[Matt. xiii. 1.] we owe, and that by the Law of God; we are in conscience bound to yield it even unto every of them that hold the Seats of Authority and Power in relation unto us. Howbeit, not all kinds of Subjection unto every such kind of Power. Concerning Scribes and Pharisees, our Saviour's precept was, "Whatsoever they shall tell ye, do it:" was it his xxiii. 3.] meaning, that if they should at any time enjoin the people to levy an army, or to sell their lands and goods for the furtherance of so great an enterprize; and, in a word, that simply whatsoever it were which they did command, they ought, without any exception, forthwith to be obeyed? No, but whatsoever they shall tell you, must be understood in pertinentibus ad Cathedram, it must be construed with limitation, and restrained unto things of that kind which did belong to their Place and Power: for they had not Power general, absolutely given them to command all things. The reason why we are bound in conscience to be subject unto [Rom. all such power is, because all "Powers are of God." They are of God either instituting or permitting them. Power is then of Divine institution, when either God himself doth deliver, or men by light of Nature find out, the kind thereof. So that the Power of parents over children, and of husbands over their wives, the Power of all sorts of superiors, made by consent of Commonwealths within themselves, or grown from agreement amongst Nations, such Power is of God's own institution in respect of the kind thereof. Again, if respect be had unto those particular persons to whom the same is derived, if they either receive it immediately from God, as Moses and Aaron did; or from Nature, as parents do; or from men by a natural and orderly course, as every Governor appointed in any Commonwealth, by the orders thereof, doth; then is not the kind of their Power only of God's instituting, but the derivation thereof also into their Persons, is from him. He hath placed them in their Rooms, and doth term them his Ministers; Subjection, therefore, is due unto all such Powers, inasmuch as they are of God's own institution, even then when they are of Man's creation, omni humanæ creaturæ: which things the Heathens themselves do acknowledge. Σκηπτοῦχος βασιλεὺς, ᾧτε Ζεὺς κῦδος ἔδωκεν. * A sceptre-swaying King, to whom even Jupiter himself hath given honour and commandment. Hom. Il. lib. A. v. 279. As for them that exercise Power altogether against Order, although the kind of power which they have may be of God, yet is their exercise thereof against God, and therefore not of God, otherwise than by permission, as all injustice is.* xix. 6. Touching such Acts as are done by that Power which is according to his institution, that God in like sort doth authorize them, and account them to be his; though it were not confessed, it might be proved undeniably. For if that be accounted our deed, which others do, whom we have appointed to be our agents, how should God but approve those deeds, even as his own, which are done by virtue of that commission and power which he hath given. "Take 2 Chron. heed (saith Jehoshaphat unto his Judges), be careful and circumspect what ye do; ye do not execute the judgments of man, but of the Lord." The Authority of Cæsar over the Jews, from whence was it? Had it any other ground than the Law of Nations, which maketh Kingdoms, subdued by just war, to be subject unto their conquerors? By this Power Cæsar exacting tribute, our Saviour confesseth it to [Matt. xxii. 21.] be his right, a right which could not be withheld without injury, yea disobedience herein unto him, and even rebellion against God. Usurpers of Power, whereby we do not mean them that by violence have aspired unto places of highest Authority, but them that use more Authority than they did ever receive in form and manner before mentioned† (for so they may do, whose title unto the Rooms of Authority which they possess, no man can deny to be just and lawful: even as contrariwise some men's proceedings in Government have been very orderly, who notwithstanding did not attain to be made Governors without great violence and disorder); such usurpers thereof, as in the exercise of their Power do more than they have been authorized to do, cannot in Conscience bind any man unto obedience.§ That Subjection which we owe unto lawful Powers, doth not only import that we should be under them by order of our state, but that we shew all submission towards them both by honour and obedience. He that resisteth them, resisteth God: and resisted they be, if either the Authority [See BAXTER, § 23, ut sup. and Part II. Cases of Conscience, Quest. 132.] [See BAXTER, ut sup.] [See BAXTER, (chap.iii. apud fin.) ut sup. p. 266.] 8 [See BAXTER, § 23, ut sup. and Part II. Cases of Consc. Quest. 132.] itself which they exercise be denied, as by Anabaptists all Secular Jurisdiction is; or if resistance be made but only so far forth as doth touch their persons which are invested with Power (for they which said, "Nolumus hunc regnare," did not utterly exclude Regiment; nor did they wish all kind of Government clearly removed, which would not at the first have David to govern); or if that which they do by virtue of their Power, namely, their Laws, Edicts, Services, or other acts of Jurisdiction, be not suffered to take effect, contrary to the blessed Apostle's most holy Rule, “Obey xiii. 17, them that have the oversight of you." Or if they do take effect, yet is not the will of God thereby satisfied neither, as long as that which we do is contemptuously or repiningly done, because we can do no otherwise. In such sort the Israelites in the Desert obeyed Moses, and were notwithstanding deservedly plagued for disobedience. The Apostle's [Rom. Precept therefore is, " Be subject even for God's cause; be xiii. 1- subject, not for fear, but of mere Conscience, knowing, that Heb. 5.] he which resisteth them, purchaseth to himself condemnation." Disobedience, therefore, unto Laws which are made by Men, is not a thing of so small account as some would make it. Howbeit, too rigorous it were, that the breach of every Human Law should be held a deadly sin:* a mean there is between those extremities, if so be we can find it out.† [See BAXTER, § 70, ut sup.] [Bishop WARBURTON, ut sup. (see Note * in p. 255 of this Vol.) says, “The result of the principles contended for in this Eighth Book was this, That the Puritan principle established an imperium in imperio: and that Hooker's introduced Persecution for Opinion.' He thinks it cannot be doubted that the last three Books of Hooker "are indeed of the same hand with the other five," p. 180, ut sup. And in p. 243, ibid. he styles Hooker, "The best good man of our Order." ANTHONY WOOD remarking on the authenticity of Hooker's last three Books, says, "The reason why Mr. Rich. Baxter contends so earnestly for their genuineness, is because the said three Books, but more especially the Eighth, do contain certain popular and false principles, concerning the true nature of the Legislative Power, the Original of Government and the Office of Kings itself, as derived from the People. And that he may charge these destructive assertions home on our Author, he (in his Pref. to the fourth part of his Christian Directory, 1673) saith, ‘If any do causelessly question whether the Eighth (imperfect) Book be in those passages his own, let them remember that the sum of them is in his First Book, which is old, and highly honoured by the Prelatists."" Athenæ Oxon. edit. Bliss. 1813. 4to. Vol. I. col. 697. BAXTER'S words are-" and highly honoured, by you know whom and I will do him (Hooker) the honour, and myself the dishonour to confess, that I think the far greater number of Casuists and authors of Politics; Papists, and Protestants; are on his side, and fewest on mine."] THE TREATISES FOLLOWING. I. A Supplication to the Privy Council, by WALTER Travers. II. HOOKER'S Answer to that Supplication. III. A Learned Discourse of Justification, Works, and How the Foun dation of Faith is overthrown. IV. A Learned Sermon of the Nature of Pride. V. A Remedy against Sorrow and Fear: delivered in a Funeral Sermon. VI. Of the Certainty and Perpetuity of Faith in the Elect: especially the Prophet Habakkuk's Faith. VII. Two Sermons on part of St. Jude's Epistle. VIII. A Sermon on Matt. vii. 7, 8. |