Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	king_n	power_n	supremacy_n	2,252	5	10.5244	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51394	A sermon preached at the magnificent coronation of the most high and mighty King Charles the IId King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. : at the Collegiate Church of S. Peter Westminster the 23d of April, being S. George's Day, 1661 / by George Lord Bishop of Worcester.	Morley, George, 1597-1684.	1661 (1661)	Wing M2794; ESTC R204353	35,240	71

A SERMON Preached at the Magnificent CORONATION OF The Most High and Mighty King CHARLES the II d. KING of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. At the Collegiate Church of S. PETER Westminster The 23 d of April being S. GEORGE'S DAY 1661. By The Right Reverend Father in God GEORGE Lord Bishop of Worcester Published by His Majesty's speciall Command LONDON Printed by R. Norton for T. Garthwait at the Little North Door of S. Paul's 1661. To the Most High and Mighty King CHARLES the II d. By the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Most Gracious SOVERAIGN HOw unwilling I am that any thing of mine should be made publick needs as I conceive no other proof but this That I am now past my great Climacterical and this is the First time that ever I appear'd in Print Neither would I have done so Now unless Your Majesty 's own immediate and express Command which in all things not evidently forbidden by God is alwayes to be obeyed had obliged me to do it And truly I am somewhat the more willing to comply with this Obligation because since the preaching of this Sermon I have been inform'd that some Exceptions have been taken against it As first in General That I medled with matter of State an argument Excentrick to my Profession and Improper for the Pulpit And secondly in Particular That by Repeating and Reviving some passed miscarriages I had trespassed against the Act of Indempnity Now for Answer to the Former of these Charges I shall humbly offer it to Your Majesty's Consideration Whether a Divine even in the Pulpit may not without exceeding the Compass of his Commission endeavour as much as in him lies to recommend to the Consciences and to endear to the Affections of his Auditors the legally establish'd Government both in Church and State And what more effectual Motive is there to make men Conscionably and chearfully to submit to the legally established Government then by making it to appear That it is the best of Governments in it self and the best for them also by putting them in mind of the miseries they have brought upon themselves by the Alteration of it and of the unhappy trials they have made of all other forms of Government that differ from it and consequently how much they are obliged to be thankfull unto God for being Restored to it and to be so much the more Obedient for the future to the Laws of it for having heretofore so Foolishly as well as Wickedly Revolted from it Now if this be no part of a Divines business or if a Discourse of this Nature be Improper for a Pulpit why doth God himself in Scripture command us to put men in mind of these things as he doth Tit. 3.1 Rom. 13.1 1. Pet. 2.13 and in many other places Or why are there Homilies for Subjection and against Rebellion commanded by Soveraign Authority to be read unto the people Or lastly Why are we enjoyn'd by the very first Canon of our Church to preach four times a year at least upon this Argument I mean for the Asserting the Kings Supremacy and Soveraign Authority over all his Subjects And consequently for the condemning of all taking up of Arms against him as likewise all pretences of Jurisdiction over him or of Coordination with him together with the Exercising of any Power Military Civil or Ecclesiastical that is not derived from him which being all of them evidently inconsistent with the Kings Supremacy and Soveraignty the same Authority which enjoyns us to preach for the one must needs allow us at least to preach against the other Which being as much or more then I have done in This Sermon I hope that neither Your Majesty nor any other impartial Hearer or Reader of it will blame me for not keeping within the verge of mine own Profession or for taking more liberty then ought to be made use of in the Pulpit especially at such a time and upon such an occasion when after so long a series of several forms of Tyranny and Usurpation Monarchy which seemed to have been Put to Death with Your Majesty's blessed Father was again Revived by Your sacred Majesties Personal Inauguration in so solemn so magnificent and so glorious a manner beginning with as loud shouts and Acclamations as could be made here on Earth and ending with much louder shouts and Acclamations even from Heaven it self For they that take that voice of God for a sign of his being Displeased with the fore-going Action would perhaps if they had been then present have taken the same voice of God for a sign of his being Displeased with Christs Baptism for it was in Thunder that he spake even then also But whether I am Guilty of the First Charge or no in Medling with things Improper for a Pulpit which if true had been but an Indiscretion onely I am very sure I am not Guilty of the Second I mean of speaking any thing to the prejudice of the Act of Indempnity which had been an high Presumption in any man and in me a sin against mine own Judgement and Conscience For I humbly conceive That whatsoever promise a Soveraign Prince makes unto his subjects so the matter of it be not sinfull he ought in Prudence as well as in Conscience to perform it yea though perhaps he must needs prejudice himself by it Because a Soveraign Princes Word being the best and highest Security he can give unto his Subjects he were better suffer a very great Incovenience by keeping it then weaken the publick Security or hazard the losing of his Credit with his People by breaking it Which Consideration made that wise and great Prince HENRY the fourth Your Maj●sties Grandfather so Religious an observer of his Word that neither the Duke of Mayne nor any other of his Subjects that had formerly stood out against him when they came to an Agreement with him did ever desire or demand any other Caution for security of their Persons and Interests but the Kings word onely And therefore God forbid that I or any man else should dare to suggest any thing unto Your Majesty either publickly or privately in order to the violation of so Sacred a Bond as the Word of a King is and hath alwayes been esteemed to be Especially when the thing it self which a King hath Granted or given his Word for is so Necessary in order to the setling of Himself and of his Kingdome as I believe an Act of Indempnity at this time and in this conjuncture of Affairs to be There being no other way as I humbly conceive after so General and Long a disturbance and confusion to compose and quiet mens minds by Securing them from their Fears or to beget a Mutual Confidence betwixt the Prince and his People without which it is Impossible either for the Prince or People ever to be Happy in one another And therefore

by Kings as is evident from the whole Book of God in general and from 1 Pet. 2. v. 13 14. in particular And indeed till the world was above 3000. years old there was no other Government in it but Monarchy only For in Homers time all Greece had Kings and they were the Graecians from whom the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristocracy and Democracy had their beginning For the Greeks being men of subtle wits and unquiet spirits finding Monarchy to be a curb to their Ambition they devised such forms of Government wherein the Soveraignty being not Confin'd unto one but Shar'd amongst many Every man might hope to have his turn and his part in it From the Grecians by their Colonies were these Heresies and Innovations in Government derived to some few other Nations but as they spread not farr so they continued not long for at the coming of Christ there was nothing but Monarchy in the World so that Monarchy as it was Instituted by God at the Creation so it seems to be restored by Christ at the Redemption of Mankind and to be recommended both by the Father and the Son as the best and onely form of Government for all Nations And indeed nature it self doth seem to recommend it and that not onely because every Species of all Creatures whatsoever seems to have a subordination to some one of the same kind but likewise because amongst men also those that have no other Rule but the light of nature to live by I mean those of America and other lately discovered Nations as there be none of them without some Government so none of them have any other form of Government but Monarchy Now as Monarchy is more natural and more according to Divine Institution and consequently a better form of government then any other so of Monarchies that which is by Succession is much more natural and much more according to Divine Institution then any other kind of Monarchy I mean then that which either is by Vsurpation or by Election And first it is better then Monarchy by Vsurpation for as no man can take to himself the honour or office of a Priest so much less can any man take to himself the honour or office of a King but he must have it from God himself either by Gods own Immediate designation as Moses and the Judges had for the Judges were Kings and as Saul and David had or by Gods Ordinary way of Dispensation which was by succession of Children unto their Fathers According unto which Method as Families grew into Nations so Paternal government grew into Regal and consequently an Vsurper as he hath no claim to Divine Institution so he hath no title to Divine benediction or protection And besides because what is Gotten by the sword must be Maintained by the sword an Vsurper must be a Tyrant whether he will or no. Lastly a Monarchy by Vsurpation is Res sine titulo a Possession without a Title which seldome lasts Long or ends Well for he that takes the sword shall perish by the sword saith our Saviour Mat. 26.52 Again as Monarchy by Vsurpation is Res sine titulo so Monarchy by Election is titulus sine re a Title without the Thing for Elective Kings are but Conditional Kings and Conditional Kings are no Kings Besides a King is to have the Power of Life and Death which none that have it not themselves can give unto Him And therefore how He that is Elected by those that have not the power of Life and Death comes to have the power of life and death and consequently how he comes to be a King is as I conceive not easie to imagine But supposing an Elective King to be indeed a King yet considering first the Dangers and Inconveniences of Inter-regnum's or Cessations of Government betwixt the Death of one King and the Election of another Secondly the Factiousness and partiality of the Electors together with the envie and emulation of the Competitors Thirdly the necessity of Him that is chosen to gratifie those that Chose him with the prejudice of those that were against him And lastly considering that every Elective King hath a Particular Interest of his own divided from that of the Publick and consequently that it is more then probable that he will have more respect to the interest of his Family wherein he is to be Succeeded by his Children then to that of the Kingdome wherein he may be Succeeded by a Stranger Considering all these things I say we may well conclude that as Monarchy is the best form of Government so successive hereditary Monarchy is the best form of Monarchy because where there is an undoubted right there is no Need of Tyranny to support it as there is in an Vsurpation and because where the Princes and the Publick Interest is the same as it is in Hereditary Monarchy there is no need of Defrauding the one to Provide for the other as there is in Elective Kingdomes But yet even of Hereditary Monarchies one may be more desirable then another as a Political rather then a Despotical for a Despotical Monarch governs his Subjects as a Master doth his Servants arbitrarily according to his own will and pleasure whether it be Right or Wrong But a Political Monarch governs his Subjects as a Father doth his Children by Equal and Just Lawes made with their own consent to them The former is the Government of the Turk and Muscovite the later is or ought to be the Government of all Christian Kings I am sure it is of Ours and therefore such a kind of Monarchy as Ours is not onely the most just and reasonable but the most plausible and popular Government of all others Especially if the Supream Governour be so Qualified as he ought to be and that is saith Solomon if he be a man of understanding and knowledge And first he would have him to be a Man for Woe unto thee O Land saith the same Wiseman when thy King is a child Ecclesiastes 10.16 But blessed art thou O Land saith he in the very next words when thy King is the son of Nobles so that it seems Solomon would have his Prince neither to be a Child nor an Vpstart or a Man meanely born not a Child because even then his Authority though it may be Abused is to be Obeyed not an Vpstart or a man of mean birth because such a One being to govern better men then himself he thinks there is no way to ●revent their Contempt of him but by making himself by his Cruelty to be feared by them And hence it is that Asperius nihil est humili cùm surgit in altum Mean persons when they are mightily Exalted become Cruel and Insolent and Imperious in their Own Defence whereas Those that are born great need not venture the being hated for fear of not being Reverenc'd by their Subjects who have alwayes an inbred reverence to the Royal Blood and