Equal What the Issue of this Rebellion was that Chapter shews One Schism was punish'd with another and the Earth divided and swallowed them up So that how Arbitrary soever Moses was thought to be yet it pleas'd God to justifie him with Miracle and by a Plague immediately following let the People know whom they were to Obey as their Lord and Sovereign Josephus indeed informs us That under Moses and his Disciple Joshua who at that time had the Empire and Army the Nobility and other Worthy Men Ruled the State Antiq. l. 6. c. 6. He means the One Office was Military the Other Civil and so he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was their General Yet in this Case if the Nobility and Elders govern'd independant of the Prince how could this Author say that after Joshua's death the People were without Government eighteen Years till they found a Valiant Just Man to Rule who with his Successors were call'd Judges This proves their Power to decease with the Prince or otherwise the Nation could not be so many Years in an Anarchy or without any Government at all Nor had there been occasion to demand of Phineas Ibid. to whose Charge the Administration of Publick Affairs should be committed if that Senate had the Power pretended and could without any other Governour Protect and Rule the Nation We often read in the Book of Judges what a licentious and lawless Life the People lead during the several Interregnums or spaces of Time between the Death of one Judge and the Choice of another Not that they wanted Laws but there was not sufficient Power to force Obedience to them Thus it is said that it came to pass when the Judge was dead Ch. 2.9 that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their Fathers in following other Gods to serve them and bow down to them they ceased not from their own doings Ch. 17.6 nor from their stubborn way And again In those days there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes This was too fully explain'd in the Sodomy of Gibeah and Micah's Idolatry in the very Verse before which being the proper Subject for the Sanhedrim to work upon as their Republicans give out and seems to be confirmed by that Saying of Christ Luk. 13.33 that it could not be that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem the case of false Doctrine and false Worship being the Points that Court more especially took cognizance of If there had been I say all along from Moses downwards such a standing Authority among the Jews how comes it to pass we find the Accounts of so much Irreligion and bad Morals in their days so inconsistent with the Notion of that Consistory and the Influence it is supposed to have had over Prince and People The great Instances of Prerogative and Majesty in making War creating Judges and which we might think the proper work of the Sanhedrim the ordering of Church-Affairs deposing ill Ministers and the like That all this was done sometimes immediately by the Kings themselves must be evident to any body who will be at the pains to go thro' the History of those Princes in the Books of Samuel Kings and Chronicles Nay the very putting a Prophet to death or discharging him out of Prison This also was the King's Act as we see in the Example of Zedekiah and Jeremiah Jerem. 38. and this without the Rebuke or Murmur of that Assembly tho' then the King's Circumstances were very low and might have encouraged them to it And when we further add That the Holy Book charges the King with the execution of Justice and punishes him for the Peoples Sins which would be very hard if the Male-administration or Mismanagement were not his own or that he had not sufficient Power to order things better All this is evidence That the terrible Notion of the Sanhedrim is such a Dream as perhaps may frighten him that hath it but is of no great Effect to move other People or engage them to believe it any thing else but the disorder and weakness of the sleeper's Brain Yet we must allow that in the last Ages of the Jews after the Babylonish Capitivity this Court made some small Figure in that part of the World and we have a sad Testimony of it in their Behaviour towards the Lord Christ an unparalell'd piece of Barbarism and Cruelty serviceable indeed to the Decrees of God and the Redemption of Mankind but which shews them to be Men without the common Principles of Conscience and Honesty in murdering a Just Person whom the President himself declared Innocent But admit them such a Court in those days with that Plenary Power they boast of which is difficult to prove and 't is plain the Roman Deputies were at length above it yet 't is a good Answer for us to say that from the beginning it was not so and we are now speaking of such Judges as were at the first and such Counsellours as were at the beginning And though we should admit the Institution of the Seventy Two under the Character of the latter as probably some of them might be Counsellours and Ministers of State and therefore Hebrew Writers say That it was one necessary qualification to recommend them if they understood the Languages in order to be Interpreters to their Princes yet that they were not such Judges as the first word supposes and had no Power paramount to the Kings of Israel appears by what hath been offer'd against this Objection And therefore taking it for granted that the Jewish Government was as indeed it was Monarchial we pass to the Second Thing To shew and describe the Happiness this People were to have in the Restauration of that ancient Constitution 2. I will restore The Government referred to being that of Moses and Aaron Joshua and the Judges 't will be requisite to lay before you in little the Acts Conduct and Behaviour of those Princes and let you see how they did contribute to the Prosperity of their Subjects And to begin with Moses His first care was to make good Laws Civil and Religious and see them impartially executed And what pains he took this way we may partly read Exod. 18.13 c. And Moses sate to judge the people and the people stood by Moses from morning unto the evening and he made them know the Statutes of God and his Laws And this he did with so much Application that his Health was in great danger by it and therefore Raguel his Wife's Father gave him the Advice above-mention'd to appoint Commissioners for the decision of lesser Matters When at any time the Necessities of the People made them murmur in the Wilderness and gave 'em reason as they thought to Libel his Government tho' there was not the least shadow of ill Conduct on his side yet his Meekness was such that he would not punish the Insolence but
his Name might remember him of the Caution and Discretion he is to use in all these Cases But here 't is construed not so much a Word of Capacity as of Pre-eminence and Power And tho' the Power supposes this Capacity and where it is otherwise they are in a very miserable Circumstance who are subject to that Power yet we are now to lay aside the Etymology and Grammar of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and take it as an Order and not a Faculty Being then restrained to the Government of Israel to whom the Prophet speaks it appears from Josephus that all the Princes and Rulers of that People from the Death of Joshua to the Election of K. Antio l. 6. c. 6. Saul had this Name All this time saith he hath been called the time of the Judges So the Book which contains the History of their Actions is Entitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the Hebrew Shophetim And in the Account of the several Reigns therein recorded it is said that such a one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judged Israel at that time But we must go a little higher than this for we find that even Moses himself had the same Stile in that Oration St. Stephen made the Jews just before his Death where reciting the Passage in which Moses endeavoured to reconcile two of his Brethren one of whom ill requited him for his Pains demanding peevishly Who made him a Judge and a Ruler over them This very Moses saith the Martyr whom they refused saying Who made thee a Ruler and a Judge the same did God send to be a Ruler c. Acts 7.35 'T is true the Holy Man or at least St. Luke for him uses another Greek word and calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in sound varies but hath the same signification and both are translated Judge And all the difference is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems of larger extent and intends him a Person with ability to discern without determining the Subject whereas the latter word as a Species is consined to Legal Causes about Property or Criminal Actions Tho' after all there may be no more than a gradation in the Terms the one to hear and examine the Suit and the other to end it by Sentence The first bespeaks his Skill the last his Integrity And as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes him a Judge so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supposes him Righteous and that he will take special care to execute Justice without Prejudice Partiality or Favour as Law and Conscience shall direct him However both the words center in the Supreme Magistrate And altho' by Delegation or Commission the Trust is reposed in some of the Subjects whose capacities will bear it yet originally the Power is lodged in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Stephen explains it and the word denotes the Sovereign Prince or Ruler by whatever name we distinguish him such as Moses Joshua and their followers the Judges were who had Kingly Authority Judges 17.6 and sometimes the name and as other Monarchs under God governed the Children of Israel And to these the Text refers as being the first to whom the Title of Judges was given Long before this indeed the Patriarchs were as Absolute as any Emperour after them They were Kings Priests and Judges They had Life and Death in their hands They made War and Peace as they saw good and acted Independently or without being awed by any humane Power above their own And of this we have a pregnant Instance in Abraham who was going to Sacrifice his Son without any open Reason but that of his Will He also armed his Servants and fought and beat the four Kings who had taken his Kinsman Prisoner yet his Army consisted of no more than Three hundred and eighteen Men which as it shews himself to be no Mighty Potentate yet beating his Enemies with these it proves the other four Princes weaker than He who notwithstanding are called Kings and they had routed five other Kings before Plainly in those days their Dominions were small The Patriarchs had no more Subjects than Servants and Children And had all the Heads of Families been as they were so Righteous so void of Ambition so little Covetous so free from Revenge and the like those supposed Combinations or closing of lesser Familes to oppose the greater and the final Election of one among them to keep Peace among the whole and give a timely Check to any aspiring Spirit who had otherwise grown too big for the Interest and Safety of his Neighbours this Politic Union I say had been kept out of doors and we had wanted no Authority but that of Fatherhood to govern us But Pride and Avarice Violence and Licentiousness in some attempting more Elbow-room than others were willing to give 'em this fright'ned former Ages into the refuge of Associations Covenants Laws and Rulers by the help of which the feeblest Arm might be able to wrestle with the strongest the meanest sort to cope with the greater and every Man and Woman either protected or relieved upon the Encroachments of these Intruders who else were ready to molest them Where the True Religion had no Influence the Necessity was too visible to engage Men to these Combinational Projects And the Reason at last reached not only Private Families but the Governments also themselves into which they were united one State being forward enough to devour another as the particular Houses Clans and Tribes had attempted before Which constrained even them to part with their own Power and by consent to intrust it with one common Sovereign to be secured against this Danger Yet it went so slowly on and with so much Caution that at the Trojan Wars Seven hundred Years at least after Abraham we have the Catalogue of a great number of Kings in that little spot of Ground which made up Greece all which were consulted and engaged in that War which lasted so long because the Kings were many In Egypt the Monarchy was grown to a more Man-like Stature as appears from the Holy Records And to that Crown the People of Israel were at length Subjected even in its more Arbitrary and Unreasonable Commands without any Regiment or Laws of their own till the times of Moses who was first their Deliverer Deut. 33.5 and then their King So that here as I said me must needs date the Original or Rise of their Government when all the Families of the Patriarchs were reduced under one Head and submitted to Moses as their universal Father Ruler and Judge The other word to be explained is Counsellors thy Counsellors as at the beginning Counsel is Consultation or Conference about some End which being agreed on it proceeds to examine and debate the most likely means to it A Counsellor is he who being endow'd with a Talent or Ability for this Work is called upon and required to serve in it For I take it as a word of Office in its
like the Conduct of God who hath power enough to punish all his Enemies but his Mercy will not let him Yet as God so may we at the same time abhor and mention Sins when we pity and pass by the Men who did ' em And as from them our Calamities came A Chaos of Confusion and Hell of Miseries as the unfortunate King call'd 'em we may view and point at them as People after Shipwreck do at a Rock where they miscarried by way of caution to themselves and others not to split on that Rock again And surely I may do here as in the Devotion and Service of the Day set before our selves and God the miserable Confusions we were lately under in order to bless him with the greater warmth by being made sensible what it was we were deliver'd from The Passeover among the Jews was an Anniversary Festival appointed by Heaven it self to remember the Egyptian Bondage and the Peoples redemption out of it And their Meals at that time consisted of such Ingredients or Messes as signified both and therefore tho' the Bread was sweet the Herbs were bitter So that Necessity required to say somewhat of the Nature and Causes of our Troubles that we might better reflect on what has been done for us and be thereupon induced to walk more carefully for the time to come By what hath been said we learn plainly that the best of Governments is like the most useful Element of Water which keeping in its place and common course is pleasant and serviceable to us It glides gently on without noise or such as pleases the Ear and makes its Murmurs very agreeable It refreshes and feeds as it passes along and is necessary many ways for Life and Diversion But once diverted and turn'd out of its own Banks it immediately becomes a destructive Flood and rushes forward in a muddy impetuous Stream It roars fumes rages drowns and overwhelms all before it And notwithstanding in its own Nature and the Creators Design it was made for manifold uses yet now it carries nothing but Mischief in its current and as the Scripture speaks it is no other than the Waters of Strife and Blood until it be reduced to its old Channel This Day reports that great Work done which hath made it again Waters of Comfort The remembrance of it calls for Thanks and that our Thanks may be the more hearty let me crave your patience for a few words more to represent our Condition We have the happiest Constitution in the universal World A Monarchy not more Ancient than it is Safe Wherein the Prince hath as much Majesty and Power as may satisfie one who would answer the Honour and Character of his Place to be the Basis of the Commonweal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Father of his Country and a Shepherd of his People He hath Figure enough to make himself both feared and loved He hath Authority and Opportunities sufficient to reward or punish his Subjects as by their good or ill Actions they shall deserve it of him The Interest he hath in a brave rich People will make him honourable abroad and he hath many ways to gain our Affections and cause him to be dear to us at home In a word he wants nothing to render him Great but Power and Means to be a Tyrant and that 's a Stile doth not nor will ever suit an English King The Subjects are Free and Masters of Property which the Prince can no more Invade than we his Throne the same Laws being the King's Prerogative and our Protection Privilegium regis libertates Angliae We sit every Man under his own Vine and own Fig-tree and when we part with any proportion of the Fruits it must be with consent and by virtue of Laws of our own making And this we owe as to the good Temper and good Principles of our Princes from time to time so also to the Vigilance and Care of our most August Assembly who have both Wisdom enough to be stiled the King's Great Council Magnum consilium regis Angl. and sufficient Authority to be Patriots to their Country And on this account we do well to comply with the word of the Text to call 'em 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in the language of our Constitution Commune Consilium because their Advice reaches King and People and they are the Copula and means of that mutual Understanding and Affection which ought to be between them Whether the Reign of Edw. I. gave 'em the name of Parliament I answer not but the Thing was in being many Ages before as appears from King Sebert and King Ina by whom they are called Ancient Sages and by their Advice the last made his excellent Laws and the first receiv'd his Baptism above eleven hundred Years ago And I believe upon an industrious enquiry we may advance many Ages further and there discover the grey Hairs of these Aldermen as the old Books call ' em Such is the Original State and Temper of our English Monarchy where our Judges and our Counsellors keep together and jointly endeavour to make the Nation Happy And if other Designs should at any time be in their Heads they become and are intended for Checks to one another And as we have our Moses and those Counsellors in the State so we have the other Counsellor of the Text our Aaron in the Temple and in both we would emblem Heaven where the Great Monarch sits the God of all Power and the God of our Religion Our Doctrines are pure our Ceremonies significant and few and as the first teaches us to be Good so by the help of the other we are able to express it Our Principles lead us to submit to Government in order to discharge Conscience and make our selves happy under it And as all the Laws which secure a State are sanctified at our Altars so we have a double benefit by our obedience to them Prosperity here and Glory in Heaven Not to Injure another is the Substance of all those Laws Which as they tie our Hands so they restrain the greedy Desires of other People and thereby we securely enjoy our own In short the Sacred Truths recommended to us are Holiness Sobriety and Love and the Discipline among us is to no other End than to press us to embrace and practise them There is no more Arbitrary Power in the Episcopal Chair then in the Throne yet we have Rules enough to contradict and discourage Licentiousness and Anarchy but so well temper'd and so well applied with a mixture of Zeal and Prudence that there is no danger of an Inquisition however formed whether after the Model of Geneva or Rome This is our Government and this our Religion which during some ill Days was not only cover'd with Clouds of Darkness but moreover loaded with Tempest and Thunder But the Sun of Righteousness hath been strong enough to disperse them God in mercy hath removed our Fears and restored Light and a Serene Air again This Day is the Memorial of our Deliverance And as on the one side we yield God Praise for rescuing us from those great and apparent Dangers wherewith we were encompassed so on the other let us acknowledge it purely his goodness that we were not given quite over as a prey unto them and withal beseech him still to continue such his Mercies towards us that all the World may know that he is our Restorer our Saviour and Deliverer And to engage him to this let us further beg That he wou'd be pleas'd to bestow upon us such a portion of his Grace and the assistance of that Blessed Spirit the plentiful effusion of whose manifold Gifts we now commemorate that being thus delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies we may make it our business to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life and henceforth deserve to be called as in the words following my Text The City of Righteousness the Faithful City This will settle the Church and six the Throne confirm our Liberty and Peace render us Happy now and Blessed in Eternal Life and Glory above To which God in his infinite Goodness bring us all in his due time thro' the Intercession and Merits of Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be Honour and Glory World without End Amen At St. Paul 's May 29. 1699. FINIS ADVERTISEMENT OF Publick Baptism A Sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor and the Court of Aldermen at Guild-Hall-Chapel Novemb. 20. 1692. By Philip Stubs M. A. Fellow of Wadham-College Oxon. and Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Lord Bishop of Chichester The Second Edition with a Postscript Occasion'd by a late Conference of the Lord Bishop's of London with his City Clergy thereupon Containing the Concurrent Judgment of the Most Reverend Father in God Dr. Tillotson late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Right Reverend Dr. Kidder Dr. Stratford Dr. Gardiner Dr. Williams Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells Chester Lincoln Chichester and others Earnestly recommending that Catholick Usage to the Clergy and Laity in their Visitation Charges Advices Sermons c. Price 4 d. Printed for James Bonwicke at the Hat and Star in St. Paul's Church-Yard