of my prosecution thereof wherein if any man observing that by-possage Concerning some abuse in point of Customes and wonder that I take occasion by way of digression to discover my Judgement concerning that evill he may be pleased to understand that the groundlesse and foule slanders of shamelesse men who amongst others have charged my selfe in particular not only with secret incouragements but with open Justifications of all the fraudulent and Indirect courses that are used in those affaires Inforced me to a necessary clearcing of mine owne Innocency which I conceived might to best advantage be performed publikely and that in the presents of a thousand witnesses of my owne people who may testifie the Consonancy of my Apology to that which at other times they had heard more then once out of my owne mouth of the various Censures that may passe some on the substance of the doctrine others on the forme of delivery the stile and phrase of speech and manner of application a third sore on mine owne person and the most on my scope and Intention in undertaking this taske I am neither altogether regardlesse nor too much sollicitous If I say not with the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.3 I esteeme not to be Judged of mans Judgement yet I may truly say that as no humane respect guided mee in the choice of the argument the deductions of the Conclusions the formes of expressions or manner of application so I see no reason why I should Judge of mine owne worke altogether according to the Censures and opinions of men whom if I should study to please then can I not account my selfe the Servant of Christ before whom in the sing leresse of my heart having powred out the thoughts of my soule I leave him to pleade my Apologie before all mens Consciences in the faithfull performance of this service in this worke wherein how farre I have trode under foote all selfe respects other then such as concerne me as a Minister of the Gospell I appeale to his Judgement who knows the secrets of all hearts There remaines no more but my hearty prayers for you all and for all in authority for the multiplying of all those graces abundantly on you which may adorne both your persons and places and make you accepted of God and honoured of men that when you have in the feare of God ruled over men on earth you may receive Crownes and Scepters and Kingdomes that cannot bee shaken hereafter in the highest Heavens Your humble Servant in the Lord Christ John White A SERMON Preached at Dorchester at the Generall Assises held there the 7. of March 1632. Text Psalme 82.61 I have said yee are Gods THe words which I have Chosen as the fittest theame for this Assembly and Occasion are part of an Assize Sermon Preached by God himselfe in Person in the most Solemne Assembly that ever was a meeting of the Gods of the earth upon an occasion of a high nature the arraignment of all the great Monarchs of the world Indighted of the fowlest Crime that can be charged upon them the abuse of their places and offices producing the most dangerous effects that can bee Imagined the generall disturbance of the whole world and thereof by the most authenticall testimony Gods own witnesse Convicted and found guilty This Crime is aggravated divers wayes First By the nature of the fact it was Injustice and that in the highest degree Injustice in Judgement Secondly By the Inducement thereunto it was the acceptance of persons and those of the worst deseres of the persons of wicked men Thirdly By the fearfull consequence which followed thereupon the putting the foundations of the earth out of course Lastly By the cause of all wilfull Ignorance both of their duties which was to defend the fatherlesse and of their condition both present they were Gods in this verse and future they shall dye like men in the next verse So that these words which I have chosen taken in relation to the scope to which they are here directed are one circumstance of this fearfull crime of Injustice it was acted by Eminent persons dishonouring their places and abusing the trust committed unto them by God himselfe I have said ye are Gods But if we take them simply in themselves they containe a Description of the state of Governours by 3. Circumstances First By their Eminency to which they are advanced they are Gods Secondly By the person that advanced them to this honour he who hath all honour in himselfe Thirdly By the Evidence by which they hold it by the word of God which is stronger then all the Potentates in the world yea more certaine and durable then the world it selfe for it abideth for ever Esay 40.8 Every one of these Circumstances yield a Considerable observation of them therefore in their order as the time will permit and first of the state to which Governours are advanced they are Gods God himselfe hath spoken it and therefore wee have warrant to Justifie it as an undoubted truth Doct Magistrates are Gods Gods indeed but with many differences which make them Deos minorum gentium Gods of a younger house for First They are no Jehovahs that is a name peculiar to the God of Gods and his memoriall throughout all ages as himselfe speaketh of an other title of his Exo. 3.15 A name ever held Incommunicable and uncommunicated unto any Creature untill our new Pelagians in their late Censura Censurae told us that the name Jehovah is every where Communicated unto men in Scripture which yet you must in Charity believe upon their bare words for neither doe they quote one Text among all the Texts that they allege neither doe we yet find any one considerable testimony of Scripture to Justifie that bold assertion no the highest Title given to Magistrates is that which they injoy in Common with Angells they are Elohim which is rendred strong and mighty powers or as the Apostle Rom. 13.1 Calls them higher powers he could not say highest for there be higher then they Ecclesiastes 5.8 Secondly They are called Elohim in the plurall number not Gods alone for that God also appropriates to himselfe Esay 46.9 I am God and none else and so Moses proposeth him to his people The Lord thy God is one God Deut. 6.4 Magistrates are Gods with God There bee many that be called Gods 1 Cor. 8.5 All of them the Sons of the most high as it is affirmed of them in the latter clause of this verse whereupon they have good warrant to call one another Brother as usually they doe they bee Gods not Nati but Facti by nature the best of them considered in himselfe is but Adam a man of Read earth or if you will Enoch a man of miscries and weakenesse as both their birth and death and manifold Infirmities of their lives declare But they are Gods by Institution and speciall Commission Gods to whom the Word of God comes to make them so as our Saviour
Speakes citing my Text Iohn 10.35 Men called to bee Gods nor by a Writ under Seale but by a bare Message from God as we shall see hereafter and yet with a Teste me ipso I have said yee are Gods These differences my Text points unto us between God and the Assembly of Gods out of which ariseth a Fourth they are Gods not absolutely but in relation to God they are no Gods before him they stand in the same Ranke with the rest of the workes of his hands Job 34.9 But in Relation to Men they are Gods Ruling over Men but in the feare of God as David tells his Sonne Solomon in 2. Sa. 23.3 Wherefore God who found no place for them in the first table which is plena ipso filled with himselfe yet set them in the front of the second as it were in a middle rancke between God and Man to whom that of the Poet concerning fame may be applyed Ingrediturque solo et Caput inter nubila Condit they have their footing on earth but are lifted up to the heavens by the Eminencies of their Dignities and honours Lastly Unto all these Dignities must be added a Fifth as a necessary Consectary of the former Magistrates are no Gods at large or boundlesse Gods they are Gods within a Compasse within certain restrictions and limitations First They are limited in time onely Jehovah is God from everlasting to everlasting Psalme 90.2 Whose Dominion therefore is an everlasting Dominion Dan. 7.14 But Men-Gods as they are not from everlasting so they are not to everlasting every one of them apart holds his Commission at longest but for terme of life and all of them together their Patents are terminable with the world at the end whereof Christ himselfe the grand Patentee under whom all earthly Monarchs claime Pro. 8.15.16 shall yield up his Soveraignty into his Fathers hand that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 Secondly Magistrates are limited in place in heaven they have nothing to doe that is Gods Jurisdiction alone there he hath Set his owne Throne Psalme 11.4 Magistrates have their thrones on Earth at Gods foote which is called his footstoole Esay 66.1 And yet no one Magistrates Commission extends over all the earth that God challengeth to himself too to be The Lord of all the earth Psalme 24.1 Princes and their depâ—ties are every one of them Governours within their Circuits and severall limits and no farther 3. Magistrates are limited in the bounds of their authority both in respect of the object and subject thereof in respect of their object a Magistrates authority reacheth not to all things to prescribe and set out Rules of duty whether in worship to God or service to men or sobriety to ones selfe this belongs to God alone as his peculiar prerogative whose will is the rule of righteousnesse and the foundation of all duty only the prescribing of order in duties required and the limitation thereof in the Circumstances of their persons times places manners measures Or for the Conservation of peace and uniformity that is the Magistrates taske Wherefore the Apostle commanding us to pray for such as are in authority prescribes the petition in this forme That we may lead under them a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 Where hee makes godlinesse and honesty as the foundation laid to their hands and requires us to pray that Magistrates only by their wisdome and Lawes may take order that such as walke in those wayes may live quietly and peaceably without molestation or disturbance Thus Magistrates are limited in respect of the object of their authority their limitation is no lesse in respect of the subject of their power for their Commands reach no further then the outward man the spirit is Gods peculiar none but he alone can erect a throne in the Conscience who is the Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 A God of the Spirits of all flesh Num. 16.22 Wherefore no earthly Prince did ever make a Law to the thoughts which he only can know that searcheth the heart and Reines and knoweth the thoughts a farr off Psalme 139.2 And therefore he onely can prescribe unto the thoughts who is able to examine and take account of them Let me not be mistaken when I say the Magistrates Command reacheth no further then to the outward man I still hold the Apostles Rule that obedience must be yielded to authority for conscience sake and therefore with sincerity and truth and not only in feare and outward show as we shall see anone Lastly Magistrates are limited in their power both of Jurisdiction and Conservation in their Jurisdiction the distribution both of rewards and punishments is limited as well in the subject which is mans outward estate over which Magistrates have power no mortall man can either distresse or relieve the Conscience so in the time and duration mens rewards and punishments reach not beyond this present life when that is ended they can doe no more as our Saviour speakes Luke 12.4 In which place hee forbids us to feare men but adviseth us to feare God rather who can cast both body and soule into hell that is whose power reacheth beyond mens in those two respects that I have mentioned namely that it is both Internall and Externall Againe in the power of Conservation Magistrates are limited it is God alone who upholdeth all things by his mighty power Heb. 1.3 and in whom all things live move and have their being Acts 17.28 to sustaine without meanes as Moses and Eliah for forty dayes without meat to create and give meanes as Manna in the Wildernesse and water out of the Rocke And lastly to give efficacy and power to meanes when they are prepared whether extraordinary as to a little oyle and a handfull of meale to be sufficient for many dayes food or ordinarily as for bread to nourish or cloaths to keepe us warme this is Gods worke Deut. 8.3 and Job 37.17 Magistrates cannot give but lay up provision for a time of need as Joseph did and may use and apply meanes but cannot give them efficacy and successe So that to support and helpe where the Lord helpes not is beyond the power of the greatest Prince even in the judgement of that wicked King 2 Kings 6.22 Thus we see how farre such as are called Gods come short of the true Jehovah the King of Kings and Lord of Lords But if Magistrates be not such Gods as wee have mentioned what Gods are they then wherein consists their mighty power and what dignity have they above their Brethren surely very much every way for first they are honoured with Gods owne Title they are called gods not by base flatterers as the Popes are by the Canonists but by the Oracle of truth by Gods owne mouth and by his servant Moses who forbids men to revile the Gods Exod. 22.28 and by the Apostle who tels us that Antichrist shall advance himselfe above all that is called God
another Case names although they be given by Imposition yet are either unanswerable unto the end for which they were given which is to make things knowne and so to distinguish betweene one thing and another when they are Incongruous to the nature of such things as they should expresse or much more when they are given to things of contrary natures in such case they are either Titles of scorn or cloakes of errour and false hood as to Call evill good or light darkenesse against which the Prophet denounceth a fearefull woe Esay 4.20 Magistrates therefore must be answerable in their natures to that which they seeme to promise by their honourable Compellation whereby they are Commended unto men when they are called Gods a Title to which they must de Correspondent in three things First in their personall graces and dispositions Secondly in their abillities for their honourable and weighty Callings Thirdly in their Carriage answerable to them both of these three in erder a word or two And First for their personall graces the Seraphius Esay 6.3 when they proclanie the name of God in the Temple give him the Title of holy thrice repeated holy holy holy is the Lord of Hoasts and Moses tells Aaron Levit. 10.3 that the Lord will be sanctified in all those that come neere him so that Moses himself is warned to put off his shoes and the Isralises to wash their Cloaths when they stand before God therefore speaking of the Temple whether men usually resorted unto God the Prophet David tells us that holinesse becomes his house for ever Psalme 93.5 now then they that stand continually in Gods presence for God stands in the assembly of the Gods as in the first verse of this Psalme they that so often inquire at Gods mouth as good Rulers should doe receive directions from God and know his mind concerning every Law they make every cause they scan and every sentence they pronounce they that are set apart to handle the holy things of God among which his Judgements have not the lowest place they that must represent Gods person and be taken and accounted for Gods among his people they that must be a meanes of preserving purity by their Lawes and edicts to be Patternes and Presidents in Gods Church upon earth what a fountaine of holinesse ought to spring in their hearts what manner of persons ought they to be written within and without in their breasts and foreheads in their hearts and minde with holinesse to the Lord. For if the Lord will be sanctified in all that come neer him much more will he be hollowed in all that represents him there neither is nor can be any fouler monster in the world then an unholy God Secondly for the Abilities of their Callings are Magistrates Gods then must they be furnished with gifts and parts answerable to their Title wisdome truth courage constancy and goodnesse to begin with wisdome it was that Moses had especiall respect unto in the choice of his Judges Deut. 1.15 advising the people to looke out for themselves men of wisdome and understanding that is not only such as were wise but had approved themselves to be so and were known and reputed for such persons such a one was David a man chosen to that place by God himselfe of whom it is testified that he behaved himselfe wisely in all his wayes 1 Sam. 18.14 this wisedome was that which won Solomon feare and reverence from his owne people and reputation from strangers that they observed the wisdome of God was in him to doe Judgement 1 Kings 3.28 Indeed the Ruler had need of the wisdome of God First to understand Judgement and equity that is the rule of Judgement which being founded upon Gods will cannot be understood but by his spirit 1 Cor. 2.11 Secondly it reveales the hidden things of darkenesse as God doth 1 Cor. 4.5 even the secret paths of evill-Doers who Cover themselves and all their workes under the mantle of the night nay more then that not only to find out their wayes and workes but besides to dive into their secret Counsells which being hidden in their hearts are like deepe waters not to be drawue out but by a man of understanding Pro. 20.15 to discover such secrets is the Kings glory Pro. 25.2 it requires more then a humane spirit Thirdly Magistrates need the wisdome of God to inable them to proportion rewards and punishments to mens deserts and to measure out to every man his right the trying of exact portions of recompence to mens actions and chalking out the bounds of right between man and man requires a curious and piercing eye a steady hand and a perfect ballance of a discerning Judgement and the rather because things of so great Importance concerning mens estates and persons even as farre as their Lives and being are not only Judged and desided by the Rulers sentence but are so resolved and concluded that their Judgement stands for the most part as finall and Irrevocable determinations Lastly Magistrates need the wisdome of God in spresceing ordering and directing not the affaires of a private family which yet neede discretion to guide them aright Psalme 121.5 but the weighty businesses of whole States and Kingdomes which consisting of so many and almost Infinite parts and members and requiring for the mannaging of them Instruments of such various and different natures and being varied and altered by so many and divers and sometimes contrary occurrences necessarily requires the wisdome and spirit of God to observe and consider to prescribe and order to dispose and apply all these in such agreeing harmony and correspondency as is required for the establishing and conserving of publike peace and utility It is hard to determine whether the Magistrates wisdome be any way usefull to a State unlesse it be seconded with truth and with a vertuous habit which Jethro required in his Governours as a speciall grace needfull for all such as are elegible to that dignity Truth we know is of three sorts In things it is the answerablenesse of things to their appearance In thoughts or Judgements it is the answerablenesse of our Judgement or opinion to things In words it is the answerablenesse of words to the thought or conceit of the mind these two latter kinds of truth namely a right Judgement or opinion of all things and a true expression or manifestation of that Judgement in all the words of a Governour or Judge especially there wherein he pronounceth sentence in causes that comes before him are in a sort essentiall to a Governour so that without them he seemes to be a Judge which is a speciall branch of his power in name and not Indeed a Magistrate is the ballance of a State one man brings shew of right on his side and his adversary opposeth him with the appearance of right on the other side and both cast their evidences in the Magistrates breast like wares into a paire of scales and he by the standard of