a part of our Religion to be subject to the higher Powers not only for wrath but for Conscience-sake and rather to bear the Effects of all those suspitions Jealous heads can entertain of their designs against our Profession than to lift up rebellious Swords against the Gods of the Earth our Lawful Superiors It is generally supposed that Princes and Governors have a severe eye upon all Innovators and that they cannot contentedly endure those who are of a different Religion from themselves but that one time or other they will revenge that affront put upon them by dissenters This supposition is laid hold on by Ill men Enemies to the Church and State for first they study to draw others off under a pretence of some great deficiency from the publick National Profession then they encourage to a perseverance in their separation then perswade them they have by so doing exasperated the Civil Magistrate beyond hopes of reconciliation and last to add Sin to Sin teach them to rise against their Lords and to extort that liberty of Conscience they cry out for from their Superiors by force of Arms and whereas well meaning persons may possibly scruple to lift up their Hands against the Lords Anointed Knox and Buchanan and others of that Leven have given out a relaxing Doctrine That Princes for just causes may be deposed That the People have the same power over the King the highest Governour that the King hath over any one Man That the Commons of any Kingdom may lawfully require of their King to have true Preachers of which the same Commons must be the ultimate Judges and if he be negligent then they the Commons themselves may justly provide them maintain them defend them against all that persecute them and may detain the profits of Church-Livings from those Preachers whom they approve not of all Laws Ordinances Statutes to the contrary notwithstanding And now where these or the like Doctrines obtain credit where so much power is put into the hands of the People what Church can be at Vnity long within it self what Laws of any effect or Validity what Governors can be secure from the violence of the giddy-headed changeable and easily deluded Populace Had the Apostles and other the first Preachers of the Gospel advanced such odious Doctrines as these they would soon have brought the World about their Ears and Pliny would have found something else to have informed the Emperor Trajan about than their Honest mutual Engagements their early Prayers and inordinate Superstition nor would Providence have been concerned in defence of an armed Gospel such discoveries were reserved to the news lights of our times who else would have had nothing to have recommended themselves to the World by One main reason of St. Paul's speaking so much against divisions and breaches in the Church of Christ was that by unity and peace among themselves Christians might become the less obnoxious to the State For since it pleased God sometimes even under Heathen Kings and Emperors to give the Churches peace on every side and the uninterrupted protection of the Laws he would not have them by Schisms among themselves drive one another to a necessity of trespassing upon those Laws they were Protected by nor to exasperate the higher Powers so far as to reduce themselves to the sad choice of Perfecution or Rebellion He had given them a better example by his own Carriage toward the Jews when he could truly plead for himself against them that neither against the Law of the Jews nor against the Temple nor against Cesar had he offended any thing at all and happy had we in this Nation been had those great pretenders to Holiness and Reformation who caus'd all our woes and miseries some years since follow'd this great Apostle's pattern but the Act of Parliament for the observation of this Day informs us of the impossibility of such a thing It tells us They were a party of wretched Men desperately wicked and hardned in their impiety who having first plotted and contrived the ruine of this Excellent Monarchy and with it of the true Reformed Religion which had been long protected by it and flourished under it found it necessary in order to the Carrying on their traiterous and pernicious Designs to throw down all the bulwarks and fences of Law and to subvert the very Being and Constitution of Parliament that so they might at last make their way open for any farther Attempts upon the sacred Person of his Majesty himself they then began at the destruction of the Church proceeded to subversion of the Laws ended in an Horrid Rebellion and the Barbarous murder of their Sovereign Many perhaps in those black days had no prospect of those damnable Consequences learn from thence then the folly of those who dare engage themselves in separating and Schismatical Courses how God in them punishes one sin by another commonly till their damnation is irremediable but who could have suspected such Cruel Wolves under their Sheeps cloathing who could have believed such plausible pretences had veil'd such devilish Treachery and Hypocrisie or indeed who could but suspect them if their first motions were but rationally ballanced This Nation nor any of its Neighbours were ever blest with a Prince of more Prudence Goodness or Exemplary Piety than Charles the first of glorious Memory No Church since the time of our Saviour and his Apostles themselves was ever reformed to a higher or more Apostolical Purity in Doctrine or Discipline No greater or more faithful Lights shone in the whole Christian world at that time than the Fathers of our Church the Priests attending at God's sacred Altar Our National felicity our plenty riches prosperity were the Envy and Wonder of all the Nations round about us Now when men begin to cry out for Reformation in such a juncture of Affairs as this it looks like earnest seeking for a reason of Quarrelling it argues a Capricious and discontented Humour to complain without cause and a foul Stomach to nauseate the descending Manna the food of blessed Angels When the Malicious Heads of the Age had Caball'd together to render the Government as obnoxious as possible when they had made all the bitter reflexions imaginable upon the Prelates of the Church the Counsellors of the State and the King himself their Head when they had search'd the very Cabinet of their Prince and expos'd his most reserv'd Secrets to the View of the World even then all their Charges were prov'd by the clearest reasons to be nothing but Slanders Calumnies Lyes and the most gross absurdities that united Hell could ever invent How often then were the traiterous Swords of his sworn Subjects lifted up against the sacred life of their gracious Sovereign and yet at that very time In what charming terms did that Gentle Prince woe his stubborn and obdurate Rebels but seriously to weigh and examine the truth of things before it was too late in how pathetic terms did he set
and Church disorders shall escape unpunishment and this hint brings me to the next degree of wickedness which the Apostle in the Text purges himself from i.e. From any offence committed against the Law of the Jews those Politics whereby their State was governed the natural Consequence of troubling and dividing the Church the Gnosticks the Spawn of Simon Magus were the first Hereticks that Broke the peace of the Church and the first pretenders to Christianity that appear'd in opposition to the Caesarean Laws engaging even in Rebellions contrary to that Doctrine they profest to own Nor did those zealots among the Jews who thought the rest of their own Nation too impure for their Society transgress less when they sent for the Edomites to assist them in ruining their Native Country and oppressing those who were better than themselves and how frequently the Edicts of Christian Emperours were slighted by the Arrians Eutychians Donatists and other Hereticks and Schismaticks we may learn from the most Authentick writers of Church History and indeed this Crime seems inevitable where the former is admitted since those who separate from others on account of purer administrations and so make a Schism in the Church must of necessity hold meetings of their own Associates to make a show of Divine worship and so break the Edicts of the State It is plain that Vnity in the Church and State both carrying on the same good design must needs be the most happy and desirable thing in the World but if every one be permitted to act according to this own apprehension in the one it must unquestionably produce confusion and have a fatal influence on the other Thus if a man be permitted to separate from the Church of God and to enjoy his own way quietly in that state of separation if he believe the end of Church Discipline and Laws generally to be the good of his Soul his better part he may reasonably conclude he may as well and upon as good grounds withdraw his obedience from the Laws temporal which only concern his Body his meaner part or his estate and Fortunes and this principle once entertain'd what the Consequences of it may be a very ordinary Capacity will soon discover So we see it has been questioned by Anabaptists Socinians and others whether it be lawful for a Christian to exercise the Authority of a Magistrate or to assume to himself though enabled by never so many humane Laws the power of Life and Death now what trouble such Sectaries and Hereticks have given to the Churches of Christendom we all know but may they not as justly question whether it be lawful for a Christian to submit to any such Authority as he concludes unlawful and an usurpation and if they may not submit to Laws and if they may not be compell'd by punishments extending to Life and Limb to that submission the Legislative power must be of small value it being a mere Scare-crow at which none but Fools can tremble I am ready as any Man to Believe that were all men as sincerely Religious as they ought to be Laws without penalties or bare directions from their Superiors would be enough to govern them by but the World is acquainted with no such perfection and therefore that burthen which men by Sins have brought upon themselves they must submit to and as self-preservation will engage a man who has several enemies to secure himself from their attempts by all means imaginable the same reason obliges Princes and other Publick persons who are the constant objects of Envious and Ambitious Spirits to fortify themselves by the best Laws and those by the best Alliances they can find out Now tho' Heathen Princes out of a distrust of that Religion with whose Principles they were utterly unacquainted were afraid to expect security from their own Christian Subjects and therefore rather chose foreign Confederacies and Leagues whereby they might be able to depress those whom they always suspected tho' unjustly ready for a Rebellion Yet Christian Princes have insisted on contrary Methods and have endeavoured by Unity and mutual Confidence in their Subjects to secure themselves against Foreigners for which end they have advanced uniformity in sacred Worship as well knowing that Nothing can create a more complete Love and Union among men than a close agreement in the weightiest actions of this life and this agreement at home once well setled a Confederacy abroad against their own Subjects if they be Christians indeed is altogether needless But this Vniformity must be establish'd and impos'd by Law for we sind sew Subjects so submissive to their Rulers as for their bare desire to agree to any such thing and by this means it comes to pass that Church Vniformity cannot be interrupted but Civil Constitutions must be broken at the same time that a Schism cannot commence in the Church but it will produce a faction in the State every one concluding it their Interest to cry up those of their own opinion and they if in power making a retribution of encouragement and protection While the Constituent Members of the Church and State are but Men Subject to mistakes and Errors it can be no hard matter for malicious Wits to find several imperfections in both The most pious and wise among Church-Governours and State-Politicians may take wrong measures of things and ordain sometimes such things as though Lawful may upon tryal be found inconvenient or though their Ordinances may be proper for the present Juncture of Affairs yet they may be impracticable afterwards So the Canons of the Apostles concerning abstinence from things strangled and from blood though absolutely necessary to prevent giving Scandal to the Believing Jews at that time and though Dictated by the Holy Ghost yet when the reason of that Canon ceas'd was soon antiquated and laid aside by the Churches in General So we in this Kingdom have had several Statutes made only upon probation for a term of years which expired as they were found profitable or otherwise they were renewed or repeal'd now this argues an acknowledgment of imperfection on both sides but is no reason for the disobedience of private persons on either It is the Apostles command Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give Account that they may do it with Joy and not with grief and it is a command back'd with the same authority 1 Pet. 2.13 14 15. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake Whether it be to the King as Supreme or to Governours as those that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers but for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well doing we may put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. Now these commands being of the same Authority and force being both absolute and illimited and respecting both our Temporal and Spiritual Governors
The Originals of Rebellion Or the Ends of Separation A SERMON PREACHED On the Thirtieth of January 1682. IN THE PARISH-CHURCH OF GREAT-YARMOVTH By Luke Milbourne Curate there LONDON Printed by J. Wallis for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in S. Paul's Church-yard 1683. For the Right Honourable ROBERT Earl of Yarmouth Lord Lieutenant of His Majesties County of Norfolk Right Honourable T IS not the Excellence of the Discourse but its Honest Design that emboldens the Author to Prefix Your Name to it The Death of Charles the First of ever blessed memory was too Cruel a Blow to these Nations not to be seriously Lamented The Doctrines in those days Preach'd and now Reviv'd to encourage Schism Faction and Rebellion too Hellish not to be oppos'd by all who have any sense of Christianity to Condole the one and to stay the Progress of the other this Sermon was Preacht what its success may be I know not but if it serve to undeceive any who have been seduced from their Duties to their Prince or their Church-Governours my good Intentions will be highly recompensed Your Honour who is so Eminent an Assertor of Majesty and the Religion of the Church of England as by Law Established has obliged your self in some measure to Protect the meanest Person who sincerely intends the same thing Among whom I hope Your Honours Charity will place me and on that Account favourably Patronize the mean endeavour of My Lord Your Honours most obliged most Humble and most Faithful Servant L. M. ACTS xxix Vers 8. While he Answered for himself neither against the Law of the Jews neither against the Temple nor yet against Caesar have I offended any thing at all ST Paul after some years absence returning again into his Native Countrey found the malice of the Jews who neither would embrace the Gospel themselves nor suffer the Gentiles to be partakers of it strong and active as possible to his Ruin his turning his Back upon them in so publick a manner Acts xiii 46. And his care to deliver to all Churches of the Gentiles the Decrees of the Council of Jerusalem Acts xvi 4. had fill'd 'em with so inveterate prejudices against him that altho' in Compliance with them he himself submitted at his return to the Ceremonies in the most solemn way yet they surprize him in that very Action and in the Temple it self with such Clamour and Violence that had not the chief Captain of the Roman Garrison then in Jerusalem interpos'd and with his Soldiers over-aw'd 'em they had soon dispatch'd their formidable Enemy He the faithful servant of Almighty God found more favour and justice from the hands of Claudius Lysias an inferior Commander from Covetous Felix and too Popular Festus tho' strangers to true Religion than he could from his own Countrey-men Gods peculiar People who boasted themselves of their Zeal for the Name and Commands of the same Divinity he Preach'd the Jews prosecuted him with their virulent and improbable slanders and their desperate and bloody Associations while Heathens persons of a very Moderate Vertue gave him Protection and Security Nor could all St. Paul's sacred Eloquence the dictates of the everlasting Spirit quell their Fanatick Rage nor his baffling their absurd Accusations in spite of their Mercenary Orator's Assistance allay their Malice tho' he could prevail upon King Agrippa so far as to perswade him almost to be a Christian and upon Festus the Roman Goverour to pronounce him Innocent and not to have merited any restraint but for his Appeal to Caesar Acts xxvi 28.31 32. Festus indeed gave the Jews all the advantage imaginable against St. Paul had they had any proof of what they Accuse him for he invited the ablest of 'em to go down with him from Jerusalem to Caesarea where the Apostle was Prisoner and there to Accuse him if there were any Wickedness in him vers 5. of this Chapter he makes no long delays but after a short time sits in the judgment Seat and commands Paul to be brought to the face of his Accusers who standing round about him strove to render him as black as they could they laid many and grievous Complaints against him but alass they were clog'd with an unhappy circumstance for of all the Crimes they impeach'd him they could not prove one v. 6 7. And Paul Answer'd their Charge with a more probable Plea for himself That neither against the Law of the Jews nor against the Temple nor yet against Caesar had he offended any thing at all that is That he had neither transgressed those setled Laws whereby the Government of their Nation was regulated in temporal Affairs nor had he slighted vilified or made any Schism in their Religion nor had he despised or profaned that magnificent Temple built and dedicated among them to the Worship and Honour of the true God neither yet had he enter'd into any Plots Confederacies or Associations against the Person or Government of the Roman Emperour their then Lawful and Vndoubted Sovereign nor refused Obedience to his Laws nor Rebelled against him This Apology which S. Paul makes for himself seems little agreeable to the Practice of those blood-thirsty Saints whose Barbarous Piety broke the Church of England to pieces profaned all the Houses of God in the Land overturned all Laws of God and Man and dip'd their cruel hands in the Sacred Blood of their Lawful Prince the Lords Anointed A Crime of so horrid a Complexion as tho too true some few years since was beyond all the Ideas of Impiety in the former and will be almost too great to obtain Credit in all future Ages If I be an Offender if I have really contracted that Guilt which the Jews pretend only to prosecute in me with so much zeal and eagerness if I have committed any thing worthy of Death and Sins against just Laws pure Religion and Lawfully acquired Sovereignty are truly such if I have done any such thing says our great Apostle I refuse not to dye Death is justly due to such Criminals and tho' perhaps Humane Justice may oversee some of the foulest actions Divine Vengeance is guided by an All-seeing Eye and sooner or later will give them their just Reward So far was he from excusing and much farther from glorying in such cursed Actions Nay he was willing in his case to Appeal to the Justice of Cesar where the Murderer of his Father would scarce have expected Pardon from whose Presence our great Patriots labour'd to fly as far as they could From the Accusation of the Jews which of what nature it was we may conjecture from the Speech of Tertullus ch 24. and from St. Paul's Defence we may learn what are the Beginnings what the Encrease and what the End of Troubles and Disorders in a Church or State The Jews had a great Veneration for the Temple of God and those Laws by which the Worship of God in that Temple were Regulated those Rites and Ceremonies which attended their