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
suggest a better They only Proclaim Their Impiety Folly and Vnreasonableness unto the World These Objections being remov'd I think I need not fear one from Its Vnseasonableness the too great Iniquity and Impiety of the Times but too much Apologizing for me and it as to this particular wherein Faction and Sedition have form'd and invented Imaginary and False Plots and Real and True Ones I say Imaginary and False Plots as that the King should endeavour to bring Popery and Arbitrary Government into the Nation Pretences and Suggestions as false as Hell without the least appearance of Truth and Honesty and as malicious Falshoods and Lies as were ever belcht from the Infernal Pit For as to Popery what hath He done to encourage and Abett it or to give its Factors and Emissaries any such hopes Hath He privately own'd or frequented its Worship or openly endeavour'd to have the Publick Acts of the Nation against it Repeal'd Hath He sent for the Iesuit to come in or given the Priest publick allowance to make as many Proselytes as He can If He hath done nought of this nor any thing which with any probability of Truth can be suspected to look this way except the Favour once indulg'd to all His inveterate and implacable Enemies and which was as much to bring in Presbytery and all false-named Protestantism as Popery they being all alike tolerated and all of them of as equally direful an Aspect to the Government one as the other as certainly He hath not nor ever will if we will believe His Royal Word what Reviling Lying Caitiffs must these be openly to traduce and bespatter their King and Governor And how hellish a falshood must it be to say He doth this still Especially if we consider that He hath all along frequented and adhered to the Vsage and Rites of the Church of England and suffered the Laws to be Executed upon this sort of Men. But we need not wonder that He hath been thus used by them when they have been so frontless so possessed with a lying Spirit as to utter this Calumny and Vntruth against the Best and Truest Protestant Church under the Heavens And when they speak most modestly and tenderly of us we are then no less than Popishly affected Tantivying it at least in their own dialect and phrase towards Rome And as for His endeavouring to Rule by an Arbitrary Government 't is as false and malicious an Vntruth as the other and they that have had the Impudence to invent and broach it cannot give one instance wherein He hath transgressed the Rule of the Law entrench'd upon His Peoples Rights and Properties and exceeded the Royal Prerogative And though it ought to be presum'd and believ'd in behalf and favour of the Prince and Ruler even upon the account of common Christian Charity which Commandeth us to believe and hope the best of all men that He never hath nor ever will do any such thing especially when there is no plain evidence and appearance to the contrary and in that also He hath given His People all the assurance He well can that He will not Rule but according to Law as by His Coronation Oath and His repeated Promises and Declarations since particularly that which He caused to be issued out immediately after the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxon I say though Charity the reasonableness of the thing and common Equity do oblige us thus to think and believe yet these men will not be perswaded hereby and rather than beloved Association and Rebellion shall want a Pretext they will stoutly bear it out with the help of a modest Forehead and Tongue that their Governor is a Perjur'd and falsifying Person But if He hath done nought of this toâ— neither the one nor the other as we have all the reason in the World to believe and perswade our selves that He hath not then 't is plain and apparent that Fanaticks can invent and tell Lies are the open and downright Lyars and that formal Saints are herein at least real Devils These are the False and Imaginary Plots The Real and True Ones are those of Killing the King and Subverting the Government against the Crown and Dignity the Life and Happiness the Tranquility and Peace of the Lords Anointed Herod and Pontius Pilate and all the Nation of the Iews Papist and Fanatick and all the Rascally Rabble of Pharisaical Hypocrites have conspir'd as is apparent from a Nemine contradicente the joynt consent of the Two Houses of Parliament as to the former and the Confessions of Interested Parties as to the latter So that whatever may be Objected against the Discourse yet I am sure its Vnseasonableness cannot I could wish that it were altogether Vnseasonable but alas the Shimei's the Sheba's the Achitophel's the Absalom's the Raviliac's and the Clement's amongst us do but too much justifie the undertaking and attempt The Blessing and good Influence that it is to have upon the Heads and Hearts of those that Read it I am to leave to Him that only can give the Increase and make the Dry Bones live I have done my Duty as a True Protestant Divine and Christian have here told Judah of his Sins and Israel of his Transgressions and have endeavoured to shew unto all the good and the old way of Obedience and Subjection to the Higher Powers by Representing Truth in its own Native Dress without any artificial or false Colours My Request to the Reader is that He would carefully and impartially Peruse and Read it without Prejudice and Passion and with me offer up and present this Supplication and Prayer to the Throne of Grace that It would Please the Divine Clemency and Goodness so far in Mercy to Look down upon us as to Open our Eyes and make us see what those Things are the End whereof is Peace Farewel THE ANTIDOTE OR A Seasonable Discourse OF Subjection to the Higher Powers ROM xiii 1 Let every Soul be subject unto the Higher Powers For there is no Power but of God HAd that foul Calumny and Aspersion wherewith the Enemies of the Christian Institution at first branded and traduc'd both It and its Professors viz. That it contriv'd and abetted Faction and Sedition Mutiny and Rebellion against the Supreme Power and Government of every Polity and Kingdom been as true and real as 't was indeed false and malicious Princes and Rulers would have had an abundant reason and cause of jealousie and watchfulness against a thing so pernicious and baneful to Society and Mankind and the following Persecutions have been as just and reasosonable as fit and necessary Nay such a Practice would have been an irrefragable Confutation of all that Sanctity and Innocency they so much cry'd up and pretended to and have justly made the Propagators of so wild and extravagant a Doctrine a Spectacle of Contempt and Scorn of Villany and Injustice to the World to Angels and to Men. But as Christianity the Religion of the Holy
anointed So David himself is called the anointed of God The Ensigns of their Royalty are God's indeed derived only and especially from him who hath said I have said Ye are Gods And by his saying so hath given and conferred upon them not only in shadow and title but reality and substance that extraordinary honour and dignity of being as he is superior unto and above all the rest of mankind And in this sense is it that St. Paul calls them Principalities in my Text Powers And Ver. 3. Rulers i. e. the Chieftains or Chiefs and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uncontroulable above being ask'd or question'd for what they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Historian speaks above giving a reason for what he commands They are the Captains the Heads of the Body Politick The Mountains which stand aloft and overlook the Earth The truth is so great and excellent is their Eminency that Earth cannot afford us a Parallel or fit Representation of it If we would find out one we must ascend into Heaven and there behold it in God the grand Archetype in whom alone 't is infinitely seated and plac'd For what he is in Heaven they are on Earth Supreme and Superlative to all others Now from this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excellency of Dignity doth derive and flow as the learned Bishop Andrews observes one part of our Subjection or Duty to our Governours viz. Honour And this both inward and outward First Inward Honour which is when we have a worthy esteem an honourable and good Opinion of their Persons and Places when considering that eminency and height God hath placed them in we no longer look upon them as common persons as men of our rank and quality but as those that are very much above us as exalted to a Throne of Majesty and made to partake of a Respect and Esteem though less in degree yet the same in kind with that we are to pay to God himself I do not mean a Religious Esteem or Respect such as is to be paid to God as he is God viz. a thinking him to be infinitely great and honourable as in his Essence and Nature so in his Properties and Attributes But such as is to be paid to him as he is the great universal Governor viz. a believing him to be Chief of the Community of those he rules and governs And of this sort his Vicegerents and Deputies as they bear and express his Character and Excellency are to have their share and part as you may see Rom. 13.7 1 Pet. 2.17 'T is that we call a Civil Respect and indeed is so When the Members depending upon the Head as in a Body Natural for life and energie motion and spirits so in a Body Politick for Union Preservation and Strength do judge and believe it the Head to be the principal the best and most precious part of the whole Honourable then and worthy thoughts are we to entertain of our Governors such as become their Quality and Place But as this their Excellency claims an inward so secondly an outward Honour and Respect And this consists in a decent and worthy Demeanour and Behaviour of our selves towards Them when we pay unto Them all those marks and expressions of Respect and Honour the Customs of the Country where we live and Prescriptions of the Divine Writ oblige us to 'T is generally call'd good manners and is neither a speaking nor acting either in their presence or absence any thing that is contumelious and dishonourable unworthy of and derogating from their place and dignity And now would we but impartially reflect and consider what could we apprehend or judge more just and fit than thus to dignifie and honour those whom God hath so greatly honour'd and dignifi'd 'T is a justice that he may very rightly and truly challenge from us to give his wisdom the preference and precedence to ours to acknowledge and confess that he better understands and knows who is worthiest and fittest to be preferr'd and exalted than we do And 't is as just that we should take our measures from him be directed and guided by that rule and way he hath prescrib'd and set down for us to walk in especially here where his very Example is implicitely a Command and our following it the safest and wisest course we can pitch upon or propose to our selves Indeed were he as Man of a finite terminated understanding easie to be deceiv'd and impos'd upon there would be some reason of suspecting his wisdom and prudence and the reasonableness of his prescriptions and of withdrawing or at least with-holding our assent But when he is infinitely wise as well as infinitely great ordering all things after an admirable and excellent manner and chusing the best and most suitable means for the Ends designed and intended by him 't would be the height of folly and madness as well as of temerity and presumption in us not readily to comply with and obey the Dictates and Commands of so wise and infallible an Instructor and Guide And as it is just so is it fit and decent for us thus to act For what can better become us than to honour those who best merit and deserve it and are the fittest and most proper Objects of our respects and service Others may be above us but none in that degree as our Governors Others may call for our Esteem and Honour to be paid to them but none can lay claim to so much as the Supreme Magistrate He is eminently above all and therefore to be honour'd by us before all Besides the Thrones they sit upon the Dignity they possess is God's his in the Origination and Spring his too when deriv'd and communicated to them So that to honour them is in the consequence and result of it to honour him to perform that obedience and dutifulness he exacts and requires of us when it is not only an imply'd and interpretative but an explicit and express Command of his That we should honour the King and render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars To all which we may add That though Honour is one of the easiest and cheapest Oblations we can offer unto them yet it is the most valuable and precious Iewel of the Crown and best Supporter of the Throne in that without this the one will quickly lose its majesty and lustre the other fall and tumble down and the substracting or taking of it away is like the Prisons of Princes always ominous and fatal and the next step to ruine and desolation A King without Honour is only one in imagination a meer titular precarious thing And therefore as Princes and Rulers have a great deal of reason and cause of jealousie and care that they part not with the least moiety of it or suffer it to be abus'd trampled upon and laid in common and outrag'd by noise and tumult so should it be our especial study diligence and endeavour as
Priviledges but of Divine and Eternal Truths Laws and Rewards supernatural and celestial to fit and prepare refine and purifie us for the glory and bliss of his Kingdom in Heaven And therefore as to what concerns us as Members of a Nation or Body Politick he remits us to the Constitutions and Laws of that Kingdom whereof we are a part to be regulated and order'd according to the will of those he hath set over us and to demean and behave our selves suitably to that station rank and quality he as Universal Governour hath plac'd us in And as to this he hath sufficiently suppli'd us with Texts of Scripture so plain and evident that we may at once run and read them So Deut. 17.10 11. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall inform thee according to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee thou shalt do thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor to the left So Eccles. 8.2 I counsel thee to keep the King's Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God So Mat. 22.21 Titus 3.1 So 1 Peter 2.13 14 15. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be unto the King as supreme or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by Him for the punishment of Evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the Will of God Now as in all these we are strictly enjoyn'd and commanded to obey the higher Powers and the matter of our Obedience as to its various Instances being not at all set down and determin'd in the holy Writ the Rule we are to walk and guide our selves by here is this viz. To obey and be subject to our Governours in all things that are not morally and intrinsecally Evil that is in their own nature and of themselves or made so by a positive Command of Gods disallowing and forbidding it as hath been already suggested And this is the resolution of the best Casuists and Divines I ever met with They tell us and in particular our Learned Andrews that Subjects are not to busie themselves about the things commanded to know particular Reasons for the Lawfulness but if after moral Diligence fit to be used in all Actions of Weight it appears not unlawful and forbidden by God they are to obey And the Reason is evident because the Superiour hath his Commission from God and so his Commands are to be looked upon as proceeding from God whose Deputy he is and therefore they are sufficient Ground and Warrant for our Obedience God having commanded us so frequently in Scripture to obey our King unless it appears clearly that He exceeds his Commission and that his Commands are cross to the immediate Commands of God I say clearly and evidently because in things doubtful we ought to obey the Command of a Superiour being a determining of the Doubt For though 't is true that no man ought to do any thing with a doubting Conscience for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14. ult yet the Command of a Superiour is sufficient Cause to remove the Doubt He being God's Deputy to resolve us in such doubtful Cases so that his Command is a resolving of the Doubt after which we ought no longer to doubt For as St. Bernard saith Ipsum quem pro Deo habemus in omnibus quae non sunt apertè contra Deum tanquam Deum audire debemus Him who is in God's stead to us we ought in all things which are not plainly against God to obey as God himself So the Learned Bishop excellently and rightly And somewhat after tells us That though Conscience is immediately a Iudge under God yet as the School-man Alex. of Ales observes it is only in such things as are immediately commanded or forbidden by God but in other things which he hath left to Authority it must be guided and regulated by Authority And that this Doctrine is so necessary in Praxi as Suarez well notes for the preserving of Government and preventing of Sedition that publick peace cannot otherwise be maintain'd So far He with more to the same purpose concluding the whole with this viz. That the Excellency of Obedience is to look at God's Will represented to us in his Substitutes which may make the same Act which it may be was sinful in Him that commands I suppose He means as to its Circumstances become an Act acceptable and rewarded by God in Him that obeys In a word If we would be throughly active in our Obedience to our Governours the Temper and Practice of the Children of Israel in the days of Ioshua would well become us and be a fit and worthy Example for us to transcribe and imitate And they answered Ioshua saying All that thou commandest us we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go according as we hearkned unto Moses in all things so will we hearken unto thee only the Lord thy God be with thee as He was with Moses whosoever He be that doth rebel against thy Commandment and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest Him He shall be put to death Josh. 1.16 17 18. But then of the other side if it evidently and plainly appears that what our Superiour commands is directly and immediately contrary to the Word of God we are not any longer to yield an active but 2 ly Passive Obedience to Him i. e. we are not to do and perform it but patiently to suffer what He is pleas'd to inflict for our refusal 1. We are not to do it in that God hath antecedently oblig'd us hereunto by commanding the contrary and we are to obey God before man as being the supreme Lord and Ruler of all things and therefore where our obedience to man is an instance of our disobedience to God there we must disobey man at least not yield him Active obedience that we may actively obey God 2. But as we are not in this Case to obey so neither are we to withstand gainsay and impugn but humbly and quietly to submit to the punishment they shall impose upon us for our not obeying because all the Weapons Christ hath put into the hands of his Followers and Disciples wherewith to defend and revenge themselves in respect of the Magistrate especially are only Prayers and Tears And therefore all Conspiracies Treasons and Rebellions all seditious Pamphlets factious Meetings and disobedient Resistings are not to be nam'd amongst us with liking and Approbation as becometh Saints For if we 'll believe St. Peter this is thank-worthy if a man for Conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully and if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently
Universality and Sincerity of Obedience we pretend unto we will be no less careful and concern'd even for Conscience-sake to exert the same Wisdom and Prudence when God hath made it a standing and indispensable Law for us thus to act I know 't is objected by some that are I fear more scrupulous then wise more peevish then religious that we ought to fear God before Man I say so too nor is there the least shadow of Reason to assert the contrary but this is a mistaking or rather a perverting of the Question For that is not whether we are to fear God before Man none I suppose that had any sence of Religion ever doubted of that but the Question is whether we may not fear God and Man at the same time or whether our fearing of Man may not be an instance of our fearing of God If it may be as certainly it is in all things that are not contrary unto and against God especially when he commands it and we plead no farther for it then that Command extends then as we may lawfully and safely do it so are we bound and ty'd to the just performance of it as ever we expect and hope to come to the Seat of his blessed and truly holy ones For Holiness being the way to Happiness and no Holiness attainable without fearing of God and no Fear of God without keeping his Commandments and no keeping his Commandments without doing his Will and no doing his Will without fearing the King if we ever design to do God's Will and keep his Commandments truly to fear him and be holy here or happy hereafter we must resolve to fear our King in that there is no Holiness on Earth no Happiness in Heaven without it 3. But 3 dly Another Several of the Duty we owe unto the supream Governour is Benevolence By this I understand a sincere and hearty desire of serving him and procuring his Good in all things that relate and appertain unto him in his Soul and Body in his Spirituals and Temporals in his State consider'd as a King or as a Christian that his Reign may be long and prosperous and his days many that his Enemies may be cloath'd with shame and confusion and upon himself his Crown flourish that he may truly fear God study and obey his Laws make them his Guide and his Counsellor his Rule and way of living and acting that he may be another Solomon for his Prosperity and Wisdom and another David for his Piety and Goodness and so Felicity be his Portion now and ever on Earth and in Heaven Now as this is a piece of Charity we owe unto the whole World and what we are oblig'd unto by the Laws of our Religion for we are to do good unto all men Gal. 6.10 yet as the Apostle there adds more especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith so amongst them more especially to the Pater Patriae the publick Parent or Father of the Countrey or Kingdom in that the Good of the whole Community or Body is involv'd in his and his Happiness and Welfare doth derive and extend unto all So that if we would have the Effects of our Charity become more large and diffusive if we would do good to a whole Nation and People there is no better way of effecting it then by contributing all we can to the Security and Strength of the Royal Throne the Dignity and Honour of the Crown and the Peace and Safety of the Prince the Head and Life of the Body This as it is to love and wish well not only in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth so is it far more generous and Christian not so much to regard the benefiting and doing good to a few as to whole Nations and Kingdoms together We may indeed provide for the Good and Happiness of those that are more nearly related to us but certainly the greater and more communicative our Charity is the better is it the more noble and praise-worthy But besides that it is a part of Christianity and thus excellent so to act not to mention the blessing and happiness of a good Conscience the Delicacies and Sweets resulting from a sence of having done our Duty the prospect and foresight of meer temporal Goods consequent hereunto may vigorously and effectually excite us to a prosecution hereof For if we do in the least believe or think that the righteous and vertuous person hath any right to the Promises of this Life or that Godliness is not quite excluded the Blessings of Earth as St. Paul asserts it is not 1 Tim. 4.8 but that Providence doth even here dispence a bountiful Portion to the holy Man we may well conclude and reasonably collect that as he hath more right to them from the divine Promise so more reason to expect them as the present Reward of his Vertue and Honesty then others of wicked and ungodly Lives from their unjust and dishonest Practices For he hath God's Veracity and Justice to assure and encourage him and then as Balaam told Balak Numb 23.19 Hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good The other hath nought but the Wretchedness of Falshood and Wickedness to support and assist him God is this man's Friend hath him under his more special Protection Favour and Care and therefore he needs not doubt or despond but that he will one time or other acknowledge and make good his word to him He is that man's Enemy hath rejected and banished him his Love and Favour and therefore tho' he may have suffer'd him like wicked Haman to be exalted to high Place yet it is ut lapsu graviori ruat that his Fall may be the greater the more exemplary and notorious 'T is as the Psalmist speaketh Thou settest them in slippery places thou castest them down and destroyest them O how suddenly do they consume perish and come to a fearful end Most certain is it what the Prophet tells us that promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor yet from the South but God is the Iudge he putteth down one and setteth up another And if he is this or doth that in how fair a way of Preferment are they who by Uprightness and Integrity Sincerity Obedience and Holiness endeavour to approve themselves to God and his Vice-gerent The Heavens and Earth may fail but God and his Word cannot He is not as man that he should lie or as the son of man that he should repent Those that honour him he will honour This then may farther encourage us to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars to pay unto him that Fealty and Allegiance that Duty and Subjection we owe him as the Lord 's Anointed The Advancement of Ioseph in the House of Pharaoh and of Mordecai in the Court of Artaxerxes are memorable Instances of God's Providence in rewarding Fidelity and Obedience
to Princes Nay all Histories both ancient and modern sacred and profane do abound with Examples of this kind And were we but so wise as to reflect and look back we should find as from the constant Experience of all Ages so from the nature of the thing it self that there is no Aphorism of State-policy more true then this viz. that Loyalty and Fidelity is the best and readiest way to Honour and Preferment For God having given the power of advancing and rewarding into the hands of Princes on whom can they be suppos'd to be more inclin'd and willing to confer the Badges of Honour and Marks of their Favour then on those who by a long Series of eminent and faithful Services have approv'd themselves to be true Liege-men to their Crown and Dignity their Persons and Government A common Gratitude will acknowledge and reward a good Turn much more that of a King who is as an Angel of God to discern betwixt Good and Evil Just and Unjust Honourable and Base If then Princes both can and will reward Loyalty and Honesty and if in the light of the King's countenance there is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain it will be our Wisdom and Understanding at all times and in all places to abet and adhere unto the Royal Cause and by all the good Offices and Actions we can declare and evince our Allegiance and Dutifulness to our King and Sovereign By this it is very possible and probable too that we may with good and loyal Barzillai go down to our Graves full of Days and full of Honour but if with Dathan and Abiram we conspire against our Moses if with Achitophel we consult and plot his Ruine with Shimei curse the Lord 's Anointed and with Absalom actually rebel against him as we cannot upon any good and warrantable Grounds promise to our selves a happy Issue and Event of these our wicked and unjust Actings so generally the Consequent and Success of such a blacked Villany and Impiety is that with them they perish in their Gainsaying fall into the same Pit of Destruction purchase a Curse and Confusion to themselves and an indelible Blot of Infamy and Reproach upon their Name and Memory now and for ever We have now beheld two of the Excellencies of the Higher Powers their Dignity and Authority and the Severals of our Duty arising and resulting from them proceed we now to the Consideration of the third and last and that is Their Necessity and Usefulness to Mankind 3. That Government and Governours are a Blessing and Happiness to any Nation and People Community or Kingdom will be very evident and apparent to any that shall but reflect and consider of the Calamities and Evils the Misery and Ruine that must unavoidably attend and follow a State of Anarchy and Confusion 'T is the Remark of the holy Pen-man Iudg. 17.6 That when there was no King in Israel every man did that which was right in his own eyes And most certain is it that when there is none to restrain controul and punish the Impetuosity and Rage of mens Lusts and Vices In pejora datur suadetque licentia luxum things will quickly grow worse and this Licentiousness and Impunity of Acting soon perswade to Luxury and Excess and these to Injustice and that to Rapine Murther Profaneness Irreligion and all manner of Evil. And then as 't is in vain to look for any protection from the Laws in a lawless Estate or to expect the Rights of Liberty and Property to be kept inviolable when there is no distinction of Meum Tuum Mine and Thine so is it as absurd to imagine that any Persons or Things can be exempted or freed from this publick Distress when both they and theirs lye open and ready to be seiz'd and prey'd upon by every one that hath more Courage and Strength then themselves Of this kind and sort was that state of Nature if ever there was any such Mr. Hobbs speaks of Though 't is very hard to think that God would so very meanly provide for the Welfare and Safety of the noblest part of his Creation on this side the Stars and expose them like Beasts of Prey to be devoured one by another or that his infinite and unbounded Goodness would have suffer'd him to have sent Man into the World attended with such a Curse and Plague a Curse that would have better answer'd and more fitly suited the Effects of his avenging Justice upon succeeding Ages for their Iniquity and Sin and a Plague that undoubtedly was never design'd by him to be the Portion of the best and most innocent part of Mankind but of those if of any who have so learn'd and practis'd to despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities as rather to choose not to have than to honour and obey a publick Parent a lawful King and Governour tho' certainly of a contrary Judgment and Opinion to that wise and worthy Statesman and Historian Tacitus who hath left us this great and excellent Truth upon record that Praestat sub malo Principe esse quà m sub nullo It is better to live under a bad Prince then under none For notwithstanding that great and many Mischiefs and Evils may redound to the Subject from the Reign of a bad Governour Et vitia erunt donec homines and there will be Lusts and Vices to be serv'd as long as there are Men Sed neque haec continua meliorum interventu pensantur yet these are neither so great nor so many nor so lasting and which are sufficiently repair'd and made amends for by the greater and more considerable Benefits and Goods we reap and enjoy under their Government as those which that state of Confusion and Disorder must of necessity bring with it wherein not Law and Justice but Power and Force are to be the Bounds and Rule of Right and Wrong wherein we have not the least assurance and security of enjoying and possessing any thing that is desir'd and esteem'd of by us and wherein our Lives and Liberties as well as Properties and Goods are equally at the disposal of the strongest Invader and Aggressor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher speaks 'T is therefore necessary that there should be Governments and Governours And then if as the Government is lawful and well established so the Governour be good and gentle one fearing God and hating Covetousness a true nursing Father to his People and Kingdoms a Moses or a Ioshua a David or a Solomon as blessed be God that we have is how great how many Blessings will derive to the Subject from such an excellent Prince's Reign How very useful and serviceable must such a One be to his Peoples Welfare and Good and how exceedingly happy must a People be that are in such a case Is it a Happiness and Blessing to have and enjoy the free exercise and use of the best Religion in the World in
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
and mudded waters of Tyber A Popish Priest profess'd and a Popish Minister in Masquerade are alike pernicious and hurtful to the Rights of Princes The one is for doing all without the Governour the other for not obeying and both for not being subject And if we 'l believe the account a worthy Historian gives us of the actings of the Kirk-Reformers we shall have a great deal of reason to believe and confess that had the Pope been in Scotland in those days he could not well have given the Government greater troubles and disquiets and more unjustly entrenched upon its Prerogative than a company of pert pragmatical Synod-men did What they did to Mary Queen of Scots but especially to her Son King Iames that Wise and Excellent Prince the Historian fully informs the Reader Indeed their actings made such an impression upon Him that as one observes they made way and gave occasion for that His new Aphorism of State No Bishop No King He meaning thereby I suppose this that if any Governor should admit the Disciplinarian way to be practis'd in His Dominions it laying claim to such a paramount power in Church-Government as to suffer no equal and co-ordinate separate Authority much less any to be Supreme would so justle confront and withstand Him in the Exercise and Use of His Prerogative so intrench upon his Rights and Priviledges and by its subtleties pretences and insinuations so screw and turn Him as e're long to justle screw and turn Him out of His Authority and Power as a King But of the other side to have the way of Church-Government by Bishops as Reformed in the Church of England Established and Set up would be a ready and effectual way to secure the Throne to enjoy the Royal Prerogatives and to maintain and defend the Honour and Authority of the King and Government because the Church of England being Reform'd according to the Primitive Patterns hath a true filial Respect Tenderness Love and Dutifulness for Her Nursing Father will do Him all the good Turns She can but no bad ones believes it Her duty to be subject and obedient and to render as unto God so unto Caesar His due And for this She is a worthy Example to the Christian World being never known to prevaricate or be defective in this part of Her Christianity or to violate and throw down those Bounds and Fences God and Truth had placed about the Person of Her Governor And may this be Her Renown and Honour Her Piety and Religion as long as the Sun and Moon endure May She always preserve Her Innocency and Loyalty may She never drink of the dreggy defilements of the Whore of Babylon and of the filth of Her spawn may She continue still to be as She is an impregnable bulwark to Monarchy and may there still be the shoot of a King within Her We have now beheld all and every part of the Command or Injunction and so have gone through and perform'd the first and greatest part of our Task What remains farther to be considered is Secondly the Reason and Enforcement of all this Why every Soul is to be subject and that is because there is no power but of God But before I come to shew unto you the force and consequence of the Apostles Argument and Reason it will be necessary to evince and demonstrate the truth of his assertion viz. That there is no power but of God i. e. that God is the Author and Instituter of all Power and Government because it is a thing impugn'd and contradicted by a great many who pretend a great Reverence for the holy Scriptures and yet will not believe them when it is against their Interest and for that I may more fully conclude against all Sons of Corah all seditious mutinying and rebellious Dathans and Abirams As to the truth then of the Position that there is no power but of God or that the Powers that be are ordained of God 't will be very plain and apparent if we consider that God having made Men by nature sociable Creatures that is by their make and constitution fitted them to converse with and do good one to another by implanting in them a sence of just and unjust of good and evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is a communication of these that constitutes a greater or lesser Society a House a City or Kingdom and yet no Society whether great or small being able to subsist without Government 't is but reasonable to suppose that God giving unto man naturally all the preparatives and materials for Society did not withhold from him the cement and life of the whole Government Nay 't is absurd to imagine God to be the Author of mans sociableness or of his entring into Society and yet not to be the Author of Government when Government is of the nature of Society and 't is impossible to conceive the one without the other You may call them a Flock or an Herd of Men but not a Society without Government for that consists as the Philosopher observes in a communication and interchange of good and evil of just and unjust that is it is the principal business and end of a Society to determine and judge of the effects and consequents of these which 't is a contradiction to say it can do without Governing because Governing and Judging are here reciprocal terms signifying one and the same thing So that either Government must essentially belong unto Society or else it must cease to be such in that without this good and evil just and unjust will be words and no more as to any real effects they can produce or have in the Community as such And then if Government is of the essence and nature of Society it must undeniably follow that whosoever constituted and appointed the one must also constitute and appoint the other and that therefore if God is the Author of Society He must be likewise the Author of Government 2. And that He is so will be farther evident if we secondly consider that He is the Great Universal Governor of all things that with an excellent Knowledge Care and Inspection He manages and conducts the whole Created Nature of Beings and exerts as much of goodness and mercy in disposing and ordering all things for the best as He did at first of Power in giving them a Being And if his good Providence doth thus extend it self to the vilest Insects and creeping things as to place them in such a condition of Life as is most suitable and agreeable to their Nature and Kind if the lowest and meanest part of the Creation doth so largely partake of the divine Beneficence and Goodness can we with any Reason perswade our selves that Man whom he hath created after his own Image the best and chiefest of the visible World can be less the Object of his Bounty and Care Doth God take care for Oxen for their well and happy Being as the
if there is Natural Superiority there must naturally be Government and if Government then coercive Power What He adds of the Nature of Mens Passions and Experience argues at most only thus much that Men will be still inclin'd to wickedness and injustice and that therefore there will be still a necessity of Government and Laws to keep them within bounds The foundation then of this fair Building thus perishing and coming to nought the Superstructure it self must needs fall For if there was always a just and sufficient power to impede and obstruct the ill effects of Mens Lusts and Passions and no Man but the Protoplast ever having Ius in omnia a Right to all things and this too by gift as may be seen Gen. 1.28 29 30. afterwards the distinctions or differences of Meum Tuum Mine and Thine increasing and multiplying according as God did severally dispense and dispose to several men as there could be no reason and cause for this not natural but unnatural state of mutual war and violence for so it is that the Son should kill the Father and the Parent the Child so is it morally impossible that ever there could be such a state and morally uncertain that ever there was except in this Philosophers brains And then if there never was such a State there must be always Government because otherwise such a State would necessarily follow and ensue as I have already evinc'd and shew'd 4. And if there was always Government then fourthly it must be instituted and ordained of God and not of the People as some object because He alone hath the power of Life and Death and therefore He only and none else can impart and communicate such a power unto man Now that capital punishment or punishment by death is in many cases very requisite and necessary in all Governments will be confess'd by all that understand any thing If then the publick Governor is not deputed and authorized hereunto by God but by the Community he will be only a publick murderer notwithstanding the consent and allowance of the People in that no man hath power of his own life much less of that of another and therefore cannot give that he never had and yet all Governments and Governors exercise and use this power To say they do it by virtue of their publick Ministry is to say nothing to the purpose except they have this from God as the Author and Appointer of it otherwise they will be as obnoxious to the vengeance of Divine Justice as the meanest Subject or most private Person because what God hath made a standing Law to all is irreversibly so but where He hath made the exemption Now if Magistracy or Government is of the People it is certain the publick Magistrate hath not been exempted by God and if not then what He hath said to and commanded all equally concerns them And therefore Surely your Blood of your Lives will I require at the hand of every Beast will I require it and at the hand of Man at the hand of every Mans Brother will I require the Life of Man Gen. 9.5 They may indeed kill a man with greater solemnity as by forms of Law and Political Justice but nought but Gods Authorizing and Empowering them hereunto can acquit them before the Great Tribunal of Heaven For the Life of Man is so sacred and excellent a thing as being the Image of God that nothing can be a sufficient reason and cause for its destruction except the Divine Authority interposes and there is a Divine Institution annext to warrant and justifie the proceedings And this we must suppose and acknowledge or else all Governments are Tyrannical unjust and contrary to the Law of Nature and all Governors wicked Transgressors and Violators of it God may dispense with his own Laws but 't is presumption in man to attempt it a folly and a sin If then the Exercise of Magistracy or at least of this part of the Office is without a Divine warrant sinful either we must lay Sin at the Magistrates door or confess the Truth of the Apostles Assertion that There is no Power but of God To all which we may add what I have above Noted that it is God who hath said to Governors I have said that ye are Gods and by His saying hath made them so That St. Paul positively says They are Gods Ministers and His Revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil To which agrees what we read Prov. 8.15 By me Kings Reign and Princes Decree Iustice. And so Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar The Most High Ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will 'T is true St. Peter 1 Ep. 2.13 calls Government the Ordinance of man but this doth no way prejudice our cause for so it may be and yet of Divine Institution and Right and is with a great deal of Reason so interpreted by some who tell us that it may be a Humane Ordinance either Subjective in respect of the Subject because the Office is executed by Man or Objectivè in respect of the Object about which it is conversant and that is Humane Society or lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of the end in that it is for the good and benefit of men Now it may be Humane or of Men in all these sences and yet be ordain'd of God or of Divine Original and so we are to understand it or otherwise we shall make the Apostles plainly contradicting one the other which no sincere Christian will willingly admit or hear of I must confess that the learned Grotius interprets it according to the Letter telling us that it was an experience or sence of Infirmity and Weakness to withstand others or defend themselves that first joyn'd men in Civil Society and that Civil Power had hence its Original and Beginning and that upon this account St. Peter calls it an humane Ordinance But he only says it and no more and therefore all that I shall return is that he seems to me to unsay it in the Chapter immediately preceding this where he tells us That their Opinion is to be rejected who every where and without exception would have the supreme Power to be in the People which he must understand of the Original of Power or else he needed not to have made the Remark for who is ignorant of it or so bold and impudent as to affirm it in the other sence And so in the same Section again tell us That it is not true that all Kings or Governours are constituted by the People And this too must be understood of the Original of Government or else his Instance of such a powerful Paterfamilias Patriarch or Father of a Family is in vain for there could never be such a one granting his Supposition but in the first Ages of the World before its Policy and Government was setled since as every one is born under a