17th century sermon about Tyranny

[Saint Misbehavin]

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"Walk as becometh the Gospel of Christ. You will no longer mind
high things, but make yourselves equal to men of low degree. You will
no longer value men and women according to their wealth or outward
appearances, but according to their virtue, as the love of God
appeareth in them...You will be most zealously opposite to that which
is opposite to God, You will find it nothing to hazard your lives for
God, in defense of his Truth from error, in defense of your brother or
neighbor from oppression or tyranny.

"Love makes you no longer your own, but God's servants, and prompts
you to do his will in the punishment of all kinds of exorbitances,
whether it be breach of oaths, breach of trusts or any kind of
injustice whatsoever, and be no respecter of persons.

"You will when need requires, that is, when tyrants and oppressors
endeavor by might and force to pervert all laws and compacts among
men, and to pervert the Truth of God into a lie, interpreting his
sacred word as a Patron of their unjust power, as if any unjust power
were of God and were not to be resisted.

"I say such insolencies as these will inflame your zeal, and set you
all on fire to fight the Lord's Battle, and bring into
subjection those abominable injunctions and unGodly courses of men.

"Your judgments will be so well informed, as you will know these
things are by God referred to you, and you will not resign them up to
Him, but willingly sacrifice your lives and your fortunes, and all
that is near and dear to unto you, rather than suffer his name to be
so blasphemed, or your innocent brethren, or your wives or your
children to become a prey to wicked and bloodthirsty men.

"The politicians of this world would have religious men to be fools,
not to resist, by no means, lest you receive damnation: urging God's
holy Word while they proceed in their Damnable courses. But, beloved,
they will find that true Christians are of all men the most valiant
defenders of the just Liberties of their Country, and the most zealous
preservers of true Religion, vindicating the Truths of God with their
Lives, against all unGodliness and unrighteousness of men, making
thereby the whole world to know that true Christianity hates and
abhors tyranny, oppression, perjury, cruelty, deceit and all kinds of
filthiness, and true Christians to be the most impartial, and most
severe punishers of all kinds of wickedness of any men whatsoever."

(From "The Power of Love" by John Sweeting, London.September 19, 1643)

[winsome]

Worth noting that this was written 1 year into the English civil war between King and Parliament.

Who John Sweeting had in mind as tyrants would depend on which side he was on.

[Saint Misbehavin]

Dear Winsome,

Thank you for your response.

More than likely Sweeting was of the Protestant persuasion, and I would bet if he was a partisan in the English civil war, he favored the House of Commons section of Parliament, over the King.  This is THE one protestant sermon I can whole heartedly agree with, especially in regard to tyrants in general, and murderous tyrants in particular.

I was hoping to get some feedback from my fellow Catholics about the message itself, if we can somehow get past the problem of it probably being composed by a Protestant.

The core of the message something that I can gather only by taking the scriptures as a whole and is not so succinctly stated in any particular verse of the Bible that I know of, i.e. that God is never the patron of any unjust power, nor of any injustice (whatsoever) for that matter.

What do other Catholics think about this core message?

[winsome]

As this was after the reigns of Henry VIII and ELizabeth I the country was firmly protestant. Charles I was protestant, although married to a Catholic wife. I don't see it being Catholic vs Protestant but Royalist vs Parliament.

John Sweetings sermon could have been directed at either side, though, admittedly, the Protestant tyranny was more obvious later under Cromwell.

When you say that God is not the patron of any unjust power I think it depends on how you mean that. God put up with the inhustices of the kings of Judah and Israel for many years before finally exiling them as punishments. I don't think he approved of them but on the other hand I don't think he would have approved of an uprising and civill war either.

[Saint Misbehavin]

When you say that God is not the patron of any unjust power I think it depends on how you mean that. God put up with the injustices of the kings of Judah and Israel for many years before finally exiling them as punishments.

Eventually over a period of time, The Scriptures say that the Assyrians carried away the Ten Northern tribes of Israel, so God did not somehow just single out only the Kings for exile. The people themselves had become idolatrous and the majority of them went into slavery and bondage as well as a result. 2 Kings Chapter 17 Douay Rheims Catholic Bible


It is interesting as a side note that the people who were carried off from this region called Samaria were replaced by the Assyrians in their steads with Non  - Israelites (Cuthans, Babylonians and others who did not know The Lord at all)...and these various resettlers  eventually became known as Samaritans!. These "Samaritans" (who were not in any way descendants of the Ten Northern tribes of Israel) were despised by the refugees fleeing into the environs of Jerusalem and their children.

Hence Jesus' Parable of the "Good Samaritan" intended to make the point that God favored the kind no matter who their ancestors were.

I don't think he approved of them but on the other hand I don't think he would have approved of an uprising and civil war either.

Thanks for the oxymoron "Civil" War, Winsome. I would prefer to think that God does not like war, any more than he could ever be a Patron of Unjust Power. But some wars have been started by a single shot (American Revolutionary, WW 1) so I guess everything would depend on who started it. Once a war is started, stopping it is problematic.

What is the Church's Position on the American Revolution of 1776? Did the Pope at the time approve of the outcome, in your opinion?

[winsome]

What is the Church's Position on the American Revolution of 1776? Did the Pope at the time approve of the outcome, in your opinion?

I've no idea. I'm English not American

[Saint Misbehavin]

What is the Church's Position on the American Revolution of 1776? Did the Pope at the time approve of the outcome, in your opinion?

I've no idea. I'm English not American

You don't have to be an American to quickly learn any detail of world or local History on the Internet:

http://madmonarchist.blogspot.com/2012/09/papal-profile-pope-pius-vii.html

In Church matters he was staunch in upholding traditional teachings, condemned those who said that Ecumenical Councils could overrule the Pontiff and while his predecessor had been less than positive on the formation of the United States of America, Pius VII praised the new republic for the American naval campaign against the Barbary pirates of North Africa, famously saying that the Americans "had done more for the cause of Christianity than the most powerful nations of Christendom have done for ages".


Once upon a time I was summoned before a magistrate who reminded me that Pope Innocent III annulled the Magna Carta, which had to be re-instated at a later time over the  Pope's objections. The magistrate seemed to be implying that since I was a catholic I should not be making reference to the US Constitution, which is supposedly based on rights enumerated in the Magna Carta.

I was trying to assert the right to a Jury trial based on the 7th Amendment. The case against me was later thrown out due to a "technicality" ("Time not Waived")

What gets me is that The American Revolution started by a group of disgruntled former British Citizens, who wrote out their complaints in the Declaration of Independence, which was primarily a Deist, Freemasonic and Protestant endeavor.

All of these types are supposedly antithetical to Roman Catholicism.

What point is God trying to make here?