draw Rebels to Loyalty and to encourage True Loyalists therein for it is taken ab utili from the great good that flows from the Ministry of the King to the bodies and souls of them that are obedient and do good he is the Minister of God to thee for good k Rom. 13.3 4. be thy Prince good or bad there is no exception in this respect he is still the Minister of God to thee for good Si honus August Serm. 6. de verbis Dom. secundum Mat. nutritor est tuns saith St. Austin si malus tentator tuus est if thy Prince be wicked and Tyrannous he is thy temper to exercise thy patience whereby he becomes the cause of thy eternal good by thy temporal evil But if he be good and Religious a true defender of the Faith he is thy Nurse yea a nursing Father to the whole Church whereby he becomes the Minister of God to thee for thy greater good both Temporal and Eternal 1. For thy praise do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same l Rom. 13.3 Governours are sent by the King not only for the punishment of evil doers but for the praise of them that do well m 1 Pet. 2.14 Yea if thou beest good and obedient thy King by the influence of his good Government will not only promote his own honour n 1 Sam. 2.30 but will be the Minister of God to thee for thy praise in all fear thou the Lord and the King and thou shalt have no need to praise thy self the lips of others even strangers shall give thee praise enough o Psa 15.4 Pro. 27.2 Yea thy very enemies shall be at peace with thee p Pro. 16.7 2. For thy profit both in Church and State 1. In the State to protect thy body and estate from the rage of enemies and adversaries both within and without the Common-Wealth that thou mayest enjoy thy Meum and Tuum with the more peace and security 2. In the Church to defend thy Faith in its integrity both by the assistance of godly Preachers and learned Antagonists in the cause of Christ and by a strong fence of right Order and Discipline that thou having no letts nor hinderances in thy Religion mayest not only have temporal happiness but also eternal Therefore St. Paul exhorts us very earnestly to make supplications Prayers intercessions and giving of thanks not only for all men in general but for Kings in a special manner 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 saith he and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth q 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3 4. To wit by the means of wise and Religious Princes such as was Constantine the Great that great Favourer of Religion and Defender of the Faith No Salvation out of Christ Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth r Psa 2.10 Consider that as you have your power not from your selves or from your Subjects but from God so not for your selves to satisfie your own lusts carnal ends and interest but also for God to rule his people nurse his Church and contain it in order This is the end for which all Kings are ordained the care of the Church is their great Depositum the very burden of their charge Å¿ Isa 44.28 49.23 But alas all have not obeyed the Gospel of Christ t Rom. 10.16 The Turks and Jews do yet stand out and the fulness of the Gentiles is not yet come in u Rom. 11.25 though no people are found so Barbarous but they will have some form of Religion or other to acknowledge a God by as all India East and West sheweth Yet many Kings of the Earth and Heathen Rulers are so far from embracing Christ and his Gospel that they still set themselves and take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying Let us break their Bands asunder and cast away their Cords from us w Psa 2.2 3. Ecclesiastical History will inform you that almost all ages of the Church have felt the rage of their persecution x Acts 4. But let them go on they are left without excuse all have heard the glad tidings of Salvation the sound of the Gospel hath gone out into all the Earth and the words of it unto the ends of the World y Acts 2. Rom. 10.18 Psal 19.4 Neither let them dream that Salvation can be had in any thing out of Christ and his Gospel They indeed seeing through the glass of their punishments the cursed nature of Original sin to be ebullient in their members do with much Zeal and Devotion worship God ignorantly in some Idol or other z Acts 17.23 thinking by their childish Idolatry and vain Incense and Oblations either to expiate their sin and the sad effects thereof or to win Gods favour unto them a 1 Kings 18. But alas they are so far from doing of that that robbing God of his due honour by their Idol-worship they so much the more provoke him to anger against them b Jer. 11.17 It is as vain a thing for them to imagin that they cane be saved by the works of their own hands as to conceit that they were made by them or are preserved common reason teaching them if their understanding were not darkned c Ephes 4.18 That the former is as impossible to be done as the latter without the Omnipotent hand of a Deity for Gods infinite justice being wounded by sin deliverance from it is a new Creation and a Resurrection from Death and Damnation to life again and therefore cannot possibly be effected by any thing but by Christ God as well as man and man too as well as God for both those Natures Divine and Humane must necessarily be in the person of him who is our Redeemer or else a peace could never have been concluded between God and man If he had not been God he could not have satisfied the infinite justice of God by fulfilling all righteousness for man d Mat. 3.15 which man as man by reason of his finiteness and imperfect holiness could never do for himself And if he had not been man the satisfaction could not have been made in the same nature which sinned without which the satisfaction had been null for want of mutuality You see then that Salvation from the Wrath of God cannot possibly be obtained by any vain and Anger-provoking worship which you perform but only by Christ and his Mediatorship God dwelling in our flesh perfect God and perfect man And therefore the Word of God than which there is nothing so rational doth impute our Salvation only to Christ neither is there Salvation in any other for there is none other name
12.6 7 8 9. so the true Loyalist fears to offend his King not slavishly only for the sake of his power as the nominal Loyalist doth for fear of punishment but Evangelically out of a filial fear and perfect love to God Which as St. John saith casteth out all slavish and tormenting fear o 1 John 4.18 In a word the true Loyalist looks upon his King not humanely as one that hath only power and authority to terrifie and punish him if he do evil but spiritually and abstractedly as he is Gods Minister and Vicegerent ordained for that very end And therefore he fears and subjects himself to him of necessity not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake p Rom. 13.4 5. Thus you see the nature and quality of fear which makes the difference between the true Loyalist and the false But now we must consider that as a filial and Evangelical fear being as it were the Royal Head the primum mobile or first mover in all the Spheres of Religion q Pro. 9.10 Job 28.28 doth in its progress produce 1. True honour to the King and that both of esteem and maintenance and 2. With true honour all the parts of obedience r Ecclesiastes 12.13 So these duties and commandments are counterfeited by the Devil Gods Ape either by corrupting the hearts of his Children with a servile fear or by changing himself in them into an Angel of light In all which the True Loyalist will also be discovered from the false by the difference of their originals For your better understanding whereof take this for a general Rule That the True Loyalist makes the fear of God the groundwork of all duties to his King he eyes God in all and doth all for his sake and to his glory Whereas the counterfeit Loyalist doth in all only eye either humane powers or his own safety sinister ends or vain glory As 1. The True Loyalist is one that honoureth his King not only for the fear of his power and authority and the Penal Laws of the Land as the nominal Loyalist doth but out of love and fear to God because so is his will and Commandment ſ 1 Pet. 2.15 in which respect St. Peter hath joyned them both together saying fear God honour the King t 1 Pet. 2.17 2. Though a Kings Majesty and Grandeur be the foundation of humane honour as well as his power is of a servile fear yet the True Loyalist honours his King not for the sake of them alone meerly as they are humane as the Carnal Loyalist doth but as his King receives them from God his only Lord and Master and in that respect are impresses of the Divine Yea and in regard of his supremacy Prerogatives too annexed to his headship 3. The True Loyalist honoureth his King not for any self-interest or by-end of his own as the time-serving self-seeking Jesuitical Loyalist doth but still only for the Lords sake because he is his Minister and Vicegerent Lastly The True Loyalist honoureth his King not in word only as lip-holy and heart-hollow Pharisees honour the Lord u Mat. 15.8 9. but ex animo sincerely from his very heart in deed and in truth 1 John 3.18 for duty and Conscience sake because God hath commanded him to give honour to whom honour is due w Rom. 13.7 And no marvel for thus the True Loyalist honoureth all his other Governours both in Church and State 1. He highly esteemeth in love all his spiritual Governours both Bishops and Pastors of the Church not for their persons x Rom 2.11 James 2.9 Jud. 16. but for their works sake not because they have the rule over him but because they are over him in the Lord and are Ambassadors for Christ to admonish and beseech him in his stead to be reconciled to God y 2 Cor. 5.20 1 Thes 5.12 13. Phil. 2.29 Heb. 13.7 17. Rom. 10.15 2. He much honoureth too all Magistrates and Civil Governours according to their several orders and Degrees whom his King hath put in authority under him in the State not for their powers sake but still for the Lords sake because they have received their power from him to execute his wrath upon evil doers and for the praise of them that do well z Rom. 13.4 1 Pet. 2.14 16. How much more then doth he honour his King who is a person not only Civil but Sacred too Civil in respect he is not to intermeddle with the Holy Function of a Minister any more than King Vzziah was to invade the holy Office of a Priest a 2 Chron. 26.18 or we are to meddle with them that are given to Change But Sacred in respect he is Gods Deputy and Vicegerent ordained under him Supreme Head and Governour over all both in Church and State as well the highest of the Clergy as the lowest of the Laity God himself always held the Scepter above the Miter to defend it and therefore King David calls himself expresly the Lord of Zadok the High Priest b 1 King 1.33 Yea in a word the True Loyalist considers that as his Lord God himself is the common Father of us all c Mal. 1.6 so hath he appointed the King his Vicegerent to be Pater patriae the Father of his Country And therefore he respects him accordingly above all as an obedient Son doth his Father that so he may neither stand in the light of his own honour by dishonouring his Lord God in contemning in his King the Image of his authority d 1 Sam. 2.30 nor withstand his promise of long life either in this World or the World to come or both by breaking the fifth Commandment This is enough to let us see that True godliness and Loyalty True Loyalty and goldiness the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King go hand in hand together both in the Affirmative and in the Negative 1. The consequence à majori ad minus is undeniable in the Affirmative He that doth the greater duty in Religion will not stick to do the lesser quisquis Deum timet etiam Regibus honorem habebit 1 Pet. 2.17 1 Sam. 8.8 12.18 saith Calvin he that feareth God will also honour his King And 2. The consequence à minori ad majus is as undeniable in the Negative He that refuses to do the lesser duty in Religion to be sure will not do the greater he that will not fear and honour his King no man can be so sottish to think that he feareth God Therefore what St. John saith concerning our love to God and our brother e 1 Joh. 4.20 I may as truly say of our fear to God and our King If a man say I fear God and dishonoureth his King he is a lyer no less than a Quaker for he that honoureth not his King who is visible how can he fear God whom no man can see and live f Exod. 33.20 From
would have perswaded the very Elect themselves that they were really a Godly Party true fearers of God indeed y Mat. 24.24 the more they had a mind to dishonour the King the more they pretended to fear the Lord How many Pharisaical prayers and superstitious Preachings were made to devour the Possessions of all True Loyalists even to the houses of poor Widows and the Fatherless z Mat. 23.14 How many sad Countenances and Bulrush necks to trumpet out the praise of their Saintship And how many Hypocritical sighs and groans too to blow up all Royalty and Loyalty and cheat the people into Rebellion All which either more or less was evident in most but especially in Cook that Famous or rather Infamous Preacher sigher and groaner and in Cromwell too the Head of their Rebellion * Boscobel or the Compleat History of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the Battel of Worcester 3 Sept. 1651. Part. 1. p. 18. who when at Worcester fight he had marched over Powick Bridge a considerable number of his men to fight against his King said in his Hypocritical way The Lord of Hosts be with you That so the poor ignorant and credulous Rabble who knew no other cause but their pay why they were gathered together any more than the followers of Demetrius a Acts 19.40 or those two hundred that followed Absolom out of Jerusalem in their simplicity b 2 Sam. 15.11 thinking that it was Gods cause which they were ingaged in might be the more animated in their Rebellion But it is no wonder that these Rebels and Whetstones of Rebellion should thus dishonour the King when as for all their specious pretences they were not afraid to dishonour the Lord himself not only indirectly through the sides of his Vicegerent but immediately and directly in himself for time was then also when they did most impudently prophane Gods Sanctuary the House of Prayer the place where his honour dwelleth c Ps 26.8 they set up the abomination of desolation in the Holy Place where it ought not to stand d Mat 24.15 Hist Independ Compleat Part. 1. p. 170. Sir William Brereton Colonel General for the Cheshire Forces having given him the Arch-Bishops House and Lands at Croiden with Cashobery and other Lands of the Lord Capels worth 2000 l. per an for service done and to be done against the King and Kingdom reformed the Chapel there into a Kitchin This was a goodly reformation fitting with his Stomach as well as his Religion But O. Cromwell * Hist Independ Compleat Part. 2. p. 34 35. in proportion to his sublimity therein went beyond him when he and his reformed St. Pauls from the Church of God to a Den of Thieves Stable of Horses and Brothel of Whores out of envy I suppose to the King because it was the Head and Royal Church of the Kingdom And to cover his Prophaneness he would most ridiculously say his Prayers amongst his Horses And Lambert and his crue did not come far behind him when he threatened to pluck down Churches for Edification as they actually did the Kings house at Holmby And I may add too what hereafter I shall have better occasion to speak of in their changing that they then also thought it a great piece of Reformation to dishonour God publickly not only by doing their Carnal and Worldly business in his Sanctuary but also by being most irreverently and unmannerly covered even before their betters in his Holy Ordinances And O! that I could not say that even now time is that this sin of Prophaneness is still extant in some too many amongst us which without all doubt plainly declares nothing more than that they are still infected with their old Common-Wealth principles They are apt to complain of the reliques of Popery because they want Wisdom to discern the precious from the vile e Jer. 15.19 But I wish we had not juster cause to complain of the reliques of Fanaticism there be too many dregs of it lye at the bottom of this Nation which if they should be once stirred before they be refined it is much to be feared that they would quickly discover themselves on the top We have Church Fanaticks as well as Church Papists amongst us You therefore that are infected with the gangrene of Fanaticism with the leven or doctrine of these Phanatical Scribes and Pharisees f Mat. 16.6 12. it is behoofeful that you be very careful to purge it out from your Consciences by a timely true and unfeigned repentance that you may not corrupt others with evil manners but become a new Lump your selves g 1 Cor. 5.7 to win and confirm those in the truth that want it h Luk. 22.32 As Doctor Lee Colonel Richard * Boscobel Or the Compleat Hist of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the Battel of Worcester Part. 1. p. 16. Ingolsby who since his Conversion was created Knight of the Bath at his Majesties Coronation and other real Converts have done in the same reformation This is a thing not to be dallied with but to be seriously considered in time and the rather because evil habits are as hardly forsaken as easily taken unless you take it for a thing indifferent as some of your Predecessors have done whether you are for ever happy or miserable Luke-warm Christians partly Fanaticks and partly Loyalists and Conformists that like a trembling Needle between two Loadstones incline to both and neither are as loathsome to God as the Laodiceans i Revel 3.14 15 16. You have sometime taken an Oath to be constant to true Loyalty and Conformity and what will you not fear your Oaths k Ecclesiastes 8.2 O remember therefore from whence you are fallen repent and do the first Works that God may have nothing against you l Revel 2.4 5. You cannot complan of any want of means for your recovery and restauration You have the Scriptures where the same God that hath taught you to fear him hath also in the same breath taught you to fear and honour the King and what will you not believe him who is so much truth it self by nature that he cannot lye m Tit. 1.2 and there he hath also taught you that his worship cannot consist without honour nor the Churches of the Saints without peace and order And what should I mention what means you have also had from the examples of well ordered Churches both Clergy and Laity when as the King himself Gods Minister and Vicegerent your head and Soveraign hath not only established the same according to his Lords commandment but hath also taught you by his own pious example how to reverence Christ your Head by uncovering your heads in his Church Holy House or Sanctuary And what will ye be worse than all the World besides Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis The whole world strives who shall the most follow the example
this judgment of him that if they must have a King he had rather have had the last than any Gentleman in England he found no fault in his person but in his Office And yet for all this like Herod too they could pretend to do what they did for their Oaths * Hist Independ Compleat Part 2. p. 242. c. sake Especially in their compliance with the bloody Irish Papists though by their Oath they were ingaged so much to the contrary to defend the King and his posterity and to root out Popery But their minds were so bent to ruin Monarchy and the Protestant Religion meerly to raise themselves and support their own faction that they did not consider what they said or did And their Oath besides was so intricate and full of contradiction that they could not tell what to make of it And therefore they sometimes rejected it and sometimes pretended it in their Hypocrisie for the sake of those parts in it which they thought the most favoured their designs according to their own vain whimzies and Fanatical imaginations as * Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 79 80. Marshal that Turn-Coat Priest having always a special care to side himself with the prevailing Party in a Sermon at Margarets Westminster cried up Presbytery and the Covenant whenas before to ingratiate himself with the Independents he had as much slighted both in the Army for otherwise their facinorous acts shewed that they feared an Oath no more than Herod did in beheading John the Baptist If they had feared an Oath their Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy as they ought to have done yea and their own Covenant too then instead of murdering their King they would have kept his commandments But the truth is as Herod perpetrated his wicked act not for his Oaths sake but for Herodias sake or rather for his and her envy and their lusts sake So these silly Reformers did what they did not for their Oaths sake but for their Oligarchy or Tyrannies sake or rather for their Pride their Envy their Covetousness and all their lusts sake Now what should I spend time in confuting these unworthy men in their contemning and despising the holy orders of Episcopacy and our Church Government by joyning them in their Covenant with Popery Superstition Heresie Schism Prophaneness and whatsoever is contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness When as the †Burton of the Wars in England Scotland and Ireland p. 65. Bishops not only imposed an Oath as an Anti-Covenant called c. Et caetera against the introduction of any Popish Doctrine into the Church and the subjection of it to the Usurpations and superstitions of the See of Rome but also you have seen already how they contradicted themselves therein by joyning interests with the Papists and Doctrine with the Jesuites to root out Monarchy and Protestancy giving them a toleration of their Religion and the possession of the English Protestants Estates for their Hire Yea and you have seen too how the God of order himself hath confuted them in the Text commanding all to fear the Lord and the King together he that feareth the Lord let him pretend what he will will also fear and honour his King Yet notwithstanding all this they want not Disciples and Followers to this very day as well as other Sects and Schisms there be too many amongst us that have took no heed to the Leven of these Scribes and Pharisees not only of the Laity but also of the Clergy Which is a thing much to be admired at that men that profess so much learning and Religion too should betray so much weakness in their judgments and perversness in their wills as to be zealous of keeping that Covenant which they know is so contradictory in its self that a man cannot possibly keep it without breaking of it I know you would scorn to be called fools but I am sure that your Masters if they had meant honestly shewed far more wisdom when upon the consideration of its contradicting them in pulling down of Monarchy they cast it aside and called it an Almanack out of date and punished too many for attempting to keep it And what will you follow your Masters only wherein they were vicious and not in their repentance Though God forbid but that yours should be real and serious For then others need not Tit. 3.1 2 3. you would call your selves fools a thousand times over and over yea mad that you should ever be so wicked rash and unadvised as to justifie the abominable proceedings of those Covenanters we read of Psal 83. Who although like your Masters they were men of several Interests and Religions yet bound themselves each to other by the like solemn yet damnable League and Covenant against God and his Church Or like the Kings of the Earth and their Heathenish Subjects against the Lord and against his Anointed g Psal 2. But thanks be to God * Dr. Lees recantation Sermon or his Corhumiliatum contritum for taking the solemn League and Covenant Printed 1663. some have considered themselves already recanted and conformed as the forementioned Dr. Lee c. And others too like Agrippa have been almost perswaded but their Oath they say sticks in their consciences they are afraid to conform for fear of that I would to God their Oath of Allegiance obedience and Supremacy had stuck in their Consciences as much before then they would have been True Loyalists and True Conformists still and not so shamefully have broken the commandments of the Lord and the King But such is the deceitfulness of sin the greatest mystery in iniquity that men by nature do easily forsake the good and cleave to the evil where they stick so fast that they cannot possibly return from thence to the good again without the concurrent help of Gods grace and the Omnipotent hand of a Deity Yet our hope and desire is that God in his good time will open their eyes and loose them from this bond of iniquity that they may be not only almost but altogether such as St. Paul was except his bonds h Acts 26.28 29. And lastly as all ought to have a special care how they sin against the light of their Consciences and yet pretend Conscience for the same lest they incur the greatest Damnation So let none be so wicked and absurd to reject Repentance and Conformation for fear of shame as proud persons are too apt to do For that is another great deceitfulness of sin and collusion of the Devil for men to think that to tend to their shame and disgrace which purchases them the greatest honour and esteem St. Aug. got more honour by his confessions and retractations than by all his other writings besides Nor did this learned Doctor get so much esteem by any thing that ever he did as by this his Sermon of recantation Whereas if he had been still obstinate in so wretched an
Oath and had scorned to conform he knew he should but increase his shame and dishonour and that not only temporal but eternal too for Christ himself saith that as he that confesses him before men shall be confessed of him before his Father which is in Heaven So he that denies or is ashamed of him and of his words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also will he be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy Angels i Mat. 10.32 33. Mark 8.38 The True Loyalist considering this sticks to his Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy the more stedfastly and in regard thereof is the more afraid to break his Kings commandment because it is made not for man and his lusts sake but for the Lord and his sake k 2 Chron. 19.6 Therefore as Saint Peter hath exhorted him he freely submits himself to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake Whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well yet he willingly submits himself either actively or passively because so is the will of God that with well doing he may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men l 1 Pet. 2.13 14 15. 1. Actively by obeying his King not only in such things which are already commanded by the Lord in his word but also in all other things which are not contrary to it Let things be never so indifferent in themselves neither made simply good or bad by the command or prohibition of God but hang meerly upon the State of times and the various customs and manners of Nations yet when they are once commanded and made the Laws of the Land he pays obedience to them as to things not indifferent because otherwise his Kings Power and Prerogative would in effect be nullified contrary to the Law of God and destructive to Christian Government and Magistracy Wherefore left in the very act he should disobey not man but God himself m 1 Thes 4.8 He is necessarily subject not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake n Rom. 13 5â— And indeed those things which in themselves are indifferent must needs become good and necessary when they are once made the Laws of the Land because therein they also tend to our good and welfare both in Church and State 1. In the State if there were no Laws there would be no living the weakest then would always go to the Wall Yea men would then be like fish in the Sea the greater would evermore devour the less the strongest arm and the longest Sword would always carry it the passions of men would then set them in as great a combustion as when Phaeton rode the Sun happy therefore is that Nation that hath binding Laws in it to curb our corrupt and irregular passions but thrice happy is that Nation that hath Governours in it endued with such a spirit as makes them willing to execute those Laws for otherwise were there never so good Laws and the King or Supreme Governour should have never so great a desire to have them executed yet seeing with other eyes and handling with other hands than his own he cannot always have his will fulfilled excepting only in Supreme causes where he sits as immediate Judge himself without the concurrent help of inferiour Governours For which cause though the Israelites in the Wilderness were a more collective body than other Nations yet Jethro Moses Father-in-Law seeing how he toiled in judging them alone advised him to chuse inferiour Governours to judge the smaller matters and to bring the greater unto him and not only so but such men too as were rightly qualified for their Office able men such as fear God men of truth hating Covetousness o Exod. 18. 2. In the Church if there were no ordinances there would be no order and if no order no unity in Gods service nor stedfastness in the Faith p Col. 2.5 Yea though there must be Heresies or Sects among us as our Apostle speaks q 1 Cor. 11.19 yet if men should have no Ordinances to contain them in order but be permitted to live as they list themselves as they were when there was no King in England like as when there was no King in Israel r Jud. 17.6 There would be so many the more Divisions and Confusions in the Church whereby the more Tumults and Troubles would be raised in the State For the welfare of the State is imbarked in the welfare of the Church no Christian State can possibly be sound and well when the Chuch is sick and shattered into Schisms any more than Hippocrates's Twins can live or die asunder This hath been too evident in all ages of the Church especially in these latter times now so many false Prophets have risen among us and love which is the bond of Peace is waxen so cold that iniquity doth abound and get the upper hand Å¿ Mat. 24.12 particularly in our Independent Congregations and other Schismatical and Heretical Assemblies among us who under pretence of serving God in their private Meetings have many times and often made secret Conspiracies and Treacherous Combinations against the State that they may the better serve themselves and ruin the Church Wherefore Authority being warned by their former mischief hath since most prudently especially in times of apparent danger took order for the suppression of Conventicles and divisions in the Church that there may be no more such evil consequences in the State but that all things being rightly ordered according to Gods prescription t 1 Cor. 14. ult we may have only peace which God is the Author and approver of as in all the Churches of the Saints u ver 33. 2. Passively by suffering his Kings will to be done on him if it be unlawful and may not be done by him For the true Loyalist knows that as obedience to God must be preferred before obedience to man w Act. 4.19 so he is commanded to be subject to the higher powers x Rom. 13.1 which in such a case cannot be without suffering and therefore he is obedient not only Actively by doing his Kings Commandment when it is for the truth but also Passively by enduring it patiently when it is against the truth as is evident in the example of Shadrach Meshech and Abednego who did obey King Nebuchadezzar not only actively when he had given them Rule over the Province of Babylon but also passively without the least shew of Rebellion when he commanded them to fall down and worship the Golden Image which he had set up y Dan. 3. And indeed where did you ever read of any Godly Martyrs or Martyr that when he might not obey his King actively yet refused to submit himself to him passively I am sure the examples of the Apostles will teach you
the contrary and all the persecutions of the Church Luther therefore that great Reformer of our Religion when in his Reformation he was opposed by Authority would say That he had rather obey than work Miracles if it were in his power for obedience is due to Kings not as they are men but as they are powers ordained of God to be his Ministers and Vicegerents And so accordingly Julian the Apostate's Souldiers though they would not worship Idols at his command because God will not give his glory to another nor his praise to Graven Images z Isa 4.8 yet when he led them against an enemy they obeyed him most readily Distinguebant dominum temporalem à domino aeterno tamen subditi erant propter dominum aeternum saith Augustine August in Psal 124. they had understanding in them to distinguish their temporal Lord from their eternal and Religion too to subject themselves to their temporal for the sake of their eternal All power is from God and also for God let the Prince invested therewith abuse it never so much for himself as if it were his own yet God can extract the greatest good out of the greatest evil and order it to his glory and therefore the True Loyalist never uses a Sword against his King but a Buckler never resisteth the Power but is always submissive either actively or passively not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake If St. Paul indeed had said Let every soul be subject to Christian and vertuous Powers there might have been some Plea for Rebellion but to take away all scruple he saith to Powers indefinitely in that they be Powers as St. Peter expresly not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward a 1 Pet. 2.18 Sith then we are obliged by the Doctrine of St. Peter and St. Paul to submit our selves to all Powers indefinitely let them be never so wicked and Tyrannous how much rather ought we to fear and obey those that are Peaceable and Religious Defenders of the Faith and Nursing Fathers to the Church Whenas to such there doth belong a double honour an honour as they are Gods Ministers and Trustees and an honour as they are fearers of God their Lord and Soveraign b Ps 15. ◠This is the glory of a Nation this gives Vertue free scope and makes True Loyalty the more operative Yet we must remember that obedience and subjection is a thing so highly necessary that it is enjoyned to all Powers indefinitely not only the good but the bad too 1. In regard of the Predicate because obedience unites men together and makes them Victorious it is the very strength and bulwork of a Nation 2. In regard of the Subject because wicked and Tyrannous Princes serve no less for our Tryal than good ones for our Consolation and who would not be happy eternally happy Blessed is the man saith St. James that endureth temptation For when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him c James 1.12 And accordingly to shew the great necessity of this duty the Lord himself by his Apostle hath here enforced obedience to it with two such moving arguments as they eminently comprehend all The first may serve for an use of terrour to fright all Fanaticks from Rebellion for it is taken from the exceeding great danger of them that resist the Powers because the Powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation d Rom. 13.1 2. in the vulgar Latine it is acquirunt sibi damnationem they do acquire or purchase to themselves damnation to shew that Rebels above all Malefactors do the most worthily receive damnation for what can a man receive into his possession more worthily than that which he receives by purchase Moreover to shew the great interest and propriety they have in damnation they are said not only to receive it but to receive it to themselves they shall receive to themselves damnation and that both Temporal and Eternal 1. Temporal the very provoking a King to anger incurreth death without his mercy and Clemency The fear or Wrath of a King saith Solomon is as the roaring of a Lyon he that provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own Soul That is offendeth against his own life hazzards and jeopards it e Pro. 20.2 19.12 Yea the Wrath of a King saith he is as the messengers of Death without the wisdom of the Wise to pacifie it f Pro. 16.14 How much rather then doth that Cursed Traiter deserve Death even that terrible and ignominious death the Laws of England have assigned him that hath so little fear of God before his eyes as not to be afraid to stretch forth his hand to destroy the Lords anointed Murder is a crying sin it cryeth for vengeance vengeance g Gen. 4.10 but Regicide what shall I term it it is a Roaring sin it roareth louder than all the Diabolical voices in Plutarch did together for the Cessation of their Oracles upon the coming of our Saviour for by Murder one single person may be destroyed only but by Regicide the murder of a King many times a whole Nation even all the Members of a body Politick perish in his ruine as the body Natural doth by the loss of the Head from whence the Metaphor is drawn 2. Eternal and that most proper in this place for though the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here for damnation make no difference between that condemnation which is Temporal and that which is Eternal the judgment of man in this life and the judgment of God in the life to come h Rom. 2.2 Compared in the Orig. with Luk 23.40 yet the reason wherefore damnation here is pronounced against them that resist the Powers being because in resisting them they resist the Ordinance of God doth plainly shew that it is chiefly meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of eternal judgment Scripture and Order requires that a sin against God be punished with damnation eternal and a sin against man as man only with Temporal and a Rebel sins against both He sinneth against man in that he resisteth the power of his King as he is a man He sinneth against God in that by resisting the Power of his King he resisteth the Ordinance of God And therefore as the word signifieth he is guilty of both sorts of punishment not only Temporal but chiefly Eternal as is evident in the example of Corah and his Accomplices who because in being gathered together against Moses and against Aaron they were gathered together against the Lord they were not permitted to die the common death of other men but the Lord made a new thing caused the Earth to open her mouth and swallow them up quick into Hell i Numb 16. The 2. is an use of comfort both to
to be Master so much as of his own Family Yea these Harpyes these Lycanthropi possessed themselves of the inheritance and Estates of all whom they at pleasure would make a Delinquent not sparing so much as the Dead * Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 128 129 130. from Sequestration as it fareth with the head so with the members when they had once destroyed the King they make all true Loyalists both Clergy and Laity take up their Cross and follow him as he did his Saviour Not unlike the savage Tartars who when their great Cham dies cast many of his dearest friends after him For 2. These Lord-Danes with the vulgar Lurdanes killed their King not only for the sake of his Inheritance and his Nobles c. but also for the sake of the Churches Patrimony For all their fine words and fair speeches they served not the Lord Jesus but their own belly a Rom. 16.17 18. The Presbyterians have much to answer for this For tho' they knew * They could not chuse but know it if Envy and Covetousness had not blinded their eyes it being not only evident by Gods general rule 1 Cor. 14.40 the perpetual Law of Order which saith Aristole is ipsa ratio reason it self but also throughly proved over and over both by other Scriptures and Antiquity that Episcopacy was the Primitive Government yet they made the world believe that they could not endure the order and title of a Bishop And why so The reason is because it was not sutable to their changing they must have some hypocritical pretence or other or else they could not have changed Oliver Cromwell taught them an example he as you have heard would not be called a King no by no means yet he would be more than a King So these though they would not have the name of a Bishop no by no means yet they would have been more than Bishops if they could for as soon as the King their Protector was once removed they actually took possession of as much lands and livings of theirs as they could No Bishop no King was the wise saying of King James and no King no Bishop hath been seen to be as true as that But the torrent of their Covetousness did not stop here it also wafted them over into the fairest Vineyards of the inferior Clergy which if they the right owners demonstrated themselves to be True Loyalists men that feared the Lord and the King by refusing to take their unreasonable and abominable League and Covenant they took into their possession as readily and as jollily as Ahab when he took possession of the fair Vineyard of Naboth b 1 King 21.19 But 3. The licentiousness Anarchy and confusion of these Changers is most perspicuous in the subversion of the Churches Discipline and all Gods Laws and Ordinances therein for as disorder in the first Wheel of a Watch or Clock makes confusion in all the rest so Monarchy Gods own Government being once changed into Oligarchy and Tyranny there quickly followed a change of all Gods other Laws and Ordinances in the whole sphere of Religion and Government uno errore concesso mille sequuntur As when Cain had once killed Abel the wickedness of the Old World began to flow in apace like so many Waves one upon the neck of another c Gen. 6. So these Blunderbuss Zamzummims d Deut. 2.20 when they had once destroyed the Lords Anointed grew desperate over Shoos over Boots as they say they did not care what they did they became men of Gigantick-like wickedness Rebels against Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fighters against God they turned themselves in the next place directly against the Lord himself and his Church they took as much delight to oppose God in the order and government of his Church as Satan doth to fish in troubled Waters Their new modelled Common-wealth must have a new fashioned Religion to uphold it As 1. They opposed God in his order by changing the primitive Government of his Church by Episcopacy into a new invented one of their own called Presbytery English Athenians all for novelties they thought themselves such perfect workmen in Gods Vineyard that they scorned to be guided by Gods general rule of decency and order e 1 Cor. 14.40 they made a Lesbian rule of their own called a Directory for the publick worship of God appointed contrary to their knowledge * Marshal one of Cromwels Journey-men Priests declared against all use of Common-Prayer by others and yet married his own Daughter with the same Book and a Ring and gave for reason that the Statute Establishing that Liturgy was not yet repealed and he was loth to have his Daughter Whored and turned back upon him for want of legal marriage Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 80. and conscience to be used instead of our Common-Prayer in opposition to Gods command to glorifie him with one mind and one mouth f Rom. 15.6 And as our martyred Soveraign observeth in his ' ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ they also set forth old Catechisms and Confessions of Faith new drest importing as much saith he as if there had been no sound and clear doctrine of faith in this Church before some four or five years consultation had matured their thoughts touching their first principles of Religion Moreover as Jeroboam answerable to his Idolatry made Priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi g 1 Kings 12.31 So these Changers from the fear of the Lord and the King answerable to their confusion silenced the true Clergy of God and chose the very scum of the Nation to preach in their room in opposition to the Lords Decree and Ordinance that no man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron h Heb. 5.4 Yea they hated Gods Clergy so vehemently that they contradicted them even in their very appearel they preached in Cloaks c. in opposition to their orderly and Canonical vestments And what should I say more They slighted Gods Ordinances so much that they first caused the Banes of Marriage to be cryed in the Market-place and then the parties to be married by Justices of the Peace in private houses in opposition to Gods Ministers at Church O what must one day be the judgment of these hare-brain'd wretches That set no more by Gods Ordinances especially that contemn the holy State of Marriage so honourable in all i Heb. 13.4 instituted by God himself in Paradise k Gen. 2.24 Mat. 19.5 6. the emblem of Christ and his Church l Eph. 5.32 Rev. 19.7 yea honoured by Christ our Saviour with his first miracle m John 2.11 Vzziah for all he was a King a person not only Civil but Sacred too yet came we know to a very fearful end for invading the Priests Office n 2 Chron. 26. Judge ye then what must be the end of inferior
18.10 With these and such like specious and hypocritical shews of holiness they so blinded the rude multitude that their word was to them of as great authority as Aristotle's ipse dixit among his Scholars and therefore when the Officers were sent to attach Christ though they were convinced by his invincible sayings that they ought to become Christians yet they durst not follow him without the approbation of the Pharisees for that was the rule given to restrain them have any of the Pharisees believed on him i John 7.48 And no marvel for Satan himself when he would bewitch puts on Samuels Mantle k 1 Sam. 28.14 he is transformed into an Angel of light when he would deceive the simple Therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers also be transformed as the Ministers of Righteousness whose end shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 11.14 15. But First before God made their end answerable to their own works he used them as a Rod to scourge us for ours We were a sinful Nation a people laden and hardened with iniquity God did strive to win us by all means and mercies no less than he did with the Old Word l 2 Pet. 2.5 but nothing would serve the turn therefore being weary as it were with striving m Gen. 6. he that can bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil seeing that our sins were now fully ripe finished and come to an height by an horrid Regicide and Rebellion made use of these Changers to execute his wrath and Vengeance upon us that so as our martyred Soveraign saith most piously and judiciously in his Divine Meditations * ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ he might reap that glory in our calamity which we robbed him of in our prosperity 1. By suffering them to martyr our King as the good King Josiah was taken away by a violent death for the sins of Judah n Lam. 4.20 in the vulgar Latine it is captus est in pec catis nostris compared with 2 Chron. 35.25 that so his servant and Vicegerent being removed who like Moses stood in the Gap between the sins of his people and Gods judgments he might the more freely power out the vials of his wrath upon us Therefore we find that the want of a King especially such a King as ours is threatned by God as a grievous calamity and inflicted for the punishment of a peoples wickedness Now they shall say we have no King because we feared not the Lord what then shall a King do to us o Hos 10.3 1 Sam. 12.25 The remotion of our King was but the beginning of our sorrows for 2. Behold then the Lord the Lord of Hosts did also take away from three flourishing Kingdoms the stay and the staff the whole stay of Bread and the whole stay of Water all our Lands and livings our Mighty Men and our Men of War our Judges our Clergy our Prudent and our ancient our honourable men our Counsellers our cunning Artificers and our eloquent Orators And then also he gave Children to be our Princes and Babes to rule over us And then too he suffered us to be oppressed every one by his Neighbour and our childish Rulers to behave themselves proudly against the Ancient and the Base against the Honourable p Isa 3. And what should I say more Our Mount Sion was also then desolate and Foxes walked upon it And finally all our joy too was then turned into mourning so that then well might be renewed that lamentation which the Church made for Josiah the Crown is fallen from our Head Woe unto us that we have sinned Lam. 5.15 16 18. But now Secondly God having for twelve years together suffered them as our Martyred Soveraign prophetically speaketh in his Divine Meditations * ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣ ΙΛΙΚΗ to be deluded with the prosperity of their wickedness made their end according to their own works indeed for blessed be his mercy having for so long time used them as a rod of correction to humble us for our sins in the School of his severe judgments Psa 89.32 Prov. 22.15 that we might be sure to learn Righteousness q Isa 26.29 out of indignation to see his Laws so trampled upon and despised he straight throws the rod into the fire and in despite of all their malice post varios casus post tot discrimina rerum stretches forth his hand of Providence upon our now most Gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles the Second the same hand which before had preserved him in all his various troubles and misfortunes and brings him in again and that in peace both as a manifesto of his own good pleasure and of his Vicegerents being a Prince of Peace and restores him to his own inheritance his fathers Crown Throne and Scepter That he might execute his wrath upon these rebellious Changers restore us to our antient Laws and Liberties and set all things to rights again both in Church and State All which thanks be to God by his good Government he hath accordingly done And in order to the latter which was the principal end of his Restauration he hath most justly punished some of the chief offenders with Death for example to the rest whom he did not utterly destroy but in obedience to his Lords commandment r Prov. 20.26 most wisely scatter up and down the Nation for a greater Curse ſ Mat. 15.14 Hos 4.17 as Cain for murdering his brother Abel became a Fugitive and a Vagabond in the Earth and driven from the face or presence of God or †Buxtorf 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Original words for Vagabond and Fugitive do signifie accurfed or Excommunicated from the society of his Church t Gen. 4.12 14. Or as the Jews who were Typified therein for Crucifying Christ the Lord of Glory are to this day accursed and scattered abroad as so many Vagabonds over the face of the Earth u Mat. 27.25 James 1.1 so these rebellious Changers and Fanaticks e for murdering his Vicegerent King Charles the First our glorious Lord are Accursed and Excommunicated from the society of Gods people or his Church and justly dispersed into several parts of the Nation according to their various Factions Sects and Schisms And 2. As they are thus scattered up and down the Nation for a Curse and a Judgment unto themselves so they are suffered to dwell amongst us no less for a blessing unto us 1. To set us off and make us shine the brighter as the Foil doth the Diamond for the manifestation of the True Loyalist and Conformist there must be heresies among you saith the Apostle that they which are approved may be made manifest among you w 1 Cor. 11.19 2. To try and prove us as the Canaanites were left with Israel in the Land of Promise to be Pricks in their Eyes and Thorns in their Sides to make them stick the closer unto God x