to make and Power to preserve them and by all demonstration of Kindness watcheth over them for good Nay so jealous is God Almighty in this particular that he will not allow any mortal man or thing to have the honour of rescuing them from danger nor give the glory of their Preservation to any other than himself it is God that giveth Salvation unto Kings and delivereth David from the hurtful Sword It is not the Wisdom of his Counsellors the Care of his Magistrates the Fidelity of his Servants nor the Courage of his Soldiers that preserve a King tho' all these act commendably in their Stations for unless the Lord watch over Them as well as their Cities the Watchman waketh but in vain Nor can the Love of his Subjects lengthen his days the best Office they can do him is but like the People in the Text to pray for his Health it is God only that can give him Help in the time of Trouble be Rebels never so rebellious and outragious he that stilleth the raging of the Sea and the madness of the Multitude can so charm the unruliness of a Seditious People as to bring them to Submission or Confusion Now God's special care and providence over his Anointed Ones is shewn in Scripture by a threefold injunction laid by Himself upon their Subjects under very severe and heavy penalties God doth not allow any Subject to harbour in his breast an ill Thought against his Sovereign Curse not the King no not in thy thoughts Eccles x. 20. for the birds of the Air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter By which some Commentators understand a Power given by God to the Tutelary Angels of Kings and Governours to understand the trayterous thoughts of all such as bear disloyal and treacherous hearts against their Princes That the Sin of Rebellion might never be brought forth God does stifle it in the Womb nip it in the bud and destroy it in the very thoughts that it may never come to do further mischief And greater Reason is there for our observance of this Prohibition since the first entertainments of Sin are oftentimes of dangerous consequence while the Enemy is without doors it is an easie matter to keep him there but when he has entred the house he is not expulsed without trouble and difficulty therefore God Almighty who always designs the good of his People that we might not inure our Tongues to speak Evil of Dignities nor stretch forth our Hands against the Lords Anointed will not permit us to lodge a disloyal thought in the most secret recesses of our bosoms Not to open our mouths in disparagement of their Persons or government and great cause is there for this prohibition also or no sooner hath Pride formed men into Disobedience but the next step they take is by Reproaches to ruine the reputation of the government and impede the accomplishment of righteous designs Reputation being to actions what Feathers are to Arrows making them fly the better and pierce the deeper they indeavour to deprive their governors of this advantage If there be any fallings in their conversation they are sure to be represented in the blackest Colour And by all the advantages of art improved into a Condemnation of the whole constitution These were the wretched methods that first begat and also continue the feeds of rebellion among us Let the King say what he will they read it backwards and make the best of his actions speak nothing but Arbitrary Government and Persecution When the King declares he will govern by the known Laws they remonstrate that he does not and suggest by their groundless and unreasonable faers and jealousy that he will not and by carping at his proceedings and misrepresenting his actions so deflower the beauty of his Crown with Satyrical invectives that he becomes less able to serve those great ends for which government was instituted if therefore you desire to approve your selves good Subjects and good Christians invent not evil stories of him whom God hath set over you falsly believe them not easily report them not disloyally aggravate them not spitefully scatter them not industriously but aprrehend such disloyal thieves whom you take a pillaging your Princes good name the forward receiver of an evil report being as bad as he that brings it always remembring that railing against Kings was a Capital crime in David's judgment who commanded Solomon to put Shimei to death for it Not to lift up a finger to their prejudice for no man can do it and be guiltless Touch not mine Anointed saith the Psalmist and wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand against the Lords Anointed saith David to the wicked Amalekite that slew King Saul in all times hath God manifested his vengeance against such Rebells as have risen up against them witness Corah Dathan and Abiram whom the earth swallowed up quick and became at once both their Sexton and their grave Witness Zimri burnt to ashes in that very palace whence he had driven his Lord and Sovereign and so notable a vengeance indeed it was that wicked Jezabel took special notice of it for had Zimri Peace said she that slew his Master I might here be infinite if I should add to these instances all those dreadful Examples of God's Vengeance against such as have been Rebells against their Kings which I could fetch you both from Ecclesiastical and Secular Histories but I shall at present ease my self and you of that Trouble since what hath already been said does sufficiently demonstrate that God hath a most special and particular Care in the Preservation of Kings and therefore to none so fitly may the People address themselves for the Life and Safety of their Sovereign as unto God and more comprehensive words we cannot use than what is prescrib'd in the Text God save the King The last particular is the matter of the Supplication That the King might be Saved and Preserved and all the People shouted and said God save the King And we are encouraged to a chearful performance of this duty because God doth usually grant it and because the King needs it more than ordinary persons do The King's duty is more difficult his abundance exposeth him to more temptations and his height to more dangers than any of his People and his preservation is far more necessary and of universal concernment for he is worth ten thousand of us and we had need pray heartily to God to Save him who doth defend us all the King stands in need of more wisdom to direct him more power to protect him more care to preserve him than other men For as the King doth not Live Sibi sed Populo so neither doth he Dye to his own but to our disadvantage a thousand others may steal out of the World and no body mind or miss them but the loss of a King would soon be felt therefore saith the Apostle I Exhort that
VIVAT REX A SERMON Preached before the Right Worshipful THE MAYOR ALDERMEN Council and Citizens of BRISTOL Upon the Discovery of the Late Treasonable Phanatick Plot. At St. James's Church July 25. 1683. being Sunday in the Fair-Week By R. KINGSTON M.A. One of his Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary 1 Sam. xv 23. Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry LONDON Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh Bookseller to his Royal Highness at the Black Bull in Corn-Hill against the Royal-Exchange 1683. To the Right Worshipful THOMAS ESTON Esq Mayor And to the Right and Worshipful Sir Robert Ganne Knight and Baronet Sir Robert Yeomans Knight and Baronet Sir Richard Crump Knight Sir John Knight jun. Knight John Lawford Esq John Hicks Esq Ralph Olliffe Esq Aldermen To Mr. George Hart and Mr. John Combes Sheriffs And to all the rest of the Loyal Aldermen Common-Council and Citizens of BRISTOL Right Worshipful THO' I am too conscious of my own weakness and inability to perform any thing worthy of your Acceptance who are bless'd with many Learned and Loyal Clergy-men that entertain you with more polite Discourses yet I dare not say but that I did most chearfully comply with the Commands of many Considerable Persons for publishing this Discourse not only because it will be a Testimony of your Respects to so mean an Orator but because it will be an Evidence of this Cities Duty and Affection to the King of which no City in England hath given more chearful and ample demonstrations It is but a while since as your Worships all sorrowfully remember that Loyal and Conscientious Subjects had like to have been overborn by the inundation of Popular Clamours and the rancorous breaths of the Factious Mobile but tho' this Disease had spread its Contagion into too many great Bodies of this Kingdom and the Tyde of Rebellion grew very high and threatning in this City also yet did your Extraordinary Care and Vigilance Antitode the Infection Stem the impetuous Torrent and maugre all the Designs of an Antimonarchical Faction preserve this City in Loyalty and Obedience Which that you may always do to the Honour of God that Commands it to the Safety of the King that Deserves it and your own Eternal Felicity that Endeavour it is the Prayer of Right Worshipful Your most humble Servant Richard Kingston July 26. 1683. A SERMON ON 1 SAM X. 24. And all the People shouted and said God Save the King WHen the dumb Son of Craesus saw an Assassin about to Murther his Father tho' he never spake before opened his Mouth with this passionate Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched Man do not Kill my Father Now if the Murther of a Natural Parent was a Crime of that horrid nature and strange resentment as to work a Miracle for its prevention then certainly the Murther of a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is Pater Patriae a the Father of his Countrey hath so much of Horror and Villany in it that if we should hold our Tongues from a detestation of the Impious Fact and imploring the Aid of Heaven for our Sovereign's Preservation the stones of the Street would cry out against such an Irreligious Silence Tim. iii. 1 3 4. St. Paul tells us that in the last days perilous times should come the men whose indeavours should contribute to make them such were persons whose character was made up of the following vices viz lovers of themselves covetous proud boasters blasphemers without natural affection truce breakers false accusers dispisers of those that are good traytors heady high minded c. and if our lot be fallen in an Age which exactly agrees with the Character of the last we must make no disingenious reflections on the providence of God but lay it at their dores who by copying out the faults of the worst men provoke the Almighty to make their lives somewhat more then the transcript of their miseries And that we do live in such days and among such persons as trully deserves the aggravating Epithits of unnatural heady high minded Traytors needs no further proofe than the discovery of the late damnable and hellish Plot aginst the life of our Soveraign the subversion of our Laws and the destruction of Loyal Subjects A Plot that would have extinguish'd the light of our Israel Stopt the breath of our Nostrils murdered the Lords Anoynted and given a bloody Bill of Exclusion to both root and branch of a glorious Monarchy a Plot that would have turn'd our Streets into shambles and fill'd our houses with Bloody Tragedies a Plot wherein transcendent villany hath left no room for pardon but cries aloud to heaven for Vengance and calls his Majesties Loyal Subjects to fall on their Knees in prayer Saying God save the King And Since I am for many weighty reasons confirm'd in my belief that no sort of people question the truth of this damnable conspiracy but such whose interests obliges them to stifle it or want demonstration from the accursed deed from which good Lord deliver us and that the great discourse is what should cause such men from whom all the world might expect better to conspire against the Life of their Sovereign and to involve the Kingdom in blood and ruine I hope it will be thought no impertinent digression to assign three things as the cause thereof The first of which is that men of unstable heads but strong passions are subject to believe that a good End doth legitimate and sanctify the worst means and now being secured of the goodness and worthiness of their End their thoughts are always in such a hurry about it their minds so intent upon it and they are so violently hot and eager in the prosecution of it that they will not allow themselves leisure and patience to consider the Lawfulness and Expediency of the means they use for the compassing of it and by this means court their own Ruine and by doing Evil that Good may come thereby assert the justice of their condemnation 1 Sam. xv 22. Or else it is for that reason given by the Prophet Samuel That Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft as well in its facination as in its guilt for none but men under the power of so great a delusion could be guilty of so barbarous an impiety unless men had offered violence to themselves martyr'd their own Consciences chased all remains of honesty and compassion out of their own breasts they could not have entred into such an Hellish Conspiracy and cease wholly to be Men that they might commence Devils hence then I say is the cause of this infatuation that men lying under the Inchantment of Rebellion want the genuine exercise of their Reason and must return to their Allegiance and so be converted from Beasts to Men before they can be Masters of their Wit and Senses And if these will not be allowed the cause of such inhuman miscarriages I know not
one that by cruel artifices prâ—â—oâ—ed Idolatry and persecuted the people of God with the Fiery furnace and Sentenced the Prophet Daniel to be Devoured of Lyons And yet we find the good Prophet so far from upbraiding him with Tyranny or threatning him with vengeance and Judgments from God that he owns his Sovereignty and Rightfull Power over him and prays for his Health Prosperity and Eternal felicity in these words O King live for ever Dan. vi 21. The next Example I shall urge is that of the Holy and blessed Jesus John xix â—â— who acknowledges Subjection to Pilate and that his power over him was from Heaven Gloriosum est sequi dominum and tho' he had the whole host of Angells at his command neither made Resistance himself nor would permit it in his followers And St. Paul also who lived in the times of Heathen persecutors enjoyns every Soul to be subject to them though they were Heathens For Christianity is so far from giving immunity from Obedience that it inforceth the duty from our Obligations to God whose Authority they bare and from which divine commission it is directly consequent that he makes any violent Resistance or opposition to the supreme Magistrate to be an affront offered to God himself In talibus non obedientes mortaliter peccant nisi foret illud quod praecipitur contra praeceptum dei vel in Salutis dispendium Angel Sum. verb. obed for which they shall receive that punishment which belongs to so Sacrilegious a contumacy Eternal Damnation St. Peter likewise preaches the same Doctrine and urgeth our Obedience to Claudius or Nero upon the account of giving Credit and Reputation to our Religion Obedience to Authority being one of the prime characteristicks whereby a Christian is to be known and when Subjects are Rebellious although they are so to Heathen Magistrates they draw disgrace upon the Gospel and tempt the Infidels to believe that men are the worse for being Christians that the Doctrine of Christ is corruptive of Principles as well as Manners and Christian Liberty but a Cloak for Rebellious Practices Now to Antidote this Venom and to wipe off this Disparagement St. Peter Commands us to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords Sake 1 Pet. ii 13. for so is the will of God that by well-doing ye put to silence the ignorance of foolish men And having thus from plain Scripture shewed that no pretence whatsoever can warrant disobedience to our Lawful Sovereign it will necessarily follow that either the Texts alledged are not Scripture or the men that taught the contrary are not Christians but such a generation of men Non opus vos habere civem qui parere nesciret Marc. Cur. as give the Princes of the world a just occasion to be jealous of them and to root those Principles out of their Dominions for what Prince can be Safe whilst such men abide and multiply in their Territories that profess it to be a Principle of their Religion to make Resistance against them And agreeable to this Doctrine of the Blessed Jesus which secured Obedience to the worst of Kings was the Practice of the Primitive Christians towards their Persecuting Emperours Propter dominum aeternum domino temporali Serviebant Aug. Psal cxxiv that spilt their Blood and made havock of them for tho' they were able to wage War with their Emperors yet Conscience and Christianity forbad them to resist but commanded them to Pray for them And since thanks be to God our Case is otherwise and we have a Merciful and Gracious King Animatam Dei â—maginem Cypr who is our lawful natural liege Lord a just possessor of his Crown a worshipper of the Living God a defender of the true Antient Catholick and Apostolick Faith a maker of good Laws and an Executor of the same I hope all true Israelites in whose mouths are no Guile in whose hearts is no Privy Conspiracy nor in whose hands there is no Rebellion will never forget in their publick and private Devotion to say God save the King And for vindicating our holy and excellent Religion from any imputation of being accessary to Treasonable conspiracies I shall most readily grant that were it any way chargeable with these practices there needed no other thing to be pleaded against it this alone would bar all its pretences of being Christians for ever and therefore there cannot be a greater mischief done to it than to give any just cause to suspect it for it must then never expect Kings to be its Nursing fathers more but rather that they should all combine to banish it out of the world now as they did to prevent its coming into it at first upon the same prejudice But it always was the honour of Christian Religion that it clear'd it self fully of all these unjust imputations and commended it self to Kings and became dear to them was nursed in their royal breasts and was adopted into their laws as being the greatest security of their Government and of Subjection to them and what ever Religion doth contrary to this is by that only argument detected to be perfectly Anti-Christian I confess that few Rebellions have been raised but by the warmth of a pretended zeal for Religion which Fears and Jealousies have animated and given growth and strength to but it was only the Pretence Religion was made a mask to hide the ugly face of Rebellion which without so fine a Cover would have affrighted those deluded souls that were cheated with the beautifull paint that was laid over horrid designs consider beloved what hath Religion to do in designs of this black nature Religion is made up of purity piety peace and holyness and there is nothing of these in cruel treacheries in bloody Massacres and tragicall murthers What Religion can there be in mens pursuing violent paths on the pretence of Gods glory in a direct opposition to his holy Laws if the Ark of the Lord be shaken and our Religion in danger yet we must not support it by forbiden methods for it never proves well when men forsake Gods directions to follow their own devices Religion desires none to be its Champions till first they are its disciples Let us therefore study to be quiet and do our own business practise the duties of Religion and God Almighty will assert its interest 'T is not Religion then is the cause of these bloody attempts but the men whose preaching is of Cursing and lies to whom we owe all our miseries in this kind and indeed what else can be expected but that such as have cast off obedience to Laws should put themselves under the Devils yoke And if their former actions are the best interpreters of their present designs what can we expect from these Amalekites but ruine and Confusion look backwards as far as the days of their first entrance among us and you will find them to be men made up of the worst of
while they Cry out against Popery they mean Episcopacy and do but amuse us with the Romish Wolf that we may be made a prey to the Northern-Bear Were not the late instances of Tumultuary Proposals and Applications Tricks of the Old Trade Addresses in the nature of Remonstrances Arbitrary Orders for Imprisoning Subjects and Votes suspending Penal Statutes and rendring the King uncapable of making use of his Own Revenue for the Publick Safety and putting him into a worse condition than the meanest of his Subjects did not they court the King to have the Militia and all Offices and Places of Trust at their disposal and were not these the very things that begat the War and ruin'd us all Did not the Parliament in Forty One c. Protest their Duty and Allegiance to his Majesty in the fairest terms imaginable and confirm'd the same by Oaths and Covenants that they had no intentions to offer Violence to his Majesties Person to Hurt his Power or Destroy his Monarchy and yet did not the same Persons against their own Remonstrances Declarations Protestations Promises Vows and Oaths in cold Blood Murther their Lawful Sovereign Did they not in a Declaration publish'd in 42. say they intended nothing but a Reformation of some Abuses crept into the Church and yet did not the same men pull down Churches to set up an Enthusiastick Devotion seize the Churches Patrimony to inrich themselves and at last abolish its Government to gratifie the Phanatick Zeal of a distracted multitude and shall we be ruined by them a second time God forbid One would think there needed no other Argument amongst us against Rebillion or Sedition in the State or against Schism or Division in the Church than the bare remembrance of what this Nation hath already suffer'd by them we have felt to our Costs what it was to want our Lawful Government and what was the Effect of resisting Authority for our Enemies having by a vast Expence of Blood and Treasute wrested the Power into their own hands they threw down the Nobles from their Honours and Estates and set up the very Scum and Dregs of the People in stead of One King of a Glorious Race we had a whole Army of Vsurpers who sent their Horses to Church and went themselves to Conventicles and a great part of their Devotion there was to Curse Loyal Subjects under the Name of Meroz and contrive to Murther their King in the Name of Jesus Two things they promis'd the abus'd Nation viz. Religion and Liberty and made good their promises by bringing in all the Religons in the world except the Orthodox and to be of that was to be an Enemy to the Gate men might pray without sense so they prayed without a Booke but to say the Lords Prayer was to be called a Malignant and to pray for the King was to be accounted a Traytor And as they dealt with us in the affairs of Religion so did they in respect of our Priveledgs allowing no other share to us than what might confirm our Vassalage and uphold there Tyranny they had the Liberty to Plunder and Oppress and we had the Liberty to Beg or Starve they had the Liberty to be Cruel and Savage and we had Liberty to be Dishonest or be Hang'd which I think is sufficient to perswade us by all lawfull means to prevent the designs of those persons which but lately were so mischievous and deadly to the King and his three Kingdoms But say some is it not unreasonable and unjust to charge the sins of the former Age upon this No but on the contrary t is both rational and equitable so to do since the same principles will upon the same occasion eternally act the same things unless prevented by the greatest care and circumspection And for those who are displeased at the rehearsal of former Wickedness if they would lay aside their Prejudice have cause to thank us for our design is to Reform and not Ruine them to shew them the Danger and not draw them into the Snare and to tell them the naked truth of things which they hear not at all in Conventiâ—lâ—s or else are represented to them under more favourable Expressions than they ought be for who that sees Rebellion in its ugly hue and Murther in its own shape would not fly from it with Horror and Amazement and therefore hath it been a man Artifice amongst the Non-Conformist Preachers to disuade their Admirers from frequenting those places where the Doctrine of Obedience is Taught lest their Eyes should be opened and their Consciences convinced and they lose both their Pension and their Proâ—â—lâ—te And therefore if there be any in this great Congregation who have frequented such Plaâ—â—s where People are alienated from their Duty to God and the King let me intreat them by a Religious Conformity to the Laws Ecclesiastical and Civil to seek their own Peace and Safety and by a true Repentance prevent the Ruine of Soul and Body For they that Resist Lawful Authority shall receive to themselves Damnation To which give me leave to add the Advise of a great Lawyer Peruse all Books Records and Histories and you shall find a Principle in Law a Rule in Reason and a Tryal in Experience that Treason doth ever produce fatal and final destruction to the offender and never attains the desired End two incidents inseparable thereunto and therefore let all Men abandon it as the Poysonous Bait of the Devil and follow the Precept in Holy Scripture Serve God and Honour the King and have no Company with the Seditious Lastly Pro quibus orandum pro tis laborandum Let an honest indeavour inforce your Prayers and Seeing we Live among those that are Enemies to Peace a Race of Cruel and Blood-Thirsty Men let it be your greatest Care to Discover and Prevent their Treacherous Designs that we may have no more Rebellions hatched among us Suffer not Ambitious Men to purchase their own Advancement with the Price of your Blood and Treasure for they may Contrive with their Hâ—ads till they drop from their Shoulders unless they have more Hands to Assist them And since I have the Honour to speak to the Magistracy of this Famous City of whose Fidelity to the King I come not to Doubt but rather Congratulate Suffer me to intreat you not to let any Man or Thing divide you from his Majesty for none can do it but with a design to destroy you The Safety of the King is in the Welfare of his People and the Prosperity of this City depends upon the King's Safety and if Men would look into the Truth of things they would soon perceive that their Interests are complicated and indeed the same for it is true in Experience as well as Speculation and whoever will trace either the Ruine of the Late King of Blessed Memory or the subsequent Misery of this City to their first Origins will soon find the Artifice of some Men in Separating them from each
what to collect unless it be that of the Prophet Isaiah The Leaders of this People cause them to Erre (b) Qui devoratur a malis Pastoribus St. Jerom. for where doth this Gangrene so mortally spread and from whence doth the Plague of Sedition Privy-Conspiracy and Rebellion disperse its contagion but from the Conventicles which are the Schools wherein Male-contents are disciplin'd for publick mischief 't is in those Vnlawful Assemblies that the Sons of Bichry and Belial Gebal and Ammon and Amalec blow the Trumpets of Rebellion disclaim their right in David and persuade others that they have no inheritance in the King 'T is there the deluded Mobile are Taught that the just and equitable Restraints of Authority are Incroachments upon their Birth-Right and 't is there they are Instructed to Obey for Wrath and Disobey for Conscience-Sake Doctrines big with Rebellion and Confusion Nullum malum majus aut infeliciter feâ—â—cius quam inobedientia Senec. whose teeming wombs bring forth no other issue than Blood and Fire and Pillars of Smoke Now have they unridled the mystery of their Non-conformity they would not come to Church because that Holy-Ground could not be Desecrated by such impious Consultations They would not Pray with us well knowing we could not consent with them to injure the Lord 's Anointed and therefore must find out such lurking holes and secret places as correspond with such black Designs Honest dealing dares look the Sun in the Face only Treasonable Purposes must be mantled in the horrid shades of Obscurity Gen. xlix 6. O my Soul come not thou into their Secrets nor unto such Assemblies be your honours united for in their Anger they slew an excellent King and in their Self-will digged down the Walls of the best Government in the World Now that they may not run into the same Extremities nor reduce us to such repeated Confusions Let us Pray God Save the King Which words are the same with those in 1 Kings i. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with that in Psal xx 9. Psal xx 9. rendred by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Lord save the King and hear us a form of words used by the Jews at their Feast of Tabernacles and Coronation of their Kings and sounds as much as Vivat Rex Ita vulg Lat. Vatabl. Hâ—m Annot. Psal xx or Let the King Live wherein we do in one word wish the King Prosperity and Peace Long Life and Health Victory over his Enemies and Everlasting Happiness matters of so great consequence and so aptly expressed that our Church hath appointed it to be one of the versieles in her Publick Devotions O Lord save the King and mercifully hear us whose Peace is linck'd with his Prosperity when we call upon Thee Prayer is commonly divided into two parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Supplicatory for the Blessings and Favours we want and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gratulatory for the Mercies and Benefits we have already receiv'd and these words Vivat Rex Let the King Live or God save the King are both but I shall Treat of them only as they are a Prayer and Supplication Wherein we have four particulars 1. The Supplicants All the People 2. The Person Supplicated for The King 3. The Person Supplicated to God 4. The matter of the Supplication That the King might be Saved and Preserved And all the People shouted and said God save the King The first particular that offers it self to our consideration and immitation is that Vnity among Brethren so much commended by the Royal Psalmist Psa cxxxiii 1. and so much desir'd among all true Christians The Israelites were not broken into Parties and consequently not divided in their Judgments and Affections but were at Unity and Agreement among themselves All the People shouted and said God Save the King Their Hearts stood bent the same way they had the same inclinations and desires not the least appearance of any variance or repugnancy the Thoughts of their hearts as we may guess by the Agreement of their Tongues that spake from them were in all the same those many Bodies seemed as they ought to be but so many members of the same Body which were animated and influenced by one Soul This is that Agreement and Consent that the Policy of Heathens did recommend and the Religion of Christians hath since more powerfully enjoyn'd as the way to preserve us in the Fear of God and the King and then none of us would consent to any Treason in our hearts attempt no Mischief with our hands nor by our Schisms and Factions provoke God to Scourge us with the Rod of another Civil-War It was the breach of Vnity and neglect of Religion that exposed us to all the miseries and and mischiefs of Forty one If they had not divided us in our judgments they could never have made us a prey to their Teeth and if we had not been careless in the exercise of Religion and Devotion God would not have removed from us his watchful Care and Providence Look in elder days and you will find the goodness of God to this Kingdom and that he never forsook it whilst we kept inviolate his judgments and statutes Prosperity attended the long Reign of Queen Elizabeth although the enemies of our Church were more numerous then and as busy and active as they are now The peaceable bringing in our King James almost to a miracle was a demonstration of the kindness which God had for a unanimous People for then neither Popery no Phanaticism were tolerated All the time he reigned both Church and State were in a prosperous condition but as soon as ever extravigent spirits began to Teach that the very genious of Religion was Separation and make it their business to set men at an infinit distance from the Solemn Service of almighty God then did God righteously break the bond of Peace which that we may prevent for the future let there be no divisions amongst us but with one minde and one mouth let us say Vivat Rex The next particular is Rex the King and this shews his dignity for melech in the Hebrew and Rex in the Latin tongue come from verbs which signifie to Rule and Reign Rom. xiii 1 2 all powers have their original from God and among all the powers that be ordained of God the Regal is highest being Superiour to all Communitas nihil sui confert Regibus Spalat Tom. II. 529. but inferior to no man or community of men whatsoever Now his Kingly dignity deriues its excellency From the Author or institutor thereof God the sublime power which resides in earthly Potentates Summum Imperium nunquam fuiste populo de mandatum is not a derivation or collection of humane power scattered among many and gathered into one head but a participation of Gods own omnipotency which he never did communicate to any but crowned heads Meriander who are 〈◊〉