the best and most decent manner to worship God in spirit and in truth according to his Will and Word Is it a Blessing to have Judgment run down our Streets like an overflowing Stream and Righteousness like a mighty River Is it a Good to live in Peace and Quiet Security and Safety for every one of us to sit under his own Vine and eat the Fruit of his own Vineyard to be out of the reach of every devouring Harpie and fearless of any griping Oppressor Is it a felicity is it a comfort and satisfaction to us to have the unrestrain'd use and enjoyment of all that is near and dear to us to live under the protection of good and wholsom Laws and the good Government of a merciful and tender Father and Prince If ought then and All of this is a Blessing a Good and Happiness to any People it is it must be so to us who in a large and plentiful manner do possess and partake of all and every part of it and is to be in the merciful designation and appointment of the divine Providence the Portion and Felicity of every well-govern'd People and Nation under Heaven all Government being at first constituted and intended by God to be as instrumental to his Glory so to the general Good and Benefit of Mankind And that it is so a Heathen could tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For doing Good Kings were first made Arist. Pol. lib. 3. cap. 11. Now from the Consideration of this their necessity and usefulness to Mankind do spring and flow some more of the Particulars of our Duty and Subjection to Them First A sincere and affectionate Love for their Persons and Government Secondly A Gratitude or Thankfulness for the Benefits fits we receive under it and them Thirdly A paying them Tribute And fourthly and lastly A praying for them 1. As to the first of these A sincere and affectionate Love for them It denotes our having a tender Regard for all that relates and appertains unto them a making their Case their Interests and Concerns their Losses and Crosses ours so that be they healthy and vigorous in their Bodies happy and prosperous in their Estates we exult and rejoyce for it 't is as health to our navel and as marrow to our bones Be they diseased and afflicted be they injured and oppressed we too suffer under the Calamity our Souls are full of Anguish and Bitterness of Grief and Trouble and we go heavily as one that mourneth for his Mother And this is no more then what the Rule of Christian Charity suggests and enjoyns to be practis'd towards all men in general Rejoyce with them that do rejoyce and weep with them that weep And may with greater Reason and upon better Grounds be suppos'd to be press'd upon and commanded us as it respects Governours in particular in that as they are more nearly related to us as the publick Parents of their Countreys so the Good and Evil the Prosperity and Calamity that betides them must be of a far greater and more considerable account and consequence then that of any private man can be And then if we are oblig'd to congratulate and condole in respect of a lesser Felicity and Misery we must certainly much more do this upon the score of a greater If my private Neighbours Happiness which generally extends no farther then his Family can fill me with Transports and Exclamations of Joy why should not I be as much nay more affected for that of my Prince and Sovereign which by being His becomes publick a Benefit to the whole Nation and Kingdom And so of the other side if I can readily communicate with his Afflictions and suffer with him by a Christian Compassion why should not I be as much dejected and as Christianly sympathize for the Miseries and Infelicities that attend the Royal Throne The truth is did not Prejudice and Passion Sin and Folly stand in the way and obstruct and hinder this excellent Property and Fruit of a Christian Love we should do so but when from groundless Conjectures and Surmises scandalous Reports and libellous Defamations unreasonably foster'd and cherish'd abetted and vouch'd by us we begin to suspect our Governour to be our Enemy and think that he hath a Design upon us for our Ruine because forsooth he will not hearken to all our unjust Offers and answer all our unreasonable Demands and so in that he will not love us we will not love him no wonder that such an Unchristian Christianity and Temper will sooner provoke and stir us up to rejoyce at then bewail his Losses and to bewail and grieve at then exult and be glad at his Prosperity But is this the way ever to discharge or pay that Debt we owe to the whole World and so to our King of owing no man any thing but to love one another Rom. 13.8 It is look'd upon by our Saviour comparatively as a mean expression of our Love to love those that love us do not Publicanes the worst of Sinners the same Mat. 5.46 But to love our enemies to do good to them that hate to bless them that curse us ver 44 45. this is Christianity indeed a quality altogether divine a just imitation and resemblance of his illimited Goodness who maketh his Sun to shine and his Rain to rain upon the just and unjust and a true and infallible Mark of a sincerely true Disciple and Follower of Christs What Publicans and Sinners never do nor Infidels and Heathens practise and delight in but a Sacrifice that God is well pleas'd with and which he will one day openly reward and make full Retribution to in Heaven And therefore were our Governour really our Enemy did he actually design and endeavour our Destruction yet we ought to love him and to express it by having the same Desires the same Hopes and Fears the same Joys and Sorrows the same Concernment every way for him as for our selves and if possible greater Let him be superlatively bad that cannot dis-engage and free us from the Duty of Love we owe him for 't is not his Goodness and Gentleness but God's Command that is the Ground and Reason of the Obligation Let his own personal Faults and Vices be never so great as long as he bears the Image of God in him as a Man and represents his Character as a King and Governour we are to love and affect him But if he is very good if we derive and reap from his Reign all that Felicity we can expect from a happy Government and gracious Governour then as there will be no Ground for our Fears and Jealousies for our Murmurs and Complaints then as we have no Reason to think him our Enemy so then surely we will love him if for no other Cause yet because he loves us and act as charitably at least as Publicans and Heathens do But whether we have proceeded thus far as to equal a Publican's Charity let
order our selves in that calling or condition of life God hath placed us in and that we fail not in the just performance of what properly belongs unto us and is the matter of our Employ and Duty And therefore should there happen any miscarriage or indiscretion in the Publick Transactions of the State as what is free from them and so prudent to foresee and provide against all Contingencies and Events certainly it is not for us no part of our Business and Duty by Murmurs and Whispers to reveal and find fault with by unjust Slanders and Misrepresentations to belie and libel and by undutiful Petitions and Remonstrances openly to revile and accuse the Government I say it is no part of our Business because as he in the Historian well observes Tibi Principi summum rerum judicium Dii dederunt nobis subditis obsequii gloria relicta est The Governour hath the chief Sway and Rule of all things given him by the Gods the Glory of Subjects is to obey Much less is it any part of our Duty in that it is diametrically contrariant to what the Apostle enjoins as I now come to evince and shew Let every Soul c. My Text needs neither Commentary nor Paraphrase except that of our Life and Practice for it is as soon understood as read or heard and obvious to the very meanest Capacity And as little necessity is there that we should be over-nice and curious in straining for a Division when the words naturally resolve themselves into these two things First A Precept or Injunction Let every Soul be subject c. Secondly The Reason or Enforcement thereof For there is no Power but of God I begin with the Precept In the discussion or handling whereof for your greater Edification and Instruction I shall make use of this method First Consider who are to be obey'd viz. The Higher Powers Secondly The Duty requir'd Subjection to them Thirdly Them who are to perform this Every Soul i. e. by a Hebraism Every Man First In the first place then the Apostle tells us That we are to be subject to the Higher Powers the Rulers and Governours of the Earth Those whom God by conferring on them a special Sacredness of Eminency and Dignity and a warrantable and lawful Authority and Power hath substituted and in his place appointed to supervise and inspect direct and order the Transactions and Affairs of this lower World Those whom he hath called hereunto though not immediately and after an extraordinary manner as Moses David and others yet in a way prescrib'd and allow'd of by the Divine Wisdom and Providence now become the only usual and ordinary one and which the long usage and custom of so many Ages hath by its own force and power authoriz'd and confirm'd rendred lawful and regular These then whom God hath thus appointed and call'd whether by an Hereditary or Elective Right according to the several Constitutions of Kingdoms or People These I say are our Governors and whom we are to obey And this I the rather mention that we may not run into those dangerous Extremes that Popery and Fanaticism in opposition as well to Truth as the Rights and Regalities of Princes have suggested The one that all Dominion is founded in Grace and that therefore be a Crown never so much a Prince's due except he be one of God's Saints that is I suppose one of their Brotherhood for in their judgment they alone are the Elect the Precious and Holy Ones of the Earth he doth to all intents and purposes lose and forfeit all and in consequence hereof that a Gifted Brother such as Iohn of Leyden at Munster hath more Right to the Throne and Scepter This then is one of the Heads of the Fanatick Hydra that the most impudent unjust and seditious Varlet so that he hath but Cunning and Craft enough to whine zealously pretend spiritually and look demurely shall be preferr'd his Sovereign esteem'd and judg'd the better man and if it is possible for Treachery and Murther to effect it actually seated in his place The other that of Popery very near akin to the former and as injurious to the Right of the Higher Powers viz. That the Pope hath power given unto him by Christ and as Vice-God here upon earth to dispossess and depose any Emperour or King Governour or Ruler whomsoever in case of Heresie that is if he doth not think and act as he doth for he that can make new Articles of Faith can make any thing Heresie and as to throw down and disposses so to lift up and collate it on whom he will We see then to note this by the way that the Conclave and Consistory Pope and Fanatick like Herod and Pontius Pilate can agree if it be to crucifie Christ destroy the Lord 's Anointed But is not this strange and odd Doctrine very wicked and diabolical that smells rank of Lucifer and his Accomplices for a Christian Bishop a Successor of St. Peters and a company of Saints of the newest and best Mint of the most Reformed Reformation if you 'll believe them to disgorge and broach abett and practise in the World Of this we may certainly and truly say That from the Beginning it was not so that neither Christ nor his Apostles ever preach'd or acted such Divinity No Caesar was to have his due of Honour of Tribute of Submission for the Lord's sake and of Reverence Fear and Subjection because he was of God set up and appointed by Him This is the language of the Spirit and the fruits of it Love Ioy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Fidelity Meekness Temperance Nay our Saviour hath expresly told us That his Kingdom is not of this world and therefore he would not be a Iudge and a Divider here Man who made me a Iudge and a Divider over you Luk. 12.14 From whence then is it That his Holiness of Rome and our Saints of the Reformation do act thus unholily by judging and dividing by giving away and disposing of what doth not at all appertain unto them and whereunto they cannot by any Divine Warrant or Law pretend and claim the least Right Is it not from him who said to Christ All this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it And do they not imitate the Tempter as well in the Falshood as Pride of it For when or where did God ever give such a Paramount Power or Authority to the Father of Lyes or these his lying Children I am sure the primitive true Saints were never possest of it what ever our modern false Ones may challenge as their due nor St. Peter himself what ever his Successor may pretend unto All the power that was given unto them was for Edification not Destruction and this too not in Temporals but Spirituals To build us up in a most holy Faith and sincere Love to
this is acceptable with God for even hereunto were ye called And herein we may rejoyce in as much as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his Glory shall be reveal'd we may be glad with exceeding Ioy. But let us take care that none of us suffer as a Murtherer or as a Thief or as an Evil-doer or as a busie-body in other mens matters that is That none of us by our Folly and Obstinacy our Irreligion and Wickedness our disobeying and resisting Those whom God hath set over us and a scandalous pretence of Piety and Conscience when they are no way interessed in our Cause draw and force the publick Rods and Ax upon our Backs for a just punishment and revenge of our Unrighteousness and Sin And then think we suffer upon the account of Faith and a good Conscience when indeed it is because we have made shipwrack of both It is one thing to suffer for so every Malefactor doth and another thing to suffer for Righteousness It is the Cause not the Punishment that makes the Martyr and Religion and Holiness not the Gibbet and Stake that can entitle unto or secure us of the incomprehensible Weight of Glory Very careful therefore must we be ere we reject and disavow the Commands of our Governours so as not actually to obey and perform them that we are upon God's side do it out of Love and Obedience unto and Fear of Him otherwise they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation The Rule here is That they that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator i. e. That they have respect unto all his Commandments that they endeavour all they can to perform and keep them and to have a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man And if we act thus as we shall be sure never to rebel so too our non-Obedience to man will be an Obedience to God a grateful and delightful Sacrifice to him He will accept and own our Persons and Cause assist and help us in it and crown and reward us for it In fine Humility and Patience Self-denial and Meekness Submission and Resignation to the divine Will are the true Christian's Robe and Attire the just Ingredients of his Obedience Let his Prince then be a Nero let him be a Diocletian if he cannot lawfully do and obey he will patiently suffer and die With the three Children in the fiery Furnace with Daniel in the Lions Den with his Saviour on the Cross with St. Stephen amidst a shower of Stones he will pray for and bless his Enemies not curse and confound them not raise Mutinies and Seditions in the State not enter into Parties and make solemn Leagues and Covenants to pull off the Crown subvert the Throne and break in pieces the Scepter of his lawful King and Governor No he hath not thus learned Christ he gave him no such Lesson nor Example When he was revil'd he revil'd not again when he suffered he threatned not 1 Pet. 2.23 This was his Practice and can he do better or more worthily than to imitate and copy out so great so excellent so good a Pattern And as it was the Practice of his Saviour so of his Apostles so of all primitive Christians of the best and purest Ages of Christianity And if we are sincere and truely Christian it will be ours too if we can obey we will if not we will submit to their Sentence and suffer what they inflict but we will prefer and choose a Dungeon and a Rack before Sedition and Mutinying a Gibbet before Associations against our Governour and Death it self before Rebellion 2. But 2 dly Another Particular of our Subjection deriving from their Authority is a Fear and Reverence of them And that is when considering and acknowledging the Majesty and Power inherent and residing in them as God's Representatives Vice-gerents and Deputies we have such an awful just and due regard to their Persons and Laws their Acts and Ordinances those Limits and Bounds they have set us that Rule and way of ordering our selves as Members of a Body Politick they have prescrib'd us as that we use our utmost Care and Endeavours not to transgress and violate them and so not to provoke the higher Powers to punish and execute God's Wrath upon us for our evil Deeds 'T is a dread of the consequence of our Disobedience and their Power of what they are authoriz'd and empowred to inflict upon and chastize us with according to our Demerits A Fear of displeasing and offending them by any unjust and unlawful Action in that by their Place and Office they are to be the Avengers of all such and appointed by God so to be that we may hear and fear and do no more so presumptuously Now that this is a part of our Duty will be very evident if we will but consult what the Holy Spirit hath deliver'd and reveal'd unto us 'T is Solomon's Charge My Son fear thou the Lord and the King And a greater's than Solomon Ye shall fear every man his Mother and his Father Lev. 19.3 And so St. Paul Render to all their dues fear to whom fear Rom. 13.7 The same is enjoyn'd to Masters in general Eph. 6.5 Servants be obedient to your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear 1 Pet. 2.18 To stand in awe then of Masters whether private ones as those of Families or publick as those of Kingdoms and Nations our Governours and Rulers is certainly no Popish nor Popishly-affected Doctrine in the worse sence of the Phrase that is 't is nothing related or akin to Idolatry and Superstition but purely deriv'd from God and his Word It is not to make our King an Idol as some ignorantly prate for wherein do we by this give Him divine Worship And as little of Superstition is there in it for that is an unreasonable and groundless Fear but that we pay to Him is very reasonable in that without this He would soon become vile and cheap in our Eyes And as good ground is there for it when it is to obey God who positively and expresly commands and requires us to give this kind of Subjection to Him The truth is both upon the account of Wrath and for Conscience-sake are we oblig'd to fear the higher Powers Upon the account of Wrath because the wrath of a King is as the messengers of death and where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what dost thou So that if we have any Love and Kindness for our selves we will endeavour to be so prudent as not to incur their Displeasure who can so severly animadvert upon and punish us for our Folly and Disobedience And if we have any true Fear of God before our Eyes ought of that
and collected from what I have above discours'd yet that I may not be wanting to so good a cause and in that 't is a Truth so much impugn'd and contradicted by some Mens Doctrines and Practices I shall the rather insist upon it and be the more particular in the discussion of it That none then of what Degree State Quality Condition or Calling soever can with any Truth and Justice exempt and priviledge themselves from paying this Subjection to the Higher Powers will be very evident and apparent to any that shall consider that it is not in any mans power to alter or change abrogate or disanul that Order of Superiority and Inferiority of Governors and Governed God hath fixed and established in the World And if it is undeniably true that it is not and yet all that are being Parts or Members of some Society or other and all Societies consisting of Rulers and Ruled and so the whole World as to its outward Polity being fitly distributed and distinguished into these two Ranks or Classes of above and beneath King and Subject it will as certainly follow that whosoever are not of the first of these must be of the second whosoever are not of the number of those that Rule must be of theirs that are Ruled and if so then by their place and station they are to be subject and to obey because God hath so constituted and appointed it making it the Subjects business to be Obedient the Governours to Command and Prescribe And that they are to Obey and to be dutiful will yet farther appear if we consider that none but the Supreme in every Kingdom or Nation can possess or be vested with that Eminency and Dignity that Authority and Power that Necessity and Usefulness to the Publick which are the incommunicable properties of every Governour and Government and then if They are not thus eminent powerful and useful 't is a contradiction to say They are Governors when They want the very Essence and Being of such and if they are not Governours they must be Subjects and if Subjects then to perform the Commands and Injunctions of their Superiors So that the whole of the debate between us and the Adversaries to this Truth the Pope of Rome and His Clergy of the one hand and the Reformed Jesuit or Kirk-Reformer of the other will be fitly resolved into this Quaere Whether they are Governours or Subjects If Governours and Supreme we allow and acknowledge the right of Their claim and exemption they are indeed not to be subject but to Rule But how do they prove this Or what convincing and irrefragable Argument can they give us that God hath said to them They are Gods and put the Sword of the Civil Power into Their Hands If They only say it we can as easily and with as good reason unsay and deny it As to the Pope 't is confessed He makes great brags of a Paramount Superiority that He is Vicar of Christ and Vice-God and so hath two Swords committed to Him the Temporal and the Spiritual These are His pretensions and boasts but how true and how well-grounded we will consider and examine First then That the Pope is not Vicar of Christ nor Vice-God as to the right of the Temporal Sword and whether He is so as to the other part of His claim belongs to another disquisition will be very manifest and evident if we consider that our blessed Lord Whose Person he pretends to represent and Whose Place to supply upon earth never exercised or laid claim to any such Power as a Man or as Mediator between God and Man For as 't was no part of His Office and Business so was He more just than to entrench upon and usurp the Rights of others and thereforetold the Roman Governour that though He were a King yet His Kingdom was not of this world And accordingly we all along see Him acting as a Subject At His Birth in submitting to Augustus's Decree for He could have prevented it if He would in the progress of His Life by paying Tribute unto Caesar and at His Death in suffering the Sentence of Pilate to be Executed upon Him acknowledging likewise the lawfulness of the Government when He told the President that He could have no power against Him had it not been given him from above Now for the Pope to pretend to supply the place of Christ to be His Vicar in that which He never exercised but always disclaimed and rejected is very absurd and irrational as well as bold and presumptuous And therefore supposing Him to be the Vicar of Christ in other things which yet is false and only a precarious Title at best yet in this particular He cannot act or be in His stead because He never acted or was so Himself that is a Civil Governour So that if he will make good his claim hereunto he must derive it from somewhat else than his Vicarship or else all His power and mightiness will quickly fall to the ground and he must though unwillingly part with one of his Swords whatever becomes of the other But as his Vicarship will do him no good so neither will that whereon he grounds this claim his being Successor to St. Peter For most certain is it that he neither as an Apostle nor as Bishop of Rome was ever Master or Possessor of the Temporal Sword Nor do we read that He ever desir'd it except it was in that bickering and dispute the Apostles had one with another which of them should be the greatest But they were rebuk'd by their Lord and Master who told them that the Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors but ye shall not be so But he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve But this was whilst that gross conceit was so rife among the Jews that their Messiah was to be a great Temporal Prince and before they were fully instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven After the descent of the Holy Ghost and their being led into all truth we find nothing tending or looking this way then no strifes or disputes about greatness but the necessary and truly Christian Doctrines of Patience Humility Self-denial Resignation Submission and Obedience to God and Man taught and practised by them St. Peter then when his Commission was most full and Authentick and he was endued with power from on high not claiming any Earthly Dominion or Lordship but of the other side with his Saviour reserving unto Caesar his Rights and Preaching and pressing Submission unto every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether unto the King as Supreme or unto those that are sent by Him I say He acting thus then how comes it to pass that his Successor who hath no more plenitude and authentickness of Commission than he had doth act so contrary and repugnant to
the doctrine and practice of Christ and this his truly worthy Predecessor What! Are the Truths and Graces of those times grown obsolete and out of use And the Faith once delivered to the Saints antiquated and out-dated at Rome Hath the Pride and Ambition the Avarice and Iniquity of the Man justled out the Humility and Modesty the Self-denial and Holiness of the Bishop Or to say truth are not the Times and the Bishops chang'd Do they not differ as much as white and black and are they not as opposite as East and West Yes certainly they are for then and a great while after they were truly pious and devout Christians good and Loyal Subjects they Preach'd and Taught the Gospel of Christ truly and sincerely they lived and acted honestly and conscionably they Honour'd all Men they Lov'd the Brother-hood they Fear'd God they Honour'd their King But now instead of Honour and Love Reproach and Hatred is the Lot and Portion of their fellow-Christians and Brethren instead of fearing God they trample under foot and vilifie his Words and Truths and instead of honouring and obeying they despise reject disobey and scorn their rightful Lord and Sovereign In a word for a modest Clergy-man and Bishop we have a proud temporal Prince and Lord for a true and sincere Disciple of Christs one who by Injustice and Oppression Usurpations and Encroachments hath chang'd the Episcopal Chair into a Regal Throne the Pastoral Staff into a Powerful Scepter and the Mitre into a Crown 'T is true he sits in the House of God no longer as Bishop and Subject but as God as an Imperial Monarch But the Question is not What he is but what he should be whether Christ or St. Peter ever gave him such Authority and Pre-eminence ever taught and acted so If they did not as hath been evinc'd and shew'd his Pretences and Plea as to it must be for ever null'd and evacuated And therefore if he will not do as as he should if he will not obey and be subject but proceed to domineer and usurp this doth not prejudge the Truth this doth not falsifie the Apostle's Assertion and 't will be always wicked unjust and unchristian in him so to act And if it is so in him it cannot be otherwise in his Clergy who have as little Scripture and Reason to plead in their behalf as he hath For if they are to be exempted from Subjection as spiritual Persons they are no more spiritual than Christ and his Apostles and the Bishops and Ministers of the first 600 years who yet in all that time never made use of or pretended to such a Claim or Right That Christ and his Apostles did not is very manifest and that their Successors the Bishops with the rest of the inferiour Clergy of those Ages did not is not less apparent to any that shall consult the Annals and Records of those Times They all as acknowledg'd and confess'd so paid and perform'd the Duty of Subjection and Obedience to the supream Magistrate and Governour They look'd upon and consider'd themselves as Members of the Commonwealth and Kingdom where they liv'd and so believed and thought it but just and reasonable that they should be subject to the Laws of the Government that protected them in their Rights and Liberties Nay they were perswaded of the necessity of the Obligation and Duty upon a much higher account that God had bound it upon their Consciences by a standing irreversible Law And so St. Chrysostom expounds the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every Soul in my Text i. e. if thou be an Apostle an Evangelist a Prophet or whatsoever thou art thou must be subject and these things are commanded to all both Priests and Monks and not only to Seculars and Lay-men And to this agrees that large account we meet with of the Judgement Piety and Practice of the primitive Christians Clergy and Laity as to this particular in the ancient Apologists and Writers of those best and purest Ages of the Church The truth is a long prosperity and ease from Persecution had not so much abus'd their Understandings and perverted their Wills as to have instill'd this Doctrine into their Heads and made it the practice of their Lives They liv'd too near the Fountain of Christianity in its purity and unmixedness to be yet so earth'd and mudded as against Law and Gospel to set up for a secular Pomp and Greatness Domineering and Grandeur of their own This was to be the work and iniquity of worser Men and worser Times one of the Devil's Master-pieces in the Ages of Antichrist and the Beast and how very successful it hath been to uphold and support his weakned Power in the Christian World the horrid Opinions Doctrines and Practices of that See and Church is but too undeniable aproof and demonstration And whether this immoderate Love and Affectation of Worldly Glory and Greatness and consequent hereunto the despising of Dominions and speaking evil of Dignities their refusing and denying to be subject to the Higher Powers did not prepare the way for that Judgment mentioned by the Apostle 2 Thess. 2.11 That God should send them strong delusion to believe a Lye I shall leave to others peremptorily to define and determine However this we may affirm that till they did believe this Lye that the Pope was above Kings and Emperors and so they not to obey Them but him there was not the tenth part of those abominable Heresies and Doctrines that have been since to the dishonour of Christ and Christianity and the disturbance and disquiet of the Christian World But whatever was the cause either of this or that most certain is it that neither the one nor the other is true Catholick Christian Doctrine or true Catholick Christian Practise Not Christian Doctrine because we are to put them i. e. every Soul in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates Titus 3.1 Not Christian Practise because that is to be subject to the Higher Powers and that Clergy-men are to be so is by the Apostles performing and acting it rendred undeniably true especially when it had been laid down in Thesi for a Christian Doctrine before And so S. Bernard though he lived in corrupt times understood it For writing to a Clergy-man a Bishop He thus speaks Si omnis vestra Quis vos excipit ab Universitate Si quis tentat excipere conatur decipere If every Soul is to be subject then you are Who hath excepted you from this number He that endeavours to except you endeavours to deceive you Absurd then and wicked is it to pretend and plead for exemption as Ministers when the Apostles of Christ in their Lives and Doctrines taught and exemplified the contrary And what hath been said here in defence of the truth against the Pope and his Clergy doth as much impugn all others whatever they call themselves that have drank of the Roman Cisterns
Government so thereby secured of his Life and Liberty and so needs not subject and yield himself a Vassal for Protection and Defence to any potent Neighbour Here then he tells us That Governours are not of the People nor constituted by them which yet they must be originally if Government is a humane Ordinance in that sence he hath explain'd it for if it is hominum salubre Institutum humana Lex a humane Institution Law or Ordinance then it is not divine and if not divine then all Governments and Governours do owe and are indebted for their Institution and Original to Men or the People But that they are not this worthy Author hath affirm'd and endeavour'd to prove and therefore tho' he seems to be yet he is not a real Adversary to the present Truth Indeed he was a Dutch-man bred up in the Democratical or Popular way and then 't is possible that Prejudice and Education may sometimes blind the Eyes of a very wise man I have now too given you an Account of the divine Right of Government and have endeavour'd to answer what hath been most materially and with greatest shew of Reason objected I now proceed to the 2 d. and last thing and that is to shew unto you the force and consequence of the Apostle's Argument and Reason 2. That a great Deference and Respect Submission and Obedience is to be given and paid to every thing of divine Institution is unanimously acknowledg'd by all that assent to the Being of a God and the Truth of the holy Scriptures And indeed very fit and reasonable is it very just and necessary that we should glorifie and serve our great Creator and Lord in all things that relate and appertain unto him for he being infinitely superiour unto and more excellent in Majesty and Power in Wisdom and Knowledge in Justice and Truth in Mercy and Goodness then all things besides as nothing can with an equality of Right lay claim unto and exact so sincere and hearty so entire and impartial an Obedience to what is prescrib'd commanded and appointed as he can so nought can be more our Wisdom and Understanding our Felicity and Good then to direct and order our selves according to his Will and Pleasure then to perform and be subject to what he hath instituted and ordain'd Government then being of him as to its Original and Institution there being no Power but of God as St. Paul asserts and I have prov'd doth upon his account challenge and require enjoyn and command our dutiful Subjection and Submission to it It is for his Sake and by his Authority that we are to pay all that Honour Obedience Fear Benevolence Love Gratitude Tribute and Prayer I have so largely discours'd of and except we will wickedly reject God to be our Lord openly defie his Majesty and Power impudently oppose his Justice and Truth and ungratefully return all the blessed Effects of his Mercy and Goodness nay except we will utterly abandon all Considerations of Good and Evil of Heaven and Hell and what is to betide and happen unto us in the final Issue and Result of things this will be the Practice and Business of our Lives and by it shall we endeavour to perfect Holiness in the sight of God Besides from whence is it that they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation but because Disobedience and Rebellion against a lawful Governour is Disobedience and Rebellion against God He esteeming the Sin and Evil acted against his Deputy and Vicegerent as acted against himself And what God told Samuel upon the Israelites Defection or falling off from him They have not rejected thee but me is still the divine Language in such a Case in behalf of every Prince and Ruler Religion doth at once found and preserve the Rights of Governours renders their Persons sacred and inviolable and their Office Majestick and God-like their Eminency and Dignity their Authority and Power being from God and therefore to rise up against them to vilifie and abuse their Dignity to despise and contemn their Authority is to vilifie and despise him who hath put such Treasure in earthen Vessels and given such Power and Excellency unto men It cannot then be Piety and Religion but the Extream of Impudency and Wickedness and a great prophanation and violation of the Sacredness of divine Truths to say and act as some men have taught and practis'd That Subjects may lawfully bind Kings in Chains and such Nobles with links of Iron They may with as much truth say They can religiously lay violent Hands upon God himself and bring him to condign punishment were it possible as affirm they can do this by any Divine Warrant and Law to the Person of their Governor and King who immediately Represents the Image and Character and Executes the Place and Office of the Great Universal Governor the King of Kings and Lord of Lords For if His Person and Presence is to be fear'd and dreaded to be Honour'd and Rever'd and His Laws and Commands to be perform'd and obey'd so are Theirs in all things wherein They Command for God wherein They are Gods and in Gods stead to us The subjection we pay unto our Governors is a subjection that is Gods and for God in obeying Them we obey Him whose principally and originally the Authority is Add to this that it is one part of our worshiping and serving Him in Spirit and in Truth because one part of His Will and Word So that for Men to pretend Religion Holiness and Conscience in all their ways and yet not perform this so necessary and indispensible a part of their Christianity is to be holy only in imagination and opinion and is the Piety of those Dreamers that defile the Flesh despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities For if God is the Lord and so His Authority is to be reverenc'd and His Will obey'd and the reverencing His Authority and obeying His Will is Religion how can they be truly Religious that perform neither the one nor the other That they do not Reverence His Authority is manifest in that they do not obey His Will and that they do not obey His Will is not less evident because they are not subject to the Higher Powers and then if not subject to Them not subject to God and if not subject to Him then certainly not Holy not Religious not Conscientious except in pretence and shew Either then we must make Obedience to Governors a necessary ingredient of our Christianity or else evacuate and null Gods Authority as to us reject and disown His Commands and renounce and deny the truth of our Religion And this is that the Apostle intends by the reason and enforcement in my Text when He tells us that There is no Power but of God Let every Soul be subject unto the Higher Powers c. I have now by the Divine Assistance gone thro' the whole of my designed method and have considered whatsoever
a righteous man availing much how very necessary will our Prayers be that God would give them such a portion of Wisdom and Understanding that they may be as Instruments of his Glory so true nursing Fathers to his Church and People In praying for them we pray for our selves the Good and Happiness is ours in the result and consequence When we pray for Wisdom and Understanding for our Governours as Solomon did for himself we in effect pray that God would be pleas'd to grant us to lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all godliness and honesty When we beg the Prosperity and Happiness of their Thrones we petition for our own Welfare When we desire him that they may be men fearing him and hating Covetousness we at the same time beseech him that he will make them a Wall and Buttress a Refuge and Strength unto us his People Because if they are truly wise happy and religious these and many more Blessings will devolve upon us and be the Felicity and Good of such a People and Nation For Wisdom in a Prince will make him have a tender Regard and Care for the Subject in that his Welfare depends on and is twisted with theirs His Prosperity and Happiness will make him liberal and free and ready to help and assist them and his Piety effectually incline and move him to banish all Wickedness Injustice and Oppression And if he doth thus act and this is his Practice and Business will not his Prosperity his Happiness and Good be ours and so we abundantly recompenc'd and rewarded for our Supplications and Requests to the Father of Lights on his behalf But were there no such Good redounding to us to be expected and hoped for from our thus acting yet are we to do and perform it otherwise Sin and Iniquity will lye at our Door We are not boldly to question with God concerning the Justice the Wisdom and Equity of the Command that is no part of our Province what concerns us is Obedience and with that we are to busie and employ our selves Suppose then our Governour is as cruel and as wicked a Tyrant as Maximian was who cut to pieces the Thaebean Legion must not we therefore pray for him 'T is in some mens Divinity and Religion denied we must not and the Reason they give is because we are not to pray for one that we certainly know will oppress God's Church and People But the Answer to this is Whether the Word of God doth enjoyn and command this If it doth not as it cannot well be suppos'd to command and forbid the same thing then their Resolution being without Ground and Warrant nay contrary to the Word is unholy and unchristian and so not to be followed That it hath no Ground in Scripture will appear from its Contrariety thereunto and that it is contrary thereunto will be no less evident if we consider that without any Limitation or Restriction we are positively commanded to pray for our Enemies and to love them as I have above shew'd Now if God hath commanded us to pray for them we cannot be suppos'd to offend him in doing our Duty nor can we be thought to pray against the Church of God any more then God himself can be said to be for them and against it when he permits and suffers them miserably to tear and distress it for his permission is no Argument of his approving or liking what they do for then he must approve of every Sin because he permits it which is Blasphemy to assert no more are our Prayers for them a praying for their Sin i. e. for its Success and Effect which yet must be suppos'd or else we cannot be said to pray against the Church Nor is their making Havock of God's Church the necessary Effect and Consequent of his Permission in that then his permitting it must be the necessary Cause thereof and so consequently not they but he the Author of it and of all the Evil and Injustice attending it No more are our Prayers the necessary Cause of their acting thus wickedly or that the necessary effect of Them because if they were they would always produce the same effect whether we prayed for Them our selves or others which is false and contradicted by Experience That They then are cruel Oppressors of Gods People is not from Gods permission or our prayers for to both the one and the other this is extrinsecal and accidental Neither is their Dignity Authority Riches Prosperity or any temporal Good They enjoy that may be looked upon as the success of our prayers the necessary cause hereof but Their wicked and evil Hearts These may indeed be incentives and motives hereunto and so may the best things that are be perverted and abused to evil but then this is not the fault of the things but of the men and so is it here Our prayers then being not justly chargeable with this Evil certainly nothing of lesser moment as our prejudice and passion ought to prevail so far upon us as to make us omit so necessary a practice and duty But whether this or somewhat worse hath not had too great a share in the Objection I shall leave to these mens Consciences to judge and determine Only I desire them they would be pleased so far to give me leave as to acquaint and inform them of this farther additional truth viz. That the outward calamities and pressures of the Church being only Temporal Evils not Moral and Internal ones and permitted by God to wise and holy purposes should our prayers for wicked Governours so far contribute hereunto as to enable them to afflict and grieve the Christian Church as the Roman Caesars did of old and the whole of the Objection was true as 't is indeed false yet nevertheless we ought to prefer and chuse the doing of Christs Commands before the enjoyment of the greatest Temporal Emolument and Good or avoiding the greatest Temporal Calamity and Evil. And that therefore were our Governour and King the greatest Persecutor and Tyrant imaginable we are to pray for Him did He afflict and vex the Church of Christ never so much we are to offer up our Petitions to God for His Welfare and Good The Reason is because whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teachmen so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5.19 I have now according to my proposed method consider'd and dispatch'd the several particulars of that Subjection and Duty we owe to the Higher Powers and so have abundantly shewed you what that Subjection and Duty is and wherein it doth consist I now come in the third place to consider who are the Persons to pay this Subjection and they are according to the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Soul that is Every Man all indiscriminately And though this may be sufficiently understood