IN the Fourth Chapter of the First Book of the Kings, we there read the Wisdom of King Solo­mon particularly discrib'd and character'd from the effects of it; for if we consider him only quatenus Man, none of the Philosophers since Adam may be compar'd to him, either for Ethicks, Poli­ticks, Physicks, or Metaphysicks. So great a Botanist, so curious a Simpler, that he writ from the Cedar to the Hyssop; so admirable in Natural Philosophy, that he spake of Beasts, and Fowl, and Creeping things, and Fishes.

And though all his profound Commentaries upon Nature are withdrawn from Mankind (which would but have fed their Curiosities) yet his Divine Morals, in this incomparable Book of the Proverbs, are transmit­ted to all Ages, and shall out-live the World. By these our Lives are directed, and the Enormities of them curb'd and condemn'd.

I find good Proverbs recommended (by one) above other Discourses for five Excellencies, which we shall only Name. First, For their Antiquity, Antiquiora nobiliora, and in this respect these of our Royal Author are espe­cially [Page 2] valluable. Secondly, Their Brevity doth signal­lize their Worth, in that they do not (like tedious Dis­courses) so burthen the Memorative faculty. Thirdly, Their Significancy in couching a great deal of matter in a few words, is no small addition to their worth; and upon this account I find 'em call'd Mucrones verborum, Pointed Speeches; whose succinct profoundness makes amends and recompenseth for their plain, homely, and familiar habit. Fourthly, Their Experience pleads fair for their entertainment: They have for the most part a Probatum est, affix'd to them, for their ground and rise was from experience, and that many times woful. So that we may be wise upon better and more safe and easy Terms than those who made 'em, or from whom they had their rise. Fifthly, They are to be reverenced for their Truth, and though Proverbs have their limits, as well as General Rules have their exceptions; and though they do not always hold good, yet there is presumption that for the most part they do.

The Greeks express them by the word [...], high­way Expressions; because (as a Father observes) such Pro­verbs, or Sentences, were written and ingraven by the High-ways for the information, as well as for the delight and divertion of Travellers; not only affording them matter of Contemplation, but also to confer and discourse of with others as they Journy'd. The Proverbs of Solo­mon are call'd his Sons, Reigning by them as gloriously in his Wisdom, as he ever did over Israel by his outward Splendor and Magnificence. They are for the most part independent and intire of themselves, without having any relation to the precedent or subsequent Words, of which our Subject is one.

[Page 3] A King that sitteth in the Throne of Judgment, scatterth away all Evil with his Eyes.

We shall First, Explain the particulars of the Proverb it self.

Secondly, Deduce those natural inferences from it, which may serve both for our Admonition and Cau­tion.

A King that sitteth in the Throne of Judgment. 'Tis a Hebrew phrase, and Lavater upon the place makes the signifiation of it very large and extensive. It implies to know Causes, to administer true Justice, to defend the Good, and to force and compel the Refractory and Dis­obedient; and this (saith he) is the Duty of all Kings and Magistrates, This if they do impartially, and without respect of Persons, then nutu oculorum, they will depress and run down Wickedness and Vice with the greatest ease and facility. The Septuagint render it, When a just King sits upon his Throne, Evil dare not face him; it dare not offer or present it self before him. For the Generality, though they have so little of Christianity (how great a Clamor and Noise soever they may seem­ingly make about it) as not to obey the Publick Magi­strate for Conscience sake, because 'tis their duty, and commanded them by the express Word of God; yet when once Justice comes to be impartially executed, few or none (of such great Pretenders) will indure the Lash of the Penal Laws. (A King that sits in the Throne of Judgment,) i. e. saith Lapide the Jesuit, A King who makes use of his Regal Authority committed to him by God himself, by being a Father and a Tutor to the Good, but to the Disobedient a Revenger to execute Wrath.

[Page 4]Great, (saith another) is the Majesty of a King many ways; but he is in his greatest Majesty, when he sitteth upon the Throne of Judgment; for when Judgment is his Throne, then Glory is his Canopy. A Monarch is then in his true altitude, his Lustre is then vertical and in its full brightness. A King who thus sits in the Throne of Judgment, who irrespectively commands that Justice shall be executed, according to the demeris of those who transgress the Laws, will scatter away all Evil with his Eyes. His angry Eyes against Evil being so sharp, that the Transgressors dare not look upon him to appear before him. Then are the Sun and the Wind met; the Sun of his Wisdom, and the Wind of his Power, by searching and punishing, to drive away and disperse even all the Clouds of Wickedness. [Scattereth away all Eveil with his Eyes.] His Eyes are the beholding of Iniquity, and the punishing of it; the one whereby he beholds what Iniquities are predominant which indanger and threaten his Throne, and the other whereby he looks that Punishments be inflicted upon Malefactors; that they be inflicted not only by the Sentence, but by the execution of the Sentence. 'Tis the execution of the Penal Laws which destroyes Evil; for a bare be­holding of Iniquity without punishing of it, is but to mock Justice.

One of the Fathers upon the Devils expostulating with our Saviour, St. Mark, Chap. 1. Ver. 24. [What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth, art thou come to destroy us?] saith, upon our Saviours reply, [Hold thy peace.] That our Saviour would not be praised by the Devils voice, but by his Torments; and one ap­plying it to our Subject saith, That their is no greater praise of a King, than his sitting upon the Throne of [Page 5] Judgment, and destroying Wickedness by punishing the Authors of it; for their Ruin, is his Glory.

In most Expositors which I have met with upon our Subject, I find 'em quoting this Proverb, Oculus Heri saginat Equum; and thus they apply it, as the Masters Eye fats the Horse, so the Kings Eye disperseth Evil, blasts the increase of it, and by his Eye Justice flourisheth.

Cyrus the first Persian Monarch, signifies the Sun in their Dialect, and thus I find the King compared to the Sun upon several Accounts.

For First, As the Sun arising and being gloriously seated (as it were in his Charitor upon his Throne) dis­perseth Mists and Darkness, and likewise causeth Thieves, Traytors, Murtherers, Adulterers, and (whose works hate the light) to conceal themselves least their Works of Darkness should be discover'd, and made manifest; so a Wise and Just King, by his Sun-like inspection, scattereth by his Justice the Ungodly and Workers of Iniquity.

Secondly, As the Sun in his course not only views successively the parts of the Earth, but also makes them fruitful by his auspicious influence; so the King by his Delegates and Representatives, suppresseth Iniquity by his presence; composeth the Differences of Litigious men; helps those to right who suffer wrong, and are oppress'd; and puts a Curb into the mouth's of such unreasonable men, who would (if let alone) turn Religion into Rebel­lion, and Faith into Faction.

Thirdly, As the Sun is pleasant and delightful to sound Eyes, but to the unsound, very troublesom and vexatious; so the King's Eye towards the good, is plea­sant, but to Malefactors 'tis terrible; though he only looks upon 'em through his Delegates and inferior Ma­gistrates.

[Page 6]The words of our Subject may be likewise mystically understood, as well as literally; for as generally it be­longs to all Kings, so peculiarly it is appropriate to the King of Kings (our Lord and Saviour) to whom God has given all Power, all Judgment; for when he shall come to Judge all the Earth at the great Day of Account, he shall have no need of Prisons, or Chains; he shall not stand in need of Military Forces to compel them, but by his very look he shall scatter and confound the Wicked in their own Devices.

The Proverbial sence of our Subject is this. That Authority being ready and constant in doing Justice upon Malefactors, doth drive away all Evil with the very look of it. Or in a Phrase equally intelligible, the put­ing of the Penal Laws in Execution, is the most proper, if not only method to restrain and curb the growing Vices of the Age. From the Words themselves we shall deduce Three Observables.

First, As the word King denotes Power so we shall remind you that Magistracy, and especially Monarchy, is Gods Ordinance.

Secondly, We shall shew you, that as the Kings Throne is Gods, so God hath constituted him over his People, for the punishment of Wickedness and Vice (to execute Vengeance upon Malefactors) as well as for the praise of them that do Well.

Thirdly, That none may flatter themselves (who make no Conscience to disoby the Lawful Commands of a Lawful Authority) because of their present impu­nity; we shall remind such, that although they may for [Page 7] the present escape the Temporal Sword, by their Politick Contrivances, yet the Judg of all the Earth shall meet with 'em; for as there is a Reward for the Righteous, so doubtless there is a God that Judgeth the Earth.

First then, as the word [King] denotes Power we shall remind you that Majesty, and especially Monarchy, is God's Ordinance. A King that sits in the Throne of Judgment. In the eighth Chapter of Ecclesiastes, at the fourth Verse, the Wise man tells us, that where the Word of a King is there is Power. Another Translation reads it, [There is in the word of a King a kind of Power.] 'Tis most true of God that his Will effects his Work, and his Word gives Power; and God having made Kings his Vicegerents hear on Earth, has in some sort communicated his Power to them.

Magistracy is an Office of Gods own institution, and there is Divinity impress'd and Stamp'd upon the very Face of it. As Moses, so every Princes Face shines with the Glorious Beams of Divine Power communicated to them. He is the Fountain of all Lawful Authority, for all Power belongs unto God, and he gives it to whom he pleaseth. Such Promotion (says the Psalmist) comes nei­ther from the East, nor from the West, nor from any point in the Compass; but 'tis God that sets up and ap­points Magistracy: Therefore did S. Paul plainly tell the Romans, in the Thirteenth Chapter, what Majesty was, (viz.) [...], the Ordinance of God. And God himself declares in the Eighth Chapter of the Pro­verbs, Verse 15. That by him Kings Reign, and Princes decree Justice. For me Kings Reign, (saith another Vertion.) It is the Tenure but of some men to hold [Page 8] their Lands in chief immediately from the King, but it is the Tenure of all Kings to hold their Crowns in chief of the Lord of Heaven and Earth. 'Tis the Royal Charter which God himself hath granted to Kings, that they wear their Crowns not by his Per­mission only, but by his Commission; they Reign not only by his Sufferance, but by his Ordinance. And though St. Peter in his first Epistle, Chapter the second, Verse the thirteenth, calls it, [...], an Ordinance of man; yet it is not so to be understood as if it were of mans invention: But because man is the Subject, man is the Object, man is the End of it; because 'tis executed by them, exercis'd concerning them, and intended for their good; so upon these accounts 'tis call'd an Ordinance of man. The forms of Adminstrations in­deed may be of man, but the Original institution is of God. For (says the Prophet Daniel) it is the most High that Ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and he giveth it to whomsoever he will, Daniel the fourth. Nay even wic­ked Rulers derive their Power from God: And thus our Saviour himself told Pilate, St. John the Nine­tenth, Thou could'st have no Power against me except it were given thee from above. He that gave the Sovereignty to Augustius, a Mirror of Humanity, gave it also to Nero, a Monster, who delighted in Blood and Cruelty. The Apostate Julian was vested with Imperial Dignity, as well as the most Christian Constantine; though we must distinguish betwixt a Permissive and a Commissive Power.

Sovereignty is a Ray of Divinity, and the Pedegree of it, like the Scepter in Homer, (convey'd by inumerable Predecessors to Agamemnon) was first handed down from [Page 9] Jupiter; therefore do the Grecians upon good warrant use the Word [...], to signify Superiority or Government; which in its genuine acceptation signifies the Beginning, to denote the antiquity of Government, which had a being when the World was in its infancy. And I find it the opinion of some who tell us that even in innocency (if Adam had not fallen) there should have been Blandum Imperium, though not Onerosum; 'tis true indeed Servile Subjection came in by Sin, but Civil Subordination was before the Fall.

Kings and Rulers (says one) may be said (as we find recorded of Melchizedeck) to be without Father and Mo­ther; not in respect of their Persons, but in respect of their Office; that being an Emanation from the Deity: And as Kings are not Filii Populi, but Filii Dei; there­fore 'tis no other than the result of Pride, Ignorance, Self-interest, and Ill-manners in those men (of what Party or Faction soever they are) whether they be the Followers of Ignatius, or Bucanan, who dare call Monarchs the Peoples Attornies, and consequently to be deposed by 'em upon breach of trust. They who hold this, and such like pernitious Principeles, may without Reflection or Satyr, be call'd the Devils At­tornies, to do business for Hell. And such Factors in this Century have been, and (I fear) still are so Nu­merous, that as they have once overturn'd the Nation with Rebellion and Confusion, so nothing but the watchfull Providence of the Great Keeper of Israel can abate their Pride, asswage the Malice, and Con­found the Devices of such Contrivers.

[Page 10]But to proceed. That Magistracy, and especially Monarchy, is Gods Ordiance, the Light of Nature has Disciplin'd the very Heathens into this great Truth; one of their Poets making this ingenuous Confession, [...], that Kings and Rulers are from God. And the Natural abhorrency of Anarchy Imprinted in the Hearts of all men, doth Implicitly Argue the Di­vinity of Magistracy. And no man hath a will to live where every man may do what is right in his own Eyes. The most unruly know not how to subsist without a Ruler, and the Kingdom of Darkness it self could not subsist without a Polity; and thus our Saviour told the Blasphemous Jews, If Satan be divided against himself, how shall his Kingdom stand.

Why should men murmur against a Lawful Autho­rity, seeing they cannot possibly live without some Au­thority. For in the most Fatal and Bloody Rebellions which have ever been Acted upon the face of the Earth, they have only ended, Mutatione Domini, non Dominii; (as one Excellently) in the change of the Person, and not in the extinguishment of the Office. The putting it into other Hands, not the putting of it out of all Hands. The very first Rule that Nature dictates to Man, is to seek a Ruler; therefore (says he) a Com­monwealth without a Governour, is like the World without a Sun, a Ship without a Pilot, or a Body with­out a Soul.

When the Author of the Book of Judges, (whom some suppose to be Samuel, others Hezekiah, others Ezra,) when the Author of that Book, whosoever he was, would Pourtray to the life the sad and pittyable Estate [Page 11] of Israel, in the intervals of Government; he adscribes this as the main reason for the Commission of all their execrable Enormities, That there was no King in Israel; and consequently no Peace, no Justice, no Religion: For every Micah will then have his Closet of Idols, and every Man will Worship as it pleaseth the usurped Liberty of his preverted Judgment, and ungovernable Affections. And without Magistracy not only what­ever is Sacred would be usurp'd, abus'd and destroy'd, but also there would be no such things as Liberty and Property in the Kingdom. (Though the Generality make such a clamour and noise about 'em.) If Men therefore would not have these intrench'd upon, and abrig'd, they must take the right way to preserve 'em. (viz.)

First, They must give the Tribute of Honour and Reverence to the King, the Father of their Country, upon whom God has Stamp'd this his Image and Su­perscription. 'Tis Gods positive Command in the Se­cond Table, to Honour our Parents; and 'tis a receiv'd Maxim, That our Political Parents are to be preferr'd before our Natural. For (as one excellently) Gods Commandments are like the Sciences, which are more or less valuable according to the Nobility and Excel­lency of the Objects, about which they are conversant. For instance, As that Love we owe to our Neighbours, gives place to that Love we owe to God, so the Ho­nour we bear to all Men, is inferiour to that we owe the King; therefore St. Peter placeth the Honour we owe to the King, next to the Fear of God. 'Tis call'd a Jewish Proverb, (I am sure 'tis no despicable Counsel) Migrandum est ex eo loco ubi Rex non timetur: We must [Page 12] avoid that Place where the King is not Reverenc'd; for contempt of Authority bodes a Storm, (some heavy Judgment) and indeed how should it be otherwise, for the levelling of a Nation, and the Ruine of it, closely follow and attend each other.

Secondly, If we would have our Liberties and Pro­perties secur'd to us, we must render to the King the Tribute of Maintenance, as well as Honour. He (says one) that is Righteous towards his Fellow Subjects, and makes no Conscience to wrong his Sovereign, is a Rebel to the Crown and Dignity of Christ; for he is undutiful to the King of Nations by whom all Kings Reign,) who pays not his due to the King of that Na­tion where he lives. If we consult the Turkish Histo­ry, we shall find the loss of Constantinople, and thereby the whole Grecian Empire was occasioned, thorough the insatiable Covetousness of the Inhabitants, who though exceding Rich, could not be mov'd by any Prayers and Intreaties, to supply the Necessitous Em­peror in order to their own safety.

Thirdly, If we would enjoy our Properties, and s [...]t Peacably under our own Vines, we must render to the King the Tribute of Obedience; a Duty so truly Chri­stian, that we read the Apostles never urg'd any Duty upon their Auditors, or to those they writ with, more cogent and binding Arguments than upon the account of this. And that which should the more recommend this Duty to our Practice is this: Because the Apostles both taught and practic'd Obedience to the Higher Powers, even then when the aspect and influence of Civil Authority was the most malignant to Christianity. [Page 13] Nay, they were even then Obedient, when the par­ticular Cruelties against them gave the greatest advan­tage unto Temptations of Disobedience. If we peruse the Acts of the Apostles, and the History of the Pri­mitive Christians, we may by the perspective of Hi­story contemplate their Inprisonment, (though unjust­ly Committed) but not behold them in the Camp to resist Authority; we may behold them drawn before Magistrates, not drawing Magistrates before them, (as the Authour to the Hebrews more fully informs you.) They were Stoned, but we never find them Stoning. Stricken with the Sword, but we never find them Striking with the Sword. We do not find them (like our Saints of the late Edition) binding their Kings in Chains, and their Nobles in Fettors of Iron. And though (as one says) all Christs Subjects are Free, yet 'tis a Freedom from Spiritual Bondage, not from Civil Subjection. Christs Free-men are oblig'd to Obedience for Freedom from Rule argues Slaves to Sin. True Li­berty is a Power to do what we ought, not what we will; consisting in a Freedom from the Dominion of mens Lusts, not from Humane Laws; a Freedom from Sin, not to Sin. In a word, it consists in a Liberty to serve God, and not in disobeying the Lawful Ma­gistrate. And 'twere well if all who conceit themselves Saints, and Precious ones, were really so; for then they would be better Christians, and better Subjects. And granting (for suppositions sake) that these tender ones were really Saints, (truly and universally Conscien­cious) yet they are not Angels; and consequently as they are but Flesh and Blood, they may both do Wrong and suffer Wrong, and so stand in need of the Publick Magistrate to keep 'em right, and to do 'em right.

[Page 14]Fourthly, If men would enjoy those Properties and Priviledges, which they keep such a noise about; they must Pray for all who are set in Authority over them, that under them we may lead quiet and peaceable Lives. Subjects should have their Eyes up to Heaven for those who sit at the Helm of State; whilst they are Consul­ting for our Safety, we should be Praying for them. And that God requires this Duty from us is plain from St. Paul's command, 1 Tim. 2.1, 2. I will therefore that first of all, Prayers, Supplications, Intercessions, and giving of Thanks be made for all men; and then comes to particularize, in Kings and all that are in Authority. But as if these were no Apostolick Command, as if this were no part of Gods revealed Will by which man must be Saved, the Generality (what by the prejudice of Education, and the conduct and advice of some Factious Shebaes) are strongly possess'd that those plain Commands of Obedience to Authority are cancell'd, and may be dispenc'd with, if they be perswaded in their Consciences that the Commands of their Supe­riors cross and thwart with the Divine Laws, (they themselves being the Sole Judges) and must they not keep their Consciences? Now 'tis notoriously evident, and in all Ages has been demonstrated, by woful Ex­perience, that the pretences of Conscience have not failed to Patron and abet the greatest Villanies which have ever been practic'd upon the Face of the Earth. But the plain truth is, When People pretend a tender­ness of Conscience in Indifferences before they are Com­manded by Authority; and in the mean time make no Conscience of Obedience and Subjection to the Law­ful Commands of their Lawful Sovereign; they mean nothing by their Consciences but themselves, the secu­ring [Page 15] and advancing of their Temporal Interest. And consequently, if you tell People of this Bran and Genius, of the practice of the Primitive Church; tell 'em of Turtullian's Apology for the Subjection and Obedience of those Christians (when at the same time they wanted not Force, if they would have turn'd Rebels) and you may as well tell 'em a Story out of any ordinary Ro­mance, or out of the Legend. If you can help such men to Wrest and Misinterpret the Penal Statutes; if you can direct 'em how to elude the Penal Laws, so as they may continue in the open breach and defiance of the Positive Commands of Lawful Authority, then you do something, then you shall not want the reward of Divination. Give men thus tenderly Conscienc'd a Lawyer better read in Tully's Offices than the Whole duty of Man. Give 'em an Attorney of a Dexterous Application (which is only a Periphrasis, or Modish Synonima for a Knave) who can provide for the nick­ing of a Cause, that the Wicked may not triumph over the People of the Lord, and then you please them.

We come now to the Second Observable inferr'd from our Subject; which is to shew you that as the King's Throne is Gods, so God hath constituted him over his People; for the Punishment of Wickedness and Vice, (to execute Vengeance upon Malefactors) as well as for the Praise of the Good.

That the King's Throne is God's, we find demon­strated and plainly evidenc'd by that Quotation out of the first Book of the Chron. Ch. 29. Ver. 23. Solomon sat in the Throne of the Lord as King, instead of David his [Page 16] Father. The Scepter of the King is Gods Scepter; and as 'tis given by him, none else can take it from him. Those men strike at the Center of all Power, (God himself) who assert, that the King's Power is of the Peoples Creating.

As some men have Atheistically Imagined, That the Soul of man is nothing else but a resultance of the Tem­perement and Constitution of the Body of man, and not an infussion from God. So (says one Excellently) for men to think (and I wish it were no otherwise com­municated) that that Power by which the World is Go­vern'd, to be but a resultance of the consent, and the tacit voice of the People, and no particular Ordinance of God, is an undervaluing, a false conception, a mis­apprehension of those Beams of Power, which God from himself derives upon those whom himself calls Gods in this World; and thus we find them Styl'd in several Places in Holy Writ, I have said ye are Gods, &c. And 'tis well (as one Excellently upon the 82. Psalm) that Kings are not the Children of the most Voices, but of the most High; and though (says he) the Ap­probation of the People may serve ad Pompa [...], yet not ad Necessitatem: They may add something to the So­lemnity, but nothing to the Essence of the Consti­tution.

That God hath constituted the Supreme Magistrate over his People, for the Punishment of Malefactors, is not only discribed at large by St. Paul, Rom. 13. but our Lord and Saviour likewise assures us of as much, St. Luke, Ch. 22. Ver. 25. you read there that the Dis­ciples contending amongst themselves which of them [Page 17] should be accounted the Greatest, (the ground and bottom of the contest had its rise from that Petition, which Zebedee preferr'd to our Saviour at the instance of her two Sons, St. James and St. John, that the one might sit on his Right hand, the other on the Left in his Kingdom; (i. e.) be the greatest men for Tempo­ral Honour and Advancement) our Saviour in taking down their Ambitious Heats and Strivings about Su­periority, convinceth them of their Folly, by an Ar­gument drawn from the different Offices of Worldly Kings, and those of the Apostles by an Antithesis of their distinct Constitutions, in these Words, The Kings of the Gentiles exercise LordShip over them; and they that exercise Authority upon them, are called Benefactors. By Kings of the Gentiles our Saviour not only expres­seth Heathenish Monarchs, but all Political Magistracy, and they are express'd here (Synecdochicè) by Kings of the Gentiles; either because Gentile Monarchs did then especially Govern the Kingdoms of the Earth, or else because the Word (Gentiles) denotes all People collectively, whether Heathens or Christians. And he there expresseth the Office of the Publick Magi­strate in these two Words, Dominari, and Benefici; For the punishment of evil Doers, and for the Praise of them that do Well.

That the Authority of the Supreme Magistrate is necessary for the punishment of evil Doers, nothing is more clear; for without the Magistrates Sword, every private Man's would be set against his Neighbours; and the excellent Seneca could tell us, that the not punish­ing of Malefactors, is to Scourge and Torment good men. And upon this account was it that St. Paul says [Page 18] of the Supreme Magistrate, that he bears not the Sword in vain; by the Sword is understood the Power of ex­ercising and putting the Penal Laws in execution against Malefactors, to give them suitable Punishments to their demerits; and by bearing the Sword, he al­ludes to the custom of Princes and Majestrates, who have the Sword and other Ensigns of Authority car­ry'd before them.

We need not urge quotations from Holy Writ, to shew how much the impartial execution of Justice exalts a Nation; nor need we enumerate those Positive Com­mands from the Almighty, to those who are in Autho­rity; That Judgment run down as Waters, and Righteous­ness as a mighty Stream. Nor need we so much as re­mind you what Comminations are denounc'd, what Woes are threatn'd to those who turn Judgment back­ward, who make Justice stand a far of, &c. For 'tis enough that we take notice how much the very Es­ence and Constitution of Government it self is indan­ger'd, whilst the execution of the Penal Laws is Baulk'd, and Publick Offenders in the very Face of Au­thority unpunish'd.

For First, if Malefactors be not Punish'd (by Male­factors I mean not only Murtherers, Fellons, &c. but all others who live in an open and wilful breach of the known Laws) if these be not punish'd and sup­press'd by Authority, the Natural good of men is en­danger'd (i. e.) the Lives and Bodies of the Kings good Subjects are continually hazarded.

[Page 19]Secondly, If Malefactors be not Punish'd, our Moral good is indanger'd, Virtue will be discourag'd, run down, and suppress'd; and Vice will become no less spreading than Fatal and Destructive.

Thirdly, If Malefactors are unpunish'd, our Civil good is indanger'd; our Goods and Possessions cannot be call'd our own.

Fourthly, If the Penal Laws are unexecuted, our Spiritual good is most of all indanger'd, our Religion (as now by Law establish'd) will be made a prey to our Enemies, who already laugh us to Scorn, and who would gladly be crying once more (with those Im­pious men the Psalmist mentions) Down with it, down with it, even to the Ground. But God we trust will defend this part of his Catholick Church, which he himself hath planted in these Kingdoms. And though She be Militant against Principalities and Powers, a­gainst Spiritual Wickednesses; and though She hath so many incarnate Agents who causelesly conspire Her fall; yet (as the Psalmist zealously) Let God arise, and all her Enemies be scatter'd; and the joynt contri­vances of Devils and Men against Her shall be brought to nought: And to this end, Let us beseech God (with the Church) that he would strengthen the hands of our Gracious King Charles, and all that are put in Authority under him, with Judgment and Justice, to cut of all such Workers of Iniquity, (who would unhinge the present Government in Church, and State,) that so they may never prevail against us, or Triumph in the ruine of God's Church amongst us.

[Page 20]We come now in a word or two, to the Third Infe­rence from our Subject; which is, That none may [...]at­ter themselves (who make no Conscience to disobey the Lawful Commands of a Lawful Authority) we shall only remind such and leave it to their serious Consideration: Although they may for the present escape the Temporal Sword, by their Politick Contri­vances, yet the Judge of all the Earth shall meet with 'em (for as there is a reward for the Righteous, so doubtless there is a God that Judgeth the Earth.)

At the entrance of Abraham's Expostulation with God in the behalf of Sodom, and the other Cities, Gen. 18.25. he useth these Words, (Shall not the Judge of all the world do right)? And Job tells us, Far be Wicked­ness from God, and Iniquity from the Almighty; surely God will not do Wickedly, neither will the Al­mighty pervert Judgment. Now though some men may hug themselves with that Heathenish Divinity, (Prosper [...]m & Faelix scaelus virtus vocatur) though they may Blasphemously Father the success of their unjust Proceedings upon the Providence of God; though they may for the present so manage their Extortions, Oppressions, Libels, Mutinies, Factions, Treasons, &c. as that no humane Laws can hinder their Endeavours, Contrivances, and Caballs, in order to their Rending the beautiful Frame and Constitution of Church and State, (and all this to gratify their Pride, ill Nature, and Intrest) yet shall not God meet with such, and pay them what they deserve? Though men may so Tamper with the Country, as that they shall be brought off and clear'd in this World, whilst yet they live in the open breach and defiance of the known Laws, yet God [Page 21] will not be mock'd, (the Judge of all the Earth shall do right upon 'em.) And though for a moment men may impose upon, and flatter their Consciences, having got the weather gage of the Penal Laws; and have provi­ded how to put by the Stroke of the Magistrates Sword, and then say the Law is open, if any be griev'd, let them remedy themselves, we must indure it, and there's an End; yet assuredly God will enter into Judgment with such▪ and there will be no error assign'd in his Judg­ment; For (says one) there is no appeal from God not throughly inform'd, to God better inform'd, because he always knows all Evidence before it be given; there­fore however we may Juggle here upon Earth, yet when he comes to Judge, all the Workers of Iniquity s [...] confess his Judgment to be right, though the re­ [...]t be their own Eternal Condemnation. Now that all of us in our several Places and Callings, may so re­spectively discharge our Duties to God, and our Neigh­bours, that this Life ended we may be receiv'd into Everlasting Habitations, God grant, for Christs sake. Amen.