Selected quad for the lemma: master_n
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A31405
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A sermon preached in a country-audience on the late day of fasting and prayer, January 30 by a priest of the Church of England.
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Cave, John, d. 1690.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing C1585; ESTC R36288
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19,279
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33
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the Emperours by submitting to Christianity suffer any diminution in this part of their Royalty witness Constantine who honoured Bishops very highly and yet he reserved to himself the power of purging the Church from Idolatry and establishing the worship of God Enseb l. 2. de vit Constant c. 1. Theod. l. 5.20 by his own Imperial Edicts Witness Jovinian and Theodosius who by their own immediate Acts restored and reformed the pure religion which Julian and Valens had so much corrupted and destroyed Witness Justinian Novel Constit 131. who established the Code of the Universal Church consisting of the Canons of the four first General and five ancient Provincial Councils and commanded them to be kept as Laws I cannot stay here to give more instances of this nature seeing what hath been said already doth sufficiently shew that Kings and Magistrates have a great influence upon the Church upon our living godlily and therefore are to be pray'd for as such who may and do contribute very much either to the destruction or to the defence of the Faith the true Religion I need not tell you what a necessary dependance all the civil interests of a Nation have upon their Head and Governour nor have I time to shew you what glory the honour of a Prince reflects upon his people what protection and security they have in his power his Wisdom his vigilance and his goodness I can only tell you that his good is a common good and therefore to be prayed for as well for our own sake as his that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty That is the first motive to pray for Kings because the general safety peace prosperity and piety of a Nation depends so much upon them A further encouragement to this duty 2. In a second place may be this viz. That the prayers and piety of Subjects do very much contribute to the procuring and preserving of good Kings and Magistrates As for the iniquity and irreligion of a people God many times justly deprives them of a good Prince by suffering him to fall into sin and mischief which was the case of the incomparable Josiah 2 Kings 23.25 So by religion and righteousness is a Nation exalted and a Throne established If the wicked be taken from before the King his Throne shall be established in righteousness Prov. 25.5 If the prayers of single persons are so prevalent for themselves and their friends what great things may we expect from the united devotions of many good men in behalf of a person whose good redounds to many and whose happiness is a publick benefit As you have heard If prayer in such a case do not move God to convert a King from all sin and make him do all the good which is in his power yet we may hope it will at leastwise obtain that restraining grace for him which will keep him from being worse and hinder him from doing that evil to himself or the publick which before he was inclined to We are apt to impute the ill management of things and the evils that ensue thereupon to the weakness or wickedness of Kings which perhaps may more justly be charged upon the sins the profaneness and indevotion of the subject which very often provokes God to withdraw his guidance and direction his grace and assistance from Princes giving them up to be swayed by ill counsel to be overpowered by temptation to be drawn by their own lusts and passions to commit such folly and wickedness as becomes a plague and a scourge to a sinful people Psalm 106.32 For the peoples sake it went ill with Moses when he spake unadvisedly with his lips Davids sin in numbering the people was but a judgment executed on them for their own wickedness 2 Sam. 24.1 The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel for their sins no doubt and he moved David against them to say Go number Israel and Judah To instance in the case which was too much our own It was the peoples sin and not his surely which provoked God to deliver up the best of Kings into the hands of bloody and deceitful men to be abused and vilified and afterwards murthered by them If his good subjects had spent as much time in serious prayer for him as those hypocritical Traytours did in their mock devotions we might happily have enjoyed him longer 3. We are to pray for Kings because it is the only way the generality can do them service in Those that cannot help them by their counsel nor their Purses may by their prayers This way the charity and kindness of the poorest Cottage may visit and relieve the Court it self and the greatest King may be indebted for his preservation his life his health the success of his affairs to the prayers of his meanest Vassal 4. Christian prudence directs and Christian charity inclines us to pray most for such as most need it Now there are none in many respects more indigent and necessitous than the greatest Princes and Potentates none that need prayers and intercessions more than they and that 1. In respect of their great duties 2. Their manifold temptations 3. Their numerous enemies some in one way and some in another projecting against them 1. Their duties are great and difficult It is a very hard matter to rule well a great deal of Wisdom a great deal of study and care of strength and industry is required to make a good Governour The Master or Ruler of a Family a little Commonwealth as Aristotle calls it hath a great deal more to do a great many more solicitous thoughts about him a great many more troublesome businesses upon his hands than one of a single though a dependent capacity ordinarily hath The Governour then of a Kingdom which contains not only many Families but many Corporations and Cities will find the cares and troubles of provision and protection to encrease and multiply proportionably Epicurus who would by no means deny the being of a God yet disowned his providence and he did it with some shew of complement and civility pretending that it must needs be a great interruption of his ease and tranquillity to concern himself in the government of the World the ordering guiding controuling disposing of things so much below himself In this indeed he bewraies a very erroneous a very unworthy conception of the Supream Ruler of the World as if the ways and actions of the most perfect Being were subject to the same streights confinements and fatigues as ours are whereas his wisdom knows all things without so much as the labour of discourse and his power can do all things without Stratagem or contrivance But the Gods of the Earth 't is true Kings and Magistrates who in many things not only represent but resemble the God of Heaven in this are very unlike him They do not attain their Wisdom without diligent search experience and observation nor employ either it