THe Holy Scriptures afford no where, a more solemn Charge and Exhor­tation unto Justice, than in the Psalm whereof the Text is a part; from which be pleased to consider, two things:

1. A full concession of the great Dignity and Authority granted to Princes and Civil Rulers: I have said ye are gods, &c.

[Page 2]2. An Admonition of their being accountable for the Administration of it: But ye shall die like men.

Ye are gods, but ye are but mortal ones, of the same frail condition with those your poor Crea­tures that worship and adore your Power. When men are advanced to any height, their heads grow light and giddy, and they are too apt to despise those below them, as of a smaller size and stature than themselves. The Psalmist there­fore dwells not on the intoxicating Argument of Power, but immediately calls down the thoughts of Princes from their golden heads, to consider of their feet of Clay. He no sooner wishes them joy of their Honour, but lest their spirits should be exalted above measure, and grow too fine and volatile, he fixes them with Grave-dust, presen­ting them with a Scepter and a Spade, the Royal Robes and a Winding-sheet together: I have said ye are gods, but ye shall die like men.

Before we consider what is here said, viz. Ye are gods, it may be proper to enquire, who it is that says, and to whom it is said.

1. Who hath said. Great Persons have often this frailty among others, that though they most need, they can least endure plain and wholsom instruction, the benefit whereof is often lost, for want of Prudence in the Address. The Psalmist [Page 3] therefore to give weight and authority to what he says to the Princes of the World, personates the Almighty in the delivery of this charge, whom he places in the Throne, Vers. 1. as a Judge among the Gods; not as an unconcerned Spectator, but as a severe Monitor, and Observer of their Actions, come down on purpose to take notice of the dis­charge of that duty, which their high Titles and Commissions require of them. God standeth in the Congregation of Princes. So that David doth not here usurp an Authority over his Equals as a Reprover and Instructer, but with great solem­nity and Majesty brings in God, as speaking in his own name. So that this is emphatically Gods word that is here spoken; and so our Saviour says, referring to this Text, Joh. 10.34. to whom the Word of God came. And where the Word of God is, there is Power with him in the supreme right of disposal, who at first made all things, cloathed the World when it lay naked in its Causes and imperfect Po­tentiality, and then ranged the various Orders and Classes of the Creation, according to the Idea's he had conceived in his eternal Mind; in which he hath ever since preserved them by the breath of the same Power, which once disconti­nued, the Axes of the World would crack, and the whole Frame, like an old House, would tum­ble and fall in pieces. Since therefore all things do [Page 4] so essentially depend upon him, he may well be presumed to have a right to govern what he first raised out of nothing, and always maintains at his own charge, and to make what distinctions he pleases among the works of his own hands; on one piece of Clay putting the Image of a Prince, on another the Picture of a Beggar; for­ming that to a noble, and this to an ignoble ser­vice. So that things are and must be what he is pleased to call them: It is God that hath said Ye are gods. But to whom doth he speak? And that is the second Enquiry?

2. To whom is this said? I have already sup­posed it to Princes and Civil Governours, though I am not ignorant that these words are challen­ged as the Churches Patrimony by Pope Gregory the Great, in an Epistle to Mauricius the Empe­rour. But if the Words were addressed to Church-men, it is plain from the stile of the Psalm, it was in their Civil Relation and Capa­city. And all that can be inferred, is onely, that it was not then, nor is it now unlawful for an Ecclesiastical person to exercise Civil Power, when God and the King appoint them to it. But the Powers are in their natures distinct. And what was done by the High Priest under the Jewish Theocracy, must not be drawn into Exam­ple under the Gospel: for our Saviour affirms his [Page 5] Kingdom is not of this World, and hath thereby for ever discharged spiritual Persons from tempo­ral Power, by virtue of their Office either di­rectly or in order to spiritual purposes; but he hath not made the man uncapable, by placing him at his Altar, of serving Princes in sitting Sta­tions, when by them they are thereunto appoin­ted; nor is any Person less qualified, as one may think, for being the Kings Servant, for his stan­ding, in some respects, nearer than others to Him, by whom Kings reign. And since a prudent and pious conduct of both Powers may make each promote the private ends of the other and the common end of both, the Glory of God, why should they be thought so insociable, as never to be exercised by the same Person? Nor indeed are they, by those very men, who declare most against Church-mens medling, as they phrase it, in Civil Affairs: for who are more forward in such matters, when they have opportunity, with­out Authority, than such as exclaim against our Church-men for those Civil Trusts and Honours granted them by Authority? And while they preach against the exercise of a derived Power under Princes, are aspiring after one paramount to them

Princes are called Gods, and Ministers are cal­led Angels, let every one abide in that Calling [Page 6] wherewith he is called; for as that Priest or Angel that arrogates the Title of a God, smells strong of the Pit, and savours of the Pride of Lucifer, so on the other side, they who condemn all Civil Power as unlawful in the Church, are too like Antichrist indeed, Exalting themselves above all that is called God in the State.

3. Having seen by, and to whom these words are spoken, let us now consider the meaning of what is said, Ye are gods, and all of you Children of the most High.

There is on every Creature some Character of Divinity, but God hath placed his Image upon Man, impressed himself on our Nature, as the Prophet on the Child, and shed his likeness on us, so that by reflecting on our selves, we may know as in a Glass, and darkly, what God is: but as he hath honoured our Nature with his Image, part whereof was a Dominion over the Creation, so in our Nature he honours some per­sons with his Name, and hath thereby given them Dominion over others of their own kind. They have not onely his Image but Inscription, of whom in a qualified sense, we may say what they of Lycaonia said of the Apostles, Acts 14.11. The Gods are come down unto us in the likeness of men.

I need not say here, they are not Gods and Sons of God, as our Saviour is, by an unconceivable ge­neration, [Page 7] which were to make them equal with God; To us there is but one God, though there be that are called Gods.

Nor are they always Sons of God by Ado­ption and Grace, as Members of the Invisible Church; that Aphorism that Empire is founded in Dominion, being not more absurd and false, than that other, that Dominion is founded in Grace. Grace neither giving title to Land and Estates, nor Estates to Empire. Wicked men may be not onely lawful Proprietors, but lawful and good Princes.

Nor are Princes always lastly, even by exter­nal Profession Sons of God, as visible Members of the Church, though it is a great felicity when they and their subjects are so: no Crown sit­ting surer than such as is most Christian.

For the true discovery therefore of that sense in which they are stiled gods, and Sons of God, we must consider, that it is familiar in Scripture to call a Person the Son of that man whom he resembles in some very signal character; as Believers are cal­led Sons of Abraham, for their resemblance to him in that Grace, that was so eminent and illustrious in that Holy Patriarch, that it was imputed to him for Righteousness. On the contrary, our Saviour saith to the Jews, Ye are of your Father the Devil, for the works of your Father the Devil you will [Page 8] do: such as cruelty, and malice, and spight, and revenge, which argue a Diabolical nature and temper. Agreeably to this notion,

1. Princes are called Gods, because as such they have their being from God, that is, Autho­rity to govern.

2. Because they resemble God in the conduct and menage of that Authority they have from him.

3. God calls them his Sons, because as they are begotten by him, and are like him, so as a Father he defends them, and more especially concerns himself in their cause and protection.

1. Princes have their Being from God, and are begotten by him: As in the Scale of our Sa­viours Genealogy, Luke 3. it is said of all but Adam, he was the Son of such a one, and he was the Son of such a one, but of Adam, he was the Son of God, be­cause he came immediately out of his hands. So may we say of inferiour Magistrates and Officers, who stand in subordination to others; but when we come to the Sovereign Power, that is the Issue of Heaven, they that are invested with it, are the Sons of God, of whom they hold imme­diately, and are born of the seed of divine Authority and Power.

God who by his Word made the World, hath by the same Word, by saying Princes are Gods, [Page 9] made them so, and this Scripture which cannot be broken, is their Commission. Joh. 10.35: For so the Text is expresly expounded by our Saviour, for he calls it, a Word of God coming to the Magistrate. Now we know the Word of God coming to a Person, is a Phrase authorizing that Person to the Ser­vice he is then imployed in. In the Old Testa­ment, the Word of the Lord came unto me, is the common stile of the Prophets Order, and there­fore these words, Ye are gods, being a word com­ing unto the Prince, are his Letters Patent for his Title and Authority. Wisd. 6.3, 4. So that his Power is gi­ven him of th [...] Lord, and Sovereignty of the Highest, saith the Wisdom of Solomon, and by him Kings reign, Prov. 8.15. and Princes decree Justice, saith the Wisdom of God: Which Wisdom acknowledges the Power even of Pilate over himself, and says, Joh. 19.11. It was given him from above. And St. Paul tells us, the Powers that then were, the Powers that be, Rom. 13.1. are ordained of God, though they were neither the most lawfully acquired nor the most equally administred. So that Magistracy and Magistrates, (for so the word Powers there, must be understood of Per­sons exercising Power) are not onely of Gods general providence and permission, which suf­fers many irregularities in the World, as some­times the abuse of this Power by mal-admini­stration, and sometimes the ruine of it by Re­bellion, [Page 10] or Translation by Conquest) but they are by his special ordination and appointment, they are ordained of God. And hence it is that Re­bellion is a damnable, and without true Repen­tance, a damning sin, and I fear it is in this, as well as other respects, as the sin of Witchcraft, (the Covenant with Hell) that it is but too rarely re­pented of.

It is a fulsom thing to multiply Arguments and Authorities in a plain Cause, and such is that, (if any) that I am pleading for, the divine Original of Government; which whoso reads the Scriptures cannot but discern, unless he be hastning after another God than they preach. But this truth will appear with fuller evidence, if we consider the Rises of Government, and what share the People, that is, the governed part, can have in the most Popular Gonstitutions.

1. It is certain that Government was origi­nally in the Parents and Heads of Families; if we believe Mankind to have been created and pro­pagated according to the Scripture Tradition, which is the most natural and rational hypothe­sis, and most credible, though it were not assisted by Revelation. We could never yet find where that Utopia lies, where men lived without natural dependencies, but came into the World in Arms and Armour, fighting with, and destroying [Page 11] one another; and yet on such precarious Poetick Fables, some have chosen to found their Com­mon-wealths, rather than on the History of the Bible, which informs us of another origination both of Men and of Society. There we are ac­quainted with our growing from one common root, in the way of natural propagation, which ever carries a necessary obligation with it: for Nature teaches the Son obedience to the Father, so that Adam, were he now alive, would be the Universal Monarch by right of Nature, and emi­nently in the language of the Text, Son of God, and of the Most High. And from him Power de­scended to the first-born by the Priviledge of natural Succession, without asking the consent of his Brethren, and as the Family spread, so did the Empire. Marriages were made, and Chil­dren begotten, and Houses filled, and new Co­lonies sent out, and so by degrees a Tree became a Forest, and the Paternal Power spread and grew into a Political. This is the way and me­thod by which Government was first planted in one Family, and according to its increase, shed and disseminated it self abroad over many, and so far there is no shadow of an Authority deri­ved from the People, that is, the governed part, unless we should fancy the Root were made and nourished of the Branches, and the Father of [Page 12] the Children. But thus much of the Order of Nature, which was soon altered and broken in pieces by force.

2. For secondly, Men still increasing and multiplying, their natural Obligations of obe­dience to remoter Parents in the direct line, as well as love to Relations in the collateral, grew weaker and colder; and the farther the lines were drawn from the Centre, the further they were removed from one another; and so, as the Tree became a Forest, the Forest soon became a Wilderness. And then the Passions of Men were let loose, and grew wild, and they began to range abroad, and to prey upon each others Possessions, and some grew Mighty Hunters, and by force or fraud drove their Neighbours into the toyl, and made them submit to their Yoke and Tyranny, which they did not out of choice, but of necessity, as the Reed bends onely because it is forced by the Storm, that otherwise would break it. I doubt not but it will be al­lowed me, that it is the Conquerours Sword that carves out what Right he hath, and not the Peoples courtesie and favour, which here is not supposed nor desired, and I shall in return as readily yield, that meer Conquest gives no Right, nor lays any obligation on Peoples Consciences to obey. There must be some Title antecedent (by De­scent, [Page 13] or particular divine Designation, or Com­pact) or a voluntary Submission afterward at least, to legitimate the Force, and entitle the Conquerour to a just Possession. But if without these he have any Right, it is visible it is without, and not from, but against the People and their Consent. And thus much of Force and Con­quest.

3. God himself in his love and care for some portions of Mankind, hath not onely raised and qualified men that seem born for Government, but sometimes immediately conferred a Title, or sent a Prophet to anoint them. So Moses, Joshua and the Judges, and several Kings were set up by God, or a Prophet in his name; and on such a Message they ascended the Throne, and ruled the People, without desiring any suffrage from them, so as to derive their Title from it. Davids substantial right to the Crown, was his Unction and Divine Designation by the Mini­stry of the Prophet Samuel, 1 Sam, 16. V, 1. & 13. 2 Sam. 2.3. 2 Sam. 5.3. which the men of Judah and Israel did severally recognize in He­bron, by repeating of the Ceremony. The King further making a League with those of Israel before the Lord, that is, to govern by the Law [...] God had prescribed by his Servant Moses: wh [...] is an Act of Grace resembled by the Coronat [...] Oath of our Kings, and not such a stipulation b [...] tween [Page 12] [...] [Page 13] [...] [Page 14] David and the Israelites, as that a failure on his part should devolve the Government upon them; for how should that escheat to them, which he held not of them? his Right being di­vine and antecedent to their submission. So then in this way of particular designation by God, no Right is derived from the People. If it be any Case, it is,

4. By Popular Election; when the People to prevent the mischief of an evil Governour, or Usurper, or the want of Government which in our lapsed State is the greatest Evil of all, meet, chuse such a Person as they judge best qualified for the ends of Government, and invest him with all the Powers and Liberties, of which they were possessed by the Law of Nature, ob­liging themselves to defend his Person, and obey his Laws.

1. They elect the Person; but possibly they are not so free in this Action as they fansie; will they exclude the Divine Providence, and allow God no share in their Councils? Will they con­fine him to his own Heaven, and challenge the management of all Affairs here to themselves? We are neither such automatous Machines as move onely as we are set and directed; nor such absolute Lords of our Actions, as we imagine our selves; we cannot bring about always cer­tainly, [Page 15] what we freely design, but God often steps between the purpose and the event: and at other times addresses our free motions by an un­seen hand: So that the People may name the Person, but God chuses, he speaks by their voice, and acts by their hands; Psal. 75.7. for he is the Judge that putteth down one, and setteth up another.

2. When the Prince is elected, the People in­vest him with Power, that is, with all they have, and more they cannot give. But there is a Power necessary to Government, which the Peo­ple never had, and therefore could not give; that is, of punishing capitally, which the Prince either usurps, or derives from some higher Prin­ciple. So that the People can onely make a Golden Calf, or an Idol, but not a God: If the Prince had no Power but from them, the Government would be weak, and insufficient for the ends of it; for without Capital punishment he could not be a terrour to Evil doers: Rom. 13. But the People ne­ver had this Power, (I mean the governed part) radically in them, because no man ever had it singly, before Government was setled. No man hath more power over another in the State (or Notion rather) of Nature, than over him­self. But no man hath a right to dispose of his own life; he cannot kill himself without sin­ning, and therefore he cannot have, as a private [Page 16] person, this right over another; and if he have not this right in himself over himself, neither can he transfer it to another: and if one can­not, neither can two, nor three, nor any number; for Number may give Force but no Right: if an hundred set on one man and kill him without Authority, it is as much murder, as if but one had done it. To sum up this therefore.

Men embodying into a Society, and submit­ting to one person or more, part onely with what they have, their Liberties and Possessions, but over their Lives having no right, they can make no disposal; and therefore the exercise of this Power in the Prince can be no issue from the People, (for then the Stream must run higher than the Spring) but from God, whose Prerogative it is both to give Life, and to take it away, and not to be challenged by any person, (for Vengeance is mine) but to whom he commu­nicates it. And therefore the Prince strikes with Gods Sword, and the Apostles Expression is very accurate, Rom. 13.4. when he says, he is the Minister of God, an Avenger for wrath.

I am not ignorant that the whole series and Scale of Magistracy, (as well the King as Su­preme, as Governours sent by him) is called by the Apostle, a humane Creature, to whom yet he en­joins subjection, [...] pet. [...].13. for the Lords sake, as the Foun­tain [Page 17] of the Authority. Men may be Instru­ments in the Election, and the safety of Humane Society may be the end of their choice, on which accounts the Government is there called, a Hu­mane Ordinance, which in its Original, is the Ordi­nance of God. Rom. 13. As a City may elect a Mayor by priviledge of Charter, but his Authority when elected, is from the King, so is the Kings from God, where the People have the greatest share visibly in the Designation of the person: but they onely prepare and dispose the matter in the po­litical Generation, but the Soul of Sovereignty is Divine, and infused from above, and not by low and popular traduction, if you consider Go­vernment to take its Rise either from the Order of Nature, or from Conquest, or particular De­signation, either Divine or Humane. And so much may suffice for the first Reason why Prin­ces are called Gods, and Sons of God, they are be­gotten by him.

I have herein possibly made too bold with your patience, though the temper of this Age be too just an Apology for my doing so. But if ye suffer Fools (as the Apostle speaks, but I know not how) gladly; if every Journeyman become a Kings Monitor, and every Pebble in the Guttur thinks it self a Jewel worthy of their Crowns, or the Brests of Priests, there to shine and rise up in­to [Page 18] Oracles, suffer us also in the discharge of what we owe to Religion and our Sovereign, to tire you a little on so necessary a Doctrine, and such Inferences as fairly flow from it; As

1. The Prince deriving his Authority from God, it follows hence, he is accountable to none but God. He stands or falls to his own Master, and he calls no man Master upon Earth. This is truly in right reason a consequence from the Nature and End of Government. There must be some per­son or persons (according to the Frame of the Polity) from whom there must be no Appeal. Some Authority must be absolute and injusticiable, or the Process will be infinite, and the Grievance with­out Remedy; and the circular and endless moti­on of Appeals, more grievous than any Tyranny.

2. If the Prince derive his Authority from God, it follows again, His Laws oblige the Conscience of the Subject: Such as command lawful things, for to an unlawful thing there can be no obliga­tion, because he hath no authority from God to make unjust Laws, and therefore if he doth, they do not oblige the Conscience of the Subject to that obedience, which is called active, though even in such cases, he is obliged to subjection, to endure the penalty, which they call passive obe­dience.

But if the matter of the Command be a thing [Page 19] indifferent, not forbidden by any Law of God, Moral, or Positive, there the Prince creates an obligation in Conscience to conformity and obe­dience. For men to think they must have the same liberty after they are entered into Society, either Civil or Religious, as before, is contrary to the very nature and end of Society: they must submit themselves in things lawful to the determination of the Communion, whereof they become Members; and the enquiry lies not, whether the thing enjoined be expedient or in­expedient, for of that the governing part must judge, but onely whether it be lawful. And it is lawful, if not forbidden by God; and if lawful before, it becomes now after the Law necessary in its use, and so is our obedience. Nor doth this take away the natural indifferency of the thing, nor the liberty of Christians, nor exalt Princes into Gods Throne, or make them Lords of Conscience, (for that is still free to judge of the natural indifferency) any more than our ob­ligation in Conscience to believe what the Apo­stles have delivered, makes them Lords of our Faith; a Title which they disclaimed, as proper to him who is the Author and Finisher of it.

2. Princes are called Gods, not onely because he begets them, but they are like God in the ad­ministration of their power. Which is a reason [Page 20] assigned by Hierocles, why the Heroes were cal­led also the Sons of God in the Ethnick Theolo­gy. Now Princes resemble God when they act by the same principle, and for the same end.

1. In making their Justice shine with equal dispensation on the Righteous and the Wicked; and not onely in doing, but in loving of Justice. This carries a double benefit with it to him that sues for it, and him that distributes it. The love of Justice sweetens the toil of the Employment, and makes that a Recreation, which without it is a Drudgery; for it is a joy to the Just to do judge­ment.

2. Princes resemble God in Mercy. This is the first letter of the Name, whereby God proclaims himself to Moses, Exod. 34.6. The Lord, the Lord God, Merciful and Gracious, &c. and herein he is principally to be imitated by such as are called by his Name, in mo­derating the rigour of Law, when men in their simplicity and honest meaning, may fall within the lash of its severity: or when the face of the Poor is ground, and eaten up like Bread, by the greedi­ness of an Oppressor. It is impossible but there should be frequently such cases, wherein if the Letter of the Law be strictly observed, the end will not; and it is the Glory of a Prince in such cases to extricate persons out of the snares of le­gal Entanglements, and his Prerogative is then [Page 21] much more advantageous to his Subjects, than all their boasted priviledges.

I need not say on this occasion, what Prince of the World is the most lively Image of this most Heavenly Attribute, whose Mercy, like the Divine Original, is indeed over all his Works, who makes not every man an Offender for a Word, nor every Offence Capital, but is strong and patient, though provoked every day.

3. Princes are like God, when they act, as by the same principles of Justice and Mercy, so for the same end and safety of the Society. They are therefore elsewhere stiled Restorers of Paths, and Healers of Breaches, and here the blessing of the Peace-makers falls upon their heads, which saith our Saviour is to be called the Sons of God, Mat. 5.9. and the more they intend this God-like end, in preserving the peace, not only of their own Sub­jects, but of the World in general, the better title they have to that Beatitude, and nearer resem­blance to the God of Peace. There are indeed some Sons, not very like their Father, who re­semble the great Destroyer rather, that is daily seek­ing whom he may devour. Such are Disciplines and Scourges in the hand of God, (as one of the Gothick Kings called himself) to chastise the Christian World for their Luxury and contempt of God and his Commandments. But though [Page 22] these are onely stimulated with the Lust of Do­mination, yet they are over-ruled by the Divine Providence, and directed to a point they thought not of, and often forced to bring Glory to God in the conclusion, though they designed onely their own, in the first motion of their Arms. But what ever excesses the wantonness of Power may tempt some Spirits to, they have the best right to this high Title of being the Sons of God and are the most natural Lords of their People, who like Parents, are always laying up for their Children, esteeming their peace a common advantage, the Glory of their Reign, as the publick Good of the World is the Glory of God.

There is certainly great truth in that celebra­ted Aphorism, Salus Populi Suprema Lex esto; but the vulgar sense is to be corrected by consider­ing what is meant by People, Safety, and Law.

1. We are not to prescind the Head from the Members, but by People to understand the whole Body, all in, as well as all under Government. And so indeed the care ought to be mutual and reciprocal, for neither can be safe, when the other is in danger; but the principal should be for the principal and vital parts, and the best Armour placed on the Head and Heart. Thus while David perceived his Kingdom to be exalted for the sake of Israel, 2 Sam. 5.12. & 21.17. the People called him the light [Page 23] of Israel, which they were fearful should be quenched.

2. We are not to understand Safety in the most uncircumscribed and indefinite sense, for Peace of any kind, on any terms; but such as the Apostle prescribes, which by Prayer for Princes, we may hope to enjoy under them, 1 Tim. 2.2. a quiet and a peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty. Now happy are the People that are in such a case; this is a bles­sing greatly desirable, a Reformation heartily to be endeavoured, when Peace, and Godliness, and Honesty meet together and kiss each other.

3. Peace and Safety thus described is the Su­preme Law, that is, the general Rule and Canon of Direction to all in their respective Stations, it is the Princes Reason of State, the Compass by which he steers the Government, where plain and positive Law hath not directed; and where it hath, he must often leap over, nay break through many positive Forms to come at it; for that is the Supreme Law, to which all posi­tive Laws, as inferiour, must give place; for the sake of that, the Prince may dispence with these, but that is indispensable, it is superiour to him in a way of perpetual direction, which he is the most proper Judge how to intend and follow. This Law also is the Square and Reason of the Subjects obedience, by which and Prayer they [Page 22] [...] [Page 23] [...] [Page 24] are more likely to obtain their end, than by Re­bellion and Schism; that being a method of Gods appointing, but this an unsanctified way that never will be blessed by him. Thus you see this so applauded Maxim is far from con­founding Government, by making Rulers ac­countable to those they Govern; that the Right to Govern is from the People, (if you divide the Head from the Body) because their Good is the and of Government, is a false Inference from a false Principle, the preservation of the whole is the end, and not of any part; and if the good and safety of the People (separately from the Prince) were the Supreme Law, yet it follows not, that either his Right is derived from them, or his account of the Administration must be made to them. For God hath the same end, the Common Good, in the great Monarchy of the World, and yet is not liable to an Indictment by his Subjects for any mal-administration. And Parents and Masters of Families intend the same end in their petty Monarchies, and are not questionable or punishable by their Children. So that this cannot give Subjects any superin­tendency over the Princes Councils or Actions, but obliges them rather in their private capacity of Obedience and Religion to conspire to the same end, the Glory of God, in the Publick [Page 25] Good. Both these are designed by God, and both by the Prince, and the distinction is rather formal than real between them: for though they may be distinguished, they cannot be divi­ded, but are to be promoted by the same means. God cannot be honoured by Sin, and therefore we must not do evil that good may come of it. God may suffer it for that end, but we must not do it for that or any end. No more must publick Safety and common Good be secured by any thing that is unjust or dishonest. Religion must not be reformed by Rebellion, nor destroyed for the sake of a palliated worldly Peace. The very Heathens were so generous, as to scorn by base Compliances and wicked Plots and Strata­gems to preserve their Country; and therefore a contrivance of Themistocles for the publick Good being imparted to Aristides, was rejected by the Senate upon Aristides his Report, that it was not honest, concluding nothing profitable or ho­nourable, that was dishonest; but when the common Good is carried on by just and wise Counsels, a peaceable life is endeavoured by pious and honest policy, the People have at once great safety, and God great Glory; and this is the care and travel Princes have under the Sun, to be in continual motion, that their Subjects might have the comfort of their Influences, [Page 26] though they are too often requited with noisom stenches and stinking exhalations. But as God is never weary of doing good to those who weary him and themselves with doing evil; so neither should Princes, though their Subjects prove ungrateful and rebellious. Thus much of the second Reason why Princes are called Gods, and Sons of God, they are like him, acting the same Attributes, and for the same end.

3. Thirdly and lastly, They are so called, because God as a Father takes a special care of just Governments and pious Governours. There are sometimes Providences that seem anomalous and exceptions from this Rule, when God suffers Religious Kings to be smitten by and for the sins of the People, which is one of the heaviest Judg­ments, that can befal a Nation, to be made their own Executioners, by cutting the throat of their own peace and happiness. But as Princes are called Fathers of their Country, and have bowels for their Subjects, so hath God for Princes, whose Seats could never be so secure, amidst so many strivings of the People, but that the Lord is King be the Earth never so unquiet, and covers the head of his Anointed, and bears up the Pillars of his Throne. So we find, notwithstanding all the Plots, the secret Caballings, and open and bold Designs of Davids Enemies, Psal. 2. God says, Yet have I set my King upon my [Page 27] holy Hill of Sion, exalted him to the top of Regal Power. God seems to point at him with a hand out of the Clouds, as a person reserved for some great work, and by his miraculous delive­rances, eminently to declare him to be his Care and Darling, Thou art my Son, Psal. 2.6, 7. this day have I be­gotten thee. Which Scripture, though it had a literal verification in David, and a mystical one in our Saviour, may be accommodated to the Histories of other Empires, and no where more fitly than to the modern state of this Kingdom; in the support whereof the Divine Providence hath observably concerned it self, when all the foundations of the Earth were out of course, and like the Earth our Government seemed to hang with­out any hold. But though God be terrible among other Kings of the Earth, and is now dashing them in pieces, like a Potters Vessel, he hath set ours upon his holy Hill of Sion; where may the same Goodness long and long preserve him.

That what hath been said may be made use­ful:

1. Since Princes are called Gods, it would be their care to walk worthy of that high calling, and ho­nour their own Character, by defending his Wor­ship and Worshippers from Contempt, that hath [Page 28] so honoured them; neither suffering their Power to degenerate into Cruelty or Tyranny, for that were of Gods to become Devils, nor their zeal for Justice and Religion, into Sloth and Lukewarmness and Neutrality; for that were to become Idols, that have eyes and see not, ears and hear not: for then the latter part of the Text will appear like the writing on the Wall to Belshazzar in the height of all his jollity. When the swelling Titles fume in the head, and they are elevated (like Alexander) with vain thoughts of being really what they are onely called, God will call them to account, who hath said, they shall die like men, and there will be no distinction in the Grave, the Crown will leave no impression on the Scull. But let us leave them to be chastized by him against whom onely they sin; and

2. In the next place consider what shall be done to them whom God hath so honoured, as to give them a Name above every Name? Surely they will reverence my Son, saith God in the Para­ble: and surely so we should. But alas! to the reproach of the Christian Name, both that which calls her self the Holy and the Catholick, and many that would be thought the True Protestant and Reformed Church, have eaten of sower Grapes, and their Childrens Teeth are set on edge: [Page 29] while both Revile and Crucifie our Church be­tween them, that so sincerely preaches and pra­ctises the Doctrine of Loyal Obedience, that let a Prince be of any Religion, as to his private Faith, it would be his Interest to have all his Subjects of that, of the established Church of England. I shall crave leave to speak a little to those of each hand, though I fear I shall become their Enemy because I tell them the truth.

Nothing is more current in the Court of Rome, than the Doctrine of the Popes Supremacy over Princes; it is the Test of Roman Orthodoxy. This is acknowledged by many, who yet will not allow it the Doctrine of the Church of Rome, and I wish for my own part, it were not.

But what is that they call the Court of Rome? The Pope and Conclave, and their Retinue of Ca­nonists, and other Expectants of Preferment. And what is the Church? The Pope and Ge­neral Council. In both which this Doctrine is so plainly taught, that it is hard to tell which is the Mother of the Child. To Quote particular Authors were an endless labour. Aquinas rules the Case for the School, and in Bellarmine, Aqu. 22. q. 12. a. 2. Bell. Rom, Pont. l. 5, c. 8. 9. Val. tom. 3. disp. 1. qu. 12. punct. 2. Va­lentia, and many others, we have the Usage and Practice of the Court, in the Catalogues of Prin­ces deposed; from whence they argue this may [Page 30] be done, because it hath been; but the History is better than the Logick. But that which is chiefly considerable, is the Canon of the Council of Lateran, 4. Council of Lateran, ch 3. which in point decrees such Princes as will not expel Hereticks out of their Dominions, to be Excommunicated, and their Subjects absolved from their Allegiance, and their Kingdoms to be given to Catholick Princes. There is a Salvo for the Su­preme Lord, if he obstruct not the Sentence, (that is, they will not depose him, if he submits) like the Condition in the Covenant to fight for the King, if he would fight for it. If it be said, this is a part of the Discipline, and not the Faith of the Church, the matter is not much mended, nor Princes better secured by the distinction, since we know they are as rigid exacters of Obedience to the Rule of Discipline as of Faith. But thus by their Canon of Discipline they make void the Law of the Fifth Commandment, discharging Subjects of their Duty to those whom God and Nature hath commanded them to honour and obey.

Now this Council (if any) deserves with them the name of General, consisting of 1215 Fathers (one for every Year from Christs Nati­vity to the Year of its Assembling) Convened and Confirmed by the Popes Authority, and [Page 31] is accordingly owned as such, even by two suc­ceeding General Councils, Constance and Trent: in the mouth of which two Witnesses, Const. Sess. 30. Trid. Sess. 2 [...] Cap. 5. (whereas Trent bears onely witness to it self) the Autho­rity of this Council is more than abundantly confirmed.

The Issue is this:

• 1. A General Council declares the Doctrine of the Church.
• 2. The Fourth of Lateran is a General Coun­cil, in the judgment of those of Constance and Trent.
• 3. That hath decreed the Deposing of Prin­ces, if they expel not Hereticks, after admoni­tion, out of their Dominions; this then is the Doctrine not of Jesuits onely, their Order be­ing founded some Centuries after; nor of the Court, but even of the Church of Rome.

And yet I would not accuse all that hold Communion with it of an explicit belief of this Doctrine: there are many whose Loyalty is so sound and healthy, that it is not to be tainted by the pestilential Air they breath in, who would desert that Church in which they believed such things were taught. Such I onely desire nei­ther to believe our Priests who charge them with it, nor their own who deny it, till, like those [Page 32] Noble Bereans, they have consulted their own Editions of their Councils, their Eyes, and com­mon Sense, and then they will discern by whom they are abused, and of what Leven they are to take heed and beware.

2. But while I am speaking of these things, methinks I hear a Voice, saying unto me, as unto the Prophet, Ezek. 8.6. Son of man, seest thou what they do, they of the Church of Rome, turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations: a People as distant from the Papists, as one Pole from the other, in the interest, yet parallel with them, in the mischief of their Faction, who pretending to be Israelites, have whet their Swords among the Philistins, and entered into the secret of our Adversaries. Those men in their zeal for God, rebel against his Authority, and serve their Prince as the Heathens were thought to wor­ship Mercury, by throwing Stones at him; in kindness to the Reformation, they stab it to the heart, and under Jacobs smooth voice, make it feel the rough hands of Esau; endeavouring to destroy at once, the best Government, the best Monarchy, and Monarch, and Religion in the World.

1. The best Government; A Monarchy, the first and most natural Form: a Form that hath [Page 33] the fairest pretence, (to speak modestly) to a Divine Right. Others may be lawful, but God never immediately appointed any other Form. Moses was King in Jesurun. The Government of the Israelites, till Saul, was Theocracy, the no­blest kind of Monarchy. So this Government is best, as approved of God, under which the greatest blessings are promised to his Church of Kings becoming Nursing Fathers; best in its self, as most sufficient and ready for the ends of Government, and best for us, as most agreeable to the Genius of these Nations, who would never long endure many Tyrants.

2. The best Monarchy, whereby the gracious Concessions of our Kings, and harshness of Ar­bitrary Power is sweetned into a Fatherly tem­per, and Will is changed into Law, and the Rod of Iron is melted down into a Golden Scepter; and it is the true Interest of the People to pre­serve the Prerogative, because that doth best preserve the Liberties of the People. We have in our Constitution all the advantages of others, without the Inconveniences that attend them. And all others, of what Form soever, are abso­lute and arbitrary, fierce as the Wind, and hot as the fire, while God speaks to us, in this, in a gentle and a still voice.

[Page 34]3. The best Monarch. But while my heart is inditing of a good matter, Psal. 45.1. and I would speak of the things, I have made of the King, his Royal presence hinders my tongue from being the Pen of a ready Writer, and forbids me to speak either of his Per­sonal or Political Endowments, the gentleness and goodness of his Nature or his Royal Virtues. In stead therefore of such an Entertainment, let us rejoice in the cool shade of those Blessings we enjoy under his Protection, and take a view of the flourishing condition these Kingdoms are in, did they think themselves so. In whose Reign did the Sun ever behold this People swim­ming in greater wealth, the Trade and Riches of the World flowing in to their Doors? We are tilling our Fields, and filling our Barns and Store-houses, while our Neighbours Backs are ploughed and harrowed by the miseries of War. We are groaning onely under the burden of Peace, panting under loads of Plenty, sur­feiting of Health, and running into Fevers through height and abundance of Bloud. To conclude, nothing is wanting to us, but thankful hearts for such Blessings, as no Nation under Heaven doth or can enjoy, but under such a Monarchy and Monarch.

4. What shall I say of our Religion, which is [Page 35] our highest Glory; for God hath not dealt so with any Nation as with us. If we were not become too brutish to have a relish for so spiritual a consi­deration, you might be even charmed to Exta­sie, with the prospect of the Heavenly Com­forts you enjoy above all others in the World, in a Church Orthodox in her Faith, Chast in her Worship, Modest, yet Solemn in her Ceremony, Primitive in her Government, General and Peaceable in her Articles of Communion, Gentle in her Discipline, Charitable to persons of honest lives, though differing persuasions in the com­mon Faith, and more than any other, Loyal to Princes. I wish we might be provoked to jea­lousie by another of the same Beauty. This is the Hill of Sion, the Joy of the Earth, upon which God hath set his King; and of these Blessings these men would rob us, and expose us a naked prey to our cruel Enemies, destroy the Laws to secure our Estates, and our Religion to save our Souls. In return of all which, I hear her crying out in the words, and with the tears and compassion of our Saviour, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest my Prophets, how of­ten, &c. Oh ye of the Foreign Reformation how often would I have gathered you under the Wings of my Communion, and covered, or excused [Page 34] [...] [Page 35] [...] [Page 36] your defects, and ye would not; but now these things are hid from your eyes, and your house is left unto you desolate. And Oh ye of the Dome­stick separation, how often would I have ga­thered you? but so often have I stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying People. Yet at last return to a Christian peaceful temper, for ye know not what spirit ye are of; it is your Schism that is like to open the Postern for the common Enemy of the Reformation; 'tis under your co­vert he hides his Spies and Intelligencers, through your Divisions the Name of Protestant is evilly spoken of, and our Brethren abroad are the worse treated, for the weakness that you occa­sion at home. Consider therefore your duty and the common danger, and kiss the Son lest ye perish, and pray for the man of Gods right hand, that he would make him strong for himself, and while he la­bours for Peace, make not your selves ready for the Battel; and then the God of Peace will return, stablish, strengthen, settle us. Amen.