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<NAME>Leah Yurasek</NAME>
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<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1">
<P>A SERMON PREACHED AT THE ASSIZES HELD AT LEICESTER, For that COUNTY. On the Twenty third day of <HI>March,</HI> 1681/2.</P>
<P>BY <HI>NATHANIEL ALSOP,</HI> B. D. Rector of <HI>Church-Langton</HI> in the County of <HI>Leice&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>S. Carr,</HI> at the <HI>Kings Head</HI> near the We&s;t-end of St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s. 1682.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Right Wor&s;hipful <HI>RICHARD ROBERTS</HI> E&s;q; High-Sheriff of the County of <HI>Leice&s;ter.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>WHen you plea&s;ed to lay this piece of Service upon me, of Preaching at the <HI>A&s;&s;izes,</HI> I bethought my &s;elf how to di&s;cour&s;e &s;ea&s;onably and pro|fitably, under the pre&s;ent State of Affairs, and at &s;uch a general A&s;&s;embly of the Country; and &s;oon came to a Re&s;olution, That to oppo&s;e &s;omething, what my poor Talent could furni&s;h out, again&s;t the &s;pread|ing of an Epidemical Evil, too vi&s;ible upon us, could not be an improper &V;ndertaking: And certainly he is but an ill Member of the Publick, who at the time when a dangerous Fire appears breaking out, will not bring his Bucket to the quenching of it. If any &s;hall except again&s;t my medling with Political Matters in the Pulpit, they ought to reflect, how our People are of late made all State&s;men; and that to treat them as &s;uch at &s;ome times, is become nece&s;&s;ary to their Edification. In the Publick Places of Conver&s;ation you &s;hall have the Men of Trade arrogate as much Knowledge of Politicks now, as heretofore their Re|pre&s;entatives
<PB REF="3">could arrive unto: So that what is here touched upon as to the&s;e Matters, is no ways meant <HI>ad Magi&s;tratum;</HI> I pre&s;ume not to in&s;truct them therein; but <HI>ad Populum</HI> &s;till: And to rectifie &s;ome Notions in them, which might have a mi&s;chievous In|fluence upon Chri&s;tian Practice, I tru&s;t, will not be thought forreign to the Bu&s;ine&s;s of a Divine. The Sermon hapned to find a favourable Reception with its Audience, and I never intended it &s;hould have gone further; but &s;ome, who&s;e Judgments I ought to &s;ub&s;cribe unto, thought it might be more &s;erviceable, if made more publick; and others, who&s;e Authority I &s;hall never di&s;obey, were with &s;ome Importunities de|&s;irous to have it &s;o: And the&s;e are the true Cau&s;es of this Publication; whereof I need not inform you, Sir, who your &s;elf are my be&s;t Voucher to the World, for the Reality of this whole Matter. And now, Sir, it begs leave to come forth under the &s;helter of your Name, not only for the common Rea&s;on of &s;uch De|dications, but chiefly becau&s;e the &s;ubject Matter and De&s;ign of this Di&s;cour&s;e requires the Protection of one like your &s;elf, who&s;e clear and di&s;intere&s;&s;ed Zeal for the Publick is &s;o exemplary among us. And then the many Favours which I have received from you, bind me to all Opportunities of Gratitude, and to own it to the World how much I am,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>SIR,</HI> Your mo&s;t faithful and obedient Servant, <HI>Nathaniel Al&s;op.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="5" REF="3">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>EXOD. XX. 12.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Honour thy Father and thy Mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE Law of the Decalogue recorded in this Chapter, hath one pre-eminence above o|ther parts of the Scripture; if they were dictated by the Spirit of God, this was al&s;o written by his Finger; which may &s;erve as a <HI>nota bene,</HI> a Hand in the Margin, to direct and engage our Ob&s;ervation. That part of it which I have read, is al&s;o recommended unto us by its &s;ingular Circum&s;tances; St. <HI>Paul</HI> ob&s;erves it is the fir&s;t Commandment with pro|mi&s;e, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 6.2. And among the Moderns, <HI>Grotius</HI> notes, how fitly it &s;tands in the front of the &s;econd Ta|ble, agreeably to the method of the <HI>Roman</HI> Laws, which in the fir&s;t place &s;ecur'd the Sanctity of the Government; &s;o this here containing the Nerves and Force of tho&s;e &s;pe|cial Laws, which are the pre&s;ervatives of Humane Society, de&s;ervedly takes precedence of the re&s;t. As to the &s;en&s;e and meaning of the words, the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Interpreters and Chri|&s;tians do generally con&s;ent, that the duty of Subjects to their re&s;pective Civil Governours, is more than by Con|&s;equence
<PB N="6" REF="4">and Reduction here intended: <HI>Imperium &s;ancitur, praecipitur obedientia,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Melancthon</HI> upon the place: And <HI>Calvin</HI> goes about to a&s;&s;ign the Rea&s;on, why a name of Nature is here given to a Political Relation: <HI>It is,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>to &s;often the &s;avage di&s;po&s;ition of Man, who is na|turally impatient of Subjection; to bring the &s;tiff-neck, and Iron Sinnew of corrupt Nature, to the yoke of Obedience.</HI> The Truth is what <HI>Zophar</HI> replies to <HI>Job, Man is born like the wild A&s;&s;es Colt,</HI> all re&s;traint is again&s;t the Grain, eve|ry one naturally goes big with <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> and cannot brook a Superior; or el&s;e, it may be, the tang of our fir&s;t Parents a&s;piring, &s;till ferments in the Blood, to be <HI>tanquam dii,</HI> equal to them that are called Gods. It was therefore up|on nece&s;&s;ary con&s;iderations that St. <HI>Paul</HI> lays his Apo&s;toli|cal Injunction upon <HI>Titus,</HI> the Man of God, <HI>chap.</HI> 3. <HI>v.</HI> 5. to <HI>put them in mind</HI> to be &s;ubject to Principalities and Powers, and to obey Magi&s;trates.</P>
<P>It is not enough this be taught and known, but for the great moment of its practice, it ought to be pre&s;&s;ed and inculcated, <HI>put them in mind.</HI> If the Doctrine of Sub|jection, which is as demon&s;trable as any Theorem in <HI>Eu|clid's Geometry,</HI> was al&s;o as much ab&s;tracted from the Inte|re&s;ts and Pa&s;&s;ions of Men, as they are, then might it expect as free and ea&s;ie a pa&s;&s;age; but when this Nail mu&s;t be driven again&s;t the inward re&s;i&s;tance of Pride, and Ambiti|on, of Envy, Avarice, and Revenge, and &s;uch like impe|netrable Oppo&s;ites; no wonder if a greater Force, and better Skill be required, and repeated &s;trokes: and it were to be wi&s;hed, that &s;ome one, a Ma&s;ter of A&s;&s;emblies, had undertaken the fa&s;tening of it at this time; in which vacancy the forementioned Cau&s;es have wrought with me al&s;o, the meane&s;t of my Brethren, to attempt this part of my Office and Duty; e&s;pecially being &s;tirred up with the great
<PB N="7" REF="4">and crying Sin of the Times, which is plainly a wanton|ne&s;s under the gentle Yoke, a &s;urfeiting upon the ble&s;&s;ings of Government; and I fear there is but too much cau&s;e to complain, that it is fairly drawing on to an Open Con|tempt of Authority: and who then is &s;o hardy, as not to dread the Event? If &s;uch provocations as the&s;e &s;hould awaken the Vengeance of Heaven, and move God by his immediate Arm to a&s;&s;ert the Honour of his own In&s;titu|tion; the Image of our di&s;tempered State any one may behold in the Gla&s;s of the <HI>I&s;raelites.</HI> It was at the time when their Supream Governour was one of the meeke&s;t and mo&s;t merciful Men upon the Earth; it was not long after their deliverance from the <HI>Aegyptian</HI> Bondage, where they had &s;marted by the Impo&s;itions of the mo&s;t cruel Taskma&s;ters that ever an ingenuous People groaned under; and yet upon every little Di&s;content, if all things went not according to their own Hearts wi&s;h, immediately they grow &s;ick of the Government, and <HI>quis e&s;t i&s;te Mo&s;es? Why doth this</HI> Mo&s;es, <HI>and the Prie&s;t his Brother, take &s;o much upon them?</HI> They grew weary of Manna, and nau&s;eated the Bread of Heaven, becau&s;e it was con&s;tant, and ever provided for them at hand; but in&s;tead thereof asked Meat for their Lu&s;ts. It was not enough to &s;atisfy their natural Appetites, and real Wants, but their wandering Fancies, and their various Di&s;&s;enting Pallats mu&s;t be humoured al&s;o; and upon &s;uch di&s;tates like the&s;e, they fell into frequent Mutinies and <HI>A&s;&s;ociations</HI> again&s;t the Lord, and again&s;t his Vice-gerent; in&s;omuch that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was forced to de|clare freely, in that his Farewell-Oration, which <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> hath left penned unto us, in the Fourth Book of his <HI>Anti|quities,</HI> That he was more often in hazzard of his Life from them, than from any other of his Uncircumci&s;ed Enemies. I &s;hall not &s;tay to adju&s;t the Circum&s;tances, nor &s;et the
<PB N="8" REF="5">Members of the Compari&s;on in joint; but only to &s;hew how far we have &s;unk from the Rule of our Duty, and &s;till are falling? give me leave to point you back, up as far as to the Source and Fountain of all Political Sanctions, the Ba&s;is of Government, the Cement of Societies, the Princes heavenly, and unforfeitable Charter, comprehen|ded in this &s;hort Precept, <HI>Honour thy Father and thy Mo|ther,</HI> &amp;c. In which Words I &s;hall ob&s;erve no more Parti|culars, than what are obvious unto every Eye: As,</P>
<P N="1">1. The Stile or Title here given to the Supream Magi|&s;trate, <HI>of a Parent.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The Debt belonging unto him, <HI>Honour.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. The enforcement of the Duty by a Promi&s;e, but with the implication of a &s;evere Threat, <HI>that thy days may be long upon the Land,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Stile here is a Name full of Obligation and En|dearment; we find God him&s;elf often calling his People to reflect upon it, to hold them fa&s;t to their Duty; <HI>for I am a Father to</HI> I&s;rael, &s;aith God, <HI>Jer.</HI> 31.9. <HI>he pitieth as a Father, P&s;al.</HI> 103.13. with all the bowels and tender|ne&s;s that can be &s;hewed; <HI>he corrects as a Father, Prov.</HI> 3.12. alwaies within mea&s;ure, and le&s;s than our Offences de&s;erve; and upon the &s;ame &s;core he al&s;o claims the ob&s;er|vance of <HI>Sons, Mal.</HI> 1.6. And no doubt but this Title here given to Kings and Sovereign Powers is very apt to move Obedience, to becalm the &s;trivings of the People, and to &s;mooth the Yoke of Government, which &s;ome <HI>Belialites</HI> will always &s;purn at; but what doth <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> then, or rather the Lord him&s;elf, thus &s;peak unto us, meerly becau&s;e of the hardne&s;s of our Hearts? Doth he conde&s;cend to &s;uch mean Artifices, to treat us by the Popular cour&s;es of Am|bition, which is wont to &s;troak and &s;ooth the Bea&s;t which &s;he de&s;igns to ride? No, I &s;uppo&s;e the &s;oft and endearing
<PB N="9" REF="5">&s;tile here u&s;ed, is more than a Colour of Rhetorick, and &s;hall therefore take the occa&s;ion, which is fairly offered, to reflect upon the Original of Civil Government; and the rather, becau&s;e if it &s;hall appear to be founded in the Natural Right of Paternal Authority, as the mo&s;t judi|cious do affirm, it will prepare the way for that which follows, and the Duty of the Text will be inferred by a nece&s;&s;ary Logical deduction.</P>
<P>The &s;tile of the Text, being a Name of Nature and Au|thority too, &s;ugge&s;ts unto us, in all our re&s;earches after the Ri&s;e and Birth of Dominion, to have one Eye to the Order and Cour&s;e of Nature: &s;o that to under&s;tand the Original of Civil Power, we mu&s;t a&s;cend to the true Ori|ginal of Mankind; and this Method will bring us to ac|knowledge the Truth of that Aphori&s;m of St. <HI>Irenaeus, Cu|jus ju&s;&s;u na&s;cuntur homines, hujus ju&s;&s;u Reges con&s;tituuntur.</HI> There have been perhaps as many Opinions concerning the Origine of the World, as concerning the Origine of Government, and all of them wide of Truth: But then, as <HI>Tatianus,</HI> from a malicious Adver&s;ary of Religion, con|fe&s;&s;eth him&s;elf to have been converted to the Faith of the Holy Scripture by that &s;atisfactory and con&s;i&s;tent ac|count which it gives of the Creation of the World; &s;o the beginning of Civil Power and Dominion, which the &s;ame part of Holy Writ accounteth for al&s;o, if duly con|&s;idered, may as well convert the &s;editious underminers of Government, and <HI>turn the hearts of the di&s;obedient to the wi&s;dom of the ju&s;t;</HI> when it &s;hall appear that it was neither blind Chance, nor &s;teep Ambition, nor prevailing U&s;urpation, nor Pacts and Covenants, nor any happy Oc|currence, nor the longe&s;t Sword, nor mo&s;t Voices, which made the fir&s;t di&s;tinction betwixt King and Subject.</P>
<P>That the fir&s;t common Parent of Mankind was inve&s;ted
<PB N="10" REF="6">with a Soveraign Power, and acted as Monarch of the World, there are few will que&s;tion, that will not al&s;o call in que&s;tion the Hi&s;tory of <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> When <HI>Adam,</HI> who had Domi|nion given him by God over all the Creatures, di&s;po&s;ing of his Sons, to one committed the Tillage of the ground, to another the care of the Flocks and Herds, where then was the Equality of Per&s;ons, where the Community of Goods? And if the World was at length peopled by the Offspring de&s;cended from this Stock, it will be difficult to conceive, how and when &s;uch a &s;tate of Natural Freedom &s;hould be introduced. The great Ma&s;ter of Politicks, <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> &s;aw this without his Bible; and although, for want of the Divine Oracles, he was forced to wrap his head in the dark and inextricable Clouds of Eternal Suc|ce&s;&s;ions, yet he &s;aw a nece&s;&s;ity of a&s;&s;erting a Natural Sub|ordination, where there was a Natural Succe&s;&s;ion, and came at length to conclude, that the greate&s;t Kingdom in proce&s;s of time grew from a &s;ingle Family, as a large &s;preading Branch &s;hoots from a &s;lender Stock. It may be the &s;tile of Royalty was not heard of 'till the World was well on towards 2000 years old, that came in with the other Trappings and Ornaments, when Monarchy became magnificent and pompous in the Eyes of the Peo|ple; but if we look after the E&s;&s;entials of Power, we &s;hall find them lodged in the fir&s;t Parent of Mankind, and tran&s;mitted as an Inheritance by the Fir&s;t-born of the Family. And to deduce this, there is no better Clew than the Sacred Hi&s;tory it &s;elf, which leads us down from <HI>Adam</HI> the Univer&s;al Monarch, by the Patriarchal Line, unto the fir&s;t Plantation of the World after the Flood, when &s;everal Colonies were led out by their re&s;pective Heads, and became di&s;tinct Kingdoms, whereof the Sons or Grand Children of <HI>Noah</HI> were Kings by a Fatherly-Right
<PB N="11" REF="6">Right, as appears at large from <HI>Gen.</HI> 10. and among Hu|mane Authors, mo&s;t accurately from that barbarous Wri|ter at the end of <HI>Eu&s;ebius's Chronicon,</HI> whom for the &s;ake of the Subject which he handles, the great <HI>Scaliger</HI> thought worthy to be joined with tho&s;e renowned Pieces of Antiquity. If we follow the Abettors of this Hypo|the&s;is, and travel farther by the &s;ame Thred of Scripture Hi&s;tory into the Land of <HI>Canaan,</HI> we &s;hall find there, in a Country of no great Compa&s;s, above 30 Kings at one time in that little Land. And at this day they tell us, if we look into the &s;tate of Affairs in the <HI>Indies,</HI> and tho&s;e Countries of late and new di&s;covery, where they live by the Dictates of &s;imple and untaught Nature, with|out the invented Models of Policy, we &s;hall find a multi|tude of petty Kingdoms, and the Power of Governing de&s;cending for many Generations, and no other account but that it ever hath been thus, by a Succe&s;&s;ion who&s;e be|ginning they know not; which &s;eems fairly to point up to the Original of Civil Government, and to give us Cau&s;e from the Premi&s;es to Conclude, that the Paternal and Regal Authority are the &s;ame in Nature, not differ|ing in Kind, but in Extent only, <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Philo</HI> expre&s;&s;eth the &s;ame thing.</P>
<P>But I de&s;ign no more than the opening and explaining the Notions; it hath been &s;ufficiently &s;trengthened and guarded again&s;t all the feeble Encounters made in oppo&s;i|tion to it, by a Learned Writer of our own, [Sir <HI>R. Filmer</HI>] in his Ob&s;ervations touching Forms of Government; on|ly becau&s;e the be&s;t illu&s;tration of a thing is by &s;etting to its Contraries, I &s;hall therefore beg leave to glance upon &s;ome things which are offered by tho&s;e per&s;ons, who are plea&s;ed not to admit of this Account of the Original of Government, which in it &s;elf is &s;o ea&s;ie to be apprehended,
<PB N="12" REF="7">&s;o agreeable to the nature of Things, and Scripture Hi&s;to|ry, &s;o honourable to God and his Providence, and &s;o con|ducive to the Ends of all Authority and Rule.</P>
<P>And here, fir&s;t, I cannot but ob&s;erve, how patient and complying our Republicans many times are, that the <HI>Epi|curean Hypothe&s;is</HI> &s;hould take place; Whether <HI>Promotion comes from the Ea&s;t or the We&s;t, or yet from the South,</HI> they are content, <HI>what&s;oever Wind</HI> blows it, &s;o that the <HI>Lord</HI> be not in <HI>that Wind;</HI> as wholly unconcerned how things go, as the God of <HI>Epicurus</HI> him&s;elf, as <HI>Tully</HI> jeers them of old: And all is, only to keep out the &s;u&s;picion of a Divine In&s;titution in the matter. And indeed it &s;eems fully as con&s;entaneous to Rea&s;on, that the Fabrick of the World &s;hould ari&s;e from the fortuitous Hit of Attoms, (as that Philo&s;opher taught,) as that Order and Government, the Strength and Beauty of the Univer&s;e, &s;hould proceed from any thing but the Di&s;po&s;ition of a mo&s;t Wi&s;e Creator. Can the&s;e Men believe them&s;elves, who are wont to call upon the People to follow Providence, according to their &s;erviceable Doctrine of <HI>Ownings</HI> and <HI>Outgoings</HI> when time was? Or indeed, do they believe any thing of Pro|vidence at all? who can tell us now, <HI>That God is no more a Favourer of one Family than another, no more than he is a Re&s;pecter of Per&s;ons.</HI> Neverthele&s;s, we tru&s;t that he is a <HI>Re&s;pecter of Cau&s;es;</HI> and if the ju&s;t and righteous Claim of any Family or Per&s;on &s;hall engage his Favour at all times, then how much more in the greate&s;t and mo&s;t weighty Affairs of Mankind? Our Saviour hath taught us, That the very Hairs of our Heads are in the Accounts of Heaven; and &s;hall the Crowns of Monarchs be negle|cted and forgotten? If there be no Affliction upon a Per|&s;on or People that may be &s;aid to ri&s;e out of the Du&s;t, then &s;ure an unju&s;t and cruel Ruler, which is one of Gods &s;e|vere&s;t
<PB N="13" REF="7">Scourges, is not &s;et up by Chance or Fortune; and if not an u&s;urping Tyrant, who is a common Plague, then certainly no ju&s;t and lawful Prince, who is a publick Ble&s;|&s;ing, without the Appointment of God.</P>
<P>If it be left to Men to con&s;titute Governours, it's to be feared, that Fraud or Violence will have the greate&s;t &s;troke; and that's another way whereby they would have it believed that Empire and Dominion might take its ri&s;e. But this &s;ure is a very improper Ground whereon to found a ju&s;t and rightful Power, unle&s;s it &s;hould be indu|&s;triou&s;ly &s;o contrived, to leave an Original Flaw in the Conveyance, to the end that Subjection &s;hall be always precarious, and, when occa&s;ion &s;erves, renounced with a Ju&s;tification.</P>
<P>Force or Fraud the beginning of Empires! It &s;eems &s;o jealous are the Party we have here to deal with, le&s;t God &s;hould be thought to have any hand in the matter, that they chu&s;e rather intirely to a&s;cribe it to the Devil; for he is the original Liar and Murderer too; And if the way to a Throne be to wade through Blood, and make the &s;laugh|ter'd Carca&s;es of all Oppo&s;ers &s;o many Steps of A&s;cent to mount them unto Greatne&s;s, I &s;ee not but why every &s;uch exalted Head may call him <HI>Father,</HI> who&s;e Name in the <HI>Greek</HI> Tongue is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>The De&s;troyer, Rev.</HI> 9.7. And then what a hopeful Exerci&s;e of Power mu&s;t attend &s;uch a Beginning? The Sword mu&s;t needs maintain its own Title; and if the Coronation Robes be dyed in Blood, any one may foretell what Complexion Ju&s;tice thence|forth is like to appear in. An U&s;urper brings along with him a nece&s;&s;ity of renouncing all Humanity, and Religion too: He mu&s;t hate all tho&s;e whom he hath injured, and mu&s;t puni&s;h what&s;oever his own guilty Fears pre&s;ent, as if they were manife&s;t Crimes; he mu&s;t tolerate all man|ner
<PB N="14" REF="8">of Di&s;order and Confu&s;ion in the Wor&s;hip of Heaven, for the &s;ake of tho&s;e which him&s;elf hath brought upon the Affairs of Earth; he mu&s;t give up the Word of God to mercenary Tongues and unhallowed Hands, to be Ten|tered, and &s;et upon the Rack, till, with the Heathen Ora|cles of old, it can <GAP DESC="foreign">, cant &s;omething in the favour of his Preten&s;ions. And who can be &s;o vain, as even to dream of Property or Liberty under &s;uch a State? Who can hope for the enjoyment of a rightful Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, whil&s;t the Government it &s;elf is but a &s;plendid Robbery? I &s;hall pa&s;s over this Particular, with that Ob&s;ervation of the wi&s;e Hi&s;torian <HI>Tacitus, Imperium flagitio acqui&s;itum nemo unquam bonis artibus exercuit;</HI> which may bear this Con|&s;truction, <HI>The wor&s;e the Title, the more intolerable mu&s;t the Tyrant be.</HI></P>
<P>But becau&s;e the Deduction of Government from its true Original, makes &s;o fair for the Natural and Divine Right of Monarchy, above all other Forms or Models whatever, hence the implacable Enemies thereof have another Re|&s;erve, in which indeed they place their greate&s;t Strength and Confidence, and that is, by a kind of aukward Court|&s;hip to the Multitude, by a mo&s;t ful&s;om Flattery of the People, to in&s;inuate into them an Opinion, That all So|vereignty and Power, all Honour and Authority, as to the fir&s;t Owner&s;hip, is theirs, and where they are plea&s;ed to lodge it. A mo&s;t pernicious In&s;inuation, enough to prompt any People to &s;editious Attempts; which, in &s;tead of Obedience, (which is the farthe&s;t thing in their thoughts) only &s;ets their Heads on work how to recover the Governing Power, which they are told to be with|held violently from them. Now how di&s;agreeing this is both to the tenor of Gods Word, and of his Works al&s;o, we &s;hall briefly con&s;ider.</P>
<PB N="15" REF="8">
<P N="1">1. To the Word of God. As we find mention but of One &s;ort of Government there, &s;o we find Obedience al|ways pre&s;&s;ed a quite contrary way than is here &s;uppo&s;ed, <HI>viz.</HI> as to an Ordinance of Heaven, not a Contract on Earth; as de&s;cending from above, (&s;o <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> tells <HI>Pilate</HI>) not ari&s;ing from below; the Royal Unction being in this re&s;pect like that of the High Prie&s;ts, which was &s;hed upon <HI>Aaron</HI>'s Head, and did not creep up from the Skirts of his Garment. We never read our Saviour or his Apo&s;tles en|forcing the Duty of Obedience upon People from their own Act and Deed, but from the In&s;titution of God, from the Sacredne&s;s of his Authority, which is &s;o clo&s;ely in|volved in that of his Vicegerents: St. <HI>Paul</HI> is peremptory in it, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13. <HI>That Governours are &s;ent unto the People; are Gods Mini&s;ters,</HI> that notes their Original; <HI>for the good and welfare of the others,</HI> there's the End. Nay, the Holy Gho&s;t &s;peaks of Governours as of Earthly Gods; and would it not be a gro&s;s piece of Idolatry for any People to be the Makers of their Gods? I think we may &s;uffer them, as the World now goes, to adore them if they plea&s;e; but &s;urely they ought to be admoni&s;hed to hold Hands off, and not pre&s;ume as if they could make or un|make them at plea&s;ure. It was a pretty childi&s;h Conceit, that of <HI>Lucian</HI>'s, which he reports of him&s;elf, That be|ing young, he was &s;et out by his Father to learn the Art of a Statuary, and wondrous jocund and mighty forward he was, having taken great delight in forming little Ima|ges of Hor&s;es, and other Bea&s;ts, and &s;ometimes of Men; but that which plea&s;ed his Imagination mo&s;t, was the hopes and expectation that in time he might carve Gods al&s;o. I appeal, whether the Multitude are not made &s;uch Children, as often as Ambition cringes, and Popularity buys their Breath, contrary to all other ways of Bargain,
<PB N="16" REF="9">by &s;etting a prodigious over-value upon it? The Power of the People mu&s;t be extoll'd, and harangued in their Ears, even to Omnipotency; and they &s;o dull, as to be|lieve at length, that Maje&s;ty it &s;elf is nothing el&s;e but a &s;wollen &s;trutting Pageant, which the Breath of their Voices hath extended to that Dimen&s;ion.</P>
<P>I look upon it as no difficult Undertaking, to &s;hew how fal&s;e and groundle&s;s that Doctrine is, of an Implicit Co|venant in every Kingdom, betwixt God, and the King, and the People; <HI>according to which,</HI> &s;ay they, <HI>if the King fall away from God, the People may do the &s;ame to the King.</HI> This is that which <HI>Junius Brutus,</HI> and he the fir&s;t of any Man that I know, broacheth in the beginning of his <HI>Vindiciae contra Tyrannos,</HI> and lays down as the Foun|dation of that his Treati&s;e. This is the true Mother which hath brought forth tho&s;e <HI>Covenants, Holy Leagues,</HI> and <HI>A&s;&s;ociations,</HI> which have at &s;everal times threatned Confu&s;ion unto Kingdoms: And if &s;ome Accountants be not out in their Computation, it is a Doctrine which hath &s;hed more Chri&s;tian Blood than now runs in the Veins of living Chri&s;tians: But I mu&s;t not enter upon the di&s;|cu&s;&s;ion of it at pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>If the Notion of a Popular King be no ways agreeing to the tenor of Gods Word, we &s;hall next examine it by the Rule of his Works; and as to its Exi&s;tence, it will be found there no better than a <HI>Chimera</HI> in Nature. The World, as God made it, acknowledges no &s;uch Convey|ance of Power. When was it, in what Age did the Peo|ple at fir&s;t con&s;ent thus to make a Deed of Gift of their Natural Freedom? We challenge all true Hi&s;tories to give us an Account of this matter, and have hitherto had no &s;atisfaction. All that hath been found, is, That upon the Di&s;&s;olution or Di&s;membring of &s;ome Ancient Monarchies,
<PB N="17" REF="9">People have been forced to enter upon Agreements and Contracts, and to patch up an <HI>A&s;&s;ociation</HI> in &s;tead of a ju&s;t Government, and when favourable concurrences fell in, have a con&s;iderable time continued in that preterna|tural &s;tate; but in this ca&s;e we may &s;ay as Chri&s;t did of &s;ome of the <HI>Mo&s;aic</HI> Di&s;pen&s;ations, <HI>from the beginning it was not &s;o. Plato</HI> indeed among the Ancients is thought to &s;peak pertinently to this matter; that Philo&s;opher of|fers &s;omething with a <HI>perhaps,</HI> how &s;ome Remnants of People might be left upon the tops of Mountains, after a general Inundation, but then it is after his manner of beating dark and doubtful Conjectures in que&s;t of Truth; and alas it was his ignorance, or at lea&s;t the want of a di&s;tinct knowledge of the true Original of Mankind, which forced him and other excellent per&s;ons upon &s;uch extravagant Suppo&s;itions; when as the <HI>&V;p&s;tart Plato</HI> is the mo&s;t po&s;itive man in a&s;&s;erting, that the fir&s;t Inhabi|tants of the World did for &s;ome time try the Experiment of the brutal life in a Common, like Bea&s;ts in a Pa&s;ture, and were driven at la&s;t by nece&s;&s;ity to accept of Govern|ment; which to a&s;&s;ert at this time of the day, (now the Scriptures are unlocked, and in every hand, and the other Records of time have been examined,) is a &s;trange pre|&s;umption upon Mankind, as if all were Levellers in Un|der&s;tanding. We are &s;ure and certain, that God ordered all Humane Race to de&s;cend from one man as the com|mon Parent; which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> him&s;elf, who was no great Friend to the Power of Temporal Princes, &s;aith is a &s;ign that God rather approves of the Government of one man than of many. But why may not we u&s;e it for an Argu|ment, that no other could po&s;&s;ibly take place, whil&s;t there was that known &s;ubordination of Children to Fathers? unle&s;s there was &s;uch a juncture when the Natural Rights
<PB N="18" REF="10">of Per&s;ons were &s;huffled and confounded, and it was im|po&s;&s;ible to make out a Claim to the mo&s;t ancient Father|hood, which can never be &s;uppo&s;ed at the fir&s;t Plantation of Countries, and beginnings of Kingdoms, when the Earth was peopled by &s;everal Families under their di&s;tinct Heads, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> by Divine Authority doth a&s;&s;ure us. So that what they &s;peak of an Original Independency, and &s;tate of Natural Freedom, mu&s;t be a meer Fiction; or at mo&s;t only an Artificial Suppo&s;ition, to under&s;tand the force of Contracts and <HI>Common Leagues</HI> made betwixt Equals, but can have no Foundation in Nature.</P>
<P>There was offered to the World not long agoe, an Hy|pothe&s;is of <HI>Prae-Adamites,</HI> men before <HI>Adam,</HI> upon which a new Sy&s;tem of Divinity was rai&s;ed, and that in the end was found to carry a tendency to Athei&s;m and Irreligion; it will concern our Common-wealth Politicians to oblige us with an Hypothe&s;is of <HI>Praeter-Adamites,</HI> men of ano|ther Race and Lineage, who derive not from <HI>Adam,</HI> a Generation like that of the Dragons Teeth in the Poet, where they may find both their &s;tate of Equality, and &s;tate of War al&s;o; and when their utmo&s;t is done, its po&s;|&s;ible all may be found to tend to Anarchy and Confu&s;ion.</P>
<P>But let us, as it becomes good Chri&s;tians, &s;till adhere to the Word of God; let Holy Scripture, which is eve|ry where the adequate Mea&s;ure of our Faith, be here the Rule of our Obedience al&s;o; the tongue of men and An|gels cannot &s;peak more fitly of Soveraign Earthly Princes than it doth; nor more loftily with re&s;pect to the Ori|ginal of their Power, nor more obligingly and with grea|ter conde&s;cention, to &s;weeten and engage the Duty of Subjection. Witne&s;s the expre&s;&s;ion of my Text.</P>
<P>And &s;o I pa&s;s from the Stile and Title, unto the &s;econd thing a&s;&s;erted, <HI>viz.</HI> The Duty it &s;elf, which was <HI>Honour; Honour thy Father, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<PB N="19" REF="10">
<P>Honour was always accounted as &s;omething inherent in the per&s;on honouring, and &s;o it may perhaps &s;eem to be altogether at his own free di&s;po&s;al; but the truth is, this may become a Debt as well as any thing el&s;e, and not to pay it where it is &s;uch, is as direct a piece of inju&s;tice, as to rob a man of any thing which is called his own. <HI>Honour to whom honour,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13. where he &s;peaks of rendring unto all their Dues. <HI>If I be a Fa|ther where is my Honour,</HI> &s;aith the Lord God. This Ho|nour doth naturally look upwards, and is thought to comprehend all tho&s;e Duties which Inferiours owe to their Superiours; as Love looks on every &s;ide, and is called the fulfilling of all the Duties to our Equals. Now if God, who is infinite Perfection and boundle&s;s Excellen|cy, be the Object more of our Admiration and Exta&s;ie, which is the exce&s;s of Reverence, than any thing el&s;e, then our Honour mu&s;t a&s;cend in proportion to tho&s;e de|grees of nearne&s;s which any Object makes in its ap|proaches to the Deity, and &s;o we &s;hall come at length to re&s;t in that primitive gage which <HI>Tertullian</HI> acknowledges in the Name of the Chri&s;tians of his time, <HI>colimus Impe|ratorem tanquam hominem, a Deo &s;ecundum &amp; &s;olo Deo mino|rem; We honour,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>the Emperour as a man, but next and immediately unto God.</HI></P>
<P>For the full import of the Duty, we may draw it forth in three Notions of the word; <HI>viz. Reverence, Mainte|nance,</HI> and <HI>Obedience.</HI></P>
<P>The Fir&s;t is <HI>E&s;timation</HI> or <HI>Reverence,</HI> which is that &s;ig|nification of the word which bears the &s;tamp of common u&s;age; and this is addre&s;&s;ed to the Per&s;on of our Civil Parent.</P>
<P>The Second is <HI>Maintenance,</HI> which I think is a &s;en&s;e al|mo&s;t proper to Holy Scripture, and re&s;pects his Regal &s;tate.</P>
<PB N="20" REF="11">
<P>The Third is <HI>Obedience,</HI> with relation to his Laws and Decrees.</P>
<P>But I mu&s;t not di&s;cour&s;e of it in this latitude; &s;hould I pur&s;ue the&s;e &s;everally, I mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity intrench too much upon your patience, and the &s;ucceeding bu&s;ine&s;s of the day: I &s;hall therefore confine my &s;elf unto the fir&s;t of the&s;e at pre&s;ent, but may chance to con&s;ider it as a Tran|&s;cendent which is interwoven through the other two, as they &s;hall fall in mention.</P>
<P>But, 1. Honour doth primarily denote the expre&s;&s;ion of our E&s;timation and Reverence for &s;ome Excellencies in our Superiours, and can never be &s;o fitly placed as when we direct it to our Supreme Governour. It is a &s;hame we &s;hould have mean thoughts of the Per&s;on whom God hath thought fit to be his Deputy and Repre&s;entative up|on Earth; is he worthy to bear the Impre&s;s and Image of the Almighty's Power and Maje&s;ty, and not de&s;erving a reverent Idea in our thoughts and minds? There was ne|ver any Nation that owned a devout &s;entiment for their Gods, but paid a proportionable Honour to their Kings, the <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> yielded a Divine Adoration to them both. The Primitive Chri&s;tians gave Reverence to the very Statues of their Emperours, until <HI>Julian</HI> &s;et up the Ima|ges of their fal&s;e Gods by them, with a de&s;ign by that means to trepan them into Idolatry. The Heathens, ge|nerally, for the Ble&s;&s;ings of Peace, Plenty, and Protection which they injoyed, thought it not enough to give the highe&s;t Reverence to their living Princes, but after death, by an <HI>Apotheo&s;is,</HI> did be&s;tow a kind of Divinity upon them; and to &s;erve and wor&s;hip the&s;e was the &s;um of their Religion. But come we to the People of God, God's own People the <HI>Jews,</HI> and behold there how the holy Oil u&s;ed in their Inaugurations, did by its fragrant odour make
<PB N="21" REF="11">the Royal Head on which it was poured, as delightful and dear to them as the <HI>breath of their No&s;trils;</HI> and the morta|lity of a Prince was lamented among them as the <HI>quench|ing of the very Light of I&s;rael.</HI> Behold al&s;o among them, what &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion and deference they u&s;ed in their Addre&s;|&s;es to Maje&s;ty, <HI>&s;peak thou unto us, and we will hear, and do it,</HI> is their voice in one place; and it is noted for their u&s;ual ordinary temper, 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 3.36. <HI>that what&s;oever the King did, that &s;till plea&s;ed all the People;</HI> although it's confe&s;&s;ed, upon the fret and ferment of Sedition they were as turbulent as any; yet never was there a more &s;trict Law given to &s;ecure the Honour of Soveraign Powers, than God gave unto them, which laid an Obli|gation not only upon the outward man, but upon the words and thoughts al&s;o, <HI>cur&s;e not the King, no not in thy thoughts;</HI> and certainly with the highe&s;t Rea&s;on, for when the Honour of a Prince lies open to be invaded without fear, his Authority is near wounding, and his Per&s;on no ways &s;ecure; Reputation both guards his Life, and &s;upports his Throne, and they are ever the mo&s;t dan|gerous Enemies to both, that undermine him in the good opinion of his Subjects, and render him cheap in tho&s;e Eyes which &s;hould look up with the greate&s;t Veneration; a &s;landerous Tongue is a more &s;peedy In&s;trument of Mur|ther than a Sword of Steel, and a virulent Libel of more certain di&s;patch than Gun-&s;hot, by how much it is ea&s;ier to reach the Fame of a Soveraign Prince, than to hit his Per&s;on. In our Judicial Proceedings, the common Accu|&s;ation of Criminals lies for Offences again&s;t the Dignity as well as the Crown of our Soveraign Lord the King; reckoning every violation of his Laws may &s;tick reproach upon his Government; but there are &s;ome Offences which &s;trike at the very root of it, the malicious Arts of le&s;&s;en|ing
<PB N="22" REF="12">him before his People, the levelling attempts to lay the Soveraigns Honour fir&s;t in the du&s;t, knowing the whole Fabrick of the Government mu&s;t follow after it. And the&s;e are the Crimes which before Earthly Tribu|nals de&s;erve &s;evere&s;t Cen&s;ures of all others, not but that other &s;ins in &s;ome re&s;pects may be found more &s;inful at the la&s;t day, but becau&s;e the&s;e are mo&s;t de&s;tructive of Humane Society, and mo&s;t repugnant to the good and welfare of Mankind: <HI>The Tongue,</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>James, c.</HI> 3.5. <HI>is a very &s;mall Member, but being &s;et on fire from Hell;</HI> be|ing well warmed with that <GAP DESC="foreign">, which a little af|ter he &s;peaks of, <HI>it can ea&s;ily put the whole cour&s;e of Na|ture into combu&s;tion,</HI> and a &s;hort &s;peech may contain that e&s;&s;ential Poy&s;on and Rancour of Malice in it, as may im|pregnate the whole Sphere with infection and mi&s;chief. The&s;e are u&s;ually the Springs and fir&s;t Movers, which bring on greater Revolutions. And when Confu&s;ion and De&s;olation &s;hall follow as a Flood, and the Sword &s;hall march in Triumph o're the Land, and Ruine like a migh|ty whirlewind &s;hall throw all into heaps, then if perhaps you look for the kindly Fruits of Repentance from the Authors of &s;uch Calamity; all mu&s;t be, only the acknow|ledgment of a little improvidence, and that they never expected matters would have run on to that pa&s;s: Where|as it is a mo&s;t natural and nece&s;&s;ary progre&s;s, from the De|famation of a Government to its Di&s;&s;olution.</P>
<P>And then again, if there be in Scripture a peculiar no|tion of the word, to <HI>Honour with our Sub&s;tance,</HI> and if the Holy Gho&s;t in&s;tructs us there, that to &s;upply the wants and nece&s;&s;ities of our Parents be another Branch of the Honour we owe unto them; as our Saviour mo&s;t ex|pre&s;ly in St. <HI>Mark</HI> 10. and St. <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o brings it under the &s;ame head, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13. where he informs tho&s;e Chri&s;ti|ans
<PB N="23" REF="12">of their <HI>non-exemption</HI> from Tribute, and implies it to be an act of Ju&s;tice, by his word then u&s;ed, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ren|der ye,</HI> or re&s;tore, <HI>tribute;</HI> not &s;o much a Gift as a Debt. And it is but a very rea&s;onable return indeed, for our &s;e|cure nights and our u&s;eful days, for our peace and prote|ction, and all the opportunities &s;erving unto life and godli|ne&s;s; I &s;ay it is but a very rea&s;onable return, if we con|tribute to the nece&s;&s;ary &s;upport of the Government; yet &s;till this ought &s;o to be, as in a way con&s;i&s;tent with its Honour and Reputation. The Boundaries and Stations of Nature can never be altered, and a contumely offered from a Son cannot be commuted for, by the performance of any other part of his Duty. You will not much com|mend the Obedience or dutiful Regards of that per&s;on, who &s;hall offer to relieve the Nece&s;&s;ities of his di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Father, but withall &s;hall read him a petulant Lecture up|on the ill management of his E&s;tate, and his &s;pendthrift cour&s;es, that &s;hall exact accounts with all the rigour and &s;crupulo&s;ity of a Tasker, and tye him up perhaps to &s;uch terms and conditions as &s;hall be mo&s;t grievous and bur|den&s;om, if not impo&s;&s;ible. There &s;eems to have been more ingenuity, if not le&s;s wickedne&s;s, in tho&s;e Phari|&s;ees of old, whom our Saviour reproves upon this &s;core, in the 7th of St. <HI>Mark;</HI> they fairly da&s;ht out this part of the Divine Law by their own Traditions, and did not de|lude the wants and the expectation of their Parents, with a <HI>Sub&s;idie</HI> in one hand, and a <HI>Remon&s;trance</HI> in the other; by their <HI>Vow of Corban</HI> they put an i&s;&s;ue to the matter, and never let it come to a bu&s;ine&s;s of bargain and &s;ale be|twixt them, or &s;uch vile higgling, as can never &s;hew with any decency, unle&s;s betwixt an unbelieving Chri|&s;tian and a broking Jew.</P>
<PB N="24" REF="13">
<P>La&s;tly, The great and infallible Te&s;t of our <HI>Honour,</HI> is <HI>Obedience; Then are ye my Di&s;ciples indeed,</HI> &s;aith our Sa|viour, <HI>if ye do what&s;oever I command you:</HI> All our <HI>Ho|&s;anna's</HI> and <HI>hails,</HI> without this, are downright mockery. And yet I mu&s;t confe&s;s al&s;o, there is a &s;ort of Obedience which hath little or nothing of Honour in it; that which is forced and extorted by the fear of Penalties, and that which is pickt and cho&s;en for Conveniency, and to &s;erve an Intere&s;t; and &s;uch is the re&s;tive and di&s;putatious Obe|dience, which will go not one &s;tep farther than a direct Precept of Scripture &s;hall pre&s;s it, although it be in mat|ters relating to the Publick welfare, and where there is no Divine Precept to the contrary. The Rea&s;on is, be|cau&s;e all this may be done where there is no Re&s;pect had to the Authority of the Law-giver; and it is that alone which gives the formality and true &s;tamp to Obedience. Now if many &s;hall be found wanting and defective in their Duty, who yet keep the Law, then where &s;hall the Di&s;obedient appear? Nay in what Form of the Kings true Honourers, and right Faithful Subjects, mu&s;t they be placed, who not only violate the Laws, but al&s;o teach men &s;o to do; and teach it not only by Example, but by Precept, by In&s;titutes of Libertini&s;m, by di&s;tingui&s;hing men out of their Loyalty, and &s;tating of Ca&s;es and Que|&s;tions, whereby the Law it &s;elf is made the only Crimi|nal, and &s;uffers accordingly? Among all the helli&s;h Ma|chinations and Devices which the Enemy of Mankind, in the &s;hape of an Angel of light, hath hitherto u&s;ed for break|ing the Order, and di&s;turbing the Peace and Quiet of the World, perhaps there hath not been a more dangerous one than that which of late hath appeared among us, and is not un&s;itly called <HI>The Reign of Con&s;cience.</HI> I would not be thought to go about to expo&s;e &s;o &s;acred a thing,
<PB N="25" REF="13">whil&s;t I only expre&s;s my re&s;entment of tho&s;e abu&s;es, which it &s;uffers by the folly and wickedne&s;s of them who mo&s;t delight to have the word in their Mouths; and it is the greate&s;t abu&s;e certainly, to Idolize it, and &s;o become Wor&s;hippers of our own &s;elves, to a&s;cribe the &s;upremacy and power of determination unto every mans private Con|&s;cience, which the Law hath placed el&s;ewhere, for a known and publick re&s;ort. The <HI>Oceani&s;ts</HI> are wont to tell us of an Empire of men, &s;o they call Monarchy; and an Empire of Laws, and that mu&s;t be their own dear Common-wealth, but here's an Empire of Con&s;cience which outs them both. This mu&s;t needs be the mo&s;t Ar|bitrary of any other, &s;ince men have learnt the artifice to manage Con&s;cience, like tho&s;e Pri&s;ms or Mathematical Gla&s;&s;es, which with a &s;light turn &s;hall pre&s;ent any Co|lour, which fancy or affection calls for; that Reign mu&s;t al&s;o be mo&s;t tyrannical, which knows no milder Puni&s;h|ment for every tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion than the pain of damnation; and what Form of Polity mu&s;t we call it, when every man is a King at lea&s;t, being unaccountable for whatever he doth? If this be the reign of Saints, I &s;ee not but why the greate&s;t Sen&s;uali&s;ts in the world may be reconciled unto it; for Con&s;cience at the mo&s;t, and where it is al|ledged with the greate&s;t &s;incerity and truth, is but an act of my own Practical Judgment, which may be corrupt|ed by Intere&s;t and Pa&s;&s;ion, and as often as by following this I decline from the Rule and Mea&s;ure that is &s;et before me, I do in effect make the la&s;t Appeal unto my Under|&s;tanding Self. And what is there in the world &s;o grate|ful to a proud unmortified Spirit? It's one of the mo&s;t lu&s;cious pieces of Sen&s;uality which any carnal heart can wi&s;h for; and what can the con&s;equence be, &s;hould it go on, but the evacuating the u&s;e of the Law, and all Ju|dicial
<PB N="26" REF="14">Proceedings, <HI>i. e.</HI> in &s;hort, the ruine of a Kingdom? We &s;ure, the People of this Nation, above all others in the World have infinite Rea&s;on to acknowledge it with all gratitude to Almighty God, for a&s;&s;igning us our Lot in that Country which of old was called, and &s;till is (would our little Di&s;contents but let us know how to va|lue it) the <HI>Fortunate I&s;land,</HI> not &s;o much for its tempe|rate Climate, but for that happy temper of the Con&s;ti|tution we now live under, both with reference to the Concerns of our Souls, and outward E&s;tate. Our Reli|gion as to its Sub&s;tance Divine and unalterable, and as to its Mode and Exerci&s;e is e&s;tabli&s;ht and &s;etled with the con|currence of all the Wi&s;dom of the Nation, and by the Authority of the greate&s;t Power under Heaven, and can|not be changed or controlled by the Will or Arbitrary Im|po&s;ition of any man. The Bounds of our Liberty and Property are &s;acred al&s;o, and not to be invaded, &s;o long as there &s;hall be any Reverence had to Law or Ju&s;tice among us; we mu&s;t di&s;&s;olve this Order, or &s;in our &s;elves out of the Protection of the Government, before we can be mi&s;erable; unle&s;s with <HI>Je&s;hurun,</HI> growing fat and pam|pered, we &s;hall run head&s;trong down the Precipice of Ru|ine, nothing el&s;e can bring it upon us. Nay, we &s;eem &s;o free from any pre&s;ent Grievance, that we mu&s;t call in imagination to help us to anticipate Mi&s;ery, and be a&s;to|ni&s;ht at a dreadful painted Scene, which only our affect|ed Fears and Jealou&s;ies repre&s;ent unto us. And next un|to Almighty God we mu&s;t render unto his Maje&s;ty the Honour due unto him, in all the fore-mentioned In&s;tan|ces of the Duty, for our Peace and Plenty, for our Shel|ter and Protection from Foreign Enemies, and for the wi&s;e diver&s;ion of the &s;ad Effects of our own Animo&s;ities, for the repeated a&s;&s;urances of maintaining the Prote&s;tant
<PB N="27" REF="14">Religion, which &s;hould be dearer to us than our Lives; for the continuance of His Clemency and Paternal Care over this our Reformed Church, which renders her equal|ly the Envy of Papi&s;ts and Di&s;&s;enters, but a Sanctuary unto all &s;uch as flee unto her, with any &s;ober Per&s;ua&s;ions of Religion. And where now are our Returns for the&s;e Ble&s;&s;ings, for which the very Heathens would have been building of Altars, and preparing Sacrifices, upon like oc|ca&s;ion? Whither is our Love and Reverence of Authority fled, or lo&s;t among us? O my Country-men, where is that <HI>Old-Engli&s;h Loyalty</HI> for which this Nation hath been of old &s;o de&s;ervedly renowned? Alas! the <HI>New Plantation</HI> &s;eems at length to return the Pe&s;t back again upon us, that was formerly the Sink and Drain into which the noxious Humours of our State were wont to be di&s;charged; and now (I know not by what Infatuation) we &s;eem to be fond of, and willing to cheri&s;h them in our own Body; as if <HI>The&s;e</HI> could be any Defence to the <HI>Prote&s;tant Cau&s;e,</HI> which are the profe&s;t Enemies of the <HI>be&s;t Prote&s;tant Church upon Earth;</HI> and if ever the Peace and Settlement of our <HI>I&s;rael</HI> chance to be di&s;turb'd, it will be (in all Hu|mane Probability) by an Eruption from the Confluence of <HI>The&s;e,</HI> when ever they &s;hall be ripe for Mi&s;chief: Nay, the fre&s;h Experience of our Si&s;ter-Kingdom of <HI>Scotland,</HI> puts it out of que&s;tion. But ble&s;&s;ed be God, the Wi&s;dom and Vigilance of our State is awake, and &s;ufficiently ap|prehen&s;ive from what Quarter the Danger threatens; and it's hoped the whole Nation will be &s;en&s;ible for what the&s;e <HI>Coals of Fire</HI> are kept alive and glowing hot within her Bowels, meerly by tho&s;e <HI>various Winds of Doctrine</HI> which blow from the Caverns of <HI>Schi&s;matical Conventicles.</HI> To <HI>the&s;e</HI> it is our Nation ows her Lankne&s;s and Ill-thriving under the plenteous Means of Grace and Goodne&s;s; and
<PB N="28" REF="15">without Gods extraordinary, abundant, and overflowing Mercy, it's morally impo&s;&s;ible that the Regular Mini&s;try of the Go&s;pel &s;hould have any the lea&s;t con&s;iderable Suc|ce&s;s upon the Souls of Men among us, under &s;uch &s;trong Prejudices, whil&s;t the <HI>&s;trange Fires</HI> of <HI>Nadab</HI> blazing upon <HI>unhallow'd Altars,</HI> &s;hall dazzle and mi&s;guide the <HI>Weak,</HI> and the <HI>Wilful</HI> be &s;uffered to per&s;i&s;t in the <HI>Contradiction</HI> of <HI>Corah.</HI> If that Paper-Draught and Scheam of an <HI>A&s;&s;ocia|tion,</HI> which was lately brought to light, be ju&s;tly thought worthy of the <HI>Abhorrence</HI> and <HI>Dete&s;tation</HI> of every Loyal Heart and Hand, you will not &s;pare tho&s;e <HI>A&s;&s;emblies of Schi&s;m,</HI> tho&s;e <HI>Garri&s;ons of Sedition,</HI> which are but &s;o many little Models and brief E&s;&s;ays of the <HI>A&s;&s;ociation in act.</HI> Neither your <HI>Peace</HI> nor <HI>Religion</HI> are con&s;i&s;tent with <HI>them.</HI> Our Princes <HI>Power in Eccle&s;ia&s;ticals,</HI> after the Example of the Religious Kings of <HI>Judah,</HI> is one main Article of our <HI>Reformation;</HI> and what a mighty Influence this hath up|on our <HI>Civil &V;nion,</HI> no Con&s;idering Man can doubt: <HI>both</HI> which are twice contradicted and everthrown; fir&s;t, by the Fact it &s;elf, of <HI>A&s;&s;embling,</HI> &s;o notorious and daring, in contempt of Authority; and next, by tho&s;e <HI>Seditious Do|ctrines</HI> which are but too frequently di&s;&s;eminated among them: Nay, if Pregnant Cau&s;es &s;hould not &s;ometimes mi&s;carry in their Productions of <HI>evil</HI> as well as <HI>good</HI> Ef|fects, &s;uch Practices as the&s;e, &s;o &s;candalous to <HI>Chri&s;tianity,</HI> per&s;i&s;ted in, and vouched for, with the Pretences of Con|&s;cience and Religion, were enough to make the Names of Con&s;cience and Religion to &s;tink upon the Earth. As often as the Language of the pro&s;titute Pre&s;s, and Common Pla|ces of Conver&s;ation, &s;hall be undutiful and reflecting upon Authority, that only argues an ordinary itchy contagi|ous Evil running upon the Vulgar; but when the Great|e&s;t and Ju&s;te&s;t Power upon Earth &s;hall be confronted with
<PB N="29" REF="15">a <HI>pretended</HI> Commi&s;&s;ion from Heaven, and a Publick Ex|erci&s;e of Wor&s;hip &s;et up, in oppo&s;ition to that which with the greate&s;t Wi&s;dom and deliberation is e&s;tabli&s;h'd, and <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> brought to vouch for <HI>one,</HI> which is the &s;tricte&s;t Tie and Obligation to the <HI>other,</HI> this &s;hews a Diabolical Contrivance to <HI>&s;ham</HI> Religion, and make her turn the Point back, and &s;tab her &s;elf. Yet <HI>this,</HI> and many other Di&s;tempers we labour under, would meet a &s;peedy Reme|dy, were we per&s;uaded to put the Duty of my Text in|to practice. A &s;etled Reverence for Authority would breed an Affection to the Per&s;ons of our Governours, and that would produce a Tru&s;t and Confidence in the Pub|lick Management, and this would be a means to bani&s;h tho&s;e ill-boading Jealou&s;ies and &s;ini&s;ter Interpretations which are put upon every Occurrence, and perhaps is the wor&s;t Symptom of our Mi&s;ery. And can there be any thing more equitable, than what is now recommend|ed unto us, to pay that Tribute of Honour to our Su|preme Civil Parent, which is exacted, and not denied, in all other Relations whatever? The Ma&s;ter of a Family will not &s;uffer his Power of ordering the Affairs of his own Hou&s;e to be di&s;puted or encroach'd upon by any other; and if it be the Lord of a petty Mannor, how ab|&s;olute will he expect to be in his little Territories? What a rigid Account &s;hall be exacted of tho&s;e By-Laws which his Wor&s;hip &s;hall dictate? and &s;ometimes &s;hall vaunt it more with that one molted Feather of the Crown, and look for more Ob&s;ervance, than what him&s;elf will pay to the Sacred Head which wears the Diadem. One &s;hould think the very Love and Sen&s;e of Duty towards our Na|tural Lord and Sovereign, &s;hould be as prevalent at lea&s;t with us, as the Dread and Terror of a cruel U&s;urper: And &s;hall <HI>this</HI> depre&s;s us to the ba&s;e&s;t degrees of Servility, and
<PB N="30" REF="16">the <HI>other</HI> not enlarge our Souls with great Propen&s;ions to Honour and Obedience?</P>
<P>But perhaps there is nothing will make us altogether <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> in this great Branch of <HI>Chri&s;tianity,</HI> but the proper Motives of Religion; and therefore, after the Equity of the thing, let us next con&s;ider what Godline&s;s there is in it: And here we &s;hall find &s;uch a &s;trict Alliance betwixt the <HI>Fear of God</HI> and the <HI>Honour of the King,</HI> that in Holy Scripture they are commonly joyned together, and in Practice can never be divided. The Name of <HI>Piety</HI> is properly given to that Duty which is owing unto Pa|rents, by the be&s;t Cla&s;&s;ical Writers; and the Honouring of a Prince, I have read in a Learned and Reverend Au|thor, called an <HI>Elicit Act of Religion,</HI> meaning, I &s;uppo&s;e, &s;uch a Wor&s;hip of God, as the Image-wor&s;hip of the <HI>Ro|mani&s;ts</HI> would be, were there no Divine Precept in bar again&s;t them, rendring their Practice unwarrantable and &s;uper&s;titious. But we need not &s;train a Point to that ni|cety; If Loyalty be a Duty indi&s;pen&s;ible, and an impor|tant Act of Chri&s;tian Religion, we have a con&s;iderable Advantage again&s;t our Adver&s;aries on both hands, when we dare joyn I&s;&s;ue with them upon the Ob&s;ervation of one of the Chief of Gods Moral Laws, as to which our <HI>Papi&s;t</HI> Adver&s;aries, and <HI>Di&s;&s;enters</HI> al&s;o, are notoriou&s;ly de|fective. It's Honour enough, that our Reformed Church of <HI>England</HI> hath been here acknowledged the &s;ure Con|&s;ervatrix of the Principles of Loyalty, and was never wanting in the Practice of them in the wor&s;t of Times; and this is it that makes her the Butt of all the Factions, at which they &s;hoot their bitter Arrows: This draws upon her tho&s;e Loads of Calumnies and Contempts which the Subtile Underminers of the State &s;tir up, and unwary Per&s;ons are loud and clamorous in, they know not why:
<PB N="31" REF="16">Otherwi&s;e, what rea&s;on is there imaginable, why &s;ome that pretend an Agreement in <HI>all Doctrinals</HI> with her, and would go further, &s;hould yet labour her Ruine, and would rejoyce to &s;ee her laid <HI>wa&s;te and de&s;olate,</HI> but only becau&s;e &s;he is known to be an impregnable Defence to the Monar|chy and lawful Government of the Nation, and cannot, as others do, give a Di&s;pen&s;ation for Re&s;i&s;tance?</P>
<P>We may &s;ee it by experience among our &s;elves, how the Honour of God is promoted and carried on in the &s;ame Company, and by the &s;ame Proportions, with that to the King. Who are they that <HI>frequent the Places where his Honour dwells,</HI> and that <HI>&s;et forth the Glory of God, and de|clare his Maje&s;ty and Mercy,</HI> by Acknowledgments, Prai|&s;es, and Confe&s;&s;ions made unto him, with due Solemnity and Reverence, and make a Con&s;cience of the&s;e things? of offering the&s;e Sacrifices to his Honour, as of old they offered their Goods and Cattel? Are they not &s;uch gene|rally as pay a dutiful Re&s;pect unto his Repre&s;entative on Earth? &s;uch as are poli&s;h'd and refin'd by Education, and know the Laws of Ob&s;ervance and Regard? And it's agreeable to the <HI>Genius</HI> of a Gentleman, if not bya&s;&s;ed by &s;ome Fanatick Intere&s;t, to a&s;&s;ert the Publick Rites of Wor|&s;hip; whereas the Lower Part of Men, e&s;pecially where they have received any Factious Impre&s;&s;ions, are not &s;en|&s;ible of any the lea&s;t touch of Con&s;cience for the&s;e Mat|ters, neither for Gods Honour nor the Kings.</P>
<P>I &s;hall add but few Words more: What remains &s;hall be, according to my propo&s;ed Method, to &s;hew the Obli|gation to this Duty, from the Argument contained in the la&s;t Clau&s;e of my Text, which is the Promi&s;e of a very de&s;irable Ble&s;&s;ing; but it implies a &s;evere Threatning in ca&s;e of Di&s;obedience, no le&s;s than an utter Ab&s;ci&s;&s;ion and Cutting off from the Land of Promi&s;e: And this mu&s;t
<PB N="32" REF="17">needs have a mighty Influence upon <HI>that People</HI> e&s;peci|ally, and all others in general. The force of the Inference lies chiefly in the Threatning. Thus God el&s;ewhere in|vites them with a gracious Promi&s;e, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 1.19. <HI>If ye be willing and obedient, ye &s;hall eat the good of the Land;</HI> but he drives and compels in the next Words with a terrible Threat, <HI>But if ye refu&s;e and rebel, ye &s;hall be devour'd with the Sword.</HI> The Cur&s;e of God hanging over the Head of a contumacious and rebellious People, is enough to reduce them, if there be any <HI>fear of God in the Place.</HI> This is the proper Sea&s;on for God him&s;elf, the King of Kings, to appear and interpo&s;e, when his Vicegerents here on Earth &s;hall be &s;et at nought: Here is <HI>dignus vindice modus,</HI> a proper Care for the All-ruling Providence, and a Recom|pence worthy of a Divine Revenge; and it hath &s;eldom failed upon &s;uch Exigencies, although it hath been &s;ome|times &s;low. I &s;hall leave but one Example with you; but it is &s;uch an one as I think we may challenge all Hi&s;tory, Sacred and Humane, to match it; it is in the 16th. of <HI>Num|bers,</HI> in this very People of the <HI>Jews,</HI> and not far from the time when this Law was given them. At the beginning of the Chapter <HI>Corah</HI> and his Company ri&s;e up again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> the Chief Magi&s;trate and Chief Prie&s;t, As <HI>Religion</HI> and <HI>Loyalty</HI> are &s;till found in Conjunction, &s;o the <HI>King</HI> and <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> have the &s;ame Common Enemies. And what was the Cau&s;e that &s;tirred up the&s;e Men to mutiny? It was plainly the <HI>Levellers</HI> Grievance, the Im|parity of Gods People, the hated Eminence of a Superior, and the heavy Yoke of Government: For thus they vent their Di&s;contents again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron, ver.</HI> 3. <HI>Ye take too much upon you, &s;eeing all the Congregation are holy, every one of them; wherefore then lift ye up your &s;elves above the Congregation of the Lord?</HI> Here's now the Ma&s;que of Se|dition,
<PB N="33" REF="17">with all its Paint and Varni&s;h on: It is the <HI>Lords Cau&s;e;</HI> it is for <HI>freeing</HI> the Congregation of the Lord from the <HI>Slavery,</HI> which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> held them under, for a&s;&s;erting the <HI>Liberties</HI> of an <HI>Holy People:</HI> And as if the meer joyning with the <HI>Faction</HI> had been <HI>Holine&s;s</HI> it &s;elf, it is alledged, <HI>they were all holy, every one of them. Mo&s;es</HI> looks upon this Face of Affairs as of a dangerous pre&s;age, and makes his Appeal to God, the Ordainer of Powers, and the Reven|ger of Kings; he joyns I&s;&s;ue with the Mutineers upon the Point, and is content the Divine Right of Govern|ment &s;hould be tried by the Succe&s;s which God &s;hould give to the Sacrilegious Enterpri&s;e of the&s;e Men. And what was the Event? Why, the Que&s;tion under debate received a dreadful Deci&s;ion, by the Overthrow and De|&s;truction of the Rebels; and the Righteous God de&s;crib'd as it were the Nature of their Sin, by &s;ome Lines of the Puni&s;hment, as appears by the Sequel of the Story. Here is now an Example of Gods appearing for his own In&s;ti|tution: and let any one of them who have u&s;ed to talk &s;o loud for Gods <HI>owning their Cau&s;e,</HI> and <HI>Outgoings with their Arms,</HI> match it if they can. It's confe&s;s'd, in common Proceedings, and the ordinary Cour&s;e of Providence, an Argument from Succe&s;s is very fallacious; but in the Ca&s;e as it was here, when the very Point under Trial was the <HI>Divine Right of Superiority and Rule,</HI> and this put upon the I&s;&s;ue, to be maintained by God by Miracle, or el&s;e to fall; and when God &s;hall an&s;wer to the Appeal in &s;uch an extraordinary manner; here, I take it, in &s;uch a Ca&s;e as this, Gods Works are as in&s;tructive and infallible as his Word; and in all &s;uch Events we may &s;ay, as <HI>Pharaoh</HI>'s Magicians did, <HI>This is the Finger of God;</HI> a Finger by which he writes his Will unto us as plain and legible, as ever he did upon the Tables of Stone to <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> as legible
<PB N="34" REF="18">as is the Precept it &s;elf, for who&s;e &s;ake I have alledged this Example.</P>
<P>Now therefore, <HI>knowing the terrors of the Lord,</HI> let us all, my Brethren, be per&s;uaded and exhorted to have a care that we never provoke Almighty God, by our cry|ing Sins, to &s;end forth his Judgments any more upon this People and Kingdom. Let us, who value our &s;elves in being thought the Loyal and obedient Subjects, endea|vour by a godly and upright Conver&s;ation to redeem the Profe&s;&s;ion of Loyalty from the evil Slanders of &s;uch as &s;eek occa&s;ion to reproach it: Let us &s;erve and honour our King with the greate&s;t Zeal and Duty that we owe, but our God infinitely more: Let us endeavour to live, as far as is po&s;&s;ible, without the <HI>&s;u&s;picion</HI> of Vice, as well as free from its <HI>contagiou;</HI> that &s;o we may break and di&s;cre|dit that mo&s;t fal&s;e, ill-natur'd, and uncharitable <HI>Di&s;tin|ction</HI> which the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> and <HI>Hypocrites</HI> of the Times have taken up, when they &s;et the Kings <HI>Loyal Subjects</HI> on one Hand, and the <HI>Sober Godly Party of the Nation</HI> on the other. And let them who have been defective in this kind, &s;hew forth the <HI>Fruits of Repentance,</HI> having en|joy'd a <HI>Pardon</HI> and <HI>Indempnity</HI> for their Crimes pa&s;t, let them learn at length to be ingenuous, and, if it be po&s;|&s;ible, to convert their Rancour into Duty; let them but <HI>begin now</HI> to love, honour, and obey the King <HI>much,</HI> be|cau&s;e <HI>much hath been forgiven them:</HI> Let them never ca&s;t a Thought back upon <HI>Aegypt,</HI> or its <HI>Fle&s;h-pots,</HI> nor chew the Cud upon tho&s;e lu&s;cious Mor&s;els of Rapine and Sa|crilege, which, for the ea&s;e and health of their Con&s;ci|ences, they have been forced to di&s;gorge: And above all, let them ever mind it, not to relap&s;e into their <HI>old</HI> Fol|ly, of <HI>turning Faith into Faction, and Religion into Re|bellion:
<PB N="35" REF="18">From which, and all the Plagues and Puni&s;hments attending it, Good Lord deliver us, by the Merits of thy dear Son; To whom, with thee, and the Holy Gho&s;t, be all Honour a&s;cribed, the Kingdom, Power, and Glory, for ever and ever.</HI> Amen.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
