But you will ask, Whence is it then that we have the foresaid instances? I answer sometime not authority but malice and cruelty driveth poor Christians to a stone, wall, and if they turn ⟨p. 170⟩again when they can fly no further, accuseth them of Rebellion; As it was with the Waldenses, the Bohemians, &c. Sometime Princes and States fall out among themselves, and cannot agree about their Titles, and the Bounds and degrees of their Power: And then whoever the people are against, they are sure from that side to hear the most opprobrious Titles, and be used accordingly if it be in their power. Sometime the right of Government is not easily or generally known: as in the contention between the houses of York and Lancaster here: And then as one party conquereth one year, and another the next, so the people must be called Traitors and Rebels by each party that prevaileth, if they obeyed and served the other party against them: And if they refuse to obey and defend either of them, they will be condemned by both. Sometime the Polity of Empires and Common-wealths is so imperfect and obscure in the constitution, that the several parties that pretend to interest, cannot agree about their Rights, nor the Lawyers agree among themselves: And the people cannot be thought to be wiser then the Lawyers in the affairs of their profession: If Nero and the Senate of Rome had each of them commanded the Christians to aid them against the other, it would not have been easy for the wisest and holiest of the Christians then to know which part they should have adhered to and assisted: Paul thought not meet to decide any such controversy: He commanded every soul to be subject to the higher powers, and not resist: but he tells them not whether Caesar or the Senate was the higher powers in a case of contest and division. Sometime a Traitor usurpeth the Government, and Christians think when they see him settled and in possession, that, though they hate his usurpation, yet they are bound to honour and obey him as being possessed of the Government: Thus Gregory the great too hastily and flatteringly owned and applauded Phocas: and the Christian Bishops ordinarily subjected themselves to the Emperors that came in by blood and violence:
But you will aske, Whence is it then that we have the foresaid instunces? I answer sometime not authority but malice and cruelty driveth poor Christians to a stone, wall, and if they turn ⟨p. 170⟩again when they can fly no further, accuseth them of Rebellion; As it was with the Waldenses, the Bohemians, &c. Sometime Princes and States fall out among themselves, and cannot agree about their Titles, and the Bounds and degrees of their Power: And then whoever the people are against, they are sure from that side to hear the most opprobrious Titles, and be used accordingly if it be in their power. Sometime the right of Government is not easily or generally known: as in the contention between the houses of York and Lancaster here: And then as one party conquereth one year, and another the next, so the people must be called Traytors and Rebells by each party that prevaileth, if they obeyed and served the other party against them: And if they refuse to obey and defend either of them, they will be condemned by both. Sometime the Politie of Empires and Common-wealths is so imperfect and obscure in the constitution, that the several parties that pretend to interest, cannot agree about their Rights, nor the Lawyers agree among themselves: And the people cannot be thought to be wiser then the Lawyers in the affairs of their profession: If Nero and the Senate of Rome had each of them commanded the Christians to aid them against the other, it would not have been easie for the wisest and holiest of the Christians then to know which part they should have adhered to and assisted: Paul thought not meet to decide any such controversie: He commanded every soul to be subject to the higher powers, and not resist: but he tells them not whether Caesar or the Senate was the higher powers in a case of contest and division. Sometime a Traytor usurpeth the Government, and Christians think when they see him setled and in possession, that, though they hate his usurpation, yet they are bound to honour and obey him as being possessed of the Government: Thus Gregory the great too hastily and flatteringly owned and applauded Phocas: and the Christian Bishops ordinarily subjected themselves to the Emperours that came in by blood and violence:
