of necessity note the Person and the Superiority of the Person that hath that Power conferred upon and given to him and such Power no Person in England hath but only the King of England His great Council may Jus dicere propose Lawes but He only can jus dare make Lawes They the Lords and Commons may give weight and Testimony to the Law but He only The King can give Force and Authority to the Law And therefore by Higher Power we English men must needs understand the King of England To whom the King every Soul i.e. All People in the Kingdom of England must be subject subject Actively If He commands not what is against Gods word Subject Passively if He do whether He do or do not we must be so far Subject as that we may not Resist For if we do we shall receive to our selves Damnation Not the Plundering of our Goods at Home not the hanging of our Bodies in the street or field but the Damnation the everlasting Damnation of our Souls and Bodies in Hell for ever Now search and examine your selves Art thou any where in the whole word of God commanded to bear Arms or to contribute to maintain a War against thy Lawful and Rightful King Art thou any where forbidden by the word of God to Assist thy King in his just Wars Nay Doeth not the word of God forbid thee That and command the This It does thou knowest it does and so I conclude this Proposition from the Scripture and say Therefore it is not lawful for any man to bear Arms or to contribute to the maintenance of a War against the King For no man may curse the King in his thoughts for no man may revile the King by his words For no man may resist the King with his Hands yea Therefore every man must assist the King with Arms and contribute to the maintetenance of a War for him with his Purse because they that do not are the Children of Belial The Children of Belial said How shall this man save us and they despised him and brought him no presents And this I shall endeavour to make good Thirdly 3. Fathers By the contemplation and conversation of the Fathers by their Practise and by their Opinion and that I may not tyre you or my self I shall give you but a Taste instead of a Feast and name you but Few instead of Many I begin with Justine Martyr Ad inquisitionem vestram Secund. Apolog ad Anto. Imp. p. 113. Christianos nos esse profitemur c. says he to Antoninus an Emperour bad enough At your Inquisition we Professe our selves to be Christians though we know Death to be the Guerdon and reward of our Profession Did we expect an Earthly Kingdom we would deny our Religion that escaping Death we might obtain our desires For the preservation of publick peace we Christians O Emperour yield you our help and assistance We Christians says Tertullian to Scapula the Vice-Roy are defamed for Seditious Persons against the Imperial Majesty Lib. ad Scap. but we were never yet found to be either Albinians Nigrians Cassians or any other sort of Traytors No we know the Emperour is ordained of God and therefore we love him we honour him we reverence him we pray for him and for the welfare of his whole Empire Una nox pauculis faculis c. says he In Apolog. in his Apologetical Defence of the Christians One short night with a few Fire-brands or Torches would work our deliverance and revenge our wrongs if it were lawful to requite evil with evil Vetat autem Deus ut aut ab igne humano vindicatur Divina secta aut doleat pati in quo probatur But God forbid that the Christian Religion should be revenged with humane fire or that Christians should grieve for suffering because in suffering they are refined and for suffering they are rewarded Apol. Atha ad Constant Holy Athanasius in the clearing of himself against the Accusation of the Arians to Constantius the Emperour thus expresses his own Duty and the Duty of all good Subjects I am not so mad neither have I forgotten the voice of God which says Curse not the King no not in thy heart and backbite not the Mighty in the secreets of thy Chamber for the Birds of the Aire shall tell it and the winged Fowle shall bewray thee It is not for any man to say otherwise then well of his Majesty in the opinion of this holy man and therefore certainly it is not for any man to do otherwise then well To bear Arms or to contribute to maintain War against the King Orat. 1. in Julian Nazianzene the Divine so termed for his Excellent Knowledge and profound Learning speaks to this purpose Repressus est Julianus Christianorum lachrymis quas multas multi profuderunt hoc unum adversus persecutorem medicamentum habentes Julian that great Apostata and persecutor of Christians was restrained by the Tears of Christians which many of them shed and powred forth aboundantly unto God nor had they any other remedy against the Persecutor because they knew it to be unlawful to use any other means then Sufferance or else they might having so much strength as they had have repelled their wrong with violence St. Ambrose being commanded to deliver up his Church in Millane to an Arian Bishop Contr. Aux Ep. 31 32 33. his people being very sorry for his departure he thus resolves and comforts both himself and them Quid turbamini Volens nunquam vos deesram Why are you troubled I will never willingly leave you Repugnare non novi dolere potero potero slere potero gemere adversus Arma Milites Gothos Lach rymae meae mea sunt Arma aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere If I be compelled I have no way to resist I can grieve and sorrow I can weep and sigh my Tears are my Weapons against Souldiers Armors Goths such is the Artillery and Ammunition of a Priest otherwise then with Tears I neither may nor must nor ought resist St. Chysostome in one Epistle tells us Ep. ad Tim. 2. That though Kings continue obstinate in Infidelity yet they must be prayed for they must not they may not be resisted The Apostle commands prayers supplications and intercessions to be made for all men especially for the King What he hath said in another you have heard before and thither I refer you St. Augustine is of the same opinion Julianus extitit Imperator Infidel is Julian was an unbelieving Emperour In Ps 124. he was an Apostata an Oppressor a Tyrant and Idolater yet the Christian Soldiers served this anbelieving Emperour They obeyed him in all things for Christ and when he commanded them any thing against Christ yet they resisted him not though they did not obey him Gregory the Great might if he would Ep. l. 7. Ep. 1. but would not though he could destroy the Lombards
Misery because commonly Mammon is the Friend of iniquity Happiness because many times it frees a man from the stroak of Justice Misery because many times it lays a man obnoxious to stroak of Injustice For what made Naboth a Delinquent and put him under a Sequestration but onely because he had a Vineyard too near the Kings House and he was a Rich man Benedixit Deo et Regi He blasphemed God and the King was but a Forgery and a meer pretence of Jezabels as you may perceive in the Context Set two wicked men before him and let them Witnesse against Him Ver. 10. saying Thou didst Blaspheme GOD and the KING where you see Wicked men subborn'd to bear false Witnesse and therefore yon know it was a meer Forgery The true Cause you may read in the other Context Then Jesabel said unto Him Ver. 7. to her Husband Achab Doest thou now Governe in Israel Up eat Bread and be of good chear I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth the Izreelite Naboths Vineyard lay fit for Achabs Pleasure and fit therefore upon refusal to make him a Delinquent And indeed had Naboth abused his Vineyard unto Drunkennesse he had merited the name of a Delinquent For Drunkennesse is one of those Seaven deadly sinnes which brings a Deliquium upon a Man and ranges him under a Delinquency because by the Commission of that sin he does Delinquerâ— Hominem cease to be a Man and becomes a Beast For this sin this very sin of Drunkenness Noah became a Delinquent and so did Lâ—t and one of Noahs Children C ham by name and Lots two incestuous Children Moab and Ammon lay under a Sequestration for many hundred years But alas Naboth had no such fault laid to his charge All the guilt I find him stained with is 1. He was a Rich man and would not part with his Inheritance 2. He was a Good man and would not yield to an Arbitrary Government Secunda Primae Which is my Secunda Primae and my Third Consideration and thus begins That a Rich man should be made a Delinquent is no great wonder no not in a well governed Kingdom for it is possible there may be ill Governours in a well governed Kingdom Justices and such subordinate Magistrates who from some Puny Divines may suck in false Doctrine and believe That Gods temporal Blessings and the Goods of this world belong onely to themselves because Dominium fundatur in Gratiâ non Naturâ none but the Babes of Grace have right to the blessings of the Earth But for a Good man to be made a Delinquent quâ talis because he is a Good man This certainly argues the Kingdom to be very bad the Government to be ill and the Governours to be worst of all which seldom happens in any but an Apostate Kingdom where the Subjects have resisted their true Governours and parted with their Allegiance under the Pretence of Religion but in truth for Rebellion and Licentiousness And such was the state of Israel at this time 1 Reg. 12.20 Jereboam the son of Nebat rebelled against Rehoboam the Son of Solomon and by that Rebellion got ten parts of the twelve 1 Reg. 15.29 and his Race was finished and expired in his son and next Successor Nadab For Baasha smote them all and left none alive to Jeroboam Elah his son Reigned in his stead and Zimri served him with the same sauce and slew all the house of Baasha 1 Reg. 16.6 not leaving one to piss against the Wall Omri succeeded him by a like Legerdemain onely he had the compact of the major part of the people 1 Reg. 9.11 V. 16. and Achab his son succeeded him By the way I beseech you mark The Kingdom thus got by Rebellion first changed their Religion and their Clergy 1 Reg. 12.27 For whereas before the People exercised their Religion in the House of God at Hierusalem now they exercised it to two Golden Calfes in the house of the High Places and the the lowest of the People took upon them the Priests Office and became as a man might say V. 31. Tub-preachers Next This Kingdom thus gotten by Rebellion changed the Peoples Prosperity into Poverty their Liberty into Slavery and dasht out the Magna Charta of Meum Tuum so that no man could say Any thing was his own For Naboth was therefore made a Delinquent because he layd claim to his Vineyard which came to him by the Inheritance of his Fathers and would not part with it at the will of his King i.e. Because he was a Rich man and would not part with his Estate because he was a Good man and would not yield to an Arbitrary Government And good reason for it For in an Arbitrary Government as was singularly well observed in the late long Regnant never to be forgotten Parliament by that man of Noted Mâ—mory Mr. John Pym Lust becomes a Law Covetousness becomes a Law Revenge hecomes a Law and every sin becomes a Law What his Intention was in that Speech I list not to enquire here but sure I am herein he spake truth For when it once comes to this pass stat pro ratione voluntas when one mans will becomes every mans Law why then the Chaste Wife and Pure Virgine are ravisht before the face of the miserable Husband and more miserable Parent Neutroque contradicente neither the Husband able to relieve the Wife nor the Father to rescue his Daughter from that Villany This was rhe case of pittiful Uriah who durst not relieve Bathsheba and of the more pittiful Absolon who could not rescue his Sister Thamar against the wilful lust of David and Ammon When one mans will is every mans Law why then the goodliest Cities are set on flaming fire and turn'd to Dust and Ashes Nemine abstante the Citizens not daring or altogether unable to resist the ambitious Conquerour This was the case of the most pious City Jerusalem and of the most famous City Troy the one rased to the ground by the Romans the other level'd to the earth by the Greecians and the deplorable Motto to this day stands Jam seges est ubi Troja fuitâ— The Corne grows where Troy stood When one mans Will is every mans Law Why then there is no Charter nor Freedom of the People no distinction of the Magistrate and the Plebeian This was Englands case once when Cade Straw and Tyler durst beard the King and give Laws from their wills It was Englands case again when John Hambden John Pym Oliver Crumwel and such other Patriots had a greater Influence upon the People then King Charles I. I pray God it be not Englands case again in King Charles the seconds time least the Nobles and Peers of this Land be perpetually made the scorn of Coblers ' Tinkers and Taylors When one mans will becomes every mans Law Why then All Priviledges All Immunities cease and cease to every man save to him whose
then again the Kings answer which was supposed to be the hastening cause of that murther Let him repent and pray if God may possibly forgive him The fourth is to command sin For by this means they beget it they give it Seed and become the Fathers of it And for this Let the Long Lifed Parliament Lieutenant General Cromwell and others whom it concerns water their Bedds and wash their Couches every night with tears for fear they exchange their Evill Dayes into an Everlasting Night of Evill The fifth is to consent to it For by that means they own it and maintain it and become Adopted Fathers to it And for this Let the High Court of Justice President Bradshaw Whaley Pride and others that sat there and gave Vote to the most unjust sentence that was ever pronounced Pilates only excepted abhorr themselves in dust and ashes least their memories be abhorred by all good men on Earth and their Souls in Fire and Brimstone The sixth is to commend it For by this means they give it suck Dugg and become a Nurse to it And for this Let them who have presented Books to John Bradshaw and given him Eulogies for the greatest Vaelogy was ever spoke in England severing the Head of King Charles I. from his Body The seventh is To entertain and maintain the Actors of it For by this means they give it Shoulders they support it and become Protectors of it And for this Let him who hath made himself Protector with his Stately Counsel consult how they may avoid the curses of so many thousand innocent Widdows and Orphans whom they have made so that they might kill as the Jewes did the King of Life the King of England Charles the I. The Eighth is To keep Silence and to be mute at it when it is done For by that means they become Friends to it and give it Heart and Hand And for this Let him or them or both who have out-stript Dioclesian and Julian by mnzzleing the Mouths of all the Orthodox Clergy of England least they should declaim against it look to it and weep and groan if perhaps they may out-cry that cry which the Blood of CHARLES the I. makes to Heaven for vengeance The ninth and last is to partake of it For by that means they give it Arm and Face and become Benefactors to it And for this Let the present Soldiers whether Voluntiers or other whether before or since consider with themselves whether they be not guilty of the violent painful shameful murther of King Charles I. and presently forsake their Usurper and joyn to bring in the true Heyre of these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland King Charles II. whom as God hath hitherto miraculously preserved so may he make a Miracle of his mercy in restoring him to a Glorious Crown here and receiving him to a Crown of Glory hereafter thorow Jesus Christ Amen Anno Dom. 1650. PSALM 112.7 He is not afeard of any evil tydings For his heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord. ANd yet King David was no Stoick For this Psalm is an Exegesis or Exposition of the last verse of the former Psalm And that Psalm ends thus Timor Domini initium sapientiae The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Ps 111.10 and this Psalm in answer to that begins thus Beatus qui timet Dominum Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. Ps 112.1 Wisdom seeks Blessedness and by the Fear of God finds it and finds it in four degrees 1. In the Happiness of his Posterity His seed shall be mighty upon Earth Ver. 2 2. In the Happinesse of his Prosperity Wealth and Riches shall be in his house Ver. 3 Ver. 6 3. In the Happiness of his Stability He shall never be moved 4. In the Happiness of his Security He shall not he will not be afraid or He is not afraid of any evil tydings And this though the last is not the least degree of his Happiness his good Fear banisht his evil Fear He fears God and therefore he fears not any evil tydings And that he fears God he is assured of it too for his heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord. In which words you have observable these three Parts 1. Quis non timet Who feareth not Times Dominum He that feareth the Lord feareth not 2. Quid non timet What is it he feareth not Ab auditione malâ He feareth not any evil tydings 3. Quare non timet Why doth he not fear any evil tydings quia paratum est stabilitum est confirmatum est cor ejus confidens in Jehovâ because his heart is prepared because his heart is est ablished because it is confirmed and standeth fast believing in the Lord. I begin with the first He fearet not he shall not be afraid Pars 1. And this at first sight seems a strange commendation or a strange Prohibition Construe it as you please by the Present or Future tense Timor enim Domini est Janitor cordis et virtutis custos saith St. Hierome Fear of the Lord is the Guard Royal of the heart and keeps out forbidden lusts like unbidden Guests Fear is the Treasurer of Vertue keeps it in a close Cabinet like a precious Jewel least it should take Wings like Riches and fly away Fundamentum salutis says Tertullian Fear is the Foundation of Hope and like that house which is built upon a Rock let the Sea roar and the Rain fall and the winds blow It stands fast it is unshaken Tuta Armatura says St. Chrysostome Fear is a safe Armour whosoever puts it on hath such a Coat of Male as is Sword Pike Pistol and Canon proof Initium sapientiae Pro. says Solomon Fear is the beginning of Wisdom not a Student in the Accademy of Fear but is sure to commence Doctor of Wisdom Vita omnium operum says Melancton Fear is the vivacity of all our Actions whatsoever we do without Fear is dead in the very doing and Solomon gives the reason of it Officium enim est totius hominis Eccles 12. For this is the whole duty of man To fear God and keep his Commandements Religio Majestas Honor metu constant says Lactantius where Religion is neglected confusion enters nor can Religion subsist without Fear For what is not feared is contemned and what is contemned is not worshipped Religion Majesty Honour The Religion of God the Majesty of the King and the Honour of the Nobility are all preserved by Fear Take away Fear and take away all This Age this unhappy miserable Age gives us too sad feeling an example of it The Kingdom of England hath lost Religion The King of England hath lost his Majesty the Majesty of England hath lost his Head the Nobility of England have lost their Honour And all this because the Commons of England have lost their Fear the Fear of God St. Barnard advises most divinely Cúm adest Gratia time
dy Well fare St. Chrysostome who being threatned with banishment from the Empresse of a good name but bad condition Eudoxia Et vult me exulem Regina And will the Empresse banish me said he Agat Let her do it Domini est terra the Earth is the Lords and the fullnesse thereof Another bids him hide himself and save his life For the Empresse would sawe him secet Content says he let her sawe me I am not afeard to follow the Prophet Isaiah in his way to Heaven A third bids him shift aside For the Empresse would cast him into the Sea Immergat said he Content still let her drown me I doubt not to find as good a plank as Jonas did to preserve me from perishing in the waters A fourth adviseth him to secure himself For the Emperesse would cast him into a Furnace of fire Injiciat said he As she pleases I am not afeard of a fiery Chariot The three children will bear me company and the Son of God will drive the Coach so fast that the Flames shall neither scortch my Flesh not singe my cloaths A fifth bids him take Sanctuary For the Emperesse would throw him to the wilde Beasts Jaciat said he let her do it I make no question but the Angels will muzzle them for hurting me Yet a sixth perswaded him to convey himself away for a while that the Church of Christ might receive some further benefit by him else the Emperesse would have him stoned to death Fiat voluutas Dei said he Let Gods will be fullfilled and hers too I will use all lawful means for my preservation being persecuted in this City I will fly into another but with this resolution still I am not afeard to follow St. Stephen thorow a whole shower or Quary of stones into the Kingdom of Heaven If these Examples be procul at too far a distance for us to follow Look we then upon a late Noble Glenham who was more conquered by an empty dish then by an insulting and increasing Foe and yet was afeard of neither but left his Garrison with more honour then his Enemies possest it Look upon a valiant Fawcet who was more conquered by the mutiny of his unfaithful Slaves for they are not worthy the name of Soldiers that will mutiny then by his thundring Enemies and yet was afeard of neither but came off with more honour then he left behinde him Look upon a Loyal Compton who notwithstanding the improbability of relief and the continuation of an hard Siege and the multiplication of a cruel Enemy yet resolved not to be afeard of any evil tydings Look upon an undaunted Arundel who being Summon'd to deliver up the Remainder in the West and whether threatned or allured thereunto I know not because the Kings party was utterly defeated returned an Answer as full of Resolution as Religion as full of Courage as Christianity and such as became both a Souldier and a Christian I have lived untainted threescore seven years and I have not any minde to go a Rebel to my Grave Remember if you revolt you turn Rebells and if you dye in that Apostacy you dye Rebels and leave an Odium upon your Name and a curse upon your Estates Look we upon those Gentlemen but look we upon them with the Eyes of imitation who in the year 1646 when all Royall hopes were low enough and Rebellious Ambitions high enough came from Plimouth Excester what brought them so many weary steps when they might have lived quietly there or gone safely to â—heit own habitations but the Example of a Loyall Wagstaffe and the fear of being tempted unto a Rebellion and desire to live and dye in his late Majesties service Look we upon his late Majesty who notwithstanding so many Waves of the Sea and so much madness of the People in the losse of Shrewsbury Hereford in the losse of Bristol Bridgewater in the losse of Excester a brave Cavalry was yet so far from being afeard of those evil tydings that he doubted not to recover all or at least to requite all his and his loyaly Subjects miserys with the blessing of Peace and honourable Conditions And when all this fail'd by a Scotch treachery which surpassed that of Judases by two hundred thousand pounds bating but thirty pieces of Silver and by a breach of Faith and Trust in his Parliament and their Army why yet his admirable constancy and perseverance his yet unimitable piety and patience bid us look upon him again with Sighs and Tears that so good a King should have so bad Subjects to present him with so evil tydings as the dark hurrying of him from Holmby to Hampton from Hampton to the Isle of Wight from the Isle of Wight to Windsor from Windsor to St. Jameses from St. Jameses to White-Hall and there to a Decollation to a Beheading to the losse of his Life was not yet afeard He was not afeard of any evil tydings And now look we upon his present Majesty whom the late Majesty his Father desired might be rather Charles le boon then Charles le Grand and I doubt not nor need you but that he will be Charles le Grand because he is Charles le Boon in his Enterprize of this year advancing from Scotland as far as Worce ster into England where when he was betrayed by the Cowardise or Treachery of the Scots I know not which I am sure by the obstinacy and obduracy was yet preserved by a Miracle from the Bloody hands and hearts of those who pursued him as a Partridge and still perseveres in his Fathers steps without fearing any evil tydings expecting faithfuller hands fairer opportunities and better successes And better successe he will have by Gods providence sooner then by Humane reason I can hope within these six years For as Tychâ— Brachy said The year 1640 would be Totius Mundi insania erga Reges An universal madnesse of the World against Kings so will that year 1656 prove Totius Mundi benevolentia erga Reges An universal goodnesse of the world towards Kings Sooner by Gods providence he may be established in his Birth and Undoubted Rights without any worldly assistance but then by Gods providence and the worlds subservance He will be restored and my Divine reason for it is As his Father appeared the best of men in being his Subjects Martyr So will he appear the best of Kings in being his Subjects Master because his heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord. It is my third and last Consideration Quare non timet ab auditu malo Why he that feareth God feareth not any evil tydings Pars. 3. Paratum est cor ejus or Confirmatum est cor ejus Read it which way you please His heart standeth fast believeth in the Lord or His heart is prepared to believe in the Lord. Sure I am the very Object Lord is enough to make our Heart stand fast and believe Were it but El There is