even to Peace in your selves than to Peace in the Kingdom that you listen not to the Counsels or Seductions of men who are so ready for Wars Account them to be what they are the Plague and Reproach of Christian Nations to be avoided and abhorred by all good men But I must conclude and I will trust we have none of this kind of men amongst us If you find any of them remember the course before prescribed neither to be of their Councils nor to keep what you know unconcealed I have thus endeavoured faithfully to set before you the way to Peace to Peace in the Kingdom and in the Church to Peace in the Neighbourhood and in the Family and finally to Peace with God in our own Consciences The God of Peace make us all careful in the Practice of what has been said and crown us all with the Blessing of such Peace To him be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS True Religion AND LOYALTY Inseparable The Nature of both opened and their Connexion proved IN A SERMON Preached at Bandon in the County of Cork in the Heat of Monmouths Rebellion And afterwards elsewhere By Edward Lord Bishop of Cork and Rosse Dublin Printed by A. Crook and S. Helsham for William Norman Samuel Helsham and Eliphal Dobson Booksellers 1686. Advertisement Of this SERMON THIS Sermon I preached twice the first time in the form 't is now in at Bandon while the late Rebellion in the West of England held the Minds of People even on this side the Water in no little Pain The second time in Christ-Church Cork on Sunday August 23. which fell into the time of the Assizes here and was the Day of Publick Thanksgiving for His Majesties late Victories I made then some small Alterations in it in part hinted in the Margin of the Book but chiefly I omitted the second Objection with its Answers wholly because I did not think there was then so much occasion for it as when I preached this Sermon the Month before And I added a little considerably in the end of it to make it more suitable to the Occasion I particularly press'd that part of Honour to the King which I had assigned to consist in Prayers of all kinds and so in Praising God in his behalf I urged this last point of Praise by consideration First Of the Opportuness of the Victory It was not too soon Had it been speedier some probably would have said the Attempt was contemptible and the whole had no danger in it Others would have still vaunted their Numbers and have said as far as they durst they were surprised they had not time to gather and come in A third sort would perhaps have suggested the Church of England Protestants had not time to shew themselves they would have struck in had there been space We had time God be blessed to shew our selves and did and not an hand amongst us against our King but all as one Man for him Nor on the other side was it too late The Kingdom laboured not so long under it as to tast the Miseries of a continued Civil War We felt a gentle Correction and no punitive Vengeance In a word it was in Gods time and that is ever the best Secondly I considered the Entireness of the Victory and with how litle Effusion of Bloud obtained especially on the side of the just Cause From these Two Heads chiefly I in more words endeavoured then to quicken Gratitude and Loyalty I see no occasion to report here the whole I then added but I thought fit to give this Intimation to the end that none who were Hearers of this Sermon when preached the second time might have reason to complain the printed Sermon has more or less in it than when delivered from the Pulpit Religion and Loyalty INSEPARABLE The Nature of both opened and their Connexion proved In a SERMON preached at Bandon in the County of Cork in the Heat of Monmouths Rebellion and afterwards elsewhere The TEXT 1 Pet. II. the later part of the 17th Verse Fear God honour the King WE find this Epistle to be entitled The Epistle general of St. Peter not inscribed as are St. Pauls To the Romans To the Corinthians To the Galathians or the like but General that is to all Christian People chiefly indeed designed to the dispersed Christian Jews to the Strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia cap. I. 1. but not so particularly to them as to exclude the Gentile Christians amongst whom they lived and whither they were scattered For such early was the Condition of the Christian Church that its Members really were and so most naturally might be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scattered Strangers or Pilgrims of the Dispersion From which Inscription it follows that the Duties here prescribed and pressed must be of general concernment and obligation to all Christian Ages Nations Sexes and Conditions whatsoever The Epiâ—â—le it self consists as I have lately on another occasion noted unto you of sundry Exhortations to particular Christian Duties and of Enforcements or Persuasives to them The Text is part of the Amplification of the seventh Duty herein pressed namely of Subjection and Obedience to the Powers God has set over us Ver. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake in which passage one expression must be warily understood for Government it self is from God But it is the form manner or particular frame of Government in every Kingdom or Nation which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Creature of Mans an Human Constitution Now saith he submit to every of these for the Lords sake Whether it be to the King as Supream This indeed was the first Form of Government in the World nor can as far as I see any other Form of Government be proved to be of Gods appointment mero motu of his own accord and free pleasure as we speak ever from the beginning For Moses was King in Jeshurun when the Heads of the People and Tribes of Israel were gathered together Deut. xxxiii 5. And the introducing the seventy Elders and so reducing the Form of the Government of Israel into a kind of Republick was upon the importunity and some degree of impatience of Moses Numb xi 11 12 c. at which God seems there not to be well pleased As neither indeed was he when the same sickle people afterwards acquiesced not even in that Government by their Elders But to return This same Exhortation he amplifies and presses ver 14 15. and so on till in ver 17. he concludes its general part in these words Fear God honour the King Wherein are two Duties manifestly injoyned us one to God Fear God The other to the King Honour the King Of each of these we will treat first singly or apart then of the Connexion of both which I affirm to be so far constant at least of the one side and so indissoluble that
perfectly practised by any but such Serpents will slipperily insinuate themselves into your Company be sure then as soon as you know them to discover both them and whatever you know of their Projects Councils that immediately In the name of God let nothing of this kind sleep with you Let not that false opinion of I know not what vain honour which has made some men to their costs shy of impeaching others betray you to conceal what may operate to your own and the publick Ruine Certainly my King my Countrey the Church or if these be less dear to any my Family and my self ought to be loved first and before any particular Friend or Associate Consult therefore chiefly the welfare of these And I pray you remember concealing Treason is Treason not only by the Laws of England but by the Old Judicial Law amongst the Jews which derived from God himself According to this Divine Law or the Mishpat Hammeluchah the Statutes of the Kingdom a Book written by Samuel at the command of God and said to be laid up before the Lord 1 Sam. x. 25. Saul pronounces them guilty of High-Treason who knew when David fled and did not shew it 1 Sam. xxii 17. And his Sentence had undoubtedly been just had either David or the Priests been guilty of the matter of Fact charged respectively on them Even the principles of common reason and justice the grounds of all good Laws will conclude as much Wherefore we ought to look upon it as a matter against good Conscience as well as against Prudence and Common Law to conceal such treasonable discourses or designs as come to our knowledge 5. Spread not those Idle Stories or Suspicions which go up and down of publick Dangers If you can in the beginning trace them to their head to any true or probable Original so as to fix them on their malicious Authors do so and as before said discover them Then in all likelyhood you have put an end both to the Lye and its Mischief You have crusht the Cockatrice in its Egg. Otherwise know they are devised by cunning and ill-affected Men and put into Fools Mouths to report that the Devisers may take their advantages of those reports either by affixing their own Malice on innocent Men or by gaining some plausible pretence for the Spleen they would wreak so that they may be able when time comes with some colour to call Spite and Wrong by the names of Justice or Self-Defence In Levit. xix 16. we have a peculiar precept which explains the ninth Commandment fitly to our present purpose Thou shalt not go up and down as a Talebearer amongst thy People nor shalt thou stand against the Blood of thy Neighbour To spread Reports and Tales is one of the most mischievous kinds of bearing false witness And there are publick Tale-bearers as well as private ones Truely there are some that seem to make it not so much a Trade as the Business of their Lives they catch up all the Rumours that are going and have their Customers both to bring them in and to vent them too These people are ill members both of Church and State Particularly I cannot but take notice of a Story very fresh and brisk in the Country That the English are combining in a design to rise and cut all the Throats of the Irish And on the other side many of the English are told and believe as much of the Irish towards them What are these but Devices of wicked men or of the Devil by them to put us upon the imbruing our hands mutually in one anothers Bloud On neither side in the present circumstances of both is the thing either probable or so much as possible As to the English was there ever yet such a thing heard of upon the face of the Earth as a Massacre by Protestants Those men who know our Religion know the Principles of our Religion will not suffer it Nay further it is not possible at present as were easie to shew 'T is well if we are able to defend our selves Is it not a pleasant thing to see in a Parish between three or four hundred people ly by night out of their Houses for fear of two or three Families in which there are not Seven persons able to bear Arms For shame let not people suffer themselves to be thus abused Then as to the other side touching the rumoured danger of a Massacre upon the English by the Irish Is not this at present a plain abominable Device to put us together by the Ears set on foot by them who desire an advantage against us to the end that if by these affrightments they can tempt any weak persons of us to any irregular actions they may more justly seek occasion of Revenge by their own hands or otherwise accuse and misrepresent us I confess this is out of my Province a little but I could not forbear it For Gods sake and our Countreys sake and our own sake let us all joyn together to bring to light the Authors of these Reports but however let us not suffer our selves to be so far ridden by them as to be their Juments or Beasts of burden to carry such forged Wares up and down the Countrey Sixthly as another Preservative of publick Peace I take it to be good Advice that we pass not bad Interpretations on the Acts of the Government a fault that more people are guilty of then I am willing so much as to characterize I pray you remember Charity ever requires us to think the best 1 Cor. xiii 5 6 7. Charity thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity which as appears by the opposites may be interpreted maketh not advantage of falshoods but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things does not readily give men up for desperate and incorrigible endureth all things or grows not impatient upon every matter of suspicion that offers it self Some haply will say this Text treats only touching the Duties of private Charity towards one another Be it so but do I owe all these Offices of Charity to each private man and not to the most considerable body of men which I can pick out in the Kingdoms to Magistrates and Governours To deal more roundly Must I have Charity for every particular man yea even for Enemies and none for my King and his Council To be short then if we love the publick Peace let us neither make ill constructions our selves of publick Actions nor silently admit them when we hear them made by others Let us at least profess our Charity and that we hope better than some interpret or others fear Lastly and to conclude all the advice on this Head for the possessing our own and one anothers minds with Quiet Let t is remember what I have formerly prest God rules over all His hand is in all And let us be content he should govern Herewith let us still any risings in our
be its and ours and if they will be of one piece with us their Security In the Name of GOD therefore let us devoutly hold to it It will approve Us and our Religion to God and Men. And again In private let us imitate the Primitive Christians of our own accord and without any Remembrancer recommending our King his Person Government Family and Affairs for so we have seen they did to the Protection and Guidance of the Almighty If after all I have said I thought any thing wanting to press this Exhortation I could add what me thinks would put every one of us on our knees in this behalf as frequently before God as might be desired namely that we can take no more effectual course than this to secure the Government of our King to be according to the Will of God A thing we pretend so much to desire Prov. xxi 1. The Heart of the King is in the Hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Waters he turneth it whithersoever he will If we were all to have our wishes in the behalf of the Kingdoms there could no greater Blessing befall us than to have our King a person after Gods own Heart There is no way in the world to make him so like our ardent and constant Prayers to God for him Surely a King of so many Prayers cannot miscarry I will therefore conclude all with a second Exhortation and that a little more limited to this present Day I am sure there are few or none of us who will not this Day before we sleep perhaps several times be praying or at least say God bless the King Now that our Prayers may be effectual this Day I will exhort only that we keep our selves all in such a Temper as to be able devoutly and in a true Christian Temper to pray so when we go to bed I do not forbid eating our Meat or drinking our Drink with Gladness and singleness of Heart and wishing well to our King his Subjects and one another in so doing But I caution all against Intemperance and Madness Is it Sense or Loyalty to be drunk for the King Or if the KING should see it would He thank or commend or think the better of any man for it For shame Good Christian People beware of such unreasonableness such Barbarity At the setting of David upon the Throne on the Holy Hill of Sion the Holy Ghost commands Serve the Lord with Gladness and rejoyce with Trembling Psalm II. 11. I do not press so much as that comes to Do but rejoyce with Sobriety Rejoyce so as not to provoke God Rejoyce so as that you may have Joy in the latter end His Sacred Majesty God be blessed is far from approving and all men say even from conniving at Debauchery As we cannot therefore thereby please Him so it is certain we are thereby sure to displease God Let us therefore study not only this Day but all our Days to maintain an holy devout serious Temper being always fit and resolved by all Prayers and Supplication with Thanksgiving to make our Request known unto God And the Peace of God which passeth all Understanding shall keep our Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus To whom with his Blessed Father and the Eternal Spirit be all Honour Glory c. FINIS THE WAY TO PEACE AND Publick Safety As it was Delivered in a SERMON In Christs Church in the City of Cork and elsewhere in the heat of the late Rebellions of Argile and Monmouth By Edward Lord Bishop of Cork and Rosse Dublin Printed by A. Crook and S. Helshaem for William Norman Samuel Helsham and Eliphal Dobson Booksellers 1686. Advertisement Touching the Following SERMON IN the Address of the Clergy of the Diocess of Cork and Ross March 1684 5. which I had the Honour to pen there was made this sacred Promise That as our Lives were not dear to us in comparison of our Religion and Loyalty so we would not fail though with the peril of our Lives by the strictest ties of our Religion which abhors all Resistance or Unfaithfulness towards our Prince to endeadour the securing to His Majesty our peoples as well as our own Loyalty and Obedience Pursuant to these Vows I have ample proofs of my Brethrens Sedulity generally And as to my self as I had not been formerly remiss so when about the 20th of May following Argiles Rebellion in Scotland alarm'd us which though God be blessed both suddenly and happily supprest was seconded with that of the late Duke of Monmouth in the West of England I thought it was time to ply my Duty with ingeminated Diligence and to do my utmost by all Instance and Importunity to confirm and keep steddy in their Loyalty as far as in me lay the whole body of my Charge I therefore went abroad several Sundays to the most populous Congregations of my Diocess and in my Circuit I preached this same Sermon I confess three several times first in the City of Cork then at the Town of Kinsale and lastly at the Town of Bandon all of them very great Auditories The iteration of it was not from Idleness but because I could devise nothing else more close and apposite to the conjuncture Yet is its Subject matter such that it is not I conceive still unseasonable and I fear as long as the world stands is not like to be For as long as there are vices and lusts amongst men there will be violations of Peace in one kind or other Now this Sermon consists wholly of Counsels and Directions for securing and maintaining Peace in all its several branches and kinds It might easily have been dilated into a far larger bulk but few Readers or indeed Hearers now adays complain much of Brevity And in the present case I hope it will be esteemed no fault at all because what I have said on each Point is large enough I think not to be obscure and I hope the whole not much more defective than an hours Discourse on so copious a Subject must needs prove THE WAY to PEACE AND Publick Safety As it was delivered in a SERMON in Christs Church in Cork and elsewhere in the heat of the late REBELLION of Argile and Monmouth The TEXT 1 Pet. III. 11. Seek Peace and ensue it THe body of this Epistle for the main consists of Exhortations and Motives to several Christian Duties in the disposing of which Exhortations or assigning to each their place the Holy Ghost seems to have proceeded wholly arbitrarily and to have observed no other Laws or Reasons of their Order than meer good Pleasure In the eighth Verse of this Chapter begins as I compute the eighth Exhortation and it is to Vnity in Judgment and Affection but especially in Affection and then to the proper Product hereof Sweetness in Conversation Finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as Brethren be pitiful Some of the original terms are more emphatical than our English What we
whosoever does fear God will honour the King I begin with the first of these the Fear of God not only because it stands first in my Text but also because it is in order of Nature the truest and only sure foundation of the other All Duties towards men when sincerely payed must have their foundation in our Dutifulness towards God When our Lord had occasion to touch on the true and natural Order of Christian Duties he tells us this is the first and great Commandment Matth. xxii 37 38. that we love the Lord our God with all our Heart with all our Mind with all our Soul and with all our Strength And the second is That we love our Neighbour as our selves teaching us hereby that we can never love our Neighbour as we should do except first we most entirely love God The loving God with all our hearts can only sweeten and influence our Souls into an universal Charity And proportionably in the present case the Fear of God can alone implant in our hearts universal and invariable Loyalty And therefore I must confess I cannot see how vicious men can be true Loyalists Natural Love Education Interest Fear and other like causes may beget and nourish a short temporary and partial Allegiance The vilest men may be subject for Wrath but good men only will be subject as the Holy Ghost directs for Conscience sake And such Loyalty will be impartial indefectible and eternally cordial Briefly therefore in the first place of the Fear of God Now by the Fear of God we are to understand such a constant Sense or Aw of God of his Sovereign Dominion Power Omniscience and Justice as restrains us from Sin and quickens us to Duty The Fear of God therefore first supposâ—s most deeply rooted in our hearts a real Belief of his Being and a sober Knowledge of his Nature He who doubts whether there be a God or is either ignorant or dubious of the truth of his infinite Perfections can never have in his heart a true Fear of him For as that Fear presupposes I say such Understanding and Belief so secondly it consists in at least most proximately and immediately flows from or depends upon a constant actual or virtual Attention to what we thus understand and believe of him The thoughts of him and of these his Perfections are generally ever and anon recurring and by that means habitually fixed in the mind The Thoughts I mean 1. Of his Sovereign Dominion and Authority over all He alone is King of Nations Jerem. x. 7. supream and most absolute over all Peoples and Kingdoms and Languages and over each individual Man And therefore who shall not fear before thee O thou King of Nations for to thee it doth appertain forasmuch as amongst all the wise men of the Nations and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee 2. Together herewith do the thoughts of his Omniscience or actually knowing all things possess the heart for begetting in it that Temper which we call the Fear of God Psalm cxxxix 2 3 4 6. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising thou understandest my thoughts afar off thou compassest my path and my lying down and art neer unto all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but lo O Lord thou knowest it altogether Such Knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it In other words it is not possible for any of us so intimately to know our our selves as God knows us I cannot tell what I shall think or what I shall not think to morrow perhaps not an hour hence But God knoweth my thoughts while they are yet afar off He by one simple incomprehensible act sees all things persons and actions past present and to come And whereas the Heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked so that a man himself knows not all the Wickedness of his own heart The Lord searcheth the Hearts and tryeth the Reins of the Children of Men all their Counsels and Contrivances all their hidden acts of Malice or Concupiscence are open and bare to him And therefore who can but fear before him Especially considering what also is another ingredient or ground to the Fear of God 3. That this same Omniscient God is also most just and holy Most holy so as that he can no wise approve or allow Sin Habbak I. 13. Thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity that is God most perfectly abhors it And therefore he will most certainly punish it where persisted in or not repented of Rom. II. 6 8 9. He will render to every man according to his deed to them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of man that doeth evil Yea so severe is Gods hatred of Sin that sometimes when upon mens Repentance he forgives their sin as to the eternal punishments he yet in his Wisdom and Justice sees fit to inflict upon them here some temporary punishments Psalm xcix 8. Thou answerest them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their Inventions which whoso considers must certainly fear before this holy God Add hereto lastly the attending to or consideration of his infinite Might Power As he hath resolved and will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Eccles vii last so is he able to effect it No Malefactors can possibly fly from or escape this Judge he has Emissaries enough millions of Angels good and bad to fetch all in And all shall appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done 2 Cor. v. 10. Let us now put all these together Admit a man believes and actually thinks there is a great and glorious Majesty unseen indeed but seeing all who is Lord of Heaven and Earth and all in them this God is most holy and most just both resolved and able to bring all things into Judgment even to the very imaginations of the thought of mens hearts must not there needs amount hence a most profound Aw and Dread of this great God And must not this Fear both restrain such in whose Breasts it is conceived from wicked practices and excite and awaken them to all well-doing Thus then we have most plainly heard what the Fear of God is and together how it is begotten in the heart what roots or foundation it has Now for the second Duty Honour the King Honour imports or signifies an inward Esteem and outward Respect paid to any by reason of the Excellency we apprehend in them Thus in the beginning of this verse Honour all men For some Excellency there is in all men that is in every man more than in any other Creatures we know The Image of God is
or follow my business at home But if the King commands me abroad to serve him it is now a good work and my Duty to go abroad and serve him And so in other like cases But will some say What if the King should command us any thing that is unlawful What then must our Obedience be I answer 1. The King cannot be conceived to command us that is any men in our circumstances and conditions any thing but what he commands according to Law that is he can be conceived to command us nothing but what the Law commands And I must stand to it our Laws are good nay they are most excellent at least I could never find an ill one amongst those now in force This Supposition therefore is you see unreasonable and not to be put But you will say What if an ill Law should be made and our Obedience to it required These things are not in themselves impossiible I answer Under our Constitution and as the Frame of our Government stands if they be not impossible yet God be blessed they are most highly improbable and most unlikely But 2. And which for ever answers all There are few of us but have heard there is a double Obedience which may be paid to Governours Active or Passive Where the thing commanded is lawful to be done we ought to do it we owe active Obedience Eccles viii 2. I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Thy Allegiance binds thee to it But in case the thing commanded be unlawful that is against any plain Command of God or that thou without Fraud or Dissimulation apprehendest and believest it to be so there is then passive Obedience that thou art to pay that is thou must meekly and patiently submit thy self to suffer whatever Penalty the Lawgiver thinks fit to inflict for the breach of his Law We may petition and supplicate for Forbearance and Mercy but in case we cannot obtain it we may not resist For whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Rom. xiii 2. This is the Doctrine of St. Paul and it ever has been the Doctrine of our Church See the Book of Homilies And thus as to the first branch of Honour due to the King the Honour of Obedience A second Honour which we owe to him is that of Fealty and Allegiance The word Fealty signifies only Fidelity or Faithfulness and what the particulars of the Faith we owe to our Sovereign Lord the King are we know all of us by the Oath of Allegiance In particular as we are not to be false Traytors our selves so neither are we to connive at or conceal those whom we have reason to suspect to be such And hereunto we are all of us bound First By the Oath aforementioned which that none may think an Imposition upon us or contrary to the Laws of God or to our Christian Liberty behold it in the very Kingdom of Judah that is in the Kingdom which of all ever on Earth was that of Gods most peculiar Erection and Care We had just now one proof of it out of Ecclesiastes I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment by reason of the Oath of God that Oath we cannot well conceive to be any other than the Oath of Allegiance which they to whom he speaks had taken to their King and particularly to King Solomon the Penman of that Book But in 1 Chron. last 24. You have both the time and manner or ceremony of taking it Then Solomon sat on the Throne of the Lord as King instead of David his Father And all the Princes and the mighty Men and all the Sons of King David gave the Hand under Solomon so the Text runs in the Hebrew as you may see in the Margin of your Bibles And what that kind of speech signifies you may learn out of the Story of Abrahams Servant Gen. xxiv 2 3. Put I pray thee saith Abraham to his Servant thine Hand under my Thigh and I will make thee swear by the Lord the God of Heaven and the God of Earth The giving the Hand under one was the Ceremony of a most solemn Oath By the Lord that is By Jehovah the God of Heaven and the God of Earth So again when Jacob was dying in the Land of Egypt he sent for his Son Joseph and said unto him Put I pray thee thine Hand under my Thigh and deal kindly and truly with me Bury me not in Egypt but I will lie with my Fathers c. And he said swear unto me and he sware unto him Genes xxvii 29 30 31. So that this their giving their Hand under King Solomon was swearing to him in person their Faith and Allegiance You see then Divine Warrant for an Oath of Allegiance And hereby first I say are we bound to pay our King the Honour of Fidelity for this Oath we have all of us taken or if any of us be so young as not to have taken it such are to be minded that we here all of us call our selves English-men And every English-man is born as I may say with the Oath of Allegiance in his mouth our Fathers took it and stand bound for us and we therefore bound in them 2. We are bound hereto by the Principles of Equity and Justice those common grounds of the Laws of Nations and indeed the true Law of Nature We expect Protection from the King his Laws and Government and God be blessed we do enjoy it Now is it not just that as we have Safety from him so he should have Security from us What Nation is there which gives not this Security to their Government Indeed it is the very Bond of Government without which it cannot subsist but all must run into Seditions Bloudshed Confusion Anarchy And therefore 3. We are bound to pay our King the Honour of Faith and Allegiance in our own Defence There are many who pretend and have long pretended God forgive them to be afraid of their Property Liberties and Religion My Brethren what can more certainly and fatally expose or destroy all these than Civil Wars And Civil Wars must needs immediately come in upon us if any of us at least any number of us start or swerve from our Allegiance Our King under God alone is able to protect us our Properties Liberties Religion and besides his Force Power he has manifested to the World Courage Will and Resolution enough to protect us In standing stedfast therefore we secure and preserve our selves and ours but if we stagger or fall off which God forbid we may weaken him but we shall destroy our selves I will add no more on this Point I trust I do not need Thus then as to the second branch of Honour due to the King the Honour of Fealty and Allegiance and our Obligations thereto The third follows Thirdly then We owe to our King by
the Laws of Christ the Honour of Supplies and of paying Tribute Kings must not be kept poor for this is the way to make them useless and to expose both them and their Subjects to the common Enemies of both You know whose Command it is Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods Matth. xxii 21. The Justice of which debt the Apostle gives us an account Rom. xiii 6. For this cause pay we Tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing the thing he had spoken of in the fourth Verse namely the publick Good or in his language to minister to every one for good for the private good of each who doth good and for the publick good of all by executing Wrath upon such as do evil Now there is no greater burden than the perpetual Care Toil and Difficulty which lies on Kings and Persons in the highest Power in reference to such Administration of Justice and other like publick affairs And if our own private business and concerns cannot be carried on without Expence what must be the Charge of the Concerns of a Kingdom Wherefore as the undergoing such publick Cares and perpetual Anxieties deserves a publick and ample Reward greater Wealth and Revenues than those of any private man so the Necessiities of publick Business require greater Treasures to discharge them Hence I say is most evident the Justice of the case that Tributes and Supplies should be paid to Kings Let them be paid then will some say by them that reap the great benefit of the Government but how will it be proved to be every mans Duty to pay them The Answer is easie 1. Who reaps not the benefit of the Government and particularly the benefit of Protection by the Laws both as to his Person Fortunes Liberty good Name and the like except he have deserved otherwise He owes therefore for these his share towards the defraying the publick Expences But there is yet a farther Answer 2. We must know the King has the same right to such Supplies as we speak of to Tributes and his Revenues as any of us have to our Estates Nam propriae Telluris herum natura neque illum Nec me nec quenquam statuit Nature gives no man a property to his House or Lands or like possessions It is the Law that determines and sets out each mans property And the same Law that metes out to me what is mine assigns to the King what is his The same Law that gives me liberty to traffick to buy up and export and import Commodities allots to the King his Customes and it is as much a breach of the eighth Commandent whatsoever some men think of it to steal Custome as to pick a mans pocket of the two in some regard a greater I know the ordinary Evasion many have with which they do not so much quiet as for a while cheat or stifle their Consciences The Laws in this case say they are penal if we submit to the Penalty of the Law as we are content to do when we are caught which I must suspect and they who say it would do well to consider whether they so contentedly submit to legal Forfeitures as they pretend in this plea if we submit to the Penalty say they we are guiltless we have fulfilled the Law I utterly deny this and so will any man who understands any thing of Casuastical Divinity The Law by commanding me to do what will secure me from Penalty or Forfeiture commands me not to incur that Penalty or Forfeiture if therefore I wittingly incur it I break the Law except there were more particular Salvo's than I have seen in any of our penal Laws But because some will not understand this in the general let me put a particular case Suppose a man by defrauding the King of some comparatively small Dues incurs a Forfeiture which undoes him Who now is guilty of undoing this man the Law or himself If he would have honestly paid the King such Dues as he might have done and yet been an honest Gainer which was the thing commanded by the Law and by the Law his Duty he had been in a good condition but he chooses to break the Law and so has undone himself Is he not now doubly gulty first of a sin against the Law and the King Secondly is he not in some measure a Felo de se at least a Robber of himself and Family and the Guilt must needs bear its proportion and be Guilt still though not so great in case of lesser Penalties and Forfeitures Wherefore we see we owe the King the Honour of Supplies Custom or Tribute Fourthly We owe him the Honour of Candour and charitable Construction of thinking and speaking the best we can of him and all his actions You never knew a person who truly honoured another but he would be so far from thinking vilely of his indifferent actions mean of such actions which might be capable of being done wisely or to a good end as well as otherwise that he would find out excuses for his bad ones I pray you let us all pay our Prince this Honour at least let none of us be guilty of interpreting to the worst such Counsels and Actions the reasons of which we do not yet and perhaps it is not fit we should at present understand This very practice besides that it is most certainly our Duty to our King would be no small service to our selves and neighbours for it would prevent a multitude of those causeless but very tormenting Fears and Jealoufies nay even many divers reports too which are very frequent all over the Kingdoms But this I have formerly otherwise prest Lastly We owe to our King the Honour of our Prayers * These passages were put in when the Sermon was preached a second time in another place and on another occasion and of our Praises too in his behalf True Honour and Love are inseparable And 't is most sure no person of any serious Religion ever honoured and loved any man whom he did not pray for * and in whose good he would not cordially rejoyce and praise God for it Remember that most solemn passage of the Apostle 1. Tim. II. 1 2 3. I exhort therefore first of all that Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour It is plain hence that in the settling of the Service of God in the Church of Ephesus one of St. Pauls first and chiefest cares one of his strictest Injunctions was that all sorts of Prayers should be offered up in the behalf of Kings which I have otherwise more largely discoursed and therefore for the present more briefly pass We see then now the main
particulars of that Honour we are to pay the King by the Law of Christ The Honour of Obedience of Faith and Allegiance of Supplies and Tributes of Candour and charitable Thoughts and lastly of our Prayers of all kinds Obj. 1. And all this is true will some say yes it were fit too to be practised were Kings such as they should be Answ 1. As to this vile Suggestion which it is too plain many more men harbour than dare speak out I might only give again the same Answer I have formerly given and say in one word we can find no fault in our King but what is more the three Nations than his own Guilt Our former Crimes therefore and the Effects they have had upon him cannot but most iniquitously and unchristianly be made Arguments for withdrawing our present Duties Answ 2. But once again Secondly Consider I pray you the Text and Context the emphasis both bear the Time in which and the Persons to which both were spoken and if we have not such an Answer hence to this Objectin as will make us all ashamed so much as to think of withholding any branch of the Honour mentioned due to our King I am much mistaken As to the Time it is most certain this Epistle must be writ either in the time of Claudius or Nero's Empire according to Baronius in the formers be it under whichsoever of the two they were both not only Heathens and Enemies to Christianity but villanously vitious Then as to the Persons if we consider to whom the Apostle directs these his Commands not only in general to all the Christian multitude but more especially to the dispersed Christian Jews in Pontus Asia c. this contributes further to the utter avoiding all the force can be conceived in this Objection The Jews we know were a people peculiarly chosen by God and by him priviledged above all Nations amongst other Promises made them that of dominion over the Nations was one especially eyed by them and nothing did they expect more constantly or passionately by the Messias then temporal Empire But even to this people and to the Christian that is the best part of them doth the very Apostle of the Circumcision preach Subjection Honour and Obedience even towards Heathen Emperours and Princes Now weigh the whole Emphasis Was it thus particularly and expresly commanded to the primitive that is the purest and most excellent Race of Christians that have lived in any ages of the world that they should be dutiful and obedient to their Princes though the worst of men Were these same Commands too in common without any exemption imposed upon the Jews that people peculiarly priviledged as it would seem to the contrary Nay were they as by name required to be subject and obedient to all the Kings of the Nations they should live under Were the Sons of God as I may stile them thus required to yield Subjection to Aliens and men without God in the world and can now any of us think that upon some private Reasons of our own we may forbear or do not owe like Duty to our Native Liege-Lord and Sovereign the same a moâ—â— Gracious Wise Just and Virtuous Prince for shame let us banish out of our Souls such Suggestions Object 2. But it may be further urged 'T is not impossible that a Princes Title may be disputable and what will you say in such a case Are we to obey Intruders against tht rightful Heir Answ 1. I answer first there was never any Title so just and indisputable but some unreasonable men have contested it We find by the sacred Story that when God appointed Kings by immediate nomination from Heaven there arose certain men Sons of Beliel who refused to own them yet was their Title no less Divine and just for all that But as to the Title of our present Sovereign I protest before God I cannot see any colour any shadow of plausible appearance that can be brought against it What man of any Face Reason or Conscience can disbelieve our late Gracious Kings voluntary Protestation both by Word of Mouth and under his Hand to his Privy Council and after publisht to the World Consider at what time it was made on what Inducements possible it could be made Had he not the Affections of a Father as well as of a Brother Was he likely to gain any thing by violating Honour and Conscience in avowing a falshood Or could any thing but Justice Care of his Peoples Peace and Safety together with pure Conscience and an entire regard of Truth move him to give his Royal Word Hand and in a sort Oath and that of his own accord to attest the No-title of the present Rebellious Pretender and the most just and full Title of our present Sovereign Lord and King This one thing in may apprehension must for ever stop the mouths and satisfie the Minds of any that will hear Reason Answ 2. Again as to all that can be done by way of Ratification or to speak more properly Recognition of our Sovereigns just Title has it not been done If you consider the way of his coming to the Crown can it at all be said that he set up himself Was he not immediately recognized and proclaimed by the Nobility Privy Council and the whole body of his People as far as then appeared from the chief City of his Kingdoms throughout City and Country every where in the whole three Kingdoms Then to wave the Solemnities of his most August Coronation have not the full Houses of Parliament recognized declared and avowed him as their only right-Lord and King Are not all degrees and sorts of men concluded in and by their Representatives in Parliament 'T is rescinding and giving the Lye to our own act nay pardon the expression 't is Rebellion against the Laws and Statutes of the Realm against Acts of Parliament if such a thing as Rebellion against them be possible as well as Rebellion against the King for us to stagger or be falling off now But I hope I did not need to have been so particular and earnest in this place However the matter coming in my way I was unwilling to be wanting to my Duty and that any of you should be wanting to yours Wherefore to enforce now what I have been so long teaching and asserting dâ—e Honour to our King let us now consider the other point remaining the Connexion betwixt these two Duties Fear God honour â—he King The putting them thus immediately together seems to suggest that if we do fear God we shall honour the King and that by giving him all these branches or kinds of Honour mentioned Now the general Ground of this Conclusion is that the Fear of God is an universal and invariable Principle of most impartial Obedience to the whole Law of Christ He who fears God makes no such difference between the Commands of God as to account any small or such which he may wave at pleasure without
preached only in the place and on the time and occasion mentioned The Specialties of its Design may not perhaps be fully understood either by its Title or by the Text And therefore I thought fit to premonish that I aimed herein peculiarly at these Two Points First to conciliate the most I could to our present Sovereign in particular the good Opinion and hearty Affections of all sorts of People And next more generally to make them in love with and zealous for the Constitution or Frame of our Government It will easily be perceived how these are concerned through the several parts of the Discourse Nor have I been guilty in any thing I have said to either of these purposes of the least Prevarication or Discession from my own Thoughts for I really believe both His Sacred Majesty and the Constitution deserve much more than so shallow a person as my self can comprehend or say of either Only I could wish and I do most passionately exhort that one thing which I have here supposed and pleaded as an Argument of our Happiness might daily take more effect namely that His Majesties most exemplary Royal Virtues of strict Temperance Consideration Prudence and universal Seriousness may be closely imitated by all who presume to stile themselves his Friends For it is plain by one part of this Discourse that much both of His Majestys and his Peoples Blessedness depend hereupon and therefore let none think or calumniate that I promise or pretend to prove publick Prosperity on other Terms For publick Dissoluteness and a truly prosperous state of things are most incompatible The Good God increase amongst us the Virtues I have commended and multiply on us their Fruits and Consequents REX REGIVS Kings succeeding in a right Line a National Blessing Proved in a SERMON preached in Christ church at Cork Octob. 14. 1685. being His Majesties Birth-day The TEXT Eccles X. 17. Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness THe great Designs of our being assembled here this day I will presume are or ought to be chiefly these two First To pay God our more solemn Thanksgivings for our Gracious King and the Blessings we enjoy under his happy Reign And Secondly Together to possess both our own and others minds as universally as we can with deeper Impressions of our Duty to our King and fresh Resolutions of Loyal Adhesion Now these things being designed by us upon his Birth-day as this is whatever Advantages his Descent Family or Extraction which certainly have operated more to our Happiness than most are aware of may be conceived to add either to the quickening our Gratitude or fixing in us a more lasting sense of our Obligations and Duty ought not on this Solemnity in all reason to be omitted or to pass unconsidered The Text very pertinently suits with our designs and especially in that it asserts and celebrates as most conducive to the publick Good such peculiar circumstances and qualifications as God be blessed are most eminent and exemplary in our present Sovereign Blessed art thou O Land when thy King iâ— the Son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in dâ—â— season for Strength and not for Drunkerness King Solomon the Author hereof waâ— as much a Prince as a Philosopher as deeply insighted into Political Affairs as into Natural or Moral Sciences And we have many Proofs hereof in several Paragraphs or little Discourses of Political concernment in this Book This out of which the Text is taken is one but very short consisting only of two Aphorisms and those containing matter of his Observations or his Sense in brief touching the different Estate of Kingdoms according to the different Qualifications or Circumstances of their Princes Wo to thee O Land when thy King is a Child and thy Princes eat in the morning ver 16. The word Child here must not be taken strictly for an Infant but as both the Original signifies and the Septuagint have rendred it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a young person And it is in Scripture applied 1. To Age so as to signifie a young person 2. Because young persons used to be imployed in Attendance and Services to Condition and thus the young men in Scripture language very often 1 Sam. ii 13. 2 Sam. ii 14. c. is as much as the Servants or Attendants Or 3. To Vnderstanding in which regard King Rehoboam though then above one and forty years was said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 young and tender-hearted 2 Chron. xiii 7. All which acceptations are necessary here to be noted that the opposite hereof the Son of Nobles in the Text may be better understood Of Eating in the Morning c. we shall touch by and by In the mean while the sum of this his first Observation is That it is generally a great unhappiness for a Nation to have either a young ignoble shallow or voluptuous Prince God be blessed our Kings vilest Enemies can affix none of these to him But contrarily Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness That term the Son of Nobles is capable of a double sense Strictly and literally taken it signifies only a Person of Noble Extraction or descended from a Noble Family But taken according to the Hebrew Idiom as we say the Sons of Men that is Men so the Son of Nobles will be a Person of a noble Spirit generous great and brave Nothing hinders but we may understand the term both ways And in the Interpretation of Scriptures where several senses are probable and wholesome it is as one calls it a piece of spiritual Frugality to take both or even all It is indeed an holy making the most of Scripture And if we regard what was said before in the Explication of the word Child in the former verse that it signifies not only what we commonly mean by the name a person of few years but also either one of a mean or servile condition or even of a weak and mean Soul the Opposition which must be admitted between these two branches Wo be to thee O Land when thy King is a Child and Blessed be thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles will enforce us to take this term in both the senses mentioned Then as to what may see dubious or obscure in the latter clause of the Text Eating in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness seems at first only a description of temperate Diet. Eating in due season is opposed to Eating in the morning The morning is no season for men to set themselves to Eating but first for Devotion then for Business Eating for Strength and not for Drunkenness determines both the Quantity and Quality of our Food For it is plain men may make themselves drunk with a small measure of some kind of Liquors as
well as with a large one of others These three therefore To Eat and Drink in due season in due measure and of such viands as are convenient for us make up what we call Temperance in Diet. But this single Virtue as being the principal part of Sobriety and that which is mainly instrumental to preserve Reason and Consideration is put Synecdochically for a considerative Virtuous Temper and Practice in opposition especially to a voluptuous and sensual Life which whosoever give themselves up to whether noble or plebeian are neither sit for nor can mind or happily dispath Business And so the sum of the Royal Preachers Observation in the Text amounts to this 'T is a singular Blessing to a Nation to have a King nobly descended of a noble Mind not young or unexperienc'd not giving himself over to Pleasures and excess but grave abstemious considerative and virtuous And all this praised be our good God is a Blessedness which these Nations at present enjoy The Text being thus explained it follows that we speak distinctly to its parts which I shall not be curious in assigning It being a compound or copulative Proposition consists evidently of two simple ones the first whereof is Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles We ought then first to consider what Felicities they are which amount to a People by having their Prince of Noble Extraction And in answer hereto if my Discourse be not at present so perfectly or wholly Theological as I could desire or as are generally those with which I use to entertain you I must beg your pardon the nature of the Subject matter does not admit it But I am sure the End I drive at or that to which all tends is truly Holy Religious and Christian Now the great Benefits which reasonably a People may expect under such a Prince are I think chiefly these three Publik Wealth and Plenty Publick Ease or Liberty to enjoy what they have And Publick Quiet and Peace Blessings which one would think should endear the Government to us and which I am sure whether we will acknowledge or no the Kingdoms generally enjoy especially if we consider how at present it goes with other neighbouring Nations And these I say by Gods Blessing and upon our own Loyalty we may reasonably expect the continuance of under our Sovereign and the present Constitution that is while we are governed by Kings who are the Sons of Nobles For First With Noble Personages generally go Noble Estates and Revenues When men who were born Princes come to the Throne they carry with them thither their private Fortunes and former Principalities joyning all to the Crowns they take A great Felicity this to the Publick and much for the aggrandising a Nation as well as for the Ease of the middle rate of men on whom commonly all burdens fall Kings cannot be too rich though Subjects may 'T is for the Benefit of the whole body of their People that Princes abound They will then be better able to defend both themselves and Subjects and that with fewer lighter and more easie Supplies On the contrary where indigent and poor men come to rule though never so virtuous upright and just never so sweet generous and noble minded yet Necessitas cogit ad turpia a poor Princes own or the publick Necessities will put him on Practices dishonourable and which will be uneasie and grating on the the Subject For what vast Treasures are cessary to settle a new Prince What unthought of Expences incident Extraordinary Exigents of State private Accidents Families to be raised Dependants to be advanced and a multitude of like occasions Of all which the ordinary sort must bear the main burden Wherefore no such Oppressor as a poor Man in chief Power Prov. xxiii 3. A poor man that oppresseth the Poor is like a sweeping Rain which leaveth no Food Though therefore it was a King in the Text that said it yet it would seem of all Degrees the Commonality may in this respect most justly pronounce Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles Secondly The Sons of Nobles most generally prove Noble and Heroical themselves and of great and brave Souls Fortes creantur fortibus bonis Eagles naturally produce not Kites or Buzzards There is a Royal Spirit runs in Royal Bloud And it has been observed by the wisest and most impartial men such which are best Judges in these matters I mean least obnoxious to mistake and freest from Flattery that many Princes even while young and within those years which ordinarily denominate Children have far surpast in ripeness of Wit Prudence Counsel or like Qualifications the generality of adult persons of above twice their years though of liberal and good lettered Education also This amongst others was manifest to all the world in that blessed Prince Edward VI. King of England whom Cardan an Italian by Birth as well as Religion but one of the most learned men and greatest Philosophers then in the world having visited could not forbear wonder and giving him so great a Character as is scarce credible touching one of so few years It is too long to repeat the whole but in the end he expresly stiles him the Miracle of Nature And it is truly much to have been ever from the Cradle fill'd with great thoughts possest with Principles and Designs of publick Good and bred by Art as well as by Nature dispos'd and fram'd for Government Now this may be expected from the Sons of Nobles and is almost ever found in those who are born Princes They cannot well be base spirited but answer their Originals and Condition of Life From whence how naturally the forementioned Advantages will flow to their Subjects any may easily see who pleases to consider the Case On the contrary when men either by the Sword or Popular Favour and Factions come to the Throne they retain dreadful tinctures of the Cruelty Bloudiness Partiality or other base Arts that advanced them Whence it comes to pass that they rule with Tyranny and Oppression at least that they generally administer pardon the solecism unequal and partial Justice Where they dare to punish they commonly though on slight occasions crush irreparably where they dare not they will not see but haply flatter or fawn at least basely dissemble and personate Justice only in being blind And what Grievances how great and various must arise hence is not easie I had almost said to imagine I am sure not to comprehend or determine Remember Jothans Parable Judg. ix 15. When the Bramble was advanced to be King over the Trees he said unto the Trees if in truth ye anoint me King over you then come and put your trust in my Shadow and if not let Fire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon The Bramble is no such tall erect or strong plant that its shadow was likely I should have said possible to defend the Trees
of Miseries the Lord struck him and he died His Son Nadab succeeds him indeed or as some think reigned together with him towards the latter end of his days However before he was well warm in his Throne Baasha a person of another Tribe who had no pretence to the Crown but who might quickly have as good a Title to it as either Jeroboam or Nadab had conspired against him and slew him as would seem in the head of his Army and reigned in his stead 1 King xv 27 28. But how long will this new Title stand After Wars again upon Wars all his days his Son Ela succeeds him but within two years Zimri Captain of half his Chariots conspired against him and slew him as he was drinking himself drunk in the House of Arza his Steward Upon this Zimri sets up himself chap. xvi 9. 11. and immediately slew all of Baasha 's House Here was a Recompence for Baasha's Treason But before Zimri had reigned over part of Israel full one week another part of the people would have another King and set up Omri on which Zimri burns himself in his own Palace And now ver 21. Israel is divided not only from Judah as before but within themselves divided into two parts saith the Text For half of the People followed Tibni to make him King and half Omri To be short from the time the Israelites fell off from the Royal Line that God had set over them and betook themselves to Kingchoosing from that Revolt I say to Omri which was somewhat less than five and forty years if rightly computed they had six Kings indeed but not one year of Peace and of their six Kings as far as I can find only two died the death of other men so frequent and so dismal were the Alterations of Government so unhappy the state of things I will pursue the History of this Kingdom no further as to this particular of the uncertainty of Titles and frequent Changes which you see must needs happen and when they happen they rend Nations in pieces and leave nothing stable durable or secure only out of what you have heard of the deplorable state into which this People brought themselves by breaking off the Succession and running into this kind of Elective Kingdom I cannot but note to you Secondly The dreadful Cruelties and Bloudshed which commonly ensue on such Elections to establish the New Prince Thus as soon as Baasha obtained the Throne he smote all the House that is Kinred Allies and most likely all the Adherent of Jeroboam he left not one of them that breathed until he had destroyed them 1 King xv 29. which though it were Baasha's Wickedness and Gods just Judgment executed on Jeroboams Family however by a villanous Agent yet in point of Policy and Security to himself he was in a sort necessitated to it Now so great a Slaughter certainly could not but be a sore publick Wound I might shew many instances of the like practice in in others but it is not pleasing to rake in Bloud Lastly Whereas it is ordinarily pretended by our modern State-menders that reducing Kingdoms as near as may be to an Elective form is the best method to secure a Succession of good and virtuous Princes the contrary hereto appears by this instance The People of Israel after this new modelling their Kingdom upon rejecting the true Heir descendent and electing out of themselves a King had through the Judgment of God withdrawing his Grace in punishment of their Rebellion and Revolt from this time till the utter Dissolution of their Kingdome nineteen Kings successively and not one good amongst them all And no wonder saith a sober Author For First It was a Kingdome whose Foundation was laid in 1. Rebellion 2. Schism Secondly It was maintained by a Politick Idolatry in the continuance of Jeroboams Golden Calves Thirdly Polluted with the Bloud of many of their Kings few of them going to their Grave Sicca morte by a Bloudless death And therefore having continued two hundred forty one or as others calculate two hundred fifty eight years in the ninth year of Hosea 's Reign which was the seventh of Hezekiah King of Judah the King and People of Israel were carried away Captives by Shalmanezer King of Assyria and never returned again for God removed Israel out of his sight 'T is so said twice 2 King xvii 18 23. And 't is observable no one knows to this day what 's become of these ten Tribes But even during the whole state or most settled time of their Kingdome they had no face of true Religion nor indeed any Religion constant amongst them but a Gallimafry of all the Gods and Idolatries of the Nations according to the Honour or Interest of their Kings On the other side the Kingdome of Judah which continued under the Rightful Succession and was Hereditary stood near one hundred and forty years longer than that of Israel and they had amongst their Kings many great Saints as Asa Jehosophat Hezekiah Josiah and diverse others And though the Worship of God were often foully corrupted in the Reign of some of their Kings yet as that Corruption still came in from the Kings of Israel or from Affinity or League with them so by the Succession of good Kings it was restored again and both the Church and Face of Religion kept up amongst them till it pleased God for their treading in the steps of the People of Israel to send his Church into Captivity there to be cured of Idolatry Which Cure when wrought though there still remained a general Cachexy or disorder of Manners yet it pleased God to bring back for a while their Captivity and to give them a new footing in their own Land till out of that Royal Stem was born our Lord Jesus the promised Seed of Abraham the Son of David according to the Flesh but declared by Power and Resurrection from the dead the Son of God the Lord of Lords and King of Kings blessed for evermore of whose Kingdom there shall be no end To sum up all If then there be any men to whom perpetual unsettledness and dangers to themselves and theirs to whom continued ages of War to whom ever and anon recurring Murder of Kings Massacres of Families together with all Violence and Tyranny over the people and even Arbitrary Religion as well as Government Vsurpation on God and Man be pleasing such men may plead these Arguments to enamour the world with the model of Elective Kingdoms But on the contrary If Publick Wealth Ease and Quiet I may add if continued Liberties settled Religion and general Stability as far as the state of sublunary affairs does admit be more amiable we have reason to stick to a true Legitimate Succession For it was the Observation of the wisest of Kings Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles and we see how far it proved so in the Kingdom of Judah We have hitherto as I think
is most proper and at least on this day most seasonable taken the words literally I before intimated another sense of them by which Son of Nobles came to denote persons in themselves truely Noble that is of generous brave and virtuous Souls But this we have in part seen to be a frequent consequent of Lineal Nobility and withal the second member of the Text will lead us into its consideration For it follows Blessed are thou O Land when thy Princes eat in season and not for Drunkenness As to Explication of this clause it remains only to be added to what has been abovesaid of it that the word Princes may be interpreted either 1. Of the Supreme the King himself Or 2. Of Subordinate Nobles or Governours as we read usually in the Scripture of Kings and their Princes that is Peers or Ministers of State Or 3. Perhaps it is the best way not to understand it singly or solely of either but jointly of both And truly there is very good reason for this last Interpretation For generally if the Prince Supreme that is the King himself be temperate and virtuous the Princes subordinate will be so too Temperance and Virtue will grow into fashion at Court. And thus taken this our second part not only in general asserts the Sovereigns Virtue to be the Peoples Blessedness but gives us a main specialty of that Blessedness Virtue and good Manners will generally prevail in such a Kingdome than which there cannot be a greater good to a Kingdome And this we will take as the first point of Advantage accruing to a People by their Kings being virtuous His Example will take It will have influence first on them that that are next him the Nobles Grandees or Favourites It will from them diffuse it self through all Orders and Ranks of Men for where shall not so powerful a Precedent be drawn into imitation The very Defects and natural Blemishes of Kings have been affected how much more shall their Honours Excellencies be copied This is matter of constant experience Qualis Rex talis Grex the People will be like their King If David be a war-like Prince you shall hear of Davids Worthies His Courtiers shall be Heroes as he is If Solomon grow effeminate the Subjects shall all degenerate with him Not a good Soldier in all his Reign but what was left by his Father David And so in case of other Qualities Now without doubt as there is no such Plague to a Nation as the Corruption of the publick Manners so I say no greater Blessing than the Melioration of them The Roman Empire say its Historians grew to its height by Temperance Industry and Justice When its Cesars became wicked and meer voluptuaries it soon fell stantibus Moenibus ruentibus Moribus by the decay of its Manners though its Walls stood Blessed therefore art thou O Land when thy Princes eat in season for Strength and not for Drunkenness And from this first Advantage will by plain natural causality slow a multitude of others more indeed than is easie to comprehend or enumerate What an Influence upon the Justice of the Nation must the general Virtue of the Prince and Grandees have For certainly the more virtuous they are who administer Justice the more equal Justice will be administred Virtue will be encouraged consulted and upheld virtuous men preferred and exalted Vice discountenanc'd and punisht serious Religion as well as civil Rights maintained and all the honest Designs and Desires of good men will generally succeed Again how must the same influence all publick Councils and Transactions When the Prince and his Council are ever clear and mature when they have ever both temper and time to think are intent and watchful ready to take all advantages for Good and to foresee publick Evils in their remote causes while they yet want strength to be mischievous what may not be hoped for From hence it is plain those forementioned so popular Goods of Wealth Ease and Quiet are in the fairest way to be provided for Especially considering lastly that so regular Lives and Manners of Prince Nobles and People conspiring as is supposed in Temperance and in general Virtue must needs derive Gods Blessing both upon them all and upon the whole Management and Administration of things For God will certainly verify the Word which he has publisht or as I may say his Faith which he has given to the world Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with them they shall eat the fruit of their doings Isai iii. 10. And Righteousness and Peace will assuredly meet and kiss each other Upon all accounts then we may pronounce Blessed art thou O Land when thy Princes eat in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness To come now to Application and to bring all we have said to some serious practical result If we reflect and consider with our selves we shall certainly find we are a blessed Land and that in both the regards specified in the Text. We cannot surely but be sensible of that profound Peace and general Prosperity which God has vouchsafed us in this Kingdom under our present Sovereign These are most obvious to every mans notice and I may say whether we will or no we cannot but perceive them But perhaps the immediate Combination and happy Conspiracy of Causes which God makes use of to effect these all of us do not consider Now I cannot tell whether any truer causes can be assigned hereof than these in my Text. We have a King both who is the Son of Nobles and who eats in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness A Virtue which will make not only Princes but even common mens affairs succeed well and it were to be wished to many meaner men for their own sakes that there were more of this in the world For if Luxury has exhausted the Treasures of Kings and Kingdoms it will much more easily and certainly consume private Estates But to return to the publick Our Sovereigns not only Virtues but Extraction Title and Interest God be blessed render him great and potent and hereto I say namely to his Extraction and Title to his Virtues and Interest we do certainly under God as much as to any thing owe our present Quiet and flourishing Estate Flourishing Estate I called it for if will be true to our selves there is nothing to make our Condition in general otherwise except the unreasonable Fears or possibly the Narrowness of some of our own Hearts Wherefore 1. Let us seriously and from the ground of our hearts give God thanks for our present King for his settling him in his Throne for the Quiet and Ease which we enjoy thereby and for his happy and auspicious Reign over us hitherto Methinks no man amongst us who has his Senses exercised should be backward in this Office I do not know that any is However I exhort that none be I will plainly make the challenge to any What Blessing could you
fit for the righting or defending himself or people And his people are to be obedient to him to stand by him with Lives and Estates and to serve him in the War And whomsoever he Commissions not only may according to the tenor of their Commission which by the way they are to take care they do not exceed but ought to use the Sword for supposing the War lawful the Duty of the Subject in this case follows by necessary consequence Now you 'l say when is a War lawful 1. When there is such necessity of it as before suggested that is when Publick Justice or Right cannot take place without it and when the Benefit which is sought by it is ample enough to countervail all the visible mischiefs of the War In which case the Supreme Power is Judge not the people who cannot be supposed competently to understand the publick state of things and circumstances 2. When the War is made by the Authority that has Power to make it namely by the Supreme in every Nation For we have heard though the Cause be just every one may not of his own head take the Sword but a lawful Commission is to be expected 3. In the general it is requisite also to a lawful War that it be publickly proclaimed that is Justice should be demanded the obstinate summoned to their Duty and no proceeding till such Duty or Justice be refused Somewhat very near this God expresly commanded the people of the Jews Deuteronom xx 10 11 c. When thou comest to a City to fight against it thou shalt proclaim Peace to it And if it will make no Peace with thee but will make War against thee thou shalt besiege it c. But if Justice may be had with Peace Peace certainly is to be preferred Lastly Even War it self should be managed lawfully and Justice Redress or Safaction only sought not Revenge Cruelty should be as much forborn and Mercy as much exercised as publick Safety would admit These things will be further useful to us by and by In the mean while let this stand as our fifth Conclusion The Magistrate exercises the Power of the Sword either in Civil Justice or lawful War Sixthly All designed taking away the Life of man otherwise than in a way of Civil Justice or lawful War and that also unless by such only as are respectively commissioned by the Magistrate is Murder yea the very Attempt of it Murder in the Eye of God For out of these two cases no man can have any thing to do lawfully with the Sword You 'l say What should a man do in case of his own ntcessary Defence I answer 1. I may not directly and ordinarily design to take away anothers Life in my own defence It may so come to pass that I may be so unhappy as to be necessitated to do that from whence it may ensue but if I be guiltless of Bloud therein my killing the man was indirectly by accident and consequent not by design The thing I designed or ought to have designed was only disabling him and thereby securing my self the killing the man in this behalf falls out beyond my intention in case I am innocent And even this the utter disabling a man to hurt me ought not ordinarily I say to be done for ordinarily a man may defend himself if he will be prudent and use all advantages he has without hazarding his own or his Neighbours Life and perhaps without muâ—ilating eithers person But it will be said This case of Self-Defence comes neither under Civil Justice nor Lawful War I answer therefore 2. 'T is mixt of both In case I am set upon by Robbers or by like unreasonable men who attempt my Life besides that the Law of Nature gives me a Warrant to defend my self against lawless Violence every honest peaceable Subject may in such circumstances where other Officers cannot be had be supposed by an implicit or virtual Concession or Commission of the Magistrate to be an Officer to bring such miscreants to Justice which bringing them to Justice next to our own Defence should be a principal part of every mans design in repelling Violence by Violence Again it is fairly enough reducible to lawful War For I am supposed in the present case In reos Majestatis publicos hostes omnis homo miles est Tertullian Apolog. assaulted with Weapons of War and the Prince has not opportunity to command Civil Officers or armed men to my Relief and Protection I cannot therefore but interpret I have his Leave to fight in Defence of the Peace and my self against the Enemies of the Prince of his Laws and Government for such all Robbers and Hectors are If there were in the case any opposing of those who were sent by the Magistrate though by abuse of his Power as it was in St. Peters case in the Text I could pretend to no right in my own Defence but I must submit In like manner if I my self begun the Quarrel and were the first assailant for in both these cases I were injurious to the Magistrate and could not reasonably interpret any such Favour from him belonging to me But being thus illegally attempted I have Justice the Law of Nature and of my Prince upon my side I act under and not against the Equity of this sixth Conclusion Seventhly and lastly It being evident by what has been abovesaid that the Military as well as Civil Sword belongs only to the Supreme Magistrate therefore the levying or waging War without or against his Commission is by the Text Murder and perhaps upon other grounds more It is certainly such a taking the Sword as deserves perishing by the Sword To speak the same thing in terms more accommodate to our Government For any person or persons to levy or make War within these Kingdoms without the Kings Commission or against those who are commissionated by him is I say and ever has been by the Evangelical Law in the Text Murder and certainly by right Reason as well as by other Law somewhat more than Murder namely Rebellion and Treason It is indeed the most dreadful and complicate Murder imaginable It is first direct and plain Murder of all who fall by our hands It is further Murder of our selves of our Souls by Sin of our Bodies by exposing our own Lives Lastly it is Murder of all we draw in with us and that as of our selves both as to Soul and Body without Gods great Mercy But it is besides all these most proper and plain Rebellion for it is a plain invading the Kings Right and in part or so far forth a dethroning him and there 's no doubt but if it succeed it ends in total dethroning and murdering him too After all which said I may challenge both our old and later our open-faced and our demure Rebels to make better of it if they can Upon the whole the sum is the Kings Majesty is amongst us the Fountain of all Power