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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	king_n	place_n	see_v	2,808	5	3.5528	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17315	A sermon preached at the generall assises in Warwicke, the third of March, being the first Friday in Lent. 1619. By Samuel Burton, Archdeacon of Gloucester. Seene and allowed by authoritie	Burton, Samuel, 1568 or 9-1634.	1620 (1620)	STC 4164; ESTC S107146	16,569	31

say of these great and eminent places in the Common-wealth Non est facile stare loco Dauidis It is not an easy matter to sit in one of Dauids thrones the bramble perhaps may thinke it a thing of nothing but the Fig-tree the Oliue and the Vine will bee afraid to venter on it And why Because they know what a burden and a charge belongs vnto it and what accounts depend vpon it For vnto whomsoeuer much is giuen of him shall much bee required saith our Sauiour God when he hath once aduanced men to places of honour and authority when hee hath taken them out of the dust and set them among Princes to inherit the seate of Glory as Hanna speaketh when hee hath made them Pillars of the earth and set the world vpon them he lookes that they should serue him more strictly then common and ordinary men he lookes for more exact obedience from them then any other There is no kind of benefit in the world but brings a kind of bondage with it And much more this the greatest of all earthly blessings And therefore of all men the Magistrate may best say Beneficium accepi libertatem amisi God hath aduanced me to this height hee hath made me a Ruler and a commander ouer others and therefor I haue lost a great deale of that liberty that is left to others Caesari cui omnia licent propter hoc ipsum multa non licent Euen Caesar himselfe because hee is aboue law because he may doe all things for this very cause may not doe many things saith the wise Seneca many things that other men may lawfully doe And as the respect of their high aduancement doth abridge their liberty so doth it agrauate their sinne For what was it else that made the sinne of Saul so haynous and vnpardonable in sparing Agag and the best things but only this circumstance of his aduancement For when thou wast little in thine owne eyes saith Samuel thou wast made the head of all the tribes of Israel And so Nathan to Dauid God hath annointed thee King ouer Israel and deliuered thee out of the hands of Saul and thou hast slaine Vriah the Hittite with the sword euen thou which wast so much bound vnto God for his loue vnto thee thou which wast taken from the Sheep-fold and from following the Ewes to be made King ouer Israel thou hast done this wickednesle Heare therefore O yee Kings and vnderstand learne yee that bee Iudges of the earth Your places are high and honourable your power is giuen you of the Lord. But if you that bee the Ministers of his Kingdome shall not iudge aright nor keepe the Law nor walke after the counsaile of God horribly and fearefully shall he come vpon you For a sharpe iudgement shall bee to them that are in high places mercy will soone pardon the meanest but mighty men shall be mightily tormented saith the Author of the booke of Wisedome Let no man therefore bee so idle to thinke that where the dignitie high calling of the Magistrate is treated of there is or can be any intent or meaning in the speaker to puffe vp his heart with the breath of vanity or that any wise Magistrate will suffer his heart to rise with it There is another end and purpose in it which is our instruction that we seing the height and excellency of his calling and being assured that it is of God might learne thereby what honour and duty and seruice we owe vnto him This is a point of duty which the dignity and high calling of the Magistrate doth plainely teach vs and as the times now are it is a point of duty then which there is nothing more needefull to be taught and learned That I may speake therefore briefly and distinctly of it As God requires at our hands not onely outward obedience in our deeds and actions but also that wee honour him with our words and that our hearts be vpright in his sight so the Magistrate that sits in Gods Seate and hath his authority in his hands may iustly challenge all these things from vs. The very height and excellency of his calling doth enforce them all For he is the Minister of God saith the Apostle therefore wee ought to obey him Hee is the Minister of God therefore wee ought not to reproch him or reuile him but to speake all good of him He is the Minister of God therefore we ought not to hate him or despise him but to carry a reuerent conceit and estimation of him 1. Now for the first of these You must vnderstand that when wee speake of obedience to humane Lawes we doe not meane obedience without exception but obedience vnder condition and limitation So long as the Magistrate commands nothing by his Lawes that is preiudiciall to our duety towards God so long we must obey But if he command vs to doe those things that are vnlawfull in that case in stead of obedience we bring subiection We must not be obedient then but euen then we must bee subiect In all other cases in matters that are apparently good in ciuill offices in affaires of the Common-wealth in matters of iustice and in all such things as are in their owne nature indifferent and those are such as are neither cōmanded nor forbidden in the Word of God we must not only be subiect but obedient also Giue vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars saith Christ. Submit your selues to all manner of ordinance saith Peter Let euery soule bee subiect to the higher powers saith Paul in the beginning of this Chapter And in the third to Titus Put them in remembrance that they be subiect to Principalities and Powers and that they be obedient to euery good worke So then wee must bee subiect simply and without exception obedient only in those things that are good Good for our selues good for the Church or good for the Common-wealth wherein we liue And we must not our selues bee Iudges what is good but submit our owne iudgement to the iudgement of our Gouernours except we find that the things commanded bee plainly and directly forbidden in the Word in which case wee must bee subiect still though not obedient This was you see the Doctrine of Christ this was the Doctrine of Peter and Paul no other Doctrine taught or thought of in the Christian world for sixe hundred yeares after Christ as may appeare not onely by the Books and Writings of all the Fathers of those seuerall ages but specially by the practice and example of all those noble and renowned Martyrs which liued in the very heate of the Furnace in those long and bloudie times contayning the succession of ten seuerall Persecutions vnder the most cruell Heathen Emperours Against whom they neuer offered to make head neuer went about to practise treason neuer attempted to take vp armes notwithstanding that they were as Tertullian witnesseth both more in number and greater in strength then any other Nation or

not take vpon me to iudge and censure that Epistle whether it tend not to too much lenitie and remissenesse yea or no. But if the manner of ancient Bishops was to intreat and begge for pardon it is not meete for vs to call for vengeance and bloud out of the Pulpit Besides I know the old Rule which tells vs It is better to answer God for mercy then for iustice and safer for a Magistrate to saue the liues of many malefactors then to cast away one innocent For if a malefactor chance to scape at one time the Hand of God is able to reach him at another but if an innocent die God may receiue him into his mercy and will if he die as a faithfull Christian ought but it lies not in the power of man to make him satisfaction for the wrong But notwithstanding all this they which are in authority had neede to take heede in what cases they shew mercy For by the example of Ioshua who destroyed Achan and his house for stealing the Babylonish garment contrary to the expresse commandement of God by the example of Moses who caused the men of Israel to take vengeance one of another and euery man to turne his sword into the bosome of his owne brother for their cursed Idolatry by the example of Phinees which slew the adulterer and adulteresse both together and pierced them through with his Iaueline in all which places the wrath of God was appeased towards the people so soone as the execution was done and not before I say by these and many other examples that might be produced it is plaine and euident that in horrible transgressions in haynous and crying sinnes there is no way to remoue the wrath of God and euill from a common State but by remoouing and taking away the euill and wicked persons from among the people Take heede therefore and beware and looke to thy selfe thou that art a transgressor of the Law If thou doe euill feare saith the Apostle for hee beareth not the sword in vaine like the picture of Saint Paul in a glasse-window or like an Image in a stone wall in whose fingers there be no ioynts and whose armes cannot be mooued For he will draw it forth for the punishment of wickednesse and sinne and smite through the loynes of the vngodly For as the great Romane Oratour could say of himselfe Natura me clementem respublica seuerum fecit So truely I make no question of our Magistrates generally through the whole Kingdome but that they haue hearts of flesh that their bowels are full of compassion that nature made them inclineable to mercy and pity Mollissima corda Humano generi aare se Natura fatetur Quae lacrimas dedit Wee see they giue iudgement vpon Malefactors many times with teares in their eyes and therefore no doubt their hearts are made of flesh but the necessitie of the Common-wealth and the zeale of Gods glory in rooting out sinne must make them sometimes seuere And so wee see they are wee cannot iustly charge them that they are any way defectiue in their duty for this point a great number of malefactors are cut off at these two times of Assises within this Kingdome And a great number at euery monethly Sessions in the City of London And yet notwithstanding wee see the Goales are no sooner empty but presently they are filled againe and the number of malefactors is great still though by no meanes any way so great as it would be if Iustice were wanting And therefore I could wish if it were possible that there were some course taken for the better breeding of this kinde of people that they were not suffred to liue in idlenesse nor lurke in Ale-houses which wee may call as well Pesthouses for in my conscience they are the very plague and bane of this Kingdome where all malefactors take their chiefe infection and that there were some course also taken to compell them to come to Church To which purpose because I find that such kind of people are seldome presented to the Ecclesiasticall Courts and because there is nothing of force sufficient to keepe people in order and obedience if the feare of God be wanting my desire and petition is that the Statute which layes a forfeiture of twelue pence a day on euery one that comes not to his Parish Church may bee reuiued and duely executed A matter giuen in charge I see and much talked of but as yet there is nothing done in it I am perswaded it would bee a very great and powerfull meanes to hinder the growth of sinne as S. Austen saith of the Donatists that though they were compelled to come to Church against their wils yet being once there they were many of them taken in the net of Gods Word and made good Christians so many of these idle persons being compelled to come in might also be taken and made profitable members which now for want of breeding and instruction proue nothing else but a burden to the earth that beares them a reproch to their parents that begat them and a plague to the Common-wealth wherein they liue And with this Petition I end FINIS