Image part whereof was a Dominion over the Creation so in our Nature he honours some persons with his Name and hath thereby given them Dominion over others of their own kind They have not onely his Image but Inscription of whom in a qualified sense we may say what they of Lycaonia said of the Apostles Acts 14.11 The Gods are come down unto us in the likeness of men I need not say here they are not Gods and Sons of God as our Saviour is by an unconceivable generation which were to make them equal with God To us there is but one God though there be that are called Gods Nor are they always Sons of God by Adoption and Grace as Members of the Invisible Church that Aphorism that Empire is founded in Dominion being not more absurd and false than that other that Dominion is founded in Grace Grace neither giving title to Land and Estates nor Estates to Empire Wicked men may be not onely lawful Proprietors but lawful and good Princes Nor are Princes always lastly even by external Profession Sons of God as visible Members of the Church though it is a great felicity when they and their subjects are so no Crown sitting surer than such as is most Christian For the true discovery therefore of that sense in which they are stiled gods and Sons of God we must consider that it is familiar in Scripture to call a Person the Son of that man whom he resembles in some very signal character as Believers are called Sons of Abraham for their resemblance to him in that Grace that was so eminent and illustrious in that Holy Patriarch that it was imputed to him for Righteousness On the contrary our Saviour saith to the Jews Ye are of your Father the Devil for the works of your Father the Devil you will do such as cruelty and malice and spight and revenge which argue a Diabolical nature and temper Agreeably to this notion 1. Princes are called Gods because as such they have their being from God that is Authority to govern 2. Because they resemble God in the conduct and menage of that Authority they have from him 3. God calls them his Sons because as they are begotten by him and are like him so as a Father he defends them and more especially concerns himself in their cause and protection 1. Princes have their Being from God and are begotten by him As in the Scale of our Saviours Genealogy Luke 3. it is said of all but Adam he was the Son of such a one and he was the Son of such a one but of Adam he was the Son of God because he came immediately out of his hands So may we say of inferiour Magistrates and Officers who stand in subordination to others but when we come to the Sovereign Power that is the Issue of Heaven they that are invested with it are the Sons of God of whom they hold immediately and are born of the seed of divine Authority and Power God who by his Word made the World hath by the same Word by saying Princes are Gods made them so and this Scripture which cannot be broken is their Commission Joh. 10.35 For so the Text is expresly expounded by our Saviour for he calls it a Word of God coming to the Magistrate Now we know the Word of God coming to a Person is a Phrase authorizing that Person to the Service he is then imployed in In the Old Testament the Word of the Lord came unto me is the common stile of the Prophets Order and therefore these words Ye are gods being a word coming unto the Prince are his Letters Patent for his Title and Authority Wisd 6.3 4. So that his Power is given him of thâ— Lord and Sovereignty of the Highest saith the Wisdom of Solomon and by him Kings reign Prov. 8.15 and Princes decree Justice saith the Wisdom of God Which Wisdom acknowledges the Power even of Pilate over himself and says Joh. 19.11 It was given him from above And St. Paul tells us the Powers that then were the Powers that be Rom. 13.1 are ordained of God though they were neither the most lawfully acquired nor the most equally administred So that Magistracy and Magistrates for so the word Powers there must be understood of Persons exercising Power are not onely of Gods general providence and permission which suffers many irregularities in the World as sometimes the abuse of this Power by mal-administration and sometimes the ruine of it by Rebellion or Translation by Conquest but they are by his special ordination and appointment they are ordained of God And hence it is that Rebellion is a damnable and without true Repentance a damning sin and I fear it is in this as well as other respects as the sin of Witchcraft the Covenant with Hell that it is but too rarely repented of It is a fulsom thing to multiply Arguments and Authorities in a plain Cause and such is that if any that I am pleading for the divine Original of Government which whoso reads the Scriptures cannot but discern unless he be hastning after another God than they preach But this truth will appear with fuller evidence if we consider the Rises of Government and what share the People that is the governed part can have in the most Popular Gonstitutions 1. It is certain that Government was originally in the Parents and Heads of Families if we believe Mankind to have been created and propagated according to the Scripture Tradition which is the most natural and rational hypothesis and most credible though it were not assisted by Revelation We could never yet find where that Utopia lies where men lived without natural dependencies but came into the World in Arms and Armour fighting with and destroying one another and yet on such precarious Poetick Fables some have chosen to found their Common-wealths rather than on the History of the Bible which informs us of another origination both of Men and of Society There we are acquainted with our growing from one common root in the way of natural propagation which ever carries a necessary obligation with it for Nature teaches the Son obedience to the Father so that Adam were he now alive would be the Universal Monarch by right of Nature and eminently in the language of the Text Son of God and of the Most High And from him Power descended to the first-born by the Priviledge of natural Succession without asking the consent of his Brethren and as the Family spread so did the Empire Marriages were made and Children begotten and Houses filled and new Colonies sent out and so by degrees a Tree became a Forest and the Paternal Power spread and grew into a Political This is the way and method by which Government was first planted in one Family and according to its increase shed and disseminated it self abroad over many and so far there is no shadow of an Authority derived from the People that is
Lords of their People who like Parents are always laying up for their Children esteeming their peace a common advantage the Glory of their Reign as the publick Good of the World is the Glory of God There is certainly great truth in that celebrated Aphorism Salus Populi Suprema Lex esto but the vulgar sense is to be corrected by considering what is meant by People Safety and Law 1. We are not to prescind the Head from the Members but by People to understand the whole Body all in as well as all under Government And so indeed the care ought to be mutual and reciprocal for neither can be safe when the other is in danger but the principal should be for the principal and vital parts and the best Armour placed on the Head and Heart Thus while David perceived his Kingdom to be exalted for the sake of Israel 2 Sam. 5.12 21.17 the People called him the light of Israel which they were fearful should be quenched 2. We are not to understand Safety in the most uncircumscribed and indefinite sense for Peace of any kind on any terms but such as the Apostle prescribes which by Prayer for Princes we may hope to enjoy under them 1 Tim. 2.2 a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Now happy are the People that are in such a case this is a blessing greatly desirable a Reformation heartily to be endeavoured when Peace and Godliness and Honesty meet together and kiss each other 3. Peace and Safety thus described is the Supreme Law that is the general Rule and Canon of Direction to all in their respective Stations it is the Princes Reason of State the Compass by which he steers the Government where plain and positive Law hath not directed and where it hath he must often leap over nay break through many positive Forms to come at it for that is the Supreme Law to which all positive Laws as inferiour must give place for the sake of that the Prince may dispence with these but that is indispensable it is superiour to him in a way of perpetual direction which he is the most proper Judge how to intend and follow This Law also is the Square and Reason of the Subjects obedience by which and Prayer they are more likely to obtain their end than by Rebellion and Schism that being a method of Gods appointing but this an unsanctified way that never will be blessed by him Thus you see this so applauded Maxim is far from confounding Government by making Rulers accountable to those they Govern that the Right to Govern is from the People if you divide the Head from the Body because their Good is the and of Government is a false Inference from a false Principle the preservation of the whole is the end and not of any part and if the good and safety of the People separately from the Prince were the Supreme Law yet it follows not that either his Right is derived from them or his account of the Administration must be made to them For God hath the same end the Common Good in the great Monarchy of the World and yet is not liable to an Indictment by his Subjects for any mal-administration And Parents and Masters of Families intend the same end in their petty Monarchies and are not questionable or punishable by their Children So that this cannot give Subjects any superintendency over the Princes Councils or Actions but obliges them rather in their private capacity of Obedience and Religion to conspire to the same end the Glory of God in the Publick Good Both these are designed by God and both by the Prince and the distinction is rather formal than real between them for though they may be distinguished they cannot be divided but are to be promoted by the same means God cannot be honoured by Sin and therefore we must not do evil that good may come of it God may suffer it for that end but we must not do it for that or any end No more must publick Safety and common Good be secured by any thing that is unjust or dishonest Religion must not be reformed by Rebellion nor destroyed for the sake of a palliated worldly Peace The very Heathens were so generous as to scorn by base Compliances and wicked Plots and Stratagems to preserve their Country and therefore a contrivance of Themistocles for the publick Good being imparted to Aristides was rejected by the Senate upon Aristides his Report that it was not honest concluding nothing profitable or honourable that was dishonest but when the common Good is carried on by just and wise Counsels a peaceable life is endeavoured by pious and honest policy the People have at once great safety and God great Glory and this is the care and travel Princes have under the Sun to be in continual motion that their Subjects might have the comfort of their Influences though they are too often requited with noisom stenches and stinking exhalations But as God is never weary of doing good to those who weary him and themselves with doing evil so neither should Princes though their Subjects prove ungrateful and rebellious Thus much of the second Reason why Princes are called Gods and Sons of God they are like him acting the same Attributes and for the same end 3. Thirdly and lastly They are so called because God as a Father takes a special care of just Governments and pious Governours There are sometimes Providences that seem anomalous and exceptions from this Rule when God suffers Religious Kings to be smitten by and for the sins of the People which is one of the heaviest Judgments that can befal a Nation to be made their own Executioners by cutting the throat of their own peace and happiness But as Princes are called Fathers of their Country and have bowels for their Subjects so hath God for Princes whose Seats could never be so secure amidst so many strivings of the People but that the Lord is King be the Earth never so unquiet and covers the head of his Anointed and bears up the Pillars of his Throne So we find notwithstanding all the Plots the secret Caballings and open and bold Designs of Davids Enemies Psal 2. God says Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion exalted him to the top of Regal Power God seems to point at him with a hand out of the Clouds as a person reserved for some great work and by his miraculous deliverances eminently to declare him to be his Care and Darling Thou art my Son Psal 2.6 7. this day have I begotten thee Which Scripture though it had a literal verification in David and a mystical one in our Saviour may be accommodated to the Histories of other Empires and no where more fitly than to the modern state of this Kingdom in the support whereof the Divine Providence hath observably concerned it self when all the foundations of the Earth were out of course
hath the fairest pretence to speak modestly to a Divine Right Others may be lawful but God never immediately appointed any other Form Moses was King in Jesurun The Government of the Israelites till Saul was Theocracy the noblest kind of Monarchy So this Government is best as approved of God under which the greatest blessings are promised to his Church of Kings becoming Nursing Fathers best in its self as most sufficient and ready for the ends of Government and best for us as most agreeable to the Genius of these Nations who would never long endure many Tyrants 2. The best Monarchy whereby the gracious Concessions of our Kings and harshness of Arbitrary Power is sweetned into a Fatherly temper and Will is changed into Law and the Rod of Iron is melted down into a Golden Scepter and it is the true Interest of the People to preserve the Prerogative because that doth best preserve the Liberties of the People We have in our Constitution all the advantages of others without the Inconveniences that attend them And all others of what Form soever are absolute and arbitrary fierce as the Wind and hot as the fire while God speaks to us in this in a gentle and a still voice 3. The best Monarch But while my heart is inditing of a good matter Psal 45.1 and I would speak of the things I have made of the King his Royal presence hinders my tongue from being the Pen of a ready Writer and forbids me to speak either of his Personal or Political Endowments the gentleness and goodness of his Nature or his Royal Virtues In stead therefore of such an Entertainment let us rejoice in the cool shade of those Blessings we enjoy under his Protection and take a view of the flourishing condition these Kingdoms are in did they think themselves so In whose Reign did the Sun ever behold this People swimming in greater wealth the Trade and Riches of the World flowing in to their Doors We are tilling our Fields and filling our Barns and Store-houses while our Neighbours Backs are ploughed and harrowed by the miseries of War We are groaning onely under the burden of Peace panting under loads of Plenty surfeiting of Health and running into Fevers through height and abundance of Bloud To conclude nothing is wanting to us but thankful hearts for such Blessings as no Nation under Heaven doth or can enjoy but under such a Monarchy and Monarch 4. What shall I say of our Religion which is our highest Glory for God hath not dealt so with any Nation as with us If we were not become too brutish to have a relish for so spiritual a consideration you might be even charmed to Extasie with the prospect of the Heavenly Comforts you enjoy above all others in the World in a Church Orthodox in her Faith Chast in her Worship Modest yet Solemn in her Ceremony Primitive in her Government General and Peaceable in her Articles of Communion Gentle in her Discipline Charitable to persons of honest lives though differing persuasions in the common Faith and more than any other Loyal to Princes I wish we might be provoked to jealousie by another of the same Beauty This is the Hill of Sion the Joy of the Earth upon which God hath set his King and of these Blessings these men would rob us and expose us a naked prey to our cruel Enemies destroy the Laws to secure our Estates and our Religion to save our Souls In return of all which I hear her crying out in the words and with the tears and compassion of our Saviour O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest my Prophets how often c. Oh ye of the Foreign Reformation how often would I have gathered you under the Wings of my Communion and covered or excused your defects and ye would not but now these things are hid from your eyes and your house is left unto you desolate And Oh ye of the Domestick separation how often would I have gathered you but so often have I stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying People Yet at last return to a Christian peaceful temper for ye know not what spirit ye are of it is your Schism that is like to open the Postern for the common Enemy of the Reformation 't is under your covert he hides his Spies and Intelligencers through your Divisions the Name of Protestant is evilly spoken of and our Brethren abroad are the worse treated for the weakness that you occasion at home Consider therefore your duty and the common danger and kiss the Son lest ye perish and pray for the man of Gods right hand that he would make him strong for himself and while he labours for Peace make not your selves ready for the Battel and then the God of Peace will return stablish strengthen settle us Amen FINIS