It was a vaunt of the Romane Empire and perhaps true enough that Solem utrumque currere in imperio suo cernebat The rising and setting Sunne were the extent of their Territory in the length But God onely is that great King in whose hand are all the corners of the Earth The Sonne of Man is Sole Lord of the Princes of the Earth Vnto Him the Ancient of daies gives such Dominion and such a Kingdome that all People Nations and Languages and all Powers serve and obey Him For the other that is the Popes Supremacy a thing not dream't of in the Churches purer times it is a pride ill comporting with the Mitre and much mis-becomming Peters Successour If Christ disliked the strife for precedence amongst the Disciples determining the controversie so that he who made himself Least was by Him reputed Highest we may well conclude that Princeps Apostolorum Prince of the Apostles was an attribute never begot in His purpose nor form'd in his Schoole In what Luciferian forge then may we believe that stile of Princeps Regum Lord of Kings and Disposer of Kingdomes was shaped If the Master allow not his Apostles to quarrell amongst themselves for Place can we thinke he likes that the Apostolicall See should justle with His Annoynted for the upper-hand whereas Pindarus could say that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Kings are the Highest upon Earth and a better Authour Super Imperatorem non est nisi Deus qui fecit Imperatorem God onely here is above the Emperor And yet He who is Servus Servorum A Servant of Servants in nothing but his Name hath by his aequivocall practise long attempted the lifting up his Triple Mitre above the Crown as Neptune once his Trident above Jupiter And whensoever He lists to abuse the Throne by setting his owne Chaire where that should stand He will abuse Scripture to make it good If He list to play at Foot-ball with Crownes spurning them into what Gole he pleases as once Celestin 4. settled the Crowne and then kickt it off the Emperor Henry 6. head He hath an Omnia sub jecisti pedibus ejus for his warrant Thou hast put all things under his feet If He will make the neck of the King his foot-stoole as Alexander 3. used the Emperour Frederick Barbarossa at Venice he quotes the Psalme for it Thou shalt tread the yong Lyon and the Dragon under thy feet If he desire to lift up his own Candlestick made of the Alchymy of swelling Ambition and Avarice wrought by the Jesuits the best Chymists of the world enchased and imbossed by the Canonists with titles of the richest Blasphemy which the tongue of men or divels could devise Dominus Deus noster Papa Our Lord God the Pope * Vice-God One who Non obstante jure Divino in despight of Gods Law does what he lists I say if he desire to set his counterfet Candlestick higher then any of the Seven Golden Candlesticks and then make his own dim Candle whose modest light ought To shine in good works before men blaze like a Comet to out shine the lights of Earth and vie with the Host of Heaven for Lustre he can finde Text for that too so did Innocent III. from Gods creating Two Lights one to rule the day the other to rule the night and blushes not to make Himself the Greater So that whereas Christ whose Vicar he calls himself is content with the stile of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Starre of the morning no proportion of light nor measure of brightnesse will serve as Emblem of his Power but the Sunne Not to trouble you farther if he desire to pare the Authority of Princes and make the King his Subject He will with Boniface 8. and Iohn 22 pervert this very Text I have set Thee over the Nations and Kingdomes The note is altered much since the daies of Gregory the great He as He acknowledgeth to Theotista the Emperour Mauritius his sister tooke his Bishoprick then as a Donative from the Emperour Eccè Serenissimus Dominus Imperator fieri jussit He was pleased to make him so Now in requitall his Successour takes upon him to make the Emperour Formerly the Pope was wont to begin His letters to Kings with this salutation Salutem in eo per quem Reges regnant Health and safety be to you in Him by whom Kings reigne now he salutes in his * own Name for he takes on him to dispose the Kingdome and command the King It was not so from the beginning Aaron the High Priest never quarrelled with Moses for the place but obeyed him in all things as Prince and Ruler And Salomon exercised his authority upon Abiathar thrusting him from his Priest-hood and bestowing it upon Zadoc Indeed the best Popes ever submitted to the Regall Authority one of them gives the reason Eleutherius by name who in an Epistle of his written to King Lucius sometimes King of this Island which Epistle is recorded amongst the Lawes of Edward the Confessour tells him Vicarius verò Dei estis in regno He was within his own Kingdome Gods Vicar set up with absolute power to governe the Person and the Place Church as well as State which is the just meaning of being Set over Nations and Kingdomes But much of your wonder concerning the Popes Ambition will be taken off when you shall know the Consistory to be a Competitour in the Canvase for Superiority above Kings Quotquot Christi aut Ecclesiae nomine censeri volunt Disciplinae sese subjiciant As many as are Members of Christ and of His Church must subject themselves to the Consistorian Discipline neither Emperour nor Bishop excepted And Beza is as zealous as he in the cause Quis tandem Reges aut Principes c. Who shall exclude Kings or Princes from this Non Humanâ sed Divinâ dominatione not Humane but Divine domination of the Presbytery Nay some of this rigid Sect have gone so farre that as the scornfull Bramble in the Parable of Ioâ—ham scratcht and contended with the Better Trees for the Kingdome they make the people scramble with their Prince for prioriâ—y and carry it too Populus potior Rege And another Populus Rege praestantior etiam major Populi in legibus ferendis summa potestas Lex Rege Populus lege potentior The People greater and better then the King The Law above the King the People above the Law Reade they that list they are the words of Buchanan I know I may take up the Prophets words in this particular I tell you a wonder which many whilst they heare will not believe But it is an undenyable truth Let the Allegations I have produced out of their owne Books testifie for me that I slander them not Whence you may plainly discerne that these two jarring
Last When the Israelites desired a King they asked him of God who first designed Him and by a Law never to be reversed reserved the Choice as a Prerogative peculiar to Himselfe Thou shalt make Him King whom the Lord thy God shall choose over Thee so that if he come in by any other way the Act is quarrell'd by the Prophet and disclaimed by God himselfe They have set up a King but not by me If by Succession it is God who Regulates and prolongs that happy Line Children are Gods blessing to every private family but an Heire to a Kingdome is His Blessing to a Land Which Blessing is enlarged in the goodnesse of the Successour Therefore when the good Emperour Marcus Aurelius perceived the ill inclination of his Sonne Commodus who was to succeed he wish'd himselfe dead But contrary to him Hiram congratulates those who were sent from Iudaea Blessed be the Lord God who hath given unto David a wise Sonne over this mighty People And this was that Sonne whom David professes the Lord Himselfe had made choice of Of all my Sonnes for the Lord hath given me many He hath chosen Salomon to sit upon the Throne of the Kingdome of the Lord over Israel Nor onely in these Calmes of Peace but in the Tempest of Warre where the Sword hewes out a title to the Crowne and the Robe of the Prince instead of Purple is Dyed in Blood Even in this storme is God the Pilot to guide all actions to His Ends In the passing away of the first Monarchies from the Assyrian to the Persian His hand was set to the deed visible upon the Wall and legible in those fatall Characters which told Belshazzar that the Date of his Kingdome was numbred and finished And truely if you consider the power of Belshazzar and the number of his tributary Princes and the strength of Babylon his Metropolis which was fenced with a treble Wall of great height and the difficulties Cyrus encountred at the assault being forced by many Channels and trenches to drain the River of Euphrates that so he might approach the Walls which otherwise had beene inaccessible you will perceive it was not an Arme of Flesh but the Ordinance of God which made Cyrus strong and successefull Let all the Kings of the Earth then Throw down their Scepters before this Maker of Kings and ascribe unto Him Their Kingdomes and their Power for they are His Tuum est Regnum Potentia 'T is part of the Doxology in Christs prayer Let them not reckon their Crownes the acquisition of their owne wisedome or strength as Iacob told Ioseph concerning his portion With my Sword and with my Bow I tooke it But cry with that victorious Captaine of the Lords Battailes The Sword of the Lord and of Gedeon The Lord first and then Gedeon Gedeon may be the instrument the hand to atchieve but God the Cause God the Guider and Director of the Stroke And as the King casts downe His Crowne before the Lord Let the People cast themselves down before the King They that lift up their hands against Him in publike Rebellion or their Tongues in murmur against his commands or their Hearts in disobedient and discontented thoughts are as ill Subjects to God as to the King You need not aske Whom have they resisted St. Paul tels you They have resisted the Ordinance of God for Non est potestas nisi à Deo He hath his power from God His Office is Gods Ordinance His person dignified by Him too Constitui Te I have set Thee up which is the Kings Exaltation my second point When our Saviour rebuked the unruly Wind and Sea the Disciples askd with wonder Who is this whom both Elements of Aire and Water obey If any enquire who he is before whom God hath prostrated the obedience of of his people by whom he calmeth the uproare of the multitude And strivings of the people He can be no other then the Man whom the King of Kings was pleased to honour above all the rest He may be greater then all the Rulers of the Earth the Lord Christ but lesse He cannot be then the Lords Annointed He may well be that Lord unto whom the Lord said sit Thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole for the Text naturally beares it but meaner He cannot be then the Man of Gods right hand whom he hath set up and made so strong for Himself for His purposes It was an Argument of Gods mercy and care of the World that though the Apostacy of Mankind deserved in justice a finall dâ—ssoluâ—ion whereby all things might have reverted into their first Chaos yet in the very Act of His displeasure when He dissipated those who in the building of Babel cast up a Mound against Heaven and raised a worke to assault Him in his Throne He appointed a Ruler over every People when He divided the Nations CoÌ„mon-wealths without their Governor were like Ships without an Helme in danger to strike upon the Sand or break upon the Rocks The King is the States Pilot and His Law the Compasse By Him are we kept safe from Enemies who by invasion might break in upon us from abroad and by Him defended from Domesticke quarrels in which by falling foule on one another our Fortune might be broken into nothing Sheep without a Shepheard and Water without a Bank and a Body without an Head are Emblemes of a State without a King The King is the Head the People the Body He is the Shepheard they the Sheep Homer calls Menelaus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And Moses beseeches God to appoint a man over the Congregation least they should be like Sheep without a Shepheard Lastly as Saint Iohn saith Aquae sunt populi The people are as an inundation of Water like the waves for number and for noyse and would resemble the wild disorder of a wrought Sea for David joynes the Noise of the waves and the madnesse of the people together did not the King by his Authority limit their inconstant motion So necessary is a King even as * Aire to our Breath 'T is Calvins expression and a true one The Prophet Ieremy calls Him the Breath of our Nostrils There is nothing which more clearely demonstrates the God of Order then the subordinate Government of the Kingdomes of the Earth Nor doth any forme of Government come so neere His Owne which is the Archetype the first and best patterne of all others as the Monarchall when a state is governed by a King as sole Commander over all For in this singularity of power that person who is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the lively Image of God will some way represent the Unity of his Maker too Therefore Gerson defines Dominion that it is a Soveraigne Rule eommitted to One Regnum describitur quod
est Politia sub uno Bono Which Aristotle confesseth to be the most Divine and Ancient kind of Gubernation Vetustissima Divinissima Regis gubernatio Search the whole volume of holy Writ from Moses to the Iudges and from them to the Kings and tell me whether you finde more then One successively designed by God to be the Prince and Ruler of the people Indeed there is good naturall reason for it Should the Account of time be regulated not by the Sunne alone who is the Prince and Monarch of the Skie but by the joint Motion of the other Planets which were a kind of Oligarchy or by the Starres of the first Magnitude which are Optimates Coeli the Peeres of Heaven and were an Aristocracy what disorder would then creep into our Kalendar But how great would that Confusion prove if those Gregarian sparks those Plebeian lesser Starres which people the Skie and onely glimmer by that Contribution of Light which they receive from the greater Luminaries should have a predominant influence upon our Seasons To prevent therefore such irregular mischief the Creatour gave the rule of the Day to the Sun alone And He who kindled that Glorious light in the Firmament Set up also the King to governe by the splendour of his Authority upon Earth as being the Light of our Israel and Gods Lieutenant or so Plato calls Him as God amongst Men {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Nor onely amongst the people of God but in all other Nations of the world was the Authority at first singly invested in the King if you will believe Iustin the Historian Principio rerum gentium nationumque imperium penes Reges erat And though Livy reports that Regum imperium grave visum est Vnius Dominatio populo Romano displicuit the Romans disliked their Government under One and thought they should do better to put the command of the Common-wealth from a King to a Senate or to Consuls yet as Gregorius Tholosanus well observes in a very short time they deerely repented the errour of their alteration Magna vis necessitatis urgentis quae etiam superbissimos cogat stultitiam suam fateri aliquando resipiscere For not nine yeares after upon the insurrection of Manlius Octavius one of Tarquins Race they were forced to put the Government to one againe whom they stiled Dictatour who was indeed a Monarch for his time freely and absolutely commanding all for so is his Office described by the writers of the Graecian affaires as Gregor. Tholos observes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} T is true that once in the Carthaginian warre against Hannibal the giddy multitude made two Dictatours Minutius Rufus and Fabius Maximus But upon the losse of that part of the Army which was led by Minutius whose pride and rashnesse by dividing himself from the counsels or help of his Colleague hazarded the whole Common-wealth they would have no more Dictatours then Fabius Nor did they ever after ordaine more then one even untill the time of Iulius Caesar who retained the stile of perpetuall Dictatour reducing the Roman Government according to the first forme into one Hand onely exchanging the title of King into Emperour I adde no more of this Plutarch tels us that in perillous times nothing so much conduceth to the safety of a State then Si unus in principatu unâ sententiâ liberâ impuni magistratu fungeretur so Gregor. Tholosanus renders him That one only exercised a free independent and uncontrol'd Authority over all Whereas commands depending upon divers votes beget distraction and ruine And as this course prevents warre so it best conserves peace Pacis interest omnem Potestatem ad unum transferri Indeed if there be but one soule to informe the naturall body why should there be more then one to rule the body of a State In the predominance of the will or the phantasie or the affections or the passions above reason which should be Soveraigne we see what a distracted Man is made Is it not the same in a State when phantasticke or wilfull or turbulent spirits rise up to contradict their Prince and disturbe a Realme I shut up this Point in the conclusion of Tacitus Unum imperii corpus unius animo regendum videtur T is best to trust the care of the Kingdome to that one whom God hath appointed over it I have set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdomes which imports the Latitude of His Power and is my third point It was an old complaint that ill Glosses corrupted good Lawes Those perversions have long since crept into the Booke of God and mens particular interests have distorted the Texts thereto their owne practises This Scripture hath not escaped the Rack of some Interpretations which would straine it to authorize an Vniversall Monarchy and others who from this foundation would raise the Popes Supremacy above Kings For the first I deny not the words taken in their primitive meaning import an Universall Soveraignty But it is in Him onely whose Inheritance is the Heathen whose title is King of Kings that is the Sonne of God for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} His Kingdome ruleth over all But to extend this to any sonne of Man is contrary to Gods purpose and above mans capacity When Nebuchadnezzar is termed King of Kings 't is in respect of the many Tribuâ—ary Kings under him Quia multis magnis Regibus imperabat And when Cyrus professeth The Lord of Heaven and Earth had given him all the Kingdomes of the Earth All is taken Synecdochically for the Greatest or the Most So though Tidal be called King of the Nations he was only King of the Scythians But where this stile is left indefinite and absolute it belongs onely to Christ If then such a one as Salmander call himselfe Omnipotent or the Emperour of Bisnega delight to be stiled Magnarum Provinciarum Deus Dominus Orientis Austri Septentrionis Occidentis Maris The God of great Provinces Lord of the foure quarters of the Earth and of the Sea or the Persian Frater Solis Lunae siderum particeps Brother to the Sunne and Moone Kinsman to the Starres or Solyman the Turkish Emperour Lord of Lords I shall not much wonder These are such who in their timpanous excrescent Titles imitate Him of whom the Spirit of God testifies {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} A mouth was given Him which spake high Blasphemy But if any who should know Christ better and understand their owne limits are so excessive in their claimes as if all the world were made for one alone as Iuan de Puente settles it upon the Catholick King by assuming so much to themselves they detract from Christ usurping upon his right I deny not divers Kingdomes and severall Nations may be united under one Scepter
in Himself and longer in His Posterity even whilst the Sunne and Moon in the Firmament continue their Motion and Light That so this Hodiè in my Text may beare towards Him some part of that signification which it doth to Christ his Master whose yesterday and to day is for ever This day hath God set Him up and Over Nations and Kingdomes literally so Those who are well read in the Schoole of Honour and have taken the Altitude of Princes Titles define foure Dukedomes to the making of a Kingdome and foure Earledomes to each of them How God hath magnified that sacred Person whom He hath set over you may be discerned in the number of His Realmes Under His Scepter are Severall Kingdomes and shall I say different Nations or rather what more commends the skill and confirmes the greatnesse of the Builder Two of Them by Union made One According to that of the Prophet Faciam eos in gentem unam I will make them one Nation How that Cement which combin'd them is now grown loose or that distance appeares to make them look like Two againe becomes not me to dispute I will rather pray that He who is the Great Peace-maker may in his good time close the rupture and as our Gracious Soveraigne hath by all meanes endeavoured their Re-uniting in this according to the Text truely Cementarius So in the returne to their Obedience unto Him They may be rendred One with Us againe Onely this with much joy I must take leave to say That what ever else occasions the difference Religion cannot be the Cause It was blasphemously spoken by Rabshakeh Let not thy God deceiv◠thee in whom thou trustest In all Christian modesty I say to you Let not any on whose trust you relie Those who undertake to speak from God deceive you by perswading This to be the Cause I appeale to their own Conscience if they dare be tryed by truth whether in any One Fundamentall point our Church hath shrunk from the Orthodox Faith or fallen neerer to Popery Now then at the first Reformation Our Sacraments as then so now administred that no jealousie of Romish Superstition or slighting profanation can taint either Him that Gives or those that Receive Our Ceremonies the same and Those much praised and indeed admired by learned Bucer in his Censure passed upon the English Liturgy at the request of Archbishop Cranmer Egi gratias Deo qui dedisset vobis has Caeremonias eo puritatis reformare nec enim quicquam in illis deprehendi quod non sit ex verbo Dei desumptum aut saltem ei non adversetur commodè acceptum And by Calvin earnestly commended to those English who fled to Frankeford whom he exhorts to Conform And as he perswades them to be lesse Rigid Vos ultra modum rigidos esse nolim so He professeth that himself would become more moderate and if ever he lived to Print his works anew correct those asperities which gave offence Hoc quoque non gravatim agnosco Nos si quandò recudantur opera nostra quae rudiora erant expolire mitigare quae asperius dicta c. Denique in quibus offensionis periculum veremur moderari etiam mitigare Lastly our Book of Common Prayer whose Forme for the generall is according to Mr. Calvins own Rule in his Epistle to the L. Protector of England Setled and Constant whose particular Matter by Bucer Peter Martyr and other learned Divines who lived in the Time of the Reformation was approved as a work beyond Exception every way consonant to the Word of God * In descriptione Communionis Quotidianarum Precum nihil video in Libro esse descriptum quod non sit ex Divinis Literis desumptum si non ad verbum ut Psalmi Lectiones tamen sensu ut Collectae For which cause he exhorts that with all religious care it should be retained and vindicated from neglect Religione igitur summâ retinenda erit vindicanda haec ceremonia This I say continues not varied from the second Service Book of King Edward VI but in some Two Circumstances One in the Litany where somewhat is left out the Other in the Communion where somewhat is added as the Act before our own declares And therein Those very words whose omission in the last Printed Service Books occasioned so much Cavill are justly the same with King Edward the Sixths Service Book of the first Edition If any doubt the truth of what I deliver let their own Eye resolve them It was St. Pauls commendation of the Berans that they took not things upon trust but themselves searched to see if they were so indeed I would faine commend their Example to you who if you can be content so to do you wil neither be misperswaded by any who for their own ends suggest apparant falshoods nor prejudicate those who contradict them You see the Latitude of the Kings Domination considered in the Subjects Nations and Kingdomes Will you see in what manner He hath exercised His Power over Them And here I appeale to all Under what Kings Scepter hath been greater care taken to prevent Divisions and weed Faction out of the Church Witnesse that Declaration of his Majesty which banish'd those abstruse controversies concerning Gods Decrees of Election or Reprobation from the Pulpit Themes which onely filled the Hearers with scruples and sent them home with feares Teaching by it busie men to preach Christ as they ought not Themselves by venting their dangerous wit or Spleen Or when hath more sedulitie been used to remove all scandalous Rubbish out of the State which ill morality or lawlesse abuse of locall custome had contracted When held Distributive Justice which Plato terms {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Prop of Kingdomes a more equall Ballance to give every man his owne Or when hath Criminall Iustice been tempered with more Mercy It was a just complaint of Draco'es Laws in Lacedaemonia that their Execution was as bloody as their Character for they were written in Bloody Letters And the Romans lamented the cruelty of those Tribunals where the cheape Proscription of Lives made the Judgment Seate little differ from a Shambles Poore men sould for shoos so the Prophet Or as the Turks to this day sell heads so many for an Asper If there be as I would hope otherwise any such amongst us who make such low account of mens lives that they destroy where they might Build hopes of amendment or Pluck up by the Root where they need but pare the Leafe If there be any who in discharge of such places are governed more by Custome then Conscience who take dark Circumstance and lame surmise for Evidence rashly giving Sentence and as precipitately proceeding to Execution Let their own Soules runne the fearefull hazzard of this Account They learne it not from Him who placed them on the Tribunall whose