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B06421
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A sermon preached at Windsor before his Majesty, the second Sunday after Easter, 1684. by John Archbishop of Tuam.
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Vesey, John, 1636-1716.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing V282A; ESTC R185967
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16,479
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46
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its Original is the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. As a City may elect a Mayor by priviledge of Charter but his Authority when elected is from the King so is the Kings from God where the People have the greatest share visibly in the Designation of the person but they onely prepare and dispose the matter in the political Generation but the Soul of Sovereignty is Divine and infused from above and not by low and popular traduction if you consider Government to take its Rise either from the Order of Nature or from Conquest or particular Designation either Divine or Humane And so much may suffice for the first Reason why Princes are called Gods and Sons of God they are begotten by him I have herein possibly made too bold with your patience though the temper of this Age be too just an Apology for my doing so But if ye suffer Fools as the Apostle speaks but I know not how gladly if every Journeyman become a Kings Monitor and every Pebble in the Guttur thinks it self a Jewel worthy of their Crowns or the Brests of Priests there to shine and rise up into Oracles suffer us also in the discharge of what we owe to Religion and our Sovereign to tire you a little on so necessary a Doctrine and such Inferences as fairly flow from it As 1. The Prince deriving his Authority from God it follows hence he is accountable to none but God He stands or falls to his own Master and he calls no man Master upon Earth This is truly in right reason a consequence from the Nature and End of Government There must be some person or persons according to the Frame of the Polity from whom there must be no Appeal Some Authority must be absolute and injusticiable or the Process will be infinite and the Grievance without Remedy and the circular and endless motion of Appeals more grievous than any Tyranny 2. If the Prince derive his Authority from God it follows again His Laws oblige the Conscience of the Subject Such as command lawful things for to an unlawful thing there can be no obligation because he hath no authority from God to make unjust Laws and therefore if he doth they do not oblige the Conscience of the Subject to that obedience which is called active though even in such cases he is obliged to subjection to endure the penalty which they call passive obedience But if the matter of the Command be a thing indifferent not forbidden by any Law of God Moral or Positive there the Prince creates an obligation in Conscience to conformity and obedience For men to think they must have the same liberty after they are entered into Society either Civil or Religious as before is contrary to the very nature and end of Society they must submit themselves in things lawful to the determination of the Communion whereof they become Members and the enquiry lies not whether the thing enjoined be expedient or inexpedient for of that the governing part must judge but onely whether it be lawful And it is lawful if not forbidden by God and if lawful before it becomes now after the Law necessary in its use and so is our obedience Nor doth this take away the natural indifferency of the thing nor the liberty of Christians nor exalt Princes into Gods Throne or make them Lords of Conscience for that is still free to judge of the natural indifferency any more than our obligation in Conscience to believe what the Apostles have delivered makes them Lords of our Faith a Title which they disclaimed as proper to him who is the Author and Finisher of it 2. Princes are called Gods not onely because he begets them but they are like God in the administration of their power Which is a reason assigned by Hierocles why the Heroes were called also the Sons of God in the Ethnick Theology Now Princes resemble God when they act by the same principle and for the same end 1. In making their Justice shine with equal dispensation on the Righteous and the Wicked and not onely in doing but in loving of Justice This carries a double benefit with it to him that sues for it and him that distributes it The love of Justice sweetens the toil of the Employment and makes that a Recreation which without it is a Drudgery for it is a joy to the Just to do judgement 2. Princes resemble God in Mercy This is the first letter of the Name whereby God proclaims himself to Moses Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious c. and herein he is principally to be imitated by such as are called by his Name in moderating the rigour of Law when men in their simplicity and honest meaning may fall within the lash of its severity or when the face of the Poor is ground and eaten up like Bread by the greediness of an Oppressor It is impossible but there should be frequently such cases wherein if the Letter of the Law be strictly observed the end will not and it is the Glory of a Prince in such cases to extricate persons out of the snares of legal Entanglements and his Prerogative is then much more advantageous to his Subjects than all their boasted priviledges I need not say on this occasion what Prince of the World is the most lively Image of this most Heavenly Attribute whose Mercy like the Divine Original is indeed over all his Works who makes not every man an Offender for a Word nor every Offence Capital but is strong and patient though provoked every day 3. Princes are like God when they act as by the same principles of Justice and Mercy so for the same end and safety of the Society They are therefore elsewhere stiled Restorers of Paths and Healers of Breaches and here the blessing of the Peace-makers falls upon their heads which saith our Saviour is to be called the Sons of God Mat. 5.9 and the more they intend this God-like end in preserving the peace not only of their own Subjects but of the World in general the better title they have to that Beatitude and nearer resemblance to the God of Peace There are indeed some Sons not very like their Father who resemble the great Destroyer rather that is daily seeking whom he may devour Such are Disciplines and Scourges in the hand of God as one of the Gothick Kings called himself to chastise the Christian World for their Luxury and contempt of God and his Commandments But though these are onely stimulated with the Lust of Domination yet they are over-ruled by the Divine Providence and directed to a point they thought not of and often forced to bring Glory to God in the conclusion though they designed onely their own in the first motion of their Arms. But what ever excesses the wantonness of Power may tempt some Spirits to they have the best right to this high Title of being the Sons of God and are the most natural