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A61282
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Four sermons preached upon solemne occasions I. The troubler of Israel. II. The righteous mans concern for the churches misery. Preached before the judges. III. Cæsars due honour, preached before the mayor and aldermen of Leicester, May 29. 1669. IV. Davids work and rest, preached before the election of the mayor. By Tho. Stanhope A.M. Vicar of St. Margarets in Leicester.
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Stanhope, Thomas.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing S5233B; ESTC R221868
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48,189
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101
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to our good God and good as the ready way to procure good to our immortall souls This then I desire to charge upon all in publick offices Let those that are about you discern your vigour and activity for His service by whom you are advanced Spare no pains in furthering it neglect no means conducing to it And remember that when you act for him you act for your selves when you endeavour his glory he will be sure to enhaunce yours according to his promise 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed But Gods worship is a word of large extent and camprehends many things under it I humbly crave leave to be your remembrancer of these two 1. Let no false worship be countenanced within your Jurisdiction Let not Dagon be set so near the Ark nor an Altar for Baal be reared by the Altar of the God of Israel Zeal against the rules of Grammar begins to decline at the ablative as well knowing that a true worship can never be advanced till all false worships be suppressed Whilst like the Samaritans 2 Kings 17.41 we fear the Lord and worship our graven Images we are party-per-pale Christians and Idolators The first work of good Hezekiah was to throw down the high places and to make the brazen Serpent Nehushtan 2 Kings 18.4 If any enquire whither this advice tends my answer briefly shall be Luke 23.33 Every Considerative man may easily discern that the Church of England like Christ its husband is crucified between two malefactors The Papist on the one hand and the Separatist on the other both these would have their worship in contempt of and opposition to ours which brings an Odium upon our Religion And certainly if those who have power in their hands improve not their power to vindicate that Church whereof they are members their account will be heavy when the greatest must appear before one greater than they and receive a reward according to the discharge of their places No matter how foolish people spend their Lungs and strain their throats to cry up liberty of conscience It is a thing which once admitted would make our England an Amsterdam And if arguments will not convince us sad experience may that nothing is more intolserable than a toleration of opinions 2. Take care that the Lords-day be kept holy That God may be worshipped it is necessary some time be set apart for his worship and what time fitter than that which is already appointed wherein then can Magistrates more promote Gods worship than by providing that this day be spent in it How vigorously did Nehemiah appear in sanctifying the legall Sabbath chiding with the Nobles of Judah shutting the Gates in the evening before the day declined and not opening them till the Sabbath was ended nay setting his own servants to watch the gates and not suffering the Merchants and Tradesmen to lodge within the City Nehem. 13.17 19 20. I argue not for a Jewish Sabbath Omnes dies dominicos cum omni veneratione decrevimus observart et a servili opere abstineri et ut mercatus in eis minimè sit nec placitum ubi aliquis ad mortem vel ad poenam judicetur Concil Mogunt can 37. Vid. Zanchuin in 4 Precept Exod 20.8 but a Christian Lords-day which had we nothing else the argument à fortiori would engage us unto If they under the law must set apart one day in seven to remember the great work of Creation well may we under the Gospel to commemorate our redemption without which creation had done us no good And truly I am sorry there is so much reason for this advice Men generally forbear bodily labour and suffer themselves to be worse employed giving the least part of that day to him whose due the whole of it is It is a shame that an usurped power should bring people into better order than all the commands of lawfull Authority It is not many years since a strict Proclamation came forth for keeping this day Holy and frequenting Church both evening and morning I hope you will see that so Religious a Command be observed And forget not that the fourth Precept of the Law is directly charged upon the head of a Family and by the same reason reacheth the head of a Corporation Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day as if the duty were only his or the omission of inferiours should be set upon the superiours score It is through Gods blessing in your hand to rectifie all abuses of this nature your Authority will force men to Church keep them both out of Ale-houses and Idleness when our Sermons cannot And therefore we humbly beg your help that God be not provoked to curse the work of our days because we despise the work of his and blast all our diligence on the six for our prophanation of the seventh 2. David served his Generation and by punishing contumacious offenders I will early destroy all the wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord Psal 101.8 When the Amalekite came with the news that he had slain Saul David slew him 2 Sam. 1.15 When Baanah and Rechab had killed Ishbosheth he killed them 2 Sam. 4.12 yet the one was his persecutor and the other his competitor for the Kingdom Afterwards when Joab had sinitten Abner and Amasa of whom I mean Joab it might be said as once of Origen ubi benè nemo melius ubi malè nemo pejus Where he did well no man did better and where he did ill no man did worse and when Shimei had cursed David though his Reign was so troublesome that he could not take vengeance on them in his life yet he leaves it in charge to Solomon 1 Kings 2.5 6 8 9. Punishments of such high nature possibly fall not within your compass yet herein it is fit you imitate David and hereby also you shall serve your Generation in not suffering any guilty persons which come before you to glory in impunity Pity and lenity do well become a Magistrate where they may do good but if the sore will onely rankle with plaisters it is time to apply tents and corrosives Comerarius apud Godwinum de Antiquit. Roman lib. 4. cap. 2. Bonum est cum puniuntur nocentes Quis hoe nisi nocens negabit Tertul. de spectaculis cap The Consuls of Rome had both rods and axes carried before them Rods as ensigns of mercy if the offences were less and the offenders penitent axes as tokens of severity if the offences were greater and the offenders incorrigible You know who hath said To acquit the wicked and to condemn the righteous both of them are abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 Nay let me tell you that a sparing those who are evil is a discouragement a wrong to those that are good Magistratus qui de malis paenas nòn sumit bonos injuriâ
Church when the Arrians were favoured above the Orthodox One party separating from the other and the fautors of that blasphemy persecuting the true believers with unchristian cruelty I need not mention the lamentable broyles which ruined Germany by the rage of the Anabaptists These calamities have and do and will follow if the foundations of doctrine be destroyed And no doubt the like evills must be expected upon destroying the foundations of Government It was well said men had better live where nothing is lawfull than where all things are and a bramble Government is better than none Tyranny makes any Kingdom a kind of Purgatory but Anarchy makes it a very Hell nay what if I say even Hell abhors it for that place of torment admits of some order and there we meet with a Prince of the Devils Take away the exercise of Authority and you introduce confusion Bring down the Soveraign power and every Peasant will make himself King The ordinary rabble are so mad-headed that if affairs be left to their management piety and honesty will both suffer Religion and justice will be turned out of doors 'T is not in vain the Scripture four times repeats In those days there was no King in Israel Since the reason of recording it so often may be gathered from the places where it is found When that people had no setled Government every man was a Law-giver to himself and never did they Commit more wickedness or endure more misery Micah steals his Mothers money part whereof when restored is made into an Image and the man gets an house-full of Gods what is the reason In those days there was no King in Israel Judg. 17.6 Micahs house is robbed by the Danites and those Children of Dan worship this Image How came this Idolatry In those days there was no King in Israel Judg. 18.1 The Levites Concubine is abused to death when was this gross uncleanness In those days when there was no King in Israel Judg. 19.1 Israel and Benjamin quarrel because the adulterers escape unpunished 40000 Israelites are slain and the tribe of Benjamin reduced to 600 and that calamity proceeded from the same ground In those days there was no King in Israel every man did that â—hich was right in his own eyes Judg. 21.25 But what need we travell as far as Canaan when poor England hath experienced these fatall mischiefs It is not beyond the reach of our memories to recollect sad Evidences of this truth Our Kingdom was once the wonder of its friends and the terror of its enemies and so continued while the foundations were unshaken but violent hands were laid upon them by Ambition and Faction A company of Male-Contents like so many Jehues drove on their designs with such fury that the Sword prevailed above the law the people I am sorry to say it were preached into rebellion Loyall subjects were the only Malignants and God could not be served if Caesar were obeyed How many lives and estates were sacrificed to the popular fury Lords and Commons fell by thousands till at length that Incomparable Prince and Blessed Martyr laid his neck upon the block Infandum jubeo renovare dolorem The body of the Kingdom had surfeited of peace and plenty and our state-empyricks knew no cure but to cut off the head Possibly there were some grievances to be redressed some corruptions had perhaps crept into Church and Commonwealth was this the way to give ease for the one or to root out the other It is strange that the shrinking of a Beam or the jutting of a wall can no way be helped but by pulling down the house This is to avoid a lesser evill by admitting a score of greater A score did I say that number is too small their name is Legion for they are many So we found them and groaned under them for severall years till the Almighty providence repaired our ruines and set up our pillars in their places again God grant they may stand firm against all the attempts of dangerous underminers But since there is a possibility of an iniquity in and a misery followeth the destroying these foundations no marvel if each pious soul bethink it self of its own duty and often ask the Psalmists question If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do And so I pass to the second generall part of the text 2. The Interrogation which may be looked upon 1. As vox reflectentis The voice of one searching into the true grounds of this dreadfull misery Which seems more probable because several translations render it in the praetertense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the septuagint and our Liturgy-Psalms what hath the righteous done David was satisfied Gods Judgements are deserved before they be inflicted The vapours of sin cause the showers of sorrow Lament 3.33 He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of men And because we may sometimes read malum in malo the evill we do in the evill we suffer it is worth a serious search how our fault and our correction suite that the Quaery may be soon resolved if the foundations be destroyed what the righteous hath done Why should not we then who have shared in the misery be as diligent in the duty The task will be easie For if our calamities were written in blood our sins have been graven with the point of a Diamond Disobedience to Authority in Queen Elizabeths days 1 Kings 18.44 was like the cloud seen by Elijahs servant about the bigness of a mans hand which in process of time growing greater and greater Eccles 11.3 overspread the face of our heavens and if the clouds be full they will empty themselves these did and in so violent a manner as to beat down all before them Little shelter could be found from that storm Nor could it be otherwise imagined when our own hands by uncovering the house had exposed it to the weather well might the posts be rotted and the building fall And when we have thus enquired into the cause how can we reflect upon it without aking hearts and moistened eyes bewailing our misery sinfulness and imprudence which leads me to the second notion 2. As vox deplorantis the voice of a Mourner And this will agree with both Translations With the old what hath the righteous done so it is vox deplorantis peccaium with the new what can the righteous do so it is vox deplorantis impotentiam 1. Vox deplorantis peccatum a Lamentation for the sin The best grieving for the afflictions of Joseph is first to grieve for the sins of Joseph Men can never be truly affected with their punishments till they be rightly apprehensive of their wickedness And observe the phrase it is what hath the righteous done not what hath the righteous suffered To convince us the Psalmist had an eye at the malum culpae as well as the malum paenae that he wept for the crime committed as well as for the misery