constant adhering to the Church as it is now by Law established a Church reformed with the gravest and maturest deliberation by the advice and with the consent of the supreme power according to the word of God and the example of the best and Primitive Ages whose Doctrines are so Orthodox its Liturgy so devout its Government so Apostolical its Constitutions so reasonable and useful its Ceremonies so few and decent that no one can refuse Communion with it but upon such principles which if he holds to them shall equally oblige him to refuse Communion with all the setled Churches that are or have been in the Christian World excepting some few little Commonwealth Churches but of very late Years first invented and set up amongst us A Church most admirably fitted for the making of men substantially good and pious just and loyal peaceable and charitable that incroacheth not upon the Right of Princes nor imposeth on the Faith of Christians that hath most remarkably run the fate of and stood or fell with the Monarchy which is the terrour of Rome and the Bulwark of the Protestant Cause and Religion And in all humane probability nothing can keep Popery of which we now stand in so much fear and danger which is the great evil that now so sorely threatens us nothing I say can keep it out of England so much as being firm and true to this present establishment till our Governours shall see fit to make any alterations And if ever that common Enemy again get entrance here it must be through those holes and breaches which our needless Divisions and Separations from the Church have made It is said of the old Britains when the Romans first Conquered them Dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur Their divided single Troops were presently subdued by the united force of Caesars disciplin'd Legions And the same way will the Romish Religion if ever gain admittance It will soon surmount and crush all little separated incoherent Congregations which might be resisted and kept out by a well constituted united National Church And therefore I cannot but say here that none do serve Popery more successfully though I believe they know it not nor design any such thing themselves than those who are with both hands pulling down this present Church of England continually pelting her with peevish exceptions and popular scruples libelling her Bishops and Governours and laying all the evils of the times to their Charge slandering her Ministers vilifying her divine Offices slighting her Censures and deriding her Institutions The faster and surer this Church is established the more Interest Authority and Influence it hath so much longer will Popish Idolatry be kept out of England For all that some ill men are apt to declaim against our Church as if it were Popishly affected yet Heaven and Hell Light and Darkness are not more contrary one to the other than the Doctrines of Popery and the Religion professed and taught in the Church of England And I pray God he be not now by his late Providences teaching all Protestants the difference between Popery and Conformity and shewing us that the little Finger of Papal Tyranny is heavier than the Loins of the English Episcopacy If ever such a sad day happen in England which God in his infinite mercy prevent that Popery should be setled by a Law men will then see what little reason they had to cry down our present Church as Antichristian or the Ministers of it as Papists in Masquerade or the publick Prayers as the same with the Mass-Book or our kneeling at the Holy Sacrament as the same with the Adoration of the Host They will then gladly wish for these days again that they might have but once more the opportunity of serving God in publick though with all the Ceremonies our Church enjoins What an Happiness would they account that Liberty which now they are too apt to call Persecution thus the unreasonable suspicious and groundless clamours of some men against our Church as drawing too nigh and approaching daily nearer to Popery may soon bring or provoke God justly to inflict that great evil both upon themselves and us Now as there are two ways of securing a Town besieged by Enemies weakning the force of the Enemy without us and strengthning and better fortifying our own Walls and encreasing the number of our Souldiers and Defendants So are there two ways of keeping out Popery not only discountenancing executing the penal Laws against all those of the Romish Faction but also by daily adding to the strength of our own Church by healing her wounds and making up her Breaches by restoring due Authority to its Governours and Reverence to its Ministers by the coming in of those who have dissented from and deserted her and for our common safety at least joining with us sacrificing all petty interests and bones of contention to the publick Peace and then through Gods blessing and the goodness of our Governours we may be able to stand our ground notwithstanding the unwearied attempts and artifices of Rome against us It is the great Policy of the Church of Rome that whatever differences arise amongst them in matters of opinion and they are several and those managed with a great deal of heat and zeal notwithstanding their pretence to infalibillity yet they all agree to adhere fast unto and by all means to promote Holy Church Whereas our mischief and folly is that every little difference constitutes a new Party and we divide in interest and so that we may but pull down those that oppose us we care not though we let in those that will devour us all Machiavel in his Discourses upon Livy layes it down for an error in Politicks by force to invade any City or Kingdom when there are great Divisions and Seditions amongst the People this being the most ready way to unite them all against the common danger Let them but alone saith he or help a little to encrease and widen their differences and they shall ruine and destroy themselves without putting their Enemies to any trouble And truly we may well account our Dissensions and Divisions incurable if our late and present fears and dangers be not sufficient to put an end to them When Hannibal is at the Gates it is no time surely for men to be squabling and jangling against a Ceremony or a Form of Prayer In this all Parties agree all sides teach and defend that there is no likely way of preserving our common Religion but by all Protestants uniting together for the joint defence of those things they agree in And yet notwithstanding all this good talk are not our Religious feuds and animosities greater more fierce at this day than ever Do not our Divisions encrease Do not our Separatists run further from us keep at a greater distance instead of approaching as nigh as they could or complying with us as far as in their own Consciences they judged lawful Are not new terms
A SERMON Preached before the Lord Mayor ALDERMEN AND Citizens of London At BOW-CHVRCH on the 29th of May 1682. By BENJAMIN CALAMY D. D. One of his Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary The Second Edition LONDON Printed by J. M. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St Paul's Church-Yard 1682. TO THE Right Honourable Sir JOHN MOORE Lord Mayor OF LONDON And to the COURT OF ALDERMEN Right Honourable THere is nothing in the following Sermon that could recommend it to your Lordships favourable Acceptance besides its plainness and the honesty of its design nor could any other Consideration have prevailed with me to expose it to the View and Censure of this peevish Age but only fear of seeming to contradict the Doctrine I taught Of strict Obedience to the Command of Superiours Right Honourable Your most humble and Obedient Servant BENJAMIN CALAMY A SERMON Preach'd May 29. 1682. ON St JOHN 5.14 Afterwards Jesus findeth him in the Temple and said unto him Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee WHat this Person to whom our Saviour gave this good Counsel in my Text was doing in the Temple is not very hard to determine It was surely the most proper place for him to be found in having been lately bless'd with such a miraculous deliverance from an infirmity he had thirty eight Years laboured under and after so long waiting and many unsuccessful attempts of getting into the Pool e'en now despaired of ever being freed from it till at the powerful command of the Son of God the impotent man received new strength and vigour took up his Bed and hastned to the House of God there to offer up as may well be guess'd his Sacrifice of praise for such a surprizing mercy How much more becoming and Pious then is this our Solemn Anniversary Appearance on this Day in this place to pay the Tribute of our devoutest Acknowledgments and most hearty Thanksgivings for a deliverance as great and stupendous as ever Gods mighty Hand and out-stretched Arm hath wrought for any People or Nation under the Heavens Which if we either consider the Extremity we were reduced unto or the greatness of the Miseries we were redeemed from or the Means by which so prodigious a Work was atchieved or those manifold and excellent Benefits that have since accrued to us from it hath the Characters of the divine goodness and power so visibly impress'd upon it is so illustrious an instance such an astonishing effect of Gods wise and gracious Providence over and care of this Church and Kingdom as no Age can parallel no History can shew the like Our Nation had long lain languishing under miserable Oppression and Tyranny its blood and spirits exhausted in an unnatural Civil War ending in the Execrable Murder of the late King and Martyr of ever Blessed Memory in the banishment of his present Majesty and all the Royal Family in the Subversion of our ancient Monarchy and inslaving this Land to the wills and lusts of the basest and meanest of the People Our Church so famous for its Primitive Purity excellent Government wholsome Discipline and decent Order laid in the Dust monstrous Errors and Heresies every where abounding wild Enthusiasm and blind Zeal justling out all sober Religion This was our sad and piteous State when after many defeats and vain endeavours of the Loyal Party to rescue their Native Country from such lawless Usurpation sand horrible distractions when we were at the lowest ebb just ready to fall into utter Confusion then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God appeared in the Mount infatuating the Counsels strangely scattering the mighty and victorious Forces of our Enemies and by a wonderful train of Providences without War or Bloodshed to the amazement of the whole World restored our most gracious Soveraign the Light of our Eyes the breath of our Nostrils to his Rights and Kingdoms and placed him on the Imperial Throne of his Fathers may his Reign be Long and Prosperous and with him our equal Laws and just Liberties the glory of the English Subject and which ought to be especially mentioned in this place the true reformed Religion with its supports and encouragements our Church re-established in its former Beauty and Authority and all these inestimable Blessings with great Peace and Plenty continued to us now these two and twenty Years This surely was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes This is a day the Lord hath made and ought to be had in Everlasting Remembrance The divine Providence is indeed extended to the minutest things takes care of Sparrows and numbers the very hairs of our Heads but yet it is more especially and particularly engag'd in ordering and managing publick affairs such as are of great moment and benefit to Mankind in the over-turning or raising up of Empires in grand revolutions of State in alterations of Government in the protection of the sacred Persons of Soveraign Princes the chief Minsters of his Kingdom his Vicegerents and Substitutes here on Earth on whose welfare whole Nations depend And God Almighty seems on purpose so to have contriv'd and accomplish'd the deliverance of this day as that himself might have the sole glory and praise of it He would not admit any Rival or sharer in the honour of this Renowned Work It was effected neither by humane force nor wisdom It had all along much of Miracle in it the Nation contributing little else towards its own Salvation besides the united wishes and Prayers of all good men I am sure I speak now the sense we all had of this mercy when it was first vouchsaf'd to us and shall we ever forget the triumphant shouts and joyful Acclamations with which his Majesty was welcomed into this City shall I say or rather into the open Hearts and Breasts of all his Subjects even those that were obnoxious to his Justice yet rejoycing and considing in what they had heard of the goodness and clemency of his nature Now after such experience of his admirable mercifulness and God-like disposition to forgive and perhaps never any one Man in the World had opportunity of shewing greater after so long continuance of those manifold Blessings which attended his glorious Restauration let us not suffer our thankfulness in the least to cool and abate or those impressions of Love and Loyalty which the first sight of his Royal Person who was the desire of three Kingdoms had stamped upon us to be in any measure worn out and defaced Indeed so regardless are some men of Gods Providence over this Nation and so forgetful of his great mercies that they do not care to come nigh any place or persons that do devoutly and solemnly own them All the Liberty and Peace all the Wealth and excellent Religion which they enjoy do not possess and affect them comparably to the Fears and Jealousies of the loss of them all They are so willing and studious to put out of their minds all
he is by no means a Competent Judge having his head full of new projects and models of Reformation and Mountebank Receipts and Infallible Medicines to Cure and settle the Nation which he vents in all places and Companies with his notable remarks upon all Occurrences though all this while he be a person never so meanly bred or little vers'd in humane affairs Indeed this is the Epidemical Disease of the times and the Clergy ought not to be too severely reprehended if they have not wholly escaped the general Contagion But in truth the ground of all this Charge and Accusation is only this That the present Clergy of England take all occasions of shewing their own Loyalty and of encouraging the People to the like They teach their Hearers to be obedient and perswade them to Peace and Submission and this they had need speak often and loudly too in such turbulent and boisterous times as we now live in This is their great fault and crime and God grant that we may all live under this disgrace and dy under this Ignominy And in doing this we preach no other Doctrine but what our Saviour and Master did than was taught by his Apostles than was practised by the Primitive Christians and owned in all the Churches of Christ never contradicted but by the Papists in order to the setting up of the Extravagant Power of the Pope and by some Sectaries since the Reformation to make way for the pretended Kingdom of Christ here upon Earth but especially maintained and defended in our Church of England viz. That Soveraign Princes are accountable to God alone That actual Obedience is due to them in all things honest and lawful and That in no Case by force or violence we may resist them Nay we affirm further with equal truth That we are bound to obey our Lawful Superiours not only for fear of punishment not only for convenience or out of any temporal respect but also out of sense of duty towards God who hath enjoined it under pain of Damnation who hath invested Soveraign Kings and Princes with some of his own divine Power and Authority Nay it is not sufficient that we pay them all external Obedience or outward Respect but inward Veneration and Honour is due to them and that though themselves be vicious persens debauched in their Lives heretical in their Opinions or Tyrannical in their Government yet we must pay them such inward Respect and Reverence as is due to their high Calling and that great Place and Character and Image they bear here on Earth Nay further yet we must not so much as speak or think meanly slightly or rudely of them Curse not the King no not in thy thought much more we ought not upon any account to vilify or disparage their Persons or Government nor misrepresent or carp at their Proceedings when they suit not with our present humour or understanding nor complain of or saucily inveigh against their Administration nor do or say any thing that tends to lessen their Reputation to weaken their Authority or to bring them into contempt by which means they become less able to serve those great ends for which Government was instituted We ought not especially to lay all miscarriages or misfortunes of the times at their Door For though Kings and Princes be but men and men of the same Passions and Infirmities with other Mortals yet the inconveniences and troubles that at any time arise in a Kingdom do not always proceed from the unskilfulness or neglect of the Governours but in a great part from the perverse and unmanageable temper of the People In a word It is not more our duty than our priviledge and happiness to Obey This is our grand Prerogative not to be troubled with the Cares and yet to enjoy the blessed Fruits of Government 2. The next thing I would recommend to you is this That every one of us should first and chiefly mind his own private duty that belongs to him in that station Gods Providence hath placed him in here and to be sure to amend and reform himself before he goes about to reform others or the publick Peace and good order can never be preserved long without this that every one should keep his own proper rank and follow his own work and calling and act his own part assign'd him on this great Theatre of the World well and to the Life leaving publick affairs to those who have authority and ability to manage them things sacred to those who are lawfully called to administer them all private persons keeping within their own bounds and doing their own business they are bred to and fitted for It is in all Societies as in an Army wherein it every inferiour Officer diligently minds his own Charge and every single Souldier keeps his own Place and stoutly maintains his Ground and Post and the General over looks and governs the whole every one being ready punctually to Execute not dispute his Commands then is good order and discipline maintain'd and such a Body cannot be easily broken But when every private Souldier shall neglect his own place and duty to direct his Captain and every Captain thinks himself wise enough to Lead and Command the whole Army and is advising his General and leaves his own Company to instruct his fellow Captains not satisfied with their Conduct what can this breed but sudden tumult and confusion till they all become a cheap prey to their Enemies the Application is easy It hath indeed never been well with us in this Nation since this itch of hearing and telling publick News hath so notoriously infected all sorts of men amongst us In which alone too many in this City scandalously spend so great a part of their Life to the irreparable loss of their precious time neglect of their Trades and Religious Duties and oftentimes to the utter ruine of themselves and Families who whilst they should be in their Shops following their secular Professions are busy in mending of the State and reforming of publick abuses and grievances which concern them not and thus disorder the ranks of men and ruffle and pervert the due course of things and as much as in them lies Dethrone Depose those whom God hath set over us for that very end to take care of the publick Peace and Safety But alas Gentlemen you are too presumptuous and consident above your reach and understandings Let me tell you this is impudence and ill manners were there no other vice or mischief in it for every conceited Pedant as if he were inspired with Politicks or pert Tradesman that can but make a shift to spell out a Gazetie to undertake to wield Scepters and rule Kingdoms You ought not in modesty to pretend to Wit and Capacity enough to comprehend such affairs Matters of Policy the Arts and Methods of Government are things too sacred and venerable and august to be prophan'd by every unhallow'd hand They are like the mysteries of Religion
Church that do really most endanger both that weaken our side and encourage and harden our Adversaries Let this be but your task to wipe off this stain to answer this Objection to remove this scandal from the Loyal Party and I say it again we need not be concerned at what either Papists or Fanaticks can say or do against us Oh let not our heinous and crying sins a second time ruine and lose so just and glorious a Cause destroy so flourishing a Kingdom and Monarchy overturn the purest and best constituted Church in the World Let not our selves prove our own greatest Enemies and Betrayers It is not believe me wild huffing and hectoring extravagant Swearing and Drinking for the King and the Church it is not our damning to the Pit of Hell either Papists or Fanaticks that doth us any service or them any harm We could e'en wish all such men from amongst us but that we still hope at last they may be brought to a better mind Though they add to our numbers yet we lose and sink in our reputation by reason of them besides that they provoke God against us We cannot wish worse to the Kings Enemies than that all such as hate to be reformed would go over to their side and credit their Party We have already seen by woful experience how far the mask and disguise of Religion only prevailed and succeeded What would the effect be if so good a Cause were maintained and defended only by good men Lastly Let us all add our constant and devout Prayers for the King for the preservation of his Life the prosperity of his Affairs and for a blessing upon his Government In doing of this we only pray most effectually for our selves this is a short compendious way of wishing all good and happiness to our selves and Country earnestly praying for the Kings Life These words Let the King live or God save the King comprize in them all the outward publick blessings we can want we can wish for Then we pray for the maintenance of our Religion the defence of our Church the enjoyment of our just Rights and Liberties We pray for the common welfare and safety when we thus zealously recommend our most gracious King to Gods most especial Protection This is a way by which the meanest subject may oblige his Prince benefit his King who may truly stand indebted for his Peace and Prosperity in some measure to the Prayers of his poorest Vassal Thus though our Station be never so low and mean our interest and influence small and narrow our Authority inconsiderable yet we may prove great Benefactors to the publick and do great good to three Kingdoms by our faithful Intercessions at the Throne of Grace for his most Excellent Majesty That God would preserve his Royal Person from all outward Violence or any inward Diseases that he would continue his Strength and Health would keep and guard him from all Dangers would Cloath all his Enemies with Shame whilst on his Head his Crown doth flourish that he would inspire him more and more with Wisdom and Knowledge to Rule and Govern this great People that he would direct and bless his Counsels and prosper all that he takes in Hand that after a long and happy Reign here he may late very late be translated into the Immortal and Invisible Kingdom And as we pray to God on his behalf so ought we most especially this day to praise God for him and those manifold Blessings which he hath been the happy Instrument under God of transmitting down to us Blessed be the Day wherein he was born and the Night when it was said there is a Manchild conceived Blessed be God that saved him from those Bloody Hands that so cruelly used his Blessed Father that covered his Head in the Day of Battel that conveighed him safe through Crowds of his Enemies when his precious Life was put to sale and after innumerable Dangers by a miraculous Escape landed him safe on a Foreign Shore Blessed be God that preserved him all along during a tedious Exile that provided for him in the Wilderness that kept him constant to that Religion and Church which his Royal Father died in notwithstanding great offers and temptations to change it Blessed be God that upon this day brought him back again to his desolate People and hath hitherto continued him a publick Blessing to this Nation Blessed be God that hath given the King the Hearts and Affections of all his People God be praised for his merciful Disposition for the unparallel'd sweetness and benignity of his Temper for the Mildness and Equity of his Government his Love to the Church his Constancy to the Protestant Interest his Fatherly Care of his People For all which and all other Blessings let there be ascribed by us and all men to God Almighty the Father the Son and Holy Ghost all possible Praise Thanksgiving Adoration and Obedience for evermore Amen FINIS