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A50547
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A sermon preached at the assises for the county of Surrey, held in the burrough of Southwark, March 23, 1681/2 by Richard Meggott ...
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Meggott, Richard, d. 1692.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing M1626; ESTC R16983
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11,501
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40
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Adam happy And it being such a Law as not only taketh care of the eternal happiness of their Souls in the other World but preserveth so carefully the Persons the Estates the Credit the Families of men from all that should prejudice them even in this none but must conclude it deserveth the high Elogium here bestowed upon it and is indeed a Perfect Law of Liberty I shall therefore now conclude with this natural Inference from the whole That Religion is the strongest and best support of Civil Government Where is where can there be any just and wholsome Law of man that is not at least virtually comprehended in this perfect Law of God The Malmsbury Philosopher need not have been so fond of the Whimsie as to have put it into more than one of his Writings That it is fit there should be as many Statute Books Printed as Bibles and that they should be read in the Churches as Moses was in the Synagogue every Sabbath day The divine Statutes faithfully and solidly explained will save the labour of so very unseasonable a Publication For besides a higher they serve this purpose also and in whatsoever tendeth to the peace and order the preservation and prosperity of human Society speak the same things with them Not in particular that is not to be expected If every thing of that kind among all Nations should be expresly set down in holy Scripture to use St Johns Language I suppose that even the World it self could not contain the Books that should be Written but in the general they do injoyning the Principles upon which they are founded and for the several instances remitting every one to the Laws of their own Country commanding us to be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake So that if men were but good Christians they would be good Subjects good Officers good Neighbours good in every station that God shall place them in And when these are the benefits and happy fruits of it let it not be thought affected or immodest if here I break forth into the Psalmists Apostrophe Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth And affirm it is not only the duty but even the interest of the higher powers to uphold and give it countenance There is nothing so facilitateth the Magistrates Office and prepareth the way for his Authority this maketh men to be a Law to themselves and obey humane ordinances not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake It cannot be denyed but that the pretences of this excellent Religion have wrought no small confusions on the Earth but I hope the Religion it self shall not be prejudiced because of this any more than you will suffer the lawfull Mony of England to be Cryed down or Clipped because there is some that is counterfeit The Hypocritical pretences of it are not more mischievous to a State but sound and pure Religion is as beneficial And such is that professed in this Established Church of ours A Church that doth not slight Second Table Duties as Legal Preaching or Heathenish Morality but teacheth its members to have always Consciences void of offence as towards God so towards men A Church that doth not place the Sprit of the Gospel in praying extempore and inveighing against ceremonies but in love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness A Church that doth not flatter men as Saints and godly for professing themselves of her way but testifyeth that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness A Church that doth not jugle in the Doctrine of obedience to Magistrates reserving fly distinctions for deserting or resisting them but so Loyal that upon that very score you know it was once ruined and is at this day maligned and heaved at by as many as are given to change And what can tend more to the quiet and welfare the settlement and benefit of a People than such honest and sober pious and prudent principles Now when the Church is so assistant to the Tranquility of the State for a recompence in the same I speak as unto wise men let the State be as assistant to the tranquility of the Church When the Religion is such a faithful support to the Civil Government let the Civil Government be as faithful a support to the Religion So as God ordained of old The people shall be lead like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron and all of all conditions happy in the wholsome Laws of the land and the perfect Law of Liberty FINIS
A SERMON Preached at the ASSISES For the County of SURREY Held in the Burrough of SOVTHWARK March 23. 1681 2. BY RICHARD MEGGOTT D. D. Dean of Winchester and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by A. Grover for Thomas Rowe Jun. in London-Yard near the West End of St. Pauls 1682. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL And My Honoured Friend PETER DANIEL Esq High Sheriff of the County of SURREY SIR IT was not in my Thoughts that this Discourse should have gone farther than them for whom it was prepared but since it was their desire as well as yours that it should I have submitted Being preached at your Request Decency requireth it should not come abroad but with your Name Sir I have no reason to doubt but that you are perswaded of what is here delivered of the Law of God and your Actings in this trying Time have shown you have not so wild a Notion of Liberty as to trust those high Pretenders who would be making way to it by overturning the Laws of Men But there are too many who have weak and dangerous Conceptions of these things To rectifie such was the Design of this Sermon wherein I have endeavored to represent Christianity as Jotham did the Vine cheering God and Man directing and compleating our Behaviour for both Worlds If any thing in it may prove useful that they who outwardly profess the Faith may sincerely live according to the Rule of the Gospel I shall be glad that by my Compliance in publishing it I have shown my self SIR Your very Affectionate and Humble Servant R. Meggott JAMES 1.25 The perfect Law of Liberty THE Solemn business of this time is the same with what we read of Samuel's 1 Sam. 7.16 where we find that he went from year to year in Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and judged Israel in all those places This is a laudable imitation of that and no contemptible priviledge it is for a People to have it so to nave Justice condescend to come to their Doors and their Wrongs redressed not only uprightly but so conveniently And yet though this be so very well every one must grant it were a great deal better there were no occasion for it that all men would be so honest and orderly as to save the Magistrate such labour It is well there are Fetters and Gibbets for Robbers and Murtherers but Oh how much better would it be that such would labour with their hands the thing that is good and do violence to no man It is well there are Prisons and Remedies for Cheats and such as are unjust but Oh how much better would it be that they would be righteous in their dealings and none go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter It is well that there are Actions and Damages for Scandals and Defamations but Oh how much better would it be that all bitterness and clamour and evil speaking were put away from us and that there were no backbiting Fancifull and Eutopian as such imaginations now look to them that know the World so it would be in a Christian Kingdom were we reall in this Religion All such enormities this forbiddeth under severer penalties than human Laws are capable of inflicting for though every sin against God is not injury unto men yet every injury unto men is a sin against God And this is that my Discourse at this time shall tend to to evince that the Gospel is so far from dispensing with any of those obligations the light of nature and reason lay on us that it requireth them with more strictness it is a Law Not as Mens in any thing deficient and incomplete but wholly faultless it is a perfect Law And that this may not seem inconsistent with the Graciousness of the Dispensation I shall shew you that in all this it is so far from being any real Incroachment upon our Freedom that is that which best secureth it it is a perfect Law of Liberty These are the three particulars which the Text declareth of the Gospel of Christ First The Nature of it that it is a Law Secondly The Exactness of it that it is perfect Law Lastly the Advantage of it that it is a Law of Liberty These considered may tend something to the clearing our Apprehensions not only about the Authority the Excellency and the End of this Royal Law of Christ but also the Necessity Quality and Obligation of the sundry Laws of Men and in pursuance to that I shall speak to each of of them The first thing we have here to take notice of in this Description of the Gospel is the Nature of it that it is a Law A Law This soundeth a little unusual it it is commonly put in Opposition to it The Evangelist telleth us The Law was given by Moses John 1.17 it is Grace and Truth that came by Jesus Christ It is true there is much difference between this Law and that of Moses but yet this is a Law too as well as that was A Book of Statutes to explain and tell us what we should do and what we should forbear a Rule of Life to instruct and shew us the good that we should embrace and the evil that we should avoid So it is called the Law of Faith Rom 3.27 The Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 8.2 The Law which we are under to Christ 1 Cor. 9.21 The Holy Jesus as he came into the World revelare credenda to reveal saving Truths for our Instructions tollere peccata to make satisfactory Attonement for our Transgressions confirmare promissa to establish pretious Promises for our Encouragement so likewise promulgare praecepta to publish strict Rules for our Conversation The rest of the Creatures are all easily ordered the Heavens and the Earth hear God's Voice the Winds and the Seas obey his Call Fire and Hail Snow and Vapors fulfill his Word the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow know all the times of their coming but man man who in order to future Recompences is made a free Agent abuseth his Will most grosly hath been a cross and masterless a morose and disobedient Creature from his very first Creation Line upon Line Line upon Line Precept upon Precept Precept upon Precept hath been all too little to bind him Xenophon elegantly describing him observeth Cattle will be kept within their Hedges Horses made tractable by their Riders Wild Beasts tamed by them that look to them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenophon Cyropoed l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All these saith he in time are brought willingly to obey those that look to them but Men head-strong Men ever set themselves against those that rule over them and will not be kept in Compass This is so true that God who knoweth us best did never think fit to trust us in our own Hands no nor only in our Fellow Creatures neither but himself hath given Laws to us from the day that he