them when He hath so liberally the Fleece This may with more reason and truth be expected from a necessitous Prince who to supply His wants is forced to use Arts and Stratagems to squeeze some full Spunges that He may not be quite drain'd and dried Himself and to extort that by Power and in an Arbitrary manner which Disloyalty and Undutifulness do rob and deprive Him of A strong and healthy Head in the political sence of it is always a sure indication and sign of a strong and healthy Body in that there is an immediate dependance and communication between the one and the other And when 't is otherwise in the natural and proper meaning of it 't is generally an undoubted symptom that both are disaffected the Body as well as the Head So that these men are as much out in their Physicks as Politicks 2. And as it is Unreasonable so is it Unchristian 'T is a Law of our Religion that we should pay unto Caesar his due of Tribute and less than what is sufficient to maintain His Crown and Dignity cannot be supposed to be His due And then if we do not give Him that but default from and pinch Him of it we act contrary to our Religion and Christianity We are to do our duty and leave the issue and event of things to God Let Him be never so bad Preces Lachrymae Prayers and Tears are all that we are to oppose against Him as I above inform'd you and most certain is it that Non sunt facienda mala ut eveniant bona We are not to do any unjust and evil thing in behalf of an undeniable and real good but when that we propose to our selves here is very uncertain and yet the sin and iniquity of our actings certain 'T is madness 't is presumption 't is the height of Impiety to abett and avow such wicked and irreligious courses and ways Add to this that we have had the woful experience how bad a sign of health a little Head is to the Body Politick or State how ill it secures the welfare and good of a Kingdom or People For when the Royal Martyr had with too great Condescentions too much lessened Himself did not some of the inferiour Members presently shoot up to a preternatural growth and bigness and as quickly draw away that juice and nourishment by which He should have been sustain'd Was not the Nation soon divided and in a tottering falling condition Were not Liberty and Property lost and the felicities of Peace exchang'd into a bloody War This was all the healthiness these Mens Policy procured us then I hope the Burn'd Child will dread the Fire Say then Supposing with them that Ship-money had been a publick Nusance and illegal had it not been better to have endur'd and undergone that than so many miseries and calamities that came rowling in upon us like a mighty torrent However it was not as illegal and unjustifiable as the Vote of Non-Addresses as making Laws and Ordinances without a King as erecting a High-Commission Court and Arraigning their Sovereign as cutting off His Head and plundering and sequestring whom they would without any truth of Law and Justice But it is always lawful 't is still just and Christian 't is still our duty to help and relieve the necessities and distresses of our lawful King and Governor even without forms of Law but never so to let both King and Kingdom fall and perish through our fears and jealousies our covetousness our pride and ambition This then is another duty we owe and are to pay unto them 4. The Fourth and last is our Prayers for Them And whether we consider Them in Their more private capacity as Men and Christians or in their more publick as Governors the reasonableness and necessity of this part of our duty will be very manifest and evident If as Men and Christians they generally and for the most part lye more open and exposed to the calamities and miseries incident to mankind to the assaults and batteries of the World the Flesh and the Devil than others whose greater privacy is a rampart and security against a great many temptations and dangers their more publick state and condition of Life renders them subject and obnoxious to They like the tall Cedars and high Turrets are sure to meet with every impetuous shock and blast of wind and foul weather when others as lower Trees and Structures by their being so escape their force and severity So that in this respect as They want greater strength and larger supplies of Grace to support and keep Them from falling so more prayers than their own and of these a greater proportion and measure answerable to their greater needs that by a kind of holy violence we may open the flood-gates of Heaven and derive the Divine Assistance Protection and Blessing upon Their Heads and Hearts Their Lives and Actions And this is no more than what our common Christianity suggests and a piece of Charity we owe unto the whole Race of Mankind Let him be Iew Infidel or Turk we are to pray for him It is that our Saviour enjoyns us as to our Enemies Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you Mat. 5.44 And 't is St. Paul's Doctrine I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and all that are in authority for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all men to be sav'd and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. But if he be a Christian King one who hath submitted his Scepter to that of Christ and is partaker of the same Faith and Hope of Salvation then as we have new Reasons added to the former in as much as we are Members of the same mystical Body and so to be compassionate tender concern'd and careful for one anothers Good which is to be express'd as in other things so in an entercourse of Prayer one for another and the Apostle hath made it a necessary part of the Christian Armour Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints so is the Obligation enhans'd and the Duty the more indispensable And this will yet farther appear to be the more so if we consider them as actually governing as those who have so great a People committed to their Charge and so wanting a greater and more excellent Spirit and Wisdom Judgement and Discretion Foresight and Prudence to assist direct and help them in all the great Affairs and Transactions of the Publick Now every good and every perfect gift being from above and coming down from the Father of Lights as St. Iames tells us and we are to ask to beg this wisdom and gift of God before we can have it and the effectual fervent prayers of
to Princes Nay all Histories both ancient and modern sacred and profane do abound with Examples of this kind And were we but so wise as to reflect and look back we should find as from the constant Experience of all Ages so from the nature of the thing it self that there is no Aphorism of State-policy more true then this viz. that Loyalty and Fidelity is the best and readiest way to Honour and Preferment For God having given the power of advancing and rewarding into the hands of Princes on whom can they be suppos'd to be more inclin'd and willing to confer the Badges of Honour and Marks of their Favour then on those who by a long Series of eminent and faithful Services have approv'd themselves to be true Liege-men to their Crown and Dignity their Persons and Government A common Gratitude will acknowledge and reward a good Turn much more that of a King who is as an Angel of God to discern betwixt Good and Evil Just and Unjust Honourable and Base If then Princes both can and will reward Loyalty and Honesty and if in the light of the King's countenance there is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain it will be our Wisdom and Understanding at all times and in all places to abet and adhere unto the Royal Cause and by all the good Offices and Actions we can declare and evince our Allegiance and Dutifulness to our King and Sovereign By this it is very possible and probable too that we may with good and loyal Barzillai go down to our Graves full of Days and full of Honour but if with Dathan and Abiram we conspire against our Moses if with Achitophel we consult and plot his Ruine with Shimei curse the Lord 's Anointed and with Absalom actually rebel against him as we cannot upon any good and warrantable Grounds promise to our selves a happy Issue and Event of these our wicked and unjust Actings so generally the Consequent and Success of such a blacked Villany and Impiety is that with them they perish in their Gainsaying fall into the same Pit of Destruction purchase a Curse and Confusion to themselves and an indelible Blot of Infamy and Reproach upon their Name and Memory now and for ever We have now beheld two of the Excellencies of the Higher Powers their Dignity and Authority and the Severals of our Duty arising and resulting from them proceed we now to the Consideration of the third and last and that is Their Necessity and Usefulness to Mankind 3. That Government and Governours are a Blessing and Happiness to any Nation and People Community or Kingdom will be very evident and apparent to any that shall but reflect and consider of the Calamities and Evils the Misery and Ruine that must unavoidably attend and follow a State of Anarchy and Confusion 'T is the Remark of the holy Pen-man Iudg. 17.6 That when there was no King in Israel every man did that which was right in his own eyes And most certain is it that when there is none to restrain controul and punish the Impetuosity and Rage of mens Lusts and Vices In pejora datur suadetque licentia luxum things will quickly grow worse and this Licentiousness and Impunity of Acting soon perswade to Luxury and Excess and these to Injustice and that to Rapine Murther Profaneness Irreligion and all manner of Evil. And then as 't is in vain to look for any protection from the Laws in a lawless Estate or to expect the Rights of Liberty and Property to be kept inviolable when there is no distinction of Meum Tuum Mine and Thine so is it as absurd to imagine that any Persons or Things can be exempted or freed from this publick Distress when both they and theirs lye open and ready to be seiz'd and prey'd upon by every one that hath more Courage and Strength then themselves Of this kind and sort was that state of Nature if ever there was any such Mr. Hobbs speaks of Though 't is very hard to think that God would so very meanly provide for the Welfare and Safety of the noblest part of his Creation on this side the Stars and expose them like Beasts of Prey to be devoured one by another or that his infinite and unbounded Goodness would have suffer'd him to have sent Man into the World attended with such a Curse and Plague a Curse that would have better answer'd and more fitly suited the Effects of his avenging Justice upon succeeding Ages for their Iniquity and Sin and a Plague that undoubtedly was never design'd by him to be the Portion of the best and most innocent part of Mankind but of those if of any who have so learn'd and practis'd to despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities as rather to choose not to have than to honour and obey a publick Parent a lawful King and Governour tho' certainly of a contrary Judgment and Opinion to that wise and worthy Statesman and Historian Tacitus who hath left us this great and excellent Truth upon record that Praestat sub malo Principe esse quà m sub nullo It is better to live under a bad Prince then under none For notwithstanding that great and many Mischiefs and Evils may redound to the Subject from the Reign of a bad Governour Et vitia erunt donec homines and there will be Lusts and Vices to be serv'd as long as there are Men Sed neque haec continua meliorum interventu pensantur yet these are neither so great nor so many nor so lasting and which are sufficiently repair'd and made amends for by the greater and more considerable Benefits and Goods we reap and enjoy under their Government as those which that state of Confusion and Disorder must of necessity bring with it wherein not Law and Justice but Power and Force are to be the Bounds and Rule of Right and Wrong wherein we have not the least assurance and security of enjoying and possessing any thing that is desir'd and esteem'd of by us and wherein our Lives and Liberties as well as Properties and Goods are equally at the disposal of the strongest Invader and Aggressor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher speaks 'T is therefore necessary that there should be Governments and Governours And then if as the Government is lawful and well established so the Governour be good and gentle one fearing God and hating Covetousness a true nursing Father to his People and Kingdoms a Moses or a Ioshua a David or a Solomon as blessed be God that we have is how great how many Blessings will derive to the Subject from such an excellent Prince's Reign How very useful and serviceable must such a One be to his Peoples Welfare and Good and how exceedingly happy must a People be that are in such a case Is it a Happiness and Blessing to have and enjoy the free exercise and use of the best Religion in the World in
Government so thereby secured of his Life and Liberty and so needs not subject and yield himself a Vassal for Protection and Defence to any potent Neighbour Here then he tells us That Governours are not of the People nor constituted by them which yet they must be originally if Government is a humane Ordinance in that sence he hath explain'd it for if it is hominum salubre Institutum humana Lex a humane Institution Law or Ordinance then it is not divine and if not divine then all Governments and Governours do owe and are indebted for their Institution and Original to Men or the People But that they are not this worthy Author hath affirm'd and endeavour'd to prove and therefore tho' he seems to be yet he is not a real Adversary to the present Truth Indeed he was a Dutch-man bred up in the Democratical or Popular way and then 't is possible that Prejudice and Education may sometimes blind the Eyes of a very wise man I have now too given you an Account of the divine Right of Government and have endeavour'd to answer what hath been most materially and with greatest shew of Reason objected I now proceed to the 2 d. and last thing and that is to shew unto you the force and consequence of the Apostle's Argument and Reason 2. That a great Deference and Respect Submission and Obedience is to be given and paid to every thing of divine Institution is unanimously acknowledg'd by all that assent to the Being of a God and the Truth of the holy Scriptures And indeed very fit and reasonable is it very just and necessary that we should glorifie and serve our great Creator and Lord in all things that relate and appertain unto him for he being infinitely superiour unto and more excellent in Majesty and Power in Wisdom and Knowledge in Justice and Truth in Mercy and Goodness then all things besides as nothing can with an equality of Right lay claim unto and exact so sincere and hearty so entire and impartial an Obedience to what is prescrib'd commanded and appointed as he can so nought can be more our Wisdom and Understanding our Felicity and Good then to direct and order our selves according to his Will and Pleasure then to perform and be subject to what he hath instituted and ordain'd Government then being of him as to its Original and Institution there being no Power but of God as St. Paul asserts and I have prov'd doth upon his account challenge and require enjoyn and command our dutiful Subjection and Submission to it It is for his Sake and by his Authority that we are to pay all that Honour Obedience Fear Benevolence Love Gratitude Tribute and Prayer I have so largely discours'd of and except we will wickedly reject God to be our Lord openly defie his Majesty and Power impudently oppose his Justice and Truth and ungratefully return all the blessed Effects of his Mercy and Goodness nay except we will utterly abandon all Considerations of Good and Evil of Heaven and Hell and what is to betide and happen unto us in the final Issue and Result of things this will be the Practice and Business of our Lives and by it shall we endeavour to perfect Holiness in the sight of God Besides from whence is it that they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation but because Disobedience and Rebellion against a lawful Governour is Disobedience and Rebellion against God He esteeming the Sin and Evil acted against his Deputy and Vicegerent as acted against himself And what God told Samuel upon the Israelites Defection or falling off from him They have not rejected thee but me is still the divine Language in such a Case in behalf of every Prince and Ruler Religion doth at once found and preserve the Rights of Governours renders their Persons sacred and inviolable and their Office Majestick and God-like their Eminency and Dignity their Authority and Power being from God and therefore to rise up against them to vilifie and abuse their Dignity to despise and contemn their Authority is to vilifie and despise him who hath put such Treasure in earthen Vessels and given such Power and Excellency unto men It cannot then be Piety and Religion but the Extream of Impudency and Wickedness and a great prophanation and violation of the Sacredness of divine Truths to say and act as some men have taught and practis'd That Subjects may lawfully bind Kings in Chains and such Nobles with links of Iron They may with as much truth say They can religiously lay violent Hands upon God himself and bring him to condign punishment were it possible as affirm they can do this by any Divine Warrant and Law to the Person of their Governor and King who immediately Represents the Image and Character and Executes the Place and Office of the Great Universal Governor the King of Kings and Lord of Lords For if His Person and Presence is to be fear'd and dreaded to be Honour'd and Rever'd and His Laws and Commands to be perform'd and obey'd so are Theirs in all things wherein They Command for God wherein They are Gods and in Gods stead to us The subjection we pay unto our Governors is a subjection that is Gods and for God in obeying Them we obey Him whose principally and originally the Authority is Add to this that it is one part of our worshiping and serving Him in Spirit and in Truth because one part of His Will and Word So that for Men to pretend Religion Holiness and Conscience in all their ways and yet not perform this so necessary and indispensible a part of their Christianity is to be holy only in imagination and opinion and is the Piety of those Dreamers that defile the Flesh despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities For if God is the Lord and so His Authority is to be reverenc'd and His Will obey'd and the reverencing His Authority and obeying His Will is Religion how can they be truly Religious that perform neither the one nor the other That they do not Reverence His Authority is manifest in that they do not obey His Will and that they do not obey His Will is not less evident because they are not subject to the Higher Powers and then if not subject to Them not subject to God and if not subject to Him then certainly not Holy not Religious not Conscientious except in pretence and shew Either then we must make Obedience to Governors a necessary ingredient of our Christianity or else evacuate and null Gods Authority as to us reject and disown His Commands and renounce and deny the truth of our Religion And this is that the Apostle intends by the reason and enforcement in my Text when He tells us that There is no Power but of God Let every Soul be subject unto the Higher Powers c. I have now by the Divine Assistance gone thro' the whole of my designed method and have considered whatsoever