Veracity of this great Judge than of the Justice of his Sentence In other terms as our Lord the King is wise according to the Wisdom of aâ— Angel of God to know all things that are before him so we believe he spoke herein with the Sanctity of an Angel and no less according to the Sense of his Royal Heart than according to the Truth of the thing Wherefore undoubtedly let some men think or say what they please he does not estimate his Subjects Loyalty by a warpâ—g Conscience or versatil humour in Reâ—gion No good or wise man Much less â—rince can in his heart approve either â—redulity and Rashness in believing or â—nstability in what is once on sober â—rounds believed There is nothing more â—oathsome to a person of any sense of Worth or Honour than a readiness to â—hange a mans Perswasion because he apprehends it may turn to his Rise or secuâ—ar Advantage To be free and open and use that Parrhesy which Honesty and Vprightness ever may I took not up my Religion from the Placits of Man but from â—he holy Scriptures of eternal Truth delivered to the world by inspired men and faithfully transmitted to us by Gods holy Church which Scriptures I have been instructed in from a Child and have read over diverse times upon my knees before God as well as otherwise with all the care I could I have thence learnt amongst other parts of my Duty my Duty to God and my Duty to my King and if any man catch me wittingly and deliberately tripping in either I decline no Censure nor Punishment But I am almost daily told by men whose Insolence I believe His Majesty if he understood would little approve that my King is not of my Religion I still answer thereto I cannoâ— tell nor am I busie to enquire but I blesâ— God and night and day pray to him to blesâ— our Gracious King for that Liberty Protection and Encouragement which we Protestants of the establisht Church enjoy in our Religion under his sweet wise happy Government And as to His Majesties Religion I say he is no more accountable to his Subjectâ— for that than he is for his Crown nor may they any more censure than prescribe to him therein All that concerns them is to pray God would guide him and inspire with all Christian Temper and Counsel those to whom under God he commits the Guidance of his Conscience And having said thus much I will only add As to my Religion from henceforth let no man trouble me For ought I know I profess the Religion the King would have me For if I should profess my self of any other I should dissemble and that I believe His Majesty with reverence be it spoken would no more approve in me or any man else than God does I have thus said what I had to say of the Occasion of publishing these Sermons It remains to the full discharging my Promise that I say a few things of their frame or make They consist not then of any profound cuâ—â—us or refined Notions nor is their Style â—curate or correct But they are what I â—prehend Sermons ought to be plain hoâ—st and strong I mean their Language is â—sie natural and such generally which is â— soon understood as heard Their Matâ—â— nothing but what in the Subjects â—andled is the sum of our certain Christiâ—â—ity And the Reasonings used in them I â—ope such as may convince There is at present a great complaint aâ—ongst the Book-sellers that there is nothing â—lls so dully as Sermons And yet I rememâ—er my Lord Verulam somewhere says in â—ommendation of the English Preaching â—hat if Preambles Transitions and passages which are purely matter of form with some such like particulars were taken out and the substance of our English Sermons extant collected into one Book it would certainly be one of the best Books in the world or words to this purpose Now what is the reason of the former complaint 'T is certain Sermons were no such Drugs in his days Has there then befallen any universal Degeneracy amongst us since his time which has altered the case None certainly universal for there have been better Sermons by far publisht since the death of that great Judge for such he was in all kinds of Learning than any I know before and particularlâ— those of the before at least matchless Bishop Sanderson And there are at this time in present being a great number of as excellent Preachers both in the City of London and disperst through the Kingdom oâ— England as most we can find to have liveâ— since the Apostles days many of whosâ— Sermons are in print But the truth of thâ— matter is this In the late days of the Liberty of Prophesying when every one took on him the honour not only of the Priesthood but even oâ— Apostleship that would and a bold pretencâ— to Grace Inspiration was enough to qualifie any man for the Pulpit there came for t such a swarm of putid and nonsensical as weâ—â— as too often unchristian Abortions of Preachments that mens stomachs then in a sorâ— turn'd many begun to abhor and ridicule thâ— Word of God and even the most sober sorâ— could not but loath such vile Entertainments Of this kind were all the Millenarâ— and generally all the Antinomian Rabble oâ— Preachers with more who followed the Parliament Camp whom I will not name Another sort there were who had some kind â—â— learning and seem'd at first hearing to havâ— something of soundness in them but in process all the Divinity you should find in their Sermons was pickt out of little Systems and Annotators beyond which very few of the men of those days ever went Henderson himself confessing to Arch-Bishop Vsher he had never read the Fathers and lay all in some Geneva-opinions servilely taken up a few terms of Art and Notions ill applied possibly not half digested or understood and in words and phrases of uncertain significations a vein of Canting running thro the whole Of these two kinds were I believe one tenth part of the Sermons preached and printed for neer twenty years together from the beginning of our late unhappy Civil Wars in England But God be blessed though such preaching was general yet was it not universal There were all along these times a secret stock of profoundly learned Divines excellent Preachers compel'd to be too secret God knows the remains of the old scattered Church and the Seed of our restored present establisht Church of England Arch-Bishop Vsher Doctor afterwards Bishop Saunderson Bishop and after the Restauration Arch-Bishop Bramhall Bp. Brownâ—ig Dr. Hammond Doctors and Bishops Jeremy Taylor John Pierson with many others these mens Sermons and many of their Discourses which though not printed Sermon-wise yet were divers of them first delivered in Sermons before ever printed in the form we have them no one I hope will account Drugs cast by or not think to deserve a very good place in his
spoken unto them also Be ye still and know that the Lord is God But to conclude in a word to all laying aside our private Humours and little mutual Piques at Persons and Parties too if possible let us all joyn in a Quiet of Peace and Christian Charity which I toucht not till now resolving to close with it And to press this I should think no Argument need to be used but our own Interest Here are a multitude of us present that are old enough to remember what our eyes have seen and may we never see the second time the Miseries and Desolations the Cruelties and Ravages of Civil Wars Can we be fond of them or does not Horror seize us when we reflect on those dreadful Idea's though almost worn out For our own sakes then as well for Gods and Religions let us all study to be quiet and to do our own business And if we meet with any who either by their secret Perswasions or Combinations or by their whispering Fears and Jealousies Designs and Stories contrary to what you have heard of His Majesties Royal Intentions and Declaration who I say either by these or any other methods we have reason to believe are endeavouring to diâ—â—urb the publick Peace and embroyl things let us in the name of God discover them Better such men suffer than we than all And especially let us empty our own minds and dispossess our selves of such Jealousies Fears and Jealousies did undo us once God in his mercy restored all King and Church and Religion The same Fears and Jealousies have bid fair to destroy all again God has hitherto hindred it In the name of God let us not tempt him again thereby to destroy us or let not us our selves destroy our selves by the old unreasonable methods In a word as I have said before but repeat that it may be more surely practised Let us trust God and next trust our King be quiet loyal and circumspect in our places and I doubt not but all things will go well with us and the whole Israel of God Which God grant And to Him be all Glory Praise and Thanksgiving now and for ever Amen FINIS THE REASONS AND NEED OF Loyal Devotion Set forth in a SERMON Before the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of Cork and many of the Countrey Gentry and others assembled in Christ-church in the City of Cork on St. Georges Day Apr. 23. 1685. being the Day of the Coronation of his Gracious Majesty James II. in England By Edward Lord Bishop of Cork and Rosse Dublin printed by A. Crook and S. Helsham for William Norman Samuel Helsham and Eliphal Dobson Booksellers AN Advertisement Touching This SERMON THe chief Design of this Sermon is to make people conscientious in daily Prayers for the King whether in publick or in private and by the by to vindicate our Church Liturgy from the imputation of Tautology charged upon it in this behalf by the old as well as present Dissenters An unkindness not to say an impudence in them which even His Blessed Majesty Charles I. â—â—ok notice of in his incomparable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 16. how perfunctory many even of truly loyal and sober persons are apt to be in the usual Praiers for the King partly because tâ—ey occur so often that it seems a matter oâ— course partly for that they attend not distinctly how much both themselves and theirs as well as the whole three Kingdoms are concerned therein is more obvious than that â—â— need to take notice of it I could think on â— better Arguments to stick upon all men thaâ— what I have used and judged there coulâ— scarce come a better season than the day â—â— which I applyed them Some mens Objectioâ— I have chosen to answer rather covertly anâ— by way of anticipation than expresly to mention which way I took to avoid offence The present Sermon was only preached in thâ— Place and on the Occasion mentioned Goâ— make it useful to the End whereto it was design'd THE Reasons and Need OF Loyal Devotion Set forth in a SERMON before the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of Cork and many of the Gentry assembled in Christchurch in the City of Cork on St. Georges day Apr. 23. 1685. being the Day of the Coronation of His Gracious Majesty James II. The Text 1 Tim. ii 1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men For Kings and all that are in Authority WE are here assembled of our own free accord and by a general agreement amongst our selves upon occasion of His Majesties we trust most happy Coronation in England this present day and as we may guess about this time I believe if we think never so much on the Subject we can devise no other thing we can do whereby we can in this instant contribute to make his Crown sit long easie and secure on his Head but the offering up our hearty and sincere Prayers to that purpose which because in the present instance a free-will Offering ought for that reason after the manner of all free-will Offerings to be the more cheerful and affectionate I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men for Kings and all that are in Authority Which Exhortation manifestly depends on the 18th verse of the foregoing chapter This Charge I commit to thee Son Timothy that according to the Prophesies which have been of thee thou warr a good warfare that is thou diligently and strenuously discharge the Office of a Bishop As the Roman Emperors used when they sent forth their Prefects or Governours into their Provinces to give them their Instructions with them so says Grotius does St. In loc Paul here to Timothy and in him to other Bishops sent forth unto their Churches And of those Instructions this the due ordering and constituting the publick Prayers of the Church was the first I exhort therefore first of all for afterwards as we might shew you by particulars he gives him many further Commands Now as to the Contents of the publick Prayers or of Liturgies he requires that they consist of Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks and what is the particular import of these several terms ought at least in transitu as we pass to our main design to be considered Some have thought that one Theoph. Cast Cameron c and the same thing is here signified by several expressions only in divers regards so that the publick Prayers should be called Supplications as they testifie before God our wants Petitions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they express the desires of our Souls and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intercessions as asking with humble boldness and not diffidently But I really believe St. Pauls words to have more Epistola 59. ad Paulinam in them and so St. Austin most fully of the Ancients and divers Moderns have taught us out
of Miseries the Lord struck him and he died His Son Nadab succeeds him indeed or as some think reigned together with him towards the latter end of his days However before he was well warm in his Throne Baasha a person of another Tribe who had no pretence to the Crown but who might quickly have as good a Title to it as either Jeroboam or Nadab had conspired against him and slew him as would seem in the head of his Army and reigned in his stead 1 King xv 27 28. But how long will this new Title stand After Wars again upon Wars all his days his Son Ela succeeds him but within two years Zimri Captain of half his Chariots conspired against him and slew him as he was drinking himself drunk in the House of Arza his Steward Upon this Zimri sets up himself chap. xvi 9. 11. and immediately slew all of Baasha 's House Here was a Recompence for Baasha's Treason But before Zimri had reigned over part of Israel full one week another part of the people would have another King and set up Omri on which Zimri burns himself in his own Palace And now ver 21. Israel is divided not only from Judah as before but within themselves divided into two parts saith the Text For half of the People followed Tibni to make him King and half Omri To be short from the time the Israelites fell off from the Royal Line that God had set over them and betook themselves to Kingchoosing from that Revolt I say to Omri which was somewhat less than five and forty years if rightly computed they had six Kings indeed but not one year of Peace and of their six Kings as far as I can find only two died the death of other men so frequent and so dismal were the Alterations of Government so unhappy the state of things I will pursue the History of this Kingdom no further as to this particular of the uncertainty of Titles and frequent Changes which you see must needs happen and when they happen they rend Nations in pieces and leave nothing stable durable or secure only out of what you have heard of the deplorable state into which this People brought themselves by breaking off the Succession and running into this kind of Elective Kingdom I cannot but note to you Secondly The dreadful Cruelties and Bloudshed which commonly ensue on such Elections to establish the New Prince Thus as soon as Baasha obtained the Throne he smote all the House that is Kinred Allies and most likely all the Adherent of Jeroboam he left not one of them that breathed until he had destroyed them 1 King xv 29. which though it were Baasha's Wickedness and Gods just Judgment executed on Jeroboams Family however by a villanous Agent yet in point of Policy and Security to himself he was in a sort necessitated to it Now so great a Slaughter certainly could not but be a sore publick Wound I might shew many instances of the like practice in in others but it is not pleasing to rake in Bloud Lastly Whereas it is ordinarily pretended by our modern State-menders that reducing Kingdoms as near as may be to an Elective form is the best method to secure a Succession of good and virtuous Princes the contrary hereto appears by this instance The People of Israel after this new modelling their Kingdom upon rejecting the true Heir descendent and electing out of themselves a King had through the Judgment of God withdrawing his Grace in punishment of their Rebellion and Revolt from this time till the utter Dissolution of their Kingdome nineteen Kings successively and not one good amongst them all And no wonder saith a sober Author For First It was a Kingdome whose Foundation was laid in 1. Rebellion 2. Schism Secondly It was maintained by a Politick Idolatry in the continuance of Jeroboams Golden Calves Thirdly Polluted with the Bloud of many of their Kings few of them going to their Grave Sicca morte by a Bloudless death And therefore having continued two hundred forty one or as others calculate two hundred fifty eight years in the ninth year of Hosea 's Reign which was the seventh of Hezekiah King of Judah the King and People of Israel were carried away Captives by Shalmanezer King of Assyria and never returned again for God removed Israel out of his sight 'T is so said twice 2 King xvii 18 23. And 't is observable no one knows to this day what 's become of these ten Tribes But even during the whole state or most settled time of their Kingdome they had no face of true Religion nor indeed any Religion constant amongst them but a Gallimafry of all the Gods and Idolatries of the Nations according to the Honour or Interest of their Kings On the other side the Kingdome of Judah which continued under the Rightful Succession and was Hereditary stood near one hundred and forty years longer than that of Israel and they had amongst their Kings many great Saints as Asa Jehosophat Hezekiah Josiah and diverse others And though the Worship of God were often foully corrupted in the Reign of some of their Kings yet as that Corruption still came in from the Kings of Israel or from Affinity or League with them so by the Succession of good Kings it was restored again and both the Church and Face of Religion kept up amongst them till it pleased God for their treading in the steps of the People of Israel to send his Church into Captivity there to be cured of Idolatry Which Cure when wrought though there still remained a general Cachexy or disorder of Manners yet it pleased God to bring back for a while their Captivity and to give them a new footing in their own Land till out of that Royal Stem was born our Lord Jesus the promised Seed of Abraham the Son of David according to the Flesh but declared by Power and Resurrection from the dead the Son of God the Lord of Lords and King of Kings blessed for evermore of whose Kingdom there shall be no end To sum up all If then there be any men to whom perpetual unsettledness and dangers to themselves and theirs to whom continued ages of War to whom ever and anon recurring Murder of Kings Massacres of Families together with all Violence and Tyranny over the people and even Arbitrary Religion as well as Government Vsurpation on God and Man be pleasing such men may plead these Arguments to enamour the world with the model of Elective Kingdoms But on the contrary If Publick Wealth Ease and Quiet I may add if continued Liberties settled Religion and general Stability as far as the state of sublunary affairs does admit be more amiable we have reason to stick to a true Legitimate Succession For it was the Observation of the wisest of Kings Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles and we see how far it proved so in the Kingdom of Judah We have hitherto as I think
SIX SERMONS PREACHED in IRELAND IN Difficult TIMES I. A Temper for Loyal Joy and Grief on Psal 46. ver 10 11. II. The Reasons and Necessity of Loyal Devotion on 1 Tim. 2. ver 1 2. III. The Way to Peace and Publick Safety on 1 Pet. 3. ver 2 IV. Religion and Loyalty inseperable on 1 Pet. 2. ver 17. V. Rex Regius on Eccles 10. ver â—7 VI. The Christian Law of the Sword on St. Matth. 16. ver 52. By EDWARD Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross LONDON Printed for William Whitwood at the Crown in Little-Britain 1695. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber TO His Grace MICHAEL Lord Arch-Bishop of Ardmagh and Primate of all Ireland one of the Lords Justices and Lord High Chancellor of the same c. May it please Your Grace WHen I preached the following Sermons I had no thoughts of Printing them Having now on some Reasons resolved to print them there is such a Congruity of Debt arises upon them from the Consideration of Your Graces Station and their Subject matter that were there no Obligation upon their Author they ought upon their own sole account to be addrest to no other within this Kingdom but Your Graces sacred Patronage They assert His Majesties Rights and his Subjects Duties And Your Grace here sustains and represents His Majesties Person in all the most ample capacities a Subject can do in Church in State and in the highest ordinary Judicature But My Lord I have besides this Debt on Them many Debts on my Self I can never forget the Entertainment Your Grace was pleased to give me at my first Arrival in this Kingdome neer fourteen Years ago when a perfect Stranger therein together with the sweet but effectual Interpositions of that Authority which then preserved me from Ruine And what is much greater the Constancy of Your Graces Favour ever since These things all live imprinted upon my very Soul and as they daily draw forth my most ardent Prayers to God for Your Graces present and future Felicities so as long as I am capable of Gratitude they shall be matter of my publick Gratitude and Acknowledgments As one instance whereof I beseech Your Grace to accept this present Recognition And here I could willingly have closed this Dedication but I must now beseech your Grace to become my Patron in another sense How of late I have been represented is more known than I could wish it were for the Representers sake How I deserved it no one better knows than Your Grace before whom I had the Honour to preach that so much scandalized Sermon on the first Sunday after Your Graces third Reception of the Sword In which Sermon if there had been any thing wherein I had made the least disloyal Glance I should not doubtless have carried it away without Animadversion both from Your Grace and Your Graces no less Loyal than Heroical and Honourable Collegue But I humbly conceive that as there was no Cause then administred to any ill Censure so it would have been no more proper for me then and in that Audience to have preach'd a Sermon solely pressing Loyalty and Allegiance than if a man should have come up amongst the Hundred and twenty assembled together at Jerusalem fresh after our Saviours Ascension and have set himself to perswade them to constancy in the Belief of their Lords Resurrection when they were all of them inspirited with zeal to die for it I chose therefore to perform the Office of preaching Loyalty and Allegiance in places and times which more required it and at that time and place I spoke what I thought might be of more universal Edification and Agreeableness I herewith present some of the Vouchers which I have of my Fidelity to His Majesty And I humbly pray and hope that if Your Grace should judge I ever needed or should need Testimonials of my Loyalty Your Grace would vouchsafe to represent these where and as occasion may serve God in his Mercy to the poor Church of Ireland long preserve Your Grace her happy Angel and a Refuge to My Lord Your Graces most Dutiful Servant E. Cork Rosse Cork Dec. 19. 1685. THE Titles Texts Occasions Of the Several SERMONS I. A Temper for Loyal Ioy and Grief Text. Psalm xlvii 10 11. preached on Sunday Feb. 15. 1684. being the day of proclaiming His present Majesty and the second day after we had tidings of the Death of His late Majesty Charles the Second of blessed Memory II. The Reasons and Neéd of Loyal Devotion Text 1 Tim. ii 1. preached on St. Georges day April 23. 1685. being the day of the Coronation of His present Majesty III. The Way to Peace and publick Safety Text 1 Pet. iii. 11. preached in the Heat of Argiles and Monmouths Rebellion IV. True Religion Loyalty inseparable Text 1 Pet. ii 17. preached in the Heat of Monmouths Rebellion V. REX REGIVS Text Eccles x. 17. preached Oct. 14. 1685. being celebrated at Cork as His Majestys Birth-day VI. The Christian Law of the Sword Text Matth. xxvi 52. preached Octob. 23. 1685. being by Statute an Anniversary day of Thanksgiving in Ireland THE PREFACE TOuching these Sermons which I here publish Two things there are an account whereof I thought convenient to preface to them The Occasion of publishing them and their Frame or Nature where if I digress a little touching some ways of Preaching more usual than profitable I hope my design of doing thereby a publick good may plead my Excuse They were preached with a very single Eye or sincere Intention of conscientious performing my Duty and approving my self to God in my station by doing what lay in me at a time of exigence to confirm the wavering to animate the diffident to contain excite and advance all in their Loyalty and firm Adhesion to His Gracious Majesty our present alone rightful liege Lord and Sovereign And this End having been God be blessed happily attained and perhaps would have been by other means without these Sermons at least I am not so vain as to think otherwise there was therefore for this purpose no need of their publication nor had they for me ever been more heard of much less publickly seen but that the present Humours and Menage of some make it necessary for Churchmen not only to do their Duty but to let the world know they do it and that they are and will be honest And though I am well assured these Discourses will not only in such times as they were preached in but ever be serviceable to the Royal Interest and very beneficial to the Soul health of as many Subjects as will reaâ— them yet I will ingenuously confess thâ— conceit I had of the efficacy of them to these ends was not so great as would have prevailed with me at present to have publish'd them but that I thought it needful some people should hear of both Ears at what rate we poor Irish Protestanâ— Bishops in the Country preach It happened that
can pray for nothing else in their behalf yet may we most charitably pray that God would give them Faith and Repentance though they come in even in the end of the eleventh hour of the day There was indeed in the miraculous days a miraculous Gift of discerning of Spirits and I will not say but St. John and other like inspired persons might be able hereby to perceive what men sinned unto death and when how and in what acts But I think there is none but mad men will in the present age pretend to this Gift and then there will be no knowing who will sin unto death that is be finally incredulous or impenitent except God should reveal it to us Besides as just now intimated none can be said to be incredulous or impenitent finally that is to their end till their end that is till their death and we do not teach to pray for any persons longer Wherefore it remains except God should reveal to any of us that such and such particular persons were incorrigible and by him eternally rejected from all Grace and so by immediate Inspiration or voice from Heaven interdict us to pray for them I conceive in the present â—â—ate of the Church we stand bound in charity to pray for all men at least that God would give them repentance as long as they are in this life or on this side Hell be they never so wicked Further 2. If that Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which our Lord has declared Matt. xii 31 32. shall not be forgiven unto men either in this world or that which is to come were as in all probability it was the Jews malicious ascribing those Miracles to Beelzebub the Prince of Devils which in their Consciences they were convinced he did by the power of the Holy Ghost then by reason of the Cessation of Miracles no man of the present age is capable of it and therefore is no man now upon supposition of this sin to be excluded from our Prayers In a word as the world goes I know not how there is any maintaining Charity or the true Christian Temper without strict observing the Apostles injunction in my Text. For allow this that we are not to pray for those who have sinned a sin unto death and withal that sins unto death are in the present age as certainly to be known as they are commonly committed there will be few men if they have but ill nature enough to maintain enmities whose Malice will not byass their Judgments to pronounce their Enemies to have sinned a sin unto death and so there will be no loving of Enemies or praying for them at least there will be a proper method to absolve us from the Obligation of that our Lords Command of loving our Enemies and blessing those that curse us so proper to the Religion by him instituted Wherefore by the way give me leave from hence to recommend unto you the Prudence Piety and Integrity of the first Reformers of our Church and consequently the Soundness of the Reformation it self The first thing the Apostle gives in charge here to Timothy in order to the settling the Church of Ephesus is the due constituting the publick Prayers The first part of the Reformation was the compiling the Liturgy of our Church and that almost in the very form we at present have it The primitive publick Prayers by the Apostolical Injunction in the Text were to consist of Supplications Petitions Intercessions and giving of Thanks And St. Chrysostome on the Text tells us in his time the practice of the Church was accordingly The Priests all know saith he how this is performed every day both morning and evening Our Liturgy does consist of Confessions Suffrages or Litanies of Collects of Prayers for the whole Church Hymns and Eucharistical Devotions parts perfectly conformable to what was then both enjoyned and practised And these according to the Apostle were to be made for all men and as Chrysostome tells us were actually so made We pray accordingly in our Litany That it please thee to have mercy upon all men Besides we have other Prayers for all sorts and conditions of men But especially for Kingâ— saith the Apostle and all that are in Authority And that these Prayers according to Order in our Liturgy are offered up morning and evening I need not tell you but as led hereby proceed to my main design Proposition II. Publick Prayers of the Church in all kinds are to be made for Kings and all in Authority Nothing can be more expresly said in terms than this is in the present Text. And it gives a very great emphasis to the Apostles Injunction and so makes our Obliâ—ation to the Duty much the stronger if we consider when this Epistle was writ or in what days the Apostle laid this Charge on Timothy namely in the first year of Nero's being Emperor of Rome according to Baronius in his third year say others all agree 't was under his Empire What Nero was for a Monster of a man as to all Villanies imaginable I need not speak nor will you easily think the Governours sent by him viz. the Prefects of the Army or Provinces were most of them much better than their Emperour And such a long time continued the Emperours and the other Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Chrysostome In loc expresses it ungodly men succeeding ungodly men so that Quot erant eo tempore magistratus tot Ecclesiae hostes atque Idolatriae As many Bez. in loc Magistrates as there were so many Enemies were there of the Church so many Idolaters and God knows vast multitudes more by their example Yet even for these did the Apostle injoyn constant Prayers daily to be made in the Church So that we must necessarily if we mind this circumstance apply hereto that of the Apostle St. Peter as to be subject to so to pray for not only the good and gentle but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the froward or perverse Yet let none by the way be so vile as to make here any misconstruction God be blessed we have no need to apply this Emphasis in our circumstances We have a King most Gracious who protects us in our Religion and has again and again promised so to do of which we have most publick and ample assurance However as long as there are such infernal Spirits in humane shape as are at this day many of the Scotch Covenanters who will not so much as say God save or God blâ—ss the King to save themselves from the Gallows it was not fit to omit this observation of the Date of this Epistle For hereby let the King have been what he could be to them they are convicted by our Apostles Doctrine to have renounced their Christianity in this case with their Allegiance and Duty to their King let them dye what they would they dyed no Christians It is not impossible there are others in the world who though to
either now living or in the memory of many of us dead If our King be not fully of our Religion who were they that when they had by rebellious Arms first deposed then murdered the Father afterwards drove the whole Royal Progeny into strange Countries where they found more kindness from them of a foreign Religion than from the body of their native Subjects God divert from the three Nations the Plagues yet due to that Rebellion and its consequent Villanies In the mean while let the present consideration how Princes miscarriages light heavy and that most justly on their Subjects as well as on the contrary their prudent and pious Conduct so vastly advanceth both the spiritual and temporal Prosperity of their people let I say this most reasonable consideration move all of us to be duly devout in offering Supplications Prayers and Intercessions for our King and all sent by him Those great Rationalists who scarce will admit any other Law of Nature allow Self-preservation to be such I say even this obliges us to pray for Kings and that most ardently 't is an act in our own defence and for our own advantage But I trust we are most of us acted by more generous Principles let me therefore propound such also I say then lastly we are obliged in charity and good nature to this Duty And truly there is something of this in what I said but just now Who will not think himself bound to pity and as long as he lives pray for those whom his own Sins have provoked God to suffer to fall into Sin But to wave any such consideration put the case Kings were advanced so far above the race of Mankind that they could not either through human frailty or Gods vengeance on their peoples Sins fall themselves into any sin or do any thing amiss yet are they not thereby supposed impossible or uncapable of feeling their proper miseries And who knows not that all Crowns have their Weight and I may say their Thorns too Pardon that expression who knows not I must recall it Indeed none know the pressures of Crowns but those who wear them The infelicities of being in power especially in the highest place of power are greater than can be easily accounted To make a good man great is but to desire or necessitate him to be miserable for the publick Good to say nothing of perpetual cares waking nights and thoughts which the hearing of Chronicles read will not always divert of the most poynant sense of publick Straits national Affronts and a thousand things that will not enter into my head this one misery is enough to make any earthly Throne eternally uneasie that upon the poor Prince ever was and will be charged all publick Evils either his male-administration or some other his Personal guilt is still cryed out of though he in the mean time be never so wise vigilant virtuous or innocent Thus 1 Sam. xxx 6 the Amalekites invade Ziklag and carry the Women away captive and the people instead of rescuing them talk of stoning David These and such like miseries whoso consider will surely never think he can pray too often for his King I might speak of Obligations from humane Laws for humane Laws to this effect have there ever been not only in Christian but in Jewish and even in Heathen Countries Thus Darius when he ordered a kind of Endowment of the Jewish Temple required that the Priests should offer Sacrifices of sweet Savours unto the God of Heaven and pray for the Life of the King his Sons Ezr. vi 9 10. And it may be collected by parity of Reason from 1 Macc. xii 11. as well as more expresly by what is above said out of Josephus that the Jews practised accordingly The primitive Christians we have seen did it without any Imperial Laws and sine Monitore But what should I speak of such Laws amongst us In a word and to conclude the whole Evidence for this Duty If there may be any Obligation laid upon us which is not grounded upon Scripture Reason or humane Laws that is upon divine moral or political Principles of Justice Charity and Equity all which it is plain we have in the present case then I shall confess there is some Obligation wanting which might have been laid upon us to be assiduous or instant in Prayer for our King But because if even new Grounds of Duties could be assigned and humane Nature and Society should come hereafter to be regulated according to other measures than the World has hitherto known yet these will be obligatory still Therefore I must say after the Apostle I exhort that Supplications and Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men For Kings and them that are in Authority And when I have in a very few words press'd the Practice of what I have hitherto been demonstrating to be our Duty I shall conclude First therefore in the name of God let none of us in what capacity soever whether private or publick persons be wanting to this Duty Be we what we will we are or would be looked upon as Christians or Friends to humane Society We are not such as plead for mens living wild and savage upon the face of the Earth If we be not such we are then concerned and held fast in the Tyes before-mentioned Wherefore In those publick Prayers which the Church has provided for us and most Christianly according to the Apostolical Injunction and primitive Pattern put into our mouths let us be cordial and sincere let them not pass over with us as matter of meer Form and Custom but honestly engage our Hearts in zealous desires and fixt resolutions of Loyalty I have heard it has been objected against our Liturgy that Prayers for the King occur therein too often that there is in this behalf a great deal of vain Repetition a Fault taxed by our Lord in the Prayers of Heathens It were an easie thing to vindicate our Service-Book from Tautology even in this regard were there now either Time or Need. In a word there never comes two Prayers for the King in the same Office of the same kind or to the same purpose And it is to be remembred diverse kinds of Prayers are commanded Supplications Petitions Intercessions and giving of Thanks are to be made for all men For Kings and them in Authority Or if there were any such yet new Affections still added to Prayers coming over again at some distance will as much make them new Prayers as our Lords greater Earnestness in the Garden made the Prayer which he uttered the third time in the same words no vain Repetition If we have any sparks of Reason in us let us be ashamed of such pretences We will tell the world that what some scrupulous persons thus plead against our Liturgy that it too frequently applies to God in behalf of the King will ever we hope operate to the maintaining it What these account its Fault may
be its and ours and if they will be of one piece with us their Security In the Name of GOD therefore let us devoutly hold to it It will approve Us and our Religion to God and Men. And again In private let us imitate the Primitive Christians of our own accord and without any Remembrancer recommending our King his Person Government Family and Affairs for so we have seen they did to the Protection and Guidance of the Almighty If after all I have said I thought any thing wanting to press this Exhortation I could add what me thinks would put every one of us on our knees in this behalf as frequently before God as might be desired namely that we can take no more effectual course than this to secure the Government of our King to be according to the Will of God A thing we pretend so much to desire Prov. xxi 1. The Heart of the King is in the Hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Waters he turneth it whithersoever he will If we were all to have our wishes in the behalf of the Kingdoms there could no greater Blessing befall us than to have our King a person after Gods own Heart There is no way in the world to make him so like our ardent and constant Prayers to God for him Surely a King of so many Prayers cannot miscarry I will therefore conclude all with a second Exhortation and that a little more limited to this present Day I am sure there are few or none of us who will not this Day before we sleep perhaps several times be praying or at least say God bless the King Now that our Prayers may be effectual this Day I will exhort only that we keep our selves all in such a Temper as to be able devoutly and in a true Christian Temper to pray so when we go to bed I do not forbid eating our Meat or drinking our Drink with Gladness and singleness of Heart and wishing well to our King his Subjects and one another in so doing But I caution all against Intemperance and Madness Is it Sense or Loyalty to be drunk for the King Or if the KING should see it would He thank or commend or think the better of any man for it For shame Good Christian People beware of such unreasonableness such Barbarity At the setting of David upon the Throne on the Holy Hill of Sion the Holy Ghost commands Serve the Lord with Gladness and rejoyce with Trembling Psalm II. 11. I do not press so much as that comes to Do but rejoyce with Sobriety Rejoyce so as not to provoke God Rejoyce so as that you may have Joy in the latter end His Sacred Majesty God be blessed is far from approving and all men say even from conniving at Debauchery As we cannot therefore thereby please Him so it is certain we are thereby sure to displease God Let us therefore study not only this Day but all our Days to maintain an holy devout serious Temper being always fit and resolved by all Prayers and Supplication with Thanksgiving to make our Request known unto God And the Peace of God which passeth all Understanding shall keep our Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus To whom with his Blessed Father and the Eternal Spirit be all Honour Glory c. FINIS THE WAY TO PEACE AND Publick Safety As it was Delivered in a SERMON In Christs Church in the City of Cork and elsewhere in the heat of the late Rebellions of Argile and Monmouth By Edward Lord Bishop of Cork and Rosse Dublin Printed by A. Crook and S. Helshaem for William Norman Samuel Helsham and Eliphal Dobson Booksellers 1686. Advertisement Touching the Following SERMON IN the Address of the Clergy of the Diocess of Cork and Ross March 1684 5. which I had the Honour to pen there was made this sacred Promise That as our Lives were not dear to us in comparison of our Religion and Loyalty so we would not fail though with the peril of our Lives by the strictest ties of our Religion which abhors all Resistance or Unfaithfulness towards our Prince to endeadour the securing to His Majesty our peoples as well as our own Loyalty and Obedience Pursuant to these Vows I have ample proofs of my Brethrens Sedulity generally And as to my self as I had not been formerly remiss so when about the 20th of May following Argiles Rebellion in Scotland alarm'd us which though God be blessed both suddenly and happily supprest was seconded with that of the late Duke of Monmouth in the West of England I thought it was time to ply my Duty with ingeminated Diligence and to do my utmost by all Instance and Importunity to confirm and keep steddy in their Loyalty as far as in me lay the whole body of my Charge I therefore went abroad several Sundays to the most populous Congregations of my Diocess and in my Circuit I preached this same Sermon I confess three several times first in the City of Cork then at the Town of Kinsale and lastly at the Town of Bandon all of them very great Auditories The iteration of it was not from Idleness but because I could devise nothing else more close and apposite to the conjuncture Yet is its Subject matter such that it is not I conceive still unseasonable and I fear as long as the world stands is not like to be For as long as there are vices and lusts amongst men there will be violations of Peace in one kind or other Now this Sermon consists wholly of Counsels and Directions for securing and maintaining Peace in all its several branches and kinds It might easily have been dilated into a far larger bulk but few Readers or indeed Hearers now adays complain much of Brevity And in the present case I hope it will be esteemed no fault at all because what I have said on each Point is large enough I think not to be obscure and I hope the whole not much more defective than an hours Discourse on so copious a Subject must needs prove THE WAY to PEACE AND Publick Safety As it was delivered in a SERMON in Christs Church in Cork and elsewhere in the heat of the late REBELLION of Argile and Monmouth The TEXT 1 Pet. III. 11. Seek Peace and ensue it THe body of this Epistle for the main consists of Exhortations and Motives to several Christian Duties in the disposing of which Exhortations or assigning to each their place the Holy Ghost seems to have proceeded wholly arbitrarily and to have observed no other Laws or Reasons of their Order than meer good Pleasure In the eighth Verse of this Chapter begins as I compute the eighth Exhortation and it is to Vnity in Judgment and Affection but especially in Affection and then to the proper Product hereof Sweetness in Conversation Finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as Brethren be pitiful Some of the original terms are more emphatical than our English What we
or follow my business at home But if the King commands me abroad to serve him it is now a good work and my Duty to go abroad and serve him And so in other like cases But will some say What if the King should command us any thing that is unlawful What then must our Obedience be I answer 1. The King cannot be conceived to command us that is any men in our circumstances and conditions any thing but what he commands according to Law that is he can be conceived to command us nothing but what the Law commands And I must stand to it our Laws are good nay they are most excellent at least I could never find an ill one amongst those now in force This Supposition therefore is you see unreasonable and not to be put But you will say What if an ill Law should be made and our Obedience to it required These things are not in themselves impossiible I answer Under our Constitution and as the Frame of our Government stands if they be not impossible yet God be blessed they are most highly improbable and most unlikely But 2. And which for ever answers all There are few of us but have heard there is a double Obedience which may be paid to Governours Active or Passive Where the thing commanded is lawful to be done we ought to do it we owe active Obedience Eccles viii 2. I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Thy Allegiance binds thee to it But in case the thing commanded be unlawful that is against any plain Command of God or that thou without Fraud or Dissimulation apprehendest and believest it to be so there is then passive Obedience that thou art to pay that is thou must meekly and patiently submit thy self to suffer whatever Penalty the Lawgiver thinks fit to inflict for the breach of his Law We may petition and supplicate for Forbearance and Mercy but in case we cannot obtain it we may not resist For whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Rom. xiii 2. This is the Doctrine of St. Paul and it ever has been the Doctrine of our Church See the Book of Homilies And thus as to the first branch of Honour due to the King the Honour of Obedience A second Honour which we owe to him is that of Fealty and Allegiance The word Fealty signifies only Fidelity or Faithfulness and what the particulars of the Faith we owe to our Sovereign Lord the King are we know all of us by the Oath of Allegiance In particular as we are not to be false Traytors our selves so neither are we to connive at or conceal those whom we have reason to suspect to be such And hereunto we are all of us bound First By the Oath aforementioned which that none may think an Imposition upon us or contrary to the Laws of God or to our Christian Liberty behold it in the very Kingdom of Judah that is in the Kingdom which of all ever on Earth was that of Gods most peculiar Erection and Care We had just now one proof of it out of Ecclesiastes I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment by reason of the Oath of God that Oath we cannot well conceive to be any other than the Oath of Allegiance which they to whom he speaks had taken to their King and particularly to King Solomon the Penman of that Book But in 1 Chron. last 24. You have both the time and manner or ceremony of taking it Then Solomon sat on the Throne of the Lord as King instead of David his Father And all the Princes and the mighty Men and all the Sons of King David gave the Hand under Solomon so the Text runs in the Hebrew as you may see in the Margin of your Bibles And what that kind of speech signifies you may learn out of the Story of Abrahams Servant Gen. xxiv 2 3. Put I pray thee saith Abraham to his Servant thine Hand under my Thigh and I will make thee swear by the Lord the God of Heaven and the God of Earth The giving the Hand under one was the Ceremony of a most solemn Oath By the Lord that is By Jehovah the God of Heaven and the God of Earth So again when Jacob was dying in the Land of Egypt he sent for his Son Joseph and said unto him Put I pray thee thine Hand under my Thigh and deal kindly and truly with me Bury me not in Egypt but I will lie with my Fathers c. And he said swear unto me and he sware unto him Genes xxvii 29 30 31. So that this their giving their Hand under King Solomon was swearing to him in person their Faith and Allegiance You see then Divine Warrant for an Oath of Allegiance And hereby first I say are we bound to pay our King the Honour of Fidelity for this Oath we have all of us taken or if any of us be so young as not to have taken it such are to be minded that we here all of us call our selves English-men And every English-man is born as I may say with the Oath of Allegiance in his mouth our Fathers took it and stand bound for us and we therefore bound in them 2. We are bound hereto by the Principles of Equity and Justice those common grounds of the Laws of Nations and indeed the true Law of Nature We expect Protection from the King his Laws and Government and God be blessed we do enjoy it Now is it not just that as we have Safety from him so he should have Security from us What Nation is there which gives not this Security to their Government Indeed it is the very Bond of Government without which it cannot subsist but all must run into Seditions Bloudshed Confusion Anarchy And therefore 3. We are bound to pay our King the Honour of Faith and Allegiance in our own Defence There are many who pretend and have long pretended God forgive them to be afraid of their Property Liberties and Religion My Brethren what can more certainly and fatally expose or destroy all these than Civil Wars And Civil Wars must needs immediately come in upon us if any of us at least any number of us start or swerve from our Allegiance Our King under God alone is able to protect us our Properties Liberties Religion and besides his Force Power he has manifested to the World Courage Will and Resolution enough to protect us In standing stedfast therefore we secure and preserve our selves and ours but if we stagger or fall off which God forbid we may weaken him but we shall destroy our selves I will add no more on this Point I trust I do not need Thus then as to the second branch of Honour due to the King the Honour of Fealty and Allegiance and our Obligations thereto The third follows Thirdly then We owe to our King by
the Laws of Christ the Honour of Supplies and of paying Tribute Kings must not be kept poor for this is the way to make them useless and to expose both them and their Subjects to the common Enemies of both You know whose Command it is Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods Matth. xxii 21. The Justice of which debt the Apostle gives us an account Rom. xiii 6. For this cause pay we Tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing the thing he had spoken of in the fourth Verse namely the publick Good or in his language to minister to every one for good for the private good of each who doth good and for the publick good of all by executing Wrath upon such as do evil Now there is no greater burden than the perpetual Care Toil and Difficulty which lies on Kings and Persons in the highest Power in reference to such Administration of Justice and other like publick affairs And if our own private business and concerns cannot be carried on without Expence what must be the Charge of the Concerns of a Kingdom Wherefore as the undergoing such publick Cares and perpetual Anxieties deserves a publick and ample Reward greater Wealth and Revenues than those of any private man so the Necessiities of publick Business require greater Treasures to discharge them Hence I say is most evident the Justice of the case that Tributes and Supplies should be paid to Kings Let them be paid then will some say by them that reap the great benefit of the Government but how will it be proved to be every mans Duty to pay them The Answer is easie 1. Who reaps not the benefit of the Government and particularly the benefit of Protection by the Laws both as to his Person Fortunes Liberty good Name and the like except he have deserved otherwise He owes therefore for these his share towards the defraying the publick Expences But there is yet a farther Answer 2. We must know the King has the same right to such Supplies as we speak of to Tributes and his Revenues as any of us have to our Estates Nam propriae Telluris herum natura neque illum Nec me nec quenquam statuit Nature gives no man a property to his House or Lands or like possessions It is the Law that determines and sets out each mans property And the same Law that metes out to me what is mine assigns to the King what is his The same Law that gives me liberty to traffick to buy up and export and import Commodities allots to the King his Customes and it is as much a breach of the eighth Commandent whatsoever some men think of it to steal Custome as to pick a mans pocket of the two in some regard a greater I know the ordinary Evasion many have with which they do not so much quiet as for a while cheat or stifle their Consciences The Laws in this case say they are penal if we submit to the Penalty of the Law as we are content to do when we are caught which I must suspect and they who say it would do well to consider whether they so contentedly submit to legal Forfeitures as they pretend in this plea if we submit to the Penalty say they we are guiltless we have fulfilled the Law I utterly deny this and so will any man who understands any thing of Casuastical Divinity The Law by commanding me to do what will secure me from Penalty or Forfeiture commands me not to incur that Penalty or Forfeiture if therefore I wittingly incur it I break the Law except there were more particular Salvo's than I have seen in any of our penal Laws But because some will not understand this in the general let me put a particular case Suppose a man by defrauding the King of some comparatively small Dues incurs a Forfeiture which undoes him Who now is guilty of undoing this man the Law or himself If he would have honestly paid the King such Dues as he might have done and yet been an honest Gainer which was the thing commanded by the Law and by the Law his Duty he had been in a good condition but he chooses to break the Law and so has undone himself Is he not now doubly gulty first of a sin against the Law and the King Secondly is he not in some measure a Felo de se at least a Robber of himself and Family and the Guilt must needs bear its proportion and be Guilt still though not so great in case of lesser Penalties and Forfeitures Wherefore we see we owe the King the Honour of Supplies Custom or Tribute Fourthly We owe him the Honour of Candour and charitable Construction of thinking and speaking the best we can of him and all his actions You never knew a person who truly honoured another but he would be so far from thinking vilely of his indifferent actions mean of such actions which might be capable of being done wisely or to a good end as well as otherwise that he would find out excuses for his bad ones I pray you let us all pay our Prince this Honour at least let none of us be guilty of interpreting to the worst such Counsels and Actions the reasons of which we do not yet and perhaps it is not fit we should at present understand This very practice besides that it is most certainly our Duty to our King would be no small service to our selves and neighbours for it would prevent a multitude of those causeless but very tormenting Fears and Jealoufies nay even many divers reports too which are very frequent all over the Kingdoms But this I have formerly otherwise prest Lastly We owe to our King the Honour of our Prayers * These passages were put in when the Sermon was preached a second time in another place and on another occasion and of our Praises too in his behalf True Honour and Love are inseparable And 't is most sure no person of any serious Religion ever honoured and loved any man whom he did not pray for * and in whose good he would not cordially rejoyce and praise God for it Remember that most solemn passage of the Apostle 1. Tim. II. 1 2 3. I exhort therefore first of all that Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men for Kings 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 and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour It is plain hence that in the settling of the Service of God in the Church of Ephesus one of St. Pauls first and chiefest cares one of his strictest Injunctions was that all sorts of Prayers should be offered up in the behalf of Kings which I have otherwise more largely discoursed and therefore for the present more briefly pass We see then now the main
well as with a large one of others These three therefore To Eat and Drink in due season in due measure and of such viands as are convenient for us make up what we call Temperance in Diet. But this single Virtue as being the principal part of Sobriety and that which is mainly instrumental to preserve Reason and Consideration is put Synecdochically for a considerative Virtuous Temper and Practice in opposition especially to a voluptuous and sensual Life which whosoever give themselves up to whether noble or plebeian are neither sit for nor can mind or happily dispath Business And so the sum of the Royal Preachers Observation in the Text amounts to this 'T is a singular Blessing to a Nation to have a King nobly descended of a noble Mind not young or unexperienc'd not giving himself over to Pleasures and excess but grave abstemious considerative and virtuous And all this praised be our good God is a Blessedness which these Nations at present enjoy The Text being thus explained it follows that we speak distinctly to its parts which I shall not be curious in assigning It being a compound or copulative Proposition consists evidently of two simple ones the first whereof is Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles We ought then first to consider what Felicities they are which amount to a People by having their Prince of Noble Extraction And in answer hereto if my Discourse be not at present so perfectly or wholly Theological as I could desire or as are generally those with which I use to entertain you I must beg your pardon the nature of the Subject matter does not admit it But I am sure the End I drive at or that to which all tends is truly Holy Religious and Christian Now the great Benefits which reasonably a People may expect under such a Prince are I think chiefly these three Publik Wealth and Plenty Publick Ease or Liberty to enjoy what they have And Publick Quiet and Peace Blessings which one would think should endear the Government to us and which I am sure whether we will acknowledge or no the Kingdoms generally enjoy especially if we consider how at present it goes with other neighbouring Nations And these I say by Gods Blessing and upon our own Loyalty we may reasonably expect the continuance of under our Sovereign and the present Constitution that is while we are governed by Kings who are the Sons of Nobles For First With Noble Personages generally go Noble Estates and Revenues When men who were born Princes come to the Throne they carry with them thither their private Fortunes and former Principalities joyning all to the Crowns they take A great Felicity this to the Publick and much for the aggrandising a Nation as well as for the Ease of the middle rate of men on whom commonly all burdens fall Kings cannot be too rich though Subjects may 'T is for the Benefit of the whole body of their People that Princes abound They will then be better able to defend both themselves and Subjects and that with fewer lighter and more easie Supplies On the contrary where indigent and poor men come to rule though never so virtuous upright and just never so sweet generous and noble minded yet Necessitas cogit ad turpia a poor Princes own or the publick Necessities will put him on Practices dishonourable and which will be uneasie and grating on the the Subject For what vast Treasures are cessary to settle a new Prince What unthought of Expences incident Extraordinary Exigents of State private Accidents Families to be raised Dependants to be advanced and a multitude of like occasions Of all which the ordinary sort must bear the main burden Wherefore no such Oppressor as a poor Man in chief Power Prov. xxiii 3. A poor man that oppresseth the Poor is like a sweeping Rain which leaveth no Food Though therefore it was a King in the Text that said it yet it would seem of all Degrees the Commonality may in this respect most justly pronounce Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles Secondly The Sons of Nobles most generally prove Noble and Heroical themselves and of great and brave Souls Fortes creantur fortibus bonis Eagles naturally produce not Kites or Buzzards There is a Royal Spirit runs in Royal Bloud And it has been observed by the wisest and most impartial men such which are best Judges in these matters I mean least obnoxious to mistake and freest from Flattery that many Princes even while young and within those years which ordinarily denominate Children have far surpast in ripeness of Wit Prudence Counsel or like Qualifications the generality of adult persons of above twice their years though of liberal and good lettered Education also This amongst others was manifest to all the world in that blessed Prince Edward VI. King of England whom Cardan an Italian by Birth as well as Religion but one of the most learned men and greatest Philosophers then in the world having visited could not forbear wonder and giving him so great a Character as is scarce credible touching one of so few years It is too long to repeat the whole but in the end he expresly stiles him the Miracle of Nature And it is truly much to have been ever from the Cradle fill'd with great thoughts possest with Principles and Designs of publick Good and bred by Art as well as by Nature dispos'd and fram'd for Government Now this may be expected from the Sons of Nobles and is almost ever found in those who are born Princes They cannot well be base spirited but answer their Originals and Condition of Life From whence how naturally the forementioned Advantages will flow to their Subjects any may easily see who pleases to consider the Case On the contrary when men either by the Sword or Popular Favour and Factions come to the Throne they retain dreadful tinctures of the Cruelty Bloudiness Partiality or other base Arts that advanced them Whence it comes to pass that they rule with Tyranny and Oppression at least that they generally administer pardon the solecism unequal and partial Justice Where they dare to punish they commonly though on slight occasions crush irreparably where they dare not they will not see but haply flatter or fawn at least basely dissemble and personate Justice only in being blind And what Grievances how great and various must arise hence is not easie I had almost said to imagine I am sure not to comprehend or determine Remember Jothans Parable Judg. ix 15. When the Bramble was advanced to be King over the Trees he said unto the Trees if in truth ye anoint me King over you then come and put your trust in my Shadow and if not let Fire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon The Bramble is no such tall erect or strong plant that its shadow was likely I should have said possible to defend the Trees
ver 8. The Children of Israel were three hundred thoâ—sand and the Men of Judah thirty thousâ—nd A pretty number indeed to lift up their voice and weep at a vain mans scornful Rodomantade What 's the matter with them The point was there was yet in effect no King in Israel Saul indeed was just anointed King chap. x. but he had not yet taken upon him the actual Exercise of his Kingly Power he lived yet priâ—ately in Gibeah of Saul and was coming after the Herd out of the Field cap. xi 5. But when Saul heads them they had now one to save them as the expression is ver 3. and having put the people into three Companies drawn them into three Squadrons they slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day and they that remained of them were so scattered that tâ—o of them were not left together ver 11. so great a Strength and Shield was their new King already become to Israel And I beseech you Brethren consider it if not from this instance from any other you please There is nothing more exposes a People to be the most easie prey to their far weaker Enemies than Anarchy or want of Governours To their Enemies shall I say Nay there is nothing more exposeth them to themselves In those disorders and dreadful civil Wars which ensued thereon the History of which makes up the five last Chapters of the Book of Judges the reason of all that fatal series of Events is no less than four times inculâ—aled in these numerical words In those days there was no King in Israel chap. xvii 4. xviii 1. xix 1. and xxi 25. I will not â—ub on old sores but we may remember what days they were when there was no King in our Israel Wherefore if we love our own and three Nations Safety let this reason move us to be constanâ— in our Prayers for our King and Governours 2. Let it be considered further Kings happy and prudent Government is the Rule â—nd Measure of the Peoples Flourishing and Prosâ—eâ—ity As things are managed by the Prince with more or less Prudence Justice and Conduct so for the main do the People more or less grow and advance stand or decline in all at least outward felicities The Benâ—â—its of his good Managery are greaâ—er than I am able to give account of and the contâ—ary as dismaâ—ly and generally toâ—â— First A word particularly to the Beneâ—its thereof for of them the Context takes â—â—ice That we may â—ive â— quiet and peaceâ—le 〈◊〉 in all Godlineâ—s and Honesty The â—postle as becomes â—im takes notice 〈◊〉 oâ— spiritual goods or at least adâ—antages â—ending to them And some Beâ—eâ—its â—o themselves particularly shall all 〈◊〉 persons â—ndoubtedly â—eap who are conscientioâ—s in the discharge of this Duty Bâ—t we may hope where all joyn with united and constant Devotion therein he that â—earâ—â—h Prayer will not be deaf to his Servants who â—ry night and day to him Rather that to so universal and so importunaâ—e Prayers he will give in a pleâ—ophory of Blessings Blessings in heavenly things the fâ—ourishing of Religion the Reformation of mens Manners the advance of Union and Charity and like Benefits Oh how much to be wished for to the Church of God and that happy outward advantage hereto publick Peace and Quiet which gives all sorts of men all â—pportunies of Godliness and Hoâ—esty No â—eâ—s than these are the fruits of Kings good Administration Prov. xx 8 26. A wise King that sitteâ—h on the Toâ—â—ne scattereâ—h â—ay all evil with his eyes He scattereth the â—icked and bringâ—th the Wheel â—â—er them The Wheel in the Eastern Countries was oftentimes the instrument to thresh with â—nd 't is here put in allâ—sion thereto to â—ignifie the infliction of such punishment which either severs the sound and useful from the rotten and unprofitable or â—reaks in piecâ—s what withstands Now â—he issue thereof the same holy Author tell â—s When the wickeâ— periâ—â— the rigâ—â—eâ—us increase ch xxviii ult And no less than those may we hope will be the fruits of our loyal Prayers But further where we may look for the greater much more for the less If then the concerns of Religion and the prosperity of our Souls depend so much on the Princes pious and prudent Administration much more do those of our civil Liberties and Property The better the publick affairs are managed the better it is generally for all private persons The Princes own share of fruition is usually the least for the happiest Effects of his best and wisest Councils cannot well be greater than these two Either first continued Peace Or secondly victorious Arms. In both it may be truly said of all good Kings and Princes concerned in either or blessed with both Vos non vobis it is not for themselves they labour or succeed the great Benefit still redounds to the people or to publick bodies As on the contrary secondly If in their Counsels or Enterprises Kings miscarry the ill Success usually falls heavy on the multitude Though the Prince be but one man and have but one Life to lose yet be sure he can never fall alone Nay when the Providence of God whose peculiar care Kings are in the midst of many publick calamities preserves their persons safe and untouched very often according the methods and ancient proceedings of his sovereign Wisdom great numbers of the people fall Zech. x. 3. Mine anger was kindled against the Shepherds and I punished the Goats We knnow it was no otherwise in the transgression of that holy King the man after Gods own heart David numbred the people but the people who were numbred suffered In which kind of cases there is more strict Justice in God than all men generally are aware of For that the Princes Sins for which God at any time immediately or proximately takes punishment are usually the Effect of some other Sins of the People as in the very instance of Davids Sin mentioned 2 Sam. xxiv 1. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved that is as appears by the narrative hereof 1 Chron. xxi 1. he suffered Satan who stood up against Israel to provoke or move David to number Israel Davids Sin was the punishment of the Peoples Sin and so the People most justly suffered for it A like case we have 2 Kings xxiv last Through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah until he had cast them out from his presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the King of Babylon King Zedekiahs breaking Covenant with Nebuchadnezzer was his own Sin yet he fell into it by Gods being provoked with his Peoples Iniquities and so it justly operated to the casting them out of Gods presence that is out of the Holy Land And I must here boldly but truly say whatsoever there is that in our judgment is amiss in our Gracious King His present Majesty is the Effect of the Sins of a great multitude of his people