faster upon the Popes head is content that it should stand but totteringly upon the heads of temporall Princes as if no hand could set it on fast but that of the Bishop of Rome And therefore he saith most injuriously that they can have no more power than the people had over whom they exercise their jurisdiction as if they had no other right but by composition from their subjects forgetting these places Prov. 8.15 16. By mee Kings raigne And againe repeating it twice By mee Princes rule And Dan. 2.21 He removes and sets up Kings without the Pope his intervening His usurpation was not heard of till many yeares after To the like effect spake our Saviour to Pilate Iohn 19.11 Thou couldst have no power at al except it were given thee from above Thus S. Paul Rom. 13.1 There is no power but of God Which made him recant as it were Acts 23.5 I wist not that it was the high Priest For it is written namely Exod. 22.28 Thou shalt not revile the Gods for so it is rendred in the last Translation this phrase being given to Magistrates and perhaps from hence the Heathen worshipped mortall Gods Cyrus is said to be Gods anoynted Isaiah 4 5.1 In the first part of the Homily against wilfull rebellion it is said since Lucifer the Arch-rebel and our first parents in Paradise broke the bonds of duty God hath established authority first in families then in Cities Townes and Kingdomes Even subordinate Authority is from God though like cosen-germane it be once removed from God and the King Yea Magistrates in little Corporations and Iurisdictions they are the younger brothers of Authority there is the same blood though not the same splendour or revenue The varnish or gilt of power is the same though the walls or materialls bee finer or courser Caesars image or the Kings stampe makes silver as currant as gold And this Descent may appeare or be vouched 1. From the excellency use and benefit of it as it is said Iames 1.17 Every good and perfect gift comes downe from above Now this is the very sine qua non of society and outward blessings not onely for the bene esse but for the very esse of a Common-Wealth without this people are like a riotous rout in warre without leaders in order as sheepe without a Shepherd or a body without an head 2. This Descent appeares by Gods admirable upholding continuing it maugre mans reluctations God preserves still the ceremony and the substance First those additions of ceremony which makes it have the more due valuation from the people as Crownes Thrones Scepters Attenders great Officers for the supreme and Gownes Tippets Hoods Maces Swords White staves caps of maintenance for the subordinate Magistrates And as the ceremony so the substance of it is upheld and this God doth 4. wayes 1. By his Word as you have heard out of S. Paul the Prophet Daniel other testimonies of Scripture 2. By his Spirit to Godly men and by the instinct and dictate of nature to Heathen and ungodly men not to hurt Authority though they have opportunitie 1 Sam. 24. observe Davids excellent speech and more excellent carriage to Saul when he was in the cave in his power although Saul did prosecute him causelesly implacably and infinitly And although some men quarrell sometimes at Magistatum the person yet not at Magistratum the government their desires are not to dull or breake the sword but onely to change the hand as usually restlesse giddy people do like them in Israel 1. Sam. 8.19 Nay but wee will have a King to reigne over us as they would exchange their Iudges for Kings Ketts and Flammocks with such other viperous rebels their projects are not to extinguish government but to exchange Governours putting themselves or their leaders in place And still our mutterers and rash discontented people their quarrell is not so much against Authority it selfe but if they bee inferiors it is because they have none themselves they will give no applause to the actors because they beare no part themselves And if they bee of an higher straine it is because they may not rule their Rulers So that as a coy dame or amorous woer they must have clothes but no taylour can fitt them either the garment of Authority is too long or short too straight or wide As a sick man must drinke yet all is insipid no chamber nor bed gives him content yet the fault is not in the things themselves but in his indisposition Vsually they that are discontented at Governours it is because themselves or some of their friends are not in higher place As all mankind acknowledge a Deity yet goe severall wayes in their devotions So all by nature and the Spirit of God are taught the admirable use of Authority although they be affected divers waies for Governours and government according as their owne ends leade them 3. God upholds preserves Authority by his wife faithfull godly Ministers Even our poore Tribe helpeth to carry the Canopy over Authority else what need our Declarations sometimes at S. Pauls Crosse or other solemn places to justifie the proceedings of State in matters of conscience Thus you shal find wise S. Paul to Titus Bishop of the Cretians Tit. 3.1 Put them in minde to be subject to Principalities and Poners to obey Magistrates And thus our prudent Bishops and their Commissioners doe inquire in the Articles at their Visitations Doth your Minister exhort the people to obedience to his Majestie and all Magistrates in authority under him Dr. Boys in his 〈◊〉 pag 458. Even statizing worldlings that account but slightly of us yet think that we serve as posts at least upon which the Injunctions Mandates of the Magistrates are to be fixed 4. God preserves Authority by his admirable discovery and prevention of wicked plots against Governors and Government As Murthers have been strangely revealed by Birds Dogs so even wicked intendments against Magistrates have beene wonderfully disclosed not onely miraculously punished as it is set downe Num. 16.29 30. If these men die a common death c. But if the Lord make a new thing yee shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord Intimating that God will miraculously punish rebellion The very patient Earth the hackney of all injurious trampling will open her mouth and swallow them up As God miraculously punisheth so he also discloseth rebellions and treacheries Ecclesiastes 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thought for the birds of the Aire will reveale it Thus carefull is God to preserve his of-spring both the person and the power Now as Gamaliel said Acts 5.39 If it be of God it will continue if not it will come to nought If Authority were onely humane pride or invention it would long before now have had a fall It is worth our remembrance Theatre of Gods judgements that by conspiracies Magistrates are seldome hurt and as seldome the
THE DESCENT OF AVTHORITIE OR THE MAGISTRATES PATENT FROM HEAVEN Manifested in a Sermon preached at Lincolnes Assizes March 13. 1636. By THOMAS HVRSTE Dr. of Divinity and one of his Majesties Chaplains Rom. 13.1 There is no power but of God LONDON Printed for Iohn Clark and are to bee sold at his Shop under Saint Peters Church in Cornhill 1637. TO MY VERY NOBLE FRIEND AND WORTHY Patron Sir WILLIAM SAVILE Baronet SIR BEing perswaded to make this Sermon legible I presently resolved to use your name for the Dedication As it is a favour from you I make bold to borrow it and as it is a testimony of due respect from me you deserve it Go on still in manifesting your unfained love to God and his Church your Prince and Country And that you may long continue to be as you are an ornament to your Family and a support to your friends shall be the prayer of him that is Yours in all hearty affection and due observance THO. HVRSTE Lednam Iune 1. 1637. Perlegi Concionem hanc cui titulus est The Descent of Authority c. nec in eâ quicquam reperio quò minùs cum utilitate publicâ imprimatur Sa Baker Ex aedibus Londin Iunij 14. 1637. THE DESCENT OF AVTHORITIE Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood bee shed A Divine may speake of such Texts of Scripture that it may bee said as it was to hin that spake of Hercules his praises Quis eum vituperat Plutar. Apoph â—…ac as if that were to light a candle in the Sun-shine So when we Preachers speake of death mortality Gods mercy mans pronenesse to sinne c. Some may say or thinke Who doubts of this But for this Discourse that I am to speake of the just power of one man over another it may seeme to be Apocryphall or an Exchecker-chamber case Some especially inferiours thinke that one should bee as good as another that as wee were at our births and shall be at our deaths so in our lives we should bee equall Being Christian brethren in Divinity and partaking of the same Sacraments so Anabapâ—istically we should bee in Politicks and the pearching of one man above another is but humane invention and commanding policy Whereupon some inferiours are willing to obey principally for feare of punishment little for conscience sake To satisfie us all then that the superiority of one man over another is no humane usurpation but a divine institution not upheld only by the shores or underlaid with the bolsters of mans device but hath the foundation of Gods appointment take notice how that God who hath made in Heaven Angels and Archangels in the Firmament the King the Sun the Queene the Moone and the common people the Starres in the Aire the Eagle and the Flie in the Sea the Whale and the Herring upon Earth the Lyon and the Grassehopper hils and vallie leas and furrowes the same God hath appointed amongst men some like the Centurion to command Matth. 8.9 and others as the Centurions servant diligently to obey as in stature some higher like the Anakims and some lower as Zacheus Thus God hath ordered that Whoso sheds mans blood must not be reprieved till the day of Judgement or bee punished miraculously Acts 12.23 Isa 37 36. as Herod was by an Angel sent from Heaven or as in Sennacheribs Host where an Angel came and slew the Host but by man and not by Angels shall a malefactors blood bee shed Here then is Magna Charta or High Commission under the great Seale of Heaven directed to Magistrates Here is DEVS REGI for so he acknowledgeth DIEV ET MON DROIT And then give me leave to say a piece of your Commission before you goe to the Hall from hence it followeth CAROLVS but DEI GRATIA DILECTO ET FIDELI So then if any shall enquire in point of conscience as they did Luk. 20.2 By what authority you doe these things I meane divine Why you my Lords examine and give sentence the Justices herein concurre the Jurers finde guilty the Jaylors keepe sure the Plaintifs prosecute and the Executioners put to death here is prima lex societatis nervus Imperiorum Carions Chron. the divine Patent or grant Whoso sheds c. In which words we have Authoritatis prosapiam the progeny or pedegree the race or linage or if you will the Descent of Authority set out by Moses the ancient King of Heralds who hath informed us in all the ancient genealogies A discourse not unusefull to us all that Superiors may know how their tenure is but in capite God by a Licence of alienation hath assigned them and that inferiours may know why they owe suit service and homage to their superiors because their power stands not onely upon the crutches or stilts of humane power but upon the firme basis of divine institution that some should ride on horse-backe while others walke on foote For the evidencing hereof observe the Commission The first and more generall part of it is laid down Gen. 1.26 and 28. and likewise in the second verse of this ninth chapter Sciatis quòd assignavimus vos quemlibet vestrum conjunctim divisim to rule over fowles beasts fishes Thus far all mankind hath power And now in this verse read we have Assignavimus etiam vos we see who are of the Quorum even the Magistrates who have power over men The like we may read Wisdom the ninth from the beginning to the seventh verse As the Emperour of Germany is stiled Rex Regum so is a Magistrate over men who are petty Princes over the other creatures All mankinde are like Senatours all Kings but the Magistrate is perpetuus Dictator But it will be whispered by the Temporall power Trouble not your selfe for our Patent further than from our gracious King we have Jaylers and fetters halters and gibbets axes and scaffolds fire and faggots we will either finde or force obedience Abundans cautela non nocet The more tyes the stronger Mens Lawes may bee snapped asunder more easily Secular lawes and power are but the materials the hemp or haire Religion is that which entwines and makes it strong Men may hope that mans lawes may balke Agag and the fattest of the people but Gods Lawes say Quicunque they punish universally True the lawes of men are strong but behold a greater force a twofold cable Gods word prevailes more strongly Where there is either religious devotion or any melancholy jealous fearfulnesse or suspicion by nature there is a more serious apprehension of Gods displeasure than mans Saint Paul a wise Teacher knew what he did when hee used the double two-edged argument Rom. 13.5 We must needs obey not only for feare of punishment but also for conscience sake Observe among the Romists if they can but untie the double knot of conscience they care the lesse for the single tie of corporall punishment Assure but Ravaillac that it
is lawfull to lay his bloudy hands upon the Lords Anoynted and then he will feare but little hot burning pincers or the pulling in pieces with wilde horses When those moles the the Gunpowder pioners following their blinde guides were conceited that it was not unlawfull to fire that house wherein said they bloody lawes were made against them they then cared neither for Tyburn nor beheading And that bloody Assasine who not many yeares since slew a great Peere no doubt but that his bloody mis-led mind thought it lawfull If Divines do but once file off the fetters of divine lawes men will as fast snap asunder mens lawes as Samson did his coards Iames Clement whom the Leaguers hired to kill Henry the third and Iohn Chastell who intended to kill Henry the fourth were both taught by the Jesuites that the King was not to be obeyed if not allowed by the Pope Goodwins Annales page 23 Insurrection or rebellion never proves loud or dangerous till it pretend Religion The first noyse is for the libertie or priviledges of the people that is but like the outworkes but when the soule is pretended that is like the maine fort They begin thus The free-born Communaltie is oppressed with a small number though the calamities of this present life may with a constant patience bee endured yet the soule is to be redeemed even with a thousand deaths new formes of Religion are obtruded the constant pretence of all discontented giddy people Thus we see that the cause of Religion or the tie of conscience doth move the wheeles of all actions most forcibly Though it ill becomes them it is usually in the mouth of all seditious rebels and then in nomine Domini they are most violent The holy league and holy pilgrimes and the brethren are usually the nicknames of rebels Let it not then bee tedious for them who have their Patents sealed at Westminster to heare that they are also sealed with a teste meipso in Heaven The tye of conscience looking at Gods ordinance doth helpe to guard Authoritie as well as the Sheriffe with the posse Comitatûs Seeing then you please to usher Preface and auspicate your waightie affaires with prayers and prayses here in this sacred House after the example of all good Christians holy men in the old Testament Yea and the devout Heathen also who did usually begin à Deo Optimo Maximo So you come hither to do him service to acknowledge your dependance upon him As a labourer or workman comes to know his pleasure that sets him on worke so you here to be directed by Gods Word We of our Tribe can do no lesse but give you your due namely that your power stands not onely upon the supporters of mans policy but the strength of the divine Graunt Therefore as it is Psalme 45.4 Good lucke have you with your honour ride on with the word of truth and righteousnesse Your Commission is both from God and the King It is appointed that Who so sheds mans blood by man c. as may appeare by the meaning of the words which come now to bee opened unto us Herein is layd down the just power and authoritie of the sword not excluding Ecclesiasticall or Oeconomicall that of parents or masters but the publique temporall power is here more principally intended because it speaks of bloud-shed This verse is set like Bifrons Ianus or like Noah who had reference to both Worlds so this verse is a reason both of the former and latter verses 1. God is carefull to prevent the eating of blood verse the 4. that man should have no taste thereof and by that abstinence so much the more abhorre murther and crueltie The reason whoso sheds c. 2. It is a reason of the 7. verse Men may bee encouraged to bring forth fruit and multiply because God hath taken such a course for our safety and preservation by pinioning and swadling the hands of murtherers A man may plant set and sow in a garden with hope and chearefulnesse when it is well fenced hedged walled or empaled The fortification must bee answerable to the danger Murther began betimes even with Cain God bids bee fruitfull for hee hath taken a course with murtherers be they high or low rich or poore for it is said Quicunque generall and indefinite as Peter said Acts 10.34 I perceive there is no respect of persons with God as hee sends his raine to fall and his Sunne to shine so hee would have justice administerd impartially Musculus observes allegorically but it is som-what farfetched Of every Beast ordinary inferiour men that are kept under or of man that is bee hee noble learned wise or any wayes excellent Sheddeth mans blood that is mortally and wilfully And here observe 3. things 1. That any kinde of death is here forbidden as well as the effusion of blood bee it by poisoning strangling or otherwise A man may shed blood and not kill as Chirurgions and a man may kill and not shed blood as poysoners and stranglers 2. Phlebotomy is not here forbidden the opening or cutting of a veine which is not mortall but the taking away of life is here ment which lies in the blood as it is in the fourth verse The heart-blood is the shop or seat of life Hence it is said that though the braine be of greater dignity yet the heart is of greater necessity because it is the fountaine of life No shedding of blood though mortally is here meant if it be done by the Magistrate agreeably to the lawes of God and men no more than the plaintifs Iurers Executioners are guilty for it is said Rom. 13.4 The Magistrate beareth not the sword in vaine But private men upon private quarrells are here restrained 3. Observe that blood-shed is here put for it selfe and other sinnes for this power of the Magistrate is not restrained onely to murther and other causes capitall yea and to criminall but to civill also Else there would be no use of any Bench but that which is for life and death Here then other causes are to bee understood although denominatio fit à principaliori parte This maine offence is branded by name as being inconsistent with society So that this is a principall not the onely sinne for Magistrates to punish as usually the oath at large is given to the fore-man and all the rest are implied Although God be a patient God Rom. 15.5 yea the God of patience and when wee make bold to expresse him by borrowed speeches we say he hath leaden feet hee came sostly and convented Adam deliberately yet he will not suffer the murtherer to stay till the great Assizes at Doomes-day but hee must be punished here by his Lieutenant man This hatefull sinne is is named here we see for all the rest When Saint Paul had a Viper upon his hand Acts 28.4 the Barbarians cried No doubt this man is a murtherer They thought murder to be the non-such of sinnes
As Moses here sets downe the pedegree of Authority so our Saviour sets downe the descent of murther Iohn 8.44 He goes higher than Caine Yea are of your Father the Devill he was homicida a manslayer from the beginning Let those then who are as prodigall of their owne and others blood as doggs and cockes consider how murther is here branded by name and so it may well be for it is injurious to five 1. To God whose institution is violated and his image cancelled and defaced 2. To the Magistrate whose sword is taken out of his hand and hee made like the signe of Saint George If a man be injured are there not Courts of justice both for our profit for our honour What nonsense then is it for a man in rage or passion which is a short madnesse when hee is not his owne man that hee should wrest the sword out of the hands of the sober just deliberate Magistrate and revenge his quarrell himselfe 3. A murcherer is injurious incomparably to that man whom he slayes so as he cannot give him satisfaction If he take away his goods he might restore if his good name hee might recant but who can fetchbacke a departed soule he onely can give life that first infused it 4. A murtherer is injurious to himselfe 1. To his body making it liable to a violent death or his life afterwards if his conscience be not asleepe is a continuall Purgatorie as wee may observe in some who have beene heires to Cain's murther they have been likewise inheritors of his despicable wofull wandring 2 For his soule he cannot say at his death with our Saviour Epist 154. ad Publicol Consummatum est for without bitter repentance hee leapes out of the pan into the fire Saint Augustine doth so dislike manslaughter that he saith non sibiprobari illud consilium ut quispiam alium interficiat nè ab illo occidatur 5. A blood-shedder mortally and wilfully is injurious to his wife and children by forfaiting his estate and depriving them of that which should be for their comfortable livelihood and maintenance Thomas Aquinas of every beast expounds it of beastly men intimating that murtherers are metaphorically like beasts rash violent furious inconsiderate cruell unreasonable and unprovident as they Seeing then that Gods Spirit by Moses hath stigmatized this hatefull vice let not rash anger beginne malice and revenge prosecute and a vaine conceit of honour occasion the committing of this desperate sinne which God will not have stay till the day of Doom but bee punished by his Deputy Man which word now followes By man Wee must not straiten these words as confined to Noah and his immediate successours but as the priviledges and jurisdiction in generall of mankinde over other creatures so likewise the power of man one over another doth still continue Againe wee must not thinke that by man Providet nè interficiant iussu non expectato publico Aug. in Exod. the Magistrate is to be so understood as if they were to be the Executioners so condemne under-officers for they are the Magistrates hands These words by man are rarely left out usually put in alwayes understood By man the Magistrate so the Chaldee Paraphrase per sententiam Iudicum and so Cornelius à Lapide upon these words quotes it and expounds it Calvin acknowledgeth the Magistrates authoritie to bee hence derived sed verba plus complecti dicit By man the Magistrate disjunctively or some other way by man For it is said Psalme 55.23 Blood-thirsty men shall not live out halfe their dayes So that if the murtherer escape by flight or that the Magistrate be too remisse or indulgent yet either in war or quarrell duell or other casualtie the murtherers life is taken away Thus Iunius expounds these words by man in his Analysis of this chapter Hee saith there are lawes 1. naturall of the creatures subjection verse the second 2. ceremoniall verse the fourth forbidding blood-eating 3. civill and politicall verse the sixth quum Deus manum sui Magistratûs instruit ad ulciscendum Musculus gives an unanswerable reason why by man we are to understand the Magistrate If a private man kill the murtherer and another private man him and so in infinitum what will become of the species of mankinde God therefore deputes the Magistrate to doe it and there 's an end Neither saith the same Author is this a fault in the Magistrate to use a sword either defensive or offensive to malefactors It is not said Quicunque effuderit sanguinem homicidae latronis venefici c. for these putrified members must either be taken away or they endanger the whole Mercer saith not by private men nè nisi maturè causâ diligenter excussâ occidatur If it were left to private men in their choler they would put to death without just cause as in chance-medly or misadventure which the Magistrate doth not punish with death Peter Martyr here understands the Magistrate and makes the later words a comment or reason Quia illum fecit scilicet Magistratum ad imaginem Dei non HOMINES sed ELOHIM appellantur God borrowes the word King stiling himselfe King of Kings and for an abundant requitall lends Kings the title of Gods Though all men are created after Gods image yet those that are in authoritie have a more speciall resemblance of the Deity All men of understanding learning wealth and other abilities are as bullion but the Magistrate hath the very currant stamp of Gods power Piscator also herein concurres QVI EFFVNDIT nempe privato affectu ex odio aut ira PER HOMINEM idest Magistratum I have endevoured you heare to lay the foundation strong because we are to build much hereupon Gods Patent to his Deputies or the Descent of Authority It followes shal his blood be shed God proportions his punishments Blood for blood as it is Exod. 21.23 or Life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth c. Thus We see the divine justice paying murtherers in their owne coyn Occidit occidatur Oleafter saith upon these words A principio Mundi occisio occisione vindicatur This retaliation of blood for blood Christ told Saint Peter of Matth. 26.52 Whose killeth with the sword shall perish by the sword The same words are used Revel 13.10 here is Lex talionis They that account the life of another cheap do make the market and price for their own From these words thus opened these divine truths present themselves to our consideration 1. Whosoever that God is impartiall 2. Sheds mans blood The hainousnesse of murther here named 3. By man The Descent of Authority 4. Shall his blood be shed The proportioning of Gods punishments to mans sinnes But as I made choice of these words for this time and place so I will insist onely in the third and most usefull to us the terminus à quo of Authority or the Descent of it Master Harding to set the Crowne the
may regulate the outward man words and actions the spiritual sword the inuer man thoughts conscience Those that would occasion any civill warre or breach betwixt these two endeavour to disable those shores that beare them up It is great rashnesse for some unadvised Teachers and discontented people like themselves who love to dance after their ill tuned pipes to be alwaies throwing dirt into the faces of Governours and government being private men they hate and envie all those that have power An eminent Prelate of our Church said in his Sermon to the Parliament The Church cannot dwell but in the State nor the Common-wealth flourish without the Church When the Church the house of grace is a welcome inmate to the State which is a wise fabrick of policy not onely humane but a divine ordinance In a word let these ordinances like husband wife live with harmony and love together The soule cannot act quoad nos but by the body nor the body live without the soule so these ordinances Lastly and in briefe lest I bee injurious to your imployments whilest I plead for them this may be usefull both to Superiours and inferiours First to Magistrates and Superiours My Lords and others give me leave onely to put you in minde of the pedegree or Descent of your Authority It is from above from God of the blood Royall both from another and for another As a Nobleman doth or should endeavour to imitate the vertues of him that raised his house so let Magistrates carriage not be bitter or insipid but sweet pure cleane like the fountaine from whence it came They must not be like old courtiers or rich citizens forgetting from whence they had their beginning A man in authority is not genus generalissimum quo nihil superius as he is genus hujus so he is species illius like the Moon borrowing light from the Sun they must not as butchers or graziers then judge by the feeling only but all their proceedings must resemble that image and superscription which it hath from the great Caesar the Lord chiefe Justice of Heaven and Earth They must like rivers returne tribute and homage to that Ocean whence their power commeth They must doe better than private men for example sake more good and lesse evill considering their high descent and Ancestours whom they must labour to resemble so farre as humane infirmitie will permit by endeavouring to be holy just mercifull impartiall wise deliberate as he is from whom they derive their power I might easily be large in shewing that God is so and that his Deputies should be so Yea further Let all even inferiour Officers and Jurors and whosoever beare any part in the punishing of sinne let them labour to bee just and free from any sharking or oppression We finde that Authority is of an excellent race nobly descended and therefore it should be generous not making the vigour and power of Authority to be onely a modus acquirendi like the Publicans It was lawfull to pay tribute to Caesar our Saviour did not gainsay it but bid Render unto Caesar And he told Saint Peter Matth 22.21 Matth. 17.27 Lest we should give offence though the children be free yet take twentie pence for thee and me But then the Publicans made that bitter or harsh which would otherwise have been better digested because they did not onely take for their masters like tame hawkes but like wilde hawkes snatched also for themselves Such were the toll-gatherers or receivers of the publike revenue for the Romanes amongst the Jews who because they gathered publike payments were termed Publicans Although their calling was good Matth. 9.10 Luke 18.10 and some of their persons good witnesse our Saviours conversing with them and the Publican praying with the Pharisee and Zacheus who was Principâ— Publicanorum Luke 19.2 Matth. 9.9 Matthew the Publicane was afterwards an Apostle yet their imployment was not very acceptable People were then slow in paying publike money and â—hen the gatherers oppressions and private exactions over and above their masters dues made them more hard of digestion Suetonius reports of one Sabinus that had a monument for him with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a faichfull Publicane as if that were a great commendation considering that occasiones faciunt latrones But let men in authority from the highest to the lowest prove the descent of their power by its justice and generosity 2. Let people learne from hence to acknowledg this Descent of Authority and that therefore they must neither usurp it nor slight it nor disobey it First not usurp it They must stay for a lawfull calling private men and women must onely act in their owne spheres and circuits as Masters over servants and parents over children Saint Pauls spirit was troubled in him at the idolatrie of the Athenians â—…cts 17.16 but being a private man he onely exhorted but did nothing Secondly People must not slight it because it is so nobly borne as appeares by this Heraldry booke of Moses where we finde as it is Act. 19.35 that this goddesse Magistracy is that image of power which is come downe from Heaven Being so highly descended it is scandalum Magnatum to speake slightly of it And it is highly imployed also for either of these wayes may this fault be committed Magistracy hath the priviledges both waies being highly born as Nobles and highly imployed as great Officers Thirdly We must obey and submit to this ordinance even for conscience sake Take Saint Peters advice 1 Pet. 2.13 14 which is a part of the Epistle appointed to bee read the twentie seventh day of this moneth the day of our gracious King his entry to the Kingdome Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it bee to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him For the Lords sake the Founder of it and for its owne sake being so incomparably beneficiall for people Not to esteeme of these and obey them as Gods Deputies is a kind of civill Atheisme For we may say justly as the people to Herod unjustly The ordinance of God and not of man And that wee may the better submit Acts 12.22 take these helpes following 1. Make it not our imployment to finde and make faults in Governours For then out of envie we shall thinke them faulty without cause Moses said Numb 16.15 I have beene no waies injurious to them Indeed hee had meekely justly and miraculously brought them out of the land of Egypt yet observe in the third verse Corah and his company quarrelled Why lift ye your selves above the congregation of the Lord And though the patient Earth miraculously punished them yet in the 41. verse all the multitude murmured saying Ye have killed c. And then God slew more of them Magistrates and Ministers are like cities upon hils all eyes are fixed observing them They cannot possibly avoyd this dilemma fork or crotch from peevish censorious by-standers If they be quick and active then they are busie and cruell if mercifull and gentle then they are dull lazy and remisse in their places Iohn Baptist came neither eating nor drinking Mat. 11.18 19. and they said he had a Devill The Sonne of man came eating and drinking and they said Behold a glutton and a wine-bibber If a Governour bee like Solomon taking care for the building of a Temple the fruits of peace and devotion yet the people will say 2. Sam. 16.7 as it is 2. Chron. 10 4. The yoke is grievous And David being an active man conquering the Jebusites hee is accounted Vir sanguinum For as the Sea though of it selfe indifferently quiet yet there are ever and anon some whistling winds to make it troublesome So there are alwaies some like Ieroboam who stroke the people with cavils against Governours thereby to sowre and leaven them From which censorious conceits proceed daring speeches Mâ—… Lord Verâ—lam in Hen. 7. And liberty of speech it is the female of Sedition and in time the Grand-mother of treason Take heed of the bewitching arguments Romists on the one side and the miscalled Sions Plea and the like on the other by which under a cloake of Religion they labour to make the people disaffected to their Governours and government 2. Remember whence Magistrates come Looke upon them not personally but relatively When an Ambassadour comes wee doe not presently inquire or prie how learned rich wise or nobly borne hee is but from what a great Master hee comes and doth represent Alexander would be accounted the sonne of a God thereby to keepe his people in obedience 3. Doe as ye would be done by How would ye have your children and servants carry themselves in your private families Not usurpe nor sleight nor disobey you And if ye come to any publike imployment would ye have them that are under you observe nothing but your warpings and failings yea worse creating jealousies and suspicions without cause Lycurgus being asked why the government was not popular answered Tu prius in domo tua efficito principatum popularem 4. Consider that the worst kind of Governours or Government is better than an Anarchy And therefore that Magistracy is a great blessing being the very life of society No marvell then that Saint Iude reckoneth speaking ill of dignities among great faults 5. Forget not Gods command Honour thy father c. not onely Naturall but Politicall thy father in the kingdome as well as in the family that thy dayes may be long being peaceable subjects here and glorious citizens hereafter the Magistrate is parens patriae 6. Pray to God who doth dispose the hearts of Rulers and people that the one may governe and the other obey conscionably using these and the like prayers with which I will conclude Almighty God whose Kingdome is everlasting and power infinite have mercy upon the whole congregation and so rule the heart of thy chosen servant Charles our King and Governour and the hearts of all that are in authority under him that they knowing whose Ministers they are may above all things seeke thy honour and glory and that we duely considering whose authority they have as wee have beene taught may faithfully serve honour and humbly obey them in thee and for thee according to thy blessed Word and Ordinance through Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS