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from him, of which I have spoken before, (for by bidding them render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, he leaves sovereign princes in the quiet possession of all those rights which he found them possessed of, and requires their subjects to pay them whatsoever is essentially due to their sovereignty, and whatsoever the laws and customs of nations had before determined to be their right,) but also by acknowledging before Pilate the right of the civil tribunal to call him to account, John xix. 11. where he confesses that the power by which Pilate arraigned him was given him from above; and by reprehending St. Peter, for endeavouring by force to rescue him out of the hands of the civil powers: Put up thy sword, saith he, into his place: for all that take the sword shall perish by the sword, Matt. xxvi. 52. In which words it was far from his intention to prohibit the use of the sword either to governors, who, as St. Paul tells us, bear not the sword in vain; or to private persons in their own lawful defence; for he commands his own disciples to buy them swords to defend themselves against robbers and lawless cut-throats, who, as Josephus tells, did very much abound in those days, Luke xxii. 36. but all that he intended was, to forbid drawing the sword against lawful authority in any case whatsoever, though it were for the defence and security of his own person: for this was St. Peter's case, who in the defence of his Saviour resisted the high priest's officers, who came armed with a lawful authority to seize and apprehend him; in which our Saviour plainly owns himself accountable to the civil authority of his country: for if he had not been so, it could be no fault in St. Peter to endeavour to

rescue him from its ministers; and if Christ himself, while he was upon earth, were subject to the civil authority, what an high piece of arrogance is it for those who are at most but his vicars and ministers, to claim or pretend an exemption? And if it were so great a fault in St. Peter to draw his sword against lawful authority, though it were in the defence of his Saviour's person, then doubtless it is no less a fault in his successors to pretend a right from St. Peter to draw their swords against sovereign princes, though it be in the defence of their Saviour's religion. And as our Saviour owned himself subject and accountable to the civil tribunal, so St. Paul's injunction is universal, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; and surely every soul must include the whole body of the clergy as well as of the laity, unless we can produce some clear and express exception to the contrary; and as the commands extend universally to all, so doth the reason of it also, for the powers that are, are ordained of God; and if we must be subject to them, because they rule by God's authority, then it is certain there are none that are subject to God, but are under the force and obligation of this reason. And then he goes on, Whosoever resisteth the power, (of whatsoever degree or order of men he be,) resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation: and if, according to the law of our Saviour, it be a damnable sin for any person or persons whatsoever to resist the civil authority, then it is a plain case, that our Saviour hath not at all depressed the sovereignty of the secular powers, by subjecting it to any superior tribunal; but hath left it as absolute and unaccountable

as ever it was before it was subjected to his empire. And thus having proved that sovereign princes are not divested of any natural right of their sovereignty by their subjection in the mediatorial sceptre of our Saviour, I proceed, in the

Second place, To shew what those ministries are which they are obliged to render to our Saviour, by virtue of this their subjection to him. In general it is foretold, that, upon their subjection to Christ, they should become nursing fathers and nursing mothers to his church, Isa. xlix. 23. that is, that they should tenderly cherish, protect, and defend it, and liberally minister to it whatsoever is necessary for its support and preservation: and to be sure Christ expects of them that they should accomplish this prediction by doing all those good offices to his church which the relation of a foster father or mother imports: for when God predicts any good thing of men, it is plain that he would have them be what he foretells they shall be; so that in this case the prophecy carries precept in it, and doth not only signify what shall be, but also what ought to be. When therefore God prophesies of kings, that they shall be nursing fathers to his church, he doth as well declare what they should be, as what they shall be; and so he foretells of them, and commands them in the same breath. If therefore we would know what those ministries are which Christ now requires sovereign powers to render to his church, our best way will be to inquire what those duties are which are implied in the relation, of a foster father to his foster child. Now the duties of this relation may be all of them comprehended under these four particulars:

First, To protect and defend it against harms and injuries.

Secondly, To cultivate its manners with good precepts and counsels.

Thirdly, To correct and chasten its faults and irregularities.

Fourthly, To supply it with decent raiment and convenient sustenance: answerable to which, sovereign powers being constituted by our Saviour the foster fathers of his church, are, by virtue of this relation, obliged,

I. To protect and defend it in the profession and exercise of the true religion.

II. To fence and cultivate its peace and good order, either by wholesome laws of their own, or by permitting and requiring it to make good laws for itself, and, if need be, enforcing them with civil coercions.

III. To chasten and correct the irregular and disorderly members of it.

IV. To make provision for the decency of its worship, and for the convenient maintenance of its officers and ministers; which answers to the decent raiment and convenient sustenance with which the foster father is obliged to supply his foster child.

These particulars I shall but very briefly insist on, it being none of my province to instruct princes and governors.

I. One of those ministries which princes, by virtue of their subjection to Christ, are obliged to render to his church, is to protect and defend her in the profession and exercise of the true religion, that is, not only to permit her openly to profess the true religion, and to perform the public offices of it without

disturbance or interruption, but also to fence her with legal securities, and guard her with the temporal sword against the power and malice of such as would disturb and persecute her; and therefore sovereign powers are concerned above all things impartially to inquire and studiously to examine what the true religion is; lest being imposed upon by false pretences, they misemploy that power in the patronage of error, which was given them for the protection of the truth.

II. Another of those ministries which princes are obliged, by virtue of their subjection to Christ, to render his church, is to fence and cultivate its peace and good order, either by wholesome laws of their own, or by permitting and requiring it, when occasion requires, to make good laws for itself, and, if need be, by enforcing them with civil coercions: for so, when the church was either broken by schisms, or corrupted by errors and disorderly customs, it was always the practice of Christian kings and emperors, even from the time that they became Christians, to restrain and give a check to those divisions and disorders, either by their own royal and imperial edicts, or by convening the ecclesiastical governors to councils, there to consult and agree upon such good laws and expedients as the present necessities of the church required: and because these laws, being grounded upon more spiritual authority, could as such be enforced by no other penalties than spiritual, which by bold and obstinate offenders were frequently despised and disregarded, therefore those holy kings and emperors thought themselves obliged, as they were the ministers of Jesus, to strengthen and reinforce them with temporal sanctions and pe

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