Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A40880
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The magistrates concern in Christ's kingdom a sermon preached at the assizes at Winchester, July 14, 1697 / by Roger Farbrother, Vicar of Holy-Rhoods in Southampton.
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Farbrother, Roger.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing F421; ESTC R36415
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15,012
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37
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THE MAGISTRATES Concern in Christ's Kingdom A SERMON Preached at the Assizes at Winchester July 14. 1697. By ROGER FARBROTHER Vicar of Holy-Rhoods in Southampton LONDON Printed for William Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-yard M DC XC VIII To the Worshipful Alexander Alchorne Esquire High Sheriff of Hampshire SIR IT was at Your Desire that this Discourse was prepared it appeared at the Assizes with Your Approbation and now at length in publick by Your Command It 's aim is to make the Magistrates Duty Christian by laying before him the Relation he bears to the great Mediatorial King the Honourable Trust he is advanced to in his Houshold what Service he owes his Church and is capable of doing for her in which consists the great Dignity of his Office and without which it would remain Heathen still And how weak soever the performance may be or how unfit for the Press for which you are answerable who have promoted the Publication and carried it beyond its Design yet the Foundation I doubt not will prove good and this weak Essay if it can attain no further may at least provoke some abler hand to set this seasonable Truth in a better Light whereby some good may accrue to the Publick herein which by whomsoever conveyed will be highly acceptable I know to You and to all the True Sons of the Church of England particularly to SIR Your Most Faithful and Humble Servant R. Farbrother PSAL. II. XII Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way THE Psalmist here whether by extatick rapture or by the softer Whispers and Inspirations of the Holy Spirit more common to him was favour'd with a prospect of the Messiah's Kingdom of its Rise and Power A Kingdom which should be the delight of all Mankind as well as the Glory of their Maker who would erect it Over which the Infinite Father would set his equally Infinite Son who was qualify'd for a perfect Government and to enrich all Mankind from his own Bounty and Fulness and in the emanations of which God would erect to himself brighter Trophies of Glory and address more powerfully to the love and admiration of all rational and intelligent Beings than he had done in that great Work of Creation One thing there was in this great Work which shews it to be more than Humane a thing so unlikely in reason to come to pass that it could never have entred into the Prophets thoughts had not some Being of higher rank and greater foresight discovered it which might have tempted the Prophet to and almost have excus'd him in the disbelief of the whole Scene And which may seem so strange to us that did not our times produce instances of it more than enough we should hardly believe those Histories that did relate it viz. That when God would erect a Kingdom so glorious and so great redounding every way to the Honour and Advantage of Mankind would repair our corrupted Nature and miserable State make us a gracious tender of all the Happiness both of this and of a future Life and this by the Wise and Gracious Government of his own Infinite Son who first should signifie his love by such a surprising instance as to lay down his worthier Life a ransom for ours by whom also the Father would give us a most perfect Law and make us proposals of the greatest good That yet this Kingdom of his Son erected for these gracious purposes should find violent opposition from Men and that not only the ruder People but their Governours also should conspire against it and with attempts as furious as they were unreasonable and vain oppose the Omnipotent Hand and ward off the offered Mercy That God should be so careful to do Man the greatest Good and Man should be as diligent to frustrate and prevent it This tho' by our constant experience it is become familiar to us yet as it betrays the overgrown corruption of our State so to any Man that has a competent sense of those Mercies which the Father tenders to all Mankind in the erection of this Kingdom of his Son it may justly seem a wonder With admiration at this folly and ingratitude David begins this Psalm Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing The Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Whilst yet these cords were only the cords of love of a love stronger than death free and generous and the Glory of its Infinite Author And these Bands were the wholsome Laws of the Gospel just and reasonable such as the Magistrate needed not to be jealous of nor the People uneasie under admirably adapted to our Nature and Condition to make us happy here and to dispose and fit us for that complete felicity hereafter to bring us to which was the great end for which this holy Oeconomy and Spiritual Kingdom was erected Wherefore the Psalmist to let them know how vain and dangerous this their opposition would be tells them that this promised King was the only Son of the High and Great Creator whose Scepter as it was right so it was Divine too would extend its Dominion over all Nations and break in pieces all that should oppose it And because he foresaw that this opposition would chiefly be formed by Princes and Magistrates therefore he addresses to them to perswade them as a consequence of all this to pay a voluntary Homage and loving submission to this great Prince to promote his Government and to seek his favour Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way Before I come to form my Exhortation it may be necessary and I shall do it briefly first to explain the terms and to shew who are the Persons spoken to who this Son or the Person spoken of what it is to kiss the Son and what is meant by perishing from the way 1. Who the Persons here exhorted are appears from v. 10. Be wise now O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son c. Answerable to that v. 2. The Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together which we find apply'd Act. 4. to Herod and Pontius Pilate the Rulers of the Jews the Elders and Scribes whilst they were forming their several Oppositions and Persecutions against Christ and his Apostles So that by Kings and Rulers in the second v. that oppos'd this Messias and his Kingdom by Kings and Judges in the 10th v. that are exhorted to a better carriage to submit to this Government and to kiss the Son are meant Magistrates of all ranks not only Kings the Supreme but all subordinate Magistrates also to which is committed in any degree the execution of the Laws 2ly Who this Son is The ancient Jews
Actions only the other of the Heart and Affections and differ as much in the Nature and Degree of their Sanctions Yet commanding the same thing and each in their way enforcing it they are mutually helpful one to another On the one part these Laws of our great Mediator were they universally observ'd would do in a manner all the Business that Humane Laws are intended to do The King then would need no Guards nor the People any Magna Charta there would be no Rebellion nor Oppression nor any Invasion of the Rights either of God or Man but Vertue would be every Man's Guide and every Man's Defence So that the Magistrate has no wrong done him by the setting up of this Kingdom but has great reason to propagate Christianity were it only for the sake of that Peace and good Order the proper end of his Function which it would produce So on the other part where Humane Laws are executed with that vigour which the naughtiness of the Times requires for the Laws are made for the lawless and disobedient so far as Vertue is encouraged and Vice supprest so far the Business of Christ's Kingdom is done also And altho there is more requir'd to make Men true Christians than the correcting of some visible Faults Yet it is somewhat even to have gone thus far the contagion of their ill example by which others might have been infected is remov'd and the Offender himself is brought to some thought and sobriety and some taste of morality which by the Grace of God he may fall in love with it may ripen in him in time to a full conversion and so he may become a sound Member of Christ's Kingdom who was scarce a tollerable one of the Common-wealth before Besides there are not a few amongst us that chuse to follow a Multitude and to live after the example of the greater number the great Bane of our Nation at this time where Vice and Atheism are like to carry it in the Poll and to vote Men out of their Religion and Morals and what they want in number they make up in noise and appearance which serves the turn as well God is Blasphem'd aloud his Authority contemn'd and his Word ridicul'd Lust is glory'd in Immorality made a Badge of Honour and others led away by the example Now if the Sword of Justice did smite these Scorners the simple that are so ready to follow them would beware and avoid those Paths which they saw discouraged by the best of Men and duly rewarded with Shame and Punishment To consider then 2ly How this may be done In order to which it is necessary in the first place that the Magistrate possess his Breast with a Love and awe of this great King and keep steddy to the Rules of Vertue and Religion himself the first will give him Zeal and the second Authority in this great Work His Love will make the concern his own and he will not desert nor be lukewarm in that cause which the Son of God died to promote it will make him to watch all opportunities of advancing the Honour and doing the pleasure of his great Lord. And his regular Life will procure him an esteem amongst all sorts of Men and make his endeavours the more effectual whilst the good love him and the evil cannot help it but they must reverence and fear him for Vice is always sneaking and cowardly shrinks and is out of countenance at the sight of goodness especially when it has the advantage of Eminence and Authority The Criminal stands condemn'd before his Sentence is past and at the Presence of such a Magistrate his Reason and Conscience are awaked and his vapid ingenuity restor'd to vigor he feels in himself the Force of Justice and the Folly of Offending Whereas if the Magistrate should be notoriously Wicked the Offender would blame not his Crimes but his Fortune which whilst the other sat upon the Bench brought him to the Bar where of right they ought both to have stood The Law is all Penalty and the Sentence receiv'd with regret when administer'd with a Wicked Hand 'T is hard to suffer from ones own Party this is ingrossing of Vice and looks like a personal Pique that he should punish the Offender that loves the Offence Solomon thought the good life of a Magistrate to be a constant exercise of Justice and a Satyr against Vice when he tells us Proverbs 28. That they that forsake the Law praise the wicked but such as keep the Law contend with them Supposing then that the Magistrate himself will keep the Law and give a good example in his own Person as knowing well that he himself must be judged by this King of Kings who accepteth not the Persons of Princes What is more expected of him is that he should be diligent just and impartial in the execution of his Office that he should answer his Character to be a terror to evil Works and that both in small and great Persons too whose example is more malignant with equal Zeal at least against Blasphemy and Profaneness the direct oppugners of Christ's Kingdom as against Murther and Theft the disturbers of the Publick Peace and Safety That he would mind that 't is the Cause of God that he is acting in and would do it no otherwise than he would have it to appear when he is giving his Accounts before that great King That he is set over Men that have Immortal Souls and an Eternal Interest to be secur'd to which a due execution of the Laws may contribute very much That he 's fallen into those times in which his diligence and courage are necessary where threatning Judgments call for Reformation where great Men as well as small want to be reformed and a more than ordinary deluge of Wickedness is to be stopped He should consider that where Providence gives a liberal Education and a great Estate 't is a Qualification and a Salary too for the discharge of some greater Duty and therefore in the fear of God he should wait upon that Office to which the Divine Providence and the Laws of the Land have call'd him studying the Laws and readily taking cognisance of all proper causes searching out the cause that he knew not and not waiting too long for formal Impeachment an obstruction of Justice which Solomon sharply reproves in his time Prov. 24. If thou sayest behold I knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy Soul doth not he know it and shall not he reward every Man according to his Works That where new Vices spring up in this prolifick Age those that have a hand in the making of our Laws would take care to provide against them I do not pretend to instruct the Magistrate in these known things but only to exhort him to a conscientious Practice of them by which besides the eminent Service he will do his Country he will promote the Interest of Christ's