THE Samaritan Rebels PERJURED, BY A Covenant of Association: DISCOVERED IN A SERMON PREACHED At the ASSIZES holden at Northampton, March 30 th'. 1682. By JOHN KNIGHT, M. A. late of New-Inn-Hall in Oxford, and now Vicar of Banbury. Printed for William Thorp Bookseller in Banbury in Oxfordshire, and are to be Sold by Randal Tailor near Stationers-Hall, London, 1682. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, CHRISTOPHER Lord HATTON, OBRIAN Lord CULLEN; The WORSHIPFUL, HARVEY EKINS, Esq High Sheriff of the County of Northampton; And the Right Worshipful, Sir JOHN EDGERTON, Bart. Foreman, with the Rest of the Baronetts, Knights and Gentlemen of the Grand Inquest, for the Assizes holden at Northampton, March 30 th'. 1682. Right Honourable, and Much Honoured, IF it might be a competent Atonement for my Inflexible Disobedience to your just Commands, I am not only willing to acknowledge my Fault, but I have here published my Discourse to evidence my Repentance. I no sooner, indeed, returned from my Attendance upon your Honourable Assembly, but shameful Reflections upon my Rudeness, dogged me to my Home. 'Tis true, your inimitable Indulgence allowed me to Capitulate, when I should have Obeyed: And I had leave to Try my Discourse by the Judgement of the Right Reverend Bishop of Oxford (an Ordeal I well hoped would have burnt it:) But though I have some Years lived upon the Excesses of his Charity, and have been surprised with Instances of his Favour, too great for any thing but Heaven to recompense, yet now I found a Censure I did not look for; I found, He had too high an Opinion of your Judgements, to suffer or allow me, even to seem to distrust them. And now, My Lords, and you Right Worshipful, Prompted by the Patronage of so much Piety as Mortality can pretend to (for such is his) and actuated by so great a sense of Duty, as I am capable of conceiving, the necessity of my begging your Protection is doubly superseded. I will be bold therefore to put this Print into your hands, merely with that design, with which 'twas dictated to your Ears; only to Inform, Convince, or to Confirm. The Argument (I hope) will defend itself, whatever Enemies it may meet to oppose it: That it will find none, I am not so fond to imagine, having already heard the Echo of their Calumnies; Compliments peculiar to some men, * Quod scelus perpetrari, cùm de talibus benè audiam? whose kind Resentments of an Honest Discourse, are enough to blast its deserved Reputation. There is a Praise which sheds a disgrace, a villainous Commendation, that ruins the Credit it offers to support; as an Encomium upon Religion given by an Atheist, is a mischievous satire against all Virtue. Wherefore, as I can scorn their Flattery, so can I bid defiance to their Envy; having the Felicity of a Forehead of Flint to obviate those of Brass. But, since the Reverence I had for Truth, and the Awful regard it influenced me with, in the composing and speaking this Sermon, as also the Deference made to it by that Honourable and Reverend Assembly it was spoken to: Since I have found all these too thin a shield to defend either myself or it, I will here offer at a justification of both. My design (it's said) was my own Preferment, not charitable Edification, nor the Glory of God: My Matter and Managery too intolerable to endure the Hearing. As to the First, though I have ever been a Dissenter from the Doting World, and thought such Shrines too poor for such a Sacrifice as my Conscience, yet I have no provocation to invade the Honour of the Almighty with them, by searching (to find out the Hypocrisy of) their Hearts. But however, I am glad to hear, that they grow Jealous, Religious Loyalty has such Encouragement; for 'tis not long since, things looked as if That Virtue had been the wrong way to promotion. And had not the Star that directed me been in Heaven, there was a Sun newly † Or rather Setting; For we that are on this side the Line, can behold the Sun in such a Position only, as that its Rising and Motion is from our Left to the Right Hand; But the Medal shows it so, as past the Meridian, and in its Declension. From whence I collect, That either this Planet of the Gravers was to be supposed to be of an Irregular motion, and unheavenly, or 'twas designed for a Foreign Plantation under or beyond the Line, where it might be imagined Rising, and so Adored, (as Carolina or those parts of the World;) or else the Almighty was so concerned at the Carvers Blasphemy, that he thought fit to overrule the Project, and make the Frame itself the Prognostic of the Idols fall. Risen, whose Votary I might have been, with greater assurance of a Popular Reputation: I mean that Idol lately out in Plate; which presents you with a Sun breaking out of a Cloud (suppose it a Cloud of Gild;) and a magnificent City under it, beneath which you read, Laetamur, as if their Dwellings had been but Triumphal Arches Erected to the Honour of the Malevolent Planet, and the very Foundations of their Houses joyfully affected with the Reappearance of their Guardian Deity. Now if this Comment be Analogous to the Text, then is it possible for the Metropolis of the Land, to Honour the Genius of a profligate Rebel, more than they Revere the Lord or his Anointed. And consequently the likelier Doctrine to have got Preferment, had been the Reverse of this I have here published. These Samaritan perjured Tribes should have had my Justification, and the Villainy I censure, should have been celebrated by my praise. As to the Matter I delivered, here it is, and more; for I was so strictly cautioned against a tedious Discourse, that I omitted some few Periods, which I have here supplied; but not a Tittle of that I heard objected to, by my Audience. If there be any Error, it is not malicious; and therefore, as I will gratefully resent Conviction, so by the Charter of Humane Society, I will demand a Pardon. The Truth is, the Enemies I have known to speak against this, or the last Discourse I delivered in the same place, upon the same Occasion, are such as are desperately guilty, or men that show you Heads (like those upon Clipped Money) without Letters. Nor can I conceive there are any so lewd, as to Remonstrate against what I have here said concerning Perjury by a Covenant of Association; but such as have been disciplined under the Pedagogy of the Delphic Devil, and therefore are never to be reclaimed by any Dictates from the Oracles of God. Wherefore, as Constantine once * Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 7. said to Acesius, the Heretic, Quaere tibi Scalam, & ad Coelum solus ascend; so must I declare, That be the Advocates of Perjury and Rebellion what they will, I would not be in Heaven in their Company, except those Impieties were Repent and Forgiven. And now, My Lords, etc. If I have not more trespassed upon your Honours by an unnecessary Vindication, than I did when I delivered the ensuing Discourse, I am happy above Disturbance. Your acceptance of all I have done, I am loath to question; and your Experienced Goodness prompts me further to beg, I may be Reputed, Right Honourable, Right Worshipful, AND Much Honoured, Yours in the Humblest And most Faithful Obedience, John Knight. HOS. 10. the former part of Vers. 4. They have spoken Words, Swearing falsely in making a Covenant. IT were a disingenuous Reflection upon the Providence of God, to bewail our Lot, because 'tis fallen in an Age which seems to Answer the * 2 Tim. 3.1. Characters of the last. FOR I take it to be as utterly unaccountable, as that the hindmost Vessel should envy that which outwent her, though her Pilot was thereby warned of that Rock upon which the foremost Split. IF therefore the Malignity and Calamity of succeeding Times, be really greater than of those we have overpast, let it be imputed only to their Iniquity and Folly, who by copying out the Miscarriages of their Ancestors, Provoke God to make their Lives somewhat more than the Transcript of their Miseries. FOR though it had never been told us, that old Occurrences (the Sins I mean of the Ages past, and the direful Issues of them) were written for our Caution; yet being registered, what can they be reckoned, but as so many Appeals to our Consciences, that we should Improve them to our Safety? 'TIS true indeed, that Corruption is propagated to Posterity, nor is it more natural to Plant our Species, than to derive upon them the degeneracy of our Natures; But why that (like a River) should swell bigger still the further it runs from its Springhead, is a Paradox which though now our Wonder, will be at last our Confusion. FOR though we carry about us the seeds of our Parents Sins, yet are we furnished with the Annals of their Sufferings: If Traduction conveys their Lusts to us, yet Tradition Informs us of their Plagues too; and by this means, though their Concupiscences are entailed, yet 'tis our Privilege to hear of the Judgements they Provoked, that what was the matter of their misery, might be a Motive to our Amendment. AND indeed, In all Arts and Professions (save that of an Holy and a Virtuous Life) we are seldom arrived to a Sagacity to discover, but we become careful to Correct the Faults of others. ONLY Errors of Conscience prevail by Custom, and plead Prescription. The Vices only and Immoralities of our Progenitors we Exemplify, their Sins and Failings we Study to Improve, and as if our Interest consisted in keeping up Antipathies to Virtue, we Emulate nothing but to grow worse and worse. NOR is this the Perverseness only of a few; Alas! It's Epidemical, and the Contagion's Popular. THE little forsaken Tribe, that dares be Honest, can scarce amount to an exception against the degenerous Universality. BUT of all Societies, Immanuel's Land (the Israel of God) yields the saddest Contemplation. THAT a People who were Privileged with the Conduct of the wisest Laws, with the peculiar Patronage of a Gracious God, should yet have every one a Lustful Genius, to whose Government alone they would show true Allegiance! what Reflection can equally with this amaze us? It gives a Temptation to revive that old Heresy, that Iniquity thrives by the fatality of a positive Decree; and Marcion's Blasphemy (That a Cruel Omnipotence, a Diabolical God, has a peculiar Province,) seems to challenge a Canonical Veneration. AND how harsh soever this charge may sound, yet want I no Instances to make good the Plea. LET Israel be one (the ten Tribes especially,) who though they were a People on whom Gods Holy Name was called, favoured at that time above all the Sons of men, (Judah alone excepted) yet against all the Allurements of Divine Love, the Mercy of Divine Long-suffering, the Memory of Divine Vengeance executed upon their Fathers, and against all fear of it threatened to themselves, did their Iniquities still abound: in short, as if they resolved to vie Miracles with Omnipotence; Their Stupendious Gild, with his Astonishing Goodness. They were no sooner delivered from distress by the true God, but they make their Acknowledgements and Offerings to false ones; according to the increase of their Fruits, Verse the first of this Chap. (v. 1.) they multiplied their Altars and their Gods too; and that they might effectually make themselves the loathed Objects of Almighty Wrath, and of Pagans Scorn, they repeated their Apostasies as oft as they renewed their Vows either with God or man, which is that Abomination of which the Prophet here Impleads them, They have spoken words, Swearing falsely in making a Covenant.— FROM which words, had I time, I might raise Discourses of very different Designs: I could take occasion to Treat of Oaths, their Religion, their Nature, Lawfulness, Usefulness and Necessity: I could read a Lecture also upon Perjury, show its Aggravations, how many ways it may be Committed, and the horrid Consequences that attend its Gild. BUT I hope to find myself better Employment, than to haunt our Heretics with the Truth they fly from. THOUGH perhaps it were time well spent too, to Vindicate the Lawfulness, and prove the Necessity of an Oath; a Discourse that does it, Arraigns an Herd that's grown formidable to the Government, I mean the Anarchical Anabaptists, and those other Monsters engendered by them; a People that thrive and grow warm by an odd Antiperistasis, even by the coldness of the Magistracy that Lives about them: for if Flattery and Fair words are Arts most used when Fears are just, I have reason to think those Wretches are grown a Terror to our Councils, and our State; or they who have lost the Civility of Men, and abandoned the Christian Name and Thing, would not have been Complemented under the Style of Protestants: But I forbear; nor, 2. SHALL I stay to censure all those Oaths that fill the Air with Vapour, and the Land with Atheism; the Vanity and Debauchery of which Swearing, though void of Perjury, (which is † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hiero. in Car. Pythag. impossible) does yet reach the Gild on't; for the Difference can't be great between Invoking God to attest our Lie, or Patronise our Hypocrisy, and that Insolent contempt of his Sacred Name, which should never be mentioned without Reverence and Dread. THIS is that Diabetica Passio, by which the Spirit of Piety is insensibly exhausted, under which Religion Languishes; that levelling Vice that makes every Peasant a Person of Quality, for whose Cure (though I know its Simptomes, yet) I yield myself an Incompetent Physician; and shall therefore pass by that too, and come to Treat of the words according to their strictest sense and best Construction. WHICH what it is, I have with care searched after, and from the disquisition which I have faithfully made, I will humbly offer you this following Conjecture, wherein I expect to have more Followers than Leaders, being constrained by the force of Reason to follow throughly not one of my Commentators. WHEREFORE as I will freely acknowledge wherein I agree, so I hope to show cause why I venture to descent. AND (First) That the time which the Prophet points at when this Covenant was made, was in the conclusion of their last King's Reign, is generally allowed; for though Hosea the Prophet lived in the days of * Hosea 1.1. Jeroboam the Son of Joash, between whom and their last King Hoshea, there were † 2 Kings 14.15, 16. ch. five, yet is it a warrantable Licence to Prophesy of things to come in the Preter-Tense, Ob Evidentiam & certitudinem summam. ( * Glassius de verbo canon. 46. Glassius.) 2. THAT this Covenant was a Political one, is agreed on by the most; I am sure by the (Reputed) best Commentators upon the place: But with whom it was made, their Conjectures differ. FOR there are those who suppose the Prophet Taxed Israel of Perjury, when they refused to pay Homage to the Assyrian King, after he had long claimed and received it; the Story to which this refers, is 2 Kings 17. But this conceit is not only spoiled by the silence of that Narrative in the 2 Kings, (forequoted) which says nothing of Israel's making a Covenant with Shalmaneser the Assyrian; as also by the Verse foregoing my Text, (as I shall show anon) but by the expression of the Text itself: For, they could not be Impleaded so properly of Perjury for the making, as for the breaking of a Covenant made; except this Covenant was a Renunciatory Instrument of their old Fidelity; but this appears not: For we are not where told the People of Israel had sworn any to the Assyrian; and if they had, yet the making a Covenant with him after, and against their first Oath, is Nonsense to suppose; for how unlikely is it, that he (the Assyrian) should be a party with Israel in a Covenant against himself? If it be urged that their Swearing falsely consisted in their making a Covenant with Shalmaneser, while they had yet a King of their own, and so that Covenant was Perjurious, being a breach of their Fidelity to Hoshea: To this we Reply as before, that the Text is silent, and the Opinion is inconsistent with the Story, (in the 2 Kings) and with the Context in this Prophecy; for this Covenant provoked a Judgement, of which the † Ver. 5, 6, 7. of this Ch. Assyrian was the dreadful Executioner, and he might have spared his Siege, had they taken this course to testify their Subjection. 'TIS true, the Text may be (as it often is) Implicit, and the breaking of a Covenant might be supposed, but where the sense does not of necessity require to be supplied, I take it to be safest to be ruled by the Letter. Hoshea indeed became the * (2 Kings 17.3.) Servant of Shalmaneser, and paid him Tribute, which at last he withheld; but I cannot find that Israel either was under Covenant with him, or could be accused of Perjury for their King's Conspiracy. But, 2. THERE are others (among whom stand Grotius) who Imagine this Covenant was made with their own King, and afterwards was treacherously broken; but neither to this can I assent: for but just before (v. 3.) the Prophet tells us that Hoshea was the object of the Kingdoms Scorn; nay, by being under Tribute to the Assyrian, his Subjects gave out his Regal Jurisdiction ceased; For now they shall say, We have no King, ( † These words extorted from them. English Annot. because we feared not the Lord) what then should a King do to us? Their Language was, Non curamus Oseae Imperia. (Grot.) Sumus perinde ac si Regem non haberemus. (Drusius & Alii.) So that to make a Covenant with a King, of paying Homage and Duty to him, after they had vilified him like a Puppet, is scarce to be Imagined of such a mutinous saucy People, as once had slighted the Government ot their God. Moreover, I cannot conceive how natural Liege men should break their Faith by making a Covenant with their natural Liege Lord; for a Covenant so made must be supposed to corroborate, not to violate their Fidelity. THESE then being hitherto the two current Opinions upon the place, and for the Reasons given neither being now passable, I come (Right Honourable and Reverend!) to suggest my own, and 'tis this. THAT the Covenant here meant, was the very thing which according to the Style of our days must be called an Association; which to Evince, I humbly offer you this brief Paraphrase. THAT Israel was divided, is evident from the Context, and one part siding with their King, in giving Countenance and Toleration to the Worship of God, (and 'twas no more;) the other stuck fast to their Idolatrous Imaginations, and the Rent being made thus, first for Religion, it became impossible to be united in their political Affairs. The Assyrian took the Cue, improved the occasion, and no sooner came up, but Hoshea became his Servant; whereupon the Factious Band quickly withdrew their Tribute from Hoshea; We have no King, (say they;) He we had can neither Protect nor Harm us; there are enough of us to disown his Prerogative with Impunity, for in his present circumstances, What can he do unto us? v. 3. 'TIS true, we are by nature, and we have by Oath bound ourselves unto Allegiance, ( * Grot. in Loc. Uti moris erat;) a thing of ancient custom among us, as Grotius observes; but we have now no way to prove, but to enter upon a solemn Covenant of Association, Swearing to one another our mutual assistance, for our mutual defence, and vowing to assert our Rights and Liberties, in defiance to the Prerogative of our pageant King, as well as to the Title of the Assyrian Usurper. IN this desperate Pinch, the poor King was forced to take desperate measures; He therefore sent to the † 2 Kings 17.4. Egyptian Monarch to solicit his Alliance; for being denied the Tribute of his Subjects, he could not make good the Payment to the Assyrian; which when Shalmaneser had plainly Discovered, he presently shut up Hoshea in Prison, and brought Samaria into a straight Captivity. THUS upon comparing this of the Prophet with that Historical Narrative in the 2 Kings, no other sense can I make than this on't; and I only humbly beg that this might prevail, till some body offers a better to supplant it; which I cannot fear, since the Septuagint Version seems also to favour me: For whereas we say, They have spoken words, Swearing falsely; they thus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: The Prophet (they found) had censured their Traitorous Covenant, and they put it off with a lying pretence, and a false excuse, which * Hier. in Loc. St. Jerom Imagines to be this, viz. They Pleaded for themselves, that what between their own King's wants, and the Usurpers demands, (those dura majorum Imperia,) they were forced to engage in a seditious Association. THE words thus opened, and their genuine Import I am persuaded given; I pass on to prosecute my further design, pursuant to which I shall hold myself accountable for these three things. 1. TO demonstrate that no Leagues, Covenants or Models of Associations can be made or contrived by Subjects among themselves, subsequent to their Oaths of Fidelity to their King, and entrenching upon his prerogative Rights, without flagitious Perjury; yea whether they have sworn Fealty or no, they cannot so Associate without traitorous Sedition. 2. I shall clearly state, and as clearly reply to all those pretences that Subjects may make to excuse their Perjury. 3. I shall inquire into the preparatory Qualifications which adapt men to, as also the Issue of this sort of Perjury, especially which consists in the violation of Fidelity to the King, and the Observations I shall make hereupon, shall be such as the Context does suggest; and my plainness herein shall supersede my necessity of becoming your Monitor by a particular Application: For though Samaria be the Scene, and Israel the Actors in that impious horrid Plot which I am now to censure, yet my Animadversions may with ease be extended to reach all Conspiracies of like complexion: Of these in their order, with that brevity that may bespeak my regard to your Patience, and your Business. 1. FOR the First, in which Proposition there are two things I may be urged to explain. 1. WHAT I mean by Leagues or Covenants. (2.) What by Prerogative Rights of the Crown, or King. BY a Covenant than I mean, a plighting of our Fidelity to another in that particular, which is the object matter of our Covenant; and this may be done, (1.) By simple Promise, as if a body of men should gather together, and stipulate their word and truth for the defence and assistance of another or others, with their Lives and Fortunes. Or (2.) By an Adjuration added to the Promise, i. e. by the solemn Intervention of an Oath, which makes God a party, and calls him to attest the Integrity of the Promise: now either of these ways a Covenant made by Subjects among themselves, for mutual defence, exclusive of, or repugnant to that Interest the Magistrate has in them, becomes perjurious. 2. AS for what I mean by the Prerogative Rights of the Crown, our Laws (both of Nature and of the Land) Inform us, and the constant Claims and Customs of the Kings of Israel, would suffer none to be Ignorant of what theirs were: In short, I mean the Homage of our Persons, and the Tribute of our Estates according to the proportions which the Laws allot, and the eminent exigencies of the Government do require, of which the Magistrate is the proper Judge. These things premised, I thus ratify my Position, viz. That a Covenant among Subjects, made to the prejudice of those Rights of the Crown, does Ipso facto make them Perjured. 1. BECAUSE their Oath of Fidelity to the King, by which they were preingaged, is violated and broken; for the formality of Perjury consisting in the † Veniendo contra Juramentum, Lynw. de Offic. Archipr. Tit. Ignorantia. ver. perjurio. Breach of an Oath; by such a Covenant or Association, that Oath of Fidelity is actually broken, and consequently the Covenanting persons Perjured: For that Oath of Fidelity to the King being plainly promissory, we call God to witness these two things: 1. THAT at the same time we swear, we do intent to perform all that we swear to do, or (which is the same thing) we design to hold ourselves obliged conscientiously and religiously to do all that we then engage for; so that 'tis necessary, (in order to the taking that Oath in Truth) that our words do agree with our Thoughts. 2. THAT we will to our uttermost endeavour for the future to fulfil * And what it is, see in the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy. what we engaged upon Oath for; and this Obligation is only discharged, when our Deeds are congruous and agreeable to our words. By the first we hold ourselves bound to promise all that we intent, and all that we clearly profess: by the second we hold ourselves obliged, to do all that upon Oath we promised: According to that of Moses, Numb. 30. 2. If a man Swear an Oath to bind his Soul with a Bond, he shall not break his word, but he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his Mouth. BUT now this promissory Oath must be actually broken, when we make a Covenant contrary to the Matter, and counter to the Ends on't. I cannot Covenant to disband or dispatch those Guards that Law has made necessary, and Necessity has made lawful for the defence of the Crown, after I have Sworn to assist the King to my power, and give him always the defence of my own Arms. My first Obligation was undoubtedly Religious, and to all lawful purposes eternally Irrevocable: Religious (I say) and Irrevocable, because in Swearing I Invocate God as a Witness to Attest my Truth, and as a Judge to Revenge my Falsehood, by which means nothing but Revelation can dissolve the Bond; yea the Oath must prevail against God's Precepts, when they are not Moral, and our observance of that can warrantably supersede our Obedience to these; and of this † Joshua 9 Joshua's League with the Men of Gibeon is an Instance unquestionable; for though he had a * V 24. Command from God to root out them as well as the rest of the Inhabitants of the Land; yet having Sworn to Spare them, (though his Oath was extorted by a subtle false Insinuation from him) he knew his Promise was made to the † V 19 Living God, and therefore to be kept Inviolate, though Sworn to Men that were Worshippers of the Devil. NOW if the * For so was Joshua. King of Israel had no power of Revocation, when he swore to protect those whom God had charged him to destroy, yea though the Gibeonites were not the men he Intended to swear to; How much better was Hoshea's claim to the defence of his Subjects, which they could not deny him, without perfidious Treachery, though they had never sworn Allegiance to him? For, 2. THE Oath they made unto the King passed over to him no new Right to their Allegiance, but the Obligation of their Oath was founded upon his Due. All the Homage we Swear to give the King (or as the Apostle says to † Rom. 13.7. Render to all their Due; as our Saviour also, Luke 20.25. To Caesar the things which be Caesar's i. e. The Tribute and Homage due to him as Caesar, (the King) which gives him a Right Antecedent to our Oath, because King he is, before we Swear. Render him) is, and was his Natural Right, not Founded in, but declared, and corroborated by the Solemnity of an Oath. For otherwise, how could he require, and exact an Oath? This being a portion of that Tribute which ratifies his Claim, and doubles the Security of his Title to the rest. Yea, Hence it's manifest, That he has not only a Right to our Homage, but such an One, as makes us from our Birth uncapable of making an Engagement to pass any on't away. WHEREFORE, when the Supreme is not only in Pacto prior, but also, in Jure Solus, in reference to all matters falling under his Prerogatives, the very Attempt of the People to defraud him, by making those Regalities over to other men, or reserving them to themselves, is an Encroachment upon his Right, and a Violation of their Oath. BY the Oath we swear to defend his Rights, by the Covenant we engage to spoil them. By the Laws of Nature, the Jews without an Oath, were bound to Assist Hoshea, by the Association they vow to Employ their Wealth and Weapons only for themselves. THE Folly of which was as Desperate and Rash, as it was Flagitious and unjust; For if Rei illicitae, nulla sit Obligatio; If whatever is unlawful is held Impossible, the Covenant made to the prejudice of their Oath, was a Bond only binding to * Interdum scelus est Fides. Seneca. the guilt and punishment of Perjury, and of no force to oblige them to the thing they promised. For, 3. 'TWAS Impossible the Covenant so made, should obtain any obligatory force, or be made valid by the consent of the King himself. For upon supposition, that Hoshea (for any persuasion) should have quitted his Right to the Defence of his Subjects, and by an open Declaration, have bidden them to be only Faithful to one another; yet this had been no Absolution from their Allegiance, nor had it given any virtue to their Federal Association; it being not in the Power of the Prince to evacuate and null their Obligation (by Oath) to Allegiance. The Reason of which seems to be Founded not only in the Formality of the Oath, which makes God concerned in the Bond, and therefore must he be in the Dispensation too; but also in the unalterable Laws of Nature, and on the positive Institutions of God: Unalterable (I say) and no more repealable, than the Jewish Corban could null the Father's Right to the Child's Obedience; no more than the Parent can give up his parental Jurisdiction, and Licence his Son in an unnatural Rebellion; no more than the Husband (the Woman's Lord) can absolve her after Marriage from her Conjugal Duty, and bid her be disloyal. For (as these Relations, so) that between the Magistrate and the Subject, is the Institution of God; whereby the Sovereign is not only Invested in a Dignity, but obliged to a Duty, and bound to Govern till he has a call from God to relinquish his Dominion; and indeed his Prerogatives are inseparable from his Person, and not grantable to his Subjects, because of their incapacity also to receive them. THE Lords Anointed cannot Retreat or sink from his Office or his Honour, so as to devolve them on one or more of his natural Subjects, no more than his Oil (the Emblem of Supremacy) can Subside or Incorporate with the Liquors under it. For they were born to Obey, and therefore he can no more make them Supreme, than Reverse their Birth, or make that Oath that was declarative of their Homage, when broken, to be no Perjury. WHEREFORE that Treachery or Violence which strips the Crown of its Prerogatives, must be such as master's Religion and the Laws of God too, since the King himself neither by his Grace nor for his Pleasure may warrantably put them off. And this holds always true, except the Authority be relinquished to the next Heir, who is therefore (I think) capable of receiving the Regalities, because his Blood and Birth (bespeaking him somewhat more than a Subject) do naturally qualify him for the successive Rule: But in this I subscribe to the Oracles of the Laws. THE Position being thus maintained, I shall only stay to reflect upon the Sottishness and Iniquity of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that Romish Dotard, who by a kind of a religious Errantry, assaults our Kingdom, and undertakes to dissolve the Bonds both of Oaths and Equity, of Justice and Religion; and is not this literally to † 2 Thes. 2.4. exalt himself above all that is called God? within whose Omnipotence it lies not to consecrate the Witchcraft of a Rebel, to make Perjury to be no Sin, nor the Breach of Lawful possible Oaths to be no Perjury. But to show you the weakness and the wickedness of his pretence at once, I will clearly evince THAT any Bull or Instrument of his, which pretends to Absolve any English Subject from his Oath of Allegiance, is, 1. VAIN and Impertinent; for if the Rights of the Crown are Feudatory to, and justly invested in him, our Oath of Allegiance to the King is actually void, and can pass no Obligation; and if no Obligation, there's no need of any solemn Absolution; for the Oath itself would bind to nothing but Repentance. But if in Justice what he claims be yet the Kings, as it is most certainly, (for whom the admirable * E collatione duarum Potestatum, egregiè conficitur, Regiam aequè à Deo institutam fuisse ac spiritualem, & solidam humanarum rerum administrationem illi demandatam. Petr. De Mar. Archiep. Paris. lib. 2. de concor. & Imp. c. 2. §. 1. De Marca is an Advocate in this matter) than his pretences to absolve from the Oath, which promises to render them, is, 2. IMPIOUS and unnatural, for no power can take another's Right without Injustice, nor can any man Absolve me of a Debt, the Creditor to whom 'tis due, denying to quit his claim. But of this enough, for I have neither time for, nor pleasure in exposing the Nakedness of such a Communion, whose Zeal is Cruelty, whose Worship's a Profanation, and whose Proselytes are in truth the Trophies of the Church's Fraud or Violence, and the wretched Monuments of Apostasy from Religion. 'Tis no Calumny, but this Character † De Magistratibus Eccles. Lib. Vanit. Scient. cap. 61. Corn. Agrippa, a learned man, and a Friend to some of their very absurdities, has utterly superseded by one much Sharper. COME we now 2. TO examine the pretences that Israel or any other People may take up to Countenance their Perjury, i. e. their entering into a Covenant of Association for mutual defence, against, or without a regard to their Sovereign; and here I confess I ought to rank them together, and show them in their united force; that if possible they might (like their Doctors and Fautors) be valued for their Numbers, they being very inconsiderable for their Intrinsic worth. I am in earnest, I have seen and examined mighty Labours in Vindication of Anarchy, Levelling, Sedition and Rebellion, (though these perhaps are not ever their Christen-names) and all together they make a Mist thick at some distance, and seemingly impassable, but when you are in't it clears up, and there's no Impediment; but to heave twice at a Molehill, would give Suspicion it were weighty: Wherefore since this Discovery has been already my task in this place upon like occasion, I will only touch at no more of that Argument than what may be considered under my third particular; which was, 3. TO inquire into the Original, Progress and Issue of this breaking Fidelity, or this Perjury, by a supervening Covenant. And because the Order undoubtedly, as well as the Mind of the Text is Sacred, I am not to be persuaded that these words have this place in the Prophet's reproof without a mystery; for they seem to express that consummate Iniquity, to which the Israelites could not arrive, without they had advanced by these four degrees. 1. BY Hypocrisy and Dissimulation, Employed in these words, Israel is an empty Vine, v. 1. Symachus his * Apud Hieron. in Loc. Version, calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Vine luxuriant with fruitless branches, is fitly accommodated to this meaning. For its shoots were as forward, its Shade as pleasant, the Show it made, as plausible, as well might be. God could not visit, but they were all humbled: In Bonds they mourn, look sad and penitent, but after Redemption they are the same. When Calamity has Invaded them, they have howled, but none of their Cries are from their heart. They Return, but not to me, (says God) Hosea 7.13, 14, 16. They feared God, but no more than was consistent with their † 2 Kings 17.33. serving Idols. All the pains they were at in matters of Religion, were only to contrive how to put Ironies upon Omniscience. Their whole Religion would be staked down at any time, to serve a Turn or a Lust. Their stated Mortifications, and holy Severities, were but direful Prognostics of an after Riot. Their being Jews (they thought) was enough to bear them out, tho' they were Immoral below the Heathen: Now when men have got this Art; when they can, as the Cynic said, Vertutis stragula pudefacere, when Virtue is made only the Midwife to bring Villainy to the birth, and the Witchcraft of a Rebellious Itch has brought them to this, even to their Devil in the Prophet's Mantle, things are fairly a preparing for an Association. For what can men want to ripen all their Mischief, when they have already mocked and despised their God? Turned all his Precepts, and their Piety into Landscape; as if the Dictates of the Sacred Canon had been no more than Directions to the Painter: And when, after, God has dressed, and the Heavens have bedewed it, their Vine has born nothing but equivocate Fruit; Like the Apples of Sodom, Fair, but Rotten. 2. ANOTHER Step by which they advanced to this formed Sedition, and Rebellious Covenant, was by being an Empty Vine in another sense; Dum Vitis evacuat Israelem, (as a Critic in loc) The Prophetic Spirit (before he thus arraigned and condemned Israel) had observed a Party among them, who set up as well for open Debauchery and brutish Riots, as another that cherished Impious Hypocrisy, and a Rebellious one. They were such as perhaps loved the King; and to prevent all suspicion, that they were no Conspirators against the Crown, they proclaimed to the World, that they hated Thinking. But these also carried about them the dreadful Symptoms of a public Ruin: For when Loyalty went no further than the Health, and a Tavern-fierceness was all their Courage; when all their Spirits were such as Wine not Virtue raised, the Nakedness of the Government was near unclothing; It being Impossible the Fabric should be supported, when the Pillars Reeled: For such as loved at least the show of Religion, must needs hate and scorn them who openly did dishonour it, and hence they commence into distinct Factions, and each applauding himself in the Marks of discrimination from the other, they all made a 3. THIRD Advance, for their * V 2. Hearts were divided, and their † V 1. Altars multiplied; some erected for Sacrifice to Bacchus, others to sober Idols. By this time the Administration of the Government was in the Hands not of Councils but Clubs, Plots in one, and Sots in the other; these hating them as Rebels and Traitors, and they despising these as Beasts and Idiots. IN short, the whole Nation was reduced to nothing but the miserable pieces of a broken People, who were universally Deaf, to all the Charms of Honesty and Reputation; and how could there be hopes that such dishonourable erterprises should end in Safety? AND here I cannot omit a Conceit of the Jewish Rabbis, described by * Comment. in loc. St. Jerome, who do generally Report, that the only Reason, why the Captivity was not brought upon them in the time of their worst Kings Reign, but reserved till Hoshea's days, the † Kings 17.2. best of all their Catalogue, was this, viz. That he was inclined to encourage the true Worship of God, and restore again the old (though the long despised) Profession of Religion; but this the People would by no means Brook, whereupon they divided, & statim eum a Rege discutit populus venit Interitus. BUT be that as it will, in the circumstances the Kingdom than stood, it was impossible to prevent Invasion: For when one (and that a numerous) side, resolved to Licentiate all Religions but the right; (making that Sacred thing a Refuge for their Sin, as the Philosophers did occult Qualities for their Ignorance) and to that end would Court all Heresies and Factions into their Alliance; and the other, though Professing well, yet would live a Reproach to the Religion they professed: in such a posture of Affairs, God will not, and the * Math. 12.26. Devil cannot support a Kingdom upon its Legs: For if Satan be divided against himself, how then shall his Kingdom stand? Whence we may note, that Union of Hearts and Judgements must be of great Importance to the very being of a Christian Commonwealth, when Christ borrowed an Argument to urge it from the oeconomy of the Damned. WELL, upon this division, they who before would scarce venture to show their Teeth, did now unmask and make bare their Faces, and came openly to Declare 4. THE Nullity of their King, v. 3. Now they shall (or will) say, We have no King: the Pretender is become the Vassal of a Foreigner, and his Title is lost, which he cannot hold, we will therefore regard none of his Commands; he is an Innovator in Religion, a Betrayer of his Country, an Enemy to the Public; his Title was gotten by Parricide and Cruelty, and our Allegiance extorted by Force and Necessity; our Counsels are Rejected, our Properties Invaded, our Liberty Destroyed; and shall such a man Reign over us? No, if any, Let it be a King that we may trust, a confiding man that we may all depend on. NOW after these Pretences made by a People prepared to think them valid, though they had been more Absurd, they forthwith renounce all Allegiance to the Prince, and solemnly engage in a Rebellious Association. And though these were all their Pretences they had then to urge, (excepting only their obstinate Will, which was beyond all Argument, and made all the other but pretences) yet these were enough to engage the Faction. They had then none of the Reasons ready, which have been since in Fashion. There was then no † Tho' the Levity of Greece was such that they shifted their first Monarchy for a Government by many, yet that was so natural to them, that the Cretian Boys could not play without their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Monarches to rule each company. Ex Herac. de Polit. Cretens. apud Aelian. State of Venice or Amsterdam to give a Precedent of Democratic Confusion, or Aristocratic Ambition: they never pleaded against the Divine right of Monarchy and Kings, for they knew they * 1 Sam. 8, 5. begged one at the Oracle of God; they knew too that 'twas for the † Prov. 28.2. Iniquity of a Land that many were the Governors thereof; so that if there had been no Sin in any Nation, no Nation would have had more Governors than one, at once Supreme, and consequently Government by plurality is not originally from Nature, or from God, but from Iniquity and Transgression, and therefore Monarchy is peculiarly Divine. Again, can I believe Israel could remonstrate against their King for Invading of their Rights, after they had so eagerly Solicited they might have a King, even against all their Precautions of the severity of his Rule; and after Samuel had told them what the 1 Sam. 8. Jus Regis was, what Inviolable Claim and Title their King had to them? Can we Imagine they thought his different Opinions, his strange Religion, would give them Warrant to seize his Throne; that the Violations of his own Engagements unto them, would justify their resistance against him? No, they knew that if these were persuasives to Rebellion, the best of Men and Kings would be obnoxious to feel their Arms: for a Libel upon his Fame, or Jealousies fomented by Letters to Friends, weekly Intelligences, seditious Courants against his Administration, would be enough to Stimulate the People into a Rebellion, though the Prince were † Numb. 16.1, 2. a Moses, * 2 Sam. 15.13. a David, or † 1 Sam. 8.7. a God: They knew Obedience followed the Paternity, not the Man, and that a morose Parent remained a Parent, i. e. Invested still in his Right to Govern, though his Regiment were Intolerable; they knew the Charter of Subjection was not for Liberty but Obedience; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ( * Homil. 6. Ad Popu. Antiochenum. Chrysos.) After this rate, could I destroy all the force of those Arguments which have been ever since obtruded upon the World. I'll Instance in one more, than which I know no Pretence for an Association, more plausible or more rational, and 'tis this: that the Laws of Nature countenance it, when it seems necessary for our self-preservation. (Tho' I believe this in Samaria had no Foundation real, there being no mercenary Forces about the King to strike a Terror into the good People:) Now I would fain ask, whether it be a Law of Nature that men should form an unnatural Conspiracy, only for fear their Persons may be harmed? or whether it be more natural for me to go to a Witch for Counsel, rather than trust Omnipotence for my Protection? whether it be Nature's Law that I think Ill of my own Head, Conspire against the Breath of my Nostrils, whom I am positively forbid to Curse, even in my Thought? It is a repeated Precept this, of Divine Authority: And if after all it be Nature's Law to make me Jealous, Envious, False and Treacherous against my Parent, and my Sovereign, God's positive Laws are a contradiction to his Laws of Nature; reconcile the Blasphemy then, or abjure the Association. MUCH such another Weapon have I seen sharpened for Resistance, by a Scotch Philistine, (but no Giant,) I mean Buchanan, a leading Leaguer: he † Buchan. de Jure Regni apud Scotos, p. 50, & 56. says, the Primitive Christians showed no Resistance, only because they were too weak to maintain it. OH the Hypocrisy of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, if this were true! yea, which of all God's Precepts either Moral or Evangelical could find Observance, if they were designed to oblige such only as were Incapacitated to break them? 'TIS as if the Prohibition of Adultery had been Dictated to the Sick, and violent Assaults were forbidden only the Bedrid and the Cripple. This indeed gives Indication that their Spirit of Enthusiasm, is that which worketh in the Children of Disobedience. This shows what Fathers taught these men, for none of the Primitive ones, but would have Scourged their Blasphemy; and for this, let those who have leisure consult the 5th, 6th, and 7th Homilies of St. chrysostom to the People of Antioch; and Tertullias Apologeticks, where they shall find 'twas not Cowardice nor Weakness, but Piety and Courage engaged them to Subjection: and Tertullian tells us, that in his days the Christian Martyrs, were enough to Conquer all their Tyrants, though they had used no other Weapons than the Stakes they died at. IN short, such Doctrines rifle the Tombs of Saints, and rob them of their Crowns of Martyrdom, as well as aim at that other Sacrilege of Stripping Kings of their Crowns of Honour. Nor is such Divinity less absurd than the Roman Legends; for to reconcile Piety to God, with disloyalty to his Ministers, to Incorporate Perjuries and Seditions with Authentic Canons, is as odd a Conceit as that other Miracle in Masquerade, their Trasubstantiation. TO conclude, if such Enemies to the Government had not somewhat more to trust to beside their Arguments, their Cause would vanish; there being no fear of a real Tragedy, when the Actors and the Instruments are all Theatrical. FOR neither Reason nor Religion give any thing away from the Lord to the Servant; he might Rob him of somewhat, by denying his Obedience, and defending his Gild by an Association; but his Disloyalty must press him with a complicated Gild, and consequently Subject him under God's Curses in Proportion: For as it takes rise in Hypocrisy, Hatred, and unnatural Impiety, so it ends in Ruin, Shame, and Captivity; and the Rebel Associates are by their Covenant linked only to Miseries Epidemical; for says our Prophet in the last Clause of this Verse, Their Judgement comes up as Hemlock in the Furrows of the Field: Which is such an Issue of Perjury and Sedition we ought to dread, and with all Intention of Devotion deprecate, for the sake of that Prince of Peace, who shed his Blood for us, even Jesus Christ, To whom with God the Father of Mercy, and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Concord, be all Honour, etc. FINIS.