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A63889 A sermon preached before Their Majesties K. James II and Q. Mary at their coronation in Westminster-Abby, April 23, 1685 by Francis Lord Bishop of Ely ... Turner, Francis, 1638?-1700. 1680 (1680) Wing T3290; ESTC R6336 11,473 16

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himself after so many wise contemplations by trying those costly experiments in sinful pleasures As he forgot God himself and his own godly dictates in the Book of Proverbs so 't is generally agreed that he wrote his Ecclesiastes as his Penetential that he remembred himself turn'd to the Lord his God that he is numbred among the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints And now to dwell no longer on the particular Story of that great King I may set it down in general as certainly true that wherever in any Prince and People all the same causes of prosperity meet together there and no where else The like wonderful blessed effect will assuredly result and follow 1. And first for a King and People to be happy the King must have a right to his Kingdom For how can an Usurper expect to Reign prosperously when many under his Government must needs think themselves his equals if not his betters and none can reasonably think themselves oblig'd to be his Subjects And how miserable is a King and Kingdom when every private man that is but audacious enough has a fair pretence if he can but gather force to overturn any Settlemen that can be in such a case Such a Pyrat-Prince must be always expos'd to tempests and if like the great Leviathan he can take any pastime in them he may thank his sick fancy for the pleasing dream I will mention only two that were both of them royally descended yet unjustly possess'd of this Crown King Stephen was none of our worst Princes and one of the most valiant but an Intruder he was and he sped accordingly his Reign was the most turbulent of any except that of K John another Usurper and this latter was reduc'd to that extremity that he very meanly surrender'd his Imperial Crown to the Pope who had Interdicted all publick Divine Offices in this miserable kingdom for above six years and who never afterwards mention'd that Prince but with the Title of John our Vassal But then again to provide well for the peace and quietness a Prince and People 't is necessary not only that the Title to the Crown look fair but that it be such as is not easily liable to be contested else there will be Competitors and that of it self is a heavy Judgment Nay I add farther the worthier those Competitors the more capable they are of confounding all before them As in the fatal Dispute between Tork and Lancaster there were two Princes Henry the sixth and Edward the Fourth each of them extraordinary in their different characters one of them accounted a Saint the other a most active generous Prince Both of them had fast hold of the peoples affections in their several Parties and they rent the Kingdom in pieces between them They made our poor Countrey an Aceldama a Field of Blood kill'd up whole Families and the greatest number of both those Royal Families till the woful controversy was happily ended by that auspicious Marriage from which a Race of Kings with undoubted right and our present Gracious Sovereign is Lineally descended 2. But as the Title to the Crown must be clear and right so secondly the management of the Scepter should be as wise as the Tenure is just and Royal. Our two unfortunate Kings the Second Edward and Richard had an indisputable Right which they could never lose The more was the wrong done them though they lost themselves by their Male-administration of the Government But on the other side what vast hopes may be justly conceiv'd what blessed wonders may be wrought for the publick good where the Sovereign Prince has all the dexterity together with all the Activity that is necessary to make his motions as regular as they are vigorous in so bright and so high a Sphere Then will the saying of Solomon prove it self That the King by Judgment establisheth the Land Nay then it will extend to other kingdoms for Kings have long hands especially such a King as may hold the Balance and give Peace and War where he pleases and consequently may give Law to other Nations He may reach out as Solomon did the fruits of his wise Conduct to all the World 3. But in the third place I must needs add be the Title of a King as good as a Warrant from Heaven can make it Be it so undoubted as Hell it self can find no pretence to question it be the King like an Angel of God for his knowledge and Conduct in the Government yet if his Subjects will be Sons of Belial Sons of the Devil so Rebels are call'd in Scripture Belial that is absque Jugo men that will bear no yoke 't is still in their power to be as miserable as they please Since the Wills of men are free 't is confest their leaves must be askt whether they will be happy or no Whether they will obey and enjoy the blessing of Peace or Whether they will resist and pull down ruine upon themselves and their posterity For want of a people obedient and willing to be rul'd by a gentle hand the best of Kings was most vilely cast away as if he had not been Anointed with Oyl How dear these Kingdoms have paid for the Murder of that Blessed King is too grievous a Reflection at this time But one consideration I would offer though the maintenance of Religion is commonly made the most plausible pretence for Rebellion as it was for the last among us and has been made use of since towards the encouraging of another yet Rebellion almost constantly proves as that last prov'd the means to destroy Religion My meaning is not only this that as soon as ever men begin to be Rebels they cease to be inwardly religious and truly good men but I drive it farther That to Rebel is the ready way to ruine the Constitution of the outward profest and establisht Religion in a Nation What need I look any farther for an example of this when I have a most remarkable proof in the History of that King in my Text King Solomon in his declining age fell so as no Christ●an Prince can ever fall unless he renounce his Baptism from making Beauty his Idol he fell even to worship the Pagan Deities that is Devils for as the Apostle says The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and n●t to G●d Yet all that while all Israel obey'd him and cont●●●ed in the worsh●p of God as they might do without an inconsistence whatsoever But when Solomon was dead and gone Jeroboam came in by Rebellion for tho he was promis'd the Kingdom 't is said the Mat●er was from the Lord yet it was promis'd him only upon cond●tions which he never performd If thou wilt hearken to all that I command thee as David my Servant did But he would hearken to nothing that God commanded him nor would he wait God's time as David had done He drew Ten of the Tribes into Rebellion But then