Selected quad for the lemma: order_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
order_n	church_n	people_n	power_n	2,379	5	4.8524	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96832	The dressing up of the crown. In a sermon preached at St. Edmunds Bury in Suffolk, May 17. 1660. When His Majestie was there solemnly proclaimed King of England, &c. By Laurence Womock.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.	1660 (1660)	Wing W3342; Thomason E1029_2; ESTC R208908	18,651	31

certain kind of subordination amongst them A King amongst the Beasts a Queen amongst the Birds some excellency is stampt upon them by the Royal Soveraign of the world to which the rest of each kind do stoop and yield obeisance In the world of Rational Creatures we may observe the same method of superiority subordination There are several Orders of Angels and the Schoolmen tell us that those of an higher Order do communicate light and knowledge to such as are inferiour and we finde they have their several Provinces over which they do preside in the 10. and 12. Chapters of Daniel There is order and subordination even in Hell it self and perhaps it would be a worse Hell than it is if there were not a Prince of Devils to rule over it If we look into our own Bodies we see the head derives the sense and motion into all the parts and organs and in the Soul we have the Will that rational appetite to direct and command all the Members and Affections And thus it should be in the Church and State wherein the Commands and Orders should issue from the Head where the excellency of power is chiefly lodged and from thence they should be regularly transmitted to the rest of the Body God gives a blessing to such a Constitution and to the people that lives under it Psal 99. 6. Moses and Aaron amongst his Saints and Samuel among such as call upon his name These called upon the Lord and he heard them Without this all the bands of Society are dissolved the people without it are like a flock of scattered 1 King 22 17. Zac. 13. 7. sheep which indeed are not a flock without a shep herd And when this Order is perverted when the power and authority runs not in the proper channel when commands are not issued forth from the Head and Fountain but usurped and inforced by inferiours without and against Them this the Holy Ghost delivers for a sore infliction a heavy judgment upon a people This was a great exorbitancy and eye-soar to the wisest Solomon To see folly set in great dignity servants upon Eccles 10. 6 7. Horses and Princes walking as servants upon the earth It is a huge undecency not seemly for a servant to rule over Princes Prov. 19. 10. 'T is Molestum too an exorbitancy that will disquiet the whole land 't is so intollerable For three things the earth is disquieted and for four which it cannot bear For a servant when he reigneth That 's the first Prov. 30. 21 22. This is not the ordinance of God but his judgment upon a people and so 't is threatned therefore not a blessing but a judgement Isay 3. When God takes away the Iudge and the Prophet and the Prudent and the Honourable man and suffers Children to be their Princes Children in knowledge and experience though otherwise old enough and Babes to rule over them The people shall be oppressed every one by another and every one by his Neighbour the child shall behave himself proudly against the Ancient and the base against the Honourable and Women See the original vers 12. shall rule over them and they that can best flatter them and call them blessed shall lead them first into error and then into destruction verse 2 3 4 5. with the 12. And if you will not for all this believe it to be a judgment though swallowed up by such as call you blessed as if there were a happiness in being ruined by such Instruments hear the complaints of those that groaned under such a judgement and observe the effects of it in their example The Crown is fallen from our head wo unto us that we have sinned Lam. 5. 16. If the Crown falls from the head wherever it lights 't is woful and therefore the Church proceeds in her complaint Servants have ruled over us there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand Princes vers 8. vers 12. are hanged up by their hand the faces of the Elders were not honoured When men shall Canonize themselves or pass an Act for their own Saintship and then presume notwithstanding their oaths bounden duty to the contrary to bind their Kings in chains and their Nobles with fetters of iron and cut off their heads and say such honour have all the Saints and to palliate the crime abuse and profane the sacred Text which is rest rained to one peculiar process of affairs under Gods own immediate conduct and direction For Moses was but Gods Lieutenant in the management of that expedition and received his particular orders from his own hand and upon this account the Psalmist tells us This was to execute the judgment that was written Psal 149. last If men will make use of such actions for precedents as were never set or intended for their imitation casting behind their backs Gods express commands which were given to be the standing measures of their obedience This is a very sad strain for the Church of God to daunce after When the fire out of the Bramble shall devour the lofty Cedars as in Jothams parable Iudg. 9. when the lusts that war in the Members shall overtop the head and prescribe to reason and rebel against the law of the mind All good souls in this case are concerned to take up that complaint Lam. 5. 17. For this our heart is faint for these things our eyes are dim We ought then to mourn forasmuch as it is evident that sin hath provoked God to anger and that sin and that anger together have disturbed the regular method order and constitution of the world which consisted of subjection and superiority and this is that which the Crown betokeneth and is the summe of our first Reflection upon it 2. But we must reflect upon it as the highest ensign of Authority the peculiar ornament of Monarchy having the Supremacy and Soveraignty that is the greatest excellency of Power and Dominion lodged in it And so we may consider that it comes from a word which signifies to separate and consecrate and consequently 't is a thing sacred and renders the person such that wears it This form of Government commenced with the world in Adam who was the first-born as it were of all mankind and so it commenced upon the account of primageniture Neither was this prerogative lost by Adam's fall either to himself or his first begotten For we see it descended upon Cain and is asserted to him by God himself Gen. 4. 7. And long after we find it acknowledged by Iacob in his first-born Ruben Gen. 49. 3 4. Ruben thou art my first-born my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power And it was this prerogative with other advantages that made Iacob so ambitious of the birth-right And though upon the division and dispersion of families for peopling the world there was a kind of necessity to alter this Constitution in this circumstance

are ungodly saith Elihu Job 34. 18. Curse not the King no not in thy thought saith Solomon But we have railing Shimei's whose tongues are spears and arrows swords and rasors full of deadly poysons and set on fire of Hell They durst do that against their dread Soveraign which the Arch-Angel durst not do against the Prince of Devils They durst bring against him many Jude v. 9. rayling accusations These are your godly men of the late Edition though Saint James saith if any man seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue this mans Religion is vain James 1. 26. But it hath been the practise of these men to go a gleaning in the holy Scriptures and shutting their eys against the light of clear and express commands they retire into the shades of obscure Prophesies and serve their base and unworthy ends out of such dark passages as they understand not for did they understand them they would know they signifie nothing to their purpose Out of this Quarry they pick up stones to throw at the Crown and dazle the Authority of their Soveraign I insist the longer upon this because Rebellion which is as the sin of Witchcraft use to begin as Witchcraft doth in mutterings and murmerings of the lips and the Prince is wounded first in Pulpits and Pamphlets and Corners ever murthered by the tongue in his Reputation before he is murdered by the Ax or Dagger in his Person And let no man think to excuse this insolence by alledging that some of the Prophets did make bold with the Majesty of some Princes For were those Princes never so notoriously wicked those Prophets did sin if they had not a special and immediate commission to reprove them in such rude language And therefore Saint Paul convented before a person cloathed with Authority because he had called him whited Wall and threatned that God should smite him upon admonition he recants his rashness and condemns himself by a sentence of holy Scripture and is sorry for his error Act. 23. 5. For the Crown of Authority is not to be aspersed with foul language but to be drest up with lauds and acclamations to the person of the Prince 2. It is to be drest up also by praises and thanksgivings rendred to Almighty God on the Kings behalf For this we have an Apostolical exhortation in the place foremention I exhort that supplication and thanksgivings too be made for Kings 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. And the holy Ghost hath prompted another Divine Poem to be penn'd for such occasions The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord so that 21. Psalm begins and the conclusion is this Be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power And doubtless such as understand and value so great a blessing will heartily bless God for it 3. You must dress it up with an honourable Militia Solomons Throne was supported by Lions and he saith the Throne is upheld by Judgment taking the word in the severest sense when occasion doth require it Without a Militia the Sword and a fair train of Artillery to attend and dress it up the Crown will stand but for a golden Cypher it may serve other mens ends to swell the accounts of their ambition and avarice but it can neither protect the best Loyalty from oppression nor defend its own just Rights from usurpation and violence The holy Ghost therefore in that Celebration of the Kings Majesty and Glory calls upon him to secure his Title and Interest in this particular Psal 45. 3. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O thou most mighty with thy Glory and thy Majesty And in thy Majesty ride prosperously and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the Kings enemies whereby the people fall under thee Thus you see the Militia serves to dress up the Crown And if it did not of right belong unto it why should St. Paul make the Prince the most immediate Sword-bearer of the Almighty Rom. 13. 4. He therefore that is invested with the Crown must have the Militia to adorn and guard it Lastly if you would have the Crown to flourish kindly you must dress it up by a prompt and cheerful obedience But for the most part the Commands of our Prince goes against the hair with us they beget doubts and scruples nay 't is well if they be not entertained with murmurings and disputings as if we had never learned our duty to our Superiours by the rule of the Apostle nor been taught by his spirit For his injunction is this servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness Ephes 6. 5 6 7 8. Colos 3. 22 23 24. of your heart as unto Christ not with eye service as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God even in point of obedience to your Soveraign from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for even in this your civil obedien ye serve the Lord Christ And upon this account how doth Saint Peter conjure us to a dutiful subjection and obedience Submit your selves even for the Lords sake to the King as Supreme and to them that are commissioned under him to rule over you 1 Pet. 2. 13. And perhaps as the Psalmist hath it the people will be willing in the Psal 110. 3. day of the Kings power If not the Crown is obliged to secure its own glory as well as Gods with the wellfare of Church and State And to this end it was a just sanction that Artaxerxes inserted into the Commission of Ezra in these words And whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the Law of the King let judgment be executed speedily upon him whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of Goods or to imprisonment Ezra 7. 26. But I must tell you were there not a necessity of such proceedings to secure the publick peace and order it would be a tarnishing of the Crown to have it thus garnished I do rather therefore beseech you to honour it by a free obedience And yet I am afraid there are some that were it in their power would be ready to dress up the Crown with more thorns and crosses instead of yielding their dutiful assistance to make it flourish some that would yet clip and wash it and use other of the late artifices to extract more gold out of it to varnish and guild over their own crimes and fortunes And yet I am loath to entertain so uncharitable a thought of such men as are under a solemn Vow and Covenant whereby they have engaged themselves with hands lifted up to heaven to preserve the Honour and Dignity of the Crown and profess to approve themselves His Majesties best Subjects I am unwilling to

flourish and the Commons will flourish See Psal 72. 132. vers 15. 16 Merchants and Tradesmen Artificers and Husbandmen and all will flourish for there will be no breaking in of sorraign forces no leading into captivity by civil insurrections no more cause of complaining in our streets And which is best of all in his time the righteous shall flourish and Religion shall flourish for the Cross of Christ never Triumphs so gloriously as when it is advanced upon the Crowns of pious Princes Truth shall flourish out of the earth and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven Mercy and Truth will meet together Righteousness and Peace will kiss each other The Sun of righteousness will smile upon us and spread his soft wings over us to heal and shelter us And by the flourishing of the Kings Crown upon Himself the whole Kingdom will be Crowned The Church will be crowned with Order and Devotion the Country with plenty and contentment the Cities with Wealth the Universities with Learning all Professions will be crowned with privileges and the whole Nation with happiness peace and glory These are the blessings we are to proclaim to you this day under the Authority of our most Gracious Soveraign And yet I am unwilling to precipitate any backward inclinations to transact an affair of so great importance Are you not hereby invited to oblige your selves to a huge piece of modern injustice of rendring unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods Shall you not commit your selves prisoners to golden setters by owning and submitting to this Authority Will you not lose the happiness of Confusion and that great priviledge for every man to do what is right in his own eyes Will not this be a return to your bounden duty and service and so cancel those several late Oaths and Engagements which have so long stood at Push-a-Pike one against another Will you not return into the Sacred Canon those many Monarchical Texts of Scripture which have so long been laid aside as Apochryphal shall you not run the hazard of being put under the influences of such an ignorant scandalous or disaffected Ministry as will grate your tender ears with the harsh Doctrines of loyalty and obedience such as will not have consciences wide enough to permit you to swallow those sweet morsels of Sacriledge without a check but wil enveigh against it as a crime to enrich your selvs with the spoils of Gods House and a crime of so great a magnitude that it is not to be expiated without repentance and restitution And will not such a Ministry be ready to press upon you the observation of those obsolete rules of the Apostle to have all things that appertain to Gods worship and service done decently and in 1 Cor. 14. 40. order Will you not betray tender consciences by this means and deprive them of their sweet liberty which they have so long taken to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities and to revile all persons in Sacred Orders under the Title of Baals Priests Will you not hereby give encouragement to have that intollerable yoak of bondage put upon them of worshipping God in the beauty of holiness And though a due tolleration be Psal 96. 9. allowed to tender Consciences will they not be apt to be allured and drawn in by the Loadstone and the Charms of a Royal example To serve the Lord with fear and to rejoyce before him with reverence These I know are some of your great fears and jealousies Psal 2. 11. nay your main objections though perhaps you 'l think fit to cloath them with more dismal and odious Epithets and truly if any of you be not able to satisfie your selves in these particulars for my part I shall never advise you to wound such Consciences by presenting your selves to assist in the accomplishment of this undertaking And for such whose hearts the Lord hath touched with a sense of loyalty and their duty to his Anointed I have but three words to add by way of request to them not to eclipse or sully the Glory of this happy Day with any debauchery or intemperance for in stead of dressing up the Crown such unworthy practises will stain the fair flowers of it And now give the King thy Judgments O God c. Amen FINIS Errata PAg. 12. lin 2. read Monarchical Government to be the more excellent p. 15. l. 31 custodire for custodiri