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A33467 The power of kings, particularly the British monarchy asserted and vindicated, in a sermon preached at Wakefield in the county of York, Sunday, October the 30th, 1681 by William Clifford. Clifford, William, A.M. 1682 (1682) Wing C4715; ESTC R18703 16,088 36

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THE POWER OF KINGS PARTICULARLY The BRITTISH Monarchy Asserted and Vindicated IN A SERMON Preached at WAKEFIELD IN THE County of YORK Sunday October the 30th 1681. By WILLIAM CLIFFORD A. M. LONDON Printed by Samuel Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in S. Pauls Church-yard 1682. TO ALL LOYAL SUBJECTS Gentlemen BEing about to Publish this Sermon I could not bethink my self how to make a more seasonable Dedication of it than to You All being you are equally concerned both as to Your Sacred and Civil Interest to maintain that greatest of Priviledges which Herein I have endeavoured to defend That the Well-being of this Church and Kingdom depends upon this Every one knows and I hope we need not be admonished to look to the Corner-Stone What it is that some Men would have God Almighty only and Themselves if Themselves do know however it is to be wished that whilst They are decrying of Ours without doubt the Best of Governments for Tyranny Oppression and Popery They be not buoying of These up in the World and bringing of Them in which God avert under the Mask of Faction May the Great GOD of Heaven and Earth say Amen to this Sermon and Crown these mean Essays by making of all Those whom Nature hath made and the Law of Nations declared His Majesties Subjects truly Loyal Which as it is the hearty Prayer so shall it be the sincere and perpetual Endeavour of Gentlemen Your hearty Well-wisher WILLIAM CLIFFORD THE POWER OF KINGS Asserted and Vindicated PSAL. 51. ver 4. Against thee only have I sinned SInce it is become one of the great Masterpieces of our Incendiaries to magnifie the Power of the People to break open the Cabinet of State to push forward the heady and raging Multitude with fictitious Devices and to promote that Diabolical Dialect of Speaking evil of Dignities I shall this day make it my business to undeceive such as have been misled by those false Fires Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy People saith Moses Curse not the King no not in thy thought saith Solomon And a greater than Solomon was obedient to Caesar Two of the Twelve Apostles bear record that there cannot be a surer note of a Schismatick than to despise Dominion and to cast Dirt in the face of our Natural Lord. It is not only the Voice of our Law but we likewise have the unanimous Astipulation and Suffrages of the Laws of God Nature and all Nations That a KING being Deo secundus soloque Deo minor can do no wrong that is no wrong for which he can be accountable to any but God being only his and not the Peoples Vicegerent And that I may evince this I hope beyond contradiction I have made choice of Holy Davids Case as being the most apposite to the best of my Judgment of any that I could meet withal What St. Hierom hath observed in the front of many of the Psalms which he probably had out of Origen with whose Volumes his Juvenile Studies abounded and Origen confesseth that he had it by Tradition from the Jew his Master is undoubtedly true viz. Titulum Psalmi esse Clavem That the Key of each Psalm is the Title Which if we do consult it directeth us to the Second Book of Samuel the 12th Chapter where we find the Prophet Nathan in his Message from God to David reproving him for his Sin in the matter of Vriah Whereupon the relenting Prince being filled with the aggravating Circumstances of so great a Crime presently falleth into that Pious Confession in the 13th Verse of that Chapter I have sinned against the Lord. And as if that had been too small a Pennance upon second thoughts which are always presumed to be the most sound and searching he composeth this Psalm sighing out his Miserere mei Deus Have mercy upon me O God for against thee only have I sinned In doing right to this Text I shall omit the Glosses of some later Expositors especially those of the Geneva-Faction and that I may the more exactly shew you what was the Judgment of the Primitive Christians in this weighty Point of Allegiance I shall cite the Councils and Fathers as being the surest Witnesses in this Particular and having been approved by the Universal Church of Christ no good Man can have the least occasion to doubt of their Fidelity And to these Testimonies I shall add the Judgment of the immortal Hugo Grotius to whose Books and Memory for his Opinion in this Point all the Princes of Christendom do owe Protection And that these things may be the more perceptible I shall move in this most easie and natural Method Wherein I shall shew 1. That the Defection of Nature is so universal that even Kings can plead no Immunity from it no Priviledge against it 2. That althô the Depravity of Nature be general yet it is the Sacred Priviledge of Kings only for their Offences to be exempted from all Humane Jurisdiction 3. That such are the Impetuosities of the Vulgar that notwithstanding this Sacred Reserve Majesty it self can scarce any where be inviolable 4. That since the Persons and Power of Kings are esteemed Sacred both by the Laws of God Nature and all Nations I shall exhort all Men that they be to the utmost of their Power careful not to violate so great a Priviledge 1. That the Defection of Nature is so universal that even Kings can plead no Immunity from it no Priviledge against it The Empire of Sin after the Fall of Man was so general that no Man can be excluded that will not deny himself to be Adam's Off-spring And thus we have the great Apostle of the Gentiles asserting that in Adam all died And Holy David confessing In sin was I conceived and in iniquity did my Mother bring me forth But it is needlefs to insist upon Particulars when as the Wise Man hath included all in his Parenthesis There is no Man that sinneth not The Nature of this Proposition is such as you hear it is universally granted therefore needeth it no further Proof Neither will any one be so simple as to go about to exclude Princes from it till that day approach when both They and We Mortality being laid aside shall be equally exempted Till then both Gratitude and Interest oblige us to cover the Faults of our Superiours And therefore I shall proceed to shew 2. That althô the Depravity of Nature be general yet it is the Sacred Priviledge of Kings only for their offences to be exempted from all Humane Jurisdiction In the former Proposition we have seen that they by whom the Actions of Men are weighed and upon whom Proemium Poena the two Hinges of all Law do turn are not able so far to smother the Embryon of Original Depravity but that it will in spight of the utmost care and vigilance burst from the Seed to the Fruit into actual Impiety and Transgression But yet