The most excellent Hugo Grotius, his three books treating of the rights of war & peace in the first is handled, whether any war be just : in the second is shewed, the causes of war, both just and unjust : in the third is declared, what in war is lawful, that is, unpunishable : with the annotations digested into the body of every chapter / translated into English by William Evats ...

III. What if they think the cause unjust.

But if commanded thereunto, as usually they are, then if it be evident unto them that the Cause is unjust, they ought altogether to forbear; for that God is rather to be obeyed than man, was not only the judgment of the Apostle, but even of Socrates also, as Plato testifies in his Apology. So also thought the Hebrew Doctors, namely, That Kings, if they command any thing contrary to Gods Laws, were not at all to be obeyed. For this Josephus records of his Country-men, who being convicted before Herod for pulling down the Roman Eagle, which he had caused to be erected over the Great Gate of the Temple at Jerusalem, and demanded how they durst do it, returned this Answer,* 1.1 What we have done, we did in vindication of God's honour, and of that Divine Law whereof we profess our selves to be the Disciples; neither hast thou cause to wonder if we hold the Laws which Moses de∣livered unto us from God himself, to be more sacred and indispensable than thy Decrees. Nei∣ther do we refuse to suffer death, or any other punishment thou shalt think fit to inflict upon us; as knowing that we shall not suffer as Malefactors, but as Martyrs in a good Cause. That ex∣cellent Saying of Polycarpus, now ready to expire, lives still upon Record, namely, To Princes and Potentates we owe all due honour and obedience, yet not so as thereby to endanger our eternal salvation. It was the advice of S^t Paul, Children obey your Parents in the Lord,* 1.2 for this is right: upon which words S^t Hierome thus glosseth, For Children not to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 their Parents, is a sin; but because Parents may haply command that which is unlawful, therefore he addes, In the Lord. And S^t Chrysostome thus expounds them, Children obey your Parents in the Lord, that is, in all things wherein you shall not disobey God.* 1.3 And in another place he saith, For it is no small reward that God proposeth to us for our obedience to Parents (and Magistrates.) For we are commanded to esteem them as our Lords, and both in words and deeds to yield them all due observance; yet so, as the works of true piety and devotion are not thereby hindred. But if thine obedience unto God call thee forwards, then that of S^t Hie∣rome holds true, (which he speaks declamatorily out of Seneca) Per calcatum perge Pa∣trem, Thou must go on, though thou tramplest on thine own Parents. For our obedience un∣to our Parents cannot justifie our disobedience unto God. For as the same Apostle saith, Every man shall receive from God according to his own works, whether bond or free. The like advice doth S^t Hierome give unto Servants, where he addes,* 1.4 But when our carnal Lords shall command any thing contrary to the will of him (who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh,) then they are not to be obeyed. Again, in another place, In those things only are men subject unto their Lords and Masters, which are not contrary to the Commands of God. So likewise Chrysostome, Servants also have their bounds and limits prescribed them by God;* 1.5 and how far they may go in their obedience, is also commanded, beyond which they must not proceed. If the Lord command us nothing that is by God forbidden, he is to be followed and obeyed; but not be∣yond. The like advice gives Clemens Alexandrinus concerning a Wife, Let her, saith he, obey her Husband in all things, and do nothing against his will, but what she believes may very much conduce to vertue, and her own salvation. So likewise Tertullian, We are sufficiently in∣structed (saith he) by the Apostles Precept to be subject to Magistrates, Princes, and Powers in all obedience. Sed intra limites Disciplinae, So far as they transgress not the Rules of Christian Discipline. The like we read of Silvanus the Martyr, We therefore despise the Roman Laws,

lest we should thereby transgress the Divine Laws. And Musonius, If a Son, a Servant, or a Subject,* 1.6 shall refuse to yield obedience unto either a Father, a Master, or a Prince in such Com∣mands as are impious and ungodly, they shall not be accounted as disobedient, injurious or wicked. Now as the obedience of Servants is bounded by the Divine Laws, so is that of Children to Parents.* 1.7 Aulus Gellius approves not of this opinion, That a Father is in all things to be obeyed. For (saith he) what if he command his Son to betray his Countrey, to kill his own Mother? &c. Therefore the middle way is best and safest: in some things we must, in other some we must not obey. So Seneca the Father, Non omnibus Imperiis parendum est, All Commands oblige us not unto o∣bedience. So Quintilian, There is no necessity that Children should execute all their Parents Commands; for there may be many things, which, though commanded, may not lawfully be done. As if a Father command his Son to give his suffrage, or to pass a sentence contrary to his own judgment, or to bear witness to that whereof he is ignorant. If my Father command me to burn the Capitol, to possess my self of such a Fort or Castle; I may lawfully answer, These things I must not do. So in another place, We are not to execute all our Parents Commands, for otherwise nothing would be more destructive than benefits received, if they oblige us unto all man∣ner of servitude. To the same purpose is that of Seneca, Neither can we command all things, nor can our servants be compelled to obey us in all our Commands: Contra Rempublicam Impe∣rata non facient, They will not obey us if we command them any thing against the Common∣wealth; they will not, though commanded, put their hands to any wickedness. Of the same o∣pinion was Sopater, A Father (saith he) is indeed to be obeyed, if his Commands be according to Law, it is true; but if otherwise, it is not convenient. To justifie Subjects for refusing to execute the wicked Commands of their Princes, we have divers examples in the Sa∣cred Stories. Saul commanded his Guards to fall upon the Priests at Nob, but they would not put forth their hands to fall upon the Priests of the Lord, 1 Sam. 22.17. Ahab at the instigation of Jezebel persecuted the Lords Prophets to death; but good Obadiah pre∣served a hundred of them, and fed them by fifty in a Cave, 1 Kings 18.4. Ahaziah com∣mands a Captain and his Fifty to apprehend Elijah, only for pronouncing that Sentence which God passed against him; Elijah not only refuseth to come down, but to vindicate his Commission, commands fire from Heaven to consume the Messengers, 2 Kings 1.10. In our Christian Stories we find Manuel and Georgius highly commended, for refusing to be instrumental in the murder of Augusta. And in Prophane, we have likewise two notable Examples of such who have refused to obey their Princes in their unlawful Commands; the one of Papinianus, that great Lawyer, who being commanded by Caracalla to justifie as well to the Senate as the people, the Paracide he had committed upon his own Brother Geta,* 1.8 readily answered, That it was not so soon justified as done; and for his refusal suffered death. The other of Helpodius, both recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus; whereunto we may adde that of Severus, who would have no man exempted from punishment that should dare to take away the life of a Senator, (extrajudicially, as I suppose) though at the Emperors Command. Stratocles was worthily derided among the Athenians, for but of∣fering at a Law,* 1.9 whereby whatsoever should please King Demetrius, should be reputed as pious ••••wards God, and just amongst men. Pliny in his Epistle to Minutius labours to make it appear,* 1.10 That the very ministry or execution of unlawful commands is sinful. For as Tertullian speaks, Plus caeditur qui jubet, quando nec obsequitur qui excusatur; Surely he that commands things unjust is severely punishable, when he that but executes them cannot be excused. Those Civil Laws which do easily pardon venial sins, are also very favourable to those who are inforced either to sin, or to disobey; and yet they are not favourable to all alike. For where the crimes are foul, and such as Nature by a secret instinct seems to abhor, they shew no favour at all. But where the offence appears not to be heinous, by any natural interpretation, but by Logical inferences may be proved to be so, there they wisely vouchsafe pardon. Josephus relates, That the Jews that served under Alexander the Great could neither by stripes, nor any reproachful words, be inforced to carry Earth, or other materials, as the rest of the Souldiers did, towards the repair of the Temple of Belus, which was in Babylon. But examples more pertinent to our purpose are the The∣bean Legion, whereof we have already spoken; and the Souldiers that served under Ju∣lian,* 1.11 whereof S^t Ambrose speaks thus, Though the Emperour Julian were an Apostate, yet had he many Christians that served under him; to whom if had said, Draw out for the defence of the Commonwealth, they would instantly have obeyed; but if he should have said, March out a∣gainst the Christians, tunc agnoscebant Imperatorem Coeli, then they would have acknowledg∣ed no King but the King of Heaven. The like we read of those Executioners, who being converted to Christianity, chose rather to dye themselves than to execute the Sentence of death pronounced against Christians. Now the Case is the very same, whensoever any man is perswaded that the thing commanded is unjust; for to such a man it is so long unjust, until he can be convinced that it is otherwise.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Ant. lib. 17. c. 8.
• * 1.2

  Eph. 6.1.
• * 1.3

  Ad Patrem In∣fidelem.
• * 1.4

  In Eph. 6.1:
• * 1.5

  In 1 Cor. 7.24.
• * 1.6

  In Martyrolo∣gio.
• * 1.7

  Lib. 2. c. 7.
• * 1.8

  Spartianus. Lib. 21.
• * 1.9

  Vid. Xiphili∣num.
• * 1.10

  Lib. 3.
• * 1.11

  Christian Soul∣diers under Ju∣lian the Apo∣state.