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law_n	king_n	know_v	power_n	6,767	5	5.0443	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61463	A thanksgiving sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Court of Aldermen, sheriffs, and companies of the city of London at St. Mary-le-bow, April 16, 1696, upon occassion of His Majesty's deliverence from a villanous assassination in order to a French invasion by William Stephens ...	Stephens, William, d. 1718.	1696 (1696)	Wing S5465; ESTC R14197	18,938	34

HOVBLON MAYOR Jovis decimo Sexto Aprilis 1696. Annoque Regni Regis Gulielmi Angl. c. Octavo THIS Court doth desire Mr. Stephens to Print his Sermon Preach'd before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of this City at the Parish Church of St. Mary-le-Bow on Thursday the 16th of April last being the Thanksgiving Day GOODFELLOW A Thanksgiving Sermon Preach'd before the Right Honourable THE Lord Mayor Court of Aldermen Sheriffs and Companies of the City of London At St. Mary-le-Bow April 16. 1696. Upon Occasion of His MAJESTY'S Deliverance FROM A Villanous Assassination In Order to a French Invasion By WILLIAM STEPHENS B. D. Rector of Sutton in Surrey LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill and J. Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1696. Mr. STEPHENS's Thanksgiving Sermon Preach'd before the Lord Mayor AT St. Mary-le-Bow April the 16th 1696. To the Right Honourable Sir JOHN HOVBLON Kt. Lord Mayor of the City of London AND The Worshipful the Court of Aldermen HE who at this day shall read the Account which our Annals give of the Spanish Invasion carried on against England which is so well defended by her natural Situation and where vast Numbers of Brave and Martial People are never wanting will conclude with himself that Spain must have made sure to her Interests no small Party among us from whose readiness to close with her Design she took confidence to call her Armado Invincible Without an Encouragement of this nature 't would be at all times a vain Attempt to Invade England But this Motive was not then wanting for the Queen was Excommunicated and her Subjects freed from their Allegiance by the Pope by whom her Dominions were also disposed of to the King of Spain who was therefore by the Papists then a considerable part of the Nation esteem'd as King de Jure whilst Queen Elizabeth held only a bare Possession But he who an Age to come shall read the History of the late Embarkation in order to a French Invasion and know that then the Papist was but the Two hundredth Man in the Kingdom will admire from whence the French should have drawn their Encouragement to make a Conquest upon England the Name of KING WILLIAM will then shine in the History of this Age with a Brightness at least equal to any of his Predecessors in the Sovereignty of these Realms And the Knavish Distinction of De Facto which was the Foundation-stone of the late designed Assassination Insurrection and Invasion will be left out of his Title Your Lordship knoweth that those who have refused to Swear Allegiance to His Majesty are but a small Party and the Papists are far from being any great one so that the dead Weight which the French King must rely upon are that Body of Men who own the King only as a bare Possessor of the Throne To whom the Oath of Allegiance is at best but a meer Formality very far from obliging them in Conscience to a vigorous Assistance of the King That they themselves I mean think no otherwise always is made evident when a Non-Swearer meets with one of the same Principle with himself but yet who hath sworn Allegiance The first Question is Whether he hath sworn Allegiance to the P. of O? 'T is answer'd Yes 'T is demanded for what reason And 't is replied Because he is now King of England What Right hath he to the Crown of England saith the other with some warmness Truly None saith the Swearer but yet he is King de Facto If Your Lordship is pleas'd to summ up these Answers you will easily see if they amount to any more than this viz. he hath sworn Allegiance to the P. of O. Because he is possessed of a Kingdom which of Right belongeth to another I know that the Style of King William is allowed and used by these Men but I am sure that Your Lordship did not think the Regal Power of this Realm to which the Laws and Liberties of England are entitled could be solidly founded on a meer Complement or rather Reproach Nor is Your Lordship ignorant with what wonderful Zeal and Industry this weak Title if it be any was carried on Not indeed by the way of Address but of meer Noise and Effrontery So that whosoever asserted His Majesty's Right to the Crown from the Peoples Grant in Parliament was for so doing marked out as an Enemy to the Church and Monarchy And thus the King 's Dutiful Subjects have been discouraged because they own'd themselves bound in Conscience to support his Rightful Title whilst the Right of King James was sacredly preserved and warmly defended by the De Facto Subjects of King William Could the French King have wished for more inviting Advantages to the pretended King's Restoration When I consider the wonderful and undeserved Deliverance which our good God by his never failing Mercy hath lately wrought for us as I Congratulate the Joy of Christendom of Europe and of England so I cannot omit to Congratulate a Treble Joy which particularly affecteth Your Lordship arising from the Preservation of the Metropolis Admiralty and Bank of England all which are Your Lordship's honourable and near Concerns And that there may never be wanting Men of Your Lordships Abilities and true English Integrity to discharge the Trusts of the Nation is the hearty wish of My LORD Your most Obliged and most Humble Servant William Stephens COL III. 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful AMongst the Characters which in antient Prophecy were given to the Messiah Isai 9.6 one was that he should be the Prince of Peace He was born in a time that seldom hapned when the Roman Empire was at peace with all the World at his Birth the Angels who were his Heralds proclaimed peace upon Earth and good will towards men The Doctrine which he delivered is justly stiled the Gospel of Peace because all the Lines of it center in mutual Love and Charity by which Peace is maintained in Societies and within our Consciences His whole Life was a Pattern of the Peace of God expressed in the most lively manner of Humility and Condescention 'T was indeed a daily return of Good for Evil and his Death was the greatest act of Charity which crowned all the former labours of his Love But if there be no Herb so salutary which a Venemous Creature cannot digest into Poyson 't is not impossible that men of Corrupt Morals should from the very Gospel of Peace draw Pretences to raise War hatch Treasons Assasinate and Massacre Whilst on the contrary the Disciples of Christ do not only follow after Peace with all men but seriously exhort all others to do the like And this is the earnest Exhortation of St. Paul to the Church at Coloss Let the Peace of God c. By the Peace of God is meant a peaceable and condescending

And what greater affront can we offer to the high Merit of our excellent Prince who useth his just Title only to support the true old legal Monarchy of England than to pay any respect to the Title or Memory of him who Abdicated the Crown i. e. cast off the legal form of Government and ruled us by a Despotick Power was it though decent or indeed tolerable to preserve a respect for Tarquin in the Consulship of Brutus by whose Aid the People cast off the Yoke of his insupportable Tyranny but what would have been thought of those who should publickly disavow the Right of Brutus to that high Dignity which the People had vested in him out of respect to Tarquin the deposed Prince 3dly Let us bless God who brought Light out of Darkness that by the discovery of this unnatural Conspiracy he hath sprang a light whereby his sacred Majesty and those who are entrusted with any part of the Government under him may clearly discern their Friends from their Enemies and certainly know who are for and who are against the conjunct Interest of King and People so that from hence such measures may be taken which are absolutely needfull to secure our Establishment Whosoever refuseth to acknowledge the Right of William the III. does actually declare for the extinguished Right of James the II. and whosoever owns his Right must by Virtue of his Allegiance hold himself in conscience oblig'd to endeavour his Restoration Now I appeal to all the world if any such person as this can of right claim to himself so much as Protection from the present Government but on the other side every one must own that the Government in protecting them doth fully discharge the highest duty of Christian Charity which is to love our Enemies and do good to those that hate us Protection is the highest Favour which the Government can in this case bestow or which these men are fit to receive for Christ never commanded us to trust our Enemies but on the contrary to temper the Innocency of the Dove with the Wisdom of the Serpent He who thinks himself obliged in Conscience to James the II as his rightfull King if he hath not the Courage to make one in an Insurre Stion nor the hardy baseness to joyn in an Assassination yet 't is manifest that he will not oppose the former design nor reveal the latter Now altho to protect such persons be the highest degree of Christian Charity yet to admit them into the Trusts of the Nation is not the highest degree of Christian Prudence The Jesuits who were convicted of a Hellish Plot in the Reign of King Charles II. could never with all their Wit excuse or so much as extenuate their Treason and therefore they betook themselves to the last Shift or an impudent Denial But our late Convicts with greater Effrontery own and justifie their unnatural Conspiracy and die glorying in their Treason But was ever any Kingdom so fatally divided against it self that the Religion by Law established should be an open Enemy to the civil Constitution that what in the Eye of the Law is Treason should by the Church be accounted Duty that whom the Judge condemneth the Priest shall absolve at Execution for the Impenitence of the Traytors and Insolence of the Absolvers are both justifiable as they pretend from the Church of England's Doctrine concerning Passive Obedience and it must indeed be granted that if James the II. had a divine and indefeasible right to our Passive Obedience the right of King William the III. to the Crown of these Realms could not at this day have been own'd nor could the bloody Conspirators even against that Life which under God supporteth the liberty of Europe and the Christian Profession throughout the World been found guilty of Treason But do these Apostates think to impose their Passive Doctrine of blind Obedience upon the Protestant Church and Kingdom of England do they think we cannot rightly distinguish this matter as for instance Passive Obedience to the Law of the Land is the Doctrine of Jesus Passive Obedience to the will of the Prince is the Dostrine of Judas a false and trayterous Doctrine whereby all civil Governments and legal Rights are betray'd to arbitrary Power Judas betray'd the person of Christ to the High-Priest of Israel Passive Obedience to the will of the late King betrays the Body of Christ i. e. all true Christians to the Pope of Rome and therefore the Professors of this Doctrine have by the righteous Laws of this Land suffer'd that Punishment to which God in his just judgment condemned the Traytor Judas which was To be hang'd and burst in the middle But what can put a stop to the unparallell'd Insolence of this Party unless the Parliamentary Association which subjects these hardned Traytors to a just Revenge be wellcomed with the Heart and Hand of the Nation Hereby every honest Man and Lover of his Country may encourage our Confederates abroad and assure the Minds of all true Englishmen at Home and we need not doubt that God will bless these our honest Endeavours in defence of that Religion which is all Charity and Peace and of that King whose only fault perhaps it is that his own safety is not so dear to him as it is and ever ought to be to us These Cautions are absolutely needfull to preserve our Rightfull King and righteous Establishment and therefore let us joyn our Prayers to God that no false Suggestions nor vain Jealousies may prevent or frustrate these necessary Cautions which God in Mercy grant through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS

strict Fendings and Provings 1 Cor. 13. but rather suffereth long and is kind and thinketh no evil but admits of as good colours as the Advocate can put upon the Actions of his Client v. 4 5. for Charity believeth all things and hopeth all things i. e. believeth and hopeth the best of all things and whensoever the Offender pleadeth Guilty the Process is stopped and then both parties are satisfied the one that he hath found favour the other that he hath granted it One is delivered from fear the other from trouble both rejoyce that their Controversie is happily brought to an end And to crown all it sometimes falls out that each hath made a Friend of the other 2. The Second general Head to be considered was the Rules of this Court by which she governeth her Judgment Now the Rules and Measures constantly us'd in Courts of Judicature are those Methods and Ways which long Experience hath found out to be useful and expeditious for determining of Causes By these our Courts give Law to their own Power in order to the publick Good And the Rules by which Charity decideth Controversies are these 1. Charity judgeth not the Person of any Man from those ill Consequences which are charged upon his Opinion especially if he disown those Consequences Since nothing but what cometh from within can defile the Man A good Man will reason thus with himself 'T is possible I may be mistaken in the Inferences I draw from such an Opinion Or if I have concluded right another who receiveth the Opinion it may be doth not discern the ill Consequences of it but if he declare his Disbelief of 'em though they may be ever so truly charged upon the Opinion they cannot upon the Man This Rule of Charity would calm the Disputers of this World and soften the Stile of Controversie 'T would suffer no Gall to drop from the Pen of the Writer in bitter Reflections upon the Person of his Adversary This Rule would have softned the Controversie and prevented the Quarrel which not long since arose betwixt the Calvinists and Arminians the one call'd the other Free-willers and from thence laid to their Charge that they lessened the Esteem due to the Grace of God as if it were not absolutely necessary to our Salvation when on the other hand it was objected to them who held the Article of absolute Predetermination that they blasphemed God by making him the Author of Sin Now tho' the one Party owned God's Grace absolutely needful to their Salvation and most of the other Party disowned God's being the Author of Sin and all disowned that he was culpably so yet an immortal Hatred arose between both Parties and when each had the Opportunity of Power the other felt the Effects of it 2. This Court esteemeth Errors in Men's Judgment not to be a Subject Matter of Punishment but Instruction Errantis poena est doceri Seneca Such Opinions which are meerly speculative tending to no immoral Practice whether they be true or false are innocent and can therefore give no reason of Disturbance and consequently no just Occasion of punishing their Abettors They fall not under the Cognizance of the Ruler Rom. 13.3 4. who is only a Terrour to evil Works a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doth evil Had this Rule been observed Smithfield Fires had never been kindled and the World had been guiltless of all the barbarous Murders of those who held this innocent Opinion could it possibly have been an Error viz. That what was Bread before the Consecration of the Priest was Bread after it But if a Man will propagate such erroneous Opinions which directly mislead Men into wicked Practices the publick Weal requireth that an effectual Restraint be put thereunto as in the Case of a Native of England who hath received Orders from the See of Rome and is therefore by Law condemned to Death the reason is because no Priest is admitted to Cure of Souls under that See but is obliged to take an Oath contained in the Bull of Pius the 4th Super formam juramenti professionis which is usually annext to the printed Canons of the Council of Trent which Oath contains in it evident Matter of Treason as will appear by these Clauses Romano Pontifici veram Obedientiam spondeo juro i. e. I vow and swear true Obedience to the Pope Again Caetera omnia à sacris Canonibus oecumenicis Conciliis definita recipio i. e. all the Decrees and Determinations of general Councils and holy Canons I receive and at last hanc fidem integram indubitanter recipio ab illis quorum Cura ad me spectabit teneri doceri praedicari quantum in me erit curaturum juro i. e. as I heartily receive these Doctrins so I swear that I will take care to the utmost of my Power that they shall be propagated wheresoever I shall be concerned Now since those Canons which the Papists call holy and Councils which they call general give the Popes a Power to depose Sovereign Princes And since the Experience of our own Nation hath informed us that former Popes have endeavour'd to render the Imperial Crown of this Realm feudatory to Rome and that K. Henry VIII and Q. Elizabeth were actually excommunicated and deposed by papal Power certainly such Natives of England who swear to propagate Doctrins of this Tendency among their Countrymen and also vow and swear personal Obedience to the Pope in Matters of this nature can be consider'd by our Laws no otherwise than as Traytors to their Country I know the Papists complain that their Priests suffer here for Religion and the Catholick Faith but if what they are pleased to call by those Names be in Truth Treason of the highest Nature The burning of Men alive upon the score of Religion is by the Papists called an Act of Faith I do not see how specious Names can excuse the Guilt of such execrable Villany any more than the fine Phrase An Act of Faith can excuse the most barbarous Sort of solemn Murder which is the burning of Men alive against whom they pretend not to lay the Charge of any Immorality But on the contrary if the Opinions which some Man or Society of Men profess have in their Nature no Tendency to produce immoral Practices betwixt Man and Man nor to unsettle the Form of Government which is established in a Nation this Court of Chancery hath no Rule whereby to punish such Opinions notwithstanding the Complaints of some angry Men of all Communions who shall charge him that professeth any Opinion they dislike with a Breach upon the Peace of the Church 3. This Court forbid deth no Man or Community of Men that Liberty in the Exercise of their Christian Profession which Christ hath not forbidden Nor will it compel any one by Fine Imprisonment bodily Pain or any other Force whatsoever to own any Article of Belief or joyn with any Form