Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
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A56749
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A sermon upon the death of the Queen, preached in the parish-church of St. Mary White-Chappel by William Payne ...
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Payne, William, 1650-1696.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P911; ESTC R22909
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18,504
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38
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A SERMON UPON THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN Preached in the Parish-Church of St. MARY WHITE-CHAPPEL By WILLIAM PAYNE D. D. Rector of St. Mary White-Chappel And Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty The Third Edition LONDON Printed by J. R. for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil S. Smith and B. Walford at the Princes-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCV Dr. PAYNE's SERMON UPON THE QUEEN A SERMON Preached upon the DEATH OF THE QUEEN PSALM lxxxii 6 and part of the 7. ver I have said Ye are Gods and all of you are Children of the Most High but ye shall dye like Men. THIS Psalm was directed to the Princes Judges and Magistrates of Israel by Asaph the Author of it It is not my design or to my purpose to take any further notice of the Business or Occasion of it then as it gives Them the great Character in my Text calling Them by the Name of Gods and of Angels for that is meant by the Children of the Most High as it is expresly in the Chaldee Yet when it had put these High Titles and Honourable Names upon them and Raised them to a Degree and Quality almost above Mortals it thinks fit to remind them at the same time that they are still but Men Though of that High State and Dignity above others yet subject to the same Death and mortality with their Poorer and Meaner Brethren Though in some Respects nearer Ally'd to Heaven and like Gods and Angels yet still Akin to Earth and who should dye like Men. I have said Ye are Gods c. The Loss of our Late Excellent Queen Suggests and Offers both parts of my Text to our Thoughts in the fullest manner I am apt to believe She had as much of God in her and as much of Angel as any Prince Judge or Magistrate that ever Sat upon a Throne or a Bench or that was any way Advanced above the rest of Mankind And yet to our great Grief we find She was subject to Death to a Sudden an Over-soon Death had not God thought otherwise as well as any of her Subjects Her God-like and Angelick Qualities which She had not only in common with other Princes but upon many Accounts far above them could not preserve Her from the Common Fate of Mortality of Dying like other Men and Women I shall first show upon what Accounts Princes and Magistrates are called Gods and are like Angels or Children of the Most High And how these Characters do in an especial manner belong to our Late Gracious Queen Secondly I shall consider Theirs and Her Death and what thoughts ought to be thereby suggested to us I. Upon what Accounts Princes and Magistrates are called Gods and are like Angels or Children of the Most High The Expression seems to refer to the Gentile Opinion of many Lesser Gods owing their Birth and Original to and being Children of the Supreme * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appointed by him to be Rulers and Governours over Particular Parts and Provinces of the World as their Jupiter Mars Hercules and others who were indeed only Kings and Rulers Generals and Great Men Deified and Worshipped after their Deaths which was I believe one of the Chief Rises of the Heathen Idolatry and Superstition though there are various Accounts of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a very different History of their Religion Revelation and Christianity give Princes and Magistrates the Name and Title of Gods Elohim as is plain from this Psalm and others Psal 45. Psal 79. Exod. 7.1 1 Sam. 2.11 from other places in the Old Testament and from our Saviours Words in the New John 20.34 not as any Objects of Religious Worship but as partaking some Qualities and Perfections like to those of God and other Superiour Beings who are far above Ordinary Men and chiefly on these three Accounts 1. In Respect of Power 2. As Instruments of Greater Good to the World 3. As Objects of Higher Honour and Esteem 1. Princes are called Gods in respect of their Power and Authority as they are the Ministers of God Rom. 13.4 his Deputies and Vicegerents Appointed and Commissionated to Govern the Lower World under him And 't is usual we know to have Persons called by the Names of those they Represent All Civil Power and Government of whatever kind is from God the Powers that be are Ordain'd of God who is the Fountain of all Authority and Dominion by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice Prov 8.15 The Particular Specification and Modifying of this Power both as to Persons and Things depends upon Humane Consent and Agreement and the Laws and Customs of Particular Countreys for God has not prescribed any Model of Civil Government nor Appointed either the Subject or the Limits of it but has left it to Humane Prudence and Contrivance and so 't is an Ordinance of Man as St. Peter calls it 1 Pet. 2.13 But Government and Governours are the Ordinance of God and Nature for the Peace Order and Good of the World and are in General of a Divine Original and Institution Princes therefore and Soveraigns are a sort of Earthly Gods and have a Divine Authority committed to them by which they have a Power over Mens Lives which none but God can give them and they bear the Sword Rom. 13.4 Rom. 12.19 and are Revengers to Execute Wrath in the Name of him to whom Vengeance belongeth 2. They are called Gods as they are Instruments of Great Good to the World the Chief Instruments of Divine Providence to Preserve and Procure the Present Well-fare and Worldly Happyness of Mankind all those Benefits and Advantages we have above other Creatures by being in Society with one another The World would be a place of Confusion an Uncivilized and Uncultivated Desart and Mankind only greater Herds of Lyons and Tygers and Wild-Beasts without Government There would be no Peace or Quiet no Order or Civility no Living in the World with any Comfort without it and therefore the worst Government is a Thousand times better than mere Anarchy All Princes and Governours then though Bad are the Authours of a great deal of Good to the World and good Princes are the most Powerful Instruments of doing good next to God himself and are therefore calledby the Name of Benefactors as our Saviour observes and do above all Persons Luke 27.27 make good that saying of homo homini Deus and were thereupon antiently Deified and had Images and Altars Erected to them and now may each of them have that Complement of Tertullus made to them Seeing that by Thee we enjoy great Quietness and that very Worthy Deeds are done unto this Nation by thy Providence we Accept it alwayes and in all Places Most Noble Foelix with all Thankfulness Acts 24.2 3. 3. Upon both these Accounts they are Objects of Honour and Esteem not only upon the Score of their Personal Vertues which shine brighter and have more both of Lustre
and Influence when placed in so high an Orb above others in which they can easily turn all the Lesser Circles and Subordinate Spheres about with them but as their very Places and their Characters call for this whereby they Personate and Represent and are in the Place of God and therein do a great deal of good to the World and are Gods though not by Nature yet by Office so that to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities even the worst and bring a Railing Accusation against them Jude 8. though never so true is stigmatiz'd as a great fault by the Apostle And what Michael the Arch-Angel thought not fit against the Devil though contending with him but rather used that more Decent Language The Lord Rebuke thee Which some Christians would do well to Consider Thus I have briefly accounted for this Expression in my Text of calling Rulers and those none of the best by the Name of Gods and Angels and this by the Holy Ghost himself whom none can have the Blasphemous Impudence to charge with any Flattery in so doing I am now to Apply this Character upon more Particular and more Eminent Reasons to one of the best Princesses who ever sat upon a Throne I know not how to draw her Picture 't is so all over Beautious without any Foil any Shade any Blemish so Perfect in every Feature so Accomplish't in every Part so Adorn'd with every Perfection and every Grace having such an exact Symmetry and such Rich and Lively Colours of the most Beautiful Vertues Appearing in all her Actions and Shining through her whole Life that Her 's must be the very Picture of Vertue it self drawn to the Life not in the Dead and Cold Descriptions of it in the Books of Moralists or in the Lectures of Divines and Philosophers But in such a Living Pattern and Example of it as makes Vertue it self become Visible and Embodyed and Answers Tully's Wish and Justifyes his Saying That if it could thus be seen with Bodily Eyes it would Excite Admirable Love of it self in all that behold it 'T is a hard thing in Painting to draw a Perfect and Exact Circle it out-does that Art to draw Light or the Lustre of the Sun or with a Cold Pencil to describe Fire And it can no more equal the Natural Beauty of the Rose with its Faint Colours than the Fragrancy of it The Work and Difficulty is as great in our Present Case To Describe the Perfect Vertues of our Incomparable Queen No Art or Skill can come up to them much less Exceed them There is no room for Fancy and Imagination to add any thing Nature and Grace have out-done that and set before us such a Compleat Peice I had almost said such an Original of Humane Vertue and Perfection as the World has not had in many Ages We must draw Her as Apelles did Venus not by any Single though most Beautiful Pattern but by taking the several Excellencies and Perfections of all other Women and putting them together as God had done in Her We must Draw Her by no other we must Draw Her only by Her Self I mean by no other Humane likeness by none of the Imperfect Copies of Mortal Vertue She has left behind her No We must Draw Her truly by the likeness She had to God the Fountain and Original of all Excellencies and Perfections and by Her Similitude to the Angels those Holy and Heavenly Spirits the first Images of God and both Him and Them She Resembled as Highly as could well be done by mere Humane Vertue She was an Excellent Copy both of the Divine and Angelick Nature and Vertue as like God and as like the Blessed Spirits above those Children of the Most High as perhaps any Man or any Woman ever was within our Knowledge except Him that was a True God as well as a Man and Her that was the Mother of God I say not this to flatter Her She is above that She is got out of the reach either of Flatterers or Slanderers and She was above it here Her Vertue was alwayes too great to be flatter'd or to have more said of it than it deserv'd and it was so great likewise that neither Envy nor Malice durst ever slander it But I speak my Judgment and Opinion of Her out of Her hearing by which neither am I to get any thing nor She And I believe there are hardly any that knew Her will much differ from me or will think that too much can be said in Her Praise Her Name ought to live in the highest Monuments of Fame Adorn'd and Gilded with all the Glorious Ensigns that Art can put upon them We ought to build Her Tomb with the best Work and garnish it with the best Ornaments and hang it with the finest Garlands and strew all the Flowers upon it that the Withered and Decayed Poetry and Oratory of our Age can furnish We may do any thing we ought to do every thing but building an Altar and making an Office and saying Ave Maria to Her She was the Saint of our Church of our Age and Nation of whom we have reason to be Proud and make the Most seeing however they abounded in former Rubricks at least they are so very scarce now I am sure Her Memory ought to be very pretious to us all and Her Righteousness to be had in Everlasting Remembrance not only as a Due we ought to pay Her but as a Benefit we are still to receive from Her Her Excellent Example ought to live after her and do as much good as can be though nothing so much as She would have done had She lived and ought to be set before the World in the best Light and with the best Advantage to Teach the Present Age Piety and Religion and all manner of Vertue and be Transmitted down to Posterity with the greatest Honour Imaginable i. e. with the Greatest and Exactest Truth for it needs no more I am at present only to show how this Title and Character which is here in my Text given to Princes and Magistrates whereby they are called Gods And Angels or Children of the Most High does in a Peculiar and more Eminent manner belong to Her and that not only in respect of Her Office Her Power and Authority Her High State and Dignity whereby She was Advanced above other Mortals which was the Principal Reason why other Princes are called Gods and Children of the Most High But especially upon Account of Her Personal Qualities and Excellencies and particularly upon these Four which I shall single out of all her others for She had All wherein she was most remarkably like God and the Angels 1. The Goodness and Benignity of Her Nature 2. Her Charity and Inclination to do all good to others 3. Her Universal Vertue Innocence and Purity of Life 4. Her Extraordinary Piety and Devotion As to Her Soveraign Power and Office which Entitled her to this Character in my Text