How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of their Subjects, Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII.
The redineſſe of the people to defende idolatrie, ſuperstition, and earthly commodities: and their ſlouthfulneſſe in maynteyning the cōtrarie. How they are charged to ſee the Lawes of God kept, and the tranſgreſsion of the ſame puniſhed, if their rulers do neglecte them. And that they may lawfully puniſh their Magiſtrates as priuate perſones tranſgreſsing the Lordes precepts.
BVt what remedie? (ſaye you) we being but ſubiectes with out power, ād wiſedome cannot helpe it. The more pyttie deare Countriemen,Rebellion againſt the lawful gouernement of godly kinge Edwarde ād obedience to the vniuſte vſurpation of wicked Marie. that you hauehave ſo ſtoutly or rather ſtubbernely ſhewed your willes and power in the dayes of Godly kynge Edwarde the VI. your late Prince and gouernour, and the zelous ſeruant of God: who ſoght to rule you in Gods feare, ād vnderunder whom you had the confortable worde of God, ād were deliuered from the Romiſhe Antichriſt, and from all ſuperſtition, for the moſt parte, hauing your Realme free from ſtrangers, and quiete from all enimies, enioying your goods and freinds in peace with out all force. impriſōning, reuilīg, baniſhing, or murthering) It is to be lamented (I ſaye) that then receauing all theſe bleſsinges of God, by the means of ſo worthie a Prince, ye were able to conſpire, riſe and rebell with the daunger of bodies, goods and ſoules, agaynſt your godlie and lawfull kinge: and that chiefly to defende the deuiliſhe Maſſe, and all the puddels of poperie with the Caterpillers and rable of all vncleane ſpirites, as Cardinalls,Reu. 16. Biſhopps, Prieſtes, Monkes, Freers, Nonnes &c. And now in theſe matters wherin conſiſteth the glorie of God, the preſeruation of your owne liues, and defence of your countrie you are without all will, power and helpe.
To reſtore Antichriſt agayne, whom ons God had baniſhed to all your comfortes,How fare mans iugdment differeth from Gods. you were not aſhamed to terme it obedience, and to counte your ſelues therin no rebells, but lawfull reſiſters: but to defende Chriſte and his confortable Goſpell (which then you had in poſſeſsion) that are you perſuaded to be open rebellion. To arme your ſelues agaynſt your ſuperiors, to defend your cōmons and earthly commodities with holden from you, by the greedy deſier of new vpſtarte gentlemen, how willing and redie hauehave you ſhewed your ſelues?Worldely cōmodities preferred to ſpiritual benefites But to holde and reteyne your ſpiritual poſſeſsion not promiſed onelyonly, but geuen in to your handes, you are moſte ſlowe without all hope and courage. Shall not this be to your iuſte condemnation? When God calleth you to a rekening, what cā you hauehave to anſwere? Are ye any better then the Gergezites,Mat 9. which deſiered Chriſte to departe from them becauſe they loſte their hogges and ſwyne? yea, ye are worſe then they were by muche, becauſe ye hauehave profeſſed Chriſte ād receaued him and his doctrine, and with him vnſpeakable benefytes and treaſors. And yet notwithſtanding hauehave not onelyonly deſiered him to departe from amongeſt you as they did: but layde violent handes vponupon him, perſecuting him with ſword, baniſhmēt, fire, and cruell death, as thogh he had bene your mortal enimy. O ingratitude intolerable! Chriſte your mercifull Lorde (who deſtroyed nothinge of yours, but preſerued and increaſed, euen your ſwine & hogges, & all other beaſtes ād cattell in great abūdance) you hauehave deſpiced and vtterly denied, to hauehave Antichriſte to be your Lorde ād gouernour, ād with hī all filthie ſwine, wilde beares, wolues, bores, tygers, and lyons to deuoure, deſtroye, ād ouerthrowe all thinges: not your fieldes ād paſtures onelyonly: but villages, Townes, Cities, and Caſtels, yea your ſelues, your wyues, and children, and what ſo euer you counte moſte precious.
Wel, the day of the Lorde will come, when you ſhal fele what it is to fight for your Maſſe, and to betraye the Goſpell, to riſe and rebell agaynſte your lawfull Prīce, ād to obeye ād defende a baſtarde, and opē enimie to God, an vtter deſtruction of the whole realme: to murther and baniſhe your naturall countriemē ād louing brethern, to honor ād receaue ſtrangers Gods expreſſe aduerſaries: a cruell people, a prowde nation: a people of a farre and of a ſtrange langage,Baruch. 4 Ieremi…. 5. Deut. 28. whoſe tōgue ye ſhall not vnderſtā de, an impudēt natiō, ād hard harted people, with out all pitie and merciemercy, which nether will be moued with the lamē table voyce of the mothers, nor ſhewe anie compaſsion for the pittifull crye of their ſucklinges and infantes. And whi? becauſe ye hauehave choſē to obeye vile man, yea a raginge and mad… womā,A Godly and moſte neceſſarie admonitiō rather then the almightie and mercifull God. Repent, repent, ô ye people of England, for your deſtruction is at hande. Forſake with ſpede the vnlawfull obediēce of fleſhe and bloude, ād learne to geue honor ī tyme to the liuīg Lorde, that he maye ſtaye his hāde, ād drawe to him agayne his ſtretched out arme, that you may fynde merciemercy, and that the bothom of your cupp be not turned vpwarde.
Alas ſaye you, what is this we heare? Be not the people, of them ſelues as ſhe epe without a paſtor?The vaine excuſes of the people. If the Magiſtrates and other officiers cōtemne their duetie in defending Gods glorie and the Lawes cōmitted to their charge, lieth it in our power to remedie it? Shall we that are ſubiectes take the ſworde in our hādes? It is in dede as you ſay, a great diſcouraging to the people whē they are not ſtirred vp to godlyneſſe by the good exāple of all ſortes of Superiors, Magiſtrates ād officers in the faithefull executīg of their office: ād ſo muche more whē they are not defended by them in their right and title, as wel concerning religion, as the freedome of their naturall coūtrie: but moſte of all when they, which ſhuld be ther guydes ād Capitayns, are become inſtrumētes to inforce them to wicked impietie. Neuertheles, all this can be no excuſe for you, ſeing, that euil doinges of others, whether they be Lordes, Dukes, Barōs, knights or any inferior officers, may not excuſe you in euil. And thoghe you had no man of power vponupon your parte:Deu. 4.5 & 6. 1. Chro. 29. yet, it is a ſufficient aſſurance for you, to hauehave the warrāt of Godds worde vponupon your ſide, and God him ſelf to be your Capitayne who willeth not onelyonly the Magiſtrates ād officers to roote out euil from amongeſt them, beit, idolatrie, blaſphemie or open iniurie, but the whole multitude are therwith charged alſo, to whō a portiō of the ſworde of iuſtice is cōmitted, to execute the iudgementes which the Magiſtrates lawfully commande. And therfore if the Magiſtrates would whollye deſpice and betraye the iuſtice and Lawes of God, you which are ſubiectes with them ſhall be condemned except you mayntayne and defend the ſame Lawes agaynſt them, ād all others to the vttermoſte of your powers, that is, with all your ſtrēgth, with all your harte and with all your ſoule, for this hath God required of you,Exod. 17 ād this hauehave you promiſed vntounto him not vnderunder cōdition (if the Rulers will) but without all exceptiōs to do what ſo euer your Lorde and God ſhall commande you.
As touching idolatrie,Deut. 13. it is worthie to be conſidered what Moyſes wrytethe, or rather the Spirite of God by hī, how the Lorde in that place chargeth the whole people to ſtone to death without mercy the falſe Prophet or dreamer, when anie ſhulde riſe vp amongeſt thē, yea thoghe the thinges came to paſſe which he before ſpake, if that therby he ſoght to perſwade thē or drawe thē to idolatrie. And alſo howe he ſuffred ſuch amōgeſt his people to try ād proue thē, whether they woulde louelove him with all their harte and with all their ſoule, meanīg (as eueryevery mā may well perceaue) that if they ſhulde yelde for all their ſignes ād wonders to idolatrie, ād not puniſhe ſuch falſe Prophetes and dreamers as God had rayſed vp: that thē they loued him not, yea that they had playnly forſaken and denied him, for that he commanded expreſlye that euerie ſuch Prophet ſhuld be put to death, and therfore chargeth to take the euill frō amongeſt them. Which commandemēt as it is not geuen onelyonly to the Rulers and Gouernours (thoghe I confeſſe it chieflie apperteyneth to their office to ſee it executed, for which cauſe they are made Rulers) but alſo is comon to all the people, who are likewiſe bownde to the obſeruation of the ſame: euenſo is the puniſhment appoynted of God, belonging to all maner of perſons without exception, being found tranſgreſſors. For the Lorde is a iuſt puniſher,Eccleſi 35 Deut. 10. Leui. 19. with whom there is no reſpecte of perſons, who willeth his people to be like him in their iudgemē tes. In iudgemēte (ſaithe the Lorde) comitte no vnrighteouſnes, nether reſpect the face of the poore, nether be you afrayde at the cōtenaūce of the mightie, but iudge vprightly to your neghbour.
Deut. 13.Moreouer that eueryevery perſone both high and lowe is charged of God with this Lawe, and none freede from the puniſhmēt, it is euidēt in the ſame Chapter folowing: Where God doth not permit ſomuche as priuie whiſpering in thy eare, tending to idolatrie, vnpuniſhed, no not of thy deareſt frende or kinſmā, ſayng: Yf thine owne naturall brother,What zeale we oght to God in puniſhinge idolatrers. ſonne, daughter, or the wyffe of thine owne boſome, or thy neghboure whom thou loueſte as thine owne liffe, ſecreatly prouoke thee to idolatrie, to ſerue ſtrāge Gods, either farre or neare, geue not place to him, nether heare him, nether let thine eye hauehave pitie vpō hī, nether ſhalt thou pardō him, or hide him, but ſhalt vtterly ſley hī: thy hande ſhall firſt be vponupon ſuch a one to kill him, and then the handes of all the people &c.
The like commandement is alſo geuen in the 17. and 18. Chap. of the ſame boke, charging all the people of God in generall, to ſee idolatrie puniſhed without merciemercy, and that in all perſones. Wherfore we may moſte certaynely conclude, that if the Rulers and Magiſtrates in this caſe, woulde not execute the Lawes of God where with they are ſo ſtraightly charged, that then the people are not diſcharged, excepte they put it in execution to take the euil from amongeſt them, to whom it alſo belongeth. Next, that no perſone is exempted by any Lawe of God from this puniſhment, be he kinge, Quene or Emperour, that is, either openly or priuely knowne to be an idolatrer be he neuer ſo neare or deare vntounto vsus, he muſt dye the death. For God hath not placed them aboue others to tranſgreſſe his Lawes as they liſte,As al perſones oght to obey Godes Lawes, ſo oght they to be puniſhed if they tranſgreſſe them. but to be ſubiecte vntounto them as well as others, ouer whom they gouerne. And if they be ſubiecte vntounto his Lawes, they muſte be ſubiect to the puniſhment alſo, when they be fownd diſobedient tranſgreſſors: yea, ſo muche the more as their example is more daungerous. For looke what wickedneſſe reigneth in the Magiſtrates, the ſubiectes comonly take incouragement therby to imitate the ſame,1. king. 14.21. as we ſee in the examples of Ieroboam. Achab and wicked Manaſſes, who being ſuffred in the beginninge to commit idolatrie, and to erecte idoles, made the ſame likewiſe laufull to all their ſubiectes.Num. 25. For the ſame cauſe God commāded Moyſes to hāge vp all the capitaynes and heads of the people, for that by their example they made the people idolatrers alſo: he had no reſpect to their auctoritie, becauſe they were Rulers, but ſo muche the rather woulde he hauehave them ſo ſharplie puniſhed, that is, hanged agaynſt the ſunne without mercy: which iudgement, thoghe it was done at Gods commandment firſte, and after at Moyſes, yet were the people executors of the ſame, and all did vnderſtand that it was iuſte: and not for that tyme onelyonly, but to be a perpetuall example for euer, ād a ſure admonition of their duetie in the like defectiō from God, to hāge vp ſuch Rulers as ſhulde drawe them frō him.
And thoghe it appeare at the firſte ſight a great diſordre, that the people ſhulde take vntounto them the puniſhment of tranſgreſsion, yet, when the Magiſtrates and other officers ceaſe to do their duetie, they are as it were, without officers, yea, worſe then if they had none at all, and then God geueth the ſworde in to the peoples hande, and he him ſelf is become immedialty their head (Yf they will ſeeke the accompliſhment of his Lawes) and hath promiſed to defende them and bleſſe them.Leui. 26. Deu 27.30
And althogh the rebellion of the people, their ingratitude and contempte of Godes Lawes hath bene ſuch at all tymes, that it is a rare thinge to ſhewe their duetie in this behalf, by anye exāple:Iud. 19.20 yet is there one facte of the Iſralites worthie memorie, ād appertaynīg, to this purpoſe, whiche is written in the boke of the Iudges, at what tyme they had no lawfull Magiſtrate in all Iſraell. Who notwithſtandinge roſe vp whollie together agaynſt the Tribe of Beniamī in Gabaa (becauſe of that ſhamefull vilanie, which the ſonnes of Belial had done to the Leuites wiffe) and ſayed or agreed amongeſt them ſelues,The cōmō people with out a Gouernour prepare thē ſelues to warre. that none ſhuld departe to their houſes or tentes, before they were reuenged of their owne brethern the Beniamites, to flea thoſe deteſtable perſons, which had ſo ſhamefully abuſed the Leuites wiffe, albeit ſhe was an harlot, and they without a guide or Capitayne: not knowing when they came to the felde who ſhulde be their gouernour to leade thē, and geue the onſet, before they had cō ſulted with God, who appoynted vntounto them Iuda. Here do we ſee the eleuen Tribes, to whome the Leuite made his complaynt, in ſendinge to eueryevery Tribe a portion of his wiffe, did not excuſe them ſelues to ſhew iuſtice, bicauſe they wanted a lawfull Magiſtrate to gouerne them, nor thoght them ſelues diſcharged for that they were as ſheeppe without a paſtor: except they did thus arme them ſelues againſte the ſonnes of Belial the vngodly Beniamites to ſee the Iudgementes of God executed accordinge to his Law (and as they ſaide them ſelues) to cut of the euil frō amongeſt, then demādinge in the end the wicked mē that had cōmitted that vilanie.
But you wil ſay: It is an other matter for the people to enterprice ſuch an acte being without a Ruler, and when they hauehave a Ruler appoynted vntounto them, without whom they may do nothing. To this I anſwered before, that it is all one to be without a Ruler, and to hauehave ſuch as will not rule in Gods feare. Yea it is much better to be deſtitut altogether, then to hauehave a tyrant and murtherer. For then are they nomore publik perſons, contemning their publik auctoritie in vſinge it agaynſt the Lawes, but are to be taken of all men, as priuate perſones, and ſo examyned and puniſhed. Neuer the leſſe, to the intent ye may vnderſtande, that the gouernour oght not to take away all right from the people, nether diſcharge thē vtterly, from the execution of iuſtice: let vsus conſider a like example of the peoples zele vnderunder the worthie Capitayne Ioſua,Ioſua. 22. who when they but harde that the Sonnes of Ruben, the Sonnes of Gad,The people aſſemble in Gods cauſe. and the half Tribe of Manaſſes, had erected vp an Altar in their portiō, which God had geuen them beyonde Iordane, thinking that they had ſo done, to hauehave ſacrificed theron, and ſo to hauehave fallen from God: aſſembled them ſelues together wholly, agaynſt the Rubenytes, Gaddites and half Tribe of Manaſſes to reuenge that defection from God (as they tooke it) thoghe afterwarde they proued it to be nothing ſo. Which facte, as it declared an earneſt true zele in the people for the defence of Gods glorye, and his religion: ſo Ioſua their Capitayne, nether did nor ought to hauehave reproued them: yea, happie might Ioſua thinke him ſelf, that had his people ſo readie to mayntayne of their owne accorde the Lawes of God, whiche before in the dayes of Moyſes were ſo ſtubburne and rebellious. And if this redineſſe was commendable, hauing a worthie Magiſtrat and godly Capitayne: how neceſſary is it to be vſed amongeſt the people when they hauehave vngodly and wicked Princes, who ſeke by all means to drawe them rather from the Lawe of God, then to incourage them to mayntayne the ſame? Wherfore this zele to defend Gods Lawes and preceptes, wherewith all ſortes of men are charged, it is not onelyonly prayſe worthie in all, but requyred of all, not onelyonly in abſtayninge from the tranſgreſsion of the ſayed Lawes, but to ſee the iudgemētes therof executed vponupon all maner of perſones with out exception. And that if it be not done by the conſent and ayed of the Superiours, it is lawfull for the people, yea it is their duetie to do it thē ſelues, as well vponupon their owne rulers and Magiſtrat, as vponupon other of their bretherē, hauing the worde of God for their warrant, to which all are ſubiecte, and by the ſame charged to caſt forthe all euill from them, and to cut of eueryevery rotten membre, for feare of infecting the whole body, how deare or pretious ſo euer it be. If death be deſerued, death: if other puniſhmētes, to ſee they be executed in all.
Rom. 13.For this cauſe hauehave you promiſed obedience to your Superiors, that they might herein helpe you: and for the ſame intent hauehave they taken it vponupon them. If they will ſo do, and keepe promiſſe with you accordinge to their office, then do you owe vntounto them all humble obedience: If not, you are diſcharged, and no obedience belongeth to them: becauſe they are not obedient to God, nor be his miniſters to puniſhe the euell, and to defend the good. And therfore your ſtudie in this caſe, oght to be, to ſeeke how you may diſpoſe and puniſhe according to the Lawes, ſuch rebells agaynſt God, and oppreſſers of your ſelues and your countrie: and not how to pleaſe them, obeye them, and flatter them as you do in their impietie. Which is not the waye to obtayne peace, and quietneſſe, but to fall in to the handes of the allmightie God, and to be ſubiecte to his fearefull plagues and puniſhmentes.