Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A39241
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The doctrine of passive obedience asserted in a sermon preach'd on January 30, 1684 / by James Ellesby ...
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Ellesby, James, b. 1644 or 5.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing E537; ESTC R11960
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23,468
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38
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the Apostle Now the more we resemble our meek and humble Saviour in our Comportment under Sufferings and Injuries the greater assurance we have of being his Disciples indeed this will entitle us to the Adoption of Sons and make us Heirs with him of the promised Reward § Add to the Example of Christ that of his Apostles who were in all respects admirable Followers of the Blessed Jesus instead of revenging their Sufferings or resisting the Powers under which they suffered they on the quite contrary rejoye'd in Affliction and gloried in Tribulation they accounted it an Honour to tread in the steps of their great Master and to be so evil intreated by the World for His sake Now 't is not only the Cause but the Manner of Suffering or our Behaviour under it that makes our Sufferings like those of Christs for let our Sufferings be upon what account they will whether Civil or Religious 't is our Patient and Submissive Demeanour under them that makes them Christian Sufferings and to resemble those of our Blessed Redeemer nay the Manner of Suffering is every whit as much to be regarded as the Occasion for a Man may suffer in a good Cause after a bad manner and thereby lose the Reward of his Sufferings for want of Faith and Patience to support and carry him through Again He that suffers in an ill Cause may become so Sensible of his Fault and Penitent withall as to find Pity from Man and Pardon from God whereas the best Cause can never justify the impatient murmurings and discontent of its froward Martyrs or peevish Confessors § To this purpose let us consider a while the Example of the Primitive Christians how they behav'd themselves under all their Persecutions and we shall find them Followers of the Apostles as they were of Christ and thereby prov'd themselves no less his Scholars and Disciples than they We find them made up of Patience and Submission Meekness and Long-suffering they underwent the greatest Rage sharpest Torments and severest Persecutions that could be yet with an Apostolical temper and Christ-like frame and disposition of Mind amid'st all the Cruelties threatned on the one hand and inflicted on the other we find nothing could provoke them to a Disturbance we read of nothing they did in way of Revenge or Despite to their Governours and notwithstanding the late disingenious Representation of the Christians in Julian's Time yet from the best Account we have given us of that and the Preceding Ages we are assur'd that the Patience of the Christians was equal to the Rage of their Adversaries and their Constancy and Resolution in bearing Injuries was greater than that of their Enemies in the inflicting of them Nay their Sufferings were rather cause of Joy and Triumph than of Quarrel and Revenge Magis damnati quam absoluti gaudemus Tertul. ad Scapul said the most Ancient of all the Latine Fathers We are more chearful at the news of our Condemnation than of our Acquittal or Absolution Now their willingness to suffer and forwardness to submit is an Argument they were much better Christians than the generality of those who think themselves in the uppermost Form in Christ's School and yet have not taken out this Lesson What kind of Weapons those were which the Primitive Christians opposed to all the Abuses and Outrages of their Adversaries is very well known They made use of no Offensive Arms against the very worst of Princes nor any other Defence than that of Prayers and Tears Apologies and Supplications aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere says the Warlike Bishop of Milan According to the Principles of their Religion they could not make any other Defence they were not permitted any other Resistance And therefore one great Topick they insisted on in their Apologies for themselves and their Religion was this That it was the greatest friend to Government in the World it no ways countenanc'd Sedition nor encourag'd to Rebellion but on the contrary kept Subjects within the strictest bounds of Obedience made them Loyal to the Prince and Faithful to the Government and bound it as a Duty upon their Consciences so to be It taught them to respect their Governours as God's Ministers and Vicegerents upon Earth to acknowledge with our Saviour that they receiv'd their Power from above and to behave themselves under it accordingly Furthermore that you may see how shy they were of Resistance and at what a distance they kept from this Sin they were wont to put up Publick Prayers and I dare say they never said them backward in Private for the Life of the Emperour Safety of his Person and Success of his Arms tho in so doing they did but pray for their greatest Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and a continuance of all those Calamities which they daily suffered and groan'd under Objection This in a great measure Some will acknowledge to be true but not upon the Principles of Conscience and Religion 't is true say they the Primitive Christians did not resist but it was because they durst not Deerant vires saith Bellarmine they wanted Strength and Numbers to oppose and go through with it if they had begun and therefore it was Prudence in them to sit still and be quiet and make the best they could of an ill Bargain as having no hopes to better it by Resistance Answer This Objection or Pretence carries a great deal of Untruth along with it and no less Ill Will and Disaffection toward Governours but in reality is no better than a Jesuitical Fiction made use of by that Order of men who make Lyes their refuge when they find the plain Truth is not for their turn to support their wicked Doctrine of taking up Arms against the Prince at the command of their Church For if any credit may be given to Primitive Antiquity and the General History of those Times the Christians then had both Arms and Armies They wanted not Force to Defend themselves and Oppose their Governours if they had had a mind to it For the chiefest part of the Empire was then turn'd Christian who made up partom poene majorem the greatest Number almost in every Town and City saith Tertullian whose account is very well known and daily cited upon this Occasion Moreover if they had been inclin'd to Resistance or thought it Lawful might not the Desperatoness of their Case have supply'd the defect of their Numbers which sometimes carries men a great way and inspires them with Courage and Resolution beyond that of their Enemies considering withall their Condition could not well be worse than it was had they failed in their Attempt and fallen short of Success for let what would happen they could but Dy and it was more Honourable for Souldiers especially to dye in the Field than at a Stake or Gibbet and more satisfaction to sell their Lives as dear as they could than to have them torn away from them by all imaginable Torture and insulting
THE DOCTRINE OF Passive Obedience Asserted in a SERMON Preach'd on January 30. 1684. By James Ellesby M. A. Vicar of Chiswick in Middlesex For Rulers are not a Terrour to good Works but to the Evil Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Powers Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same Rom. 13.3 LONDON Printed for William Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple Bar. 1685. TO THE READER THIS Discourse was sent to the Press the Munday after it was preach'd Feb. 2. and part of it printed before the much lamented Death of his late Majesty of most Dear and Happy Memory the Intent whereof was not to flatter Princes into an Abuse of their Power or make them more Absolute than the Law hath done a Calumny which some are apt to fasten on the Doctrine of Passive Obedience but to teach Subjects their Duty to Governours upon all Occasions and instruct them in the Principles of Subjection according to the Laws of the Land and Rules of the Gospel wherein I have had regard to those Persons who make shew of a more than ordinary Zeal for Religion yet are apparently defective in the two great Duties of Charity and Loyalty to make them those Compleat Christians they would be taken for This Sermon with another of the like nature was at first preach'd some Years ago now what pass'd for good Doctrine against one sort of men then I hope will not be thought otherwise now for Truth doth never alter nor vary with the Times whatever the Professours of it may do I hope in God seeing our Present Sovereign hath been pleased to declare to the infinite satisfaction of the whole Kingdom his Royal Intention to Govern and continue things as they are now Settled and by Law Establish'd we shall have no reason to cherish any Fears and Jealousies but rather to bless God for inclining his Royal Heart so Graciously toward this poor Church and State Therefore instead of carrying on their old Discontents and Factions against the Government People ought to Own and Submit to the good Providence of God who hath preserv'd his Majesty that now is from so many imminent Dangers and brought him to the Throne in Peace and Safety notwithstanding all the Attempts and Oppositions that have been made to the contrary Let us then perform the Duty of good Subjects in yielding that Obedience and Subjection which we owe to our Lawful Prince and of good Christians in praying for a Blessing upon his Royal Person and Government that he may Reign long and happily over us and we may lead Quiet and Peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty under him Feb. 9. 1684. Amen PROVERBS 30.31 And a King against whom there is no Rising up THESE Proverbial Sayings of the Wise man carry their own Sense and Context along with them and are collected together without any great Order or Dependance upon one another In the beginning of this Chapter we have Agur's humble and modest Wish for a contented mediocrity preferrable to both Extreams of Poverty and Riches The remaining part is spent in the observation of some remarkable Qualities peculiar to several sorts of Creatures The last here mentioned takes notice of four things which are Comly and Majestick in their Going a Lyon which is strongest among Beasts and turns not away for any a Greyhound a He-Goat and a King against whom there is no rising up I shall not spend time in giving you an account of the various Readings and Opinions of Interpreters upon these Words but preferring our own Version as the most generally received I shall only observe that the first and last of these the Lyon and the King have their particular Characters annext to them a Lyon which is King among Beasts is so strong as he neither Fears nor Turns away from any thing and a King he is so Sacred among Men as no Man ought to Rise up or Turn against him The former is generally fear'd for his great Strength and undaunted Courage and the latter no less to be Reverenc'd for his Sacred Character and Supream Authority By a King here we are to understand a Sovereign Prince one invested with the Supream Power of a Nation and not such Titular and Precarious Princes as were the Kings among the Lacedemonians or those under those Romans Qui non proprio sed precario jure imperabant in the Words of Grotius who had little of Royalty belonging to them beside the Name and Ceremony at most were but Kings upon Courtesie and reign'd at the Pleasure of the Senate and People But by King here is meant such a one as Solomon himself was the supposed Author of these Words under the name of Agur one who is acknowledg'd Sovereign in his Kingdom who holds his Crown Independant on any but God as having no Equal much less Superiour upon Earth And such a one as this the Laws do acknowledge our King to be when they call his Crown an Imperial Crown resembling that of the Roman Emperours which was Absolute and Independant when they Entitle him upon all Occasions Our Sovereign Lord the King when they account his Person Sacred and Inviolable which cannot be but in respect of his Authority which must therefore be Divine in its Original and Inseparable from his Person when they affirm he is Legibus Solutus free from the Coercive Power of the Law and enjoyn us to pray for him as Supream in all Causes and over all Persons throughout his Majesties Realms and Dominions Against such a King as this there is no Rising up that is there ought to be none No Force or Violence no Opposition or Resistance can lawfully be made against a Sovereign Prince who receives his Power immediately from God and therefore to him alone can be accountable for it From the Words thus open'd you may easily ghess at the Subject Matter and Intent of my ensuing Discourse which will be to prove and if possibly convince you of the great Sin and Danger of Resisting a Supream Lawful Authority wherever it is lodg'd either in one or more and upon what Account it becomes utterly unlawful so to do § Now that Resistance of this nature is a Sin I am throughly satisfied and the Reasons why I believe so are such as follow § 1. Because it is an Affront and Violation offered to a Divine Ordinance and that Government is a Divine Ordinance I might prove at large from the Testimony of all Nations concerning it from the joynt Confession of the whole Christian Church Primitive and Reform'd and in particular by that of our own together with the Laws of the Land which do acknowledge and suppose as much But however there is less need of insisting upon these because the Apostle St. Paul doth expresly affirm it and this he doth by a Spirit of greater Infallibility than that of Rome or any other Sect or Party of Men who have taught the contrary Rom. 13.1 2. There is