quod Principi placuit Legis habet Naturam that the Princes pleasure was a Law Or such as was the Power of all Kings in the Kingdoms of Ancient Times founded after the Flood when as Justin in his Epitome tells us arbitria Regum pro Legibus erant that the will of the King was a Law unto the People Or lastly such as is now the Power of the Turkish Russian Persian and Morocco Emperors who rule purely by Regal Authority without any Political Regulation having Absolute Uncontrollable Power over the Lives Fortunes and Liberties of their People and of whom I may truly say as Daniel said of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.19 for the Majestly that the High God hath given unto them all their People Nations and Languages tremble before them for whom they will they slay and whom they will they keep alive whom they will they set up and whom they will they pull down I say Civil Slavery or Capativity consists in being obnoxious to such an Unlimited Arbitrary Dominion as this which rather deserves the name of Military than Civil Power but the People that are Subject to a Conquering Rebel or Rebels are subject to such an Unlimited Absolute and Arbitrary Power which is under no Civil Regulation but as the forecited Fortescue wisely saith of meer Regal Power it can give Laws to the People and lay all manner to Taxes and Burdens upon them without their consent and let me add take away their Lives by a High Court of Justice or by any other Arbitrary way without Tryal by Law or Peers nay without any Tryal at all For their Power is an Usurped Military Power not under the wholsom regulation of Laws but as Arbitrary as the Sword and as Tyrannical as their Lusts will make it and if they do not oppress the People after they have mastered the Lawful Government it is generally because their Policy over rules their Ambition and Cruelty and not that they are truly good It is seldom that Rebels have any regard or tenderness to the Peoples Blood or Treasure or if as Cicero saith of men who make their Interest their Supream End the goodness of their Nature may chance to over-rule their Evil Principles yet the People that are subject unto them are all the while in the Lions Den the Beast may perhaps be good humoured and Generous but still he may eat them when he will Therefore every successful Rebellion makes the victorious Rebel a grand Seignior the Sword is his Title and his standing Armies the Laws by which he Governs so that in the most absolute Monarchy that ever was Rebellion may alter the Governors but not the Government which will be still as Arbitrary as the will and pleasure of the Conqueror can make it and all the Benefit that People under such a Revolution can possibly reap by a prosperous Rebellion will only be that of the Ass in the Fable who complained that tho' he had changed his Master and Paniers very often yet still the burden was the same I say in the most Arbitrary Government where the People are perfect Slaves Rebellion will not likely mend their condition because the Conquering Rebels will still be their Lords and Masters and they must still abide Slaves They change their Master but not their Service their Lords but not their Vassallage all the difference is that they have an Usurper or Senate of Usurpers to rule over them instead of their Natural Soveraign and have set up their Fellow Subjects in his Place This generally speaking is so true and so agreeable to the common report of Histories that would the Subjects of the most Absolute Monarch consider it they would never follow the most plausible Ring-leader into Rebellion against their Natural Soveraign but most of all would the People of a limited and regular Government who have their Properties and Liberties secured by Law consider That a Conquering is an Absolute and Unlimited Power they would abhor the thoughts and abstain from all appearance of Rebellion which in the end must either render their own Soveraign or the Victorious Usurpers which is ten times worse absolute Lords over them and themselves by consequence perfect Slaves For if their rightful Soveraign against whom they rebell prevail then they and their Estates must ly at his mercy and they will be content on any condition to redeem their forfeited lives but if their pretended Patriots their Leaders into Rebellion prevail then They become their Absolute Soveraign and may dispose of their Lives and Fortunes without asking their consent What can hinder a successful Traitor at the Head of his Conquering Legions from doing what he pleases And who even among those who first set him up and lent him their Assistance dares say unto him What dost thou 2 Sam. 15.5 At first he was their humble Servant he did obeisance unto them and put forth his hand unto them and kissed them at first he sighed for their unhappiness and bemoaned their Grievances and begs but their own assistance to set them free but as soon as he prevails then they must say unto him as the Trees said unto the Bramble in the Parable of Jotham Come thou and reign over us Judges 9.14 15. and when it is once come to that then he will plainly say unto them If in truth ye anoint me King over you then come and put your trust in my shadow but if not let fire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon Soon after Absalom had stoln away the hearts of the People by his fair Carriage and Speeches the next News was Absalom reigneth in Hebron and in his short Reign or Usurpation he and his Captains did so enslave and oppress the Subjects of David after they had revolted from him that he compared their condition under the Power of their young Idol to Captivity saying When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad He had assured them before that he desired nothing more 2 Sam. 15.4 than to be in a condition to remove their Grievances Oh saith he that I were made a Judge in the Land that every man that hath any suit or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice This and such like was his Language at first but when he had got a great Army at his Command and had beat the King out of Jerusalem then he could lye with his Father's Concubines upon the top of the House in the sight of all Israel and he and his Adherents could eat up the people as they eat bread The poor oppressed Commonalty saw their own slavery too late and when God besides their expectation had delivered them from it they were so glad of it that they were at strife throughout all the Tribes who should bring the King back Oh said the men of Israel the King saved us from the hand of our Enemies 2 Sam. 19.9 10. he
is declared in 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. which is supposed to be High Treason do happen before any of his Majesties Judges those Judges shall tarry without giving Judgment till the Cause be shewn and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be judged High Treason or no Yet these Tyrannical Men the remnant of a Rebellious House vote and declared things to be High Treason which could not be so by the English Laws and which had never been declared to be High Treason neither by the Law by which they themselves were Traitors nor by the Judges in any Case nor by the King and his Parliament and by these and other Arbitrary doings they made the Free-born Subjects of this Nation as meer Slaves as the Subjects of the Grand Seignior and their Lives and Liberties their Goods and Fortunes as absolutely depending upon them as theirs depend upon him It would be endless to recite all their Sultanical Ordinances Their Ordinances for Sequestring of Delinquents as they called Loyal Persons Estates for Taxing such as had not contributed to the War or not contributed according to their Estates and Abilities for sequestring the Temporalities of many Bishops and then for selling all the Bishops and Church-Lands for assessing all the Members of either House that absented from or were in Arms against the Parliament as they arrogantly miscalled themselves for voiding the places of Clerks of Record that did any thing in their Offices in Favour of the Crown for regulating as they called ruining the two Universities for removing of Scandalous as they called Loyal Ministers for taking away the fifth part of Delinquents Estates for disabling of them to bear any Office or Place of trust or to have any Voice in Elections for setting free all Apprentices from their Masters that had served the Parliament for Abolishing the House of Peers for selling the Kings Lands not to mention all their new Devices by which they squeezed out of the People of this Land above twenty Millions in seven years Time A Greater sum than all the Kings of England had levied from the Conquest until that time or herhaps until this day Their oppressions in these and such like Instances were very visible not withstanding all their Religious disguises and all their pretended Zeal for the Glory of God insomuch that great Complaints began to be made of them by those who had set them up and their Tyranny increasing at length came out a bold Remonstrance against them in 1647 in which they are accosted thus Seeing it is high time for the Free Commons of England to look after the enjoyment of that good Land Peace Freedom and Justice which you promised us at the beginning give us leave to expostulate a little How comes it to pass that we reap not the Harvest of this promised Seed-time and that such fair Blossoms yield such slender Fruit Whence comes this muttering and groaning and these Exclamations against Oppression Tyranny and Injustice in our streets How comes it to pass that we see Courts of Injustice Justice we cannot call them even at the Parliament-Door nay within the Parliament-House How comes it to pass that so many Irregular and Illegal Votes Orders Declarations and Ordinances pass for current one day and counterfeit the next Whence proceeds this Spirit of Ambition Contention Oppression and Sedition which Reigns so powerfully among you Did you so vehemently declare against Prerogative to destroy us by Priviledge Did you Exclaim against Injustice in others that your selves might be singularly and superlatively unjust Must your Will be our Supream-Law Was the taking a little of our Estates illegal in others but Justice in you to take all Is this the end of our Labour the return of our Expectation and the prize for which we have sweat so much Blood We looked for Justice but behold Oppression we looked for Liberty but behold Slavery and our end is worse than the beginning We beseech you to look to the Rock from whence you are hewn were you not Fellow-Commoners with us and are you not accountable to us by whom you are impowered and intrusted Have you not declared that the Law ought to be the Rule of the Kings actions and must it not be Rule of yours Have you formerly declared That they who give Law to others ought not to be without or above Law themselves And therefore we the Free Commons of England expect reparation and relief against all your Arbitrary and Exorbitant Practices Have you not declared That no Free Commoner ought or might be disinfranchised of his Liberty without Indictment and that the Fining and Imprisoning of Men without due Process of Law was a breach upon the Law and destructive to the Subjects Liberty How comes it then to pass that since the time of your declaring of it to be so unjust in others you have so frequently used it your selves What Prison is there free nay what County or Corporation but hath some Sufferers being Imprisoned by the Arbitrary Subject-destroying Power of you and your Committees Have you not complained that the Publick Stock was converted to Private Uses and do not you do the same And have you not often declared against the King for keeping and protecting Delinquents from Tryal and do not you your selves protect and defend many False and Traiterous Members under pretence of Priviledge There are many other Complaints in this Remonstrance against our Reformers which for Brevity-sake I omit And after they were thus openly rebuked for their Oppressions and Corruptions their Credit began sensibly to decay till at last they were dissolved or rather reformed into a new Council of State which called themselves the Keepers of the Liberties of England which after a short blaze resigned all their Power to the Victorious Rebel from whom they had it under the style of Protector and how the Nobility Gentry Clergy and the whole Nation were enslaved by him his own Acts are yet extant to declare He and his Council made new Laws for Treason and for levying and raising of Money He confined a great part of the Loyal Nobility and Gentry and such as he suspected of Loyalty to their Houses he forbad them to wear Swords and all others to meet at any Huntings Horse Races and the like Diversions He made his Proclamations Laws he tolerated all Religions but Popery and Prelacy which he craftily joined together to make the People believe they were both alike He was succeeded by his Son who was deposed by the Officers of the Rebel-Army they call back the remnant of the Old Long-Parliament to the House the Parliament presently erects a Council of State afterwards they and the Army clash the Army prevails settles a Committee of Safety this shortly expires and is succeeded by the Remnant of the Long-Parliament again They presently fall to Imprison several of the most Eminent Citizens of London and commanded the General of happy memory to take away their Posts and Chains and
this still is our Duty to do on this auspicious Day We have offered up the Calves of our Lips the Sacrifices of Praises and Thanksgivings unto God with our Mouths and I hope our Hearts are Unisons with our Tongues We have sung unto the Lord as the Psalmist saith and heartily rejoiced in the strength of our Salvation we have sung Psalms and Anthems unto him because he hath done marvellous things and I hope in this solemnity our very Souls have magnified the Lord and our Spirits have rejoyced in God our Saviour and even hto te last moment of it let every Loyal Person say bless the Lord O my Soul Ps 103.1 and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Certainly it is our duty on this happy day to extol God and exult in the Salvation which he hath wrought for us and to acknowledge that this is the day which the Lord hath made the day of our going out of Egypt the day of our return from Captivity the day of the Dedication of our Temple and Altar nay the day of the Brittish Purim in which we ought to rejoyce as being the day wherein we rested from our Enemies and the month which was turned to us from Sorrow to Joy and from mourning into a good day that we should make it a day of Feasting and Joy Esth 9.22 and of sending Portions and guifts to the Poor For it is to the Mercy of this day that we owe our Lives our Religions our Liberties and Estates that every one of us can sit securely under his own Vine and call what he hath his own and therefore certainly we that ejoy so great a Deliverance by this day and such mighty Blessings consequent upon it as no other People in the World enjoy besides our selves if our hearts be not at discord with our Mouths in our present Devotions we cannot forbear to let the offerings of our Charity accompany our Sacrifices of Praise and do something considerable to exhilarate the Spirits of our poor brethren and make them partakers of our joy This day the sorrowful sighing of the Poor and of the Prisoners ought to come before us and more especially if we know any such who wereruined by the late Successful Rebellion them we ought to relieve They more especially ought to be the Objects of your Charity upon this Solemnity and therefore in the first place let us do good and distribute to those or the Poor Relations of those who were sufferers for their Loyalty and bore the greatest and bitterest part of that Captivity from which the Lord brought back his People upon this day I suppose there are such to be found among you the Monuments of your former Loyalty in the bloody Worcester-fight and I hope you will consider them as Martyrs and Confessors for our English Liberties and open your hand liberally towards them who yet bear in their Bodies or in their Distressed Families the Marks of their Loyalty for the King and of their Sufferings for the Church We cannot offer up unto God any Sacrifice more acceptable than the supplies which in gratitude to him for our Deliverance we shall give to them this day and if our Charity be such as becomes our present Devotion we need not fear but that God will accept our Alms and Oblations and that our Prayers and our Alms will go up for a Memorial before him who hath done so great things for us and by his Almighty Power and Allwise Providence turned our Captivity as the Rivers in the South These are the duties proper to this day but then we must further understand that if our Joy be pure and genuine and such as really proceeds from a grateful and Religious Sense of Gods Goodness it will shew itself in the Fruits of true Piety towards God and of True and conscientious Allegiance to the King whom God so miraculously restored unto us all the Days of our Life He that pretends Religion towards God and yet makes use of it as a Cloak of Maliciousness to Cover his Disaffection and Disloyalty to the King that Mans Religion let him shew never so much Zeal for preserving the Protestant Religion is Pharisaical and vain and utterly unacceptable in the sight of him who will have every Soul to be Subject to the Higher Powers And on the other hand he who pretends Loyalty to the King and expresses it in such a manner as must needs be offensive to God and sober Men that mans Loyalty subverts the Kings Throne and provokes God to let the Enemies of the Crown multiply and prosper to punish the Wickedness of such profane Royalists who in that Bacchanal manner by which they Testify their affection to the King disgrace his Majesty and dishonour God He that truly Fears God will Honour the King and not meddle with those that are given to Change and he that truly Honours the King in the Christian notion of a King as the Image and Lieutenant of God will be sure to Honour him by whom Kings Reign and express his Zeal for him and his Joy for his Restauration in such Ways and Measures as shall not pollute any Festival Solemnity or turn our indulgence into Riot or Excess God forbid that Loyalty more than any other Christian Virtue should be made a pretense for such unworthy Greek Practises and God forbid that any of the English Melchites or Loyal Subjects of the Church of England should find no other ways of declaring their Zeal and Affection for their Soveraign than such as will render them the Scorn and Reproach of theirs and the Kings Enemies and a Scandal to the Royal Cause Let us in God's Name rejoyce in the Kings Salvation but in such a manner as will consist with the strict Rules of Christian Sobriety Let the Fear of God temper our Mirth for the Deliverance of the King let us wish him Health and say with Daniel O King live for Ever but at the same time let us remember him who hath Cloathed him with Majesty and in whose Rule and Governance the Hearts of Kings and Princes are God indeed hath given Wine to chear the Heart of Man but then we must in our Mirth remember what he hath told us that Wine is a Mocker and that strong drink is rageing Prov. 20 1. and whosoever is deceived thereby is not Wise God indeed hath given us leave to Eat and Drink to kill Beasts to mingle our Wines and furnish our Tables upon Festivall Occasions but then as Christians it becomes us to remember at our Feasts that whether we eat or drink 1 Cor. 10.31 or whatsoever we doe we must do it to the Praise and glory of God who on this day brought back the Captivity of his People and therefore doth expect that Jacob should Rejoice and Israel should be Glad for the wonderful deliverance which by his Special Providence and Assistance he hath brought about Now to God our Mighty Deliverer and Saviour who giveth Victory unto Kings the God to whom alone our Gracious Soveraign is Subject and next under whom he is Supream within these Realms unto the Allwise and Almighty God of whose institution Kings and Kingdoms are unto the Allwise Almighty God and Creator King of Kings and Lord of Lords be ascribed as is most due Eternal Praise Honour Majesty and Glory by us and by the whole Church Militant and Triumphant now and Evermore FINIS Page 17 line penult for 60 read 70. Sermons written by the same Authour and Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in St. Pauls-Church-yard 1. A Discourse to prove the strongest Temptations are conquerable by Christians A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London and Court of Aldermen Jan. 14th 1676 7 2. The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised In a Sermon Preached before the Vniversity of Oxford On Act-Sunday 1680. 3. Peculium Dei A Sermon Preached before the Honourable the Aldermen and Citizens of London on February 6th 1688 8 0 1 4. The true Notion of Persecution in a Sermon preached at the time of the late Contribution for the French Protestants 5. A Sermon Preached before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of London on Jan. 30th 1681 2 6. The Moral Shechinah or a Discourse of Gods Glory In a Sermon Preached at the York-shire Feast In Bow-Church June 11 1682. 7. A Sermon Preached at the Church of St. Bridget on Easter-Tuesday being the first of April 1684 before the Right Honourable Sir Henry Tulse Lord Mayor of London and the Honourable Court of Aldermen together with he Governours of the Hospitals upon the Subject of Almsgiving