Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
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A29916
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Monarchy maintained in a sermon preached at St. Anne Blackfryers / by Titus Bruce ...
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Bruce, Titus, b. 1654.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing B5221; ESTC R2486
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8,581
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28
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Mr. OKES WE desire you to print the Sermon you preached before the Judges at the Assizes at Reading the 12th of July 1681. Sir WILLIAM KENRICK High Sheriff Sir Jonathan Raymond Charles Garrard Esq Richard Palmer Esq John Breedon Esq John Whightwicke Esq George Blagrave Esq Gyles Hamley Esq John Wilder Esq William Reeve Esq Thomas Mason Esq Hugh Ferryman Esq Monarchy Maintained IN A SERMON Preached at St. Anne Blackfryers By Titus Bruce a Presbyter of the Church of England LONDON Printed by J. R. for Fincham Gardiner at the three Roses in Ludgate-street 1682. TO THE READER Reader IGnorance of the Divine Majesty of Heaven and interest here below are the chief Supporters of Faction and Schism Ignorance being the Mother of a blind Zeal and Interest the Guide of a Phanatical Conscience To inform the one I have expos'd my self to publick Censure To unmask the other I have compil'd these following Meditations Such as they are take them If thou art offended it shall not in the least dissatisfie me It is a Doctrine I will maintain Though I mingle my Blood with my Sacrifice The Loyal are exempted from censure if any gaul'd Beast is touch'd I shall only laugh to see him wince I know well enough how some Persons will resent this and I fear it will rather disturb their unsettled Spirits then work in them the least amendment If I labor in vain it is no more than what the best of men have done before me Moses and Aaron and all the Prophets were sent to a stiff-necked and disobedient People Men of rare accomplishments and indefatigable industry have spent their whole time and yet perhaps have not prevail'd with one refractory Sinner I do not expect to speed better than they the Subject of my Discourse being unpleasing to many and what is still worse we seldom read of a Rebel that ever had the Grace to Repent ROM 13.2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation I Read of a certain time when there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes Four times I find this mentioned in Scripture and in this Anarchy so great was the peoples Impiety that we can hardly except amongst our selves find its parallel Micha turns Idolater the Danites Robbers and the Men of Gibeah commit a Rape upon the Levites Concubine So was our case when every Sniveling Phanatick proclaimed his own Humour set up the Calf of his own Brain and danc'd about it The Army dishonestly rob'd and plunder'd all that durst be honest every Minister is espoused to his several Congregation God Almighty is the Father which gives them in this mystical Marriage and when with the Levite before mentioned they have with much pains and patience long-suffering and meekness traveled to reclaim their Errours and call them back to their first Loves must they by the Benjamites those ravening Wolves which love to devour the prey and divide the spoil as their Father Jacob had prophesied of them Gen. 49.27 Must they I say by their Sequestrations ravish them from thence This was done when there was no King in Israel when every mans Sword was his own Carver and every ones Affections sat Judge of his own Actions we had then to our grief no King but thousands of Tyrants But God who is a God of Order pittying our Distractions out of this Chaos of Confusion commanded Light and Life giving us the Breath of our Nostrils the Light of our Eyes even our most Gracious Sovereign the Anointed of the Lord. This was the hand of God this is his own Ordinance and whosoever presumes to oppose it Contra animatam dei imaginem pugnat rebells against the walking representative of Omnipotency Inde Imperator unde homo the same hand which made him Man crown'd him King and this the Apostle testifieth when he saith there is no power but of God this consideration forc'd in St. Bernard so brave a Resolution that maugre the Confederacy of the World he would prove himself a Christian to God by a Loyal Subjection to his Sovereign Si totus orbis saith he adversum me conjuraret c. should the whole World conspire against me to compel me to act any thing against my King I would fear God and his ordinance and therefore durst not offend Religious Soul he would be no rebellious Covenanter no associating Traitor and he gives his Reason Non enim ignoro ubi legerim Qui Potestati resistit Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation In which words we have three things to be considered first that Soveraign Power is an Ordinance of God Secondly Because it is so it ought not to be resisted Thirdly The Punishment of them who presume to resist of each in order To the first that Soveraign Power is an Ordinance of God When the pleasure of God had called the People of Israel to be his own peculiar Inheritance he did not presently and at the first establish one perpetual Form of Government or set the imperial Crown upon the Head of his anointed but ushers in the Royalty of a King with some inferior Subordination of Power from Captains he gave them Judges then Prophets then Judges again as if Almighty God contriv'd a way how best and upon the best experience he might be a safe-guard to his People But when these under Titles could not prevail against the daring Out-rages and bold Presumptions of the Tribes Then did he exalt his Throne creates his Viceroy and discovers his King upon his holy Hill of Sion Here God stops he proceeds no further no change from hence St. Austin proves Monarchy for this cause to be the best Government because it was the last which God establish'd When the deeds of darkness durst see the light and owl-ey'd Iniquity dar'd approach the Sun when the high hand of Impiety disdain'd the co-ercive Power of their inferior Magistrates God raised up a new Succession of Princes a race of Kings to suppress those Insolencies Hence St. Paul stiles them the Ministers of God his Revengers to execute wrath upon them which do evil In Kings saith Lactantius there is a double appearance they are men before God but Gods before men Their Commission is signed in Heaven Prov. 8.15 By me Kings Reign Their Authority is confer'd by Heaven They are the Anointed of the Lord Their Power descends from Heaven Psalm 21.1 The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord and from hence we must of necessity conclude that Soveraign Power is the Ordinance of God But further to confirm this let us look upon the great Pattern of our Lives and Saviour of our Souls when he who is the Judge of Heaven and Earth stood before the Judgment Seat of Caesar to be adjudged he confesses himself to be the Author of that Power which spoke his
Condemnation I cannot here omit the Observation of St. Austin that at the Creation where God brought forth all other Creatures in abundance storing all the Earth with many Individuums and Particulars of the same Species as many Beasts many Birds and the like he made but one man and determined all the rest should flow from his Loins and so acknowledge him their Chief and Principle and so from him a lineal Descent should be derived by primogeniture in whose hands should rest the Government of all the rest So that we see Monarchic Government is by God's own order the most natural When men began to multiply upon the face of the Earth and became as the Stars of Heaven or as the Sand upon the Sea-shore for multitude for the better peace and tranquility of the World and the free course and Administration of Justice God's Providence was pleased to elect some particular Persons to govern the several Provinces and Dominions of the Earth He suffered not all the great men in any place to have an equal share in Authority and Power least that Aristocracy should have bred Emulation which is commonly the Parent of Discord he was much further from letting all the People enjoy a Parity lest their Democracy should have brought in Confusion But he exalts the horne of his anointed he disposes the rest in subordinate Offices under him thereby maintaining so blessed a Consort here below as that it is an imperfect shadow of that blessed Harmony which is above And upon these Persons thus exalted God hath bestowed an especial Character to secure them from any dangerous Conspiracies Touch not mine anointed saith David Chron. 1.16 my Messias saith the Original as if the Brow of Majesty were the nearest Draught and liveliest representation of Almighty God Hence it is that they were honoured in the purest times by the best of Christians with such Appellations as did befit their greatness their words Divalis jussio the audible Voice of God their presence Sacra vestigia the clearest foot-steps of the Deity This Primitive Doctrine would still be believed and practised were it not for some who creep into Pulpits as customary Birds at the time of the year into hollow Trees where out of a zealous ignorance they dare declaim against all Authority as Anti-christian all Antiquity as Heretical all moral Learning as in it self Damnable which I must confess is the best Plea for their own ignorance These are Jeroboam's Calves set up at Dan and Bethel to hinder People from going up to the House of the Lord where the true Exposition of the Law would teach them their Duty It is the Apostle's advice to his Son Titus 3.1 Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates for indeed all Authority descends from God and our Superiors bear the Image of the Divine Power There is no sin in the World which God hath punished with so great Severity and high Detestation as that of Rebellion For the sin of Idolatry and other Crimes God hath sent the Sword the Pestilence and the Famine but it was never heard that the Earth opened and swallowed up any but only Rebels against their Prince Quibus dum non essent digni vivere saith Optatus nec mori concessum est not deserving to live they were not vouchsafed to dye Sepulti sunt priusquam mortui they which had made a Separation from their Fathers were not suffered to be gathered to their Fathers but go down quick to Hell To what hath been said I shall only add the consent of the Primitive Church and the Testimony of the ancient Fathers and by that I hope I shall clearly prove my first Proposition viz. that Soveraign Power is an Ordinance of God In the days of old before Religion was adulterated as Eusebius tells us the Reverend Fathers in the Primitive times were wont to bless the patience of their Christian Souldiers bless them for their Loyalty bless them for their Service which they performed to their most cruel Blood-sucking Persecutors when they behaved themselves like the stoutest Champions in the Causes of their Emperors under whom they were more likely to suffer Death than to receive a Reward they were encouraged with an Euge sic decet Christianos well done now ye shew that ye serve the Lord of Heaven by obeying his Vice-Roys his own Ordinance here on Earth When our Saviour Ascended into Heaven he left the holy Spirit as a Legacy to his Church to guide it into all Truth I hope St. Peter and St. Paul were true and sound Divines And we find both these affirming that Soveraign Power is of God But we are faln into the dregs of time wherein we have some who through ignorance and impudence dare assert that had these Apostles lived in these times when Christians knew their own strength they would have taught the Church another Doctrine Blasphemous Wretches can they not be content to wrest the Scripture to their own Damnation but must they lye against the holy Ghost and make the holy Spirit of God in whom there is no shadow or shew of turning to be byass'd by interest and to serve the times Never Mussel-man yet thought so of Mahomet or Heathen of the course of Nature If we consider the Writings of the Heathens we shall find that they attribute more to their Princes than many professing Christianity are willing to acknowledge Plutarch tells us Principes sunt Ministri Dei à Deo constituti Tacitus Minime ambigendum est imperium à Deo habere Principes Princes are the Ministers of God and are constituted by him saith the one and it is not to be doubted but that they receive their Power from God saith the other St. Austin is still more clear Lib. 5. De Civ Dei Cap. 25. Non tribuamus dandi Regni atque imperii potestatem nisi Deo vero which the Apostle may interpret for us the Powers which are ordain'd of God St. Irenaeus tells us Cujus jussu nascuntur homines hujus jussu Reges constituuntur he that saith unto them Live gives them Power likewise to Reign To what purpose should I add more but only that by which St. Peter characterizes the Separatists of his time 2 Pet. 2.10 which may not unfitly be applied to ours they despise Government Presumptuous are they Self-will'd and are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities I know not whether I may call St. Jude's Epistle a History of those times or a Prophecy of these he tells us of men crept in unawares who separate themselves dissatisfied murmuring Persons and disobedient But I pass to the second Secondly We ought not to resist I presume none present will be so impious as to deny but that the Sacred Scripture is the Rule both of our Faith and our Obedience The Apostle advises that we should desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby But alas some Persons have rub'd over these Breasts