its Original is the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. As a City may elect a Mayor by priviledge of Charter but his Authority when elected is from the King so is the Kings from God where the People have the greatest share visibly in the Designation of the person but they onely prepare and dispose the matter in the political Generation but the Soul of Sovereignty is Divine and infused from above and not by low and popular traduction if you consider Government to take its Rise either from the Order of Nature or from Conquest or particular Designation either Divine or Humane And so much may suffice for the first Reason why Princes are called Gods and Sons of God they are begotten by him I have herein possibly made too bold with your patience though the temper of this Age be too just an Apology for my doing so But if ye suffer Fools as the Apostle speaks but I know not how gladly if every Journeyman become a Kings Monitor and every Pebble in the Guttur thinks it self a Jewel worthy of their Crowns or the Brests of Priests there to shine and rise up into Oracles suffer us also in the discharge of what we owe to Religion and our Sovereign to tire you a little on so necessary a Doctrine and such Inferences as fairly flow from it As 1. The Prince deriving his Authority from God it follows hence he is accountable to none but God He stands or falls to his own Master and he calls no man Master upon Earth This is truly in right reason a consequence from the Nature and End of Government There must be some person or persons according to the Frame of the Polity from whom there must be no Appeal Some Authority must be absolute and injusticiable or the Process will be infinite and the Grievance without Remedy and the circular and endless motion of Appeals more grievous than any Tyranny 2. If the Prince derive his Authority from God it follows again His Laws oblige the Conscience of the Subject Such as command lawful things for to an unlawful thing there can be no obligation because he hath no authority from God to make unjust Laws and therefore if he doth they do not oblige the Conscience of the Subject to that obedience which is called active though even in such cases he is obliged to subjection to endure the penalty which they call passive obedience But if the matter of the Command be a thing indifferent not forbidden by any Law of God Moral or Positive there the Prince creates an obligation in Conscience to conformity and obedience For men to think they must have the same liberty after they are entered into Society either Civil or Religious as before is contrary to the very nature and end of Society they must submit themselves in things lawful to the determination of the Communion whereof they become Members and the enquiry lies not whether the thing enjoined be expedient or inexpedient for of that the governing part must judge but onely whether it be lawful And it is lawful if not forbidden by God and if lawful before it becomes now after the Law necessary in its use and so is our obedience Nor doth this take away the natural indifferency of the thing nor the liberty of Christians nor exalt Princes into Gods Throne or make them Lords of Conscience for that is still free to judge of the natural indifferency any more than our obligation in Conscience to believe what the Apostles have delivered makes them Lords of our Faith a Title which they disclaimed as proper to him who is the Author and Finisher of it 2. Princes are called Gods not onely because he begets them but they are like God in the administration of their power Which is a reason assigned by Hierocles why the Heroes were called also the Sons of God in the Ethnick Theology Now Princes resemble God when they act by the same principle and for the same end 1. In making their Justice shine with equal dispensation on the Righteous and the Wicked and not onely in doing but in loving of Justice This carries a double benefit with it to him that sues for it and him that distributes it The love of Justice sweetens the toil of the Employment and makes that a Recreation which without it is a Drudgery for it is a joy to the Just to do judgement 2. Princes resemble God in Mercy This is the first letter of the Name whereby God proclaims himself to Moses Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious c. and herein he is principally to be imitated by such as are called by his Name in moderating the rigour of Law when men in their simplicity and honest meaning may fall within the lash of its severity or when the face of the Poor is ground and eaten up like Bread by the greediness of an Oppressor It is impossible but there should be frequently such cases wherein if the Letter of the Law be strictly observed the end will not and it is the Glory of a Prince in such cases to extricate persons out of the snares of legal Entanglements and his Prerogative is then much more advantageous to his Subjects than all their boasted priviledges I need not say on this occasion what Prince of the World is the most lively Image of this most Heavenly Attribute whose Mercy like the Divine Original is indeed over all his Works who makes not every man an Offender for a Word nor every Offence Capital but is strong and patient though provoked every day 3. Princes are like God when they act as by the same principles of Justice and Mercy so for the same end and safety of the Society They are therefore elsewhere stiled Restorers of Paths and Healers of Breaches and here the blessing of the Peace-makers falls upon their heads which saith our Saviour is to be called the Sons of God Mat. 5.9 and the more they intend this God-like end in preserving the peace not only of their own Subjects but of the World in general the better title they have to that Beatitude and nearer resemblance to the God of Peace There are indeed some Sons not very like their Father who resemble the great Destroyer rather that is daily seeking whom he may devour Such are Disciplines and Scourges in the hand of God as one of the Gothick Kings called himself to chastise the Christian World for their Luxury and contempt of God and his Commandments But though these are onely stimulated with the Lust of Domination yet they are over-ruled by the Divine Providence and directed to a point they thought not of and often forced to bring Glory to God in the conclusion though they designed onely their own in the first motion of their Arms. But what ever excesses the wantonness of Power may tempt some Spirits to they have the best right to this high Title of being the Sons of God and are the most natural
A SERMON Preached at WINDSOR Before his Majesty the Second Sunday after Easter 1684. By JOHN Archbishop of TVAM Published by his Majesties special Command LONDON Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-yard 1684. And are to be sold by Samuel Helsham Bookseller in Dublin A SERMON Preached at WINDSOR PSAL. 82. ver 6 7. I have said ye are gods and all of you Sons of the Most High but ye shall die like men THe Holy Scriptures afford no where a more solemn Charge and Exhortation unto Justice than in the Psalm whereof the Text is a part from which be pleased to consider two things 1. A full concession of the great Dignity and Authority granted to Princes and Civil Rulers I have said ye are gods c. 2. An Admonition of their being accountable for the Administration of it But ye shall die like men Ye are gods but ye are but mortal ones of the same frail condition with those your poor Creatures that worship and adore your Power When men are advanced to any height their heads grow light and giddy and they are too apt to despise those below them as of a smaller size and stature than themselves The Psalmist therefore dwells not on the intoxicating Argument of Power but immediately calls down the thoughts of Princes from their golden heads to consider of their feet of Clay He no sooner wishes them joy of their Honour but lest their spirits should be exalted above measure and grow too fine and volatile he fixes them with Grave-dust presenting them with a Scepter and a Spade the Royal Robes and a Winding-sheet together I have said ye are gods but ye shall die like men Before we consider what is here said viz. Ye are gods it may be proper to enquire who it is that says and to whom it is said 1. Who hath said Great Persons have often this frailty among others that though they most need they can least endure plain and wholsom instruction the benefit whereof is often lost for want of Prudence in the Address The Psalmist therefore to give weight and authority to what he says to the Princes of the World personates the Almighty in the delivery of this charge whom he places in the Throne Vers 1. as a Judge among the Gods not as an unconcerned Spectator but as a severe Monitor and Observer of their Actions come down on purpose to take notice of the discharge of that duty which their high Titles and Commissions require of them God standeth in the Congregation of Princes So that David doth not here usurp an Authority over his Equals as a Reprover and Instructer but with great solemnity and Majesty brings in God as speaking in his own name So that this is emphatically Gods word that is here spoken and so our Saviour says referring to this Text Joh. 10.34 to whom the Word of God came And where the Word of God is there is Power with him in the supreme right of disposal who at first made all things cloathed the World when it lay naked in its Causes and imperfect Potentiality and then ranged the various Orders and Classes of the Creation according to the Idea's he had conceived in his eternal Mind in which he hath ever since preserved them by the breath of the same Power which once discontinued the Axes of the World would crack and the whole Frame like an old House would tumble and fall in pieces Since therefore all things do so essentially depend upon him he may well be presumed to have a right to govern what he first raised out of nothing and always maintains at his own charge and to make what distinctions he pleases among the works of his own hands on one piece of Clay putting the Image of a Prince on another the Picture of a Beggar forming that to a noble and this to an ignoble service So that things are and must be what he is pleased to call them It is God that hath said Ye are gods But to whom doth he speak And that is the second Enquiry 2. To whom is this said I have already supposed it to Princes and Civil Governours though I am not ignorant that these words are challenged as the Churches Patrimony by Pope Gregory the Great in an Epistle to Mauricius the Emperour But if the Words were addressed to Church-men it is plain from the stile of the Psalm it was in their Civil Relation and Capacity And all that can be inferred is onely that it was not then nor is it now unlawful for an Ecclesiastical person to exercise Civil Power when God and the King appoint them to it But the Powers are in their natures distinct And what was done by the High Priest under the Jewish Theocracy must not be drawn into Example under the Gospel for our Saviour affirms his Kingdom is not of this World and hath thereby for ever discharged spiritual Persons from temporal Power by virtue of their Office either directly or in order to spiritual purposes but he hath not made the man uncapable by placing him at his Altar of serving Princes in sitting Stations when by them they are thereunto appointed nor is any Person less qualified as one may think for being the Kings Servant for his standing in some respects nearer than others to Him by whom Kings reign And since a prudent and pious conduct of both Powers may make each promote the private ends of the other and the common end of both the Glory of God why should they be thought so insociable as never to be exercised by the same Person Nor indeed are they by those very men who declare most against Church-mens medling as they phrase it in Civil Affairs for who are more forward in such matters when they have opportunity without Authority than such as exclaim against our Church-men for those Civil Trusts and Honours granted them by Authority And while they preach against the exercise of a derived Power under Princes are aspiring after one paramount to them Princes are called Gods and Ministers are called Angels let every one abide in that Calling wherewith he is called for as that Priest or Angel that arrogates the Title of a God smells strong of the Pit and savours of the Pride of Lucifer so on the other side they who condemn all Civil Power as unlawful in the Church are too like Antichrist indeed Exalting themselves above all that is called God in the State 3. Having seen by and to whom these words are spoken let us now consider the meaning of what is said Ye are gods and all of you Children of the most High There is on every Creature some Character of Divinity but God hath placed his Image upon Man impressed himself on our Nature as the Prophet on the Child and shed his likeness on us so that by reflecting on our selves we may know as in a Glass and darkly what God is but as he hath honoured our Nature with his
Image part whereof was a Dominion over the Creation so in our Nature he honours some persons with his Name and hath thereby given them Dominion over others of their own kind They have not onely his Image but Inscription of whom in a qualified sense we may say what they of Lycaonia said of the Apostles Acts 14.11 The Gods are come down unto us in the likeness of men I need not say here they are not Gods and Sons of God as our Saviour is by an unconceivable generation which were to make them equal with God To us there is but one God though there be that are called Gods Nor are they always Sons of God by Adoption and Grace as Members of the Invisible Church that Aphorism that Empire is founded in Dominion being not more absurd and false than that other that Dominion is founded in Grace Grace neither giving title to Land and Estates nor Estates to Empire Wicked men may be not onely lawful Proprietors but lawful and good Princes Nor are Princes always lastly even by external Profession Sons of God as visible Members of the Church though it is a great felicity when they and their subjects are so no Crown sitting surer than such as is most Christian For the true discovery therefore of that sense in which they are stiled gods and Sons of God we must consider that it is familiar in Scripture to call a Person the Son of that man whom he resembles in some very signal character as Believers are called Sons of Abraham for their resemblance to him in that Grace that was so eminent and illustrious in that Holy Patriarch that it was imputed to him for Righteousness On the contrary our Saviour saith to the Jews Ye are of your Father the Devil for the works of your Father the Devil you will do such as cruelty and malice and spight and revenge which argue a Diabolical nature and temper Agreeably to this notion 1. Princes are called Gods because as such they have their being from God that is Authority to govern 2. Because they resemble God in the conduct and menage of that Authority they have from him 3. God calls them his Sons because as they are begotten by him and are like him so as a Father he defends them and more especially concerns himself in their cause and protection 1. Princes have their Being from God and are begotten by him As in the Scale of our Saviours Genealogy Luke 3. it is said of all but Adam he was the Son of such a one and he was the Son of such a one but of Adam he was the Son of God because he came immediately out of his hands So may we say of inferiour Magistrates and Officers who stand in subordination to others but when we come to the Sovereign Power that is the Issue of Heaven they that are invested with it are the Sons of God of whom they hold immediately and are born of the seed of divine Authority and Power God who by his Word made the World hath by the same Word by saying Princes are Gods made them so and this Scripture which cannot be broken is their Commission Joh. 10.35 For so the Text is expresly expounded by our Saviour for he calls it a Word of God coming to the Magistrate Now we know the Word of God coming to a Person is a Phrase authorizing that Person to the Service he is then imployed in In the Old Testament the Word of the Lord came unto me is the common stile of the Prophets Order and therefore these words Ye are gods being a word coming unto the Prince are his Letters Patent for his Title and Authority Wisd 6.3 4. So that his Power is given him of thâ— Lord and Sovereignty of the Highest saith the Wisdom of Solomon and by him Kings reign Prov. 8.15 and Princes decree Justice saith the Wisdom of God Which Wisdom acknowledges the Power even of Pilate over himself and says Joh. 19.11 It was given him from above And St. Paul tells us the Powers that then were the Powers that be Rom. 13.1 are ordained of God though they were neither the most lawfully acquired nor the most equally administred So that Magistracy and Magistrates for so the word Powers there must be understood of Persons exercising Power are not onely of Gods general providence and permission which suffers many irregularities in the World as sometimes the abuse of this Power by mal-administration and sometimes the ruine of it by Rebellion or Translation by Conquest but they are by his special ordination and appointment they are ordained of God And hence it is that Rebellion is a damnable and without true Repentance a damning sin and I fear it is in this as well as other respects as the sin of Witchcraft the Covenant with Hell that it is but too rarely repented of It is a fulsom thing to multiply Arguments and Authorities in a plain Cause and such is that if any that I am pleading for the divine Original of Government which whoso reads the Scriptures cannot but discern unless he be hastning after another God than they preach But this truth will appear with fuller evidence if we consider the Rises of Government and what share the People that is the governed part can have in the most Popular Gonstitutions 1. It is certain that Government was originally in the Parents and Heads of Families if we believe Mankind to have been created and propagated according to the Scripture Tradition which is the most natural and rational hypothesis and most credible though it were not assisted by Revelation We could never yet find where that Utopia lies where men lived without natural dependencies but came into the World in Arms and Armour fighting with and destroying one another and yet on such precarious Poetick Fables some have chosen to found their Common-wealths rather than on the History of the Bible which informs us of another origination both of Men and of Society There we are acquainted with our growing from one common root in the way of natural propagation which ever carries a necessary obligation with it for Nature teaches the Son obedience to the Father so that Adam were he now alive would be the Universal Monarch by right of Nature and eminently in the language of the Text Son of God and of the Most High And from him Power descended to the first-born by the Priviledge of natural Succession without asking the consent of his Brethren and as the Family spread so did the Empire Marriages were made and Children begotten and Houses filled and new Colonies sent out and so by degrees a Tree became a Forest and the Paternal Power spread and grew into a Political This is the way and method by which Government was first planted in one Family and according to its increase shed and disseminated it self abroad over many and so far there is no shadow of an Authority derived from the People that is