HAVING receiv'd the sad tidings of the Death of our most Gratious Sove­reign Charles the Second, I think it re­quisite to say something, as early as I can, that will be suitable to it: And therefore I pitch upon this Subject as proper and seasonable to exercise your Devotions at this time.

In these words Saint Paul plainly teacheth this Doctrine.

That all Kings or Supreme Governours of Nations are Constituted of Almighty God, and Rule solely by his Divine pleasure and Authority.

I shall clear this unto you, and then draw an infe­rence or two from it.

First, This was eminently true of the several Go­vernours of the Jews. They had all particular and apparent Signatures and Impresses of the Image and Authority of God upon them. For when from all the Nations of the World God had set apart the Jews to be the Object of his more immediate care, he is said to have sent Moses to be a Ruler and Deliverer unto them by the hand of the Angel which appeared to [Page 2]him in the Bush: By reason of which power so signally conferr'd by God, he was intituled King in Jeshurun when the Heads of the People and the Tribes of Israel were gather'd together. And when God was pleased to remove his servant Moses to a Crown of Glory in Heaven, he nominated Joshuah to succeed him in the same Authority. And after the removal of Joshuah, he raised up Judges to them, men of ab­solute and uncontrollable power for the time they continued, inferiour to Kings onely in the title. And lastly, to oblige them with variety of dispensations, at their own desire and according to a former promise of making them every way as Glorious as the Nations round about them, he gave them many Governours with the Title of Kings too, to go out before them and fight their battels.

But although the Kingdom of Israel might seem here to have had a more signal designation and her Governours a more particular commission from God than any other, yet

Secondly, the Gentile Rulers were as truly the Ministers and Vicegerents of God in their respective Dominions though not so remarkably. Thus Syracides saith, Eccl. 17.17. in the division of the Nations of the whole Earth, God set a Ruler over every people, but Israel is the Lord's portion. And the same is signified by the men whom we are certain God inspir'd to reveal the truth.

The Prophet David, speaking of Rulers in General calleth them Gods and the children of the most High. Psal. 82.6.

And that of Solomon is as General. Prov. 8.15, 16. By me Kings [Page 3]Reign and Princes decree Justice, By me Princes Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth.

And particularly, in the Prophecy of Isaiah, Isa. 44.28, 45, 1. Cyrus the King of Persia is styled the Shepherd and the A­nointed of the Lord. And in the Prophecy of Jere­miah, Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. 27.6. King of Babylon is styled his Servant. And the Prophet Daniel telleth that King expresly, Dan. 2.37. The God of Heaven hath given thee a King­dom, Power and Strength and Glory.

The Son of God himself said as much, John 19.11. when he confessed that Power by which Pilate acted under the Roman Emperour to be given him from above.

And so his Apostle in the Text in the Reign of a Heathen saith, There is no Power but of God, the Powers that be are ordained of God.

Accordingly the first Christians taught. L. 5. Contr. Har. Irenaeus saith, that by whose appointment men are born by his appointment Princes are constituted. Apol. c. 30. Tertullian saith, that they have their Power thence whence they have their Spirit. So Optatus, lib. 3. There is no person Superiour to the Emperour but God onely, who or­dained the Emperour.

Nay, the wiser Heathens that had any sense of Reli­gion had the same sentiments of the Divinity of Re­gal Power. This is the meaning of that Benediction of the Queen of Sheba, when she was full of Admiration at the Wisedom of Solomon, 1 King. 10.9. Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on the Throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee King to doe Judgment and Justice.

The Romans in their Lex Julia adjudged the same punishment to Treason as to Sacrilege, Ʋlpian l. 7. De Off. Pro­cons. in l. 1. ff. ad Leg. Jul. maj. as looking upon an injury done to their Prince, to be an injury also to [Page 4]Gods; Hist. Hea. Gods. l. 3. p. 187. whose place of power upon Earth the Prince supplied. ‘The Kings of Egypt had Asps usually repre­sented upon their Crowns, to express the Holyness of their persons, whom none ought to dishonour or injure without a signal punishment; as being the most Sacred Images and Lieutenants of God upon Earth.’ So firmly did the better sort of Heathens, who be­lieved an invisible over-ruling Being, believe likewise the power of Kings to be derived from it.

Now, it does not invalidate this Truth. 1. That some Princes exercise their power Tyrannically and Rule wickedly, oppressing and murthering their Sub­jects. For the power is nevertheless of God though it be abused and perverted by men. As it is in the case of Episcopacy, the spiritual power, by which the Bishops govern the Church, must be acknowledged to be received from Christ, though the Bishop of Rome Tyrannize in the exercise of it: So it is in the case of Kingship and Regality, God must be own'd to have conveyed and consigned over the Temporal Power to all Princes though the Grand Seigniour of the Turks, and others, play the Tyrants within their Dominions. And yet we may not here conceive God to be Authour of the wickedness, as of the Power, for it is the Power onely not the abuse of it that is from God: The latter proceeds from the Prince's evil heart alone. God maketh him a Prince, and he, through the corruption of his Nature and the mali­tious Temptation of the Devil, finds out many in­ventions to doe wickedly. The Kingly Power as other good and perfect Gifts do, descendeth from God, although they may be all some time or other abus'd by evil instruments and to evil ends and purposes. [Page 5]Our Saviour intimated this in granting Pilate's power to be from Heaven, by whom he knew he should be sentenced to dye as a Malefactour. St. Paul did the same, speaking the Text in the days of Claudius or Nero, two of the worst of men and the greatest Ty­rants that ever were. Neither 2. doth it invalidate this Truth that some Princes come to this Power by Conquest, some by Election, and others by Inheritance. For these are but several ways and means of Convey­ance and Investiture; they are but as Conduit Pipes to carry the Water from the Fountain to separate places: Still the Power is deriv'd from God to the Prince, by which soever of these means he be invested with it. 1. Although he fight for it, and by the Sword, ma­keth his way to the Throne, yet when he is placed there, he sitteth as God's Vicegerent, having no Super­intendent but God: The People are all subjected to him by right of Conquest.

Or say it be 2. By Election, by the Votes and Consent of the People that he is seated on the Throne, yet being once there, he becomes their Sovereign Lord, Ruling by a Power Superiour to theirs. For the Power is God's, not the Peoples: They are onely God's instruments in conferring the Regalia's; and when the Ceremony is over, have no more to doe, but to obey.

And if it hold true in Conquer'd and Elective King­doms then how much rather 3. Deut. 21.15. In all those Nations where the Crowns are Hereditary; the way which God appointed in Israel before their settlement in Canaan, and after it, did so signally bless in a nume­rous Succession of Heirs.

In all Hereditary Kingdoms the people have no­thing [Page 6]to doe but, upon the Death of their King, im­mediately to obey the next Heir Apparent, and hum­bly to recognize him for their Sovereign. Their Ap­probation or Consent here is of no signification; for he is born to Reign over them, and whether they will or no, doth rightfully inherit that Power which God hath entailed upon his Family.

And (to speak something here particularly of our own Nation) thus it is, thanks be to God, in the Kingdom of England. (And we have reason to thank God for it, because we are hereby free from many mischiefs which unavoidably attend the change of Kings upon Conquests or Popular Elections.)

Here God hath, for many Ages past, by wonder­full Providences made known the Family that is to Govern us, so certainly and so apparently, that none but he that desires to be a Rebel to God and the King will ever dispute the Title. Whence it is become a Maxime in our Law that the King never dieth. And that nothing is to be assented to in Parliament which tendeth to the disinherison of the Crown. Hence also we find it ever subscribed to those Ensigns of Royalty, which descend perpetually with the Crown, Dieu Et Mon Droit, God and my Right. So in all publick Edicts we find this inserted, Dei Gratiâ Rex, By the Grace of God King of England: And upon Twelve several Festival days in the year, our King offereth upon the Altar a sum of Gold to God, in signum specialis Dominii, as a publick Acknowledge­ment That by his Grace alone he is King. And this every man of us solemnly assenteth to, that taketh the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy. "In the Oath of Allegiance, we promise to bear Faith and True [Page 7] ‘Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successours. In the Oath of Supremacy, we first utterly testifie and declare that the King's Highness is the onely Supreme Governour in this Realm; And do there­fore promise that we will bear Faith and True Al­legiance to the King's Highness, his Heirs, and Law­full Successours, and will to our power assist and defend all Jurisdictions, Privileges, Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the King's Highness, his Heirs and Successours, or united and annext to the Imperial Crown of this Realm.’

So that by the way we may wonder at the great impiety of our late pretending Patriots, who with so much heat and boidness Voted the Exclusion of the Rightfull Heir, in plam contradiction not onely to their Natural Allegiance but also to their Promises and Declarations solemnly made by these Oaths. They ought, I think, to seek God and the King's Pardon, or a publick Repentance: And when they are so ingenuous, and not before, we may in Charity hope, that they will be better Christians and better Subjects for the future.

But, to convince you more fully that our King, by the unalterable Right of Inheritance Succeeding to the Crown, Raigneth by God, and him onely, let us a little distinctly consider, that there is neither person or thing within his Dominions but what are subject to him, as by the ordinance of God, and right reason, so likewise by our own publick concessions. The People are all so, and so are the Laws. The People of this Nation whether singly or Representatively con­sidered are subject to the King.

If we look upon them in their single persons, which [Page 8]of them can pretend equality with or superiority to his Prince? Who indeed but he that is as mad as the man in Bedlam, that vainly imagins himself to be a King.

Or look upon them Representatively, in the Church or in the Parliament, in both they are subject to him, first in the Church.

The Church as humbly and as expresly as she can acknowledgeth the King's Supremacy and her own sub­jection, In her 37th Article she saith. ‘The King's Majesty hath the chief Power in his Realm of Eng­land and other his Dominions, unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil, in all Causes doth appertain, and is not nor ought to be subject to any Foreign Jurisdiction. To which she addeth, Whereas we attribute to the King's Majesty the chief Government, by which Titles we find the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended, we give not to our Princes the ministering either of God's Word or of the Sacraments, but that onely Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God him­self, that is, that they should rule all Estates and de­grees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal, and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers.’

In the 3 part of her Homilie of Obedience she saith, ‘This is God's Ordinance God's Commandments and God's Holy Will that the whole Body of every Realm and all the Members and parts of the same shall be subject to their Head their King.’

The like is said by her in the 5th part of her Ho­milie [Page 9]against Rebellion. ‘The holy Scriptures do teach most expresly that our Saviour Christ himself and his Apostles St. Paul, St. Peter with others were unto the Magistrates and Higher Powers, which Rul'd upon their being upon Earth both obe­dient themselves, and did also diligently and ear­nestly exhort all other Christians to the like obedi­ence unto their Princes and Governours, whereby it is evident that men of the Clergy and Ecclesi­astical Ministers as their Successours, ought both themselves specially and before others to be obedient unto their Princes and also to exhort all others unto the same. Our Saviour Christ likewise teaching by his Doctrine that his Kingdom was not of this World did by his example in fleeing from those that would have made him King confirm the same: Expresly also forbidding his Apostles and by them the whole Clergy all Princely Dominion over People and Na­tions; and he and his holy Apostles likewise, name­ly Peter and Paul did forbid unto all Ecclesiastical Ministers Dominion over the Church of Christ.’

See Can. 36. So in her 55th Canon she requires her Preachers before their ‘Sermons to pray for the King's Most Excellent Majesty as Defender of the Faith and Su­preme Governour within this Realm and all other his Dominions and Countries over all persons in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil.’

And as this Supremacy is now acknowledged, See Ful­wood's Roma Ruit. c. 9. so it has been granted by the Church of England to her King ever since she was a Church, except for those small spaces of time that the Pope usurp'd it after the Norman Conquest. But in Henry VIII. Reign it was fully resum'd and with the concurrence of all the [Page 10]Estates in Parliament resettled in the King. And upon this principle our Reformation from all the other Po­pish corruptions was founded, viz. that the King had the Supreme Power in the Nation, and by that might protest against and reform all the Papal Abuses which had corrupted the Church and Kingdom. And there­fore those Sects and Parties of men amongst us, the Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, Quakers, &c. are not to be accounted of our Church because they deny the King's Supremacy. But are Retainers still to the Church of Rome, being not yet reform'd from this Romish corruption, of subjecting the King to the Church. Next, as the Church is subject to the King, so is the Parliament. The Parliament is called by the King's Writ. And when they meet they own his Supremacy and promise Allegiance to him upon Oath. During their Session, they can make no Laws by them­selves, but onely advise, propound and petition what may be for the good of the Nation: And therefore are called the Great Council of it, consisting of Three Estates, The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and The Commons; the latter of which is said not to have been before the Reign of Henry III. who required their presence to Stem the Tide of his Barons Rebellion. And although since through a long Tract of Time and the concessions of some Kings they have a claim to certain privileges yet sure not to that of Supremacy or Coordination with their Prince. For any or all of them to say they are above or equal with him is a contradiction as well in Reason as Terms. For besides what is urg'd before, they may be adjourn'd, remov'd prorogu'd, or dissolv'd as the King pleaseth. They live and die, are and are not by one breath of his mouth. [Page 11]Whence he is said to be Principium, Caput & Finis Par­liamenti. And to put all out of doubt of it, several Parliaments have in several Acts and Statutes acknow­ledged the King's Supremacy and Sovereignty over them addressing to him under the Title of our Gratious Sovereign, and our Dread Sovereign Lord the King, His Most Excellent Majesty, &c. calling themselves his most dutifull and Loyal subjects. None ever de­nied it but the Long Parliament under King Charles I. which was therefore since by another declared to be a Rebel Parliament.

Lastly, the King is not subject to the Coercive Power of the Law. There is no Law made but with His Royal Assent: And when the Law is in force it can have no power over him, because the Authority it hath, it receiveth from him both as to the Being and Execution of it. He can in dubious cases interpret the meaning, in severe cases remit the rigour, and at any time suspend the penalty of the Law. All Suits, all Processes at Law, all judicial proceedings whatsoever are from him. All other our Magistrates Act by Com­mission from him; and when he thinks good to recall his Commissions, are no more than private persons, without rule, without power. Hence was occasioned that Loyal Motto upon the Rings of some of our Late created Serjeants at the Law A Deo Rex, à Rege Lex: i. e. the Power the King hath is from God, the Power the Law hath is from the King.

All this sure speaketh him not subject to the Coer­cive Power of the Law. And what? Although it be confess'd that at his Coronation he taketh an Oath before the People to Govern by the Law: Yet is he [Page 12]not therefore Coordinate with or inferiour to the people or the Law, because it giveth him no Right or Title to the Government: The Right and Title he hath are Antecedent. Both the Crowning and Procla­ming of him are onely Publick Declarations that he is by Birth-Right in Lawfull Possession of it.

And if he should not observe his Coronation Oath, who shall say to him thou art wicked and ungodly? What Law is there that can reach his Sacred Person? Or what particular man or company of men can exhibit a Commission from God to judge and condemn him?

But I shall prosecute this Argument no farther. Enough is said to convince any reasonable man.

Thus I have made it clear to you that all Kings or other Supreme Governours of Nations are Ordained of God, and owe their Sovereignty to God and God onely, by what ways or methods soever they be in­vested with it, whether by Conquest, Election or Inheritance. And that the King of England in parti­cular, who Reigneth over us by the indisputable Right of Inheritance, is as truly God's Minister and Vice­gerent as any other Prince can be, knowing no Supe­riour but God.

Let us now draw an Inference or two from the pre­misses.

First, Kings having their Being from God, when God takes away from a Nation a Good and Gratious King, one that Rules as well after his Example and Will, as by his Power, it becomes matter of publick mourning and lamentation.

Cruelty and Oppression are things so odious in their Nature, and so mischievous in their consequences, [Page 13](being as prolifick of evils as Pandora's Box, Murther, Depopulation, and a long, &c. attending) that a Tyran­nical Prince soon groweth uneasie to his people; the men as wicked as himself are weary of him, impatient for his death, curse and abhor him, wish and conspire his ruine. And though the good man dares not doe this, because his Religion will not suffer it, yet upon his fall he lifts up his eyes to Heaven and blesseth God for the deliverance whilst he hates the Treason. Whereas on the contrary, Love and Clemency, and all the other Qualities of a Godlike. Prince are so amiable and at­tractive, so productive of publick benefits, peace and plenty and every thing that conduces to make a Nation happy, that when these are manifested, the people re­joyce in their Prince, while Living, as the Light of their eyes and the Breath of their Nostrils; they love him as their Father, and depend upon him as their Saviour. The profane equally with the pious are ready to rise up and call him blessed; to esteem his Life worth ten thousand of their own and to offer up themselves and all they have in defence of his Royal Person. But when God, who gave them this blessing from Hea­ven, is pleas'd to call it thither again, than these Great Rejoycings are immediately converetd into sorrows as excessive. They look upon their Prince indeed to be happy, but upon themselves to be forlorn and miserable. And therefore as Rachel, when she had lost the Darlings of her Affections, they grieve and will not be comforted, till Nature hath had her Fill of Grief, or the sorrow be in some good measure proportionate to the loss.

This hath been the general sense of the World from the beginning of it. The antient Jews and Christians and Heathens also give Testimony to it.

[Page 14]When Moses died the Children of Israel wept for him in the plains of Moab thirty days. Deut. 34. The visible assurance they had of the continuance of God's spe­cial care over them, the Divine Accomplishments of Joshuah his Successour, their earnest expectations of Canaan, could not divert that mighty sorrow which they had conceived at the death of this excellent Prince, who had preserv'd and brought them through the perils of the Wilderness to the confines of the promis'd Land.

So at the death of their King Josiah all Judah and Jerusalem mourned. 2 Chron. 35.2. And Jerimiah lamented for Jo­siah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations, and made them an or­dinance in Israel, and behold they are written in their lamentations. He had purged their Religion from all Heathenish superstitions, he had repair'd their Tem­ple, and restor'd the Worship of it to its primitive purity, and so had endear'd them to God and himself. And they thought in return, they could do nothing too much to perpetuate the memory of his Goodness: And therefore, besides their mournfull Elegies at his Funeral, they transmitted their Griefs to posterity in a Book of Lamentations.

Upon the death of Constantine the Great in Nicome­dia, Zuing. Theatr. Vol. 1. l. 1. p. 97. the first Christian Emperour (who had not onely embrac'd Christianity himself but had industriously promoted it throughout the Empire) his Souldiers were so overcome with sorrow, that they tore their Cloaths, cast themselves prostrate upon the ground, dashing their Heads against the wall, omitting no out­ward expression of Grief that a sorrowfull heart could dictate, crying out in dolefull Accents that they had [Page 15]lost a Protectour, a Guardian and a Father. The Citizens, at the same time, as men out of their wits, ran howling about the streets, not able to suppress their Grief within: Others, as men amaz'd, walk'd silently about with their Heads hanging down; all complaining that they were no longer possessours of the comforts of this life. And answerable to this were the sorrows of the Senate and People of Rome for his death. At the Relation of it, their Baths were shut up, their Markets and Plays unfrequented, and their publick sports and pleasures and days of Festivity neglected. They could find no Alleviation to their Grief, but by painting him above the Firmamental Regions partaking with other blessed Souls of Heavenly Glory, and by petitioning his Son Constan­tius that they might have the Honour of interring his Remains at Rome.

And the like were the Resentments of the Roman Senate for Titus Vespasian, Id. p. 98. one of their Heathen Em­perours (a Prince so universally fam'd for his Vertues, that his Motto was Princeps bonus Orbis amor) upon the news of his death they rushed into the Curia, and there bewail'd their loss of him in Panegyrical Ora­tions, and could not be satisfied till they had decreed him the honour of an Apotheosis, till they had Deisy'd, and plac'd him amongst the rest of their Supernal Gods, whence they might hope for some sarther Ex­periments of his favour and protection.

To name no more, this is a Truth that our own experience testifies. How grievous hath the Death of our Late Sovereign been to every one of us? How full of surprize and sadness was the news of it? At its first Reception we look'd as half Dead our selves, [Page 16]and stood staring upon one another as men at our wits end: Every eye was ready to drop a tear and every heart to breath a sigh. I think I may truly say, never was King of England so generally and so hearti­ly lamented. And is was no more than was due to a Prince so extraordinary Good as he was, a Prince that exceeded all others in a benign and gratious Govern­ment; a Prince (to say all of him we can in a little) than whom we cannot expect, we cannot wish, we cannot pray for a better. And I question not but his Me­mory will be ever pretious with us, and we shall never mention him now dead but with that respect and honour that we serv'd him when alive. Onely, here, I would advise that we reflect not on him as men without hope; but as we look with an eye of sorrow back upon him, so that with an eye of joy we would look forward upon his Successour, our present King, James II. by a true Lineal descent sea­ted upon the Throne of his Fathers; that we would hope from him all the generous Actions of his An­cestours. We shall be very ungratefull and unworthy if we doe otherwise: For this most Serene Prince hath more than once expos'd his Life to the mouth of the devouring Cannon, and the as merciless Sea, for our preservation. And since the Death of his Royal Bro­ther hath been pleas'd to give his Royal Word to preserve this Government both in Church and State as 'tis now by Law Established. A distrust of that would be an odious suspicion of his want of the sense of Con­science and Honour. It would be likewise an impious distrust of God's Good Providence over us. For we are told by Solomon, Prov. 21.1. The King's Heart is in the Hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Water: He turneth it [Page 17]whethersoever he will. So much to our first Inference.

Secondly, Kings having their Being and Authority from God, are to be obey'd. So St. Paul argues in this first verse of his 13th Chap. to the Romans, Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers; for there is not Power but of God, the Powers that be are or­dained of God. And the like at the 4th verse, &c. He is the Minister of God, a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil; wherefore ye must needs be subject, not onely for wrath, but also for Conscience sake: For, for this cause pay ye Tribute also, for they are God's Ministers attending continually on this very thing. Render therefore to all their Dues; Tribute to whom Tribute is due, Custome to whom Custome, Fear to whom Fear, Honour to whom Honour.

So then, every subject is to pay Obedience to his Prince, as being the Minister of God. No man, no order of men can plead exemption or dispensation from it. For the words are general and indefinite, and being of a moral nature comprehend all Potentates and all Subjects in all times and places. This is the sense of the most ancient and learned Commentatours upon the place.

And according to them that of St. Peter in his 1 Epistle and 2 Chap. Hath the same extent and meaning, where he bids, Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the King as Supreme, or unto Governours, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that doe well. For so is the will of God that with well-doeing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

[Page 18]But these Apostolical precepts must be understood to extend no farther than to things warrantable by a previous Law of God: For if a King command or enact any thing that is contrary to what God hath already declar'd to be his will, therein the Subject is to not yield obedience to him. The reason of it is, because God is Superiour to the King, and all the Au­thority the King hath, he hath received from God: And therefore no good Christian will nor ought to obey his Prince any farther, than it may be consistent with his primary duty to God. And the Apostolical practice herein is a good comment upon the Doctrine. When some of the Apostles were commanded by the Sanhedrim of the Jews not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus, Act. 4.19. they gave this Answer, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard. And afterward, when they charged them with neglect and disregard of their commands, saying, did we not straitly command you that you should not teach in this name, Act. 5.29. and Behold you have fill'd Jerusalem with your Doctrine, they answer'd and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

The like to which had been done before by some holy men of God under the old Testament. When King Nebuchandnezzar had set up a Golden Image and had made a decree that every person under his Government should fall down and worship it, Dan. 3.18. and that he that deny'd it, should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not regard his Decree, and told him they would not serve his Gods, nor worship the Golden Image which he had set up.

And when King Darius had. Dan. 6.7, 10. Established a Royal Sta­tute [Page 19]that whosoever should ask a Perition of any God or Man for thirty days save of himself, he should be cast into a den of Lyons. The Prophet Daniel when he knew the King had sign'd this writing went into his house, and his window being open in his chamber he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks unto his God as he did aforetime.

From all which it is evident, that the Commands of a King are obligatory to every Subject except where they cantradict the Commands of God; and then the Subject may lawfully deny the performance of them. But then he ought to be well satisfyed by serious and deliberate examination of the matter, that what he so refuseth bears a real contrariety to the Commands of God: For a Conscience, not thus rectify'd, cannot justifie any such refusal. These Holy Men indeed now mention'd deny'd obedience to the commands of their Governours, but, First, they were truly satisfied that in performing of them they should directly vio­late the Laws of God.

And after all, if a man cannot with any satisfaction to his soul to give an Active Obedience to the Laws of his Prince, yet he must yield a Passive Obedience: i.e. if he cannot with a good Conscience doe the Law he must quietly suffer the penalty of it; he must not re­fist his Prince with force or violence, but patiently submit to the punishments he shall inflict upon him.

This is a Doctrine that is harsh to flesh and bloud, and so indeed are most of the Doctrines of the Gospel, but is as clearly the Christian's duty as any other there revealed. St. Paul is as urgent for this Passive Obe­dience as for the Active in the verse following the [Page 20]Text. Whosoever therefore, saith he, resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation.

And so is St. Peter in the words following those afore-cited from him, Servants be subject to your Ma­sters with all fear, not onely to the good and gentle, but also to the froward; for this is thankworthy if a man for Conscience toward God endure Grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye doe well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. And then he proposeth Christ as the great pattern and exemplar for it, For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffer'd threatned not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.

And both St. Peter and St. Paul with all the other Apostles acted answerably to this Doctrine and their Master's example. This we are ascertain'd from their Acts recorded by St. Luke, and from other Histories of their Lives. The Governours of the Church that followed the Apostles in the first Centuries, and so had reason to understand their Doctrine best, exactly transcrib'd this Copy; publickly teaching and practi­sing the same. Euseb. l. 3. c. 36. p. 108. ed S. Polycar. Ibid. l. 4. c. 15. p. 132. Cypr. ad De­metr. Ep. 83. §. 2. All the weapons they used themselves in desence against the severity of the Pagan Empe­rours, and all they taught to be used by every Christi­an were their Prayers, Fasting and Tears. And so it came to pass that when Christianity had gain'd ground on Heathenism and was so far advanc'd in the Em­pire [Page 21]that the Christians equall'd if not exceeded the Heathens in number and courage, Tertul. Apol. c. 37. p. 30. Naz. in vec. 1. in Jul. p. 94. they generally valued their Faith and Allegiance more than their lives, and chose rather to open their Breasts to the point of the Emperour's Sword, Just. Mart. Apol. 2. Ʋsser. ep. Ign. p. 9. Lactan. de Just. l. 5. c. 13. p. 495. Tertul. ad Scap. c. 1. p. 72. than lift up their own against his. Their Persecutors in the heat of their Cruelty saw this and confess'd it. And the Apologists for Christanity rejoyc'd and glory'd in it, as one great cause of the propogation of their Religion. Agreeably to these first and purest Ages of Christianity, the Church of England teacheth her Children not to resist or rebell against their Prince.

This she doeth very copiously and strenuously in her Homily against Disobedience and Rebellion set forth in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth. Which, because she doth so largely there insist upon it, I shall rather chuse to refer you to, for your better satisfaction, than mention any particulars from it.

It was necessary this Doctrine should be vehement­ly press'd in the days of that Queen, because there were then a company of men started up that began to corrupt and ridicule it, Bell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 9. & l. 5. c. 7. Knox to Eng. and Scot. p. 78. Hist. p. 343. Buch. de jure Regn. p. 61. Bp. Bancrost danger. Posi­tions. such as Bellarmine the Ro­manist, the two Presbyterian Scots, Knox and Bucha­nan, and our first Nonconforming Divines; men, who as the Apostle saith of some other enemies of the Truth, could not but be willingly ignorant. But they had the Luceferian Ambition to be above all that are called Gods, to be Kings themselves, and therefore had brazen'd their Foreheads and were resolv'd to say any thing that would serve their designs in dethroning the Rightfull Sovereign. And indeed there is nothing in the World could doe it more effectually than this; for the Subject being once persuaded of the Lawful­ness [Page 22]of Resisting his Prince, any little humour or passi­on, any private grudge or animosity would be soon heated into open Rebellion. And so it follow'd; the viperous progeny of these men in after years improv'd and promoted their Fathers principles: They sate brooding a while upon that Cocatrice's Egg; and then Rebellion and Regicide sprang from it. The Malecontented people did actually rebel, and King Charles I. was murthered. And, not satisfied with that, the same men have with the same Trumpet of late sounded another Alarm to Battel. And there­fore it is but necessary that the Clergy of the Church of England should as loudly sound a Retreat by proclaim­ing the duty of Nonresistence and Passive Obedience. And it is their glory and their honour that they doe so, because they are hereby true to God, the King and the Church. Speech con­cerning Bill of Exclusion printed for Baldwin. Notwithstanding some of the Ex­cluding Speech-makers cast it into their Teeth as their shame and reproach. The shame be onely theirs that contrary to Oaths and protestations, throw dirt in the face of their Venerable Mother, and for no other reason malign their Spiritual Guides, but because they tell them the Truth. That of St. Paul is very Applicable to them, 2 Tim. 3.8. As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the Truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the Faith, but they shall proceed no farther; for their folly shall be manifested unto all men as theirs also was.

I will say no more than that the very Heathens will rise up in judgment against the men of this leaven. Tac. Hist. l. 4. c. 8. For, Marcellus told the Romans that Subjects might wish for good Princes but ought to bear with any. And Pliny, That as mem are Reverent in their [Page 23]behaviour when they converse with God, Praef. ad Ad­miran. Rom. so ought they to be in their deportment to their King. And as the Supreme part of the World is above the disturbance of the lower Regions so the Courts of Princes are not to be profan'd with the rude approaches of their peo­ple. L. 2. exem. Po. c. 16. So Sacred and revereable was the Person of a King among the Antient Heathens, by the mere light of natural Religion.

After all this some perhaps may Quaere in particular, What if Our King should actually endeavour to destroy the Religion that is now by Law Establish'd, or punish us for the open profession of it, might we not then Lawfully take up Arms, and list up our hands against him in defence of Religion? To this I cannot an­swer better than in the words of the Learned Dean of Canterbury, viz. Letter to late Lord Russel. ‘That the Christian Religion doth plainly forbid the resistence of Authority; That though our Religion be Established by Law, yet in the same Law that Established our Religion, it is declared that it is not lawfull upon any pre­tence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King. Besides that, there is a particular Law declaring the power of the Militia to be soley in the King; and that tyes the hands of Subjects though the Law of Nature and the General Rules of Scripture had left us at liberty, which I believe they doe not, because the Government and peace of Humane Society could not well subsist upon those Terms.’

Thus the Question is resolved by that Reverned Person. But (blessed be God) there is no reason to ask this Question, calculated onely for the Meridian of a bloudy Antichristian Covenant, or Association. It is a Question as unseasonable now, as it is at all [Page 24]times improper for a Disciple of the Son of God, who never needs the Arm of flesh to defend his cause. But, because the evil of punishment is usually the surest conviction of the evil of sin, to satisfie you fully of the wickedness of Treason and Rebellion upon all Accounts whatsoever, I shall here take leave to ob­serve a while their direfull and tremendous consequen­ces, or the signal punishments that have attended them, recorded both in sacred and civil Story for our Admonition.

Many of the Instances of sacred Story are collected to our hands by Sir Edw. Short View of late Troub. p. 650. Coke. And I will give you them in that order as they are lately recited from him by Sir William Dugdale.

‘It appears, saith he, in the Holy Scriptures that Traitours never prospered, what good soever they pretended, but were most severely and exemplarily punished,’ as Corah, Dathan and Abiram, by miracle, The ground clave asunder that was under them, Num. 16.31, 32.27.3. and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Corah, and all their goods; they and all that apper­tained to them went down alive into the Pit; and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation.

Athaliah the Daughter of Amri who Massacred all the seed Royal of Judah except, 2 Kin. 11.16. one Infant which was conceal'd from her, and so for seven years usurp'd the Crown, was at length slain by the sword.

Bigthan and Terish, Esth. 2.23. who sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus, were both hanged on a Tree.

Absalom, 2 Sam. 18.9.14. in Rebellion against his Father David, was hanged in an Oak, and Joab took three darts in his [Page 25]hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the Oak.

Achitophel the promoter of that Rebellion hanged himself and died. 2 Sam. 17.23.

Abiathar the High Priest, 1 King. 2.26, 27. who had been Traiterous against King Solomon, was thrust out from being Priest un­to the Lord; though he had his life indeed granted him because he had bore the Ark before David and had been afflicted in all wherein David was afflicted.

Shimei, who had curs'd and cast stones at David, 1 King. 2.46. was slain at last by the hands of Benaiah, at the command of Solomon.

Zimri, 1 King. 16.18. that kill'd Elah his King and Master and all the House of Baasha, that he might Reign securely, after seven days Reign, to save himself from the hands of Omri was forced to burn the Palace over his own head and there perish'd in the flames.

Theudas a Mutineer in Israel, Act. 5.36, 37. boasting himself to be some body, to whom a number of men about four hundred joyned themselves, was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to nought.

And Judas of Galilee, who rose up after him in the days of Taxing, and drew away much people after him, he also perished, and all even as many as obeyed him were dispersed.

These examples we have in sacred Scripture of the disastrous events which have attended Rebels and Re­gicides. Other History is as full of them. For as men of such profligate spirits have never been wanting in the World, so God hath never been wanting to make examples of them.

The Plotters and Actours of the Assassination of Julius Caesar, Sueton. vit Juli Caesar. though they escap'd the legal punish­ment [Page 26]which the Senate condemn'd them to, yet, be­ing pursued by Divine Nemesis, died all immature and unnatural deaths; some of them stabbing themselves with the same Dagger they had stab'd Caesar.

Pope Gregory VII. Otho Frising. Chr. l. 6. c. 35. (the first Pope that took the im­pudence to excommunicate and depose Kings) having stirr'd up the Princes of Germany against the Emperour Henry IV. and by them endeavouring his utter Ruine, was, during the Contest, by the consent of his own people, turn'd out of the Papacy, and at length by a sense of his own miseries, upon his death-bed forced to confess and lament his crime, Sigeb. Ann. 1084. imputing it to the instigation of the Devil. This we may believe from the Relation which Sigebert gives of it, Ibid. Ann. 1085. who lived at that time, though Bellarmin many years after charges him with a lie, Bell. de Scrp. Eccl. p. 215. for no other reason but because he was Loyal to the Emperour.

Radolph Duke of Suevia, Vespergens. Ann. 1080. the great instrument of that Pope in the War against the Emperour, lost his Right Hand, and received some other mortal wounds, of which being ready to die, he bitterly bewail'd his wickedness, and, sighing, observ'd to the by-standers, that he had lost that Hand in the Rebellion against his Sovereign, with which he had sworn Allegiance to him.

I might produce many other instances from Foreign Histories, but I chuse here to divert to a few Obser­vations, which the aforesaid English Authour makes upon some Traitours of our own Countrey, because they probably will the most affect you.

‘Montfort Earl of Leicester (saith he) the principal Actour in the great Rebellion against Henry III. Short View of late the Trou. p. 599. with his Eldest Son Henry was slain at the Fight [Page 27]near Evesham; his head, hands and feet were cut off by the fury of the Souldiers; and though his body through the charity of others was buried in the Ab­bey, the common people, out of high indignation towards him, who had been the chief instrument of misery to the whole Realm, dig'd it up and carried it to a more remote place, esteeming it unworthy of Christan Burial by reason it had been so much infected with the Leprosie of Rebellion. Neither did the judgment for his iniquities terminate here but pursued his two other Sons Guy and Simon, who being escap'd out of Prison got into France, and there, endeavouring to bring in Foreign Forces, ended their days in misery. As for his Complices, most of them perished in that Battel at Evesham; and the rest, excepting one, were taken prisoners and disherited. But afterwards through the King's special favour restored to their Lands upon several Fines according to the measure of their offences.’

And that which he relateth also of Oliver Cromwell, that Arch-Traitour against Charles I. is as remarkably judicial.

And here I cannot but add that his memory will ever stink as did his Body, both equally loathsome and abominable to all Good Men. (Wretch that he was, who, to perfect the sum of all his Villanies, ad­ded this as the last Figure, that when he had solemnly protested to take care for the safety and welfare of his Prince, he brought him to the Block, and struck off his Head before his own Royal Palace in the face of the Sun and the People, and even then wip'd his mouth and said he had done no wickedness.) But neither yet had the Divine Vengeance left him: For al­though he had at his death usurp'd the Sepulchre, as in his life the Throne of a King, yet he was not suffered [Page 29]to remain there in peace, or to mix with Royal Dust, but not long after his Interrment, was dig'd up and drawn thence on a hurdle to Tyburn, the place which he did best deserve and become; where he hung stinking in his corruptions with as much Shame and Infamy as before he had lain in State and Grandeur, a reproach to all prosperous wickedness, and a scare­crow to Rebellion.

And this reminds us also of the inglorious ends of many of his Fellow-Trytours, who died about that time by the hand of the Common Hangman; and whose Head and Quarters are yet standing upon the Bridge or other places of our Metropolis, as lasting monuments of their villany.

And happy had it been for some of later date, if these or any other examples could have given them warning, those late Rebells against King Charles II. many of whom we all know have had the same Fate with their predecessours, to suffer the legal punish­ment due to their crimes. And one of them to avoid the Hand of publick Justice, as Achitophel and Zimri, fell by his own, became his own shamefull Executi­oner.

Thus you have seen, from the beginning of the World to our own Age, the Actours of Rebellion and Treason exemplarly punished. But I deny not that there have been of old and yet are some Rebels and Traitours that go to their Graves in peace like other men dying natural and easie deaths. Yet this ought not to be any plea for or encouragement to their wickedness; because we see God hath given ex­ample enough to the contrary in terrorem to affright others from it: And however it be as to this present [Page 30]World, we are ascertain'd he hath awarded everla­sting punishment to it in the next. So we hear from St. See Dr. Ham­mond's Ann. on that place. Paul in the verse following the Text, They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation.

Which in its utmost extent must necessarily mean that they who by force or violence do oppose their Lawfull Sovereign in this Life, shall after this Life ended, be condemn'd eternally to suffer the Torments of Hell.

Verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth: And though some of his Acts of Providence are here unsearcheable and past finding out by the short Line of Man's finite understanding, yet in the next Life he will abundantly convince the World that he will doe right, Psal. 58.11. that he will, as he hath said, render to every man according to his deeds. To them, who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality; Rom. 2.6, 7, 8, 9. eternal Life. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the Truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath; tri­bulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil.

Therefore (Sirs) if you have any regard to the Commands of God, if you have any regard to your Temporal and Eternal Happiness, never resist the Lord's Anointed, never privately plot, or publickly fight against your King.

It is to be feared that our present Sovereign will have the same enemies all his Ancestours had since the Reformation, I mean the Fanatical part of the Nation, who have been all along declar'd enemies to the Mo­narchy and the Church. The Jesuits (those creatures of Ignatius Loyola that were created on purpose to [Page 31]embroil and destroy every Reform'd Regal and Eccle­fiastical Government, and are accordingly sworn to it) first instill'd their Antimonarchical and Schisma­tical principles into them; and still, under the disguise of holy and sanctified Brethren, and fine pretences of Gifts of Prayer and Gifts of Preaching, and the like intoxicating whedles, they nourish and maintain the same. And while they are willing to be deceiv'd and run into Conventicles, where these poisons are infus'd, notwithstanding the many Warnings they have had from the faithfull Ministers of our Church in printed Sermons and other Treatises, what hope can we have of better things from them?

But be not you of them; partake not with them in their sins least you partake with them in their pu­nishments. Remember always and follow that pertinent Advice of St. Paul, Rom. 16.17. Mark them which cause Divisions and Offences, contrary to the Doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.

And that of Solomon, Prov. 24.24. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change.

Finally, be ever ready to aid and assist the King against all his enemies whatsoever, to the utmost of your powers and capacities. And be ever praying for him, that Al­mighty God would secure his Sacred Person from the secret conspiracies and the violent outrages of seditious bloud-thirsty-men, that he would strengthen his Arm and render him perpetually able to make good his most gratious Promise to preserve the Government both in Church and State as 'tis now by Law Esta­blished.

[Page 32] Grant this (O Lord) for the sake of thy Blessed Son, by the powerfull Operation of thy Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed for ever all Power and Dominion. Amen.