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
spoken unto them also Be ye still and know that the Lord is God But to conclude in a word to all laying aside our private Humours and little mutual Piques at Persons and Parties too if possible let us all joyn in a Quiet of Peace and Christian Charity which I toucht not till now resolving to close with it And to press this I should think no Argument need to be used but our own Interest Here are a multitude of us present that are old enough to remember what our eyes have seen and may we never see the second time the Miseries and Desolations the Cruelties and Ravages of Civil Wars Can we be fond of them or does not Horror seize us when we reflect on those dreadful Idea's though almost worn out For our own sakes then as well for Gods and Religions let us all study to be quiet and to do our own business And if we meet with any who either by their secret Perswasions or Combinations or by their whispering Fears and Jealousies Designs and Stories contrary to what you have heard of His Majesties Royal Intentions and Declaration who I say either by these or any other methods we have reason to believe are endeavouring to diâ—â—urb the publick Peace and embroyl things let us in the name of God discover them Better such men suffer than we than all And especially let us empty our own minds and dispossess our selves of such Jealousies Fears and Jealousies did undo us once God in his mercy restored all King and Church and Religion The same Fears and Jealousies have bid fair to destroy all again God has hitherto hindred it In the name of God let us not tempt him again thereby to destroy us or let not us our selves destroy our selves by the old unreasonable methods In a word as I have said before but repeat that it may be more surely practised Let us trust God and next trust our King be quiet loyal and circumspect in our places and I doubt not but all things will go well with us and the whole Israel of God Which God grant And to Him be all Glory Praise and Thanksgiving now and for ever Amen FINIS THE REASONS AND NEED OF Loyal Devotion Set forth in a SERMON Before the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of Cork and many of the Countrey Gentry and others assembled in Christ-church in the City of Cork on St. Georges Day Apr. 23. 1685. being the Day of the Coronation of his Gracious Majesty James II. in England 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 AN Advertisement Touching This SERMON THe chief Design of this Sermon is to make people conscientious in daily Prayers for the King whether in publick or in private and by the by to vindicate our Church Liturgy from the imputation of Tautology charged upon it in this behalf by the old as well as present Dissenters An unkindness not to say an impudence in them which even His Blessed Majesty Charles I. â—â—ok notice of in his incomparable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 16. how perfunctory many even of truly loyal and sober persons are apt to be in the usual Praiers for the King partly because tâ—ey occur so often that it seems a matter oâ— course partly for that they attend not distinctly how much both themselves and theirs as well as the whole three Kingdoms are concerned therein is more obvious than that â—â— need to take notice of it I could think on â— better Arguments to stick upon all men thaâ— what I have used and judged there coulâ— scarce come a better season than the day â—â— which I applyed them Some mens Objectioâ— I have chosen to answer rather covertly anâ— by way of anticipation than expresly to mention which way I took to avoid offence The present Sermon was only preached in thâ— Place and on the Occasion mentioned Goâ— make it useful to the End whereto it was design'd THE Reasons and Need OF Loyal Devotion Set forth in a SERMON before the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of Cork and many of the Gentry assembled in Christchurch in the City of Cork on St. Georges day Apr. 23. 1685. being the Day of the Coronation of His Gracious Majesty James II. The Text 1 Tim. ii 1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men For Kings and all that are in Authority WE are here assembled of our own free accord and by a general agreement amongst our selves upon occasion of His Majesties we trust most happy Coronation in England this present day and as we may guess about this time I believe if we think never so much on the Subject we can devise no other thing we can do whereby we can in this instant contribute to make his Crown sit long easie and secure on his Head but the offering up our hearty and sincere Prayers to that purpose which because in the present instance a free-will Offering ought for that reason after the manner of all free-will Offerings to be the more cheerful and affectionate I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men for Kings and all that are in Authority Which Exhortation manifestly depends on the 18th verse of the foregoing chapter This Charge I commit to thee Son Timothy that according to the Prophesies which have been of thee thou warr a good warfare that is thou diligently and strenuously discharge the Office of a Bishop As the Roman Emperors used when they sent forth their Prefects or Governours into their Provinces to give them their Instructions with them so says Grotius does St. In loc Paul here to Timothy and in him to other Bishops sent forth unto their Churches And of those Instructions this the due ordering and constituting the publick Prayers of the Church was the first I exhort therefore first of all for afterwards as we might shew you by particulars he gives him many further Commands Now as to the Contents of the publick Prayers or of Liturgies he requires that they consist of Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks and what is the particular import of these several terms ought at least in transitu as we pass to our main design to be considered Some have thought that one Theoph. Cast Cameron c and the same thing is here signified by several expressions only in divers regards so that the publick Prayers should be called Supplications as they testifie before God our wants Petitions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they express the desires of our Souls and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intercessions as asking with humble boldness and not diffidently But I really believe St. Pauls words to have more Epistola 59. ad Paulinam in them and so St. Austin most fully of the Ancients and divers Moderns have taught us out
of all whom very briefly I shall present a Summulary or Abstract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supplications are generally understood such Prayers by which we deprecate Evils whence the word is anciently by St. Ambrose and St. Austin as well as by more modern Writers rendred Deprecations In plain terms we may conceive for our distincter understanding hereby meant such Prayers as now we style Litanies wherein we pray that God would deliver us from the several evils of Soul and Body And these are Impensior Oratio as St. Jerome glosses the word a more earnest kind of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Petitions or Prayers in a stricter sense of the name are such Addresses to God by which we ask that good things may be bestowed on us I judge hereby specially signified such Prayers as generally our Collects are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intercessions or interposing with God for Interpellatio pro aliorum salute Theod Beza Cornel à Lapid c. the Safety of others seems very properly to denote such Prayers as have been ever since the primitive age used at the Communion for the whole Estate of Christs Church militant on Earth And then as to giving of Thanks whether for our own or others Mercies there can be no doubt of its plain certain difference from all the rest And not only the Te Deum other Hymns of the Church but in an especial manner the close of the forementioned Prayer blessing the Name of God for all his Saints which is a very ancient part of the Office of the Eucharist will properly suit thereto So that in short we find here the blessed Apostle prescribing or directing a kind of Liturgy in the Christian Church and that consisting of such parts and Offices as our present Service Book consists of And this he gives as the very first point in charge to Timothy To proceed Such Prayers as these must be made for all men This saith St. Chrysostome the Apostle begins with that his Injunction which follows For Kings and all that are in Authority might not be misjudged to proceed from slattery to them that were in power The Fathers conjecture is not to be contemned yet doubtless there was further reason for the Practice enjoyned it is but an agreeable product of the Christian Spirit or Temper Christianity both teaches and implants universal Charity We are to love all men and therefore to pray for all men For Kings and them that are in Authority The Greeks saith Grotius called the Roman Emperors Kings not regarding so much the name as the thing it self And then by proportion the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that are iâ— Authority will be the Presidents of the Provinces I acknowledge the note is learned and wholesom yet if we explain St. Paul out of St. Peter the Text will be more plain or the Words understood in a way more accommodate to the present forms of Government 1 Pet. ii 13 14. Submit your selves saith he to every Ordinance of Man whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as those that are sent by him By Kings we understand those who are supreme those who have within their Dominions the highest Authority under God and Christ independant on any other And such I conceive none here believe any one to be within these Kingdoms but His present Majesty James the second whom God preserve By Governours those who are commissionated by the Sovereign For both and all we are especially i. e. expresly by the Apostles command to supplicate in our publick Church Prayers There are more Heads might be insisted on from hence than I am willing to detain you with at present but of any two Propositions that I can pitch on deducible hence these following are most comprehensive of the whole 1. Prop. In the publick Service of the Church there ought to be Prayers Supplications Petitions and giving of Thanks for all men 2. Prop. In an especial manner such publick Prayers and that of all the kinds mentioned ought to be made for Kings and all subordinate Governours I will speak a few things briefly of the first as a good and proper foundation for it hath seemed such to the Holy Ghost in the Text as a proper foundation I say to the second We are in our publick Prayers to make Supplications Petitions and Thanksgivings for all men And I have already suggested the indefensible ground or foundation hereof Christianity teaches and induces universal Charity or Love to all men to Aliens and Enemies we know as well as to Fellow-natives and Friends I cannot therefore simply either approve or justifie that distinction which the parsimonious Charity of some applies here interpreting the All men in the Text meerly of the Genera singulâ—rum not the singuli Generum We are here commanded say they to pray for all sorts and degrees of men but not for all the men of each sort and degree there are many particular persons for whom we ought not to pray Obj. As to what they bring in proof hereof that the Apostle has given us a limitation 1 Joh. v. 16. There is a Sin unto Death I do not say that ye shall pray for it that is as appears by the Context for them who commit it I allow it Sol. to be true and God forbid but all men should allow it as such for 't is express Scripture but I assert it to be in the present state of the Church generally unapplicable as a rule of Practice For 1 What is a Sin unto Death pro hic nunc we know not I mean in this or that mans ordinary practice we are not able I am sure I have not met with that judicious person living who has dared to determine If God would be severe or but exactly just if as the Prophet speaks he should lay Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet there is no Sin at all which would not be unto death but now that through Christ Jesus all who believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. xxii 39. we know no Sins unpardonable that is unto Death but either 1. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which if we know what it is we cannot I think judge properly incident into the present age if we do not know though we should hear a man to commit it we could not be assured he in that sinned unto Death or 2. Such Sins which are an utter defeisance of the Covenant of Grace of which kind as far as I am able to see we know none but final Vnbelief and final Impenitence and till men are dead in their unbelief and impenitence we are not sure though we may strongly fear that God will not give them Faith and Repentance that is we are not sure their Unbelief or Impenitence will be final that is we know not that they have yet sinned unto Death Wherefore if they are so bad that we
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
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
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
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
from the injuries either of Storms or scorching Heat Yet if the Trees would not accept of this its shelter as insignificant and ridiculous as it was from such a King nothing but consuming Fire was to be expected even to the very goodliest Cedar And the matter of fact proved such in that very case to which this Parable was adapted The men of Shechem ver 2. that is the Manassites and Ephraimites that inhabited that City and its Territories forgetting the Benefits they had received from Jerubaal upon Abimelechs insinuations and wheadling of them chose him who was only Jerubaals Natural Son by an Handmaid of his for their King rejecting Jerubaals legitimate Issue they furnish him with Treasure wherewith he hired vain and light men that followed him that is wherewith he raised a kind of a paltry Army By the assistance of these he goes and cuts off all the legitimate Issue of Jerubaal threescore and ten persons on one stone excepting only Jothan that fled But soon after God was meet with him and Jothans Curse which I before repeated befell both him and them God sent an evil spirit between the men of Shechem and Abimelech They dealt treacherously with one another For they conspire against him he chaseth them out of their City kills and slays as many as he could drives the rest into a Castle and by a stratagem burns a thousand of them in the Castle into which he had driven them Thus almost literally Fire comes out of the Bramble to consume the Cedars And in the end besieging a Tower into which another party of them had fled he is himself knockt on the head by a piece of a Milstone thrown down from the top of the Portal by a Woman Thus back again Destruction comes out from a Shrub to consume the very Bramble They rend and tear one another till the Bastard Prince and his People mutually perish by one anothers hand Nor is this a single or rare case as to matter at least of the Tyranny of ignoble persons It has been the Experience of all Ages and Countries that there is no such Cruelty and Invasion on all mens Rights Properties and even Lives as under upstart Governments and Governours But I shall not stand to multiply instances I will only note This is the first of the three things for which the Earth is disquieted and which it cannot bear For a Servant when he reigneth Prov. xxx 22. For they bring with them Spirits unequal to their new Place Wherefore blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles Thirdly The Title of Kings the Sons of Nobles is generally certain and their succeeding or coming to the Crown peaceable uncontroverted submitted to and quiesced in by all Now this is an unspeakable Benefit to a Nation when Kings dye almost like other men and the Government as an Estate in Fee descends to the rightful Heir without noise and publick concussions when there are no Earthquakes as I may call them in the Commonwealth but as in the Succession of other Noble Men to their Palaces Lands and Honours there is only the alteration of a single person or two If you come into the Family you shall find few new Faces but generally the House looks all as it did the old Servants still fill their old Places and no Servant is at a loss for his Portion in due season How easie must this be to the People scarcely perceptible and in a manner only a vicissitude or kind of exchange of Happiness Whereas the setting up of new Titles has inunmerable Inconveniencies and cannot be effected if at all without great and lasting Commotions 'T is difficult to do long a doing and perhaps never well done And in all these stages of its progress a Plague to the People This is so clear that I confess I am amazed that any men who pretend to Sense and Judgment should be so fond of an Elective form of Kingship or what is much the same altering the true legitmate Succession And now I have named it and indeed I named it with design as being most pertinent to my Subject let me conjure you all in the name of God and as you tender your own and your Posterities Welfare that you never hearken to men who would instill such Notions God be blessed the Crisis is over and there 's no danger I think at present of any mens being about attempting matter of practice of this kind But I say suffer no little State-menders to possess you or yours with any such Speculations or Notional imgagitations Stick to Solomons Doctrine in my Text of the happiness of being governed by Kings the Sons of Nobles in an uninterrupted Line and never hear of otherwise transferring Royalty And here give me leave in a few words as the last Argument to assert the Peoples Happiness in being under Kings the Sons of Nobles to shew you out of Scripture something of the mischief of Elective Kingdoms which too many in these Nations of late years have madly driven at As long as I keep to Scripture I may suppose my self not much if at all out of my Kew First In such cases on every change it cannot be comprehended or stated how great the publick Sufferings or miseries may may prove but in the general it is most certain the people must suffer much at least all mens Rights Families and even persons must be in perpetual turmoil and danger by reason of the uncertainty as well as variations of Kings or of the particular methods of Government sometimes it will not be known who is King one party will contend one is another will say theirs is and however the Power that made one King to day can unmake him to morrow and amongst so changeable a Generation as they say we Islanders be indeed as all mankind is there can be expected no stability Be pleased to see instances to this purpose out of holy Scripture The People of Israel who I am sure were no Islanders I mean the ten Tribes fell off from the House or Line of David which God had chosen and set over them and they would choose for themselves and a very popular man they did choose for their King namely Jeroboam the Son of Nebat 1 King xii 20. After Wars Disorders and Desolations which lasted all his days and during which in one Battel there fell of the Israelites 2 Chronicl xiii 7 c. five hundred thousand chosen men which would make five greater Armies than I think we have usually heard of in this age and perhaps is a greater number of fighting men than many populous Kingdoms such as are now adays can send forth and from which neither Jeroboam nor his People ever recovered themselves ver 20. After Jeroboams two and twenty years Rebellion against God in corrupting his Worship and People with Idolatry for which they were finally destroyed as well as against two of his lawful Sovereigns successively after all this Iliad
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
Excipitur 3. De Aedilit Edict Malus servus creditus est saith Vlpian qui aliquid facit quo magis se rebus humanis extrahat ut puta laqueum torsit c. He 's adjudged an ill Servant by the Civil Laws who but prepares any thing to dispatch himself out of this world as if he fit an Halter mix Poison or the like And much more such is he who destroys himself by any of these For such a Servant plainly steals himself thereby out of his Masters Service and so does every man himself out of Gods who removes himself hence before God dismisses him Nay the Laws we spoke of go further as to this point affirming * L. Liber homo 13. §. ad L. Aquil. Neminem Dominum membrorum suorum none to be Lord of his own Limbs nor is it by them ordinarily permitted to any without the consent of his Superiors so much as to cut off a Limb for the saving the rest of the Body Which though possibly in some circumstances too strict yet shews according to the sense of those Law-givers who were reputed and I believe not unjustly some of the wisest in the world that there is no one of so private a condition in whom his Prince and Countrey may not so far challenge a right as to divest him of the sole power of disposing of himself I will conclude this point of Self-slaughter which by this time I think I may be bold to stile Self-murder with a famous passage of St. Austin transcribed out of him into the body of the Canon Law This saith he we say this we Hoc dicimus hoc asserimus hoc modis omnibus approbamus neminem spontaneam mortem sibi inferre debere velut fugiendo c. De Civitat Dei l. cap. vide plura causa 23. Qu. 5. Si non licet affirm this we by all possible ways avow that no one may bring voluntary death upon himself to escape thereby any temporal pains least he fall into eternal ones No one may do it by reason of anothers sins lest he thereby begin to have most grievous sin of his own nor because of any of his own past sins for the curing of which by Repentance he has more need to continue in life Nor through desire of a better life which may be hoped for after death because a better Life after Death belongs not to him who is guilty of his own Death This then is our third Conclusion No one is Lord so much as of his own Life Fourthly Whosoever therefore pretends or exercises a Power over other mens Lives must either derive that Power from the Supreme Magistrate to whose Dominions he belongs or in case he do not he becomes by such Exercise or Attempts either an Vsurper or Murderer or both If he pretend to a publick Power herein not deriving it as aforesaid he is an Vsurper and that as generally it comes to pass in all Usurpers is as much as a publick Murderer If he exercise only a private Power as suppose in righting or avenging himself or any third person against some single injurious man he hereby becomes a private Murderer at least before God in case the Life of himself or of any other be but hazarded by his Act. This is most plain for having no such Power in himself and it being by God committed only to the Magistrate he can never come by it regularly and in Gods way except he receive it from them to whom God has committed it Thus though the whole remains of Sauls House were in open Hostility against David and Ishbosheth particularly so keen an Enemy to Davids person that he sought his Life yet when Baanah and Rechab under pretence to do David a Service and avenge their Lord the King of Saul and his Seed go in privately to Ishbosheth's House and take off his Head to bring it as a present to David David pronounces Sentence against them both as Murderers because though there were a publick Quarrel yet these two officious wretches having no Commission to act or interpose therein could not derive any Right or Authority for what they did either from God or Man 2 Sam iv 9 c. Admit Ishbosheth did deserve Death yet these men had no right to inflict it on him Thus as to our fourth Conclusion The fifth is The Magistrate exerciseth this Power of the Sword either in the Administration of Civil Justice or of lawful War A third way I think cannot be assigned and therefore as we will more fully touch by and by whosoever pretend to have received Power of Life and Death from the Magistrate but are neither Civil Officers or legitimately enrolled in the Martial List are still by such pretence no better than Murderers First as to matter of Civil Justice the persons usually commissioned herein are either those who dispence the Laws as Judges Justices and the like or those who execute them as Sheriffs and Vnder-Officers That both these sorts of men must derive their Power from the King as Supreme or else cannot act warrantably I think none will question We have precedents enough in the Jewish Kingdom In Davids time 2 Sam. viii 15 16 c. But more explicitly afterwards 2 Chron. xix 5 6. to the end Jehosophat there set Judges in the Land some fixed as it would seem through all the fenced Cities of Judah City by City others itiner an t who went out and returned to Jerusalem ver 8. And the Subordination of Officers to the ordinary Judges as well as of the Judges to the Supreme Powers we have account of not only in the Old Testament but even from our Lord himself in the Gospels Matth. v. 25. Luk. xii 58. Here is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magistrate we render it or Prince that is he * Vid. Grot. in loc who has Power to appoint the Judge The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judge who is to determine Controversies between Bloud and Bloud according to Law and Commandment Statutes and Judgments And lastly here is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Exactor as the word signifies whose business it was to put or see put the Sentence in Execution Thus we see how this Civil Power of the Sword was legally and orderly derived diffused and managed amongst the Jews And the same God of Order still governs the world and both does and ever will delight in Order Secondly When Civil Justice cannot take place the Magistrate exercises the Power of the Sword in lawful War Sometimes Offenders are too numerous for civil Punishments and stand in justification of their Crimes against the Powers which God has ordained Sometimes not so much a few private persons as whole Nations at least those who manage National concerns may be injurious to a neighbouring People And in such case Justice cannot be done without War Now here also the Magistrate bears not the Sword in vain but he is to raise what armed Force he sees