Selected quad for the lemma: land_n
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A59874
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A sermon preached at St. Margarets Westminster, May 29, 1685, before the Honourable House of Commons by William Sherlock ...
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Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing S3345; ESTC R21741
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10,171
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38
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A SERMON PREACHED At St. Margarets Westminster May 29. 1685. Before the Honourable House of Commons By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Master of the Temple And Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for I. Amery at the Peacock in Fleetstreet and A. Swalle at the Unicorn at the West-end of St. Pauls Church-yard 1685. 10 ECCLES 17. Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles WHen the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Which the Psalmist spoke of the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity but is very easily and naturally applied to the Occasion of this present Solemnity For I hope we have not so soon forgot with what surprizing Joy we beheld our banished Prince return again to his Throne who brought back with him our Laws our Liberties and our Religion that is brought England into England again which was banished with its Prince without changing its Place and Climate And though that beloved and admired Prince who gave the first lustre and glory to this day now sleeps with his Fathers and has onely left us the memory of his Princely Vertues to adorn the Records of Time and the Succession of English Kings yet this day ought not to be forgot which restored to us not onely a Mortal Prince whom we could not expect should live for ever but the Royal Family which we hope and pray may be Immortal Though the Great CHARLES be dead the King lives still in his Royal Brother who was the Rightful Heir of his Crown and the Partner of all his Joys and Sorrows who was banished with him and who returned with him and augmented the brightness of this day by his united Beams a Prince who equals the greatest Examples of former Kings and as we have reason to hope will leave a greater to those who follow It was not the Throngs and Crowds of People which met their returning Prince nor those loud and joyful Acclamations wherewith they welcomed him to his Country and Throne it was not the external Pomp and Splendour of the Show though as magnificent as Art and Nature could make it nay it was not meerly the transporting sight of a Prince who was now endeared by long Absence and by the Oppressions and Injuries of Usurpers who after ten thousand Indignities returned with all the Expressions of a Princely Goodness and Indemnity I say though these were all very affecting Circumstances and added much to raise and heighten a present Passion yet they were not the true Glory of this day which consisted in restoring the English Monarchy in the Royal Line for this we bless God and for the continuance of this we pray this day and if we believe King Solomon there is great reason for both for it is as great a Blessing as any Nation can enjoy Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles The words are so plain that I cannot think of any plainer to express their sence by and therefore not to loose time in a needless Explication there are three things observable in them 1. That Kingly Government is a great Blessing for it cannot be a Blessing to have our King the Son of Nobles if it be not a Blessing to have a King 2. That the noble Descent and Extraction of a King is a great Blessing to a Nation as my Text expresly says Blessed art thou O Land c. And the natural inference from this is 3. That an Hereditary Monarchy is a great Blessing for we are secure that our Kings are the Sons of Nobles when the Son inherits the Fathers Crown 1. That Kingly Government is a great Blessing As for that Dispute Whether Kingly Government be by Divine Right if by Divine Right we mean a positive Law and Institution of God that all Nations shall be governed by Kings I find no such thing in Scripture which is the onely Revelation of the Divine Will but if by Divine Right we mean onely such an intimation of the Will of God as we can learn from the appearances of Nature and Providence I dare boldly affirm that Kingly government is by Divine Right that is is most agreeable to all those notices we have of the Will of God from the original frame and constitution of Nature and from the dispensations of Providence which though it be not sufficient to condemn all other Governments as unlawful yet it advances Monarchy above all other Forms of Government when it appears that God himself has at least given the preference to it The History of the Creation is a plain proof of this for God made but one Man to whom he gave the Dominion and Empire of the World who was the natural Lord as well as Father of all his Posterity which is as good an argument for the natural institution of Monarchy as Gods creating but one Man and one Woman is against Divorce which yet is our Saviours Argument 10 Mark 7 8 9. Thus it was at the new peopling of the World after the Floud God left but one Independent Head of a Family Noah who had a Paternal and Regal Authority over his Sons and their Posterity So that Mankind were born under a Monarchical Government which therefore is the first and the most natural Government instituted by God by the very Laws of our Creation for when God made but one Man who by the Law of Nature has a right to Govern his own Children who then were all Mankind he made him a natural Monarch We have no Histories of those Times to acquaint us how the Government descended but we have all the reason in the world to believe that as Adam and Noah govern'd by a Paternal Right so when Mankind increased and grew too numerous to dwell together they were formed into distinct Kingdoms under the Government of the Heads and Princes of their several Families for in those days they knew no other right of Government but what was Natural and Paternal I urge this onely to prove that Monarchy is the original form of Government instituted by God himself not that every Monarch must have the same right to Government which Adam and Noah had for then there is no Prince in the world can make good his Title to the Crown But these are very distinct questions what is that form of Government which God appointed and by what right a particular Prince can challenge this Authority In the first Ages of the World while the Lineal descent of Families was known there could be no dispute about the Succession but when the numbers of men increased and Families were divided and sub-divided and intermixt with each other when these little Independent Princes invaded their Neighbours and enlarged their Dominions by force and power the right of Government altered but the
to keep Money by him when he finds so much Occasion for it and sees it so hard to come by But this is the fault of the Subject not of the Prince for were Subjects dutiful and obedient quiet and peaceable and ready at all times to grant Supplies as the support of the Government needed without difficulty or dishonourable Terms he must be a strange Prince who would oppress his Subjects when he knows he may have what he can reasonably desire without oppression when his Subjects pockets are as open and a more increasing Exchequer than his own But the most fatal Cheat in Popular Governments is the name of Liberty though the Power be as absolute and dispotical as can be exercised by any Prince and the onely pretence of Liberty is this that they are Slaves to their Equals and enslave one another by turns But I shall say nothing to this since our late dear-bought Experience has taught us the difference between the new-modelled Government of our fellow-Subjects and of a natural Prince So that though we can have no Mathematical certainty in these cases yet all the fair appearances of Reason give the advantages for a happy Government on the side of Monarchy the onely danger is if our Prince should happen to prove a Tyrant and then he may do almost as much mischief as a Tyrannical Commonwealth for it is probable that five hundred Tyrants would do more mischief than one But that which may equally happen under all Forms of Government is an Argument against none The Divine Providence will rectifie such Miscarriages as cannot be prevented by any humane care And yet this which is the onely possible Objection against Monarchy is in a great measure prevented by the Noble Extraction and the generous Education of Princes which is the second thing observable in my Text. 2. That the Noble Descent and Extraction of a King is a great Blessing to a Nation Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles And there are two things wherein this Blessedness consists 1. That the Sons of Nobles are usually better qualified for government than mean Persons 2. That Nobility of Birth gives Lustre and Authority to their Government 1. That the Sons of Nobles especially the Sons of Kings not to meddle at present with other Nobles are usually better qualified for Government than meaner Persons I say usually for in Moral Causes and Free Agents there can be no Rule without exception Persons nobly descended may degenerate from the Vertues of their Ancestors and men of mean Birth and Fortune may have great and generous Minds as if they had been made for Rule and Empire but usually the fortune of mens Birth and Education fashions their Minds and fits them for a peculiar state of life above or below which they are out of their natural Sphere and cannot observe a just Decorum in acting a Part which does not properly belong to them There are some Princely Vertues which are necessary to a Happy Government which cannot be easily learnt by mean Persons A certain inbred Greatness and Generosity of Mind a Sense of Honour without Pride or Insolence a Love of Justice without Cruelty or Revenge a just Esteem for Riches without Covetousness a natural Care of the publick Good and a delight and pleasure in generous actions a steadiness of mind which does not grow giddy with its own height courage and boldness in danger prudence in Council dexterity in Business and a peculiar art and skill in knowing and governing men These are God-like dispositions of Mind which in that perfection which is necessary to Government seem to be originally owing to Nature though they may be cultivated by the happy circumstances of a Noble Birth and Education It has been often observed both of Men and Beasts That they beget their like not only as to their Kind and Species but as to their peculiar Qualities and natural Vertues A Child very often resembles his Father as much in the natural endowments and perfections of Mind as in external shape which is so certainly true what ever the Philosophy of it be That upon this account the Sons of Nobles have the advantage of meaner Births A great and generous Prince begets Princes qualified to sway the Scepter and born with a kind of natural instinct of Government And besides this the glory of their Birth does early inspire them with great Thoughts and they are trained up betimes in the Arts of Government Those universal Courtships and Addresses they receive teach them greatness of Mind mixt with affability and a decent respect to Inferiors for those who have been always accustomed to be treated with Ceremony and awful Regards have a due sense of Honour but are not proud For Honour seldom swells mens minds but when it is new A plentiful Fortune to which they are born without their care and industry is the best preservative against Covetousness which is an ignoble Vice and seldom possesses any Man but him who has known what it is to want and what it is to get an estate And those who stand almost upon an even Level with the Throne as the Sons of Kings do have so easie an ascent thither That it does not turn their Heads with an unusual height which is the Common Effect that a great and sudden advancement has upon mean men that they forget themselves and their just Respects to Mankind which makes them proud and insolen Tyrants when they are possest of Sovereign Power which shows us what a Happiness it is to live under the Government of a Prince who is Nobly descended for such Persons whatever other faults they may have have such Royal Vertues as qualify them for excellent Governours 2. Nobility of Birth gives a Luster and Authority to such a Prince's Government Men do not love to submit to their Equals or Inferiors when such ascend the Throne they are despised and envied and nothing but Force and Power can keep them there But a High-born Prince is the Pride and the desire of a Nation he inherits the Glory of his Ancestors and the World presages great things of him who descends from a race of Kings no man thinks much to submit to him who was born to govern but those who are impatient of any Government or ambitious of Government themselves We are contented to yield to those whose Glory we cannot rival for Competition is only among equals and since the Government must be in some hand it is most reasonable to consent in him who by Birth and Fortune is advanced above all and that must make any Government happy which makes Subjects willing to obey and nothing can so universally dispose people to a chearful Obedience as this 3. And this shows us the advantages of an Hereditary Monarchy For the Royal Family is certainly the most Noble a King who is the Son of Kings to be sure is the Son of Nobles And it is the highest and greatest Nobility