THE ANTIDOTE: OR, A Seasonable Discourse on ROME 13.1.  
SHOWING The Necessity and Reasonableness of Subjection to the Higher Powers.  
With an Account of the DIVINE RIGHT Or ORIGINAL of GOVERNMENT.  
By john Walker, M. A.  
Honour thy Father and Mother, that thy days may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,  Exod. 20.12. 
LONDON, Printed by Th. Hodgkin, for Anthony Stephen's Bookseller, near the Theatre in Oxford. 1684.   

To the Honoured SIR ROBERT SAWYER, Attorney General to His Most Sacred MAJESTY of GREAT BRITAIN, etc.  
Honoured Sir,  
THough the Real Esteem and Great Veneration I have for Your Integrity and Worth, hath been the cause of the Trouble, yet I fear it will not be Justification and Excuse for the boldness of this Address: Not but that I know You to be a Person of very great Candour and Condescension, of Complacency and Goodness, very ready to Accept and Commend, Encourage and Promote any Undertaking of this Nature, any thing that may persuade and contribute aught unto Loyalty and Obedience, in so Seditiously and Rebelliously Profligate an Age. And indeed it was this Consideration, viz. of that Great Love to the Subject here Treated of, that gave me the Assurance and Confidence of Prefixing Your Name to this so mean a Discourse. I could not but persuade myself, but that to One who hath so vigorously and eminently Asserted and Practised Loyalty and Fidelity to His Prince and Sovereign, such seasonable and necessary Truths as are here delivered, would, from how mean a Hand soever, be very grateful and acceptable: Especially when there are so many Sheba's, Sons of Belial, still blowing the Trumpet to Rebellion, and endeavouring to Dethrone the Lords Anointed, and to Involve these Nations in a Miserable and Bloody War, a Lamentable Confusion and Ruin. It was a prospect hereof that at first excited me to Pen what I here Present You with, and that hath now encouraged the Publication. I am not very Solicitous what Entertainment it will meet with; there is nothing that will please or satisfy some Men; that are obstinately resolved and prejudiced against a Truth, be the Arguments from Scripture and Reason otherwise never so cogent and convincing. Nor am I so vain and fond as to imagine and believe, that I shall turn Apostle, and convert such unreasonable Ethnics. It is utterly impossible to persuade a Man that the Sun shines, if He will not believe His own Eyes; and it is as difficult to convince any one of the Truth, how perspicuously and fully soever Represented and Demonstrated, that rejects all Scripture and Reason in the disquisition. It is this that hath rendered me hopeless, as to any profit and advantage that this sort of Men will reap from this Discourse; but as to reasonable and ingenuous Men, all that will open their Eyes and see, I doubt not but that They will find enough and sufficient to convince and persuade Them of, and to confirm Them in the Truths here represented; and it is for such as These that I have taken all this pains. However, it comes not to inform and instruct You, it being only a Copy and Transcript of Your Life and Practice; and as such, I Hope, You will Vouchsafe it Shelter and Protection under Your Roof, and the Author a place amongst Those that really Honour You, it being the Highest of His Ambition, to be in all Sincerity and Faithfulness,  
Your Most Obedient and Humbly Devoted Servant John Walker.   

THE PREFACE.  
READER,  
MY Design when I first Writ, and now Publish this Discourse, was and is to Serve Truth, my King, and my Country. To do my duty as a Minister and Christian, as a Good and Loyal Subject, and to Act as One that had a real Tenderness, Care, and Concernment for the Prosperity and Welfare of that National Community, whereof He is a Member. To serve Truth, by Opposing, Censuring and Refuting those damnable and false Doctrines and Positions, that have been but too much the judgement and Practice of too many amongst us, and that have abundantly contributed to all that Faction, Sedition, and Rebellion, that have so frequently dared and threatened Authority. To serve my King, by giving a Just and Rational Account of the grounds and causes of a Dutiful Subjection and Obedience to be paid unto Him, and thereby persuading unto, and enforcing its performance; as also by more largely and particularly showing what it is, and wherein it consists. And my Country, by endeavouring to unite and conjoin all the Parts of this Great Body with the firm Band of Fidelity and Allegiance, and thereby under the Divine Protection and Goodness, secure a lasting Happiness and Peace unto the whole: Union in the Body Politic being like to that in the Body Natural, its best defence and preservative. And this being my design, I doubt not but that I shall have the concurrent Approbation and Suffrage of all Good Men.  
But to all this it may be Objected, that it hath been already performed by Others, and then what need of this? Whereunto I return, First, That I have so far adverted to the Objection, as to suppress the Publishing of this Piece for above a Year, it being so long since it was prepared and fitted, as it is now presented to the view of the Reader. Secondly, That when a general Ruin threatens, We do not call in only the help of the Neighbourhood, but of the whole Country; and this being so much our case, it need not be wondered at, if I, out of an honest Zeal for the Prosperity of Zion, have put to my Helping Hand, and endeavoured to avert the destruction and Ruin of the best State and Church in the World. But Thirdly I answer, That I never heard of, or saw, any Author that hath so fully and largely, and in that method, treated of the Subject as it is here performed: So that this as to me may be a sufficient Apology and Reason for the Publication, and a reasonable and satisfactory Answer to the Objector.  
As to others (if any such there shall be) that are so unreasonable as to Object, that I have put a Text of Scripture before it, and thereupon bottomed and grounded my Discourse; I do not think it worth my while to make any Reply, it not being likely that They should be pleased or delighted with my Comment, that are not so with St. Paul's Text. Although I could tell Them that this Discourse was principally Designed to persuade to Practice, and that therefore I judged I could not so well effect this, as by Discoursing from so Good and Just an Authority. And for my part, I always apprehended and believed, that there could be no more effectual way of convincing, or better method of Reasoning and Discoursing (especially on Subjects of this Nature) than by Scripture and Reason; and They that will not be satisfied by this, are too foolishly capricious, and have too much of the Buffoon, so as to be considered or taken notice of by any grave and sober Writer; and till They can suggest a better, They only Proclaim Their Impiety, Folly, and unreasonableness unto the World.  
These Objections being removed, I think I need not fear one from Its Unseasonableness, 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 formed 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 Falsehoods and Lies as were ever belched 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 owned or frequented its Worship, or openly endeavoured to have the Public Acts of the Nation against it Repealed? Hath He sent for the jesuit to come in, or given the Priest public 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 indulged 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 falsehood must it be to say He doth this still? Especially if we consider, that He hath all along frequented and adhered to the Usage 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 Untruth 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, 'tis as false and malicious an Untruth 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, entrenched upon His People's Rights and Properties, and exceeded the Royal Prerogative. And though it ought to be presumed and believed, 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 persuaded 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 Perjured and falsifying Person. But if He hath done nought of this to●, neither the one nor the other, (as we have all the reason in the World to believe and persuade ourselves that He hath not) then 'tis plain and apparent that fanatics can invent and tell Lies, are the open and downright Liars, 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 Tranquillity and Peace of the Lords Anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, and all the Nation of the jews, Papist and Fanatic, and all the Rascally Rabble of Pharisaical Hypocrites have conspired, as is apparent from a Nemine contradicente, the joint 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 Unseasonableness cannot. I could wish that it were altogether Unseasonable, 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 justify 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 show 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.  
Farewell.   

THE ANTIDOTE: OR, A Seasonable Discourse OF Subjection to the Higher Powers.  ROME 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 traduced both It, 
Luke xxlii. 2. Acts xvii. 7.  and its Professors, viz. That it contrived 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 'twas indeed false and malicious, Princes and Rulers would have had an abundant reason and cause of jealousy 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 cried up, and pretended to, and have justly made the Propagators of so wild and extravagant a Doctrine, a Spectacle of Contempt and Scorn, of Villainy and Injustice to the World, to Angels, and to Men. But as Christianity, the Religion of the Holy Jesus did never allow or countenance any thing of this kind, much less authorise the Subverting of Governments, the pulling down of Empires, or the destruction of that Order and Subordination God had placed in the World; but, of the other side, with the strongest Sanctions, and most powerful Arguments persuaded to the contrary; so never did any true and sincerely honest Christians exert and avow such wicked and damnable Exploits, or by a Covenanting Dispensation presume to make so large Entrenchments upon the Law of Nature and of Grace. That there have been Treasons and Rebellions acted in a Kingdom, and amongst a People professing Christianity, if we look no farther than ourselves, we have an undeniable Testimony and Evidence; but then certainly this was not done by us as we were Christians, or by the Authority of our Religion, but as we were sensual, carnal, and devilish; acted by a spirit of Pride and Ambition, of Hypocrisy and Dissimulation, of Malice and Revenge, of Self-interest and Covetousness. For the wisdom that is from above is first pure, 
Jam. iii 17.  then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. The Christian Institution, like its Author, is of all things the most innocent and harmless, the most meek and humble, the most selfdenying and condescending. It's design and business is to inflame us with the love of God, and of our Neighbour; to promote and establish Peace within, and Peace without; and to make our Conversation and way of living here on Earth, in some degree and measure a resemblance and expression of that more perfect Concord and Unity, Love and Amicableness we shall fully possess hereafter in Heaven. And therefore as it equally detests and forbids whatsoever may hinder or lessen the increase and growth of these excellent fruits of the Holy Spirit in us through the whole course of our Lives, so in order hereunto doth it strictly enjoin and command us to render to all their deuce. 
Rom. xiii. 7, 8.  To owe no man any thing, but to love one another. 
Rom. xii. 16.  To be of the same mind one towards another. 
14.  To bless them which persecute us; to bless and curse not. 
17.  To recompense to man evil for evil; to provide things honest in the sight of all men. And, if it be possible, 
18.  as much as lieth in us, to live peaceably with all men. Not to avenge ourselves, 
19  but to give place unto wrath. 
20.  And therefore if our enemy hunger, to feed him: if he thirst, to give him drink. Finally, Not to be overcome of evil, 
Ult.  but to overcome evil with good. And agreeable to this is what St. Peter in other terms expressly commands, That we should honour all men. Love the Brotherhood. 
1 Pet. two. 17.  Fear God. Honour the King. Indeed so full and copious is the Gospel in asserting this Truth, that as one may run and read it; so there needs no abusing of Scripture by straining it (as hath been maliciously and untruly suggested) to evince and prove it: For what can be more plain and full, if we'll believe either the Text or Context, than what our Saviour enjoins and prescribes? Render unto Cesar the things which are Caesar's. 
Mat. xxii. 21.  And what they are, St. Paul acquaints you, viz. first in general, Subjection; then in particular, Tribute, Custom, Fear, Honour and Love: 
Rom. xiii. 5, 7, 8, 10.  For love worketh no ill to his neighbour. And as express and clear is what he infers in ver. 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.  
Religion then, you see, utterly disclaims and disowns all Invasions and Usurpations of PRINCE'S Thrones and Dominions, of their Persons and Affairs. It hath secured and bounded their Rights and Properties, by an unalterable and not to be violated Fence and Law; and separated and lifted them up above all others, by a special mark of Sacredness and Majesty: For I have said ye are Gods. 
Psalm lxxxii. 6.  From whence then come Wars and Fightings among us? All those horrid and hellish Rebellions, Conspiracies and Treasons; all those injurious and scurrilous Speeches, and foul Language; all that unjust and unnatural Resisting and Gainsaying; and all that unworthy and dishonourable Usage and Treating of our Superiors and Governors, by subtle and sly, false and malicious Insinuations, Suggestions, Backbitings, Whisper, and Slander: Come they not hence, 
Jam. iv. 1, 2.  saith the Apostle, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, and yet ye have not.  
Come they not from our Ambition and Haughtiness, that will not suffer us to sit still, and acquiesce in that state and condition of life Providence had placed us in, but to be more Honourable and Great, Eminent and Powerful?  
Come they not from our Avarice and Greediness, which will not be satisfied with the Christian allowance of Food and Raiment, but like the Horseleech, cries, Give, Give; Et per fas nefasque: And by right or wrong, Oppression and Injustice makes way to greater Riches, and more plentiful Treasures?  
Or come they not from our Self-love, which, whilst it exceedingly magnifies our own merits, will as much decry and depress those of others? And then, are we so fit for and worthy of Honourable Employs, to be thus slighted and contemned, will be the next Suggestion, and the next to that, a desire to revenge and right ourselves, joined with an implacable hatred against those that stand in our way, and oppose us.  
These, and the rest of this accursed Litter, are, no doubt, the true Fountains and Springs of our evil Thoughts, bad Words, and worse Actions, against our Governors: of our despising Dominions, speaking evil of Dignities, and stretching forth the Hand against the Lord's Anointed.  
These are the great Boutefeu's and Incendiaries in Church and State; they who excite and teach us first to murmur and complain, than form Parties, and enter into Associations, and, in fine, openly to Resist and Rebel. And would we be but so Christian and prudent, as once to make the Experiment, i. e. extirpate and banish them all out of our hearts and lives; lay by all our Prejudices and Passions, our Sins and Follies, we should upon a review of our former practice, easily and quickly find, and as readily confess, that our Complaints and Murmurings were unjust, or at least impertinent; our bandying together in Parties unnecessary and dangerous, and our open resistance wicked and abominable. And as it would extort this just Confession and great Truth from us, so would it make us better natured, and better mannered; more civil, kind, respecful, and obedient to the Higher Powers. For now having none of these unruly and boisterous Passions and Lusts to support and cherish, to maintain and defend, we should be fitly prepared and disposed to embrace and receive the Truth in the love of it, and so be able to understand and see the necessity and convenience, in respect at least of our present welfare, of a dutiful subjection to our Superiors.  
And though this very Consideration that thereby we shall become good Subjects, and so quietly and peaceably enjoy the benefit and happiness of the Government we live under, may be thought a sufficient Argument and Motive to every reasonable Man to deposit and abandon his unreasonable Lusts and Desires, yet there is another of far greater moment and importance, which, if he hath any serious Regard or Concern how he shall live for ever, will certainly be so prevalent as to effect it; and that is, that without the doing hereof, He can never be a good, an upright, and sincere Christian. For it cannot be rationally supposed, that God can be loved, honoured or obeyed, by our Lusts and Vices; and if he cannot, then 'tis as necessary that we should hate and reject them in respect of God, as of his Vicegerents. And if we do it upon this account, we shall also do it upon that, because what makes us good Christians, will also make us good Subjects: For no Man ever yet truly loved, feared, and honoured God, that did not as truly love, fear, and honour his King; in that our keeping of God's Commandments being the best and truest expression of our love to him, and our obedience and subjection to his Deputies, those whom he hath set over us; one prime instance of our Duty, if we love God more than in word and in tongue, we will make it our especial care, that we serve and obey them in deed and in truth.  
And this, as it is every Man's Concern, in as much as every Member of the Community hath a common interest and benefit in the Government; so is it every man's indispensible Duty, in that all are equally tied and obliged hereunto by God. And so is it expressed by our Apostle, in the words I have read unto you, Let every Soul be subject unto the Higher Powers, etc.  
This is that St. Paul, with a great deal of Reason and Cause, confronts to our seditious Mutinings, and saucy Gainsaying; to our Rebelling against, and Disobeying the Gods of the Earth. This is that excellent Remedy and Catharthick he prescribes, to expel and purge out the noxious humours and qualities of the Body Politic of any Kingdom and People. And would we but be so just to God, our Governors, and ourselves, as to attend unto, and follow the Instructions and Command, or seriously and in earnest to address to, and hasten its Application, we should find it the best and most suitable Advice and Counsel for our condition, as sovereign and effectual, as 'tis indeed necessary: Nay, we should have Reason to hope, even in this Age of Undutifulness and Disobedience, that Kings and Rulers would once more, upon the account of Conscience and Religion, be loved and revered, honoured and obeyed. But when we play at fast and loose with the Precept (as God knows we do with too many others) and use it, as some do their outward Dress and Attire, only for Pomp and Gaiety, to serve the present Scene of Affairs, or in that 'tis modish and fashionable, and with the same levity and inconstancy reject & throw it off, when the times, our Interests and Humours are served, no wonder that it hath so little prevalency and force, that the Evil grows and spreads, that we publicly and openly rebel, and as publicly and openly own and avow it. We must first cordially and sincerely love, fear, honour and obey God, the great Universal Governor of all things, before we can as truly and in obedience to his Command and Will, pay Subjection and Reverence to those whom he hath set up, his Substitutes and Delegates; otherwise they, as well as their Master and Lord, must expect to meet with Indignities and Affronts, to be disrespected and disobeyed. For as Religion is the best security, and strongest support to Prince's Thrones and Sceptres, as it is the most uncontrollable tye and obligation to a dutiful Obedience to be rendered unto Caesar; so when this through the Debauches and Profaneness, the Hypocrisy and general Impiety of a Nation shall decay, and as to its energy and power become utterly evacuated, what can be the effect and consequent hereof, but that the Superstructure and Building should fall and p●●●●h with the Foundation, and the Deuce and Rights of Government be buried in the ruins of Piety?  
And would we but throughly and impartially search to the bottom, we should trace and manifestly perceive all along the spirit of Irreligion and Atheisticalness, to be (as I have already hinted) the Original and Spring of all that Rebellion and Disobedience, Sedition and Faction that hath so frequently and boldly appeared, and been acted amongst us. And the truth is, had we been as good and honest Christians as we profess and pretend to be, so sincerely devout, pious and holy, as the Laws and Conditions of our Religion enjoin us, we could never have been such bad Subjects, such very Devils and Satan's, Calumniators and Revilers of, and Adversaries and Enemies unto the very Name and Being of Monarchy and King.  
'Tis not, I hope, a Question now, Whether Subjection and Obedience to our Governors be an Injunction and Precept of Christianity? If it is, their own Eyes may soon satisfy and give them a resolution of the Case; but if it is not, as it cannot well be, except we are wilfully stupid, and obstinately ignorant, how severe a Reckoning must some, too many of us expect, without a real and speedy Repentance, Reformation and Amendment for sinning against so much light and knowledge: And therefore to such as I cannot offer a greater, so not a more seasonable piece of Charity, than to re-mind them of their Duty, and address myself to them in the words of our Apostle, Let every Soul, etc.  
The Design then and Scope of my Text, is at once to enjoin and persuade us to yield, and pay a dutiful Subjection and Obedience to the Supreme Magistrate or Governor, let him be of what Religion or Sect, Denomination or Party soever; let him be good or gentle, severe or froward: He cannot well be worse than a Nero, under whom the Christian Romans lived, who was both Infidel and Tyrant, yet St. Paul strictly commands them to be subject; Let every Soul be subject.  
And as this is the best, so is it all, the whole of State-Policy that any Christian Member or private person of any Community or Kingdom is left or empowered by Christ and his Apostles, to busy and employ himself withal: Not saucily to intermeddle with Public Affairs of State, not impudently to suggest what is fittest or most convenient to be done; but modestly to think his Governors wiser and better able to judge of State-conveniencies than himself, justly to leave the management of the Public to their discretion, and humbly and peaceably to acquiesce in and submit to what they shall impose and ordain. What undeniably concerns us, is, to study to be quiet, and to do our own business; to take care that we worthily and Christianly behave and order ourselves in that calling or condition of life God hath placed us in; and that we fail not in the just performance of what properly belongs unto us, and is the matter of our Employ and Duty. And therefore should there happen any miscarriage or indiscretion in the Public Transactions of the State, (as what is free from them, and so prudent to foresee and provide against all Contingencies and Events?) certainly it is not for us, no part of our Business and Duty by Murmurs and Whispers to reveal and find fault with, by unjust Slanders and Misrepresentations to belie and libel, and by undutiful Petitions and Remonstrances openly to revile and accuse the Government. I say it is no part of our Business, because (as he in the Historian well observes) Tibi (Principi) summum rerum judicium Dii dederunt, 
Tacitus, Annal. lib. 6.  nobis (subditis) obsequii gloria relicta est. The Governor hath the chief Sway and Rule of all things given him by the Gods, the Glory of Subjects is to obey. Much less is it any part of our Duty, in that it is diametrically contrariant to what the Apostle enjoins, as I now come to evince and show. Let every Soul, etc.  
My Text needs neither Commentary nor Paraphrase, except that of our Life and Practice; for it is as soon understood, as read or heard, and obvious to the very meanest Capacity. And as little necessity is there that we should be overnice and curious in straining for a Division, when the words naturally resolve themselves into these two things.  

First, A Precept or Injunction, Let every Soul be subject, etc.  
Secondly, The Reason or Enforcement thereof, For there is no Power but of God.   
I begin with the Precept: In the discussion or handling whereof, for your greater Edification and Instruction, I shall make use of this method: 

First, Consider who are to be obeyed, viz. The Higher Powers.  
Secondly, The Duty required, Subjection to them.  
Thirdly, Them who are to perform this, Every Soul, i. e. by a Hebraism, Every Man.    
First, In the first place then the Apostle tells us, That we are to be subject to the Higher Powers, the Rulers and Governors of the Earth; Those whom God, by conferring on them a special Sacredness of Eminency and Dignity, and a warrantable and lawful Authority and Power, hath substituted and in his place appointed to supervise and inspect, direct and order the Transactions and Affairs of this lower World; Those whom he hath called hereunto, though not immediately, and after an extraordinary manner, as Moses, David, and others, yet in a way prescribed and allowed of by the Divine Wisdom and Providence, now become the only usual and ordinary one, and which the long usage and custom of so many Ages hath (by its own force and power) authorised and confirmed, rendered lawful and regular. These then whom God hath thus appointed and called, whether by an Hereditary or Elective Right 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aris. Pol. lib. 3, 10.  (according to the several Constitutions of Kingdoms or People.) These, I say, are our Governors, and whom we are to obey.  
And this I the rather mention, that we may not run into those dangerous Extremes that Popery and Fanaticism, in opposition as well to Truth, as the Rights and Regalities of Princes have suggested. The one, that all Dominion is founded in Grace; and that therefore be a Crown never so much a Prince's due, except he be one of God's Saints, that is, I suppose, one of their Brotherhood, (for, in their judgement, they alone are the Elect, the Precious and Holy Ones of the Earth) he doth to all intents and purposes lose and forfeit all; and in consequence hereof, that a Gifted Brother, such as john of Leyden 
* See his Character and Actions described by Alex. Ross, in his View of Religions. Part II. p. 12. etc.  at Munster, hath more Right to the Throne and Sceptre.  
This then is one of the Heads of the Fanatic Hydra, that the most impudent, unjust and seditious Varlet, so that he hath but Cunning and Craft enough to whine zealously, pretend spiritually, and look demurely, shall be preferred his Sovereign, esteemed and judged the better man, and if it is possible for Treachery and Murder to effect it, actually seated in his place.  
The other, that of Popery, very near akin to the former, and as injurious to the Right of the Higher Powers, viz. That the Pope hath power given unto him by Christ, and as Vice-God here upon earth, to dispossess and depose any Emperor or King, Governor or Ruler whomsoever in case of Heresy; (that is, if he doth not think and act as he doth; for he that can make new Articles of Faith, can make any thing Heresy:) and as to throw down and dispossess, so to lift up and collate it on whom he will. We see then (to note this by the way) that the Conclave and Consistory, Pope and Fanatic, like Herod and Pontius Pilate, can agree, if it be to crucify Christ, destroy the Lord's Anointed.  
But is not this strange and odd Doctrine, very wicked and diabolical, that smells rank of Lucifer and his Accomplices, for a Christian Bishop, a Successor of St. Peter's; and a company of Saints of the newest and best Mint, of the most Reformed Reformation, (if you'll believe them) to disgorge and broach, abett and practise in the World? Of this we may certainly and truly say, That from the Beginning it was not so; that neither Christ, nor his Apostles, ever preached or acted such Divinity? No, Caesar was to have his due of Honour, of Tribute, of Submission for the Lord's sake; and of Reverence, Fear and Subjection, because he was of God, set up and appointed by Him. This is the language of the Spirit, and the fruits of it, Love, joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, 
Gal. v. 22, 23.  Goodness, Faith, (Fidelity) Meekness, Temperance. Nay, our Saviour hath expressly told us, That his Kingdom is not of this world, 
John xviii. 36.  and therefore he would not be a judge and a Divider here. Man, who made me a judge, and a Divider over you? Luk. 12.14. From whence then is it, That his Holiness of Rome, and our Saints of the Reformation do act thus unholily, by judging and dividing, by giving away and disposing of what doth not at all appertain unto them, and whereunto they cannot by any Divine Warrant or Law pretend and claim the least Right? Is it not from him, who said to Christ, All this power will I give thee, 
Luke iv. 6.  and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it? And do they not imitate the Tempter, as well in the Falsehood, as Pride of it? For when or where did God ever give such a Paramount Power or Authority to the Father of Lies, or these his lying Children? I am sure the primitive true Saints were never possessed of it, what ever our modern false Ones may challenge as their due: nor St. Peter himself, what ever his Successor may pretend unto. All the power that was given unto them, was for Edification, not Destruction; and this too, not in Temporals, but Spirituals: To build us up in a most holy Faith, and sincere Love; to make us humble and patient, selfdenying and obedient; and to render us throughly conformable to the Institution and Gospel of the Holy jesus. This was all the purple and tissue, all the Ensigns of Royalty they endeavoured or desired to clad and adorn their Followers withal: Nor did they covet and ambition any other Sceptre than that of Righteousness, or any other Crown than that of Martyrdom. Let then both Consistory and Conclave peremptorily define and determine what they please against the Higher Powers, to advance their own secular Pomp and Grandeur, Interest and Authority, we are not to attend unto and obey it. Let him be the greatest of men, so that he be but less than God; let him be the holiest of Saints, so that he be but less than Christ; let him be an Apostle, nay, let him be an Angel from Heaven, if he brings this Message, this Doctrine, so repugnant and contrary to that of God and his Christ, to that of Truth and the Gospel, we are to reject it.  
And therefore should another Pope Pius with his Cardinals from Rome, or another Pope Knox 
* See Mr. Willocks and Mr. Knox 's Opinion concerning the deposing of Princes, in Archbishop Spotswood 's History of Scotland, with the just Censure of the Historian. Fol. 136, 137 Edit. Lond. 1677. 1 Kings nineteen. 11, 12, 13.  with his Fellow-Presbyters from Scotland; these by a Bull, the other by a Remonstrance, endeavour to dissolve and break the Sacred Bond and Tye of your Duty and Allegiance to your Natural Liege Lord and Sovereign; you are to look upon these big words only, as Bruta Fulmina, empty Cracks, and the Breathe of the Spirit of Antichrist; you are to assure yourselves, that the Lord was not, nor ever will be in this whirlwind, earthquake and fire; but in the still, small voice, that of Love and Peace, that of Humility and Obedience; and to remind yourselves of that Doctrine and Lesson, St. Paul, the more infallible Doctor hath taught you, and accordingly to direct and order your Lives and Manners.  
Add to this, That none can dispense with God's Laws but God himself; nor any cancel that Bond wherewith we are justly obliged and tied to pay Subjection and Obedience to the Supreme Magistrate, but He who at first ratified and confirmed it, the Great Almighty Lawgiver: so that 'tis as absurd as wicked, at once both vain, irrational, and irreligious, to attempt and endeavour to alter, disannul or make void that, which in the nature of the thing is to us impossible. And therefore the Bishop of Rome, (the Great Ringleader of the Antimonarchical Faction) and the Chiefs of his bigoted Party here, should, ere they went about and proceeded to exert that transcendency of Power, as to alter and change the tenure of Crowns and Kingdoms, undeniably evince and prove by as good Records and Evidence, as that of the Word of God, (which in this case is impossible) that they are lawfully empowered hereunto; otherwise they do but obtrude for Doctrines, the Commandments of Men, even their own, and mock and fool themselves into destruction.  
And 'twill be the same repeated Impudence, Folly and Madness in us, if we obey the mere Ipse Dixit saying of the Bishop of Rome, though a Pope; or zealous Assertion of a Covenanting Minister, though a Presbyter, before the Voice of God certainly and undoubtedly revealed and manifested unto us in the Holy Scriptures.  
You see then, that 'tis to the Higher Powers we are to pay Subjection and Obedience. Come I now in the second place, to show unto you what that Subjection and Obedience is.  
To be subject, or Subjection, in the general Notation and Use of the word, signifies Subordination and Inferiority: And so is well defined by the Reverend and Learned Bishop Davenant 
* In Annotat. in cap. iii ver. 18. Ep. ad Coloss. , to be Nihil aliud quam divina dispositio quâ imperfectiora perfectioribus subordinata sunt, ut per hanc subjectionem illa ab his perficiantur, regantur & conserventur. Which Mr. Daille 
* Daillaeus in locum.  according to his Translator, hath thus paraphrased, viz. To be an Order that God hath generally established in all things which constitute any kind of Body, whether it be in Nature, or in Angelical and Humane Society, that some should depend on others: That is, that as God hath made some things more, some less excellent; so some should be above, some beneath; some higher, some lower; and so the feeble and imperfect find their perfection in the conduct of such as are more perfect.  
Now though this is very true, considered in the general, & ex parte Dei subjicientis; and in respect of God subjecting, that is, constituting such an Order, (as the Bishop well distinguishes) yet ex parte Creaturae subjectae, if we consider it in respect of the Creature subjected hereunto, it farther denotes a ready inclination and willingness to obey this Divine Disposition or Ordination of God's: And this is the virtue of Subjection, that properly of my Text whereunto the Apostle hath obliged and enjoined us, viz. when being sensible of that Inferiority and Subordination, Lower Rank, State, Quality, Condition or Order God hath placed us in this World, we heartily submit thereunto, and sincerely endeavour to perform and pay all that appertains unto, and are the Requisites and Appendages of that state and condition; and, so being by rank and place but Subjects, to give that Obedience and Dutifulness to our Governors, which by the Divine Dispensation and Will is become their Due and Right.  
Now that we may the more fully and distinctly understand and know what the Particulars of this Subjection are, or wherein it consists; 'twill be fit and necessary for us to take a survey and prospect of those several excellencies God hath impressed upon the Higher Powers exclusively to all others; in that these, as well as the Positive Divine Will, are a reason and cause of our Obedience, and from which, as from several Springs and Fountains, flow and derive the Severals of our Subjection.  
The Excellencies then to be considered in the Higher Powers, are: 

First, Their Eminency and Dignity.  
Secondly, Their Authority and Power: And,  
Thirdly, Their Necessity and Usefulness to Mankind.    
First, If we consider the Dignity of the Higher Powers, we shall find it to be very great and excellent, in that God hath placed them above all others, and made their Persons sacred, by a peculiar Unction and Consecration: For designing them by their Place and Office more immediately and specially to represent his Majesty and Image, he prescribed the Solemnity of their Inauguration, 
1 Sam. ix, ●● x, ●  by the effusion of oil or anointing. A Ceremony as of his own institution and appointment, so always made use of by him, to signify and denote a more peculiar Eminency, Sacredness and Dignity; Separation and Hallowing, Nearness and Relation to himself. Hence is it that we find them in Scripture called, The Lord's Anointed: So David concerning Saul, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord. 
1 Sam. xxiv. 6.  And accordingly we find him speaking to the Amalekite, that brought him tidings of the death of Saul, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thy hand to destroy the LORDS anointed? 
2 Sam. i 14. xxiii. 1.  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, 
Psal. lxxxii. 6.  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; 
Titus iii 1.  in my Text, Powers: And, Ver. 3. Rulers; i e. the Chieftains, or Chiefs, and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, uncontrollable, above being asked or questioned for what they do: 
Dio Prusae.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (as the Historian speaks) above giving a reason for what he commands. They are the Captains, 
Numb. xiv. 4. Judges xi. 8. Micah vi. 1, 2.  the Heads of the Body Politic. 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 'tis infinitely seated and placed: For what he is in Heaven, they are on Earth, Supreme and Superlative to all others.  
Now from this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, excellency of Dignity, 
Exposition of the Commandments. Fol. 326.  doth derive and flow (as the learned Bishop Andrews observes) one part of our Subjection or Duty to our Governors, 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. 'Tis 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 energy, motion and spirits, so in a Body Politic 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 ourselves 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: 'Tis generally called 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 dignify and honour those whom God hath so greatly honoured and dignified? 'Tis 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 preferred and exalted than we do: And 'tis as just that we should take our measures from him, be directed and guided by that rule and way he hath prescribed and set down for us to walk in, especially here, where his very Example is implicitly a Command, and our following it the safest and wisest course we can pitch upon or propose to ourselves. Indeed were he as Man, of a finite, terminated understanding, easy to be deceived and imposed upon, there would be some reason of suspecting his wisdom and prudence, and the reasonableness of his prescriptions, and of withdrawing, or at least withholding our assent: But when he is infinitely wise, as well as infinitely great, ordering all things after an admirable and excellent manner, and choosing the best and most suitable means for the Ends designed and intended by him, 'twould 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 honoured 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 derived 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 employed and interpretative, but an explicit and express Command of his, That we should honour the King, and render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.  
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 jewel 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 ruin and desolation. A King without Honour, is only one in imagination, a mere titular precarious thing. And therefore as Princes and Rulers have a great deal of reason and cause of jealousy and care that they part not with the least moiety of it, or suffer it to be abused, trampled upon, and laid in common, and outraged by noise and tumult; so should it be our especial study, diligence and endeavour, as we ever hope to approve ourselves unto God, that neither by vile and traducing speeches, nor unjust and injurious actions, we in the least contribute hereunto.  
Away then with all reviling Rabshakehs, and cursing Shimei's; with all Corahs', and SONS of FACTION and SEDITION, out of our Israel: O my soul come not thou into their secret, (nor enter into their habitations) unto their assembly, mine honour, 
Gen. xlix. 6, 7.  be not thou united: Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. So let all thine (and thine Anointed's) enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love (thou and) him, be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might, Judge's v. ult.  
But, Secondly, Another Excellency to be considered in the Higher Powers, is their Authority and Power. And this consists,  
First, Either in prescribing, ordering and commanding what they would have done by the Subject, and so comprises and includes all that right of making, constituting and publishing such Acts, Laws, Statutes and Ordinances as they in their judgement shall suppose and apprehend convenient and conducive to the Ends of Governments, viz. the Honour of God, and their own and their People's welfare and good.  
Or, Secondly, in restraining and punishing all Disobedience, and so implies, that they are not to bear the Sword in vain, but to be revengers of God, to execute wrath upon them that do evil.  
Or, Thirdly, in honouring and rewarding the good and virtuous, the dutiful and obedient, a being a praise to those that do well.  
Now that all this must necessarily be supposed to be the inherent and unalienable Right of the Supreme Governor, will be very evident, if we consider and reflect that without this, he would differ nothing from a private man, nor be in the least able to provide for his own, or his people's safety and happiness. For the Nature of Government, and so consequently the Business of Governors, is to make and ordain Laws, to see these Laws executed and obeyed, to encourage to the performance hereof, by the marks of their love and favour, and to deter and dissuade from the contrary hereunto, by as suitable mulcts and penalties.  
And if they cannot do this, what is their Authority and Power, but a mere name and shadow? For do they govern, who cannot command? Or can they command, who cannot enact and ratify Laws, and public Edicts▪ Or can they enact Statutes and Decrees, who cannot force their Execution? Or can they enforce their Execution, who cannot reward and punish?  
And if they cannot do aught of this, neither command, nor enact, nor execute; what advantage or benefit can accrue to any Nation or Kingdom, from such a Mock-government, or Governor? 'Tis then both vain and absurd, to suppose either the one or the other without this Power. If then the Nature and End of Government do require this Authority in the Supreme Magistrate, as certainly they do, we have from the various consideration hereof, some more of the severals of our Subjection arising and flowing. As, 

1. From their Authority and Power to constitute and ordain Laws, springs our Obedience; for it is that we may obey them, that they either make, ratify, or promulge them.  
2. From their power of punishing, derives our fear or reverence of them. And,  
3. From their power of conferring and bestowing the Badges and Ensigns of Honour springs Benevolence or goodwill towards them.    
As to the first of these, our Obedience (another part of our Subjection to the Higher Powers) we may consider it in an active and a passive sense.  
1. In an Active, and so it denotes not only a readiness and willingness, a preparedness and fit disposition of mind to obey and perform what they require and command, but also the actual execution and just performance of it: And this too in all things, as St. Paul speaks, Col. 3.22. Nimirum in quibus Dominus carnis, Domino Spiritus contraria non imperat, viz. in those which are not contrary to God, his Will revealed and declared unto us in his Word, 
St. Hierome.  as the Father rightly states and limits it; that is, in all things lawful and honest; and all are such, that are not directly and by immediate consequence forbidden in the Sacred Writ. For that being the great Rule of Good and Evil, the Pandect of the Law of Nature, and of the Law of Grace, and the whole of whatever relates unto, and concerns our Duty and Piety towards God, being fully contained therein, whatsoever doth not oppose, contradict and thwart aught of this either in the general or particular, in whole or in part, may lawfully and warrantably be the matter of our practice and obedience, and aught so to be, when enjoined and commanded by the Higher Powers.  
And this I the rather note unto you, because there is a sort of men amongst us, who, when their Governors call for and require their Obedience and Subjection to their just Injunctions, (as being not against any thing that God hath commanded or prohibited) with an unreasonable and impudent importunity, demand Texts of Scripture for the Particulars of the Magistrates Commands; as if God had written Bodies of Statutes, of Political and Municipal Laws for every Kingdom and State in the whole World; and except he had done so, it is utterly impossible for any Governor ever to satisfy and answer the unjust Pretences of these men in their own humour and way. But when God hath described only the general lines of the power of Rulers, and of the duty of Subjects, it must necessarily be supposed and concluded by every reasonable man, that he hath left the particulars of it to be determined and laid out by them; or else farewell all Government, and we must unavoidably lapse into the Malmsbury Philosopher's state of Nature. And if then Anarchy and Confusion is far worse than Tyranny, one of the greatest Curses and Evils (as certainly it is) that can befall a People considered in their Political Capacity; and God and Nature hath made us sociable Creatures 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aris. Pol. lib. i. cap. 2. , and there is no Member of the Community, but receives some benefit from it; how very bad must that opinion and project be, notwithstanding all its plausibleness, that thus immediately and in its own nature tends to defeat us of the fulfilling our natural appetites and desires as men 
(b) Hominem Homini natura conciliat. Sen. Ep. ix. , to rob us of all the outward comforts of this life 
(c) Nullius Boni sine socio jucund a possessio est. Ep, vi. , and brings in nought but desolation and ruin upon the whole.  
A great reverence and affectionate zeal for God and his Word is pretended, but lay aside the Vizor, and you will easily perceive that Faction and Rebellion, Sedition and Anarchy lie at the bottom. These men would make jesus their Political, as well as Spiritual King, only that they may the more triumphantly tread upon the Necks of Kings and Princes, and with greater contempt and scorn resist and disobey them. But he hath avowedly disclaimed and rejected all things of this kind (as hath been showed above) nor is his Gospel a Royal Charter or Code of Imperial Edicts, Immunities and Privileges, but of Divine and Eternal Truths, Laws and Rewards supernatural and celestial, to fit and prepare, refine and purify 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 Politic, he remits us to the Constitutions and Laws of that Kingdom whereof we are a part; to be regulated and ordered according to the will of those he hath set over us, and to demean and behave ourselves suitably to that station, rank and quality he as Universal Governor hath placed us in. And as to this, he hath sufficiently supplied 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 show 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 judgement which they shall tell thee thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show 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 yourselves 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 enjoined 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 determined in the holy Writ, the Rule we are to walk and guide ourselves by here, is this, viz. To obey and be subject to our Governors in all things that are not morally and intrinsically 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: 
Exposition of the Commandments, fol. 339, 340.  They tell us, and in particular our Learned Andrews, that Subjects are not to busy 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 Superior 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 Superior being a determining of the Doubt.) For though 'tis 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 Superior 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 judge under God, yet as the School-man Alex. of Alice 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 public peace cannot otherwise be maintained. 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 Governors, the Temper and Practice of the Children of Israel in the days of joshua would well become us, and be a fit and worthy Example for us to transcribe and imitate. And they answered joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us, we will do; and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go; according as we harkened 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 Superior commands, is directly and immediately contrary to the Word of God, we are not any longer to yield an active, but 2 lie. Passive Obedience to Him; i. e. we are not to do and perform it, but patiently to suffer what He is pleased to inflict for our refusal.  
1. We are not to do it, in that God hath antecedently obliged 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 Resisting, are not to be named amongst us with liking and Approbation, as becometh Saints. For (if we'll believe St. Peter) this is thankworthy, 
1 Ep. two. nineteen, xx.  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, this is acceptable with God, for even hereunto were ye called. And herein we may rejoice, 
1 Ep. iv. xiii.  in as much as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his Glory shall be revealed, we may be glad with exceeding joy..  
But let us take care that none of us suffer as a Murderer, 
Ib. Ver. xv.  or as a Thief, or as an Evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters; that is, That none of us by our Folly and Obstinacy, our Irreligion and Wickedness, our disobeying and resisting Those whom God hath set over us, and a scandalous pretence of Piety and Conscience, (when they are no way interessed in our Cause) draw and force the public Rods and Axe upon our Backs, for a just punishment and revenge of our Unrighteousness and Sin: And then think we suffer upon the account of Faith and a good Conscience, when indeed it is because we have made shipwreck of both. It is one thing to suffer, for so every Malefactor doth; and another thing to suffer for Righteousness: It is the Cause, not the Punishment, that makes the Martyr; and Religion and Holiness, not the Gibbet and Stake, that can entitle unto, or secure us of, the incomprehensible Weight of Glory. Very careful therefore must we be, ere we reject and disavow the Commands of our Governors, so as not actually to obey and perform them, that we are upon God's side, do it out of Love and Obedience unto, and Fear of Him, otherwise they that resist, 
Rom. xiii.ii.  shall receive to themselves damnation. The Rule here is, 
1 Ep. Pet. iv. ult.  That they that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator: i. e. That they have respect unto all his Commandments, that they endeavour all they can to perform and keep them, and to have a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man: And if we act thus, as we shall be sure never to rebel, so too our nonobedience to man, will be an Obedience to God, a grateful and delightful Sacrifice to him. He will accept and own our Persons and Cause, assist and help us in it, and crown and reward us for it.  
In fine, Humility and Patience, Self-denial and Meekness, Submission and Resignation to the divine Will, are the true Christian's Robe and Attire, the just Ingredients of his Obedience. Let his Prince then be a Nero, let him be a Diocletian, if he cannot lawfully do and obey, he will patiently suffer and die: With the three Children in the fiery Furnace, with Daniel in the Lion's Den, with his Saviour on the Cross, with St. Stephen amidst a shower of Stones, he will pray for, and bless his Enemies; not curse and confound them, not raise Mutinies and Seditions in the State, not enter into Parties, and make solemn Leagues and Covenants to pull off the Crown, subvert the Throne, and break in pieces the Sceptre of his lawful King and Governor. No, he hath not thus learned Christ, he gave him no such Lesson nor Example: When he was reviled, he reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatened not, 1 Pet. 2.23. This was his Practice; and can he do better or more worthily, than to imitate and copy out so great, so excellent, so good a Pattern? And as it was the Practice of his Saviour, so of his Apostles, so of all primitive Christians, of the best and purest Ages of Christianity. 
(a) H. Grotius, l. 1. c. 4. §. 4, 5. de jure Belli & Pacis. D. Cave's Primitive Christianity, part 3. ch. 4.  And if we are sincere and truly Christian, it will be ours too; if we can obey, we will, if not, we will submit to their Sentence, and suffer what they inflict; but we will prefer and choose a Dungeon and a Rack before Sedition and Mutinying, a Gibbet before Associations against our Governor, and Death itself before Rebellion.  
2. But 2dly, Another Particular of our Subjection, deriving from their Authority, is, a Fear and Reverence of them. And that is, when considering and acknowledging the Majesty and Power inherent and residing in them, as God's Representatives, Vice-gerents and Deputies, we have such an awful, just and due regard to their Persons and Laws, their Acts and Ordinances, (those Limits and Bounds they have set us, that Rule and way of ordering ourselves as Members of a Body Politic they have prescribed us) as that we use our utmost Care and Endeavours not to transgress and violate them, and so not to provoke the higher Powers to punish and execute God's Wrath upon us for our evil Deeds. 'Tis a dread of the consequence of our Disobedience and their Power; of what they are authorised and empowered to inflict upon, and chastise us with, according to our Demerits. A Fear of displeasing and offending them by any unjust and unlawful Action, in that by their Place and Office they are to be the Avengers of all such, 
Rom. xiii. 4.  and appointed by God so to be, that we may hear and fear, 
Deut. xvii. 13.  and do no more so presumptuously.  
Now that this is a part of our Duty will be very evident, if we will but consult what the Holy Spirit hath delivered and revealed unto us. 'Tis Solomon's Charge, 
Prov. xxiv. 21.  My Son, fear thou the Lord and the King. And a greater's than Solomon, Ye shall fear every man his Mother and his Father, Leu. 19.3. 
(a) Haec sententia haud dubie ad quinti praecepti explicationem spectat. Calvin in locum.  And so St. Paul, Render to all their deuce, fear to whom fear, Rom. 13.7. The same is enjoined to Masters in general, Eph. 6.5. Servants be obedient to your Masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling. Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear, 1 Pet. 2.18. To stand in awe then of Masters, whether private ones, as those of Families, or public, as those of Kingdoms and Nations, our Governors and Rulers, is certainly no Popish nor Popishly-affected Doctrine, (in the worse sense of the Phrase) that is, 'tis nothing related or akin to Idolatry and Superstition, but purely derived from God and his Word. It is not to make our King an Idol, (as some ignorantly prate) for wherein do we by this give Him divine Worship? And as little of Superstition is there in it, for that is an unreasonable and groundless Fear, but that we pay to Him is very reasonable, in that without this He would soon become vile and cheap in our Eyes: And as good ground is there for it, when it is to obey God, who positively and expressly commands and requires us, to give this kind of Subjection to Him. The truth is, both upon the account of Wrath and for Conscience-sake, are we obliged to fear the higher Powers: Upon the account of Wrath, because the wrath of a King is as the messengers of death; 
Prov. xuj. 14.  and where the word of a King is, 
Eccl. viij. 4.  there is Power, and who may say unto him, what dost thou? So that if we have any Love and Kindness for ourselves, we will endeavour to be so prudent, as not to incur their Displeasure, who can so severely animadvert upon, and punish us for our Folly and Disobedience. And if we have any true Fear of God before our Eyes, aught of that Universality and Sincerity of Obedience we pretend unto, we will be no less careful and concerned 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 'tis objected by some, (that are, I fear, more scrupulous than wise, more peevish than 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 sense 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 tied 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 3dly, Another Several of the Duty we owe unto the supreme Governor, 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, considered as a King, or as a Christian; that his Reign may be long and prosperous, and his days many; that his Enemies may be clothed 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 obliged 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 household of faith; so amongst them more especially to the Pater Patriae, the public Parent or Father of the Country or Kingdom, in that the Good of the whole Community or Body is involved 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 praiseworthy. 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 sense of having done our Duty) the prospect and foresight of mere 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 virtuous 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 dispense 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 Virtue and Honesty, than 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 Falsehood 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 suffered 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. 'Tis as the Psalmist speaketh; 
Psal. lxxiii. 18, 19  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, 
Psal. lxxv. 6, 7.  nor yet from the South; but God is the judge, 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 Vicegerent? The Heavens and Earth may fail, but God and his Word cannot; 
1 Sam. xv. 29.  He is not as man that he should lie, or as the son of man that he should repent; Those that honour him, 
two. 30.  he will honour. This than may farther encourage us to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; to pay unto him that Fealty and Allegiance, that Duty and Subjection we owe him as the Lord's Anointed. The Advancement of joseph 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 itself, that there is no Aphorism of State-policy more true than 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 supposed to be more inclined 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 approved 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, 
Prov. xuj. 15.  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, 
2 Sam. ch. xvii.  go down to our Graves full of Days and full of Honour: but if with Dathan and Abiram we conspire against our Moses; 
ch. nineteen.  if with Achitophel we consult and plot his Ruin; with Shimei curse the Lord's Anointed; and with Absalon actually rebel against him, as we cannot upon any good and warrantable Grounds, promise to ourselves a happy Issue and Event of these our wicked and unjust Actings, so generally the Consequent and Success of such a blacked Villainy 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 Governors 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 Ruin that must unavoidably attend and follow a State of Anarchy and Confusion. 'Tis the Remark of the holy Penman, judg. 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, control and punish the Impetuosity and Rage of men's Lusts and Vices; In pejora datur suadetque licentia luxum; things will quickly grow worse; and this Licentiousness and Impunity of Acting soon persuade to Luxury and Excess, and these to Injustice, and that to Rapine, Murder, Profaneness, Irreligion, and all manner of Evil. And then as 'tis 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 public Distress, when both they and theirs lie open and ready to be seized and preyed upon, by every one that hath more Courage and Strength than themselves. Of this kind and sort was that state of Nature (if ever there was any such) Mr. Hobbs speaks of. Though 'tis 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 suffered him to have sent Man into the World, attended with such a Curse and Plague: a Curse that would have better answered 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 designed by him to be the Portion of the best and most innocent part of Mankind, but of those, (if of any) who have so learned and practised to despise Dominions, and speak evil of Dignities, as rather to choose not to have, than to honour and obey a public Parent, a lawful King and Governor; tho' certainly of a contrary Judgement 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 quam 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 Governor, Et vitia erunt donec homines, and there will be Lusts and Vices to be served 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 repaired 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 desired and esteemed 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, 
Pol. lib. 3 cap. ult.  'Tis therefore necessary that there should be Governments and Governors. And then if as the Government is lawful and well established, so the Governor be good and gentle, one fearing God and hating Covetousness, a true nursing Father to his People and Kingdoms, a Moses or a joshua, 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 People's 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 best and most decent manner; to worship God in spirit and in truth according to his Will and Word▪ Is it a Blessing to have Judgement run down our Streets like an overflowing Stream, and Righteousness like a mighty River? Is it a Good to live in Peace and Quiet, Security and Safety; for every one of us to sit under his own Vine, and eat the Fruit of his own Vineyard; to be out of the reach of every devouring Harpy, and fearless of any griping Oppressor? Is it a felicity, is it a comfort and satisfaction to us, to have the unrestrained use and enjoyment of all that is near and dear to us; to live under the protection of good and wholesome Laws, and the good Government of a merciful and tender Father and Prince? If aught then and All of this is a Blessing, a Good and Happiness to any People it is, it must be so to us, who in a large and plentiful manner do possess and partake of all and every part of it; and is to be in the merciful designation and appointment of the divine Providence, the Portion and Felicity of every well-governed People and Nation under Heaven; all Government being at first constituted and intended by God, to be as instrumental to his Glory, so to the general Good and Benefit of Mankind. And that it is so, a Heathen could tell us; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, For doing Good, Kings were first made. Arist. Pol. lib. 3. cap. 11.  
Now from the Consideration of this their necessity and usefulness to Mankind, do spring and flow some more of the Particulars of our Duty and Subjection to Them.  
First, A sincere and affectionate Love for their Persons and Government. Secondly, A Gratitude or Thankfulness for the Benefits fits we receive under it and them. Thirdly, A paying them Tribute. And fourthly and lastly, A praying for them.  
1. As to the first of these, A sincere and affectionate Love for them; It denotes our having a tender Regard for all that relates and appertains unto them; a making their Case, their Interests and Concerns, their Losses and Crosses ours: so that be they healthy and vigorous in their Bodies, happy and prosperous in their Estates, we exult and rejoice for it; 
Prov. iii 8.  'tis as health to our navel, and as marrow to our bones. Be they diseased and afflicted, be they injured and oppressed, we too suffer under the Calamity, our Souls are full of Anguish and Bitterness, of Grief and Trouble, and we go heavily, as one that mourneth for his Mother. 
Psal. xxxv. 14.  And this is no more than what the Rule of Christian Charity suggests and enjoins, to be practised towards all men in general. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, 
Rom. xii. 15.  and weep with them that weep. And may with greater Reason and upon better Grounds be supposed to be pressed upon and commanded us, as it respects Governors in particular; in that as they are more nearly related to us, as the public Parents of their Countries, so the Good and Evil, the Prosperity and Calamity that betides them, must be of a far greater and more considerable account and consequence, then that of any private man can be. And then if we are obliged to congratulate and condole in respect of a lesser Felicity and Misery, we must certainly much more do this upon the score of a greater. If my private Neighbour's Happiness (which generally extends no farther than his Family) can fill me with Transports and Exclamations of Joy, why should not I be as much, nay more affected, for that of my Prince and Sovereign, which by being His becomes public, a Benefit to the whole Nation and Kingdom? And so of the other side, if I can readily communicate with his Afflictions, and suffer with him by a Christian Compassion, why should not I be as much dejected, and as Christianly sympathise for the Miseries and Infelicities that attend the Royal Throne? The truth is, did not Prejudice and Passion, Sin and Folly, stand in the way, and obstruct and hinder this excellent Property and Fruit of a Christian Love, we should do so; but when from groundless Conjectures and Surmises, scandalous Reports and libellous Defamations, unreasonably fostered and cherished, abetted and vouched by us, we begin to suspect our Governor to be our Enemy, and think that he hath a Design upon us for our Ruin, (because forsooth he will not hearken to all our unjust Offers, and answer all our unreasonable Demands) and so in that he will not love us, we will not love him, no wonder that such an Unchristian Christianity and Temper will sooner provoke and stir us up to rejoice at, then bewail his Losses, and to bewail and grieve at, then exult and be glad at his Prosperity. But is this the way ever to discharge or pay that Debt we owe to the whole World, and so to our King, of owing no man any thing, but to love one another? Rom. 13.8. It is looked upon by our Saviour comparatively, as a mean expression of our Love, to love those that love us; do not Publicans (the worst of Sinners) the same? Mat. 5.46. But to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate, to bless them that curse us, (ver. 44, 45.) this is Christianity indeed; a quality altogether divine, a just imitation and resemblance of his illimited Goodness, who maketh his Sun to shine, and his Rain to rain upon the just and unjust, and a true and infallible Mark of a sincerely true Disciple and Follower of Christ's: What Publicans and Sinners never do, nor Infidels and Heathens practise and delight in, but a Sacrifice that God is well pleased with, and which he will one day openly reward, and make full Retribution to in Heaven. And therefore were our Governor really our Enemy, did he actually design and endeavour our Destruction, yet we ought to love him, and to express it, by having the same Desires, the same Hopes and Fears, the same Joys and Sorrows, the same Concernment every way for him as for ourselves, and if possible, greater. Let him be superlatively bad, that cannot disengage and free us from the Duty of Love we owe him; for 'tis not his Goodness and Gentleness, but God's Command, that is the Ground and Reason of the Obligation. Let his own personal Faults and Vices be never so great, as long as he bears the Image of God in him as a Man, and represents his Character as a King and Governor, we are to love and affect him. But if he is very good, if we derive and reap from his Reign, all that Felicity we can expect from a happy Government and gracious Governor, then as there will be no Ground for our Fears and Jealousies, for our Murmurs and Complaints, then as we have no Reason to think him our Enemy, so then surely we will love him, if for no other Cause, yet because he loves us, and act as charitably, at least as Publicans and Heathens do. But whether we have proceeded thus far, as to equal a Publicans Charity, let the many Pasquil's and Lampoons, the repeated Buffonery and Scurrility, the frequent vilifying and deriding our Superiors, be a public and self-evidencing Testimony: nay, let Conscience be but throughly examined and sifted, and the Jade once forced to speak truth for the Government, and there will need no other Witness to give in Evidence, nor Judge to determine the Case. I know not what Notions some men may have of Christian Charity, but if it is such, to rake into the Sink of men's Faults and Vices, and then in a fulsome, rude way, (not to say Unchristian) to expose them to the public View, may this their Charity be, if they desire it, a Mark of their Holiness, but otherwise deservedly anathematised by all sincerely good and sober Christians. St. Paul hath given us another account of Charity, viz. That it suffers long and is kind; that it doth not behave itself unseemly; is not easily provoked; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things, 1 Cor. 13.4, 5, 6, 7. And were ours but such, so truly and altogether Christian, we could not so easily and quickly take up with, and entertain every Story and backbiting Report against the Government; improve it by misrepresentation into the grossest Falsehood, and by repetition into Slander and Defamation. There will be somewhat to find fault with, and complain of, as long as there are men; the best have their Failings, and no man can say, I am Pure, I am Clean. It would therefore better become us as Christians and Men, with good Constantine, to throw our Cloak over all things of this kind, to cover and conceal them, then with cursed Cham to reveal and disclose the Nakedness of our Father. It would better become us as Christians, in that Christ hath made it a Law of our Religion. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, Joh. 13.34. And as men, in as much as he that standeth may fall; and it may come to our turn to need men's Charity and Mercy, to pass by and hide our Aberrancies and Transgressions. The loss of ones good Name or Reputation, by what means soever effected, right or wrong, deservedly or undeservedly, is a great Detriment and Damage to any man, but almost an irreparable one, and infinitely greater to a King or Ruler, in that hereby he is made low and mean, as in the eyes and presence, so in the hearts and affections of his People. And then as it cannot be the effect of Charity to injure and wrong any one, but to do good and tender their welfare, so if ours is truly Christian, we will banish and expel all unjust and unrighteous Practices out of our Lives and Conversations; and instead of backbiting, defaming, and speaking ill of, we will, as much as in us lies, and is consistent with Truth, vindicate, justify and speak well of; however fairly and candidly represent and interpret their Actions, and instead of aggravating and aggrandizing, extenuate and lessen their Miscarriages and Mistakes. This as it is to love all men, so our Governors, and this that Duty we owe them.  
2. But then 2dly, Another part of our Duty, consequent to the Benefits we receive from their Reign and Government, is Gratitude or Thankfulness. That is, A grateful sense, an humble and hearty recognition and acknowledgement of all the Felicities and Blessings we derive from, and enjoy under them. A thing so very agreeable to our Make and Constitution as Men, to our Nature as reasonable Creatures, that common Humanity hath always suggested and enjoined it, being that wherein (as Seneca observes) Discors turba consentit, Those who disagree for the most part in every thing else, do yet agree: And as the generosity of our Nature doth prompt, incline and oblige us to a performance of this so excellent a Virtue, (being in Cicero's Judgement, Non solum maxima, sed Mater omnium Virtutum reliquarum, Not only the greatest, but the Mother of all other Virtues) so certainly Religion doth not disannul or break the Bond, or dissolve and take off that Equity and Justice the God of Nature and of Truth had implanted in us. No; it rather ties it faster, adding new Reasons and Motives to the former. St. Paul enjoins and exhorts to Thankfulness; 
Col. iii 15.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. And accordingly reckons Ingratitude or Unthankfulness amongst the great and pernicious Sins and Vices of the last Times. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, 
2 Tim. three 2.  covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful. The truth is, as Ingratitude hath by the best men of all Ages and Religions, been with a just Horror and Indignation regretted and censured as a vile and abominable thing, and ungrateful men, as the monstrous and preternatural Births of Mankind, (for, Si ingratum dixeris, omnia dixeris, Speak a man ungrateful, and speak him any thing) so Gratitude, the humble and acknowledging Temper and Disposition, hath been always deservedly commended and applauded, and the grateful person esteemed the most worthy and the most wise; the Heathen and Christian still agreeing in the same Estimate and Judgement as to this. Nor are we of such debauched Understandings, whatsoever our Practice is, as not readily to confess the truth hereof. We are right as to the Theory and Assent to the Premises, but we make wrong Applications and false Conclusions. We acknowledge that we ought to make Returns one way or other for Kindness and good Deeds done us, but then we will not believe them to be such, except they come from men of our own Sect and Party, of our own Humour and Opinion; and therefore let a Benefit be never so particular in its Designation and Use, never so purposely intended for us, if it doth not bring a Shibboleth along with it, 'tis a great odds if it meets with either Thanks or Acknowledgements, at least such as it merits and deserves. This no doubt is one Reason why so many great good Turns have fallen to the ground, been so little esteemed and considered of; and why too many of us prove such a morose, unthankful and froward Generation, to the great public Benefactor of his Country, our King and Sovereign. We scan his Actions by our perverse Judgements, and measure his Beneficence by our false Rules and indirect Lines; and than if this doth not comport and agree with that, and a false Glass deceives us, let Peace and Plenty, Prosperity and Happiness, be never so much our Portion, any thing shall have the Thanks of it from some men before he shall; and notwithstanding what the Apostle hath said, He shall not be a minister of God to us for good, Rom. 13.4.  
But is this such fair Dealing and Christian Justice, as may be expected from men of such high Pretences to Purity and Holiness? For by whom, if not by the Governor, can I be secured of my Life, my Liberty and Property? Is it not his Office and Business to defend and protect me in all this; and as me, so all that are under his Charge and Care, his Kingdoms and People? For as for Laws and inferior Helps of Government, all that they can contribute hereunto is derivative from him: of which he is principally the Mouth, the Interpreter and the Judge, and the suspension and execution whereof is his peculiar Prerogative and Privilege. If then my Good and Happiness, and that of the Nation, is an Effect of his Vigilance and Care, of his Clemency and Gentleness, and of his Wisdom and Discretion in managing and conducting the public Affairs and Intrigues of State, as most certain it is, and nothing can with any truth of Reason stand in competition with him for it, how very contrary as to Equity and Justice, so to the Sense of all wise and sober men, and the truth of Christianity, must my Actings be, if I do not with the Orator gratefully resent it, 
Acts xxiv. 3.  and accept it at all times and in all places with all thankfulness? If I do not with Heart, and Tongue and Hand, and all the ways I can, endeavour to make some proportionable Returns for so many and so excellent Favours and Blessings? If we will not then reject and deny the Dictates and Injunctions of Nature and Grace, if we will not run counter to the Practice of the best, the wisest and most civilised of all Ages, we will take care to express our Gratitude, as to all that have obliged and done us good, so more especially to him, who in this respect hath far exceeded all, and in this particular also render unto Caesar his due.  
3. But that our Thanks may not appear to be merely Verbal, we are thirdly to pay him Tribute.  
And this is to give him such liberal supplies out of our Fortunes and Estates, when they shall be required of us, as may fully answer the necessities and conveniences of Government; as may enable and capacitate Him to Live in that State and Grandeur, which becomes His Quality and Place, and in that Authority and Power, both at home and abroad, as may render Him justly formidable to all domestic and foreign Enemies, and qualify Him to be a fit and effectual Protector and Preserver, as of His own Rights and Privileges, so of those of His People and Subjects. And to this Scripture and Reason do jointly oblige, and with a great deal of equity and justice contend for: 'Tis positively enjoined and commanded, Rom. 13.7. Render therefore to all their deuce; Tribute to whom Tribute is due, Custom to whom Custom. Nor is it but equitable, just, and reasonable, that we should do this, when from Them it is, that we live a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty; and from the cares and troubles they undergo for us, enjoy a safety and happiness that none but They can procure and enrich us with.  
'Tis equitable, if they spend and are spent for us, if their Treasures and Riches are exhausted for the public good, that they should by us be reimbursed refunded and filled, and we in some sort spend and be spent for them. And 'tis reasonable, in that otherwise they cannot be such instruments of security, peace and happiness, such Ministers of Good to us, as they would be: For if they are cut short by our avarice or malice, of what is to defray the public expenses, and by that the safety of the Nation is provided for, how can this be done and performed by them, when they are not able, and they cannot be able without a proportionable Allowance?  
And as it is equitable and reasonable, so is it just; for they, by their Office, being to attend continually upon this very thing, that is, to benefit and do good unto their people; and we for this very cause, paying them tribute, as the Apostle speaks, 
Ib. ver. 6.  'tis in us but a discharging that debt we owe them, established by Laws Divine and Humane, when we supply their Necessities, and fill their Exchequers. And then if these, and Equity, Reason and Justice, are matters of Conscience and Religion, and sufficient of themselves to counterbalance and control the niceties of some men's scruples and doubts, and as Christians we are obliged to perform what is just and upright, we cannot, without an open renouncing and disavowing of all this, debar the Supreme Governor as of a Right in, so of a part of our Possessions, when His, and His Kingdom's welfare and good, call for and require it of us. Prejudice and Passion, and pretended secrets of State, are not to be heeded in a stated and ruled case; which is, that if we do know, or are but probably persuaded, or have been informed by the public Governor, or his Ministers (who may be reasonably presumed to understand State-necessities better than we do) that there is a necessity, and a public supply would be a public benefit, we are to direct our practice by this: Because the time when, and the quantity how much we are to give, being not defined by any standing Law, they must be supposed to be left to be determined by the Needs of the Public, or (which is the same here) the Will, Commands and Prescriptions of our Superiors, the Judges thereof, and not by the other, which can never be a firm foundation for a truly tender Conscience to build upon, or a safe Rule to walk by. And supposing that I am mistaken, and that others have falsified and imposed upon me, all that I can suffer by it is this: That for the present I have lessened my Estate, but I have this advantage, I have thereby secured my Conscience and Obedience: whereas, if what they told and suggested to me is true, the mischiefs consequent to my not acting as I should, will be much greater, even a betraying, as much as in me lies, the welfare and happiness, the strength and security of King and Kingdom, and a manifest violation and breach of that Duty and Obedience I owe to God and his Vicegerent.  
'Tis a State-Aphorism very frequent in some men's mouths (you may know the Trees by their Fruits) that the Head is not to be too big for the Body; their meaning is, that 'tis the best policy to keep the Governor necessitous, lest otherwise He should too much insult and trample upon the Subject. An Opinion and Practice at once Unreasonable and Unchristian.  
1. Unreasonable; in that it throws the State into a real and present danger, to avoid a future and dreaded one; such as may be more reasonably supposed not to happen, than the contrary. For when the Governor experimentally finds, that He hath the Hearts and the Purses of His People; as He cannot well require any more, so in all probability this will rather provoke and stir him up to secure a lasting happiness unto them, and to mind their good when it is so complicated with his own, than to endeavour their ruin, or think of flaying them, when He hath so liberally the Fleece. This may with more reason and truth be expected from a necessitous Prince, who, to supply His wants, is forced to use Arts and Stratagems to squeeze some full Sponges, that He may not be quite drained and dried Himself; and to extort that by Power, and in an Arbitrary manner, which Disloyalty and Undutifulness do rob and deprive Him of. A strong and healthy Head, in the political sense of it, is always a sure indication and sign of a strong and healthy Body, in that there is an immediate dependence and communication between the one and the other: And when 'tis otherwise in the natural and proper meaning of it, 'tis generally an undoubted symptom that both are disaffected, the Body as well as the Head. So that these men are as much out in their Physics, as Politics.  
2. And as it is Unreasonable, so is it Unchristian. 'Tis a Law of our Religion, that we should pay unto Caesar his due of Tribute; and less than what is sufficient to maintain His Crown and Dignity, cannot be supposed to be His due: And then if we do not give Him that, but default from, and pinch Him of it, we act contrary to our Religion and Christianity. We are to do our duty, and leave the issue and event of things to God: Let Him be never so bad, Preces & Lachrymae, Prayers and Tears are all that we are to oppose against Him (as I above informed you) and most certain is it, that Non sunt facienda mala, ut eveniant bona, We are not to do any unjust and evil thing, in behalf of an undeniable and real good; but when that we propose to ourselves here, is very uncertain, and yet the sin and iniquity of our actings certain: 'Tis madness, 'tis presumption, 'tis the height of Impiety to abett and avow such wicked and irreligious courses and ways.  
Add to this, that we have had the woeful experience, how bad a sign of health a little Head is to the Body Politic or State; how ill it secures the welfare and good of a Kingdom or People? For when the Royal Martyr had, with too great Condescensions, too much lessened Himself, did not some of the inferior Members presently shoot up to a preternatural growth and bigness, and as quickly draw away that juice and nourishment, by which He should have been sustained? Was not the Nation soon divided, and in a tottering falling condition? Were not Liberty and Property lost, and the felicities of Peace exchanged into a bloody War? This was all the healthiness these men's Policy procured us then: I hope the Burned Child will dread the Fire.  
Say then, Supposing with them that Ship-money had been a public Nuisance and illegal, had it not been better to have endured and undergone that, than so many miseries and calamities that came rolling in upon us like a mighty torrent? However, it was not as illegal and unjustifiable, as the Vote of Non-Addresses, as making Laws and Ordinances without a King, as erecting a High-Commission Court, and Arraigning their Sovereign, as cutting off His Head, and plundering and sequestering whom they would, without any truth of Law and Justice. But it is always lawful, 'tis still just and Christian, 'tis still our duty, to help and relieve the necessities and distresses of our lawful King and Governor, even without forms of Law, but never so, to let both King and Kingdom fall and perish through our fears and jealousies, our covetousness, our pride and ambition. This then is another duty we owe and are to pay unto them.  
4. The Fourth and last is, our Prayers for Them: And whether we consider Them in Their more private capacity, as Men and Christians, or in their more public as Governors; the reasonableness and necessity of this part of our duty, will be very manifest and evident. If as Men and Christians, they generally, and for the most part, lie more open and exposed to the calamities and miseries incident to mankind, to the assaults and batteries of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, than others whose greater privacy is a rampart and security against a great many temptations and dangers, their more public state and condition of Life renders them subject and obnoxious to. They like the tall Cedars and high Turrets, are sure to meet with every impetuous shock and blast of wind and foul weather, when others, as lower Trees and Structures, by their being so, escape their force and severity: So that in this respect, as They want greater strength and larger supplies of Grace to support and keep Them from falling, so more prayers than their own, and of these a greater proportion and measure, answerable to their greater needs, that by a kind of holy violence we may open the floodgates of Heaven, and derive the Divine Assistance, Protection and Blessing upon Their Heads and Hearts, Their Lives and Actions. And this is no more than what our common Christianity suggests, and a piece of Charity we owe unto the whole Race of Mankind. Let him be jew, Infidel, or Turk, we are to pray for him. It is that our Saviour enjoins us as to our Enemies; Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, Mat. 5.44. And 'tis St. Paul's Doctrine, I exhort therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for Kings, and all that are in authority; for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Tim. 2.1, 2, 3, 4. But if he be a Christian King, one who hath submitted his Sceptre to that of Christ, and is partaker of the same Faith and Hope of Salvation; then as we have new Reasons added to the former, in as much as we are Members of the same mystical Body, and so to be compassionate, tender, concerned and careful for one another's Good, which is to be expressed as in other things, so in an intercourse of Prayer one for another; and the Apostle hath made it a necessary part of the Christian Armour; Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, 
Eph. vi. 18.  and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints; so is the Obligation enhansed, and the Duty the more indispensable. And this will yet farther appear to be the more so, if we consider them as actually governing, as those who have so great a People committed to their Charge; and so wanting a greater and more excellent Spirit and Wisdom, Judgement and Discretion, Foresight and Prudence, to assist, direct and help them in all the great Affairs and Transactions of the Public. Now every good and every perfect gift being from above, 
Eph. i 17  and coming down from the Father of Lights, as St. james tells us; and we are to ask, 
ver. 5.  to beg this wisdom and gift of God before we can have it; 
Ch. v. 16  and the effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man availing much, how very necessary will our Prayers be, that God would give them such a portion of Wisdom and Understanding, that they may be as Instruments of his Glory, so true nursing Fathers to his Church and People? In praying for them, we pray for ourselves; the Good and Happiness is ours in the result and consequence. When we pray for Wisdom and Understanding for our Governors, (as Solomon did for himself) we in effect pray, that God would be pleased to grant us to lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all godliness and honesty. When we beg the Prosperity and Happiness of their Thrones, we petition for our own Welfare: When we desire him, that they may be men fearing him and hating Covetousness, we at the same time beseech him, that he will make them a Wall and Buttress, a Refuge and Strength unto us his People. Because if they are truly wise, happy and religious, these and many more Blessings will devolve upon us, and be the Felicity and Good of such a People and Nation. For Wisdom in a Prince will make him have a tender Regard and Care for the Subject, in that his Welfare depends on, and is twisted with theirs. His Prosperity and Happiness will make him liberal and free, and ready to help and assist them; and his Piety effectually incline and move him to banish all Wickedness, Injustice and Oppression. And if he doth thus act, and this is his Practice and Business, will not his Prosperity, his Happiness and Good be ours, and so we abundantly recompensed and rewarded, for our Supplications and Requests to the Father of Lights on his behalf? But were there no such Good redounding to us, to be expected and hoped for from our thus acting, yet are we to do and perform it, otherwise Sin and Iniquity will lie at our Door. We are not boldly to question with God concerning the Justice, the Wisdom and Equity of the Command, that is no part of our Province; what concerns us is Obedience, and with that we are to busy and employ ourselves. Suppose then our Governor is as cruel and as wicked a Tyrant as Maximian was, who cut to pieces the Thaebean Legion, must not we therefore pray for him? 'Tis in some men's Divinity and Religion denied, we must not; and the Reason they give, is, because we are not to pray for one, that we certainly know will oppress God's Church and People. But the Answer to this, is, Whether the Word of God doth enjoin and command this? If it doth not, (as it cannot well be supposed to command and forbid the same thing) than their Resolution being without Ground and Warrant, nay contrary to the Word, is unholy and unchristian, and so not to be followed. That it hath no Ground in Scripture, will appear from its Contrariety thereunto; and that it is contrary thereunto, will be no less evident, if we consider; that without any Limitation or Restriction, we are positively commanded to pray for our Enemies, and to love them, (as I have above showed.) Now if God hath commanded us to pray for them, we cannot be supposed to offend him in doing our Duty; nor can we be thought to pray against the Church of God, any more than God himself can be said to be for them and against it, when he permits and suffers them miserably to tear and distress it: for his permission is no Argument of his approving or liking what they do, for than he must approve of every Sin, because he permits it, (which is Blasphemy to assert) no more are our Prayers for them, a praying for their Sin, i. e. for its Success and Effect, which yet must be supposed, or else we cannot be said to pray against the Church. Nor is their making Havoc of God's Church, the necessary Effect and Consequent of his Permission, in that than his permitting it must be the necessary Cause thereof; and so consequently not they but he, the Author of it, and of all the Evil and Injustice attending it. No more are our Prayers the necessary Cause of their acting thus wickedly, or that the necessary effect of Them; because if they were, they would always produce the same effect, whether we prayed for Them, ourselves, or others, which is false and contradicted by Experience. That They then are cruel Oppressors of God's People, is not from God's permission or our prayers, for to both the one and the other, this is extrinsical and accidental; Neither is their Dignity, Authority, Riches, Prosperity, or any temporal Good They enjoy, that may be looked upon as the success of our prayers, the necessary cause hereof, but Their wicked and evil Hearts. These may indeed be incentives and motives hereunto, and so may the best things that are, be perverted and abused to evil; but then this is not the fault of the things but of the men, and so is it here. Our prayers then being not justly chargeable with this Evil, certainly nothing of lesser moment (as our prejudice and passion) ought to prevail so far upon us, as to make us omit so necessary a practice and duty. But whether this, or somewhat worse, hath not had too great a share in the Objection, I shall leave to these men's Consciences to judge and determine: Only I desire them, they would be pleased so far to give me leave, as to acquaint and inform them of this farther additional truth, viz. That the outward calamities and pressures of the Church being only Temporal Evils, not Moral and Internal ones, and permitted by God to wise and holy purposes, should our prayers for wicked Governors so far contribute hereunto, as to enable them to afflict and grieve the Christian Church as the Roman Caesars did of old, and the whole of the Objection was true, as 'tis indeed false; yet nevertheless, we ought to prefer and choose the doing of Christ's Commands, before the enjoyment of the greatest Temporal Emolument and Good, or avoiding the greatest Temporal Calamity and Evil. And that therefore were our Governor and King the greatest Persecutor and Tyrant imaginable, we are to pray for Him; did He afflict and vex the Church of Christ never so much, we are to offer up our Petitions to God for His Welfare and Good. The Reason is, because whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments, and shall teachmen so, shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven, Matth. 5.19.  
I have now, according to my proposed method, considered and dispatched the several particulars of that Subjection and Duty we owe to the Higher Powers, and so have abundantly showed you what that Subjection and Duty is, and wherein it doth consist. I now come in the third place to consider, who are the Persons to pay this Subjection; and they are, according to the Apostle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Every Soul, that is, Every Man, all indiscriminately.  
And though this may be sufficiently understood and collected from what I have above discoursed, yet that I may not be wanting to so good a cause, and in that 'tis a Truth so much impugned and contradicted by some men's Doctrines and Practices, I shall the rather insist upon it, and be the more particular in the discussion of it. That none then of what Degree, State, Quality, Condition or Calling soever, can with any Truth and Justice exempt and privilege themselves from paying this Subjection to the Higher Powers, will be very evident and apparent to any that shall consider, that it is not in any man's power to alter or change, abrogate or disannul that Order of Superiority and Inferiority of Governors and Governed, God hath fixed and established in the World. And if it is undeniably true that it is not, and yet all that are being Parts or Members of some Society or other, and all Societies consisting of Rulers and Ruled, and so the whole World, as to its outward Polity, being fitly distributed and distinguished into these two Ranks or Classes of above and beneath, King and Subject; it will as certainly follow, that whosoever are not of the first of these, must be of the second; whosoever are not of the number of those that Rule, must be of theirs that are Ruled; and if so, then by their place and station they are to be subject, and to obey, because God hath so constituted and appointed it; making it the Subjects business to be Obedient; the Governors to Command and Prescribe. And that they are to Obey and to be dutiful, will yet farther appear, if we consider that none but the Supreme in every Kingdom or Nation can possess, or be vested with that Eminency and Dignity, that Authority and Power, that Necessity and Usefulness to the Public, which are the incommunicable properties of every Governor and Government; and than if They are not thus eminent, powerful and useful, 'tis a contradiction to say, They are Governors, when They want the very Essence and Being of such; and if they are not Governors, they must be Subjects, and if Subjects, then to perform the Commands and Injunctions of their Superiors: So that the whole of the debate between us and the Adversaries, to this Truth, the Pope of Rome and His Clergy of the one hand, and the Reformed Jesuit or Kirk-Reformer of the other, will be fitly resolved into this Quaere, Whether they are Governors or Subjects?  
If Governors, and Supreme, we allow and acknowledge the right of Their claim and exemption; they are indeed not to be subject, but to Rule. But how do they prove this? Or what convincing and irrefragable Argument can they give us, that God hath said to them, They are Gods, and put the Sword of the Civil Power into Their Hands? If They only say it, we can as easily and with as good reason unsay and deny it. As to the Pope, 'tis confessed He makes great brags of a Paramount Superiority; that He is Vicar of Christ, and Vice-God, and so hath two Swords committed to Him, 
Boniface.  the Temporal and the Spiritual. These are His pretensions and boasts, but how true and how well-grounded, we will consider and examine.  
First then, That the Pope is not Vicar of Christ, nor Vice-God, as to the right of the Temporal Sword (and whether He is so as to the other part of His claim belongs to another disquisition) will be very manifest and evident, if we consider that our blessed Lord (Whose Person he pretends to represent, and Whose Place to supply upon earth) never exercised, or laid claim to any such Power as a Man, or as Mediator between God and Man: For as 'twas no part of His Office and Business, so was He more just than to entrench upon and usurp the Rights of others; and thereforetold the Roman Governor, that (though He were a King, yet) His Kingdom was not of this world. And accordingly we all along see Him acting as a Subject: At His Birth, in submitting to Augustus' Decree, for He could have prevented it if He would; in the progress of His Life, by paying Tribute unto Caesar; and at His Death, in suffering the Sentence of Pilate to be Executed upon Him, acknowledging likewise the lawfulness of the Government, when He told the Precedent, that He could have no power against Him, had it not been given him from above. 
John nineteen. 11.  Now for the Pope to pretend to supply the place of Christ, to be His Vicar in that which He never exercised, but always disclaimed and rejected, is very absurd and irrational, as well as bold and presumptuous: And therefore supposing Him to be the Vicar of Christ in other things (which yet is false, and only a precarious Title at best) yet in this particular, He cannot act, or be in His stead, because He never acted or was so Himself, that is, a Civil Governor: So that if he will make good his claim hereunto, he must derive it from somewhat else than his Vicarship, or else all His power and mightiness will quickly fall to the ground, and he must, though unwillingly, part with one of his Swords, whatever becomes of the other.  
But as his Vicarship will do him no good, so neither will that whereon he grounds this claim, his being Successor to St. Peter: For most certain is it, that he neither, as an Apostle, nor as Bishop of Rome, was ever Master or Possessor of the Temporal Sword. Nor do we read that He ever desired it, except it was in that bickering and dispute the Apostles had one with another, which of them should be the greatest: But they were rebuked by their Lord and Master, who told them, that the Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them, and they that exercise Authority upon them, are called Benefactors, but ye shall not be so: But he that is greatest among you, 
Luke xxii. ver● 24, 25, 26.  let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. But this was whilst that gross conceit was so rife among the Jews, that their Messiah was to be a great Temporal Prince, and before they were fully instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven. After the descent of the Holy Ghost, and their being led into all truth, we find nothing tending or looking this way; then no strifes or disputes about greatness, but the necessary and truly Christian Doctrines of Patience, Humility, Self-denial, Resignation, Submission and Obedience to God and Man, taught and practised by them. St. Peter, then when his Commission was most full and Authentic, and he was endued with power from on high, not claiming any Earthly Dominion or Lordship, but of the other side, with his Saviour, reserving unto Caesar his Rights, and Preaching and pressing Submission unto every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake, 
1 Pet. two. 13.  whether unto the King as Supreme, or unto those that are sent by Him: I say, He acting thus, then how comes it to pass that his Successor (who hath no more plenitude and authenticness of Commission than he had) doth act so contrary and repugnant to the doctrine and practice of Christ, and this his truly worthy Predecessor? What! Are the Truths and Graces of those times grown obsolete and out of use? And the Faith once delivered to the Saints, antiquated and out-dated at Rome? Hath the Pride and Ambition, the Avarice and Iniquity of the Man, justled out the Humility and Modesty, the Self-denial and Holiness of the Bishop? Or, to say truth, are not the Times and the Bishops changed? 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 Preached and Taught the Gospel of Christ truly and sincerely; they lived and acted honestly and conscionably; they Honoured all Men; 
1 Pet. two. 17.  they Loved the Brotherhood; they Feared God; they Honoured 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 vilify 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 Clergyman and Bishop, we have a proud temporal Prince and Lord; for a true and sincere Disciple of Christ's, one who by Injustice and Oppression, Usurpations and Encroachments, hath changed the Episcopal Chair into a Regal Throne; the Pastoral Staff, into a Powerful Sceptre; and the Mitre, into a Crown. 'Tis 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 evinced and showed, his Pretences and Plea as to it, must be for ever nulled 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 falsify the Apostle's Assertion, and 'twill 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 inferior 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 acknowledged and confessed, so paid and performed the Duty of Subjection and Obedience to the supreme Magistrate and Governor 
(a) See the Learned Grotius, and Dr. Cave, in the Books and Places above cited. . They looked upon and considered themselves as Members of the Commonwealth and Kingdom where they lived, 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 persuaded 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 Laymen. 
(b) Wideses Pareum in Respons. ad Dubium primum in cap. decimum tertium ad Romanos.  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 abused their Understandings, and perverted their Wills, as to have instilled this Doctrine into their Heads, and made it the practice of their Lives. They lived too near the Fountain of Christianity in its purity and unmixedness, to be yet so earthed 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 worse Men and worse Times; one of the Devil's Masterpieces in the Ages of Antichrist and the Beast; and how very successful it hath been to uphold and support his weakened 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 Judgement mentioned by the Apostle, 2 Thess. 2.11. That God should send them strong delusion to believe a Lie, I shall leave to others peremptorily to define and determine. However, this we may affirm, that till they did believe this Lie, 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 Catholic Christian Doctrine, or true Catholic 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 Clergymen are to be so, is by the Apostles performing and acting it, rendered 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 Clergyman, 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, than 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 
(a) See Dr. Field Of the Church, in His Fifth Book, Chap. 44  doth as much impugn all others (whatever they call themselves) that have drank of the Roman Cisterns, and mudded waters of Tiber. A Popish Priest professed, and a Popish Minister in Masquerade, are alike pernicious and hurtful to the Rights of Princes. The one is for doing all without the Governor, the other for not obeying, and both for not being subject. And if we'll believe the account a worthy Historian 
(a) Archbishop Spotswood His History of Scotland, Book 6.  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 james (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 practised in His Dominions, it laying claim to such a paramount power in Church-Government, 
(a) See Archbishop Bramhals fair warning of Scotch Discipline.  as to suffer no equal and coordinate separate Authority, much less any to be Supreme, would so justle, confront and withstand Him in the Exercise and Use of His Prerogative, so entrench upon his Rights and Privileges, and by its subtleties, pretences and insinuations so screw and turn Him, as e'er 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 Reform 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 Reformed 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 performed 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 show 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 impugned 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 abiram's.  
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; 'twill be very plain and apparent, if we consider, that God having made Men by nature sociable Creatures 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ar. Pol. l. 1. c. 2.  that is, by their make and constitution, fitted them to converse with, and do good one to another, by implanting in them a sense of just and unjust, of good and evil, 
(b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ibid.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; 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, 'tis 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, 'tis absurd, to imagine God to be the Author of man's sociableness, or of his entering into Society, and yet not to be the Author of Government; when Government is of the nature of Society, and 'tis 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 'tis 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 Being's, 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 itself to the vilest Infects 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 persuade ourselves, 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, 
1 Cor. ix 9  for their well and happy Being, as the Apostle urges in another Case? And doth he not for Us, that we may be so too? And then if he doth for us, it must certainly be in a way that may at once secure our Life and Welfare; it must be so as that we may enjoy our Liberty and Property, and the Goods and Benefits of our present state and condition. But how could he have done this, but by instituting and appointing Government; by delegating and setting up some Persons, with a competent Authority and Power to repress and curb all Outrage and Violence, Injustice and Oppression, and to defend and protect the Weak and Impotent? For Wickedness and Injustice were very early in the World, and no doubt there would have been more cain's, had not God interposed, and by somewhat of this kind retrenched and controlled the Exorbitancies and Irregularities of men's Passions and Actings. That he did it by a positive Command, presently after the Flood, is very evident from Gen. 9.6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Which is not improbably understood by Pareus 
(a) In respons. ad tertiam Classem Dubiorum in cap. 13. ad Rom. pag. 1054  to be the Institution of Magistracy; and the Reason he gives for it is very considerable, for that it being a sin in any private man to kill another, and yet the Man-slayer's blood is to be shed, either it must be shed by the Hand of the Magistrate, or by none else, except God would take the Executioner's part upon him, which we do not read he did. However we have this to plead farther in defence of the probability of the Opinion, that it was authorised by the same Spirit of God in the after-Ages of the World, and that the Magistrate alone was with full and evident Commission appointed to be God's Avenger and Minister, to execute wrath upon them that do Evil. And if it hath been so since with divine Allowance and Establishment, why might it not have been so then? especially considering that they were men of like Passions with us, of the same corrupted Nature and Principles, and wanted Boundaries and Fences to keep them from transgressing as well as we. And then if God so early instituted Magistracy, it must be long before the Grecian or Roman Records had a Name or Being in the World; and that therefore the Account they give us of the Original of Government, may be very rationally supposed to be very imperfect and defective in comparison of this, and aught to be so esteemed by all wise and considerate men; when the highest of their Antiquity is but of late date to the Pentateuch, or five Books of Moses.  
3. But supposing this Text doth not directly conclude for the so early Institution of public Magistracy, yet that there was such a thing even then in the World, will be confessed and acknowledged by all that shall farther, thirdly, consider with me, that God had by Nature constituted the Father, the Governor and Overseer of his Offspring and Issue. 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arist. Pol. lib. 1. cap. 1.  And then as 'tis rational to suppose, that there needed no other Governor but the Head of the Family to supervise and inspect, the number of People being then but few, and the Patriarches of those first Centuries living to a very great Age; as Adam (the original Stock of Mankind) nine hundred years and upwards, till after the Birth of Lamech, the Father of Noah; and he having a just Right of Jurisdiction and Government over all that descended from him, so may it be as reasonably concluded that he did actually govern them to his Death, being the Imperial Lord over the whole World. However 'tis very absurd and unreasonable to conclude the Negative or contrary from the holy Scripture's silence herein, when we may as well conclude that Eve never died, because it is not recorded there. 'Tis sufficient ground for the truth of our Assertion, that it is consonant and agreeable to that Order of Superiority and Inferiority God had by Nature placed and fixed in the World between Parent and Child, and that Right he had given as such, and is acknowledged by all: For if there hath been this natural Superiority and Inferiority from the beginning, than some by Nature were to rule and govern, and others by Nature to be subject and obey, or to be governed; and if so, then 'tis as certain, that if God established the one, he must the other, because Superiority here denotes Government, and Inferiority a being governed. And so agreeable hereunto, Aristotle, as great a Master of Reason as any of our modern pretenders, deduces the Original of Government from a House or Family to a Village, 
(a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  from a Village to a City, 
(b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  and from a City to a Nation or Kingdom: 
(c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ar. Pol. lib. 1. cap. 1, 2.  And so Cities were first governed, and afterwards Nations, as He speaks.  
And whether this be not a better and truer account of the State of Nature, than that Mr. Hobbs hath obtruded upon the world 
(d) Leviathan, cap. 13.  I leave to all men to judge, that have but so much reason, as to consider how they were born, or mankind propagated to the present generation. For if it was by the way of Father and Son, than there could not be that natural equality, so as to found and establish a right contrary and inopposition to that of the Parent (which He pleads for, and makes one part of the foundation of his opinion) for notwithstanding that the Son hath as reasonable a Nature as the Father, yet that cannot be supposed to be given him in prejudice of Him from whom he derived it; supposing that our being reasonable Creatures, did give us a right to the things of the earth: For Self-preservation is a Law of Nature as well to the Father as Child; and then the Father having so much the odds of the Son in his minority, would, no doubt, have quickly freed himself from the danger of such a Competitor, and so mankind, long ere this, have ceased, had this been the State of Nature.  
But I deny that, as Men, or reasonable Creatures, we have a right to all things, because The earth is the Lords, 
1 Cor. 10.26. Luke 10.21.  and the fullness thereof; and 'Tis God that is the Lord of Heaven and Earth: So that if we have a right to any thing, the justness of our claim must be founded upon God's gift and donation, and not upon our being all equally men or endued with Reason, for that, as to this, is only a preparative the better to fit and dispose us to enjoy and understand at once, the bounty and wisdom of our Maker and Lord; and that therefore though we have all an equality of Nature, yet we have not all an equality of Right, that being variously dispensed and distributed according to the good pleasure of the Divine Providence. And then as to all other things, 'tis certain that Superiority and Inferiority destroys Equality; and that the Parent is superior to the Child, is more than evident.  
And as little of solidity and firmness is there in that other part of what He lays to found his opinion on, that there was no coercive Power, for if there is Natural Superiority, there must naturally be Government, and if Government, then coercive Power. What He adds of the Nature of men's Passions and Experience, argues at most only thus much, that Men will be still inclined 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 itself must needs fall: For if there was always a just and sufficient power to impede and obstruct the ill effects of men's 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 Philosopher's 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 evinced and showed.  
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 confessed by all that understand any thing: If then the public Governor is not deputed and authorized hereunto by God, but by the Community; he will be only a public 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 public 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 public Magistrate hath not been exempted by God; and if not, than 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 Man's 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 Authorising 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 annexed to warrant and justify 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 Transgressor's and Violators of it; God may dispense with his own Laws, but 'tis 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 Magistrate's 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, 
Psal. lxxxii. 6 John x. 30.  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, 
Rom. xiii. 4.  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 Prince's Decree justice.. And so Daniel told Nabuchadnezzar, The Most High Ruleth in the Kingdom of men, 
Dan. iv. 32.  and giveth it to whomsoever He will. 'Tis 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 Objectiuè, 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 senses, and yet be ordained 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 
(a) Lib. 1. cap. 4. §. 7. num. 3. de jure Belli & Pacis.  interprets it according to the Letter, telling us, that it was an experience or sense of Infirmity and Weakness to withstand others, 
Notandum est primo homines non Dei praecepto sed sponte adductos experimento infirmitatis, familiarum segregum adversus violentiam in Societatem Civilem coiisse, unde ortum habet Potestas Civilis, quam ideo humanam Ordinationem Petrus vocat.  or defend themselves, that first joined 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, 
(a) Rejicienda est eorum opinio, qui ubique & sine exceptione summam potestatem esse volunt populi. Cap. 3. §. 8. num. 1.  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 sense? And so in the same Section again tell us, 
(b) Num. 13. Sed nec verum est quod assumitur omnes Reges à Populo constitui.  That it is not true that all Kings (or Governors) 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 settled: since, as every one is born under a 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 than he tells us, That Governors are not of the People, nor constituted by them, which yet they must be originally, if Government is a humane Ordinance in that sense he hath explained it; for if it is (hominum salubre Institutum, & humana Lex) a humane Institution, Law, or Ordinance, than it is not divine, and if not divine, than all Governments and Governors do owe and are indebted for their Institution and Original to Men or the People. But that they are not, this worthy Author hath affirmed and endeavoured to prove; and therefore tho' he seems to be, yet he is not a real Adversary to the present Truth. Indeed he was a Dutchman, bred up in the Democratical or Popular way, and then 'tis 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 endeavoured to answer what hath been most materially, and with greatest show of Reason objected; I now proceed to the 2 d. and last thing, and that is, to show 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 acknowledged 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 glorify and serve our great Creator and Lord, in all things that relate and appertain unto him; for he being infinitely superior unto, and more excellent in Majesty and Power, in Wisdom and Knowledge, in Justice and Truth, in Mercy and Goodness, than 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 prescribed, commanded and appointed as he can, so nought can be more our Wisdom and Understanding, our Felicity and Good, then to direct and order ourselves according to his Will and Pleasure; then to perform and be subject to what he hath instituted and ordained. 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 proved) doth upon his account challenge and require, enjoin 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 discoursed of; and except we will wickedly reject God to be our Lord, openly defy 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 betid 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, 
Rom. xiii. 2.  but because Disobedience and Rebellion against a lawful Governor, 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, 
1 Sam. viij. 7.  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 Governors; renders their Persons sacred and inviolable, and their Office Majestic and Godlike; their Eminency and Dignity, their Authority and Power being from God; and therefore to rise up against them, to vilify and abuse their Dignity, to despise and contemn their Authority, is to vilify 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 Extreme of Impudence and Wickedness, and a great profanation and violation of the Sacredness of divine Truths, to say and act as some men have taught and practised, 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 feared and dreaded, to be Honoured and Revered, and His Laws and Commands to be performed and obeyed; so are Theirs in all things wherein They Command for God, wherein They are Gods, and in God's 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 worshipping 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, 
Judas ver. 8.  despise Dominions, and speak evil of Dignities. For if God is the Lord, and so His Authority is to be reverenced, and His Will obeyed, 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 than 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 show. Either then we must make Obedience to Governors, a necessary ingredient of our Christianity, or else evacuate and null God's 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, etc.  
I have now by the Divine Assistance gone through the whole of my designed method, and have considered whatsoever the Text suggested as necessary and useful to be treated of, laying down such Rules as will be, I hope, serviceable to all that are not over-scrupulously nice, and of too tender a Conscience.  
What then now remains is, to Exhort and Beseech all in the Bowels of Jesus Christ, and as they tender the Glory and Honour of God and Religion, the Safety and Welfare of the Kingdoms wherein they live, and their own Eternal Good, Happiness and Peace hereafter, that they no longer propagate and cherish, encourage and maintain heats and animosities amongst themselves, Faction and Sedition against the State, and Mutinying and Rebelling against the Person and Authority of their Lawful King and Governor, but Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and be subject unto the Higher Powers. It is a duty as much Christian as any, because Commanded by Christ himself; and therefore with as just a right merits and calls for our care and concernment, our dutiful performance and practice, as any other whatsoever. We may indeed pay a partial and peace-meal Obedience to God without it, but except in this too we exercise ourselves, endeavouring to keep a good Conscience, as we can never be entirely Holy, so not such faithful Stewards and diligent Servants, as shall be able to render their Accounts with joy, and whom the Lord shall bless at his coming: For if God will accept no Obedience but what is uniform, sincere and entire, and ours not being such, in that we have omitted this weighty thing of the Law, this great Commandment; what can we upon good and warrantable grounds expect, but that in the day of Inquisition and Judgement, the Mene Tekel will be pronounced against us; and that how exact and circumspect soever we have been in other things, how very just and righteous, yet that all that Righteousness shall not be remembered, but in the wilful presumptuous sin that we have sinned, in the known and avowed trespass that we have trespassed, in that shall we die? And then could Rebellion and Disobedience confer upon, and Crown us with as great and flourishing Empires and Kingdoms as the Devil vainly made an offer of to Christ, even those of the whole World; could we thereby be as Great, as Honourable, and as Happy as our Hearts could wish; yet how mean, how sad an Exchange must this prove for the irreparable loss and ruin of Soul and Body in Hell? What can compensate that unspeakable, and never enough to be lamented, calamity and misery? May then the just consideration hereof, through God's Omnipotent working Grace be so powerfully effectual, to rouse and stir us up, as to make us consider and see now in this our day, what those things are that belong unto, and make for our Peace; and so far prevail upon us, as that all Rebellion and Disobedience may be as great Strangers to our Lives and Practices, as they are contrary to that pure and undefiled Religion we Profess: That being a People truly zealous of Good Works, in all things willing and desirous to Live Honestly and Uprightly, and as becometh the Gospel of Christ, and diligent and careful in the Great Work of our High and Heavenly Calling; we may so entirely and sincerely Serve and Obey God, as that at the end of our Race we may receive the end of our Hopes, the Eternal Salvation and Blessedness of every one of our Souls. I shall Close all with that of the Apostle, I speak as to Wise Men, 
1 Cor. x. 15.  judge Ye what I say.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
IN the Epistle, Page 2. Line 12. for that Read Your. In the Book, p. 7. l. 19 r. to no man. p. 174. l. 17. for default r. defalk. p. 228. l. 14. for patterns r. pattern. p. 263. for Policy r. Polity.