and vengeance and shall we have cheaper thoughts and make lesser account of Royal Soveraign bloud does that call loud for vengeance and does not this cry much louder will not God be friends with the nation where that is silently connived at and passed over and will he likely ever be reconciled to that Kingdom where This is not severely punished You know what great difference the Scripture puts betwixt the life of Kings and of Subjects making one drop of a Kings bloud of more worth and value then many large quantities of the bloud of subjects If we flee away said the men of 2 Sam. 18. 3. Iudah to David they will not care for us and if half of us dye they will not care for us But now thou art more worth then ten thousand of us see the disproportion ten thousand to one And does not God think you expect that we should observe a like proportion in our inquisitions after the bloud of Kings And doubtless it is nothing lesse then a special miracle of mercy that we have been spared all this while and that our land the unhappy Scene of all this wickednesse hath not long since become as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah and yet did we not stand here but have been daily adding to our measure of sin and pickling up other horrible crimes which though in horrour and magnitude not equal to the former yet such as the innocence of former times would have blusht at and the modesty of our fore fathers have been put out of countenance to have heard so much as mentioned But Aetas parentum pâ—jorâ—vis tulit Horat. nâ—s Nequiores we are a viperous generation a thriving sort of sinners people that have out done the immodesties of former Malefactors and devised new arts and stratagems to commence Excellent in wickednesse and to try how far it was possible to sin Many strange many horrible things have of late yeares been done amongst us and bloud hath been as common in our streets as water and the murder of Christians as the slaughter of beasts And no wonder neither for having once leaped over this highest fence and adventured that upon the life and person of their Soveraign which never yet entred into the thoughts of the most heathen and barbarous people to be sure not drest up in like formalities what tyes of Lawes or obligations of Conscience or motives of Reason or arguments of Modesty can be imagined of strength and force sufficient to restrain such spirits from breaking out into any open violences which unbridled fury and frenzy can possibly suggest Is it like that those salvages would afterward grow tender and squeamish and make a conscience of the bloud of their fellow-subjects who were so prodigal of their Soveraignes And yet say I beseech you has not this been our manner of living for these twelve yeares together how hath our land been made another Aceldama a field of bloud and this Kingdome of ours so famous in the Histories of former times for modesty and civility for justice and equity for Religion and reformation for excellent Lawes and government been changed into the rudenesse of a wildernesse a dominion and habitation of Wolves and Tygres Oh the abundance of innocent bloud which hath of late yeares been shed among us the cry whereof hath already pierced the Heavens and is Gen. 4. 10. come up into the eares of the Lord of hosts and is importunate and will not be satified and many souls of them that have been barbarously slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held doe at this very time lye under the Altar calling out and crying with loud voices How long oh Lord holy and true dost thou not avenge our bloud on them that dwell Revel 6. 9. on the earth And yet neither is this all there hath of late yeares been a very great reproach and scandal brought upon the Protestant religion and the wound hath gone deep our enemies do rejoyce laugh at it and there is no way possible to wipe it off but by the exemplary punishment of them that brought it And untill this be done I fear God will not be perfectly reconciled unto us nor our Church ever able to get up nor our Kingdome ever recover into it's ancient happinesse and security but still there will be fears and plots and jealousies and continual parties and factions amongst us and wicked men will be emboldned unto strange attempts and good men much discouraged in wayes of loyalty and obedience It is a notable example for Magistrates that which we have recorded Psal 106. 30. Then stood up Phineas and executed judgement and so the plague ceased See justice timely executed it stayes plagues it hastens mercies it removes and puts by judgements We must not think that God will be reconciled to our land barely by our praying or preaching or fasting and the like nay but he will have justice executed withall and sinners shamed and Malefactors brought to condign punishment when that work is once over then if afterwards we return to him in the exercise of those holy duties we may hopefully expect that he also will be friends with us and will delight to dwell among us and to do us good and will be a wall of brass about our Kingdom and will defend the person of our King and will restore to our Church her ancient rights and honours and will rain down blessings into our laps and we shall not be any longer a reproach and a scorn and a by word to our neighbours but a joy to our friends a terrour to our enemies and shall enjoy a lasting succession of much peace and plenty and happiness in our land and in a word when we have once made our kingdom terram justiâ—iae a land of righteousnesse by removing the wicked from out of it then will God also continue it to us for ever terram visionis another Goshen a land of light and vison Amen Numb 35. 31. Moreover you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death but he shall surely be put to death FINIS
Votum pro Caesare OR A PLEA FOR CAESAR Discovering briefly the great sinfulness of opposing the Authority of the higher Powers Delivered in a SERMON Octob. 7. 1660. By EDM. BARKER Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Lady CAPELL Dowager 1 Sam. 26. 9. Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless 2 Kings 14. 14. And it came to passe as soon as the Kingdome was confirmed in his hand that he slew his servants which had slain the King his Father LONDON Printed for JOHN WILLIAMS at the Crown in S. Paul 's Churchyard M D CLX To the Right Honourable The most accomplished and excellent Lady The LADY ELIZABETH CAPELL DOWAGER MADAM MAy this discourse appear as gracious in your eyes as it lately seemed pleasing and acceptable to your ear I shall not beshrew my self of my folly in letting it walk abroad giving it leave to take the fresh air Madam my obligations from you are very many the comforts which I have hither to enjoyed under you ever since I first took Sanctuary in your family not a few I have lived to see many waveings tossings in other mens fortunes and conditions whilest I my self have laid at anchor and enjoyed the sweetness of a secure retirement and have been sheltred from those storms and tempests which have lighted heavy upon many This priviledge next under God I do humbly acknowledge to be owing to your Honour and the remembrance hereof affects me with the sense of a great Obligation and this forces my modesty and puts me upon the necessity of returning though nothing proportionable yet at least somewhat in way of acknowledgement as a pledge and testimony of my thankfulnesse And to let your Honour see how ambitious I am to be accounted gratefull I have adventured to do that now against which I ever had the greatest aversation which is to appear in Print And though what I here present you with be no wayes worthy your eye yet having been lately honoured with your ear it is ever since grown proud and will needs be gadding abroad and see the fashions of the world with resolutions according as it likes it's entertainment to bring more of it's fellows after it But Madam I must remember that it is but a very small discourse which I here present you with and I must not widen the gates beyond the proportion of the Citie I doe therefore most humbly offer it into your Honours hands and if you please cast it at your feet and in case you shall think so favourably of it as to vouchsafe it now and then the Honour of your eye and admit it graciously into your presence it will reckon it self highly graced and dignified and not ambitiously desire any other patronage And howbeit I confess indeed it is not so properly calculated for your Family and relations whose Loyalty hath been abundantly tryed in the Furnace and have come forth glorious and shining yet I am proud to conceive it may be of some Use to others and if but to one it is enough And thus recommending both it to the favour of your gracious acceptance and your self and most excellent relations to the protection and blessing of God Almighty for a continuance of his comforts to you here and a full consummation of perfect joy and happiness hereafter I do humbly take my leave of you and rest MADAM Your Honour 's Most highly obliged and perfectly devoted Servant and Chaplain BARKER Luke 19. vers 27. But those mine Enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me THese words are parabolically uttered by our Saviour in the name and person of a certain Noble man as we render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 12. Although it is plain by the following passages in the Parable that this Noble man was none other but a King for he took his journey to receive to himself a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kingdom he severely destroyed and punished his rebellious Subjects in the Text for not willing that he should reign over them And this also may suite well enough with the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for though that properly relates to nobility of Birth yet it excludes not the more excellent title and Arist lib. 1. de Anima office of Kingship which is the highest step of Honour and Nobility and from whence are derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as streams from their fountain or spring head all those Titles of honour and nobility which do put a difference among subjects and make some noble and honourable above others Now I confess indeed that this whole Parable is mystically and spiritually meant and to be understood of Christ viz. the institution and establishment of his Kingdom the rebellion and opposition of the Iewes and wicked men against it and then lastly Gods severe judgement and vengeance inflicted on them for their rebellion And if any shall contend this to be the onely proper and genuine scope and design of our Saviour's repeating it here to his Disciples for my part I shall not my self contend with him about it but easily and readily grant what he contends for Howbeit seeing the words without any respect to the design and scope of their direction and intention doe carry a good literal sense in themselves agreeable to the analogy of Faith and the voices of other Scriptures I shall accordingly for the present consider them altogether under this grammatical sense and construction And so they are the words of a justly enraged and provoked King taking vengeance on a company of traiterous and rebellious Subjects In them we have particularly considerable these three parts 1. The parties arraigned and condemned those mine enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The ground and reason of their arraignment and condemnation No lesse then an act of the highest Treason and rebellion Who would not that I should reign over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. The sentence determined and passed uponthem Bring hither and slay them before me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall begin with the first of these the parties arraigned and condemned Those mine enemies now who or what these Enemies were we have generally set down and described vers 14. they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Citizens people that had lived long and happy under the protection of his government had derived all their rights and priviledges from him had enjoyed all their freedomes and immunities under him and we will suppose too that they had sworn fealty and allegiance to him which if so brought a new accession of heinousnesse to their foul sin of ingratitude viz. breach of Oath and promise And can any punishment be too great or sentence too severe for such who have so little sense of their duty make so little conscience of their Oathes shew so
to the Creator neither is it possible that that which is made should be more noble and excellent then that which made it so that should it once be granted that the chief Magistrate is the peoples creature it must needs follow that the same things at the same time and in respect of the same are supreme and not Supreme inferiour and not inferiour But to give you all this more clearly in an example and because I will free my self from the pretence of any exception I will instance in the first King which was ever set up over the people of God and that was Saul King of Israel Now he of whose choosing and setting up I trow was he did the people choose him was he their creature and did they appoint him and set him up over themselves nothing lesse they desired a King indeed and went crying to Samuel that he would make them a King 1 Sam. 8. But a King is too noble and excellent a creature for Samuel's making accordingly he carries this request and desire of the peoples unto God to know his pleasure in the matter and he afterwards chooseth them a King and singles out the man and describes the person and impowers him with commission authority and causeth him to be brought before them when he was set before them hark what Samuel said unto the people 1 Sam. 10. 24. See the man whom the Lord hath chosen mark it is not whom you but whom the Lord hath chosen * Cujus jussu homines nascuntur hujus jussu râ—ges constituuntur apti iis qui in illis temporibus ab ipsis reguntur Irenaeus l. 5. So that Kings you see are of Gods immediate choosing setting up the first King of all it is clear was so primi ultimi par ratio the charter holds alike in succession accordingly it was well said of a De civitat Dei l. 5. c. 21. holy Austin Qui regnum dedit Constantino Christiano ipse dedit Iuliano Apostatae he that gave the Kingdome to Constantine a Christian gave it also to Iulian an Apostate there was a very vast difference in the dispositions qualities of these two Kings the one a Christian the other an Apostate the one a protector the other a persecutor yet you see they both alke deriv'd their commissions from the same divine hand and they had both the same letters patents to produce for their authority he that gave the Kingdome to the one gave it to the other too he that set up the one set up the othe likewise he that made the one King made the other King also And then say was it not a most frontless and impudent usurpation of power in these Citizens to say unto their King Nolumus hunc regnare we will not have this man reign over us Well but is it then as they will to continue their King or to cast him off to pay homage unto him or to rebell against him at pleasure Are Kings thus beholden to Subjects for their Allegiance and is it a courtesie in them to pay it and not rather their duty yea their special priviledge more their singular happinesse if they would see it Call you this the way to honour Kings which the Scripture every where inculcates Non nâ—scius David divinâ—m esse traditionem in officio ordinis regalis idâ—irco Saul in â—adem traditione positum honorificat ne Deo injuriam facere videretur qui his ordinibus honorem decrevit August Quaest Vet. No. Test q. 35. is this to be subject to the higher powers which the Apostle so plainly commands and that too in words of most peremptory and indispensible importance a Rom. 1. 13. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers See I pray how he extends the duty how he layes it at the door of every particular mans concernment Let every Soul High and Low Rich and Poor Noble and Ignoble one with another all must submit all must be subject to the higher powers Again mark well the expression he useth Let every Soul now I confess that this word Soul is many times put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture to signifie the whole man and so it does here too but yet in regard of what follows v. 5. I cannot conceive but that the Apostle haply might have a special design in his choice of that word here in this place viz. to imply the right and proper principle of true Christian subjection that it be not a mere forced or yet a formal submission altogether not ore Significantius dicit Omnis anima cum debuisset dici Omnis Homo ut inteliigeremus non solum res nostras non solum corpora nostra sed eâ—iam animas debere subjiâ—i principibus saecularibus in iis quae possunt lâ—gitime imperare Cajet in locum tenus or genu tenus not a lip subjection or a knee-subjection onely but a free and willing obedience a subjection out of Conscience a submission out of free choice and election that we do ex animo obedire obey from our souls paying higher powers their tribute of all due subjection and submission not barely as a task or imposition of duty laid upon us but as a tender of willing choice and election freely flowing from us And he that is such a Subject and makes a conscience of his obedience is straitly tyed up to a necessity of continual subjection and desires not to cast off any yoke which Conscience layes upon him But perseveres constant and stedfast in his duty and nothing can shake him out of his allegiance or perswade him to disloyalty or tempt him to rebellion * Si totus orbis adversus me conjuraret ut quidpiam molirer adversus regiam Majestatem ego tamen Deum timerem ordinatum ab eo Regem offendere non auderem Bern. Epist 170. or to practise any thing against the person or honour or life or estate or interest of his lawfull Soveraign yea though an absolute Tyrant though an open oppressor and grinder of his Subjects though of a nature never so fierce and intractable of a spirit never so hard and difficult yet all this weighs nothing at all in the ballance of Conscience which carries the Law and reason of it's obedience in it's own breast and so doth readily answer whatsoever can be objected in this kind with the Apostles two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tibi summum rerum judicium dii dedere nobis obsequii gloria relicta est dixit M. Terent ad Caesareâ— apud Tacit. Annal. lib. 6. I must needs obey every duty stands firm and sure upon the feet of Conscience and therefore in whomsoever that is truly his principle of action that man moves evenly and uniformly in every posture of duty and hangs not in aequilibrio in an equal poise and indifferencie Rom. 13. 5. to either parts of a contradiction but necessarily moves that way whither