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
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
or any other Form When instead of a Mushroom the growth of one night that springs perhaps out of the basest Excrements and of such a lazy despondency of Mind as sinks him into the next degree to a Beast making him to have no designs generous and noble to carry him beyond his own felicity we shall have one whose blood is derived to him through the Veins of many Noble Heroick and Vertuous Progenitors who becomes all Spirits refined from those marish and terrene parts which weigh down or raise Vapours to eclipse others of a more base Extraction when they aspire to great and generous actions Nay this makes Princes live in their Posterities when dead and brings reverence to the very Swadling-Cloaths and Cradles of their Successors as if they might Command Obedience before they could speak as Barclay observes Nor can it be imagined but that their high and vertuous Educations should infuse a Gallantry into them above Pride saith the same Author having been always used to the greatest outward Observances and by being so placed above all Contempt so as it cannot but nourish in them higher thoughts than either Hatred Emulation or Avarice produces and free them from those self-reflections private Families are subject to as I have touched before because they are secured against the fears of Competitors in rule and have setled supplies for their wants enjoying in the Stream what others have but in the Cistern and conveying it to their posterity as their Patrimony and Inheritance making them many times Heirs of the Goods of their minds as well as Bodies and to reap the Harvest and crop of all their noble and growing Designs which as Seed sown by them will not perhaps ripen into Fruit in many years after For it is probable such will manure and nurse up with Industry and Care what their Predecessors planted Nor can the Infancy and weakness of a Prince be of so bad a Consequence as a Popular State because he is then in Guardian to the most able and faithful Great Ones or the great Council of the Kingdom it self which the wisest and best of Kings do always make use of to steer their Actions by Nay if that Government should for a time degenerate it is more likely soon to recover and unite again in one when broken into many Interests equally tainted with malignant Influences and self-seeking designs But not with the Mole to lose my self upon the face and superficies of things when I may make my Habitation safe by digging deeper the best Foundations being lowest laid I shall return to my first design and go to the Root of all endeavouring to show that Regal Power was a Plant of Paradise of God's own setting and so of Divine Right and that the Sword which contends with the Scepter and raises it self upon the ruines of just Power cannot be free from all the fore-mentioned sad Effects which must eclipse the Glory of every Nation and leave it no Trophies but such as Pyrrhus once said of his Victories as would undoe the Conquerour and appear best when shrouded under the Vail of true Repentance and offered up again by a holy Restitution to the Altar from which they were sacrilegiously taken Such successes being our greatest vanquishments and leaving us no just Title to make other use of our unjust acquisitions Though Abishai would have preached David into a Murder and Rebellion at once upon no better grounds than Gods delivering Saul into his power o 1 Sam. 26.9.10.24.12 had he not learnt a better Divinity measuring his Actions by Gods revealed Will not outward Events knowing he there writes in Characters shewing us his hand only but not letting us at all read his meaning in them p Deut. 9. 2 Chron. 13.8 But to be a little more plain and perspicuous in so necessary a Truth I shall endeavour as in an Epitome or Index to those many large and learned Discourses that have been written upon this subject to sum up the best Collections I can and to digest them into this Method First To shew that Kings are the Ordinance of and hold their Supreme Power from God not Man and that they are only accountable to him for the use of it Secondly What that Power is and how limited Thirdly That resistance in the Subject against that Power is in no Case warrantable Fourthly What Duties Kings owe to their Subjects Fifthly What the Subject's Allegiance consists in to them First That Kings are the Ordinance of God contrary to that of the Romanists and our new Statists Reges coronas sceptra ab hominibus recipiunt ad eorum placita tenent q Bellarm. lib. 5. de Rom. Pon. cap. 7. So Buchanan r De Jure Reg. apud Scotos Populus Rege praestantior etiam major Rex igitur cum ad Populi Judicium vocatur minor ad majorem in jus vocatur For they are called God's by Institution and Appropriation from God For By me Kings reign saith he s Prov. 8.15 Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Jo. 14.30 Hos 13.11 Wis 6.13 and with my holy Oyl have I anointed him t Ps 89.20 not only to rule by but for God too as the most express Character of him upon Earth Which made him lead his people by the hand of Moses and Aaron one Chief in Civil matters the other in things concerning the Priest's Office though with subordination Not one People by many Rulers much less the Ruler by the People but by one in Chief under the conduct of God himself and by his Authority as may appear in that and all other Instances of Regal Power So as Kings are to be reverenced and distinguished from others in regard of that Natural and Paternal Power God planted in Adam and caused immediately after to derive from many Heads into one Chief in one place a cause of the division of the Nations amongst the Sons of Noah as Monarch of the whole Earth after the Flood u Gen. 10.32 So as Kings are Gods and to be obeyed First In regard of their Attribute of Power For where the word of a King is there is Power w Eccles 8.4 that he might be feared x Pro. 24.21 and who may say unto him what dost thou Secondly In that of Mercy For there is Mercy with him that he may be feared in that he beareth not the Sword in vain y Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. but doth whatsoever pleaseth him z Eccle. 8.3 1 Sam. 8. in giving gracious Indulgences Thirdly In regard of Majesty and Soveraignty For God expresseth them by those highest Titles saith Calvin a Inst 4. l. cap. 20. to affect us with the awful sence of the Divinity it self and our Duty to them in putting the Glory of his own name upon them For b Ps 82.6 I have said ye are Gods and not only so but decreed and ordained it it shall be so even Gods before Men though Men before God 1st
Repressor of the Tumults of the People which are more raging than the Waves of the Sea k Ps 65.7 For that keeps its bounds when the other will know none l Hos 5.10 11. But here it is but he that resisteth not he that obeyeth not that purchases Damnation For there may be not only a lawful but a necessary Disobedience when the Commands of our Superiours run counter to God's revealed Will m Acts 4.18 19.5.29 as in Daniel and the three Children n Dan. 3.4.5 chap. But even then resist not though a Nero under whom some think St. Paul writ his Epistle to the Romans and a little after felt some sparks of his Persecution o Ep. 3. as he was flagellum Domini p Hos 13.11 by an Ordinative Permission Nay further our submission to such should be ex animo as Aquinas glosses because the command is omnis anima For it is not an Eye but a Heart-service that God requires even to our froward and perverse Masters q 1 Pet. 2.18 Ep. 6.6 knowing that God will both recompence and protect those that suffer according to his Will and commit their Souls to him in well-doing r 1 Pet. 4.19 which made David conclude They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not failed them that seek thee but wilt be their refuge in such times of trouble s Ps 9.9 10. Nay the duty of not resisting may also be enforced from the contrary when Christ in saying that If his Kingdom were of this World then would his Servants fight t Joh. 18.36 intimates that we owe our lives for the protection of our King 's just Rights but ought not to do any thing against them or theirs whether concerning the Person or Posterity For after the free Suffrage or Submission of a People to a Successive Monarchy the Son and next in Blood have always a just right to the Crown as in our Kingdom upon the death of his Father though wanting the Ceremony of Coronation which doth but declare not convey the Right Nor is it in the Peoples Power to revoke their former Concessions no more than a Wife when she hath taken a Husband can divorce her self or justly refuse him other duties though he grow froward and unjust And if it were otherwise how should we imitate Christ our General in his Passive Obedience as is commanded u 1 Pet. 2.21 keep our Covenant in Baptism the Epitome of Christian Religion and make many living Christians by one dying Saint in that Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae or be Partakers of that Spiritual Good that comes by suffering even the Tryal of our Faith w 1 Pet. 1.7 and Improvement of our Glory So as the contrary Opinion must needs proceed from Infidelity or distrust when we will be our own God's Deliverers and not rely upon Providence for the Event in all Distresses in only using such means as by his word are warrantable And the Weapons of our Warfare we know are not Carnal but Spiritual x 1 Cor. 10.4 2 Tim. 4.7 even our whole Panoplie being but the Girdle of Verity the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Sword of the Spirit the Helmet of Salvation and Shield of Faith y Eph. 6. by which we overcome the World z 1 Joh. 5.4 And therefore Tertullian in his Apology against forcible entrance a Text. 37. begins with an Absit and concludes We must rather be slain than slay our Superiours So Ambrose b L. 5. Ep. ad Aurent Prayers and Tears are our only Weapons And to that purpose speaks St. Cyprian c Ad Demetriad Gregory Nazianzen d Orat. 2. in Julian with all the concurrence of the Primitive times Nor are we to submit for fear unless filial or want of force but Conscience sake Nor can the New-minted Jesuitical Distinctions of differing between the Person and the Power in their Rebellions by placing it in the People and the Administration of it only in the King absolve their Consciences from the Guilt who de facto have resisted in our times it being but a Popish Riddle such as their Transubstantiation in which they turn the substance of the Regality of Kings into a mere Chymera a fancyed nothing and make Accidents to subsist without a Subject the Supreme Power without his Person a Paradox that neither the Gospel nor the Law can unriddle For they speak the contrary in making the Supreme Power inseparable from the Person of a King e 1 Pet 2. especially ours which is setled as well by Municipal as Divine Law as may appear by all the Laws of this Kingdom both Customs and Acts as well as by the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance f Cook fol. 36. 37. which condemn such Monsters of Opinion to be illegitimate g See Cook fol. 8. 35. So Pref. 4. part fol. 1. Bract. l. 1. c. 8. fol. 5. 6. 16. Ri. 2. cap. 5.24 Hen. 8. C. 12. D. c. Stu. f. 43. Dier 29. Co. 11.90.93 1 Eliz. c. 1. 5. Eliz. 1. Cook Calvin's Case f. 11. Exilium Henricide Spencer 1 Edw. 3. 3 Edw. 25. Calv. B. â—0 Cook 4. Parl. Inst fol. 46. 7 fol. 30. 2 fol. 15. 1 Jacob. c. 1.10.33 Hen. 8.21 And if the unhappiness of evil times and men have de facto done otherwise and deposed or destroyed or rejected their Princes they are to expect no Lawrels nor Trophies for it the memory and monuments of them being best buryed in Oblivion In that such Victories ought to be ashamed of themselves for though such ways may seem right to a man the end thereof are the ways of death h Prov. 14.2.16.25 And thus having taken the Timber that grows upon other Mens Soyles and squared it into a less Model for use gathered the choicest Flowers out of other mens Gardens and made them into a Nose-gay fit for every hand to refresh the Spirits of such as are fainting under the persecution of these times for their Loyalties there being little of mine but the Thread that binds them drawn my Oar out of others Mines to melt it into a small Wedg or Ingot that every one might carry a stock of Knowledg about him as a Counter-Charm to those seducing Spirits now raised among us to withdraw men from their due Obedience I desire every one to treasure up something for their use and having proved all Power to be of Divine Right and only subject to limitation in regard of Exercise with a security against Force though a Nebuchadonozor or a Jeroboam i Jer. 29 7. Hos 13.11 be over us I shall proceed to speak of the Duty of Kings in which I shall not say much since all are Doctors and read Lectures upon that subject being all Eye for without none for within to take notice of the slips and failings of their Prince which they always behold in a
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
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
Passively obeying the Lawful submitting our Persons though not our Actions to the rest b Act. 5.29 to our King as he is Pater Patriae c 1 Pet. 2.17 of all others the Supreme Head for only in rebus mediis Lâ—x posita est Obedientiae because as I noted before in things necessary by any Divine Law we ought to obey though no Humane Authority command them in things unlawful we ought not to obey though commanded and are only to obey for the Commands sake not the things commanded in things indifferent which only become unlawful because forbidden and are not forbidden because unlawful For such Obedience is not only accepted with but rewarded of God as in the Recabites Jer. 35. and can only keep us in a serene and calm temper in the Body politick so as a frown will not appear in the face of that great Ocean by the raging of Waves and madness of the People nor will a wrinckle show it self to abate its beauty 2. We owe Honour to him and that as justly as Fear to God himself being commanded to pay it to God in the Man not to the Man but as he represents God And this as the Flags and main Sails of a Ship doth not only deck and adorn the Throne but makes it bear up in all Weathers nay as the Bark the Tree doth preserve it in all its other Rights For let us but once slight or contemn the Person in saying what is this Moses that takes so much upon him d Num. 9. and we shall soon despise his Power nay God himself as represented in the King or Supreme e 1 Sam. 1.8 Upon which ground it is probable that God and the King are linked together Fear God Honour the King f 1 Pet. 2.17 to teach us that their Precepts are not two but one and the same in Root though the Fruit we must pay them is different And therefore St. Paul in commanding all to submit to the higher Powers concludes to whom you owe Honour g Rom. 13.7 as to a Father or to God for Gods command h Isa 49.23 and this in our thoughts not to blaspheme them i Eccl. 10.20 in our words not to deprave them k Ex. 22.28 Acts 22.5 Jude 8. nor speak evil of them in all our Actions to reverence them as Gods upon Earth his Chair of State wherein Divinity it self is Enthroned l Ps 8â— 6 2 Sam. 14.10 Num. 12.10 16.32 though in the Person of a Wicked man For though he forfeit his claim to double Honour due to them that rule well m 1 Tim. 5. one to his Place another to his Vertues he cannot devest himself of nor justly be denyed that Honour Fear Subjection c. which Subjects as a debt and duty must everpay to his Office and Supremacy as a most learned Divine hath observed 3. We owe Tribute both of our Persons and Purses First of our Persons for the just defence of our King and his just Rights This is implyed in those words of our Saviour My Kingdom is not of this World else would my Servants fight n Joh. 18.36 1 Tim. 22. As also in respect of the Power of Life a King has over his Rebellious Subjects that would not submit to his Government o Luke 19.27 which though a Parable may from the Application inforce it And it may be further proved from his just Power of making War and Peace p Num. 10. as hath been shewed fully from Scripture and our Law-books Secondly To this we must add the Tribute of our Purses in that Money is one of the Pillars of Power and the Nerves of War Majesty without it being but the shadow of Regality and without Power but a Speculative Greatness that hath the Vision of gallant things but no means to detain them because wanting of that Soul which should animate that otherwise dead and useless thing to Action And therefore God hath provided against the Galilites and Herodians q Act. 5.37 Mark 12.17 Mat. 22.16.21 in one and the same Command resolving upon that Common Rule of Justice suum cuique for neither but against both those that would give all to God and no Tribute to Caesar or all to Caesar and nothing to God divorcing those he hath joined together by saying Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's r Mat. 22.21 Upon which ground as I conceive Dr. Reynolds still observes s Ps 110. pag. 128. Bona adespota incerti Domini vectigalia census c. Concealments Tributes Customs and the like are Testifications of Homage and Fidelity belonging to the Personal Prerogative of Princes and are as the Apostle saith due unto them t Rom. 13.6 7. Thus Solomon levyed and the Princes with whom he held Correspondence payed Tribute u 1 Kings 4.21 9.21 10.10 Deut. 20.16 Nay Christ himself paid it by his Command to Peter though he was at the cost of a Miracle for it w Mat. 17.27 even to a Tiberius a Wicked Prince though it was the only Miracle he ever wrought in money matters as peculiar to Princes whereas all his others concerned the general necessities of mankind And we may further observe the justness of it from the Latine word Reddite not Date importing that it is not only lawful to pay but unlawful to with-hold it as a due nay it should be willingly the Offering of a free-heart x 2 Cor. 9.71 So as Legal Customs y Luke 3.3 Taxes or Homage z 1 Sam. 17.25 2 Kings 15.19 20. Fines a Est 7.26 Confiscations b Ezr. 10.8 are the just Rights of our Superiours But extraordinary Impositions cannot legally be now laid upon us in any case but visible and immergent necessity without the consent of both Houses of Parliament it having been the Wisdom of our Predecessors by the Indulgence of good Kings to keep the Purse and the Power by Municipal Law divided to prevent all Tyranny and Exorbitancy in the use of either And if we owe these Assistances to our lawful Soveraign how are they guilty against God of a High Rebellion that reject and oppose him in their Superiour and do not endeavour by just duty to prop but undermine his Throne For if a Negative Obligation not to aid him be unlawful where God commands assistance what is their Crime but as the Sin of Witch-craft that enter into an Engagement against him who is to them God amongst men in the visible Character of his Power when all others are only Men before God So as he never countenanced any other Government than what was Monarchical deposited and summed up in one Person exercising the Power though not always possessing the name of King As appears by that of Judges where it is said every one did what they list when there was no King that is no supreme Judge
in any So that St. Augustine in Abraham's case a Lib. Qu. super Gen. 4.46 and upon that action of our Saviour's b Qu. Evang l. 2. qu. 41. Quaelibet fictio non dicitur esse mendacium Finxit se longius ire Dominus non enim quod fingimus mendacium est sed quando id fingimus quod nihil significat Cum autem fictio nostra refertur ad aliquam significationem non est mendacium sed aliqua figura veritatis As Nathan's Parable to David c Aug. l. de mendacio cap. 5. and Christ's of the lost Sheep and lost Groat c. Fifthly To that of Naaman's bowing the in Temple of Rimmon before the Idol not to it I say 1. It was not only a single but multiplied sin and no ways tolerated by the Prophet for like Ezekiel's Wheels 2 King 5. one moved within the other when first his acting against his Conscience if he be presumed to have done what he asks a merciful dispensation for drew him to an outward dissimulation in appearing what he was not in heart by countenancing Idolatry Secondly To a scandal of the Godly And Thirdly To a confirmation of the Pagan Worshippers in their Idol-service to their false Gods which was a sin prohibitum quia malum and so cannot rationally be presumed to have had any dispensation from the Prophet though for the gaining of Naaman to the Profession of the true God when their Damnation is just that say Let us do evil that good may come e Rom. 3.8 or that Gods needs such humane Artifices when men and Beasts take their Prey by craft 2. The Prophet's saying go in peace was but a civil Farewell after the custom of that Nation no allowance of Naaman in that sin nor at all taking notice of his intention because perhaps his reproof might then prove unseasonable to his new Convert who as our Saviour saith of his Disciples when he had other things to declare unto them after their first Conversion could not bear it being but an Infant in Grace a new-born Proselyte capable only of milk the first Principles of Religion not strong meat in that it would rather turn into corruption and a surfeit to endanger then nourish the man so as it was in the Prophet a prudent silence only for that time no connivance at his intended errour 3. As Naaman's bowing was sinful in it self and so in his Opinion else why did he beg pardon in that particular from God out of the conviction of a natural Conscience in that even to such what is not of Faith is Sin f Rom. 14.23 I conceive the Prophets Go in Peace might have the nature of a Reproof in it being as much as if he should have said Well since you find a check of Conscience at it as a thing that needs a pardon why do you not rather decline it as you ought than interrupt the Calm Tranquillity and Harmony of a quiet mind in which peace I wish you still to go forward by saying Go in Peace without raising any such Earthquake or Commotion in your self 4. In Naaman's Case matter of just scandal was taken off as some conceive in that he publickly professed his disallowance of the Idol-Worship and so could not confirm the Wicked offend the Godly nor misguide others by his performing of a Civil Duty so as the Prophet might be thought rather to rectifie a tender Conscience by his words than tolerate a sin g Aug. Ps 5. when Naaman's intention was only to bow Civilly not Religiously with his King not to the Idol 5. Lastly Admit the Prophet did dispense with Naamans civil bowing as some conceive in respect of his late Conversion being immediately commissioned by God for it in a thing not malum in se who as the Supreme Law-giver could only dispence with his own commands if any man shall by that example presume to do what Naaman did he doth not as Naaman did unless he have the same Warrant without which none ought seemingly to partake of others sins h Eph. 5.7.11 but rather reprove them walking with all Circumspection in regard of the several ways they are to be contracted though there are as the Schools call them peccata compensativa profitable sins as in the Egyptian Midwifes saving the Hebrews Children by a Ly But I commend only their Obedience to God in not killing not their excuse which needed pardon Their Mercy was recompenced their Ly not approved Nor shall we ever be justified in the least degree of sinning i 1 Tim. 5.22 which may be contracted many secret ways and more than most men usually apprehend And therefore we ought to be very cautious of contracting sin there are so many avenues to it as 1. Consulendo By advising others in evil as Achitophel did Absolom to make good his Treason and Rebellion against David but such shall be taken in their own snare and perish in and by their own counsels saith Solomon 2. Adulando By feeding other Vices and nursing them up with the milk of Flattery in calling good evil and evil good k Isa 5.20 which is a beautifying of a people as the Pagan Negroes by painting with Ink instead of Colours l Isa 9.16 to which the greatest woe belongs though the Wicked may bless for a time whom God abhorreth m Ps 10.3 3. Mandando So Vriah's Murder and Drunkenness were David's sins though effected by others 4. Consentiendo For thus Saul became guilty of Stephen's Martyrdom n Act. 22.20 And therefore If sinners entice thee consent thou not o Pro. 1.10 For sentient eandem poenam qui consentiunt in eandem culpam 5. Provocando By inflaming or inticing others to sin as the Harlot in the Proverbs Pro. 7 for by setting any others house on Fire we are sure to burn and consume our own if contiguous to it and be answerable for the other's damage 6. Participando For if thou seest a Thief attempting to steal and hast a power to hinder him and doest it not thou art guilty of his Crime The not preventing a sin in another where I may do it lawfully being a promoting of it And then aequum est ut qui participes fuerunt in peccato participes fiant in supplicio it is but just that we suffer in the punishment if we partake in the sin q Rev. 18.4 For so Wrath came upon Jehoshaphat r 2 Chro. 19.2 because he helped the Ungodly and loved them that hated the Lord when a good wish to a bad action is a partaking of the evil s 2 Joh. 5.11 7. Omittendo vel connivendo by conniving at or not reproving others t Eph. 5.11 Lev. 5. Ezech. 3. such a Love and Indulgence to my Brother being the greatest hatred u Lev. 19.17 as God hates us most when he seems not to hate us at all by reproving and correcting us but suffers us to go on in
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
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