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cause_n	call_v	good_a	great_a	3,277	5	2.6620	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77844	The magistrates commission from heaven. Declared in a sermon preached in Laurencejury, London, the 28. day of Sept. 1644. at the election of the Lord Major. / By Anthony Burgesse, sometimes fellow of Immanuel Colledge in Cambridge; now pastour of Sutton Coldfield in Warwick shire, and a member of the Assembly. Imprimatur Thomas Gataker.	Burgess, Anthony, d. 1664.	1644 (1644)	Wing B5650; Thomason E14_18a	18,261	25

most prudent to be lesse accepted with the people because they are circumspect and cautelous and wary in what they doe whereas papulus favet fervidis the people they favour those that are violent and they had rather have faelicia ex casu then bona ex consilio they had rather have happy things by meere chance if it fall out by a bold venture then to have good things slowly by a way of counsell and prudence yet for all that wisedome is necessary no man will bring a little light into a great roome and a little wisedome ought not to be brought into the office that requires all the parts and all the powers of a man In the fift place Another Qualification that is requisite is Fortitude and Courage and Zeale Wisedome is the eye but Courage and Fortitude that is the hand and so to the one there must be the other joyn'd and certainly where there is not zeale for God and zeale against vice there can be nothing done rightly therefore Magistrates are called Elim they are called the strong ones as therefore I told you it is not enough for a Magistrate to say I desire to doe good and I faine would doe good but he must know how to doe good So on the other side he ought to be full of courage and full of fortitude that he be not any way hindred in the doing of the same that he neither be flattered out nor frighted out of his duty not to be afraid of the people nor yet to be afraid of great ones You may see Saul for feare of the people and Aaron for feare of the people how they were forced to commit sin And so likewise on the other side not for feare of great ones that was Zedikiahs fault that for feare of the Nobles he deliverd up Jeremy Further in the next place another great requisite in him it is a holy care of Family of Officers of those that belong to him if he be a superiour This you may see to be the resolution of David in the 101. Psalme it is a Psalme that it is well if all Governours would be diligent in you may see what he did resolve on when he came to be a Governour what family he would have and what Officers he would have thore should be no lyer in his house nor no man prophane in his house and he would destroy the wicked betime and this was the purpose he did take on him So that he ought to be carefull of his Family and of those that are under him that they be not prophane that they be not bribed that they be not deboist or ungodly Beloved to see a Governour with those following of him that feare God and that feare an oath this is the best Lord-Majors show as I may say It is spoken of Constantine to his great praise that he would gather all his Court together and have the Scripture read in his Palace and pray with them this shewed his care of his Family That was Joshua's resolution I and my house will serve the Lord. Then againe in the next place another Qualitie is diligence and attending unto the office making it to be their whole businesse for so you may see here the Apostle addes at the sixth verse Attending continually upon this very thing the word is emphaticall they attend onely to this and they attend wholly to this they make it their businesse Beloved you ought to see the Lawes be executed it is a vaine thing to have good lawes unlesse Governours be diligent to see them executed a good Law without execution is like a Bell without a Clapper and therefore the good Lawes that are against Swearers and against Drunkennesse and breaking of the Sabbath and the like these things Governours are to be diligent in the executing of them he ought to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a walking and a living Law diligent in this Woe be to thee saith he in Eccles 9. when thy Prinoes eat in the morning implying that all the morning all the day almost it ought to be taken up in the publike businesse and that it ought to be your day-care and your night-care and your morning-care even the Common-wealth And then another thing is Patience that is also requisite in those that are Governours under a world of unthankfulnesse and impatience and censuring by the people you may see what a deale of patience the happiest Governours in the world have been put upon Moses and Aaron though they tooke them out of bondage and would have led them into Canaan yet the people when they were alwayes in streights were ready to cry out these have undone us and brought all this evill upon us And so David notwithstanding his good government yet when the people were in danger they spake of stoning of him And so we might speake of Themistocles and Cato and many others that when they had spent themselves for the good of the Common-wealth yet were most ungratefully and unthankfully requited againe by the people so that they had need of a great deale of Patience and forbearance regarding the publike more then their private injuries It is related of Themistocles that when he was old and had long governed the people being wearied out with their unthankfulnesse he said That if he had the power to dispose of his life and that there was one way wherein the greatest and the highest honours were for him in the Common-wealth and another way was present death he would rather choose the one then the other And so likewise of Aeschines when he was delivered out of his office he thanked God he was freed of the Common-wealth tanquam à rabida cane Thus there needs a great deale of Patience to goe through the unthankfulnesse of people through their murmurings discontents when then have laboured for the publike good and spent themselves Further there is requisite a great deale of Clemencie and Moderation too it is true indeed lukewarmnesse or pusilanimity those are cursed and they ought not to be in a Magistrate Nothing spoiles Government more then when languor justitiae does come sub nomine pietatis when a faint-kind of Justice comes under the name of piety but yet notwithstanding when we are bent for and set wholly for God then the Administration of Government with a great deale of moderation and meeknesse is very excellent it is true Arduum est misereri simul sapere it is a hard thing to be pittifull and to be wise too to have ones affections up and to be wise too yet notwithstanding we ought to do it and a man is to have command over his passions especially a man that is in authoritie it is more then to winne or overcome a great Citie there is a great deale of difference between a moderate man and a middle man a middle man that lies downe in a cursed indifferent neutralitie as the Covenant well cals it He is not for the Cause of God or the

publike good but the moderate man is fully for God wholly for the Cause of God only the Administration of his power it is with a great deale of wisedome and mildnesse here 's a world of difference between these two and therefore you ought mightily to distinguish them It was noted as a wicked thing of Tiberius that he medios viros optimos judicare he did judge the middle men to be the best men but what did he meane by middle men Men that could not abide eminent vertues nor great vices He did hate eminent vertues because from them he did metuere periculum sibi he was afraid of danger by them And then he did hate vice too because by them he did metuere publicum dedecus he was afraid of publike disgrace There are many of that temper But now a moderate man he is a man whose heart is faithfully set for God and who is bent for the publike and all his soule is in it and he is immoveable in it yet notwithstanding the administration of this is with a great deale of meeknesse And then in the last place and so I shall conclude he ought to be humble and trembling under this account that he is to give that is necessary they are not to lift up their heads above their brethren As they are to take heed of pusilanimity and lownesse of spirit Contemnitur Magistratus qui seipsum prius contempsit that Magistrate must needs be contemned by the people that hath first contemned himselfe by his low carriage But yet on the other side he ought to be sull of humilitie to tremble under the account he is to give what shall he say to God what shall he answer to God might not he have hindered this measure of vice might not he have done this good and that good It was a good saying of Seneca Principi non minis turpia sunt multa supplicia quam medico funera Many punishments they are as great a shame to a Governour as funerals are to a Physitian for it implyes that the Governour should have had a great deale of care and have prevented the punishment happily his carelesnesse hath wrought it happily his negligence or want of zeale hath wrought it Now in the managing of these he is to follow the rule of the Word of God without any carnall policy or without any subtile considerations whatsoever to be plaine hearted in carrying on the work of God and you see when David would runne to carnall policie it spoiled him And so Jeroboam it was his worldly and state policy that did undoe him we ought to be so trusting of God and depending on his Word that when we doe our duty we are to leave the successe wholly to him The Reasons why they that are in Government must be thus qualified First all their Actions have influence into the Common-wealth and therefore it behoves them more then others to be so The Eclipse of the Sun makes a great deale of motion and alteration in things below and so any Eclipse in those that are in Authoritie and Government workes great but sad effects in inferiours And secondly they are to doe it because God hath a speciall care of them who keepes thee that art in Authoritie and Government that the wicked rise not up and that the ungodly conspire not as one man to destroy Magistracie who keeps this but the Lord that keepes the waves of the sea that they doe not overflow A third reason is because their guilt will be the greater Oh! beloved it may be God is never more angry with a man then when he puts him into a high place then when he puts him into some great Office that which he is glad of it may be and that which he studies for and plots for and desires for the Lord sayes he shall have it but he shall have it in anger he shall have it as the occasion wherein he will vent his sinnes the more and as the advantage wherein he will destroy his owne soule it may be God may never be more angry with a man then when he lets him come into a place of Publike trust and therefore he ought the more to tremble and to quake under the consideration of this Vse 1 In the first place let us make this use is it so that Magistracie is appointed of God for our good Government is it for our good Then it may reprove all those opinions and errours that are about Government either in the defect or in the excesse of it In the defect Anabaptists and Socinians that question the Authoritie of Magistracie and so likewise Papists though they question it not yet notwithstanding have many destructive opinions about it And then on the other side in the Excesse for there is politicke idolatry as well as spirituall we may make a Magistrate an idoll and that is when we will obey him against God when we have no other ground for our Worship or Religion then the Authoritie of a Magistrate we look not to the Word of God this is politicke idolatry Quicquid rex Demetrius jubet id erga homines justum Deos sanctum that was their resolution Vse 2 In the next place Is it so that Magistracie is appointed for our good then let us humble our selves under the consideration of the abuse of Government that hath been heretofore in our Kingdome and Nation the abuse of it I say here saies the Apostle if thou dost evill be afraid Oh beloved were not the times when men to doe good were afraid were not the times when if men prayed fervently and when men preached powerfully and when men stood for the publike good of the Kingdome when they did these good things were they not afraid how terrible is it therefore when the Nature and the Office of Government is altered when men to doe good were afraid and when men that did evill were not afraid nor discouraged when the Text now is altered in stead of being a Minister of God to men for good when Magistrates and Governors shall become Ministers of Satan for the evill and hurt of men this is terrible Vse 3 In the third place let us be thankfull when the Lord raises up Magistracie for all these ends that we spake of Let us blesse God for the Parliament for those Worthies that have been raised up that have eased us of many burdens and superstitions All Government it is a mercy but now when they are raised up so as to be effectuall in a Reformation and in working the will of God this is much more Beloved any kind of Government is better then no Government There was a Law amongst the Persians that when their Governor was dead there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there should be a lawlesnesse for five dayes after that every man should doe what he would now for those five dayes there was such killing and robbing and such destroying one another that by the time the five dayes were over they were glad of a Government again So that I say we are to blesse God for all Government how much rather now when it is raised up for our good and happinesse And so likewise the Citie is to blesse God for the vigilancie and prudence of Governours for the peace it hath been kept in in the midst of these great confusions troubles that have been abroad that such a Citie as this is should be so quiet in such times of Civill warres and of great ruines here we are to acknowledge the mercy of God Vse 4 The last use is of Exhortation unto those that have Elections and Votes that are to chuse to day their Governour Beloved ye see by all that hath been said Magistracie it is of God and you see what are the ends and qualifications that ought to be in those men Understanding the will of God Men that are much in Prayer to God Men that are of Fortitude and Courage Men that are Prudent and Wise that have a knowledge how to doe good as well as a desire to doe good And so also Men that are carefull about Families about their Orficers about their Servants about all that doe belong to them Men that will be diligent Men that are of Publike spirits that will abhorre to make a publike place matter of their owne gaine Men that shall be diligent in these things to the execution of the good Lawes that may be or shall be established whosoever is thus thinke of such a man whosoever I say is thus Wise thus Diligent thus Faithfull thus Pious thus Godly whosoever is such set up such a man Beloved you may bring a great deale of comfort or a great deale of trouble to your selves this day what a Comfort will this be to thee that hast disposed thy Vote and suffrage to say thus I have chosen the man that will be a good Pilot of the Ship in the storme I have chosen the man that will be a good Physitian that will heale the breaches Nay all the good that comes by such a Magistracie will at last come to be thine thou maist say his Integritie is thine the good he hath done is thine it will all be counted to thee who hast given thy suffrage for it Therefore beloved deale faithfully with God and the Common-wealth this day and doe you so set about your worke that God may be pleased the good Cause of God may be advanced the Parliament may bee incouraged the Common-wealth may be blessed the Citie may be made happy and we all may be made rejoycing and praising of God for this dayes worke FINIS

THE MAGISTRATES COMMISSION FROM HEAVEN Declared In a SERMON preached in Laurence jury London the 28. day of Sept. 1644. at the Election of the Lord Major By Anthony Burgesse sometimes Fellow of Immanuel Colledge in Cambridge now Pastour of Sutton Coldfield in Warwick shire and a Member of the Assembly Imprimatur THOMAS GATAKER LONDON Printed by George Miller for Thomas Vnderhill at the Bible in Woodstreet 1644. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE Sr John Wollaston Knight Lord Major AND To the Right Honourable Thomas Atkin Esquire Lord Major Elect of the Citie of London Right Honourable IT is a serious and grave resolution of CALVIN Calvin in 1. Epist in Tim. cap. 2. Tenendum est illud principium c. That principle and maxime is firmely to be kept viz. That Magistrates are appointed by God to safeguard and preserve Religion and publike honesty even as the earth is ordained to bring forth fruit for nourishment and therefore as when we pray for our daily bread we also intreat God to make the earth fertile and fruitfull so when we pray that Christs Kingdome may come we also beseech God to raise up Magistrates that may preserve and propagate his truth But as the earth is many times cursed because of the sins of the inhabitants thereof so God for the iniquities of a Nation raiseth up Governours in his wrath to be a scourge to them All which sheweth the great necessitie of that injunction to pray for Kings and those in Authoritie that we may live a quiet and godly life under them and this is the intent of the future discourse which by your Command is now published that otherwise had been buried in silence I have not launcht into that great question De jure Magistratus circa sacra though I have spoken a little obiter of it The Magistracie and Ministry have their distinct bounds and yet are mutually to help each other Quamdiu Respublicae manent hospitia Ecclesiae tamdiu sint mansurae As long as Common-wealths are Innes like that in Bethlehem to lodge Christ in so long they will abide and flourish I have adventured to joyne you both in the Dedication of this Sermon partly because you both did incourage to the publishing of it and partly because the Lord hath raised you both up in the place of Authority The one being almost at his races end and the other beginning his journey The one having found the experience of Gods Protection in the managing of that Office which is surrounded with so many discouragements and the other needing all provocations not to faint in such a publike worke The Lord so blesse your Honours in this publike Service that the whole Citie yea whole Kingdome may praise God for your Fidelitie Prudence and Piety therein Your Lordships to serve you ANTHONY BURGESSE THE MAGISTRATES COMMISSION FROM HEAVEN ROMANES 13.4 For he is the Minister of God to thee for good WHat the Father Gregory Nazianzen said of Moses that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Ocean of Divinitie the same may be said of Paul for doe but view this particular Epistle to the Romanes you shall see in the former part of it that he hath a Medulla or a Synopsis as I may so say purioris theologiae he hath a Synopsis of the pure and exact Divinitie of Originall sinne of Sanctification of Justification and of Election In the twelfth Chapter you may see Pauls Ethicks and Morals wherein the efficient cause of Actions is made not with Aristotle mans power but the grace of God and the end not mans glory but the glory of God And in the fourteenth Chapter there you have Paul a Casuist determining cases with a great deale of circumspection and caution And then in this Chapter here you have Pauls politicks The beginning of this Chapter is the Magistrates Magna Charta or his Commission sealed from Heaven whereby he may be incouraged to goe through his office notwithstanding all men that dispute about lawfulnesse of Magistracie and notwithstanding all the discouragements that he shall meet with in the practice of it there being nothing more necessary to a Magistrate then to be informed of this that his Calling is of God and that God hath a peculiar providence over such It is related of Frederick Duke of Saxonie when he was almost discouraged by the popish doctrine about Magistracie and the office of a governour at last when Luther writ a booke De magistratu and the Duke had read it he lifts up his hands to Heaven thanking God that at last he was convinced the state of Magistracie he lived in to be pleasing to God and that he might in it doe him a great deale of service Now the Apostle he deales very exactly and methodically about a Magistrate First he laies downe a generall Proposition at the 1. verse Let every soul be subject to the higher powers or unto the high powers for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek and this translating of it Higher powers is periculose saies Beza as if none but higher powers were to have obedience Let every soule be subject this brings in Papists Monks the whole Clergie of Poperie It brings in all spirituall men as they call them whatsoever And as for that same evasion Let every soule Omnis anima id est animalis homo as they cite it out of Origen it is very ridiculous And as vain is that of others who say he speakes here of Ecclesiasticall power for he gives a sword and tribute to this power which cannot be understood of Ecclesiasticall power So you have then the Proposition laid downe and this he backs with many Arguments First from the efficient Cause The powers that be are of God how this is to be understood I shall show you anon in the Text only thus when he sayes there is no power but of God it is not to be understood permissivè or ordinativè or directivè for so sin and evill and wickednesse or the devill these are of God by way of permission and by way of ordering and directing But the Apostle meanes more He is of God approbativè mandativè by way of approbation and by way of command as I shall show you anon And the Apostle laieth it downe both affirmatively and negatively That there is no power but of God This is more then affirmatively for some might think though the kingdome and power of Israel was of God yet notwithstanding is the power of the Romane Emperours of God and then amongst Romane Emperours the Christians might have thought though Titus and Vespatian these that were called diliciae generis humani the darlings of mankind yet was Domitian and Tiberius Nero of God He answereth There is no power but of God that is the first Argument The second Argument is brought from the contrary Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God This place you know is frequently brought by Court Divines against the Parliaments defensive warre but