereof it was impossible but every tittle should be true Mark 13.9 He says They should deliver one another to the council and beat them in their synagogues That brother should betray brother to death and the father the son and children should rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death that a mans foes should be those of his own house and whoever did kill his disciples should think that he did God good service That there should follow those wars great afflictions pestilences famines such as had not been from the beginning of the world That they should fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all Nations and Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles Luke 21.23 for their enemies should cast a trench
the like method forewarning us of false Prophets and Separatists or Sect-makers as St. Jude calls them Beware saith our Saviour of false prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves Mat. 7.15 And Acts 20.30 I know that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter among you not sparing the flock St. Peter also 2 Epist 2.1 says There were false prophets among the people as there shall also be among you who privily shall bring in damnable Doctrines denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction and many shall follow their pernitious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you Now that these men served their own bellies and not the Laws of Christ St. Paul assures us Rom. 16.17 18. I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences and avoid them for such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies And in the second to Tim. 3.1 2 3. he tells us that in the last days some that had a form of Godliness Schemes and Systems Confessions and Sermons of purer Divinity should cause perilous times for they should be covetous boasters proud blasphemers Traytors heady and high minded From such he adviseth us to turn away St. Jude also in his Epistle gives the like character of some that made great pretences to the Spirit as if they did preach and pray and do all things by the Spirit yet they did walk after their own ungodly lusts despised Dominions and spake evil of Dignities against whom St. Jude denounceth a woe Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain who was a Murtherer and run greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Core who brought such railing accusations against Moses and Aaron as the Devil himself durst not do These are they saith the Apostle who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit v. 19. These Scriptures are sufficient to remove the prejudice which some people conceive against their Superiours for suppressing of such false Prophets as they find seducing the People The onely difficulty is how we may discern false Prophets seeing our Saviour says they shall come in Sheeps clothing and transform themselves into Angels of light Yet our Saviour's rule is infallible By their fruits ye shall know them for first they shall come to you come privily creep into your houses come with fair words and feigned speeches come without a Call or Commission from God or Man come against the established Laws and severest penalties of Fines and Imprisonment and Death it self Thus the Romish Wolves come clothed with the Name of the immaculate Lamb of God Jesuits they call themselves but grievous Wolves the Scripture terms such who assassinate the chief Shepherds in Church and State and massacre whole Flocks that with Elymas the Sorcerer seek to turn our Deputies from the Faith and as the Pharisees compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes and to make them twofold more the children of wrath and malice than themselves These perswade their Disciples that they are of that holy Church in which alone Salvation is to be had that all others out of their Communion are Hereticks and Schismaticks fit onely for a fiery Purgatory but if they return to the Lap of their Mother they are as sure of Salvation as if they were in Abraham's Bosome But as our Saviour says By their fruits i. e. their Doctrines and their Practices ye shall know them One General Rule we have in Deut. 13.1 That if a prophet should arise that should shew signes and wonders that should come to pass yet if that prophet should entice the people to idolatry and by consequence to any iniquity thou shalt not hearken to that prophet When therefore these Emissaries of Rome shall teach contrary to what we have received from Christ and his Apostles when they perswade us to worship the Creature with that Worship which is due onely to the Creator be they Saints or Angels or the Virgin Mary who all abhor to have God robbed of his Honour of which he is a jealous God when they adde new Articles of Faith and Rules of Obedience besides and contrary to what God in his Word hath required and prefer their own Traditions and Inventions above his express Commands and Institutions when they sow Tares in Christs field and seek to divide his Flock when they seek to advance the Interest of the Pope above the Supremacy of the King and withdraw that Obedience and Subjection from him which every Soul is required to yield unto him when they teach the Doctrine of Infallibility in the Pope though he decree things contrary to Christ as in taking the Cup from the Laity with a Non Obstante that Christ said Drink ye all of this when they decree what is contrary to Sense as well as the Scriptures in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and other things contrary to Reason as in Prayers in an unknown Tongue and denying the use of the Scriptures to the People whom God commands to search the Scriptures because in them we have eternal life In a word when they practise Rebellion and Cruelty and stir up Strife and foment Divisions and plot for Wars and Fightings amongst us let them boast of Miracles and Revelations of Tradition and Succession of Grandeur and Prosperity let them appear not onely as Jesuits but Angels of Light yet if their Doctrine and Practices be such as these we must resist them stedfast in the Faith unless we will exchange our Faith and Knowledge for a blind Obedience our Scripture for Traditions our Liturgie for Legends our Loyalty for Rebellion and our Peace for War and Fightings or Fire and Faggot There is another sort of pernicious Creatures among our selves but of a soreign breed whose clothing is a Cloak of Zeal for Religion with broad Phylacteries and sentences of Scripture their discourse is of soft Murmurings and Complaints against the Government and loud Outcries against the Romish Wolves that we may not suspect danger from any other quarter And the better to draw away Disciples after them they come with demure looks and dejected Countenances and as the Gnosticks pretend to great Mysteries and Revelations extraordinary and immediate assistances of the Spirit and purer Ordinances that with them is the Scepter of Christs holy Discipline to which all Kings and People must bow or shall be broken in pieces for God will reprove even Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm But by their fruits we shall know these men also for how opposite soever they seem to be to the Romish Wolves in their Professions they are coupled as Sampson's foxes with fire-brands in their tails by destructive Principles and Practices against the established Church and Government As Herod the Jew and Pontius Pilate the