A DISCOURSE CONCERNING SUPREME POWER AND COMMON RIGHT At first Calculated for the Year 1641. and now thought fit to be published By a Person of Quality LONDON Printed for R. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard 1680. TO THE READER THIS little following Treatise concerning the Origination of Paternal Power and the Derivation of all others from it with Reflections upon Regal Government and the Relative Duties both of King and People to each other is for Substance only a Summary Collection from the best Authorities of such necessary and Practical Notions as might have steer'd us in the most benighted and tempestuous times of the late unhappy and almost unparallel'd Rebellion and keep us within the Bounds of Duty and Allegiance both to God and our King But it lost its usefulness being calculated for the high Distempers of that Age only by miscarrying in the Press and for some years irrecoverably concealed and kept from its designed end by one since dead who communicated to me the following Discourse which hath for some years layn in my hands as buried unless something of the like Contagion should break out again and give it a new Resurrection as an Antidote against the spreading of so popular an Infection But now I am prevailed with upon the sad Prospect of things that threaten a relapsing into the like Dangers by Popish Plots and those many Sects Distractions and Divisions amongst us some of whose Principles agree with the rigid Scotch Presbyters and Jesuits in their Tenents concerning the deposing of Kings and the forfeiture of their Regal Power into the People and their Representatives to shew both from Scripture Antiquity the Doctrine Articles Canons Homilies and Liturgy of the Church of England which all agree with our ancient Laws and many late Acts of Parliament That our Kings are only submitted by God to the direction not coaction of Humane Laws as Mr. Faulkner in his Treatise upon that Subject hath lately and most learnedly made appear Yet Kings are not unconfined by the Laws of God and our Kingdom which set just bounds both to King and People to regulate their Actions by as a middle thing between Supreme Power and Common Interest And our Municipal Laws may be straiten'd or enlarged in regard of the Soveraign's Exercise of Power but cannot influence or affect the Power it self which is of God to alter or enervate the nature of it Nor can it oblige to any thing foro divino but what is just in the means as well as good in the end and safe in regard of Humane Prudence by which Rules we have much reason to believe our Superiours as they yet have done will take their measures and neither countenance nor indulge the least evil of sin to avoid the greatest evil of punishment Yet if God for our almost unpardonable provocation and abuse of those many Miracles of Mercy he hath hitherto preserved us by should submit us to the implacable malice of our common Enemies the Papists at home and abroad or to Civil Commotions within our selves to bring us again into Chaos and Disorder in which we may need some assistance for our Conscientious Comportments both with Prudence and Innocency the ensuing Treatise may be of great use there being things casuistically proposed and resolved with modesty and submission to others Judgments in Relation to the late Rebellion which may some way help us in other difficulties if we fall under any which that God in Mercy would avert is the Prayer of Your unknown Servant c. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING SUPREME POWER AND COMMON RIGHT CHAP. I. AS God is a Spiritual King so Kings are Humane Gods his Picture drawn in Little and the most express Image of his Power receiving as the Wax from the Seal all the parts and proportions of the Print in the largest Character in which he shews himself in Civil Administrations So as the endeavour of effacing any part of that just Power where God hath Engraven it in his Deputies is a Spiritual Treason and Rebellion against God himself a Rom. 13. For not only by me but for me Kings Reign saith God b Prov. 8.15 Rom. 13. in that he makes them his hand both to punish and protect by and stiles them for that end nursing Fathers to the Church and State Nor is the Stamp to be despised though it be engraven but in Lead and Iron the Power being the same in him who by the undue exercise of a just Power makes himself a Tyrant as it is in a good King and challenging the same Submission and Obedience in lawful things from us It being not the Wax but the Impression that bears the value as it is Gods And therefore to wrest the Sword out of our Soveraigns hands the best of Princes is as much as we can to dis-enthrone God from his way of Rule amongst us as the Jews did in the person of Samuel For which Reason our Laws give the King a kind of Immortality here in saying he cannot dye because his Power which is from above passes in the intendment of our Laws by a kind of Pythagorean Transmigration always into the next of his Line and upon the failure thereof only it Escheats into the People as to the Election of another person to Reign but never was nor is fundamentally in them in regard of the Power by which they Govern And the wisest People do but as a Pipe not the Spring derivatively pass it into one man to actuate it as the most absolute and perfect Government and that which God only owns For when he saith By me Kings Reign c Prov. 8.15 he implies all other Forms of Government to derive their Pedigree only from men not Divine Institution They have his Permission but Kings only his Commission so as all other lesser Rivulets in the Administration of Justice in their Kingdoms are in them as their Spring derivative from and subordinate to them For the Supreme Power is ever annexed to the Persons of Princes in whom it is seated the Inferiour only to the Offices of subordinate Administrations which are always responsible to him that hath the Supreme Power Else the God of Reason should make a Body without Reason a Head to govern it The contrary Opinion to which clear Truth hath caused the sad Tragedy of these benighted Times and hath ever proved the Seminary of Anarchy and Confusion in all States where it hath taken root and prevailed though it hath for the most part withered and perished in the end as having no true Principles of life and permanency however for some time maintained by Tyranny and Oppression as may be instanced in most of those Popular States that have been since the beginning of the World which were but Weeds no Plants of Gods setting For subordination of Persons which ariseth by degrees should rest when it comes to the Soveraign or all things would wheel into a Confusion But God is a God of
Multiplying-Glass though by making too much Window they weaken the Walls and cause Factions and Divisions that the Roof might fall and then I am sure the Frame will not stand long let them seem to underprop it with never so many specious pretences painted but rotten Posts For as the firmness and uniting of the Walls support the Roof so the Roof covers and preserves them from many an ill Blast that would otherwise weaken and overthrow them But I spin this Thread too long on this Subject and therefore I here wind it up and proceed to consider CHAP. IV. What Duties Kings owe to their Subjects with the Excellency of that Government HAving endeavoured to shew as it were in Landskip and dark shadow only the Great and High Prerogatives of Kings not being able perfectly to describe them as they are in themselves without a seeming Court-flattery which yet might be forgiven given in these times and in a Garrison where Peace of Conscience is the only reward of Loyalty I shall further show you the Excellency of Regal Government by its Effects For so as the Sun in Water it is best seen in its Reflections and the just Actions of Pious Kings who are the Fountains of Honour Justice Power and all other regular subordinate motions in the lower Spheres as the Vital Spirits in the Head are of all Natural Operations of the Body are always best seen in their Piety and Moralities the industrious endeavour of which makes their Mitres rather ponderous than glorious as the Emblems of Christian Kings do show in that the Cross is always fixt but superiour to their Crown to the imitation of their Master who was Crowned indeed but with Thorns to teach them how full of vexing Cares and Troubles that Head should be subject to that as the Stern to the Ship is to guide the great Barque of the State not only in Calms but Storms which best prove the Pilot. So as we may consider the Infelicities of Good Kings with respect to this World to be more in the Scale than their happiness when they are not Lords but Stewards not Owners but Dispensers of all their glorious Attributes and Endowments For Regal is that Paternal Power in the fifth Commandment which Philo Judaeus observes confines upon both Tables that their Arms of Protection might extend to the keeping of both and the greater the Trust the more severe the Account In which there stands First a Charge of Power upon each King's Score it being one of God's communicable Attributes how he hath used the Sword God hath put into his hand which St. Peter saith ought to be a terrour to the Evil not to the Good though a Protection to all against private wrongs with the Militia and Power of making War or Peace which is seated in them and inherent by Divine Right k Num. 10. Deut. 17. as well as in our King by the known and established Laws and magna charta l C. 2.6 7. Ed. 7. C. 1. and to the Son m H. 3. succeeding him and though it be regulated in the Exercise n By 13. El. 1. c. 6 1 E. 3. c. 5. 4 H. 4. c. 13 5 H. 4. 11 H. 7. c. 1. 2 E. â— 4. 5 of P. M. â— 3. 4 Jac. c. 1. 22 E. 4. the Parliament never did pretend to give the Power but to declare it And thus Reynolds in his Comment on the 110 Psalm o Upon Ps 110.2 amongst the Jura Regalia proper honours belonging to the Person of the King which none can use but in a subordination to him doth reckon Armamentaria Publica the Magazines of all Military Provisions citing Greg. Tholos p De Repub l. 9. c. 1. Rom. 13. 1 Sam. â—0 16 by them to fence and impail God's Church and Vineyard both from the wild Boar and little Foxes and the persons of men from Injuries and Violence which are the greatest Priviledges we can enjoy in this World as may more clearly appear by the contrary Effects For things are seen carendo magis quam fruendo As in Judges q Cap. 17. where the decay of Religion advancing of Idolatry making Priests of the lowest of the People and all other Civil uncivil Disorders proceeded from the want of this Power in one man and are imputed to it as to the efficient cause though properly malum non habet efficientem sed deficientem causam And therefore we may expect great good from them when so many Evils are occasioned by their want For when there was no King in Israel every man did what seemed good in his own Eyes saith the Spirit of God disenthroning Reason and making Lust their Law and Rapes their boast r Judg. 19. So that by just consequence the having of a good King is the proper Remedy of those Evils who makes his just Power the measure of his Will not his Will the measure of his Power And therefore it is Enacted saith St. Peter in the style of a Law-giver as some observe that all should be subject to him at least in not doing his Lawful Commands be punished by him s Rom. 3 4. Ecclâ—s â— Esdr 7 25 26 27. Rev. 2.20 And so we find it in all the Reigns of the good Kings of Israel for there were no Micha's Idols nor High-places left no Rapines nor Violences suffered no acting of Wickedness under the Countenance of Laws and Acts but as Gods t Ps 82.6 they medled with the Affairs of God as Nursing-Fathers they nourished the Church with the two Breasts of God's Word and Sacraments through the Ministerial Administrations of Priests and as publick Ministers for good u Rom. 13. they restrained all other Uncivil Insolencies not suffering every man to be a King nay more than a King in doing what he list for a King ought not to be a Jeroboam favouring idolatry or any false Worship w 2 Chro. 10.14 but a David Learned Pious and Wise as an Angel of God x 2 Sam. 19.27 that Fraud Injuries and violence might be detected and restrained Innocency relieved Industry encouraged Vertue rewarded and Vice punished Secondly Justice Distributive is owing from a King to all his Subjects as that which establishes his own Throne saith Solomon and keeps the just Boundaries of meum tuum Common Right amongst men out of which as Seeds the large Harvest of Contentions growes For Judicium or Potestas judiciaria is a peculiar of Royalty in that the Administration is from the Prince as the Fountain of all Humane Equity under God deposited in the hands of inferiour Officers y Prâ—v 20.8 For so he is interpretative in them who as his mouth are to publish the Laws and to execute those Acts of Justice and Peace which principally belong to his own sacred Breast So Reynolds still in that place alluding there to that of Joh. 5.22 27. and drawing his Parallel from Christ where he saith The Father hath
only to be contended for g St. Jude Ep. and preserved by our Act of Uniformity And in this respect Kings and Queens are chiefly styled Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers to the Church Fathers for Provision and Protection Mothers for their tenderness and care when as by little Stratagems and Circumventions they bring their Children to an habituated Obedience and keep Dangers from them by some outward and extraordinary Confinements both for Honesty and Order h 1 Cor. 14.40 So as Kings have no meaner a depositum committed to them than the Crown and Throne of God and Christ in the Church For they are as the Lions about the Throne to secure and guard it and as Law-givers in indifferent things i Deut. 33.4 5. though subject to the direction of their Laws and are with David to prescribe Rules for fixed Services and Devotions k 1 Chro. 23. and with Josiah to compel to Religious Duties and Laws of his commanding as is before exprest l 2 Chro. 34.33 as Hezekiah did m 2 Chro. 29. 30. 31. which Constantine the first Christian Emperour imitated n Euseb de vita Constant l. 2. c. 37 38 39. But they never as Praxiteles the Painter made the silly People worship the Image of his Strumpet under the Title of Venus imposed the Visions of their own Fansies nor licensed the crude and unnourishing Vapours of others empty Wits upon the credulous People it being below the Majesty of Truth and Religion but according to the sincerity of God's Law not suffering their Lusts to guide them which ever bring unconstancy with them and make the Soul like a distempered Body never well in any position or condition For then men like Bees from one Flower to another will be ever flying from one Change and Vanity to another and not find enough to satiate the intemperate desire of change So as it can be neither agreeable to Religion nor Prudence for a King to suffer variety of Postures and Forms in the outward Exercise of Religion for what is good is to be obeyed for it self what indifferent in Obedience to his Command when in middle things Supreme Power chiefly consists And 1. For Religion Kings ought to maintain it in its Essentials and Purity without any Indulgence or Dispensations to any as that only which can maintain them o Prov. 16.12 20 28. And such Josephs will be Store-houses in their Kingdoms and as Elijah Chariots and Horse-men for their security there being no guard to that of Piety and Zeal for God's Glory which they are entrusted to preserve even both Tables of the Law and are not to bear the Sword in vain which is put into their hands for that use Compulsion being necessary where Commands are contemned q Luk. 14.23 Rev. 2.2 6 14 15 20. Ch. 3.15 16. Nor doth Christ's Permission of the Tares to grow give any just Power of Toleration to Princes by God's Law in known Evils or pertinacious contumacy to lawful Commands but only permits mixed Assemblies where by reason of outward Conformity none can discriminate the truly pious from the Hypocrite by which he yet doth not forbid their Eradication absolutely but for fear the good Seed also should be destroyed when a Connivance to known Errours in Doctrine or to pertinacious Non-conformists in indifferent things would make the Magistrate contract the guilt of their Crimes Judg. 5.23 by confirming the one in their mistaken Doctrines and the other in their superstitious believing indifferent things unlawful even to an adoring the Idol of their own Fancy uncharitably censuring of all others even the Church and Government it self though it bring Hell out of Heaven in a pretence of Devotion and the Devil upon God's Shoulders to rule amongst us in Samuel's Garment by the silly Charms of a seducing Spirit through the warmth of Zeal when it wants the light of Knowledge to guide it though like the Volatil Spirits of Poysons when unconfined by not being luted up in some Viol or Vessel it evaporates into an Airy being of use only to infect others that suck it in by a nearness of Conversation So as some Ingredients of a seeming Cruelty in our Laws will prove the most Soveraign Mercy to reduce and recover them and preserve the sound from their Contagion if tempered in a proportion to their Crimes by pecuniary Mulcts or other Confinements saving some by Compassion others by Fears r Jude ver 22.23 when the violation of any just Law if wilfully done is unlawful Nay the least minute Atome or Airy Omission if habitual may become the greatest Crime if done with Scandal and Contempt to Authority in that the Transgression is against Gods Ordinance that requires Obedience to the Commander not in the value of the thing commanded by him it being no less Treason to coyne a Farthing that has the King's stamp upon it than a piece of Gold according to our Saviours Rule in that He that offends in one wilfully is guilty of the breach of all the Commandments when upon equal Temptations he would break the rest for one little wilful Sin like the first drop in an Orifice will usher in more and dispose the whole Body to such Evacuations and Eruptions 2. In Prudence there ought to be no Indulgence as to the Publick Exercise of any false Religion or variety of Forms in outward Worship For what Unity Decency or Order can there be in setting up one Congregation against another when Order is the Bond of Peace that keeps us in Unity For once break that or tye but with a slip-knot and all will be dissolved and come to Confusion which is the Womb of all Rebellion and Schisms Nay it were to depose Reason the Supreme Monarch and Enthrone the Inferiour Members which should submit and not impose And certainly the giving Ground in such a Duel would give Courage and Insolency in the Enemy to press for more and the Pale of Law that has a breach once made in it will let out all the Beasts of the Forrest to Rapine and Prey to the loss of good Subjects but not to the making any better So as however wise Princes may inlarge any thing that is too strait in matters of Discipline they will never let Clamour or the Unjust Discontents of any Midwife in what they call Reformation and much less a Toleration of all Sects and Errours Nor can the King expect a Harmony amongst Antipathies by permitting several Forms in one settled Government though the want of Power to maintain his own Laws may force him to unreasonable Condescensions for then a Dam against that Current would but enrage it to greater Violences yet in such a Case I conceive he ought rather to make a General Rule of Conformity for all if possible than Differing-ones to Parties by it to lay asleep and bury all Animosities the other would maintain and like Oyl upon Paper would rather harden than soften such Rebellious
Spirits and render them rather Conquerours than Supplicants But I hope God will not submit his own Glory and our King to such an Eclipse when nothing but necessity can make it lawful Though probably such a Scheme by some may be set and calculated for our Horizon when his Majesty's Complyance to some things has made them rather impose more than acquiesce in what they desired for he that once gives Ground ever loses more in his Retreat unless it be to rally again with some Reserves to maintain his own Right more vigorously so as we ought still to contend to Blood for our King's Freedom in his Actings against such Especially those whose Principles are for Resistance and Rebellion not Submission in things that are contrary to their seditious Principles that hold it lawful to murder the King if not the man in whom the Regal Power is vested by dispoiling him of all his Regalia and Essentials of Royalty which were to un shakel mad-men and set them free to Fury and Rage perhaps for the destruction of those that endeavoured their recovery and preservation and not to strike Sparks into those Brands that need be quenched but they heighten all into a Flame Besides it were unsafe to the Publick Peace to permit the Factious Separatists who are yet as Sand without Morter weak dispersed and loose to gather into Combinations and Confederacies by which they 'll know their own strength and take advantage of others weakness to compass their own end whose end is only like Oyl among other Liquors to be uppermost and bring all into a subjection to them and to be able perhaps to give not ask Dispensations Nay it would reflect dishonour and disgrace upon our Government and Governours and Discouragement to all Orthodox Professors not to maintain what hath been prosperously practised among us since the Reformation and hath had the Influences of Heaven to give it a Prolifick Vertue in producing a Loyal Zealous and Pious People to beautifie their Professions And therefore Christian Kings should not be out-done by a Heathen inspired by God to it but send out a Decree that whosoever will not do th Law of God and the King's Law let him have Judgment without delay whether it be to Death or to Banishment or to Confiscation of Goods or to Imprisonment s Ezr. 7.25 26 27. which was in part practised by the Kings of Israel t 2 Chro. 15.12 13 14 15. 29. â—0 31. 34.31 â—2 â—3 1 Chron. 23. and ought much more to be done under the Gospel that hath more of light and direction in it to walk by lest Liberty should turn into Licentiousness in holding things contrary to the Analogy of Faith and against the Rules of Charity Purity Loyalty Sobriety and Expedience to the disturbance of the Peace and Unity of the Church which Good and Pious Kings ought always to prevent or restrain by wholesom and Penal Laws of Regulation to encourage or fright their People the more to their Duties and Obedience which I shall in the next place touch upon with a light and unskilful Pencil CHAP. V. Of the Debt and Allegiance Subjects owe to their Princes NOW that we may pay and retribute the Native Rights rightly which we owe to the Person upon whom God hath fixt the Sacred Character of Supremacy let us endeavour to set a true value and estimate upon the great benefits we receive by him when we either find in the foot of the Account all the Glory of Religion and happiness of a free People if he Governs well summed up in him or when ill not only the Exercise of many Christian Graces in us God commanding our Submission to him but sometimes the highest Crown of Martyrdom when we suffer for Christ and a Good Cause and are not only ready with St. Paul to do but dye for his Name u Acts 21. For by it we may make Tyrants and our greatest Enemies to become our best Friends if we can but improve those holy advantages for our Spiritual Good and make our Spirits when extracted from the more earthly parts in all outward enjoyments to multiply our Joyes so that were there not a higher Principle to move us our own Interest and self-advantage the delight and complaisance of a quiet Conscience should naturally incline us to an holy gratitude to God for them and oblige us to all proportionable returns unless we will have the inanimate and irrational Creatures to rise up against us in Judgment For thus the Rivers run back into the Lap of their Natural Mother and offer up their streams there as a just Tribute for having sucked and derived their nourishment from her Breasts Thus the dull and heavy Earth doth put forth her self in an early Spring to make an Offering of her Fruits to man for his labour and cost bestowed on her and sends up an Incense to Heaven confest of the Spirits of her richest Flowers in thanks for her fruitful Showers and sweet Influences by which they grow and flourish Nay the most unnatural of all Birds the Raven became Elias his Caterer out of a natural gratitude to God as some have observed for feeding her young ones when she left them And therefore let not these become in this reasonable Creatures and we Men become Beasts nay worse by our unthankfulness for Blessings by Afflictions but most when we fail in our Duties to our Superiours for their benefits to us the contrary being enjoined by God who because Princes are to rule for him takes care for them and no sooner provides for his own Worship but for their Honour w Ex. 20.2 3 1â— still coupling them with himself through all the Scripture as x Prov. 24.21 Mat. 22.21 1 Pet. 2.17 Fear God honour the King that so both Law Prophets Apostles nay the Son of God himself might enforce it as a Duty upon us as a learned Father of our Church observes But not to loose my self in this Sea we will follow the several streams that run into it and shew how they all meet there And First of Obedience 1. The first great Out-rent and Homage we are to acknowledge our subjection in is Obedience in lawful Commands For so St. Paul to Titus y Tit. 3.1 commenting as it were upon the 13th Chapter to the Romans expounds it And as the Learned observe the very word Subjects signifies Obeyers in the Original as an Essential Ingredient into an happy Government which with Solon is ever most glorious Si Populus Magistratui obediat Magistratus autem legibus But then this duty must be rooted in Conscience and spring from thence in that we must obey for the Lord's sake terminating it in him because the bond to Civil Obedience is from Divine Ordinance and that not only to the good but froward Masters z 1 Pet. 2.18 Eph. 6. And then let it spread into every duty even in all things a Col. 3.20 Actively or
recovery of his just Rights Answ In this case Faithfulness implying Trust Duty and Active Obedience as in the Revelations Be faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life and so understood in Common Notions you ought not to do it For though you cannot pay the Debt of an Operative Allegiance to the right Owner it is not in your Power to transfer his Right to another the Duty of Subjects to their Kings deriving from God's Precept not Man's Donation so as it falls not under the consideration of things Arbitrary Obedience being simply good or evil as it is objected And therefore all I conceive we can do in this case lawfully is but the giving of a Negative Assurance not to act any thing against them so long as we remain under their protection which once made we ought to be faithful in the observing till our condition be enlarged by Exchange Ransom or some other way of Providence which ever presumes the means to be lawful as well as the end good For this is but a submission to my fate with an Improvement of my Condition no restraint of my Power but the exercise of it for a time a prudent Election of the least evil of Punishment without any Ingredient of the evil of sin For so we may keep Loyal and strengthen in the Habit when suspended in the Act and interrupted in the mafestation of the Duty a wrong possession de facto never cancelling the Owners right de jure but engages all honest mens Compassions to the oppressed and Prayers for their restitution and not with the Pagan Indians to worship the Devil ne noceat or for the Temptations of Greatness or Power q Mat. 4. So as our Oaths and Engagements must be always as the Casuists determine 1. Super re licita 2. In bonum finem 3. Never contra pactum aliquod prius initum which the equity of the thing and some just occasion may again call me to upon a former tye or Obligation for if otherwise taken they engage us only to an hearty Repentance for having taken them And all this we ought to do out of an humble and reverential awfulness to the Person and Commands of our King not servile Affection as not consisting with a noble and ingenuous nature but a filial one issuing from love For this is grounded upon the Law of Nature and should be filial as Power it self is Paternal r Lev. 19.3 Pro. 14.21 And therefore my Son saith Solomon fear God and the King for as the King to God so the Subjects are to the King and he is a middle thing in regard of just Power between them and God Nay he is so much Gods nay God to us in regard of the immediate Power and delegation he hath from God that Josephus to distinguish Monarchical Government from all others framed by men calls it Theocratie that of God which in the Inventory of all Blessings of this life was by Ezekiel accounted the greatest Ezek. 16.3 And as a Beam from the Sun it is so inseparable from the person where it is once legally setled in a King and his Progenitors as it is with us owned both by the Articles of our Church Canons Homilies Laws and Oaths both of Supremacy and Allegiance that nothing but death can divide them For though some Kings have been deposed by Rebellions and others forced to resign their Crowns as Edward the Second see Baker's Chronicle they were never divested of the Habit of Power de jure but only deprived of its exercises de facto And though that of Resignation can hardly be justifiable in any case it ought never to be done but to his lawful Successor as it was in the Instance mentioned without throwing off God as in the rejection of Samuel where his Providence had otherwayes settled the Right in that where the Divine Constitution hath placed the Supremacy in any God still expects from him a just managing of that Power for the advancement of his Glory and good of his people which he can never cast off no more than a Father Wife or Child can discharge themselves from the mutual duty of those Relations so long as they continue Nor is this slightly to be passed over when the single duty of fear due to the King s Eccl. 12.13 is comprehensive of all others for as Love it is a Catholick Grace runs through all our Actions and is a Watch upon them for their Regulation or as the Life and Soul that animates them and the more it is free the more it dilates to shew it self saith Irenaeus in just duties and makes our Filiation under the Gospel of much more liberty than the condition of Servants under the Law as it imports a voluntary Reverence or Worship for so Fear and Reverence in the Language of the Spirit speak the same thing t Eccl. 1. Ps 5.7 compared with Ps 132.7 Ps Ps 95. Mal. 1.6 But to test our selves in this duty we may know it by our fear of God which includes it as God will know that is take notice of our fear of him by that to our Superiours As in Abraham's Sacrifice where though intuitively and eternally he knew that Abraham feared him yet he would not own it but from the evidence of his outward expressions u Gen. 22.13 And thus our Saviour would only take notice of St. Peter's love to him by feeding his Flock w Joh. 2 P. 17. though he well knew his Affections before which was also the reason of Job's Tryals x Job 1. Nor is this a slight Argument as a Reverend Divine observes but grounded upon an impregnable Reason and Syllogism framed by the Spirit of God y 1 Joh. 4. who concludes by a Topick rule That if we love not the general Image of God in our Brethren whom we do see we cannot love God whom we do not see but in such Shadows and Representations And if by my want of Affection and Charity to my Brother and the fruit of it God concludes against my love to him he will do it much more for the want of our duty of fear to our King who is not only his general but the particular and peculiar Image of his Divine Power and Glory to whom fear is originally due which made Jacob to say of his Lord Esau z Gen. 32.10 vidi faciem ut faciem dei And Moses a Num. 16. Exo. 16.8 Your murmurings are not contra nos sed contra Jehovam Nay thus God himself saith of the ten Tribes revolt b 2 Chr. 13.8 they resisted the Kingdom of God in David's Son and to Samuel c 1 Sam. 8.7 non te sed me So as our failings in this or any other way to our Prince is a disobedience to God himself as their hearts are said to be in his hands by appropriation Therefore my Son says he not Sons give me thy heart d Pro. 24.21 in exchange
committed all Judgment to the Son c. And therefore herein a good King ought ever to make God's revealed Will and the known Laws of which his sworn Judges are to be the Interpreters the measure and rule of his proceedings and that under pain of Damnation a severity from God infinitely above the coercion of men nor shall their punishment be less who usurp the Exercise of this Justice without his Commission Thirdly Mercy must all derive from the King as a Flower that groweth only in his Garland a Gem which can shine only from the Diadem of Princes For Jus vitae necis a Power of pardoning Condemned Persons and delivering from the Terrour of the Law though in some cases limited as in wilful Murders and the like belongs only to him being there deposited by God himself and in no other Representative whatsoever so that where Regal Government is setled the Execution of any man though wicked and deserving to dye by the Law is wicked if not having the King's Commission for it Fourthly Honour the ennobling of the Blood is to derive from him when Vertue or some Heroick Acts dignifie the Person for without that he that receives it is but a Label which bears the Wax without any impression of the Seal or as a rotten Post that bears a glorious Escutcheon But for the more clear manifestations of this his Ornamenta Regia Regal Ornaments as a Crown a Throne a Scepter and the like with the universally acknowledged Rights to them speak him to be the only Spring from whence it can flow z 2 King 12. â—2 1 Kings 10.8 and ought still to issue in lesser and greater Streams by it to enrich the humble Valleys and make them shew gay when adorned with those Flowers of the Crown for the encouragement of Vertue as he beareth the Sword to cut down Offenders and prevent their growth And as a Testimony hereof the Romans had wont to send to Foreign Kings in League with them an Ivory-Sceptre a Royal Robe and Chair of State a Tacit. Annal. l. 4. to show in Hieroglyphick what they were Fifthly Kings owe an Example of Vertue and Piety to their Subjects in that instruimur praeceptis sed dirigimur exemplis saith Seneca the Actions of great men have a Compulsory Power in them Regis ad exemplum are an Eye-Catechism and as the Basilisk by seeing they many times kill our Vices or by being seen invite us to Vertue Examples being the shortest way of teaching For from that Milk we usually as from our Mothers Breasts suck our good or bad Inclinations b Gal. 2.14 Nay like the first Mover they carry all the Inferiour Orbs with them as the first Deer the Herd When bad Kings with the ill Influence of the Planets kill more deadly than Poyson in Plants because coming from a more glorious Body though the other be more Infectious But herein we in this Nation have the advantage of all others For if ever the Rayes of Vertue had a Power of affimilating others into their own Divine Nature the Beams of Goodness that shine upon us from the Example of our dear Soveraign who as a Combination or Conjunction of Graces both Divine and Moral hath all in himself that a finite and limited Being is capable of must needs have a prevalency over us Or if they make us not better they will make us much worse as they will rise up in Judgment against us to our greater Condemnation And I am confident as he is an Active Example of Vertue so he would be Passive to teach us how to suffer in a good Cause though it were to pass through a Red Sea of his own Blood for the good of his People Pelican-like to nourish us with the Spirits that flow out of his own Breast and by those Beams to reflect a more glorious Lustre than in his Meridian and height of Greatness But not to suffer my Zeal to carry me besides my purpose there is amongst many others one part of Duty most especially incumbent upon Kings For 6. Lastly as Kings reign by God so they should rule for him and the highest good of their People in matters of Religion both in maintaining the Substance and Essential Parts of it in their Vigour and Power by Active Compulsions and Humane Restraints to force the outward man to Obedience in things good in themselves and to prescribe such Rules Methods and Boundaries in things indifferent as may bring all to Uniformity in Worship and may stand as a Wall or Fence to God's Vineyard against the Invasions of the little Foxes of Schisms and Factions And this not only for Decency Order and Significancy but as that without which Religion it self cannot subsist For though they are no parts of it but Circumstantials Essentials in a Well-formed Church cannot be maintained without them no more than a Tree can be preserved to live without its Bark or Majesty in a King without Reverence For that like the Skin to the Body preserves it both in Being and Beauty which occasioned St. Paul's Precept of having all things be done decently and in order that is according to appointment as the Original c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will bear it so Dr. Hammond renders the Words d 1 Cor. 14.40 For take away those Regulations of our Publick Devotions which are as the Hemme that strengthens the Garment and keeps it Uniform all would resolve into Rents and Schisms Chaos and Confusion So as if the Church of God his enclosed Garden be not fenced by good Laws for Conformity all Methods of Devotion are lost and the Bores of the Forrest unruly men of Factious Spirits will soon break in to destroy and root it up and offer nothing but the blind and lame to God in loose and untruss'd postures unbecoming the Greatness of an Earthly Prince in our Addresses to them much more to our God e Mal. 1. by it to make their Superiours bend to them if pertinacious obstinacy could do it when they should bow to their Superiours f Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Eph. 4. and 6. according to the Oeconomy of Nature it self where the inferiour Orbs are to be guided and move by the highest Spheres Otherwise the whole Fabrick would be unhinged and fall in pieces or at least grow weak by separation For a Dispensation to several Forms of Worship in one Church would prove an Act rather of Division than Comprehension encrease Emulation and Factions and plant a Seminary for a continued Schism In that there could be no such Encouragement but there would be scandal and a way of seduction in it to all Orthodox Protestants and a Transmigration of Souls amongst themselves from the Father to the Son with Encouragements and Supports from their proâ—use Zeal of the Proselites to their Opinions So as they would strengthen with time in that Novelties never want Courtship and Adorers though the old way is Regia via God's way and
of little sins as they make little or no account of great ones and yet assume the disguise of Piety as the hating of Idolatry when they commit Sacriledg i Rom. 2.22 by it and their Hpocrisie making themselves more guilty than they could be in the thing they abhor For as one says wittily the Idolater is but mistaken in his God the other thinks God is mistaken in him the one dishonours the other undeifies his God Yet the men of our times who make themselves the only Church of God and reprobate those who are of the true Church are not only guilty of this but many other crying sins which they not only Act but Enact as a Law as Blood-shed Oppression Prophanation of God's Rights and Ordinances by which you may know them not to be yet born of God k 1 Joh. 3. for those sin not not such great known sins not with a deliberate purpose to sin And therefore let us neither adhere to their Persons how seemingly holy soever they are in other things nor countenance that Cause that causes so many crying Disorders and Impieties For as St. Cyprian saith ea non est Religio sed dissimulatio quoe per omnia non constat when as Religion teacheth us to walk in an orderly sincere universal and uniform observance of all God's revealed Will and so walking to persevere For they and they only who are constant unto death shall enjoy a Crown of Life which I heartily wish to the greatest Enemies of God our just Cause and our Persons beseeching God that though they send us through a red Sea of our own Blood to our Heavenly Canaan and with Mahomet's Tomb hang us between Heaven and Earth as unworthy of either they may yet become Instruments of restoring Peace and Truth in this Kingdom and account those fair and spotless Lillies greater Ornaments to thâ—iâ— Garlands than all their Roses of Bloody Trophies And that they may make God and the Kingdoms good the only Centre and Circumference of all their Thoughts Words and Actions truly repenting of their Sins that by Gods Mercy they may obtain Pardon for them and not be left in hardness of Heart Blindness and Impenitence a Judgment beyond all Judgments as it is a Judgment that hath no sense of Judgment and yet hath both Sin and Punishment in it And though they have resolved all Law into the Sentence of the Sword and almost all Gospel into the private whispers of a seducing Spirit God in Mercy keep them from the destruction of the one and afford them Mercy in the other for their Conviction and Amendment and let not the Spiritual Lethargy of Sin any longer stupifie their Consciences but awaken them to an active endeavour of repairing their Errours and restoring of God's Truth that their Souls may be saved 5. Lastly Prayer is the great Out-rent and Homage the Subject as a duty ows his Soveraign Now as Prayer is the top-Branch of all our Duties to God and the most prevailing Oratory for his Blessings upon a Nation we must pray for them as men but first as Kings that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life under them in all Godliness and Honesty l 1 Tim. 2. And therefore in the practice of that Duty I shall wind up my Discourse Humbly beseeching God that as he hath given us a Caesar for Piety exemplary for Prudence as an Angel of God knowing both good and evil who by day as a Cloud and as a Pillar of Fire by night doth go before us to direct comfort and refresh us in all our wearisom marches and hard sufferings not refusing to wade through another red Sea though tinctured with his own Blood for the regaining and maintaining of Truth and Peace amongst us that God would give us Grace truly to value so great a Blessing in our King and for his Fatherly Kindness to us to pay all filial Obedience to him And let us never cease humbly to pray thee O Lord still to establish the Crown upon the Head of him and His Posterity till Shiloh come Plead thou this Cause of our King O Lord or rather thine own Cause and fight against those that fight against Him hate them not so much as not to seem to hate them at all by letting them still prosper in their Wickedness but correct them to amend them here that they may not be condemned hereafter and make Him the more Pious by His Pressures the more just by their Oppressions and every way the better for and more glorious by His Sufferings Make His Enemies as the Dust before the Wind and the Angel of the Lord scattering them but upon His Head let His Crown ever flourish And thou who art the Supreme Goodness so temper thy Justice we beseech thee as to make thy Strokes become Mercies to Him that He may read thy favour in thy frowns and not turn thy Rod into a Serpent thy Antidote into Poyson but make thou it like Aaron's in the end to bud and bring forth the blessing of a happy Peace to Him and us Yet let Him not so value Peace as to prefer it to Truth for a just War is better tban an unjust Quiet but as His and our Sins have let in one so make our Sufferings by and Sorrows for them to fit us for the Blessing of the other and us by following Righteousness to find a happy rest In the mean time sanctifie and preserve Him from all the Artificial Vnderminings and open Violence of Bloody and Wicked Men prepare him for all Events and give him an holy use of all thy varied Judgments and make Him to make a pious advantage of His Enemies and they to become His best Friends when by sucking the Venom and Poyson out of their Injuries He can by a charitable forgiveness turn them through God's Mercies into the richest Cordial Spirits to refresh His Soul with in His greatest Conflicts and Faintings And ever give Sentence with Him O God and defend His Cause against the Vngodly Let not the Justice of it sink under the weight of the Sins of His Party nor the not only acted but enacted Rebellion Sacriledge and Oppression of His Enemies separate any longer betwen them and thee nor us from one another but unite us all in inward Affections and the Bond of an outward Peace and that we may maintain truly zealous hearts to our God Loyal to our Soveraign and loving one towards another Protect Him by thy Power against all His Adversaries guide Him by thy Grace in all His Actions bring him to His Throne again with Happiness Safety and Honour re-establish Him in all His iust Rights and grant that all those committed to His charge may lead a peaceable and quiet life under Him in all Godliness and Honesty and that as He hath always defended thy Faith so thy Faith may still defend Him and He make it His Endeavours to restore thy Worship to its ancient Purity thy Church and Ministers to their ancient Glory and Himself and Kingdom to a happy and established Peace And for this end calm O Lord the raging of the Sea and the madness of His Pepole bound their Passions turn their outward Form into the substance of Religion let all their Schisms end in a Charitable Accord their Errours in Truth their Rebellion in Loyalty that as they have requited Him Evil for Good and Hatred for His Good-will they may now have hearts to repent of their Evils done and he one to forgive those he hath suffered by them Still preserve Him a Faithful Servant to thee though His Subjects be false to Him and ready to undergo the greatest Injuries rather than to consent to the least Sin Give Him a heart to part with all for thee but nothing of thine and though they would Vn-King Him by their Demands let Him not Vn-man Himself in His Condescentions depose the just Soveraignty of Reason in Himself nor prefer any preservation to that of His own Conscience but in all things to preserve His Subjects just Rights without enslaving Himself or His. Make thy Will O Lord the Rule of His and thy Glory and thy Self the Centre and Circumference of all His Thoughts Words and Actions Give Him a free submission to thee in all Events extricate Him from all His troubles carry Him through all Difficulties increase in him all saving Graces subdue in Him all Corruptions pardon all His Sins sanctifie unto Him all Afflictions guide him in all His wayes supply Him in all His wants lay no more upon Him than He may be able to bear but with the Temptation give Him a means to escape even the Snares of Sin and Malice of His Enemies and make Him not only be ready to suffer but to dye for the name of JESUS in Affections and Habit ever yet never in Act a Martyr unless for the advancement of thy Glory and His by one dying Man to make many living Saints to encrease the joyes of the Saints in Heaven though it would take from us the greatest upon Earth Give Him O Lord a dry Victory over all His Enemies and not the Temptation of a Bloody Conquest But if by those Issues thou wilt recover our weak and dying State come again with healing in thy Wings and once more restore what we have lost and give what is wanting to the manifestation of thine own Glory So be it Lord JESVS Amen Amen FINIS