have proved in a Sermon on 1 Sam. 23.12 Secondly That this Doctrine of Defensive Arms in some case was never censured by the Church of England till Innovation began to creep into the Church and Arbitrary Power into the State The Church of England hath always been so wise and moderate as to allow difference of Judgment in these Speculative Matters No man can Preach Obedience to Governours who are God's Ministers God's Vicegerents and called Gods too Zealously But to say that if we are never so innocent nor never so much oppressed we may not defend our selves is worse than to make us Gally-slaves and Asses of Burden Thirdly I never read any Church in the Christian World which did not justifie defensive Arms in some case and tho' I never read that any man called Passive Obedience an Antichristian Doctrine yet I say it is an Unnatural Doctrine I have read that the every renowned Luther the Author of the Reformation and the first Defender of the Protestant Cause against the Tyranny and Innovation of the Papists was called Tuba Rebellionis the Trumpeter of Rebellion And I remember not long since that divers Popish Officers in the Army Drank such a kind of Health is this Confusion to the Cornet and his Trampeters But God hath abated their Pride asswaged their Malice and confounded their Devices And He who was the first Confessor as I may say of our Church I mean the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of London by his Constancy in the true Religion now shines like a Star of the first Magnitude in the Firmament of our Church We know that Elijah was called the Troubler of Israel St. Paul was called a mover of Sedition And the best men and most zealous for God's Truth in their several Ages have been revi'ed by Insolent Imperious and Devilish Spirits But what hath the Righteous done We have helped to save the Nation We have been Instruments under God to set a Protestant King and Queen over us who are so humble in their Greatness that they are greater in Goodness than in Place to whom we are obliged not only in Duty but in Gratitude for accepting the Rule over us For His Sacred Majesty hath the trouble but we have nothing but ease and quiet we sit under our own Vines that is enjoy all that is ours with great Security We have a Nursing Father and a Nursing Mother to our Church Is there or can there be a Murmurer in our Israel O foolish People and unwise O miserable Mortals that are never contented What can we wish what can God do more for us Those Protestants that are not pleased with the Government must go to Heaven for they will never be pleased on Earth if they are not now But after this rapture let us return to our Honest Gentleman He says P. 35. The Doctrine of Non-resistance hath been often proved the genuine Doctrine of the best Ages of the Church and that so fully and clearly that they who would not yield to the force of the Proof have not been able to deny the truth of it but have been forced to Pretend it was only Temporary and doth not oblige all Ages which is hardly sence Answ If any of our side say that it was only Temporary let them justifie it I cannot undertake their defence but I could never meet with any of those that say so I confess I have read this Objection before now And some Popish Author saith that it was Occasional which in this case is equivalent to Temporary but I believe what the Scripture saith in this case obligeth all Ages But then I deny That the Doctrine of Non-resistance hath been often proved the Genuine Doctrine of the best Ages of the Church This Gentleman knows That the Old Testament was given by Inspiration of God as well as the New And he knows I suppose that the Jews were under the same Covenant for Substance that we Christians are tho' not under the same Administration thereof They says Nazianzen were Christians in Work or Deed tho' not in Name Now we know that the Primitive Church of Christ was under Heathen Emperours and that the Civil State was never Christian But the Precepts Rules and Examples of Governours in Samuel Kings and Chronicles are Patterns for us in like case And here we say David's Example is plain and undeniable And this Gent. produces no Scripture but Romans the 13th which I have already considered and if occasion be offered have much more to say Object The Church is now in other Circumstances than she was then which is not true neither Answ I am sure it is true of the Church of England We do not liâ—â—encer Heathen Emperours neither are there any Laws against us but all are for us Our Religion is Established and is part of our Property as it were which no man can invade as I have said before and need not repeat It is confess'd that Christians under the Turk must submit to Death or Fly because the Laws of the Country are against them and Christ came not to alter Political Government But what is this to us where Governours and Governed are all Christians and make one Political as well as Ecclesiastical Body And what David did being causelesly and illegally wronged by Saul we may do in like case He hath some more Rhetorications and Amplifications but there is nothing new and all is already answered only I must take notice of one thing that he saith P. last It is certain the greatest part of the Nation did not Resist but refused to Assist This Notion he hugs dearly but I think I have shewed the weakness of it in all that justifie Passive Obedience As for others I blame them not There are degrees of Knowledge and degrees of Virtue and degrees of Zeal Some have Heroick Zeal which is not indispensably required of all And God knows what Circumstances many were in who wished well to the Cause And no Divine thinks that the Protestants in the West of Ireland are at this day bound to Publish their Thoughts with the hazard of their Lives But be it â—s it will I dare Poll with this Gentleman I am sure about us there were five to one to speak within compass Nay scarce a man that was not Zealous for the Prince of Orange but was branded and perhaps misrepresented But I confess Number great or small makes not a Cause Good or Evil yet in our Case it shews that most of the Lay-Members of the Church of England did not believe the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance But God forbid that I should justifie some of the things that were done in the Heat of the late Revolution as this Gent. speaks P. 36. Some were guilty of Irregularities which according to the strict Rules of the Gospel cannot be justified And O that God would give all that were Active in this Cause his Grace that they may be true Christians as well as
Redress Grievances when he thought it necessary if Abishai would kill King Saul he might for him he is not bound to assist It is God's Providence who pulls down one and sets up another Doth not God and Man abhor such Sophistry and Collusion Well fare Passive Obedience it deserves contempt and scorn and to be rooted out of the world if this be it And Good men will make it their business to ridicule and confute it P. 37. for this is one of the worst and most exploded Doctrins of the whole World P. 35. I am sorry he gives such advice as I cannot hearken to to speak modestly of it especially as he hath represented it P. the last And indeed Passive Obedience began to be ridicul'd and exploded by divers of the Clergy and Laity in my hearing some Months before we dreamed of the Prince of Orange's coming to deliver us from our cruel Task-masters the Jesuits and Evil Councellors being convinced of this Error and the many Mischiefs thereof by sence and experience the Mistriss of Fools according to the Proverb as this Gentleman saith P. 22. And now I dare say without transgressing that Rule of Christianity of not rendring railing for railing we are even with this Gentleman for calling us Rebels and inferring this absurd Consequence from our Doctrine That it is Lawful for every man to rebel against his Lawful Prince whenever he thinks it necessary Object But if Defensive Arms are Lawful who shall be Judge when we are oppressed Answ In our Case this Gentleman hath already determined for us that never any Nation was more oppressed And if any man will not stand to his Determination he must I think be wilfully blind However there is no Judge but right Reason for what hath God made us reasonable Creatures but to Judge between Good and Evil Why even of your selves judge ye not what is right is our Saviour's question Luk. 12.57 But indeed great and universal oppression is commonly a thing sensible of which our Senses may be Judges We who justifie Defensive Arms in some Case are as zealous for Government in General and for Monarchy and the English Government and for King William in particular as this Gent. For we have ventured Lives and Fortunes with Him which the Author confesses he hath not And at the rate that he Writes all the Subjects of England or Scotland who came over in Arms with King William are Rebels all that Joyned with Him all that Prayed for his Good Success all the Protestants who defended themselves in Ireland especially Mr. Walker and the London-Derry Protestants are all Damned Rebels because they were Subjects and ought not in any Case to resist the late King And is this the manner of Man O Lord God as he saith But let this Gent. know that the Innocent I mean the Legally Innocent may defend themselves by the Law of Nature and this is written in his and every mans heart And he saith P. 1. The contrary Doctrine was dangerous to the Prince of Orange at his first Landing And indeed if half the People had believed Passive Obedience as most of the Clergy taught and most of the Army seemed to believe He might have lost his Head by venturing to Save us But blessed be God Englishmen would not be frighted out of their senses by a causeless Curse from some weak Prophets or full of prejudice And how any man could declare too soon for the Prince of Orange his now Majesty and so forget his Duty as he saith P. 3. is a Mystery that I would have this Gent. unfold If his Cause was good and just as this Author acknowledgeth who could declare too soon for him Passive Obedience deserves to be rooted out of the World if for no other reason yet for this because it hath blinded this honest Gentleman that he cannot speak well of his best Friends I mean of those who have been Instruments of his Deliverance from that Infatuated Monarch as he writes under whose Government he dreads to live again I hope we have no Court-Parasites and Flatterers who follow the old Maxim Oblige your Enemies Neglect and slight your Friends Cursed be such Policy I confess I am for forgiving Enemies and encouraging the Penitent I hate Cruelty or Severity especially considering so many misled Souls as we have had in England May the King's Throne be Established in Righteousness and may Mercy and Truth preserve the King But let not those who have cheerfully spent their strength in this Cause be slighted or exposed to the Malice of their Enemies Object Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians did not resist the Heathen Roman Persecuting Emperors And this was true Doctrine in Tertullian's time Apol. 1. Cap. 37. as he quotes Pag. 10. If we Christians would become your publick and declared Enemies or secret Revengers of our own Wrongs should we want Force and Number to support it We exceed the Moors the Marcomans and the Parthians or any other one single Nation in the whole World we are but of Yesterday and yet we have filled all your Places your Cities your Islands Castles Corporations Councels Tribes Companies Palace Senate and Forum or Market-Place and we have left you nothing to Enjoy alone but your Temples Now we who so willingly lay down our Lives are we not thereby fitted and prepared do you think to manage any War tho' we were very much inferiour in Number if our Religion did not oblige us rather to suffer Death than to Inflict it We might without Arms or Resistance barely by disagreeing with you and the Envy of a Separation very much endanger and disquiet you for if so great a part of the Empire as we now make should break it self off from the rest and retire into any remote Corner of the World it would certainly confound your Dominions to lose so many Subjects be their quality what it will yea our very departure from you would be a severe Punishment the Desolation and Silence we should leave behind us would strike you with an Horror and Amazement as if the World were expiring you would be forced to seek for new Subjects to supply our places and perhaps we should leave you more Enemies than Subjects or Defenders This place hath been often cited to prove the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and in truth it is a Noble Testimony of the Faith and Patience of those Saints Answ The Laws of the Empire were against them Now Christ came not to destroy or alter Political Government but left it as he found it And he sent his Apostles to reform the world to turn men from darkness to light and from the Power of Satan unto God And accordingly their Weapons were not Carnal but Spiritual They did not like Mahomet and his Followers Conquer the World by force of Arms but did Convince and Convert Jews and Gentiles by working Miracles by the Sword of the Spirit by the Word of God and by Reason Disputation
Spirit when he saith As the Lord liveth and as my Lord the King liveth surely in what place my Lord the King shall be whether in death or life even there also will thy Servant be 2 Sam. 15.21 And they that furnished David with Provisions especially Barzillai the Gileadite according to this Gent. Doctrine and indeed his whole Discourse of this Matter is meer Enthusiasm as if God did all things without means might have been wiser and saved Charges and committed the thing to God to determine as he thought fit But I am weary of lashing this Doctrine with which none but poor weak crazy Heads can be deceived or vile leud and Atheistical men because it teacheth such Nonsensical Disloyal Unchristian and Unnatural Behaviour towards our King and Country Voluptuous and Effeminate Epicures indeed by this Doctrine may sleep in a whole skin as we say but if they do not betray they will do no service to the Throne and Kingdom in time of Difficulty And as much as I think the late King was to blame I cannot but pity him if all his Adherents were of this Gent. Mind But let God be true and every Man a Liar Is there no distinction to be made between Lawful Kings and Usurqers or Tyrants in Title And again between Lawful Kings having Authority and ruling according to Law and Princes that have Authority but are Tyrants in Exercise and would subvert the Ancient Government and rule Arbitrarily Again he doth not distinguish between God's extraordinary and immediate and his ordinary and mediate Providence between what he doth by his Almighty Power immediately and what he doth mediately by Men as Instruments and these Instruments are Good or Bad. And here should be considered in what manner he works by good Instruments and in what manner by bad And tho' this Subject is difficult yet surely the Primitive Doctors and Fathers of the Church made distinction I have ever thought that all Government in Church and State stands most firm upon its own Foundation Let us have true Divinity and true Policy once more in England for God's sake Fourthly I must consider what he saith to the Williamites And here what he saith P. 35. is true We are satisfied and highly pleased with the present state of Affairs But I observe here that he fails in the usual Complement and Address of a Gent. He might if he had thought of it have honey'd the bow with us as we say in our Country and at his first Aggress given us thanks for assisting in our several Callings and Places to preserve our Religion and that Church of which this Gent. saith he is a Member and our Laws Liberties and Properties But oh this Passive Obedience I have a mind to say once more that I would have it rooted out of the world because this ingenious Gent. and verily in my heart I believe a good Christian hath forgotten the common courtesie of the Nation and falls foul upon us with some morosity He saith VVe have appeared very pertly against the Doctrine of Non-resistance and Passive Obedience Very pretty This Gent. in Conscience could neither resist nor assist and therefore tho' he is glad of the Deliverance yet he cannot thank the Deliverers Well but at least he might be silent and not speak evil of those who with a good Conscience could and thorough God's blessing did deliver him from that Bondage under which he â—â—â—ned If I were in the mire and the greatest Villain upon Earth helper me out so far I would be thankful to him and own his kindness as not to expose him when I am not bound in Conscience But this Gent. design is to put an End to this unseasonable Controversie p. 2. Very well Why then does he assert and defend Passive Obedience as the Glory of the Church of England and the Bulwark of all Religious Kings and States against the rage of mutinous and rebellious Spirits who pretend to fight for God's Truth against the Laws and Governments of their Countries P. 36. This foolish and sottish Charge would move a stone as we say Surely he had a mind to provoke us and quicken this Controversie almost buried in the Grave of Silence I could here fairly illustrate and make it probable that Passive Obedience hath been I will not say the Cause but the Occasion of the Ruin of two Kings and of a Civil War and of the Church of England once and almost the second time for what reasonable man indued with flesh and blood can indure this Church Tyranny that in any case whatsoever we must not resist Would to God this Gent. would have been quiet Does he think that we will be beat out of our Senses once more and that so soon after our eyes have been opened I will rebuke him in the words of Job cap. 27. verses 5 6 7 8. God forbid that I should justifie you till I die I will not remove my Integrity from me My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live Let my Enemies be as the wicked and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous For what is the hope of the Hypocrite tho' he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul I will stand by it there is no other way in Conscience to justifie our cause but by asserting defensive Arms in some Case But says this Gent. VVe had no disloyal Exhortations from the Press or Pulpit to perswade men to sight against their Prince nor had we any to perswade us to sight for Him but the thing was committed to God to determine as he thought fit P. 3. God a mercy Prejudice I Suppose our Reverend Fathers and Brethren can give an Account to the world of their own Behaviour without asserting God's Providence in this Gent. wild notion But for once I will write a Latin Sentence Turdus sibiâ—â—â—lum cacat Every man must Answer for himself I 'le blame no man that does not blame me But some Writings from the Press we had and from the hand of a Person who is now dignified in the Church if we are not all mistaken And he is highly approved of by His present Majesty and all the Clergy that are without Prejudice and honour real worth speak honourably of him As for our Gracious King the whole series of his Proceedings since He Landed on English Ground shews his most Excellent Virtues Justice Mercy Clemency Fortitude and Magnanimity And I am confident He can say what the Emperor Trajan said to a Tribune when he set him over the Praetorian Band delivering the Sword Vse this for me when I Command just things and against me when I Command unjust things And now with due Submission to my Governours in Church and State I come to the main Matter of Controversie First I assert That Defensive Arms are in some case Lawful and consequently that the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance is false This I
true Protestants and their Souls Eternally happy I hope that God will accept of what was well done and Pardon our Infirmities thorough the Son of his Love Let us now come to the hardest Task and most unpleasing Subject The Power of Deposing Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms There are Learned Pious and Judicious Protestant Divines that are of this Opinion whose Arguments I imagine this Gentleman would be puzzled to Answer Our Convention if I mistake not did declare that the late King Abdicated the Kingdom broke his Original Contract and vacated the Throne and what is this but that he deposed himself Almost all Nobility Clergy and Commons were for a Regency without Scruple and what is that but a milder word for Deposing This was a Fig-leaf to hide the Nakedness of those who rashly had asserted the Divine Right of Monarchy and Passive Obedience and Non-resistance in any Case But I suppose the late King would not thank these Gentlemen for putting him into the state of a natural Fool a Madman or a Lunatick I confess those Noble Persons and Wise Lords and Great Councellors of State who did never believe Divine Right Antecedent to Agreement in Prudence might Vote for a Regency Because all Alteration in Government much more so great an Alteration is troublesom as shaking the very Foundations of the Building And all wise Men and Politicians never change but in extreme Necessity taking Solomon's Advice Meddle not with them that are given to Change But yet if a Nation be forced to take up Defensive Arms they must be Secured before they lay them down and if the King be so Perfidious as this Gent. represents him even at this time to the Irish Protestants p. 23. it would have been as he says in the same place Incorrigible folly to have trusted him and consequently in this Case it is my Opinion and Conscience that he was justly Deposed See Discourse on Dan. 5.20 And this Gentleman if he is consistent with himself about his Notions of God's Providence must needs say that it is not only God's Permission but Approbation tho' P. 35. he rails at it as from the Devil But I leave him to reconcile his own Sentences for to me they seem a contradiction I beg His Sacred Majesties Pardon upon my knees and I am sorry if I have Scandalized the great Councellors of State in revealing this Mystery But I am a Preacher of God's Word and I believe in my Conscience our present Cause can be justified no other way And seeing all was at stake as this Gent. confesses our Religion our Laws Liberty Property Wives Children and Posterity and whatsoever is done is God's Providence methinks this Gent. might pronounce us Innocent and not Damn us But however if he will Damn us we possibly may escape his hands for he is not God but a poor weak man And I could afford to give him another piece of my advice but I will let it alone for this time Let me add The Church of England being truly Loyal could not dream of such an extraordinary Case But blessed be God some were wise as Serpents tho' harmless as Doves Let me use the words of St. Paul Rom 9.1 I speak the truth in Christ I lye not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost Those Noble Patriots of the Protestant Religion and Liberties of their Country into whose Hearts God put it to invite the Prince of Orange over deserve this Motto And tho' we Canonize no Saints nor give Divine Worship to any but God yet I wish their Names were known that the Nation might Erect a Monument for them with this Inscription Hitherto hath the Lord helped us and these are the Names of those Great Souls who run the hazzard of being accursed by the Papists for us their Protestant Brethren O most Sage Politicians and most Heroick Christians tho' this Gentleman's Doctrine calls them Traitors and Rebels O brutish and ungrateful Prejudice what can any free Mind think of these Effects of Passive Obedience Had it been an uncircumcised Philistin a subtile Jesuit who had thus defyed the Armies of the Living God and called them Rebels it had been no wonder But for a Gent. a Subject to King William and Queen Mary a Protestant thus to dip his Pen in Gall and sadden the hearts of those who should fight the Lord's Battel in Ireland by calling them Rebels is a Riddle that I cannot unfold I dare say that the most Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop and the other Right Reverend Bishops who cannot satisfie their own Scruples which is their Calamity and our Grief tho' there is all the reason in the world that all should swear Allegiance to Their present Majesties and they cannot be helped do not censure us as Rebels who according to our Consciences have assisted the Prince of Orange in this Revolution When I reflect on this I am tempted to lay aside my former good opinion of this Gentleman and must say what Michael the Arch-Angel said when he contended with the Devil about the Body of Moses The Lord rebuke thee God give him repentance and a better mind for he seems like wicked Doeg and his Confederates that Enemy of David and false accuser of his Brethren of whom the Prophet saith Psal 140.3 They have sharpened their tongues like a Serpent Adders Poison is under their lips I have Studied these Controversies about Government in Church and State for some Years but more exactly upon the rising of the Disputes about the Bill of Exclusion I have always been Inquisitive and have striven to give a Reason of my Faith and to search to the Bottom that my Principles might be unmoveable and unblameable with Wise and Good men And what I have written by way of Assertion to use Dr. Fern's words Conclusion or General Rule is but a Sacrificing to Truth from a Conscience not simply devoted to man And I have always esteemed it the greatest Preferment to have Liberty to speak Truth I was not for the Bill of Exclusion because necessity of Change was not palpable to me but I was against it as an Act of Imprudence not an Act of Injustice as I then said if King Lords and Commons should think fit But as for Monmouth's Rebellion I abhor it at this day because the late King had Promised upon the word of a King that he would Protect us and Rule accordding to Law and he might have made himself and us happy notwithstanding his Religion and I do not remember that he had commanded any thing against Law at that time And I have been taught and teach others that Subjects must not be Jealous of their Prince and that Defensive Arms are Lawful only in Extreme Necessity And I verily believe that the late King designed not at the first what he Acted afterwards His Bosom Friend his Priests and his Jesuits like a pack of half-witted Knaves and Fools stirred him up to his own and the
came to make him King And in Deut. 17.15 Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse One from among thy brethren shalt thou set King over thee The Election of a King is attributed to God but the Constitution to the People God's choice and the Peoples choice are consistent So God approved Saul and David and they were anointed by the Prophet Samuel and chosen by the People also In the Common-wealth Magistrates are called the Ordinance of Man or an Humane Creation 1 Pet. 2.13 Because tho' Magistracy in general be the Ordinance of God yet this or that special kind of Magistracy whether Monarchy Aristocracy c. is of man Governours covenant to defend the people as well as the people covenant to obey them and the Obligation of Conscience is consequent to this Agreement And our present Sovereign Lord and Lady King William and Queen Mary have as good a Title and we are bound in Conscience as willingly and heartily to honour and obey them according to the Law of God and our Country as ever we were to submit to any Prince 2. We must consider that all Government is for the safety and good of the Community We must eye as one saith in another case the end which always steers the Action among such as be Agents by counsel In all Combinations there is and will be some common end that end must have means to attain it to these means and rules each man must bind himself to attend and in case he doth not to submit to another to be directed and reformed or else to yield to the whole that he may be censured and removed therefrom For otherwise the End cannot be attained nor the Means attended with profit or any powerful success in reason For if each man may do what is good in his own eyes proceeding according to his own pleasure so that none may cross him or controul him by any power there must of necessity follow Distraction and Desolation of the whole when each man hath liberty to follow his own Imagination and humoursome devices and seeks his Particular but oppose one another and all prejudice the Publick Mutual subjection is as it were the sinews of Society by which it is sustained As for the Governour S. Paul saith plainly He is the Minister of God to thee for good Rom. 13.4 This is the End of Government That the People may be happy The Preservation of our Lives Liberties and Properties is the Reason of Rule and Subjection See the former Discourse Kings are not set over us to make us in a worse condition than we were by the Law of Nature which I am sure is the unwritten Law of God only written in the heart as S. Paul saith but that we may be safe and live without fear of wicked men who have extinguished the Light of Nature and Reason And like Brutes that have no understanding like Beasts of prey Lions and Wolves would devour the poor innocent man the good and righteous who lives according to his reason and conscience It concerns all Mankind with utmost zeal to preserve their Laws for otherwise the Sons of Belial will conspire and oppress the poor righteous man and they will make their Strength the Law of Justice as the Son of Sirach saith This I Will and this I Command and my Will shall stand for Reason This is the Voice of Proud Oppressors They make their Lusts their Law and their Will their Ruler But Reason the Candle of the Lord and Scripture the revealed Will of God inform us that Order and Dominion and Rule is not to make us slaves but that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all godliness and honesty 3. We must consider that there may be such Crimes as may forfeit the Crown and Throne and reduce all to first Principles Here it will be convenient to consider 1. What Crimes we suppose make a Forfeiture 2. To demonstrate that such Crimes forfeit the Crown 1. I shall consider what Crimes we suppose make a Forfeiture And this may be done for more plain understanding 1. Negatively 2. Affirmatively 1. Negatively Personal Crimes do not forfeit a Crown A bad Man morally may be a good King Politically Dominion is not founded in Grace tho' it is much to be desired as being their bounden Duty that Kings would live in the Fear of God However as a most zealous Divine on our side grants There is required in Subjects a Toleration of the spots blemishes or infirmities of Magistrates For the Magistrate hath a burthen no less laborious than dangerous under which he must necessarily often faint and endure Extremities so that sometimes he hath scarce place or time to breath And therefore it is no wonder if he be sometimes drawn away by Humane Affections as Pride Ambition Intemperance Pleasure Sloth Forgetfulness Security Anger Fury and Passions of like kind To which they are wont to be more obnoxious than others as they are urged with greater Troubles and Assaults Therefore then it is the Duty of Loyal Subjects patiently to bear those Infirmities as it is meet that Children should hide the blemishes of their Parents It is true a Prince ought to be just and judge as for God but a wicked Prince as Ahab must have Obedience and a good Obadiah may be his servant An habitual sinner whom God will judge and condemn may not be questioned by his Subjects David's Adultery and Murder of Vriah was not sufficient to depose him Such Crimes must be left to God's vengeance And private Oppressions are not Causes sufficient but here Prayers and Tears must take place and we must as our Saviour adviseth in Patience possess our Souls 2. Affirmatively Such Crimes as are Epidemical or Universal and are of great concern to the whole Body Politick to the whole Nation As invalidating Laws made for Publick Security endeavouring to subvert the Rights of the Subject Liberty and Property or subverting of the Religion by Law established whereby Thousands of poor Innocents must be ruined breach of Covenant Oath and Promise whereby Publick Faith is indangered and all Subjects with reason are made jealous And here pray imagine me in Vtopia and take it for a supposition If a Kingdom is in such danger whether they ought not to secure themselves I could wish it had consisted with Gods Providence that I had not lived in such unhappy days wherein a man that speaks truth is envied by his Neighbour Or I could wish that I had not such unlucky Stars as that I must necessarily go against my Conscience if I should justify or connive at the late Proceedings of the Court Faction and Jesuitical Society I was as true and faithful to the late King notwithstanding his Religion as long as he kept his Oath and Promise as any Subject in Reason Knowledge or Conscience could be But when I evidently perceived that the design was to Subject us to Rome and