16.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quit your selves like Men and be strong And the Heathens in their Addresses to their People to behave themselves Valiantly used to bid them remember they were Men implying that if they did but consider they were Men they would then do worthily and honourably as became the Dignity of their Name and the Excellency of their Nature And the Consideration that we are English Men now in a time of Danger and War with a Strong and Subtile Enemy should raise in us a Courage suitable to that Name which has been so Famous in former Ages and excite us to give it a new lustre by Reviving the Virtues of our Forefathers in giving all possible Testimonies of Fidelity and Good-will to our Countrey Then should we bear our part of the Necessary Charge for our Defence not only with Content but Chearfulness especially considering that upon a Just Computation we are the Gainers by it for besides the Deliverance from past Calamities which ought not to be forgotten and our hopes of future Safety and Prosperity which are not to be despair'd of we have Peace and Quietness at Home the free Exercise of our Religion and other Advantages of Government without the Alarms and Fears without the Devastation and Spoil of approaching Armies so that we have more to be Thankful for than to Complain of God be Praised the Blessings we enjoy do much over-ballance the Inconveniences we suffer which are but as gentle Rods in Comparison of the Scorpions of our Enemies And yet can we be willing by our Murmuring Discontents and Divisions to strengthen the Hearts and Hands of our Enemies and weaken our own To give them Encouragement to continue the War with hopes of Success and thereby Contribute to the prolonging the Publick National Charge upon us which we so earnestly wish to be eas'd of by a Happy Peace III. For all these Blessings which we Enjoy next to the Goodness of God we Owe Gratitude to our Governours who are the Happy Instruments of Preserving them to us They Attend Continually with great Labour and Difficulty for our Benefit laying out their Time Care and Pains which we have the Fruits of without our Trouble Ought we not then to be Thankful to our Benefactors Does it not become us to make them as easie as we can that they may not be weary in doing good to us Sharp and severe Sufferings would make the most stupid the most insensible People grateful to their Deliverers But 't is our Happiness to have Reasons of being grateful upon easier Terms to them who prevent as well as remove our Misery Upon the whole Matter it is no less our Interest than our Duty to express our Gratitude by our Faithful Obedience to the King and to Subordinate Governours and Magistrates who help to make the Burden more easie to him And what Prince in the World better deserves the Burden of Government to be made easie to him For his Benignity and Clemency to his People for his Wisdom and Valour and Courage and Mighty Interest in the World all which he employs for our Safety For the Unwearied Labours of his Life the Hazardous Voyages and Dangerous Expeditions he Undertakes for our Preservation And what Government better Deserves to be Supported both in Church and State Our Church being deservedly Owned to be the Glory of the Reformation Teaching the Best Religion Confirm'd by the Laws of God Establish'd by those of the Land The Civil Government so Famous all the World over for Securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject as well as the Power of the Prince as to be the Object of Envy to our Enemies And certainly no People has more Obligations both of Duty and Interest to Obey their Governours and Support their Government And now to conclude let us not forget to give Thanks to God for all his Mercies to our Church and Nation particularly for his having had Pity on us when we were in great Trouble and Distress by a Gracious Providence in giving His Majesty so Happy a Success for our Seasonable Relief and Deliverance for Preserving him from the many Dangers to which he has since so often and too much Expos'd his Royal Person and for Continuing to us by him the great Blessings of Government the Safety of our Religion and Laws And lastly let us Pray for the Preservation Health and Long Life of our Gracious King that no Weapon formed against him may ever prosper that God in Mercy to us would abate the Pride asswage the Malice and confound the Devices of all his Enemies whilst on his Head the Crown doth flourish and in order to it that he would Bless his Councils and Prosper his Affairs That all who are in Authority under him may have Grace to Execute Justice and Maintain Truth and that we all may be Conscienciously Subject and Obedient to them as becomes good Christians that thereby we may Enjoy the Blessing of leading quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant to his Glory and our Comfort for Jesus Christ his Sake to whom with the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Glory Honour and Power for Evermore Amen FINIS
A SERMON Preached before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lord Chief Justice TREBY A SERMON Preached before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lord Chief Justice TREBY AT THE ASSIZES Held at Horsham in the County of SVSSEX on the 23d Day of March 1696 7. By PETER HEALD A. M. And Prebendary in the Cathedral Church of CHICHESTER LONDON Printed for Elizabeth Janeway Bookseller in Chichester and are to be Sold by Eben Tracy at the Three Bibles on London-bridge 1697. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL RICHARD FARINGTON Esq High-Sheriff And One of His Majesty's Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace for the County of Sussex SIR THis Sermon Preached before so Learned and Excellent a Judge as all Just Men who have the Honour to know him must own my Lord Chief Justice TREBY to be I now Publish as you very well know Sir at the Request of many Worthy Gentlemen for whom I shall always preserve an unfeigned Esteem as for many other Virtues so particularly for their Generous Love to their Countrey in Dangerous Trying Times I have no Apology to make for the Discourse it self but that I think it Loyal and Orthodox and I am sure is well intended which I hope will atone for the many Imperfections of it I thought fittest upon that Publick Occasion to press the Duty of Subjection and Obedience to Our Gracious King WILLIAM which all the Clergy in Subscribing their Address to His Majesty Obliged themselves to do and in that I only made more Publick what upon many Particular Opportunities I have according to my Poor Capacity endeavour'd to perswade People to ever since His Majesty's Happy Accession to the Throne which I have found by Experience some Persons have not been well pleas'd at I know the Enemies to the Government will not like this Discourse but I shall regard their Censures as little as they do their Duty so long as I have the Approbation of Wiser and Better Men who are Friends to the Government to which I here publickly Profess my self a Friend and at the same time Sir with all due Respect and Gratitude for your many Favours Your Most Humble Obedient Servant Peter Heald A SERMON Preached before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lord Chief Justice TREBY Titus III. 1. Put them in mind to be Subject to Principalities and Powers to Obey Magistrates THE Apostle in this Epistle gives Instructions to Titus what Doctrines he should principally insist upon in Preaching to the People of Crete amongst whom there were some Unruly 1.10 Men that were Wilful and Obstinate in their own way who would not submit to Peace and Order Others were Vain Talkers and Deceivers who vented their own Idle Fancies with such Sly Insinuations that they Corrupted others into the Belief of them By their False but Plausible Pretences they Seduced whole Families into their Pernicious Opinions Ver. 11. when their Real Design was their own Advantage Others were Notorious Liars such as would affirm a Falshood with the same Confidence as an Honest Man would assert a Truth or to give it a more Advantageous Grace paint it over with a Counterfeit Modesty a Studied Gravity and Affected Seriousness Others were Contentious and Troublesom who regarded more the Malice and Cunning of their Words and Actions than the Justice and Morality of them were perpetually busie in sowing the Seeds of Discord possessing Men with Unjust Prejudices and hatching some Mischief or other against their more Innocent and Quieter Neighbours Some were Factious and Seditious always complaining against the Government and what they did in Obedience to it seem'd to be against their Wills with Wrath or Grudging or some evident Mark of Ill-will and Discontent Which Unditiful Carriage made them justly looked upon as Enemies to the Government whereby they brought a Scandal upon the Christian Religion and sometimes Persecution upon the Best Christians By reason of their Pernicious Ways 2 Pet. 2.2 the Way of Truth was evil-spoken of Now to take off the Dishonour which these Men's Ill Practices had brought upon Christianity and to save the good Christians from Suffering by their Provocations and Immoralities the Apostle thought it necessary their Mouths should be stopt Tit. 1.11 that they should be rebuked sharply Ver. 13. and with all Authority that they might either be Reformed or Disabled from doing any more Mischief And there was good Reason for it for they were indeed Hypocrites who Practic'd upon the Weak and the Credulous by pretending they knew more of God and his Religion than other Men but yet their Actions were contrary to true Piety for altho' in Words they profest that they knew God 1.16 in Works they deny'd him being abominable and disobedient And to let the World see that Christianity was Calumniated when represented as an Enemy to Civil Government for the Best Christians were the Best Friends of it the most Peaceable Quiet and Obedient and Taught so to be by the Principles of their Religion he enjoins Titus the Metropolitan of Crete to put the Christians under his Care and Charge in mind to be Subject to Principalities and Powers to Obey Magistrates 'T is imply'd they knew this to be their Duty before but to ground them the more firmly in it engage them the more strictly to the practice of it and thereby to baffle the Objections of their Enemies St. Paul thought it necessary that they should be put in mind of this considerable part of the Christian Religion that none might plead Ignorance or Forgetfulness or be able to make any Pretence to Excuse the Non-performance of it Now in Compliance with this Apostolical Precept which gives a Commission to all Ministers to inculcate the same Doctrine for the same good Purposes I intreat your Patience and Attention while I put you in mind of these Three Things I. Of the Necessity of Government II. Of the Necessity of Governours III. Of our Duty of Subjection and Obedience to them The two first being imply'd and the last plainly contain'd in the words of the Text. I. The Necessity of Government is Confirm'd by the Practice of all Nations the Barbarous and the Infidel as well as the Civiliz'd and the Christian have all used the same Means of Common Safety Several indeed under different Forms of Government but all have consented in the Necessity of some Herein all Countreys of different Climates and contrary Tempers Dispositions and Complexions jointly agree Whence we may conclude Government as Natural as Self-preservation and the same God that planted the one in the Minds of Men appointed the other who supposes Humane Laws to make Property before the Eighth Commandment is capable of being broken Now Government is made Necessary because of the Errours of Men which proceed from Ignorance and Vice 1. From Ignorance Although Men least complain of want of Knowledge of any one thing yet 't is certain the want of it has made many to be the Authors of great Confusion and Disorder in the World Ignorance
the People that they may not be like Sheep without a Shepherd expos'd to Ravenous Wolves and other Beasts of Prey stand more in need of a Prince to Rule and Govern them than a Prince does of the Honour with the Trouble of it It seems some People thought otherwise among the Old Persians and therefore the wiser sort to Convince the rest of their Mistake for the space of Five Days after the Death of one of their Kings permitted the People to live Lawless that after the Experience of the Slaughters Rapines and Outrages committed in that short Interval they might learn to hold their Kings in more high Esteem and be made sensible of the necessity by the want of them But how much better is it for Men to learn Wisdom by others Experience than feel the Miseries of a Trial by their own III. I proceed now in the Third place to put you in mind of the Duty of Subjection and Obedience to Governours which is to be exprest in several Instances 1 Pet. 2.17 as for Example by Honouring their Persons not only by paying outward Respects when we are in their Presence Rom. 13.7 8. but with an inward Love and Reverence by Speaking well of them with Veneration and Esteem that we be not of the number of those Sons of Belial Jude 6 7. who despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities by Observing their Laws and doing their Just Commands with Chearfulness that we be not like them whom the Apostle calls Presumptuous and Self-will'd who either refus'd to Obey the Laws of their Governours or else did it grudgingly with great unwillingness by an humble Submission to their Reproofs Corrections and Punishments with Meekness and Patience by Paying Tribute and Legal Taxes Ordinary and Extraordinary for so we are Taught to render to all their Dues Rom. 13.7 Tribute to whom Tribute is due by Praying for them in Truth and Sincerity Abhorring to Prophane the Worship of God with such a Vile Hypocrisie as to Pray for them with our Lips when our Hearts are far from them and lastly by not resisting their Authority because they that resist Rom. 13 2 resist the Ordinance of God and shall receive to themselves Damnation And all Christians are obliged to observe these Instances of their Duty in their respective Stations according to their Abilities and Opportunities of what Condition or Order soever they be whether High or Low whether Secular or Spiritual Persons both Hearers and Teachers for they who are to put others in mind of their Duty of Obedience they especially ought to practice it themselves And our Duty in all these Particulars I hope will be the better observ'd if we consider 1. Our Obligations to the Government 2. Our Advantages by it 3. The Gratitude that is due to it 1. Let us remember our Obligations to the Government i. e. to be Subject and Obedient to our Governours And St. Paul urges the Duty of Subjection and Obedience by a Reason which will effectually operate upon the Mind of every good Man because the Powers that are Rom. 13.1 are ordained of God As his Vicegerents as his Ministers they are Invested with his Authority and Rule by his Commission are Set over us by his Appointment and Advanced by his Providence which Over-rules all Second Causes when sometimes very unlikely for such a purpose into a subserviency to promote to Empire such Persons whom he first Approves So that by this Doctrine it is as much our Duty to Obey our Governours as to Obey the Ordinance of God And therefore the Apostie goes on to teach his Christian Romans Ver. 5. That they must needs be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake St. Peter also upon the same Principles teaches the same Doctrine of Obedience to the Supream Governour in the first place and in the second to all that Act by his Authority 1 Pet. 2.13 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supream or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him And in the Text we are taught to Obey Principalities and Powers and Magistrates not only the Supream but the Subordinate that none may think themselves Innocent by pretending to Obey the one while they disobey the other for our Obedience is requir'd to both Ver. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lord's sake and because it is the Will of God and no good Man will oppose the Will of God to follow his own He calls Obedience Emphatically well-doing in Opposition to Disobedience which is evil-doing Thus these Two Great Apostles press the Duty of Obedience upon the Consciences of Christians by the strongest Arguments with the greatest Earnestness and these Reasons will take hold of good Consciences and ingenuous Minds and God increase the number of them As for those Men who impiously despise these Arguments there are others which likely may work upon their Self-love so far as to restrain their Practice tho' they do not Reform their Minds and they are fears of Punishments With them that want Religion and Goodness to ingage them to their Duty the fear of Justice may prevail to keep them within the Bounds of it They that have not the Grace to Obey for Conscience sake may in Prudence have so much Innocence at least in outward Appearance as not to provoke the Wrath of their Governours Rulers are not a Terrour to good Works Rom. 13.3 4. but to the evil Will you not then be afraid of the Power If ye do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the Sword in vain He is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute Wrath upon them that do evil 1 Pet. 3.13 Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good Against Modesty Meekness Temperance Peaceableness there is no Law No Government ever made Laws against such Virtues as are necessary to the support of it 1 Tim. 1.9 The Law is not made for a Righteous Man but for the Vngodly and for Sinners for Thieves and Murderers for the Lawless and Disobedient Against such Evil doers every Wise Government provides Penalties proportionable to their Crimes whether by Pecuniary Mulcts or Corporal Punishments Ezra 7.26 or by Confiscation of Goods Imprisonment Banishment or Death But all Temporal Punishments in this World are but little in Comparison of Eternal Damnation which St. Paul tells us the Disobedient Resisters of Authority shall receive in the next which is certainly the Merit whatever the Event may be of so great a Wickedness Besides the Doctrine of the Scriptures which will effectually ingage the Obedience of good Christians we are under the Obligation of an Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity the Greatest Security that can be given against Perfidiousness and the best Assurance of our sincere Intention to perform that Duty which indeed the Laws of Nature and the Rules