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A64882
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A sermon preached before His Excellency, the Lord Lieutenant and the two Houses of Parliament in Christ's-Church, Dublin when they first met there together on Sunday, October 16, 1692 / by John, Lord Archbishop of Tuam.
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Vesey, John, 1636-1716.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing V285; ESTC R38005
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10,950
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20
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Liberty And if Men will not be Confin'd by the Society in which they live they Cancel the Obligations to which they are suppos'd to have Consented by Entring into it and so endeavour to Sap and Undermine the Foundation on which it stands and consequently expose Themselves and Others to the same Inconveniencies and Insecurities they were in when there was no Government It is therefore the Interest of Government and of Those that are Protected by it joyntly to oppose such a Principle as will destroy both And when a Government is so Supine and Careless as to suffer Men to Speak Write or Act as they list it is neither True to it Self nor Just to Those that Depend upon it but seems to Conspire with the Enemy to its own Destruction For as when there was No King in Israel every Man did what was right in his own Eyes it is as visible if every Man be allowed to do so there cannot long be a King in Israel Men do not put out their Eyes when they enter into Society but they must not walk afterward so much by the Light Within in things Lawful as by the Light of Authority in things that are to be done and the Light of Faith in the Divine Revelation of the Scriptures in things that are to be believ'd And as wise Governments will not Abridge the Liberties of Men which they have by the Charter of Nature or of Christians which they enjoy by that of the Gospel beyond what is necessary for the Peace or Good Order of the Community so neither should Men be Clamorous for being Circumscrib'd in some few things in their own Nature perfectly Indifferent 3. If the want of Civil Government be so great an Evil Then it is both the Duty and Interest of any People who are fallen into such a Circumstance immediately to apply the proper Remedy by filling the Vacant Throne by a Free Election where they have Power so to do or Peaceable Submission to Those who have a Right without it And the Publick Necessiity of Affairs the Salus Ecclesiae Salus Populi does both Require and Justifie their doing so as well for Gods Honour as their Countrey 's Safety 4. If the want of Civil Government be an occasion of so much Wickedness Mischief What great Reason have these Nations to bless Almighty God for the Restraint He put upon the Hearts and Hands of Men when these Kingdoms were left in such a State Though in some Places the Rabble proceeded to some Excess yet how little Mischief was done in comparison of what All reasonably fear'd would have come to pass When the People were left without Government and an Army was Disbanded but not Dis-arm'd it cou'd be nothing less than the Incontroulable Dominion which God has over the Hearts of Men that Restrain'd their Spirits and Chain'd up their Desires from the utmost Violence even from Sheathing our Swords in one anothers Bowels But on the contrary The Men whose Hands were Mighty found nothing while the Multitude apt enough at other times to run to do Evil now generally stand still to see the Salvation of God and God chose not in the Wind and in the Fire but in a soft still Voice to speak Peace to His People 5. When there was no King in England but the People were left as Sheep without a Shepherd and those in Ireland were Expos'd to the Fury of their Implacable and Inveterate Enemies when the Ship was left to run a Drift among Rocks and Sands without a Pilot What reason have we all to Rejoyce and to Praise God who has committed us to the Care of such a Shepherd who has put the Helm into such a Hand as hath hitherto so Steer'd the good Ship between all Difficulties that we may comfortably hope He will at length carry her into a safe Harbour Blessed be God and blessed be the Name of Their Majesties This Days Assembly opens to us a Fair Prospect of our being upon the Borders of Better Times than we have yet seen We are not as the Israelites in the Text without a King nor without a Priest nor without God in the World as some in so charging us have lyed unto God God has Restor'd our Religion and our Monarchy our Laws and our Law-Makers our Judges as at the First and our Counsellors as in the Beginning I hope we shall not be like them in the other Part by doing every One That which is right in our own Eyes seeking our Selves our Pleasures and our Gains from our Quarters our private Interests either of Parties or Persons in the prejudice of the Common Stake and to the Disservice of their Majesties who have call'd or the People who have sent us hither I hope again we shall not be like them as at other Times Murmuring at Gods Providence because our Deliverance is wrought in Measure and keeps not up with the Vehemence of our desires or Repining at such Miscariages as are inevitably Incident to all great Revolutions Lest our Ingratitude should become an occasion of our Complaints and slacken the full Accomplishment of what we long for with such Impatience Let us not therefore look only on the Dark side of the Cloud on our Personal Sufferings and fret our selves because of the Evil doers but behold the Bright and Amazing Deliverance which God has Wrought for us and rather than still be Complaining let us say with good old Mephibosheth when he lost half his Estate by the Private Accusation of a false Informer Yea let them take all since my Lord the King is Return'd in Peace And now what shall we Render unto the Lord for all the Benefits He has bestowed Since the King is Victorious over our Enemies and we are thereby Restor'd to all those Blessings of which they had unjustly Depriv'd us surely the most just and suitable Acknowledgment we can make is to serve Him in every Station and Relation wherein we have receiv'd advantage in our Religious and Private and Legislative Capacities 1. Let it be right in our Eyes to serve Their Majesties in our Religious Stations by Praying Sincerely and Earnesty for Them by whom the House of Prayer is Restored to us That the God of Israel would Protect the King of Israel and Establish him on the Holy Hill of Sion where his Right Hand hath Set him Let us thus support the hands of our Deliverer while his Armies are Fighting against Amalek that being call'd out of the narrow Scene where his Progenitors Actions were confin'd for the Deliverance of Oppressed Provinces to Assert the Liberties of Europe against the Great Destroyer he may ride Prosperously because of Truth till he see the desire of his Soul 2. Let it be right in our Eyes to serve Them with our Properties and Private Interests to enable them to compleat that Deliverance for which his Majesty so freely Ventur'd his Life among us At least let it appear that we are even in our low Estate to our Power yea and beyond our Power willing of our selves to supply the Necessities of which we have been a great occasion that our Loyalty and Zeal may Provoke many 3. Let it be right in our Eyes to serve them in our Legislative capacities by whom our old Laws are Restor'd to us and we to the Authority of making new Ones without any Challenge of such a Dispensing Power as might render both useless Let us therefore give Consent to and offer Matter for such Laws as will secure their Majesties Government by Promoting the Glory of God and Love and Good-will in the People to their Majesties and to one another by suppressing Idolatry and Vice that by Righteous Laws and Severe Executions and Good Examples all Immorality and Prophaneness may be Punisht and if possible put out of Countenance that so some Stop may be given to that Flood of Impiety That is roll'd in upon us and is become too Strong for Pulpit Reproof or ordinary Discipline It is your Duty Most Noble Lords Most Wise and Worthy Patriots in this your Day to Consider Things that make for Peace and to bear your Testimony against the crying Sins of this Generation which call aloud for Reformation or for Vengeance By frequent Rapines we have almost lost all Sense of Justice By the commonness of Swearing and Cursing all Reverence for God and Holy Things Because of these things our Government is Weakned and Reproach'd our Religion Dishonour'd and the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of Disobedience You cannot serve their Majesties more acceptably who are great Examples of Vertue and scatter Iniquity with their Eyes nor settle their Thrones more securely which are best Establish't by Righteousness nor your own Peace more durably than by retrieving the Credit of our Worship and making it a support of Vertue as well as of the Protestant Religion Then Righteousness and Peace will Kiss each other Truth will look down from Heaven and Glory shall dwell in our Land But if after so great a Deliverance we shall again Return or rather still Continue in our Follies and our Vanities in our Filthiness and Intemperance in our Oppressions and our Plunders esteeming all right in our own Eyes whereby the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye or the Pride of Life is nourished and pamper'd we vainly trust in Princes or in Armies tho never so Brave and Fortunate Our boasting of a True Religion is vain also while we hold it in Unrighteousness nor will it stay long with us upon such dishonourable Terms God knows how to Punish as well as to Deliver He can give us up to our own Hearts Lusts to Bite and Devour and Consume one another by Civil Wars or He can hiss for our Enemies from Abroad and bring upon us a Chushan or an Eglon or stir up the Conquer'd Philistine and Arm the Canaanite yet in the Land against us and the Thorns in our Sides will prove Skeins and Daggers at our Hearts and Fire come out of the Bramble and destroy the Cedars of Lebanon But I hope better things of you while I thus speak Which God of His Infinite Mercy grant for His sake who speaks better things To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen FINIS