Oyl been pour'd upon his head and the Crown setled upon it by Divine Providence which over-rules Nature He that has given him the Crown gave the Sword also to secure and guard it and as it was Judah's Prerogative to sway the Royal Scepter so also to yield Protection for the King is Custos utriusque Tabulae Defender of the Faith and a Nursing Father to the Church And the Princely Power and Soveraign Authority with God's Blessing may still preserve the true and ancient constitution both of Church and State from Anarchy and Disorder from Popish Superstition and Fanatical Faction For the King has his Authority over us from Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord sets up Kings saith the Father And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings are from God says the Heathen Therefore I must be subject purely out of Conscience for the Lord's sake The Religion of the Church of Rome like the Laws of Draco are written in Bloud advanced by Policy and propagated by Violence whereas Christianity never used the Sword the Kingdom of Heaven is another kind of warfare Christianity came attired into the world with the white of Meekness Humility and Patience Christ the Prince of Peace never pull'd the Crown from any Prince's head but commands the payment of all Duties to Caesar and acknowledgeth Pilate's power to be from above Nor did any of his followers ever rebel against their Prince usurp the State or disturb the Government and though it was their unhappy fate at first to be accused as Factious and Seditious yet none were better Subjects nor testified their Allegiance more to Authority St Paul in the days of Heathen Persecution and Tyranny lays down this Hypothesis There is no Power but of God the Powers that be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are ordained of God If Religion be pretended an Heathen must not be resisted If Tyranny 't is damnation to oppose a Nero. They that resist shall receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wrath and judgment of God saith the Apostle And the Church of England teaches no other Doctrine than what was taught by the Prophets and Apostles themselves i. e Obedience and Submission to Kings and Governours In the Prophecy of Obadiah they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saviours or Deliverers In Ezekiel's Language they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shepheards to Feed and Rule the People In St Paul's they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's Ministers nay Elohim Gods by Office and Deputation to Govern the affairs of Men on Earth The Apostles also charged those whom they imploy'd in setling of the Churches to put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to Obey Magistrates And St Peter's Exhortation is Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake not only unto the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as supream but unto Governours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being sent by him Rebellion then is as the Sin of Witchcraft and Disobedience as the Iniquity of Idolatry For whosoever disobeys the Vice-Roy affronts the Soveraign they fight against God and attempt to cross the decrees of Heaven and frustrate the Counsel of the Most High who says By me Kings Reign And it is the Assertion of Plato That a Kingdom is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Good which imprints on our minds a double instruction to Fear God and Honour the King 1 Pet. 2. 17. First to adorn the Christian Religion with Holiness and Piety of life It is Religion that ennobles Man erects his affections and estates him in a happiness above nature alters his very being and puts him in opposition to what he was before Religion is the most effectual instrument to reform mens lives and bring them into an hatred of their Vices which all Moralists especially the Pythagoreans after all their Industry despaired of What Reports Diogenes Laertius and Valerius Maximus make of Polemus the Convert of Zeno are but mean and low things if compared with the Acts and glorious Success of Christianity whose Vertue and Influence upon Men's Consciences inables them to subdue Self overcome their Vices check the impetuous Force of their Passions and withstand their own carnal and sensual Inclinations the greatest and most noble Conquest As the Lustre of Christianity was thus bright and glorious in the Primitive Constitution so was the Honour of its Professors that they were of such Piety and Integrity that their Adversaries confess'd that their Religion was their only Ruin Let us therefore be so stedfast in our Religion unshaken in our Faith so constant in our Devotion and holy and unspotted in our Lives that Wisdom may be justified not only of her Children but Enemies also which lays the greatest Obligation on us to live the most Holy and Religious Life towards God For were we more Holy and Righteous in our Ways and did we walk in Newness of Life we should more convince the World of the Truth of our Religion Holiness saith the Psalmist becomes O Lord thine House for ever No Garment becomes the Church so well as the Garment of Holiness It is Sanctity that is the Churches Glory It is the Ephod of Purity that is the Churches Excellency Our first Creation set before us as Hieroglyphicks before the Aegyptians whose very Shapes and Figures were Doctrinal and by a kind of Oratory preach'd the Spectatours Duty What else means the Image of God in the Soul but that it might continually act and work according to the Pattern viz. Godliness after whose Likeness it was created according to Holiness and Perfection which it brought down from Heaven that reflecting still upon the same Image it might be holy as He is holy For a Holy Life and Christian Works are the very way to the glorious Vision and Fruition of the great God in an everlasting blessed Life Therefore Fear God and honour the King which is the best Christian Practice and brings me to the next Gradation in our Discourse viz. To crown our Zeal with Loyalty to the King for He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wears God's Image and beautifies the World with Order and Government whereby so many Millions of Men do breath the Life of Peace and Comfort For Whither would the Fury of Mens Passions lead them if they were not bounded with Authority and subdu'd to an awful Subjection by the higher Powers Religion would quickly feel a heavy Destiny and the World be drown'd in Blood as it was once in Water The Sword of Authority is put into the Hand of the King by Almighty God To the like Sense also is that of Nestor to Agamemnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jove lent thee thy Scepter and Jurisdiction The King's Power is from God and for any private Person or any Club of Subjects to wrest it out is a double Usurpation First They invade God's Sovereignty who saith Vengeance is mine
Seraphims for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ the Second Person of the Trinity concluding with St Basil's Liturgy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O God our God who hast sent this Heavenly Bread the Food of all the World Our Lord Jesus Christ to be to us a Saviour a Redeemer Therefore with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name ever more praising Thee and saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Secondly As Spiritual so Temporal Blessings are the Product of Heaven This Day is a Signal Instance and carries with it the Pomp of Blaze and Splendour as it is the Anniversary of His Majesty's happy Birth and Nativity And that Divine Providence that brought him this day into the world hath led him by the hand of his visible goodness Ever since he entered the porch of life and walked upon the pavement of the Earth He has had the Royal Charter of Heaven and enjoy'd the testimonies of God's special care even a Writ of Protection Touch not mine Anointed do my Prophet no harm His life hath been a continued series of Divine Favour The Adversary hath not been able to do him violence the Son of wickedness could not hurt him but he hath smitten down his foes before his face cloathed them with shame and wounded them that hated him The great Majesty of Heaven was a Helmet of Salvation unto him a strong Tower of Defence against his cruel Enemies Domestick and Foreign at home and abroad First Cruel Enemies at home who invested their Sword with the Authority of Law and made themselves after the Image of a King and usurp'd the Seat Royal chang'd the Kingdom unto a State and Monarchy into a Commonwealth This was in the time of our late troubles and confusions when Monarchy was shaken off Religion and Property were lost and Laws and Liberty were with no small violence invaded being as in the days of Jeroboam whoever would were consecrated Priests of the high places And when Souldiers turn'd Preachers every act of Providence that seems to favour their Designs shall be the voice of God Every opportunity to do mischief to such as they oppose shall be interpreted a Command from Heaven to do it Curse ye Meroz was the Texts Rapine and Plunder the Comment and the Use Wars sounded as loud from the Pulpit as the Drum as if it had been the task of the Heavens to Kill and slay and for its Arms hung in the Zodiack Man's Anatomy to shew they were born with those that arose of the Dragon's Teeth in the Poet Mutuis perire gladiis to bleed to death on one another's Swords And here I may lead your thoughts to the unnatural Civil War in our Brittish Isle and the sight of one Aceldama one field of blood will raise up Mens careless thoughts to a due valuation and grateful apprehension of the comforts we enjoy under our most Gracions Sovereign He that has escaped with him in Job to bring news of Rapine and Violence can best tell us what it is to see a flourishing Land become a Sea of Blood because War playes Pliny's Cockatrice annoying whatsoever it doth touch He can tell us what it is to see the Horse in equal state with its rider both of them weltering in their own gore He can shew us what it is to see the obedient Son run over his slain Father to escape the hands of his own Executioner He can shew us what it is to see the burning of Cities and the woful Inhabitants Martyr'd in the flames He can complain to us as the Orator to the Athenians whatsoever they gain in their thrifty Peace they are deprived of by those consuming Tumults Many in this Nation have witness'd the Truth of it with their Eyes and its Horrour with their Tears O then pray for the Peace of Jerusalem that love her and consequently for the Life and Prosperity of the Monarch of Great Britain King Charles the Second our dread Soveraign the light of our Eyes and the breath of our Nostrils who causes malignant vapours to vanish and dispels those clouds of mischief by his Princely power that would turn Religion into Rebellion and Faith into Faction cry up priviledge to invade Regal Prerogative and under the notion of the Preservers of our Peace and Defenders of our Liberties reach out their hand to turn the stream of Royalty and subvert an excellent Monarchy into a Tyrannical Republick The Fallacy having been put on the Kingdom and Cheat acted once before it will not easily prevail with men of sober and rational judgments to renounce their Religion the best in the world or their Loyalty and obedience to the best of Kings whose Princely Goodness is not more tender of the Imperial Crown and Dignity than of the Peace and tranquillity of the Subject The one as it regards Royal honour the other the care of his people to cause Religion happily to flourish and Liberty Laws and Property to be safe and inviolable with the Blessings of Heaven notwithstanding the subtile insinuations and cunning Stratagems of the old enemies of Monarchy and the Church to throw us back into a relapse which reminds us of the late Rebellion when men in Buff durst proclaim themselves the only Legal Authority of the Nation and these like a mighty Torrent did drive all before them with an unruly violence brake down the banks of Ecclesiastical discipline making no difference betwixt things Sacred and Common swallowed up Churches with their Revenues and laid desolate Sanctuaries of Piety and Religion Here we may wail out an Epicedium War and desolation Poverty and paleness and Garments roll'd in bloud hearing the woful groans of dying Men and bitter lamentations of Children for their Parents The Orphan blubbers his cheeks and sighs with Elisha O my Father my Father Now David breaths out an Elegy and O Absolom Absolom my Son my Son And Rachel likewise weeps and will not be comforted because they are not These were the miseries this Kingdom groan'd under after the Barbarous and horrid Murder of that Glorious Martyr King Charles the First of ever Blessed Memory And so it continued under the heavy yoke of an insolent Usurpation till his Majesty's happy Restauration actual Government and Gracious Reign over us in Peace and quietness security and freedom These temporal enjoyments we owe their happiness under God to the prudent Conduct of Regal Majesty And here take this Thesis or Doctrine by way of affirmative position If the Church be depriv'd of Kingly Majesty she is as apt to be infected with home-bred Errours as Foreign injuries for when there was no King in Israel every man did what was right in his own eyes We see then the Office of a King is attended with as much burthen as jurisdiction He must encounter with Adversaries For has the Holy
Secondly The Princes Prerogative whose Office is to Protect and Punish Rewards to Vertue and Merit as well as Punishment to Sin and Vice are dispensed A Terrour to evil doers saith the Text and a Praise to them that do well Therefore Honour the King Secondly As the Goodness of Heaven shines in the Preservation of our Royal Sovereign from the Usurpation of cruel Enemies at Home so likewise Divine Providence has guarded him from Foreign Attempts of unreasonabble Men Abroad and made the Plots and Conspiracies of these worse than Heathens of none Effect and deliver'd our King and our Princes our Nobles and the Heads of our Tribes the Governours of our Church and Judges of our Land nay the whole Commons of this Realm from a fearful Destruction that would have swallowed them up For when the Ax is laid to the Root of the Tree to cut off Sovereignty and destroy the Lord 's Anointed the rest of the People who are the Branches must expect lopping The restless Emissaries of the Church of Rome wheâ—her Priests Jesuits or Colledge of Cardinals give daily Proof of their inveterate Malice against the King the Government and Protestant Religion thinking that New Massacres are the most effectual course to stop the Cry of the Old and that the readiest way to silence their Adversaries is to make them Instances of the Truth of the Accusation If the Great God of Heaven who refrains the Spirits of Men that delight in Blood had not been gracious to our King and Kingdom you had not this Day been Auditors nor I Speaker of this Theme but all of us miserable Spectatours of the contrary And the Pope's Triple Crown would have been set with many Red-Roses of great Triumphs in Protestant Blood But Heaven hath preserved our Church from Ruin and Confusion from the spreadings and prevailings of Errours Heresies and Schisms Superstition and Idolatry which strive to oppress us and to eclipse the Truth and Purity of Doctrine which is our Churches Glory Lastly As Divine Providence and Goodness did this Day bring into the World our gracious Sovereign and hath hitherto preserv'd Him from all Enemies Domestick and Foreign So the same special Grace and Favour of God did this Day bring home and restore to us our King a Prince of so much Clemency and Mercy that He is inferiour to none that sways a Scepter or sits upon a Throne His Restauration was wonderful without any Effusion of Blood The Voice of War is changed into Proclamations of Peace the Clattering of Swords and Spears is turned into the sweet Melody of Harps and the harsh Tones of Death into a Psalm of Thanksgiving O Lord thou art become gracious unto thy Land and hast turn'd away the Captivity of Jacob Praise therefore waits on Thee in Zion and unto Thee shall the Vow be perform'd in Jerusalem We celebrate the Memory of this thy Mercy in restoring our King and with Him the free Profession of true Religion and Worship What doth God require now both from Prince and People but the Acknowledgment of his Favour He that will not glorifie God as the Father of Mercies in the Rigour of Justice God may glorifie Himself in his eternal Ruin If we prove not the Heralds of his Glory Examples shall we be of his Just Indignation All tasting Mercy all should be Thankful and though all have not Frankincense yet every one may have praise Te Deum laudamus we praise thee O God our Souls do magnifie the Lord. We praise God in his Sanctuary and in the Firmament of his Power for his mighty Acts and according to his excellent Greatness Praise him with the Sound of the Trumpet with Psaltery and Harp with stringed Instruments and Organs shew your selves joyful before the Lord the King Let every thing that hath Breath praise the Lord. Let us now direct our Prayers and Supplications to the Glorious and Eternal Trinity that all Blessings Divine and Human Spiritual and Temporal like the precious Ointment of Aaron's may be pour'd out on the Head of our Royal Sovereign Length of Days on his Right Hand on his Left Riches and Honour That his Reign may be Glorious and his Regal Virtues after this Life crowned with Immortal Glory And We with the Residue of God's holy Church may rise to that incomprehensible endless Felicity where the Blessings of the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity will gloriously shine upon our Souls for evermore Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible and only Wise God be ascribed all Honour and Glory for ever and ever AMEN * Psal 1. 32. 14. * Psal 4 6. 1 Epist 5. Ch. 7. ver * Psal 90. 12. ‖ 2 Cor. 5. 1. * Mens deficit vox silet non mea tantùm sed Angelorum St. Ambrose * Ephes 1 4 5. * Vnitas divinitatis Person arum pluralitate multiplex St. Austin ‖ Psal 8. vers 3. * Joh. 16. ver 22. * Deut. 6. 4. 1 Cor. 8. 6. * 1 Chron. 16. 22. * 1 Kings 13. 33. * Judg. 5. 23. * Lam. 4. 20. * Judg. 17. 6. * 2 Cor. 10. 4. ‖ Rom. 1â— 1 2. * Exod. 22. 28. ‖ Titus 3. 1. * 1 Pet. 2. 13. ‖ 1 Sam. 15. 23. * Prov. 8. 15. * Psal 93. 5. ‖ 1 Pet. 1. 15. * Rom. 6. 22. ‖ Rom. 12 19. * 1 Pet. 2. 14.