such our Kingdom hath not but as subordinate as deriving Authority from one i. e. the King who is the Supreme or the Highest Power in the Kingdom And thus St. Peter may expound St. Pauls meaning 1 Pet. 2.13 where both these are exprest and we are told that we must Submit to the King as Supreme in his Kingdom and to Governors as appointed by him Which as Beza notes is added to prevent the cavil of those who pretend obedience to the Supreme Magistrates but despise his Officers and Ministers And indeed Subjection to the Supream Magistrate carries this in it Authority being derived from him as the Head to them as his Hands and Instruments Do men expect that the King should come to every one of them and deliver his will and pleasure to them in his own person do they think that he Himself can do every thing that is to be done for the welfare of his Kingdom Surely not He must make use of others in most things and do great part of his work by them and as he must do this so what we do to them is done as to himself if we be subject to them acting by Authority from him we are subject to him if we resist them we resist him And this directly opposes that Traiterous Position of some in these Kingdoms That though it be unlawful to take Arms against the King yet it is lawful to take Arms against those that are Commissionated by him But against whom do they oppose themselves when they oppose themselves against the Kings Commissioners do they not oppose those that Act by his Authority And can they be resisted and he not be resisted his Autority not violated This is as much as to say I strike at a mans Legs or Arms but not at the man as if the man and his Legs or Arms were not all one as if those might be wounded or cut off and the man not hurt 5. Though we must not understand by the Apostles words that it is our duty to be subject to the Highest Power only yet we must understand them thus that it is our Duty to be subject in the first place to the Highest for here is an Emphasis on the word Higher and the Higher is to be looked upon as the Power 'T is true the Kings Ministers are higher then we and therefore we are to be subject to them as has been said but the King is higher then they and they as we are to be subject to him The Power they have is the Kings and they have no power against him and therefore as long as they act under the King and by his Authority so long we are bound to he subject to them but no longer And by this we may know what we are to do in case it should happen that the inferior Magistrates or Powers should divide from and oppose themselves against the King and require our Assistance That we are to look upon the Higher as the Power and to be subject to him If as in old Time the Barons or any of the great Ones of the Kingdom should call you to joyn with them as being the Powers to whom you ought to be subject you are to consider who is higher the Baron or he that made him so If any Parliament should as once you know a Parliament did resist the King and require your Assistance against him as having Power or being the Powers you are to consider who is the Highest Power who called them or made them to be a Parliament was it not the King by his Authority who Establisheth all their Acts and giveth them the force of Laws Is it not the King who is it that can dissolve them and make them nothing Is it not the King He therefore is to be looked upon as the Higher Power to whom we are to be subject 6. When the Apostle requires every Soul to be Subject to the Higher Powers you must understand him of those Powers that are lawfully and by true Right such and not by Usurpation An Usurper can no more be said to be the Higher Power then one that drives thee out of thy house can be said to be the true Owner of it They only can be said to be the Higher Powers whose right it is to be so And this the word which is rendred Powers doth import as every one knows that understands the Greek Tongue and the words of the Apostle in the later part of this verse shew us that we must understand him thus the Powers that we must be subject to being such as are of God and ordained of God and the Ministers of God Not every one that can get into the Throne by any means or Methods is to be owned for our Sovereign but He whose right it is to be in the Throne And I need not say that our present Sovereign has apparently that Right because besides the Crown 's coming to him by a long lawful lineal Descent His Right thereunto has been publickly owned by the three Estates of the Kingdom Assembled in Parliament every Kingdom should be to their King as Bucephalus is said to have been to Alexander he would carry none but his own Master so a Kingdom should bear none but its own lawful King and Governor Every one that attempts the Throne should be repelled and he that usurps it should be cast and thrown There should be overturning overturning overturning until he comes to take possession whose Right it is as it was in the late times of Usurpation and Tyranny The King therefore our present King for whose preservation and protection we do dayly pray and those that are in Authority under him are the Higher Powers whom the Apostle enjoyns us to be subject to But 7. You must note that the Apostle does not say that we must be subject to the Higher Powers if they be so and so qualified if they be of this or that Religion but without any such limitation Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers Now when the Law distinguishes not it is not for us to do it where God puts no limitation nor exception we ought not It is a good note of Beta's upon the words that the Apostle did not use a Trope here putting the word Powers for them that have the Power rashly and unadvisedly but that we might know that it is our duty to be subject to them that are in Authority and Power how unworthy soever they may seem to us to be of that Power and Authority And Surely if ever any Person was unworthy of Power Nero who was Roman Emperour when this Epistle was written was unworthy of it for by the consent of all Writers he was a meer Monster a most filthy and cruel Tyrant and yet the Apostle charged Christians to be subject to him And this Observation I have made because at this time some ignorant people or worse then ignorant seem to think That we are not bound to be subject to our present
and the Powers that be are ordained of God And therefore if we be truly Christs Servants we shall be as truly the Kings Subjects and faithfully perform the Dutys of such because Christ hath so commanded us 2. By the Higher Powers you are not to understand any thing distinct from the Persons in Power but the Persons in Power themselves This is evident from the Context for the Higher Powers in the Text are no other then the Ruders in the 3d. vers which Rulers are called in the same verse the Powers Besides Power and Authority abstracted from the Persons in whom it is cannot be said to do what the Power or Powers are said to do viz. to commend or encourage aveng or punish Add to this that the Apostle having mentioned the Power vers the 3. and the Praise which they that do well have from it he adds immediately vers the 4th For he that must needs be the Person in Power is the Minister of God to thee for good and he bears not the Sword in vain c. Nor can we think this use of the word strange because 't is thus used more than once in the Holy Scriptures See Luke 12. vers 11. and Chapter 8. of this Epistle verse 38. when the Principality and Powers mentioned are certainly the the Princes and Men in Power which should permute Christs Disciples for their Faith and because 't is thus used frequently in Human Authors as might easily be shewed you if I did think it necessary And indeed Common Reason will teach us thus to interpret it for Power separated from the Person in whom it is is but a Chimera or figment of the Brain and serves to no purpose at all in the lives of men In Notion as we say they are distinct and may be considered assunder but indeed they are one and the same and cannot possibly be divided And therefore they that resist the Persons of them that are in Power resist their Power and Authority too The King of Syria that commanded his Captains to sight neither with small nor great 1 King ult v. 31. 2 Sam. 17.1 2. 1 Sam. 24.4 but against Ahab did bid them fight against the King of Israel And Achitophels Counsel was not only against David but against the King also And when David cut off the Skirts of Saul's Garment his heart told him that he had injured the King the Anointed of the Lord. To say that Ahab Saul or David could be touched wounded slain and their Power or Authority not violated is to speak superfine nice and to use the common phrase of of some men unscriptural Nonscence to mince and distinguish things into just nothing the Power and the Person in whom 't is Seated being inseparable And this I have noted for the Condemnation of those who were the Authors of that Distinction betwixt Power and Person as if one might fight against the one and not against the other And much more of those who could not only distinguish betwixt the Power and the Person but could Arm the Authority or Power against the Person that bare it For so in the late damnable Rebellion the Commons that raised it did pretend the Kings Authority to take Arms against Himself and though they took his Person Prisoner and cut off his Head yet they pretended that they did not design to hurt the King A most Hellish Device and beyond any of old Achitophels framed on purpose to overturn all setled Goverments and to bring Confusion and destruction upon all Human Society Against which our Laws have since very well provided requiring all persons admitted to Offices and Places of trust to abjure or renounce upon Oath the Trayterous position of taking Arms by the Kings Authority against his Person Indeed 't is hard to imagine that any rational People should ever entertain such a Trayterous Position the Authority which is for the safety of Subjects being manifestly much more for the safety of the Sovereign But what the Devil can do in the world by Gods permission and what power he has over men even wise men in wordly matters that love not the Truth in sincerity but hold it in unrighteousness is plain as in other things so in the prevalence of this senceless Doctrine in the late Times and by the backwardness of many to renounce it even in ours 3. When the Apostle saith that every Soul must be subject to the Higher Powers we must not understand it as if he meant that we must be subject to all the Powers that are in any part of the world and may take upon them to command us for what have we to do with the Powers of France or Spain or any other Countrey and what have they to do with us but we must understand it of our own Higher Powers i. e. of those whom God hath set over us and are his Ministers to us for our good Other Powers have their people and subjects and they and their Bounds are known They are concerned only to command their own Subjects and their Subjects are concerned to obey them only And let them see to the Practise of their Duty They have nothing to do with us nor we with them but as we have Powers or Governors of our own so we must be subject to them and them only If therefore any Foreign Prince or Potentate shall take upon him to command us we may we must slight his commands and resist his Forces if he uses any to compel us that we may discharge or Duty to our own King and Governor God has not commanded us to Serve several Masters of different interest and designs nay he has forbidden it in that he has set One over us and commanded us to be subject unto him And this is the more to be remembred by us because of the Popes claim what Power and Authority not only over us but over those Powers also which are set over us by Almighty God Believe the Pope and you must believe that we are his subjects and that the King is so likewise that he can depose him and give his Crown and Kingdom to another if he sees cause that he can loose the Bond of our Allegiance and empower us to fight against him and cast him out of his Throne This Power the Popes of Rome have claimed but as we are sure Christ never gave it them so we cannot own any such Power in them but we must be guilty of the breach of our Duty towards the King And against the owning of any such Power the Oath of Supremacy is a necessary and wise Caution 4. By the Higher Powers we must understand not only the Highest Power in the Kingdom i. e. the King but the Powers also that are subordinate to him and commissionated by him 'T is not said the Highest Power or Higher Power but the Higher Powers 'T is not to one only but to many that we must be subject but to those many not as Coordinate for
King because as they say speaking what they know not he is not of our Religion But I beseech you Brethren to consider that Nero and those that were in Authority under him were so far from being of the Christian Religion that they were bloudy persecutors of it and yet it was the Duty of Christians then to be subject to them and they were so really and heartily And is it not our Duty to be subject to a Christian Prince for so our King is to a Prince that is so far from persecuting us for Religion that he protects and defends both us and it and hath solemnly promised so to do certainly it is And if we think not so I am sure we understand not the Religion of Christ and do but ill deserve that he should protect either us or that which we call our Religion you see then who are the Higher Powers whom we are to be subject to Let us now II. Consider what it is to be subject to them Let every Soul be subject or let every Soul subject himself to the Higher Powers for so the words may be rendred we should subject our selves to the Higher Powers and not be forced to it by them the more free and ready our subjection is the more acceptable it is to God and them but letting this pass at present the words are not a permission barely as of a thing indifferent nor Counsel meerly as of a thing expedient but Imperative of a thing that is our Duty And therefore you may observe that the Apostle says afterwards v. 5. wherefore we must needs be subject there is a necessity laid upon us we are under a Comamnd and an Indispensible obligation to be so not only for wrath but sor Conscience sake Now the word which we translate to be subject seems to me to be of large signification and to comprehend our whole Duty to the Higher Powers all that we are obliged to as Inferiors or Subjects in our several stations or places with respect to them the several parts or branches whereof we are taught in other Texts of Scripture I cannot but think it meet to mention briefly some of the cheifest 1. There must be a subjection of the soul to them so far as to entertain a reverent esteem of them and to do our Duty as Subjects readily and faithfully we must Reverence them for the place they are in and the Authority they are Inverted with as having Gods Authority and his Sword of Justice and Vengance for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of them that do well we are charged by Solomon to fear the Lord and the King Prov. 24.21 Not the Lord only but the King also Now as the Fear of the Lord is nothing else but such an awful sence of his glorious Majesty and Power as subjects our whole man to his Will and Commandments so the Fear of the King is nothing else but such an inward Reverent esteem of his Place Dignity and Authority as makes us to subject our selves unto him in all things that are not contrary to the will of God Again the same Solomon commands us not to curse the King no not in our thoughts Eccl. 10.20 i. e. to entertain no mean and contemptuous thoughts of him but to think as honourably of him as is possible as of a Person whom Almighty God whose wisdom is greater than thine or mine hath thought good to set over us and to advance next to himself in Power and Dignity And this inward esteem of the Higher Powers is the Soul and Life of that Honour which the fifth Commandment enjoyns us towards them without which our outward Subjection is but little worth in the sight of God as proceeding not from Conscience but from force or fear of Punishment and will as soon fail as that shall be removed They are therefore wicked men who though they yeild outward Subjection to the Higher Powers do yet in their hearts contemn them These are not Christs Disciples but Pope Hildebrands or Gregory the Seventh whose Doctrine it was that Kings had their beginning from men who affected Rule by the instigation of the Devil 2. There must be a Subjection of the Tongue to the Higher Powers i. e. we must use our Tongues to their honour to express and manifest the Reverence of our hearts towards them When Saint Paul was to speak for himself before King Agrippa and Festus he gave Agrippa frequently the Title of King and though Festus told him that he was beside himself which was enough to have stirred an ordinary Patience he gave him a modest a sober Answer with the Title of most noble Festus Act. 26.25 And of the same Saint Paul we read Act. 23.5 that when he had unadvisedly called the High Priest a Whited-wall being moved by a blow most unjustly given him and was reprehended for it he acknowledged his fault shewing how we ought to speak to our Rulers by quoting a known Text of Scripture Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy People Which passage is the more to be remembred because it shews that it is not unlawful only to use unjust Reproaches but even to speak reproachfully of the real Failings of our Governors It being unquestionable that the High Priest was no better than a Whited-wall who pretending to judge according to the Law did contrary to the Law command an innocent Person to be smitten We must therefore either not speak at all of the Higher Powers or else speak well and honorably of them We are too bold when we make them the Subjects of our common Discourses too sawcy when we presume to censure their Actions and we take too much upon us when we pretend to fathom the Depth of their Policys and to condemn the wisdom of their proceedings No Master will endure such Behaviour from his Servants no Parent from his Children And yet every ordinary Peasant every rude and thick-sculled Mechanic will be Prating of the Higher Powers and calling them to their Bar as if they thought themselves able to teach them how to govern the Kingdom In this it is that Rebellion begins when once men become so bold as to shoot the sharp Arrows of their Tongues against their Governors they usually proceed to take Arms into their hands These unruly Talkers do more against the Powers then the Angels of God dare to do and if you have any regard to what St. Peter and St. Jude have written you must place them in the same Rank with the Apostate Spirits and the filthy Sodomites see the 2d Epistle of St. Peter Cap. 2. and read the Epistle of St. Jude 3. Every Soul must be Obedient to the Higher Powers Put them in mind saith St. Paul to Titus Cap. 3. v. 1. to be Subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates we must obey all their just Laws all their lawful Commands i.e. Whatsoever they require and enjoyn if we can do it without sinning against God whose
Power is greater than theirs we must do it I say we must do it because when the Laws may be obeyed without sin our disobedience is a sin and our suffering the penalty doth not remove the sin nor free us from the Judgment of God And this I have said to shew you the ill use that is commonly made of a Distinction currant among us of Active and Passive Obedience as if men might break the just Laws of the King and yet be good Subjects and not break this Commandment of God because they suffer the penalty when they cannot avoid it And so by the help of this Distinction which is none of the best those that least respect Authority would be thought as Dutiful and Obedient Subjects as they that are most observant of the Laws But as Almighty God the Supreme Ruler and Governor of the World when he gave Laws to mankind did not intend that they should break them and dye so the Powers that he hath set over us have not made Laws that men may be punished for breaking them but that they may observe them for their own and the publick Good And unless it be equally good to the King that his Subjects obey or be punished unless it be all one to him whether they be benefitted by the Laws or made miserable it cannot be thought that the Law is satisfied in its main Intention when the Subject is punished for the breach of it It is very true that when any Law is contrary to any Command of God Subjects are not bound to Active obedience for God must be obeyed rather than men and then the Passive Obedience or Submission to the Punishment is Sufficient but when the Law of the King is not contrary to any Command of God the chusing of Passive Obedience before Active is a real Contempt and Scandal 4. Our Purses and Estates must be so far subject to the Higher Powers as the paying of Taxes Tributes and Customs according as the Laws do require When the Question was proposed to our blessed Saviour by some Jews whether it were lawful to pay Tribute to Caesar or not He answered Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars Math. 22.21 Customs and Tributes are Caesars therefore Caesar must have them And the Apostle here mentions it as an Instance of our subjection to the Higher Powers That we pay them Tribute vers 7. Render to all their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom And due they are to the Higher Powers both in Justice and Gratitude for they are at the cost of our Defence and Protection and the Benefits we partake of by their care and pains are innumerable and invaluable They are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing 5. We ought to be subject in undertaking such Offices as the Higher Powers shall call us to and in discharging them faithfully for their honour and the publick good Kings cannot do all things themselves in their own Persons but must make use of others in several employments and who can they better make use of then their own subjects and who are obliged to undertake them but they To those offices or employments that are mean and inferior the Dignity of Kings is not to condescend in those that are dangerous the safety of their Persons is not to be hazarded The People of Israel would not consent that David their King should go out with them to Battle for fear of quenching their light and they looked upon him as worth many Thousands of them The People are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are to assist their Prince with their bodys and their Purses in the service of War 6. We must be so subject to all their censures and punishments as in no case to resist them If they lay heavy burdens upon us oppress and wrong us yea persecute us even to death we must not tumultuate and rebel against them There is no Power saith the Apostle here but is of God and the Powers that be are ordained of God They have their Authority from God and not from us and they are over us by Gods appointment as his Ministers and though God gave them their Power for their subjects good yet if they will abuse it they are responsible to God for it and not to us he has Power to punish them but we have none and he will do it when and in what manner he sees good and it is better for us to leave him to do it who hath said Vengeance is mine and I will repay then to take upon us to do it our selves and if we do so we are sure of a sufficient reward for our patient submission but if we resist them the Apostle tells us we resist the Ordinance of God we are Rebellious not only against our King but against God himself and therefore our resistance is highly finful and damnable for They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation To which let me add the words of St. Peter 1 Epist 2.20 Where resistance is plainly forbidden even to an innocent Person For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your Faults ye shall take it patiently but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye shall take it patiently this is acceptable with God for even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps who did no sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself or his cause to him that judgeth righteously This Doctrine the Apostles of our Lord taught and the example of their Lord and ours they followed and so did all Christians for above six hundred years after Christ not only not Rebelling or Caballing or Conspiring against the Higher Powers when they were most of all tempted to it when they were persecuted and oppressed killed and tormented spoyled of their goods and every way most dispightfully used but also professing it to be unlawful And therefore if any be not convinced that this is their Duty if any do believe and will take upon them to maintain that they may lawfully in any case or for any cause suppose it be for Religion Rebel against or in any tumultuous and violent ways resist the Higher Powers they ought to be looked upon as wretched Apostates from one of the most considerable points of the Christian Doctrine as the maintainers of one of the most pernicious and damnable Heresies that ever was brought into the world Now in the practice of these Dutys does our subjection to the Higher Powers mainly consist and shew it self and if we will observe this precept of the Apostle it behoves us to take care that we be not wanting in any one of them III. I proceed now to shew you what is meant by every Soul or who are the Persons who are bound to be subject to the Higher Powers
Concerning which there is no doubt but by every Soul the Apostle means every man by an usual Synecdoche It is possible indeed that the Apostle did make choice to speak thus putting the Soul for the man to intimate that our subjection to the Higher Powers should be from the Heart and Soul free ready cheerful not by constraint which is bruitish not meerly Passive but in all lawful things Active but it matters not whether he did so or not for it is evident enough from other places of Scripture that it ought to be so that which the Apostle teaches concerning the subjection or obedience of Servants to their Masters Eph. 6.6.7 and Colos 3.23 being applicable with advantage to the subjection of all Inferiors to the Higher Powers That which I think my self concerned to note is That all Persons without exception of any ought to be subject to the Higher Powers Let every Soul saith the Apostle an expression that includes all and excludes none And thus any unprejudiced man of common fences one would think must understand it for besides the force of the expression it self every Soul the Apostles words afterwards whosoever resisteth the Powers and they that resist and wilt thou not he afraid of the Power And he is the Minister of God to thee c. seem to be used on purpose to direct every one that is not a Higher Power or Ruder to take the precept as given to himself And yet notwithstanding this the Popes of Rome and their Adherents for several hundreds of years have made bold so to distinguish and limit the Apostles words as to exempt themselves and all their Clergy from subjection to the Civil Powers But what Warrant they have from God to do thus I am altogether ignorant We know that our Blessed Saviour owned the Power of the Roman Emperor and those that were in Authority under him and submitted himself to it without pleading any exemption For thus he answered Pilate when he spake to him of his Power Thou couldest have no Power at all against me except it were given thee from above Joh. 19.11 And we are sure that when the Apostles were brought before Principalities and Powers for their faith sake they never excepted against their Power but defended themselves and their Doctrine before them yea St. Paul did plainly own their Authority and it is written for our Instruction in this point Act. 25.10 11. I stand saith he at Caesars Judgment Seat where I ought to be judged mark that If I be an offender or have committed any thing worthy of death I refuse not to dye I appeal unto Caesar Which Appealing unto Caesar was a plain owning of his Authority over him For the Liberty of Appealing to the Roman Emperor was a priviledge granted only to them that were free Citizens of Rome and the Apostle could not claim this but by owning himself a Citizen of Rome and therefore a subject to the cheif Governor thereof It is no less certain that the Holy Fathers and Bishops of the Church yea and of Rome too for above six hundreds years after Christ did not only acknowledge themselves subject to the Civil Powers but did declare that they and all men whatsoever were bound to be so St. Chrysostom upon the Text says that not only Seculars but Priests and Monks are to be subject and although thou beest an Apostle or an Evangelist or a Prophet for this obedience to be sure will not destroy thy piety And if we may believe a Bishop of the Roman Church of late years as we reasonably may other ancient Fathers as Euthymius Theoderet Theophylact c. and all the Greek Doctors do agree with him And Gregory surnamed the Great Bishop of Rome doth so expound the Text. And Saint Bernard many years afterwards in his Epistle to a Bishop said thus Every Soul saith the Apostle then must you also speaking to the Bishop of Senona be subject who hath exempted you He that doth offer to exempt you doth but offer to deceive you And therefore let not the Church of Rome boast of her sincere delivering to men the truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Doctrine Let no Papist boast of their Loyal Principles or Practises or charge any Protestants with Seditions and Traiterous Doctrines with disloyal Treasonable and Rebellious Practises as confidently as if they themselves were innocent for besides what has now been discoursed I doubt not to say and do say it upon the Faith of a Christian That I know no Seditious or Rebellious Principle no Doctrines distructive to Goverment entertained and asserted by any called Protestants but the same have been asserted and taught by some Bishops of Rome and their Adherents But thanks be to God that the Church of England can be charged with no such mischeivous and damnable Doctrines whose Doctrine I am sure I have now taught you and as I do stedfastly believe it to he the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles so I doubt not but by Gods Grace I shall continue in the belief of it to the end of my Life Thus have I explained the words of my Text and I hope clearly and profitably with respect to the unhappy circumstances that this Kingdom is at present under And now to conclude this Discourse in as few words as may be Not to trouble you with Complaints of the little Sence which many men have of their Duty to the Higher Powers which every wise and good man cannot but observe and be sadly and sorrowfully affected with Let me in short propose some few Questions to you and if it be possible to oblige you thereby seriously to consider what it is that so indisposes some to use no harder a term to honour obey and serve our present Lord the King that they can hardly endure to be told that they ought to do so Have any among you so little Knowledge of the Gospel after so many years enjoyment of it as to think what has now been delivered to be no part of the Gospel which Christs Ministers ought to Preach Are you so little able to distinguish between true Christian Protestant Doctrine and Popery as to call the Preaching of Subjection to the Higher Powers Popery have you had the Holy Scriptures so many years in your Hands in your own Language and pretended to make them and them only the Rule of your Faith and Practise and can you be ignorant of or will you reject the truths now delivered out of them and writted so plainly in them that none but those who will shut their eyes can avoid seeing them Hath St. Paul so little credit with us when he tells us That there is no Power but of God and the Powers that be are ordained of God that we will not believe him or can we possibly fasten any other sence upon his words but this that it is God that makes Kings and not men That whatever they are as to their Personal Qualifications Abilitys for Government or Religion
they have their Authority from God and are his Ministers And if this be his meaning have we not good reason to believe that if we dispise them we despise God if we reproach and speak evil of them we reproach and blaspheme God if we disobey their just Laws we disobey God if we murmur resist rebel against the King we murmur and rebel against God And can we think that they can escape the Judgment of God who do so Can we have such thoughts of God as to imagine that he is not concerned in a special manner for the safety the Rights and Interests of his own Vicegerents and the Defence and Maintenance of his own Authority in them for the Government of the world Are we yet to learn what the miserable Ends of Seditious trayterous and Rebellious Persons usually are Has Liberty Peace and Plenty made us so wanton for I am sure we yet have suffered no Oppression to make us mad nor any want but what our own Prodigality idleness and viciousness have brought upon us that we care not what we do to bring confusion upon us Are we such Sots and Fools as to listen to the cursed whisperings of every Achitophel and to dance after the Pipe of every Shebah that shall be so mad as to blow a Trumpet in Israel and say we have no part in David nor Inheritance in the Son of Jesse Can we propose any thing so good to our selves by overturning the Present Goverment as to resolve to endure all the miseries of War and to march through a Sea of Blood for the compassing of it Are not all our Interests more safe and secure in the bosom of the Divine Providence whilst we continue quiet in our several Places and study to do our own Business then they would be under the Shields and Bucklers of the most famous Warriors in the ways of Treason and Rebellion Is the Author and Protector of our most holy Religion become so careless of it or so weak and feeble that we must needs sly to the Devil to support it shall we turn the Religion of the Cross in to a Religion of the Sword and change our Bibles for the Alchoran Were all the holy men of old who could not fight for their Religion even when they might have overcome so great were their numbers and their Resolution but could dye for it such fools that we think it madness to follow their Example Have we been reproaching the Church of Rome for so many years and that justly with their Trayterous and Rebellious Principles and Practises and shall we now lick up their Vomit and justify all their Treasons and Rebellions by treading in their steps Is it the way to render our Profession lovely in the eyes of the world and to endear to it our Governors to do thus And can we hope to engage Almighty God to take care of its preservation by the worst practises we dare be Guilty of against his Vicegerent In one word can we take it to be the way to Heaven to break the Order of the Divine Providence in the Government of the World to set at naught so many plain and express Commands from Christ and dispising all the Blessings of Peace to endeavour all the ways we can after confusion and destruction we cannot surely be so unreasonable Let us therefore I beseech you shew our selves Men and Christians Christians of the Communion of the best Church in the World a Church built upon a Rock that can never fall if we do not overthrow it our selves by our abuse of the Gospel and all those Excellent means of Piety and Vertue which we pertake of in it Let us fear the Lord and the King and not meddle with them that are given to change And being stedfastly perswaded that Almighty God is King over all that He standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty and is Judg among the Gods that he will not only execute Judgment in another world but doth Govern this and consequently will either Protect us from Violence and Persecution or crown our Patience and avenge our Cause let us always shew our selves good Christians by being Loyal Subjects And to the constant Practise of all that hath been now taught let us add our dayly Prayers to God in the behalf of our present Sovereign That it may please God so to bless and preserve him that he may rule over us many years in the Fear of God the constant exercise of Piety Justice and Mercy and in Prosperity and Peace That he may continue to deserve the Hearts of all his Subjects and ever have them That he may never give them any just cause for Jealousys and Suspicions and they never entertain any without Cause That he may be happy by our constant Practise of true Christian Loyalty and we be so likewise by his constant and effectual Care to maintain and promote the true Profession and Practise of Religion and the welfare of the Church of God Amen FINIS