NOBLES or WHITE ONES Eccles 10.17 So that what may we not with humble Confidence look for that it is fit a good Prince should do for his Subjects For those Subjects of His who as they think and own that they are bound in Conscience to serve Him with their lives so I trust will always be ready at His first command faithfully to perform what they heartily profess You therefore that hear me this day as you tender your RELIGION be not defective in this piece of LOYALTY which is a part thereof TRUST your KING and trust Him BOLDLY as it becomes ingenuous and honest Subjects Banish all unreasonable Doubts down with all Ill-natur'd Fears cast off all unbecoming Jealousies and let no vainly diffident surmises boil up in your hearts or sloat in your minds Our RELIGION and our LAWS our LIBERTIES and our PROPERTIES are things most Dear and Pretious to us Believe therefore that he will take due care of them that he will graciously patronize and protect them It was the Greek Orator's saying of the KING of Macedon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demost Olynth 2. I should verily think Philip to be formidable and wonderful if so be I could see he grew great by just proceedings Question not but we have a KING who will keep and encrease his Grandeur by his Justice and that at such a Rate as to become a meet Object both of Dread and Admiration I will venture to speak but one word more Never fear but he will answer or come up to that most true Character or Definition of a KING which the learned Father has rightly drawn up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. 〈◊〉 Stâ—om Lib. 1. HE is A KING WHO RULES ACCORDING TO LAWS So none shall have cause Just cause to complain either of the Weight or Crookedness of his Scepter Lastly If we would fear the KING aright we must obey him readily Kings and Rulers are said in Scripture to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Powers and as they have power to command and make Laws so we that are under them must execute and fulfill them with all humble and faithful readiness and obsequiousness And here to smooth our way to this important Work I shall endeavour to remove one grand Impediment or considerable Stumbling-block which Prejudice or Mistake is apt to throw before many I mean a conceit that Submission to the penalties of good Laws is Equivalent to Obedience So have I heard some stifly argue and I have seen their practice correspond to their reasonings For they have made light of violating most wholesom Laws upon this presumption that they could salve the violations they wilfully ran upon by undergoing such punishments as those Laws inflicted which in their Opinion would be tantamount to punctual observing them But this is a weak and groundless imagination and a fansie most wild and monstrously nonsensical To hold thâ—t suffering Penalties is a proper Supplement of totally absent or deficient Obedience is as much as to assert that cutting down Trees or stubbing them up for Barrenness is the same thing with their Fruitfulness There is no such miraculous virtue in these sufferings as to rectifie Obliquities into Obedience or to work so strange a transmutation in them as to render them like it or equipollent to it Let none therefore venture to infringe Penal Laws upon this vain persuasion that the smart they shall endure be it either in corporal or pecuniary Penalties may be surrogated into the place of real Obedience and by an adequate vicariousness so exactly fill up the room thereof as to be in any measure as good as that It cannot be so for these gross absurdities which thereupon would ensue First It would change the use and utterly invert the Influence of Penalties They are applied as Sanctions to establish those Laws whereunto they are annexed And not only so but to inforce the direct observance of them But were suffering of Penalties equal to Obedience they would not only fail of this use or end but produce an effect clean contrary to it For then instead of ratifying and inforcing the respective Laws to which they are appendent they would justifie Delinquents in their most malitious contempts and violations of the same For let them break these Laws as heinously as they please it is but their undergoing the appointed punishments and then 't is all one as if they had never broke them as if they had faithfully kept them And so Penalties which are intended for the defence and conservation of Laws and Government would effectually work the subversion of both by making way for disorders inconsistent with either Secondly Suffering of Penalties cannot possibly be equivalent to Obedience because it doth not answer the Obligation of the Law and is by no means fully commensurate thereunto Even slight Consideration will make any Man sensible that penal Laws have a double force or virtue in them The one preceptive or directive which binds to Duty The other punitive and inflictive which ties to Penance in case the Duty imposed be wilfully neglected Whence it is evident that they who suffer by such Laws cannot reckon their sufferings equivalent to obeying them Inasmuch as their sufferings imply such a failure as leaves the best part of these Laws unsatisfied and eluded For therefore do they fall under their punitive because they slighted their preceptive force Which we must own to be far the best as containing the noblest Obligation an Obligation to duty To which if they had come up or regularly conformed they could never have been attaqued by the punitive strength or power thereof And that Penal Laws do primarily and chiefly oblige to Obedience which I justly call their noblest obligation and so that Penalties affixed to them do onely inforce the Obligation is clear from hence in that the same Laws were they made to be not penal but purely imperative would still bind the Conscience as firmly as ever Thirdly Suffering of Penalties cannot be ranked with performing Obedience because it answers not the scope and fulfils not the design of the Law The intent of the Law is to make Men Cives bonos good Subjects But good Subjects we cannot be unless we obey those good Laws under which we live But then who can think they are obedient who break wholsom Laws and are punished for it Much less who can think this is real Obedience or equivalent to it Lastly Suffering Penalties can hold no just proportion with Obedience or be in any measure like it or comparable to it because it does not excuse before GOD. A Law is a Law because it is Obligatory And therefore it is called Lex say some à ligando from binding But the reason why Laws do bind is because they are made and promulgated by rightful Ligislators who have curam communitatis the charge of the People over whom they preside at least in the work of Legislation But whoever are placed in this capacity of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Religious LOYALTY OR OLD ALLEGIANCE TO THE NEW KING A SERMON Preached On the Eighth of February 1684. It being the First Sunday after our most Dread SOVEREIGN JAMES the Second His coming to the Crown in the Parish Church of Worlington in Suffolk By ERASMUS WARREN Rector there LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock at the West end of St. Pauls Church-yard 1685. To the Right Worshipful Sir HENRY NORTH Baronet SIR AS for my Preaching this Sermon there needs no Apology I hope it was a word * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 25.11 Verbum dictum juxta modos suos Vel super suis rotis Fitly spoken and that 's enough not only to excuse but also to justifie the speaking of it If there needs one for Publishing it I have one ready the whole Nation is now as it were upon a Vie of Loyalty and Good Subjects are zealously expressing their Duties to their MIGHTY SOVEREIGN in all meek acknowledgments And my sending out this Sermon being but an Attempt or Instance of that nature here 's sufficient vindication for the doing of it though otherwise it might have seem'd too forward a performance For thus I act but as a Living Member of the Whole and as inclin'd or drawn by true natural sympathy into decent compliance with the General tendency Who may not lawfully run with the Public when its Course is not onely Regular but Commendable And when all sorts are eager to pay their just Tribute why may not I also tender mine If it be but a Peny yet it must be current as having CAESAR's Image and Superscription upon it And then besides Joy is a volatil and vehement thing and when 't is strong and high is hard to be suppress'd So that if amidst those common Triumphant Joys which swell'd our Hearts to see our Rightful PRINCE succeeding to these Crowns when our last GREAT MONARCH laid them down with His Mortality my share was too big for my Breast to contain and I was fain to give vent to my Exultancy thus none surely will turn it upon me as a fault But in case they do I am willing to bear all the Dint of their Censure for the Redundant Satisfaction I feel in my self transporting me into this LOYAL Guiltiness The Papers I presume Sir to put into your Hands But not so much as a Guide or fit Rule for your Practice as an imperfect Idea or Copy of your Virtue Of that RELIGIOVS LOYALTY a Thing as noble as necessary in which you are eminent according to if not beyond the Character here given of it I nothing doubt but for the Honesty of them which is al◠they pretend to they shall be favourably accepted And the rather as being a real though too slender a Testimony of my Observance and Veneration of your Known Worth The deep and lively sense of which makes me justly desirous of being ever continued in the Relation of Sir Your Worships most humbly devoted Servant Erasmus Warren Since we worship'd GOD last in this Place it hath pleased Him to make a Great Change in This Nation a change of our Prince our most Dread Sovereign But this is to make no Change in our Duty We must serve our NEW KING whom the mercy of Heaven bless and prosper with our old and best Allegiance Which that I may according as the Apostle directs Tit. 3.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember you of as it is now most reasonable to do I ground my present Discourse upon that Excellent Period of Scripture which occurs in PROV XXIV 21. My Son fear thou the LORD and the KING and meddle not with them that are given to change HERE are two great things recommended or given in charge to the Sons of Wisdom to keep them from joyning in the Intrigues of the Seditious RELIGION and LOYALTY And in vain do those persons pretend to either that do not seriously study and act them both To say we fear the LORD when we fear not the KING is to be canting Traitors To say we fear the KING when we fear not the LORD is to be courtly Atheists But when both these meet and concenter in us and grow up together in fitting measures and to a just encrease then the union proves venerable and auspicious and does not only serve to shew our Integrity but is highly conducive to our greatest Interests For he that is faithful toward GOD and the KING as he has made good progress in his work upon Earth and is far advanced in his way to Heaven so he is in hopeful Circumstances of finishing his Task and his Journey fortunately For these two Principal Wheels of Duty being true in their motions they will not only help one another on by joint concurrence and reciprocal assistance but moreover set most of the Inferiour ones a going and so carry us along to our desired end with a great deal of ease and peace and pleasantness The consequence of which will be this at least That we ought not to content our selves with One of these as many in the World seem to do tho in truth they cannot have them singly but must strive indefatigably to partake of both As being well assured that they are no whit useful to any good purposes but where they are found in blessed conjunction And therefore Solomon who was so wise as to know this was also so faithful as to impart it to us in the words before us Where twisting them together in one Sentence he makes them an Antidote against a dangerous Infection which might be taken from a sort of most pestilent Men. The Text consists of a Precept and a Prohibition The Precept My Son fear thou the LORD and the KING The Prohibition And meddle not with them that are given to change The Precept without forcing flows out into several Theses or Positions I touch upon such only as do more particularly relate to LOYATY they being most proper for this juncture The first is this LOYALTY and RELIGION are no incompatible or inconsistent things A Man may be a good Christian and at the same time a good Subject The Bible doth never tie us to impossibilities and could not both these Fears if I may call them two be regularly exercis'd or exprest together it would never have laid them thus jointly upon us Let none therefore cast off duty to their Prince under pretext or colour of Devotion to GOD. That 's to make Christianity patronize Rebellion which teaches nothing more plainly and urges nothing more powerfully than humble subjection All the LORD's people are holy was the old plea to justifie Sedition and to palliate tumultuous and treasonable insurrection But the vanity and frivolousness of the Apology then assures it would be empty and insignificant now and may well beat Men off from ever resuming it Can any be too good too holy to be Subject Then never let them seek a place in Heaven for there the best and holiest of all
must both have and own a Sovereign St. Paul writing to Rome inscribes his Epistle to the Saints there But notwithstanding their sanctity and eminence in Religion he puts the Yoke of Obedience on every one of their necks Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers Rom. 13.1 Where he must mean the Civil Powers too for he speaks of those Powers that did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bear the Sword which to do he knew belonged not to the Powers Ecclesiastical And when the temporal Magistrate is thus set over all upon what account can any be exempted Where people are placed under lawful Authority Religion is so far from discharging them from Duty that it ties them the closer and faster to it Nor indeed could it dissolve or loosen those bonds whereby we are obliged to rightful Governours in way of just subordination and service without casting disparagement upon its glorious Author For should Religion excuse us from acting our parts where GOD sets us down in scenes of Obedience His Doctrine would plainly interfere with his Providence and His Worship undermine and blow up that Order which his Wisdom has establish'd in the Political Frame or Constitution of the World But the fear of this or any thing like it would be groundless and unreasonable For where the hand of the ALMIGHTY brings us under command the word of his mouth still enjoyns us to obey The fear of Him never was an Enemy to the fear of Kings It never stood in opposition to it nor tended to the least diminution of it No both may grow up and flourish together in the same people in one and the same individual person And accordingly we find them here in Connexion Fear Thou the LORD and the KING Whence issues a Second Position True LOYALTY and true RELIGION are utterly inseparable So far from being inconsistent that they cannot be divided They dwell not apart but are always combined and link'd together Where there is One there must be both and where they are not Both there can be neither to any good effect As many as fear the LORD as they should fear the KING And as many as fear the KING as they ought fear the LORD It cannot be otherwise the FEARS we speak of are so coupled and united The Men therefore that are zealous for GOD and his ways and yet go about to murder the KING we know their RELIGION And they who are fierce and high for the KING and yet at the same time will be licentious and impious toward GOD we may guess at their LOYALTY RELIGION in the one is for certain but vain show without truth And LOYALTY in the other we may well suspect is but meer shadow without substance and both but artificial and shining Formalities However they may glitter and deceive the Eye yet let them be brought but to a searching Test and they will soon appear to be false and counterfeit And this methinks puts a proper Key into our hands whereby to unlock the doors of Treachery and to open and discover the grounds of Conspiracies and horrid Treasons They spring from want of LOYALTY or fear of the KING But men fear not the KING because they fear not the LORD and so they are for lack of RELIGION chiefly Excellently therefore is it charged upon Traitors in their respective Arraignments as the occasion of their guilt and treasonable Offences That they had not the fear of GOD before their eyes Nor was it possible they should when they had wickedly thrown off the fear of the KING Both which are so consolidate and knit together in an union so firm and close and compacted as can never be broken For they are eternally conjoyn'd in their own Nature as well as by this irreversible Command Fear thou the LORD and the KING Whence ariseth a Third Position True LOYALTY is altogether as Indispensable as true RELIGION As little Arbitrary and indifferent as That To evince as much it is here rank'd by divine order in Parity with it For the same inspired and unerring Pen that recorded the first part of the Precept never to be altered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fear the LORD enter'd and ratified the latter clause also to hold immutable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the KING So that we must be forced to cancel Canonical Scripture and to rase this Text out of the Sacred Volume and to trample upon the Authority of GOD's most infallible and veracious SPIRIT before we can shake off the bond of our Allegiance or croud it into the number of things Indifferent Yea before we can slip or relax it in the least so as to make it any whit less strong or obligatory upon us than RELIGION is The Fear of our Sovereign is no more ad libitum at our Discretion no more to be taken up and laid down at our pleasure than the Fear of the LORD of Heaven and Earth We may as well quit or cast off This as venture to resign or reject That For the Command is equal touching both Fear thou the LORD and the KING Whence resulteth a Fourth Position True LOYALTY is true RELIGION Not onely Consistent with it Inseparable from it and every whit as Indispensable as That But a real and considerable piece of it self 'T is part of that Fear which we owe to GOD as the Text intimates For it does not say Fear thou the LORD and fear thou the KING as if they were two distinct Fears But fear thou the LORD and the KING insinuating that in good measure they are but one Differ they may and do in Degree being plainly subordinate as their Objects are but yet in Quality they are much the same Are we to fear the LORD truly and unfeignedly so we must the KING Are we to fear the LORD at all times so we must the KING Are we to fear the LORD for Conscience sake so we must the KING Are we to fear the LORD above all things and because the Divine Law requires it so we must the KING above all Men. Nor need we wonder at this that there should be so near a Cognation and so true a likeness betwixt these Fears as in some sort to make them one and the same when between their Objects there is such an affinity and fair resemblance For GOD is but the GREAT KING of Heaven and KINGS HE affirms to be GODS upon Earth Psalm 82.6 I have said ye are Gods Where as the Communication of His Name to them denotes them to be partakers of GOD's Power so their participation of His Power entitles them to a suitable proportion of His Fear and implies their fear to be as it were a Slip or Off-shoot of His as their Authority is Which might well occasion Solomon to advise as he did Fear thou the LORD and the KING Whence we have a Fifth and the last Position To be LOYAL and RELIGIOUS is the best Wisdom Else the wisest of Men assisted and inspired by the most
Wise GOD would never have persuaded to both at once as he here does I mean in so grave and serious and powerful a manner For that he might effectually prevail and win upon us he puts on all the sweetness and tenderness imaginable He personates the near and most endearing Relation of an affectionate indulgent Father to his Son My Son fear thou the LORD and the KING That to be RELIGIOUS is WISDOM we are well assured for the HOLY GHOST hath so pronounced it And to man he said Behold the fear of the LORD THAT is WISDOM Job 28.28 Yea the best Wisdom it is or the noblest part of it For the fear of the LORD says the Psalmist is the BEGINNING of WISDOM Psalm CXI 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the choicest as well as the first piece of it Caput sapientia according to the Vulgar the HEAD of Wisdom And the Head we know is usually the most eminent and excellent part of the body And then to be LOYAL must be great Wisdom too because it is a Branch of true RELIGION But then hence it follows by the rule of contraries that not only the Irreligious and most rank and professed Atheists but also that Disloyal though never so crafty and seemingly GODLY Traitors must be stark fools And so indeed they are or will be in the Event whether they miscarry or prosper in their proceedings In case they miscarry in their evil Enterprises and fall under just and condign punishment which God grant they may always do the whole World will be sure then to condemn them of most egregious folly And truly if they chance to go on and prosper which blessed be God they have not done of late yet they are really not the less but the greater fools for that as to the monstrous effects and issues of their folly which immediately grow unreasonable and most intolerable As a raging fire is never the less hot for its disastrous burnings nor a frentic person the less mad because he does the more mischief no more are Rebels the less but more grievous fools for their being prosperous For then their folly gets up and rides in triumph We want not Instances of this nature Instances of the folly of prosperous Rebels When instead of submitting to the KING for the LORD's sake they fought against Him for JESUS CHRIST and instead of submitting to him as SUPREME O black Deed they threw him down from his Throne and cut off his Royal and most Sacred Head They gave us amazing proofs and astonishing Specimens of the madness and folly that attend and actuate a thriving Treason Yet this as sad and dismal as it is is but the best side of this folly neither that which we see of it here in this Life But O how hideous will it appear in the next when its guilt shall be changed into consummate Punishment and all the Actors and Abettors of it shall be consign'd to torments without measure or end O what fools what mad men were we and ten thousand times worse will condemned Traitors then cry out in that we ever suffered our discontents to ferment against the lawful Government and our factious thirst to grow so high as not to be quench'd but with our Prince's bloud These are the Assertions concerning LOYALTY couched in the Text. None of which shall ever fail while that holds good Let but that foundation stand and the superstructures we have rais'd upon it can never fall The Conclusions drawn from them must needs be true if the Wise Man's Premises be not mistaken But therefore perhaps it may be scrupled by some Does not Solomon strein things too much here or stretch them too far when he thus joins these Fears together as connatural Does he not attribute too much to KINGS while he incorporates LOYALTY as it were with RELIGION and makes the fear of them seem to be as needful as the Fear of the LORD We well remember he was a KING himself and so might speak as he did upon his own account He could not but be an Hearty friend to Monarchy as wearing the glorious Crown of Israel and so might write at this rate out of private ends and oblique respects in favour that is of his Royal Prerogative and to strengthen and support his Throne and his Interest And which is also as considerable his Wisdom was nothing inferiour to his Dignity if it did not exceed it And he being so notable and shrewd a Statist his letting fall these words might only be a subtle Fetch of his a politic Artifice or cunning Stratagem to make the Imperial Crown sit the surer on his Head That he might the better claim his peoples Obedience on Earth he would make them believe that his Title to it was derived from Heaven I Answer As Solomon was a Man of extraordinary Priviledges so in this he excelled for One that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inspir'd by GOD and a trusty Amanuensis or Secretary of his Will And therefore when he spake or wrote this Text he did but the work of his Sacred Office and what he did proceeded from Divine impulse and direction The Paragraph before us contains not so much his own private sence with design to assert and maintain his Regalities as the Eternal Mind and pure authentic Will of the DEITY therein proclaim'd aloud to Subjects The words were registred by Solomon but descended from GOD and are a truth sent down directly from Heav'n without any Misprision at all in the Revelation If this will not serve to arrest the Cavil and to silence and satisfie the persons that suggest it we need but look a little farther into Scripture and we shall find that it speaks the same thing in other places Chap. 3. v. 5. They shall fear the LORD and DAVID their KING says Jeremiah And if in the mouth of two or three witnesses Chap. 30. v. 9. every word shall be established Solomon's is confirm'd by sufficient Testimony and 't is evident that RELIGION and LOYALTY go hand in hand as things nearly ally'd and of like necessity But some again glad of any slight evasion may be sit to reply That the Passages cited were Legal Directions That they were given out in the time of the Jewish Oeconomy and so reach only to such as were contemporary with That living under the Mosaic State or Polity Whereas we being people of another Dispensation they are forein to us and insignificant To this I rejoyn The Scriptures alledged are not only Legal Prescripts or Injunctions but Evangelical Predictions They not onely shew what was to be done under the Law but what is to be done under the Gospel And though some by DAVID the KING understand the Messiah who was David's Son after the flesh yet the expression admits of a wider Interpretation and the Scriptures quoted are very applicable to temporal Princes as pointing out Fidelity and Obedience to them and ranking it in a kind of equality with RELIGION
And then farther LOYALTY or OBEDIENCE is as peremptorily required of all God's people now as ever it was of the Jews heretofore Yea it is as vehemently and importunately exacted of them as RELIGION it self which seems to argue that they are no very different things * S. Peter 2.13 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the LORD's sake whether it be to the KING as Supreme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's the Topic whence St. Peter most cogently argues For the LORD's sake So that how could he have urged the Best RELIGION more forcibly upon them than he here does this submission to the KING And yet which is worth observing the KING he speaks of the Roman Emperour had no such clear Hereditary Title to the Authority he held as our KING hath For instead of ascending the Throne by descent from Ancestors and a long unquestionable lineal Succession Nero who is thought by some to have reigned at this time was introduc'd in a * Illud dementer quod praeterito Britannico filio Neronem privignum haeredem imperii fecit Hor. Turselin Epit Hist Lib. 4. mad and irregular way For Claudius brought him in over his own Son Britannicus's head who was the right Heir Yet to this Nero were the Christians to submit Even those Christians who just before were stiled an holy Nation a royal Priesthood a chosen Generation and a peculiar People Yea they were to submit to him for the LORD's sake and that as to the Supreme As to One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who in St. Peter's judgment was above the Soldiery and above the People and above the Senate and supereminent to all Mortals with whom they had to do And if the Primitive Saints thus yielded Submission to this Heathen Ruler whose coming to the Empire was indirect and whose Title so far turned upon a wrong hinge Who but Men as mad as Claudius would refuse Obedience to our present SOVEREIGN or raise the least shadow of scruple against it whose RIGHT to these Crowns is so undoubted And which is something more still Christians are charg'd by the same Apostle and that in one and the same breath as well as in the same Epistle and Chapter Verse 17. FEAR GOD and HONOVR the KING Which as it obviates all Pleas that might be drawn from the Gospel to confront or pervert the Doctrine of LOYALTY as Christian Liberty the having no other KING but JESVS or the like And as it baffles all Arguments for kicking against Government or endeavouring to subvert it which might be fetch'd from the Prince's being of a different Religion from his being an Atheist or an Heretic a Tyrant or a Persecutor while the chief Apostle commands the first Christians to HONOUR one of the vilest and cruellest of the Ethnic Emperours so it gives us to understand again that RELIGION and LOYALTY are near akin and in some respects very much the same thing And therefore St. Peter we see links them fast together and by a very quick and direct Transition passeth over coherently from one to the other And truly when Solomon and St. Peter the one the wisest Prince and Preacher in the Jewish and the other the Prime Apostle in the Christian Church concur thus fully in point of judgment touching the near affinity betwixt RELIGION and LOYALTY and the necessity of both why should any question the truth of either And yet they are not onely fairly agreed in the case but so perfect and absolute is the Consent betwixt them that they signifie and declare it by connecting or tacking both of them together in almost one and the same Expression For Fear GOD and honour the KING differs but little from Fear thou the LORD and the KING But how can FEAR which is a thing arising from apprehension of Evil have GOD for its Object who is the CHIEFEST GOOD Fear thou the LORD The Question is pertinent and answered thus Fear in the Text is not to be taken for a meer natural Passion or according to the Definition that Moralists give of it But for an ingenuous filial and respectful awe to be testified in the reverential Veneration of the DEITY If this be too narrow a notion of it yet and not adequate to the full Latitude of its meaning here as in likelyhood it is not for Fear is a very comprehensive term and is commonly in Scripture put for the intire Systeme of RELIGION we must then amplifie or inlarge its signification farther and think thus concerning it That it is a Complex or body of holy Virtues and Duties Fear thou the LORD that is if we would express it in particulars Love thou the LORD Honour thou the LORD Trust thou the LORD Obey thou the LORD And therefore we find in the Bible that those Graces or Duties are the usual Concomitants if not Constituents of this excellent Fear Thus what does the LORD thy GOD require of thee but to Fear the LORD thy GOD and to LOVE Him Deut. 10.12 And as Fear is there placed with Divine LOVE so sometimes it is joyn'd with Divine HONOUR Where is mine HONOVR Where is my FEAR Mal. 1.16 Sometimes with Divine Confidence Ye that Fear the LORD TRVST in the LORD Psalm 115.11 Sometimes with Divine Obedience SERVE the LORD with Fear Psalm 2.11 Now this being the full sence of FEARING the LORD here in the Text it will be of singular use to direct us into genuine expressions of our LOYALTY For the Fear of the KING being much the same with the Fear of the LORD though subordinate and inferiour to it as above was noted Hence it will follow that our Fear of Him must be a set of Principles and a Conjugation of Duties amological to those that compound or make up the Fear of the LORD And if we would act it aright we must do it in Correspondent or sutable Instances onely with abatements equal or proportionate to its comparative inferiority To speak more plainly and so as all may understand As they who Fear the LORD aright must have their Fear constituted of and exhibited in Affection and Honour Confidence and Obedience So they that fear the KING aright must have their Fear made up of the like Ingredients and signified in the like Expressions onely as I said we must keep to due measures still Yea as true RELIGION or the Fear of the LORD must consist of and be manifested in Heartiest Affection Highest Honour Firmest Confidence and most Chearful Obedience So our true LOYALTY or Fear of the KING must symbolize or partake with it here again and come up to it in a meet and laudable resemblance We must Love him Cordially Honour him Greatly Trust him Fiducially and Obey him Readily Should I not press this with earnestness upon the present occasion I might well be thought to forget mine own Duty for not minding you of yours I shall do it therefore as briefly and yet as fully as I can He that hath ears
as not to come under it that will be shame and disparagement to us For if we remember they were Jewish Royalists who reach'd this gallant and lofty pitch But we being Christians have greater Privileges and so should not take up in less Attainments And here to swell our esteem or value of our KINGS into its proper fulness and just Dimensions I shall briefly mind you of their Original and their End declaring first Whence and then Why they are As for the Rise or Original of a KING among us it is from GOD alone Not at all from his Subjects in any way of Derivation or Dependance whatever Elect him they cannot Confirm him they need not Depose him they may not His Title is from on high and his Claim from heaven and none but he who granted him his Charter of Inheritance can bring his Quo Warranto against it that is the ALMIGHTY The KING said * Constitu Clemens of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Ordinance of the LORD Inde est Imperator unde homo antequam Imperator said * Apolog. Cap. 30. Tertullian The Emperour is from HIM from whom he is first a man Inde potestas illi unde Spiritus Thence is his Power whence is his Spirit So that 't is as much GOD's act and as peculiar to HIM to make EMPEROURS and KINGS as it is to make Men and Souls Right was the Opinion of the Essence also in this matter that no Man ever came to be KING 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without GOD. And the very Poet could affirm * Ascre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 KINGS are from Jupiter But which to us is more than all beside Scripture speaks the same thing By me KINGS reign says the GOD of Wisdom Prov. 8.15 BY ME that is as the Author or Institutor as well as the Protector and Upholder of them And therefore where HE complains that KINGS are not BY HIM Hos 8.4 He disclaims not the Office or Dignity but only censures the Acquisition or Administration thereof or perhaps finds fault with both at once But it may be here Objected The citation taken out of Solomon's mouth as a great many more in the Old Testament touching KINGS is to be understood of the Jewish ones only But that Other KINGS are from or by God because the KINGS of Israel were so will not follow from thence by just consequence Know therefore in Answer that there are clearest Testimonies of the Divine Institution or Origination of KINGS under the GOSPEL likewise I mention but two The first from the lips of our Blessed SAVIOUR He told Pilate that he could have no Power against HIM unless it were given him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * S. John 19.11 from above Whence it is manifest that the Regalities he had and so that others have were from on high or from Heaven And therefore our dear LORD submitted to the Governours Authority as competent even where his bloud and life were concern'd Nor does it in the least alter the case that Pilate was no absolute KING but Viceroy to Tiberius This rather makes the more for us in that it plainiy shews that a Power delegated from lawful Superiours is as truly from GOD as the Primitive one is from which it is derived And accordingly Jehosaphat told his Judges that in distributing justice they acted not for Man but for the LORD 2 Chron. 19.6 The other Evidence is St. Paul's who declares to the Church * Verse 1. in the thirteenth of the Romans that there is no Power but of GOD. And what Powers does he there speak of Verse 1. Why they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Powers then in being the Emperour of Rome and his Deputies These therefore were of GOD. And how were they of HIM Why they were not only tolerated allowed and approved Ib. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained of HIM And therefore in that Chapter 4. 6. he makes the Ruler to be not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Minister 2. but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ordinance of GOD. Yea Nimrod Himself who is made an Instance of Tyranny and usually brought in as an argument against Monarchy might yet be of GOD as he was a KING or a greater Title For when he began to be Mighty upon Earth that is to erect his Empire or enlarge it for who can prove he was the first Monarch he is said to have done it * Gen. 10.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the LORD Which however some interpret to an ill sense as if he set up his Government against the LORD in a way of violence or affront to Heaven yet it is as capable of a good meaning and may signifie no more than his doing in the sight of the LORD as with his consent or approbation There seems to be nothing in the Context that bars the Exposition as evil or incongruous if well considered Now granting it to be thus that KINGS are of GOD and Ordained by Him and consequently that the Power which rests in our KING descends directly from the MOST HIGH the same Reason and Religion that teaches and ties us to Honour GOD must lead us to Honour our KING likewise in his proportion Who is Deo secundus * ad Scap. next to GOD and solo Deo minor only less than GOD is as says Tertullian And the same great Father thought this very necessary for Christians to do even when the Government was lodg'd in the worst hands Yea with his Pen he openly made profession and acknowledgment of as much to an Heathen President of Carthage who threatned the Church with bloudy Persecution * Id. ib. Christianus nullius est hostis nedum Imperatoris The Christian is Enemy to none much less to the Emperour Quem sciens à Deo suo constitui necesse est ut ipsum diligat revereatur honoret c. Whom he knowing to be ordained of HIS GOD it is necessary that he should both love and revere and honour Him And this the Emperour's being vested with GOD's Auhority was that by the way which kept the first Christians in quietness and obedience when according to the same * Si enim hostes extraneos non tantum vindices occultos agere vellemus deesset nobis vis numerorum copiarum Plures nimirum Mauri Marcomanni ipsique Parthi vel quantaecunque unius tamen loci suorum finium gentes quam totius Orbis Hesterni sumus vestra omnia implevimus urbes insulas castella municipia conciliabula castra ipsa tribus decurias palatium senatum forum Sola vobis relinquimus templa Cisi bello non idonei non prompti fuissemus etiam impares copiis qui tam libenter trucidamur Si non apud istam disciplinam magis occide liceret quam occidere Tertul. Apol. cap. 37. Civitatem obscessam vociferantur In agris in