Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
kingdom_n dominion_n great_a king_n 4,637 5 3.7407 3 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A53971 A sermon preacht on January 30th, 1683 in Westminster-Abby before the reverend and honourable, the Kings judges, and printed at their request by Edw. Pelling ... Pelling, Edward, d. 1718. 1684 (1684) Wing P1096; ESTC R23221 19,302 48

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

of others who were Soveraigns within their Territories as well as himself Hence it is too that upon that ●ee Mr. Med●s ●iatrib in Gen. 10. Orderly dispersion of the Sons of Noah the whole Earth was by degrees divided into a great many Kingdoms so that of Noah Issue there were I know not how many Kings in a short time They were divided after their Tongues after their Families after their Generations in their several Nations and Countries as the Scripture often tells us Gen. 10. Thus all the Monarchies in the World were Founded not by Peoples chusing their Leaders and Governours but by Princes going out with their Respective Families and using a Soveraign Power over them pursuant to Gods Institution and Ordinance that the Head and Chief of a Family should have Dominion and Authority over the rest Hence also it was that we read of Twelve Princes out of the Loins of Ishmael and of several Dukes which Sprang out of the Loins of Esau For every Head of a Distinct Great Family was by the Divine appointment a King in his Nation and his Kingdom was of greater or less Extent as his Family was more or less Numerous And hence lastly it was that we Read of many Kingdoms in one Country as in Canaan for Instance because their Territories were according to their Numbers So that Antiently Principalities were but small till by the Union of many Great Families either by Conquest and Force or by Voluntary Submission Great Monarchies and Empires came to be Erected 4. And this brings me to the last Observable to prove the Jus Divinum of Kingly Power viz. The Universal practice of all Nations For nothing can be more plain than that Kingly Government was the only Government we know of in the whole World for some Thousand Years together The Greeks were under Monarchs all along till such a Frenzy possest some of them as hath possest some Bedlams among us to change their Old Government for a New nothing But their Madness did cost them very dear in the End they were Undone and Ruin'd by it as we should soon be by our Innovations In the most Antient Times there was no such thing as an Aristocratick or Democratick State And the Reason why the Jews would needs have a King though thy were under a Theocracy was because they would not be Singular therefore they would have a King to Judg them as all the Nations all other Nations had 1 Sam. 8. 5. Now Lex currit cum praxi the Universal Practice of the World is a strong argument to prove that there was some Antecedent Law which as they supposed did lay some Obligation upon them because people are not very forward to fall under Government of themselves supposing them to be in a State of Liberty Nor is it conceivable that all Men in the World should be of one mind or that one Form of Government should please all especially that Government which is in the hands of one Man We may as soon believe that all parts of the World did fall asleep at once and then all on a sudden did awake into so many Formed and Setled Monarchies By this time I hope it doth appear that there are stronger Reasons for the Doctrine of the Jus Divinum of Regal Power then that it should be lookt upon as a State Heresie of a Modern date and of dangerous Consequence The sutableness thereof to Humane necessities the Concurrence of Scripture-history which doth plainly Insinuate the Institution the Original the Usage of Monarchical Dominion together with the Suffrages of all Mankind who for a long Tract of Ages submitted unto it as if it were Entailed upon them from the beginning All this I say doth clearly argue as well the Truth as the Reason of this Proposition that the Kings power is Gods Ordinance Which serves also to baffle those Wild and groundless conceits which our Republican Spirits are so very fond of that there was once a State of Nature wherein all Mankind were Free under their own Power and at their own choice whether they would have Government or no Government and whether they would have this Form or another These and the like are no other then the Lewd and Idle conceits of Factious Brains For there never was such a State of Nature but in the Imagination of such Brainsick Men who have fancied a World in the Moon Whosoever has come out of the Womb hath been Born under Government nay under Kingly Government till Rebellion or Faction or the Love of Novelty altered the Natural and Regular course of affairs I do not blame Aristotle and other Old Infidels for not hitting well upon the True Original of Government considering they were not well acquainted with the Scriptures but spake for the most part by guess But I wonder at the confidence of Hobbs and other such Modern Politicians though in truth even they are for the most part Infidels too for talking so idly and unphilosophically as that Kings have their Authority by Compact and Covenant and the pleasure of the people so that they may Crown them or Un-king them as they think fit Doctrines which cost King Charles the 1st of Blessed Memory no less then his Crown and his Head too Whereas for many Ages after the Creation Regal Authority descended by Inheritance and as Nature gave a Man the Father-hood so the Authority which went along with it was Gods Donative people did no more chuse their Kings then Children do chuse their Fathers As for Common-wealths and Aristocracies and Elective States the World formerly was unacquainted with them nay the very Names of them were unknown No they are only so many Usurpations Degenerate and Bastard sorts of Government The Monarchical Form as it is far the best so 't is incomparably the Oldest and of Gods own Institution The rest are but Upstarts and Mushrooms of yesterday in comparison and I think 't is nothing but the necessities of some few places in the World that makes them either Tolerable or Lawful 2. I have done with the first point That the Kings Power is Gods Ordinance and it brings me to the 2d That because the King is Gods own Minister Ordained Supreme by his Commission no man must dare upon pain of Damnation to use any Violence against him they that Resist shall receive to themselves Damnation For if God will Judg the Open and the Secret Actions of men according to the Gospel and reward every man according to his Works what less can the bold Rebe● expect then the Severities of Judgment that presumes in spight of all the Out-cries of Conscience to act that which is so contrary to the Ends of Government so Reproachful to the Gospel so repugnant to the Spirit of its Author and its Laws Did not Christ suffer for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2 21. Did not his Peaceable and Submissive deportment all along Teach us that all
Undutifulness and Violence must be utterly forborn Did he not pay Caesar his Tribute with a plain command that every Disciple of his should pay him his due Did he not Rebuke those who would have called for Fire upon the Heads of the Samaritanes Did he not recommend to us the Practice of his Humility Meekness and Patience under the Cross Was he not angry with Peter for drawing his Sword upon the Chief-Priests Servants Did he not own Pilates Power to have been from above Did he not submit to it when he had at his Command 12 Legions of Angels Did not every Instance of his Life shew us that 't is better far to Die then to Resist Why this was Christs Religion and this is Christianity that we should be Conformed to the Image of Christ Rom. 8. 29. That 's the Substance the Power the Life of Christianity That 's the business and Office of every Christian And though Men please themselves with other popular Names and call themselves the only true Catholicks on the one hand and the only true Protestants on the other yet as long as they are Disloyal on either hand as long as they are Gun-powder Catholicks or Cut-throat True Protestants as long as they shoot at Government either with Bulls or with Ordinances as long as Consults or Covenants are in Fashion with them and the King cannot be safe for them neither in the Field nor at Home as long as they Act after this Devilish rate they do but abuse themselves into a State of Damnation for all their fine Names they ought not to be called Christians or if they will wrongfully Usurp that Name too there are as good Christians as they with Korah and Judas and I had rather be a meer Philosopher or an honest Heathen then such a Christian And doth not the Gospel strictly Command us not to Strive not to Resist Evil but to be Charitable Patient and Peaceable to obey Magistrates to Honour the King to Submit to our Rulers to be Quiet to do our own Business and to be subject for Conscience sake many Commands more we meet with up and down which hallow the Authority and immure the Throne of the Chief Magistrate And doth not my Text award Damnation to every Rebel Why one would think that such Men did use some other Gospel since they have no benefit by this nothing but Damnation by the Gospel of Christ Certainly they have a Gospel by themselves Evangelium Armatum a Gospel that is covered in Armour and dipt in Blood For by ours there is no Salvation for them without such a Stinging Repentance as St. Paul describes in 2 Cor. 7. 11. But I shall not need to proceed further upon the proof of this Matter because the clearing of the 3d. Point will serve à Fortiori to confirm this Only give me leave before I come to it to note how the Apostle in my Text doth Limit Non-Resistance He forbids Resistance against the Governour in Chief against him that is the Fountain of all Authority in the Kingdom Let every Soul be Subject but to the Higher that is to the bighest or Supreme Powers And so in my Text he that Resisteth the Power meaning the same Power that is the Power the Authority the Magistrate that is over all Whether it be King as Supreme saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2. 13. Supremacy was in the Crown in those days there the Highest Power is Lodged and that is the Power we must be subject unto for Conscience sake Other Usurping and pretending Powers Men may be forced sometimes to be subject unto upon pain of Plunder and Sequestration but the Supreme Power the King is he whom we must not Resist upon pain of Damnation There is in every Kingdom the Supreme and a Subordinate Magistracy So St. Peter doth distinguish between the King that is Supreme and Governours that are sent by Him The King is Gods Representative other Subordinate Governours are the King 's And as long as those Governours Act Regularly and according to their Commission they are to be obeyed too But I will speak a blunt Truth whatever be the Issue of it should our Nation be so unhappy again as it was in 42. when Inferior or rather Usurping Powers forsook their Allegiance Levyed a War Raised Arms Issued out Commissions and turned the points of their Swords against the Supreme and only Lawful Power it would be not only allowable and Lawful but 't would be the Peoples Duty and in point of Conscience a necessary Duty to Resist such Power even unto Blood though Ten Thousand Houses of Parliament were there so many should pretend to it Perhaps I might have spared that Hint in this Age when our former sufferings on each side should be enough one would think to make all Men Wise and for their Interest if not for Conscience sake to be Dutiful for the Future But I could not baulk it well without baulking something in my Text which forbiddeth all Resistance against the Supreme or Soveraign Power 3. That Power is priviledg'd from all Resistance though the King should happen to be a Wicked or an Heathen Prince which is the 3d. and last point and it is concluded from the Consideration of what those Princes were when the Apostles were planting Christianity For when St. Peter wrote his First Epistle wherein he Charged Christians to Submit to the King as Supreme and unto Governours his Ministers of State Christians were so hardly dealt with that they were forced to Flee up and down into places where they could best shift into Pontus Galatia and divers Provinces more as we find at the beginning of that Epistle And Claudius himself who probably was Emperour at that Time was a Man of a Cruel disposition Zealous for Heathenish Idolatry Severe to all of a Foreign Religion so that he would not suffer the Jews to meet together saith Dio and at last he Expel'd the whole Body of Jews out of Rome Believers and Unbelievers too and that upon Christs account saith Suetonius such was the Emperour and such were his Ministers that they would not allow Christians neither the exercise of their Religion nor the Liberty of their Native Countries nor the protection of their own Houses and yet both Claudius and his Deputies must be submitted unto After Claudius immediately came Nero to be Emperour A man called a Lyon by St. Paul himself because he was of a Savage and ferine mind especially after he had got a tast of Blood that I may save Seneca's credit in his Book de Clementià A Man that kill'd his Tutor after all his Courtship of him that dispatche his Wife and Ript open the Bowels of his Own Mother A man that had a spight against every thing that was Good saith Tertullian and that some Christians took to have been the Antichrist spoken of For he was the Man that rais'd the first of the Ten Famous and General Persecutions that inflicted punishments upon Christians saith Suetonius put