Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	law_n	obedience_n	obligation_n	1,036	5	9.4199	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47487	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 ...	Kingston, Richard, b. 1635?	1683 (1683)	Wing K617; ESTC R17184	23,808	48

first of all Supplications and Prayers be made for all men for Kings and all that are in Authority and however the Author of the Life of Julian raking up some passionate Expressions in one of the Fathers hath falsly maliciously and scandalously represented the whole this is agreeable to the Practice of the Primitive Christians as we may read in Tertullian Oramus pro omnibus Imperatoribus vitam illis prolixam Imperium securum domum tutam exercitus fortes Senatum fidelem populum probum orbem quietum quaecunque hominis Caesaris vota sunt We pray for a long Life for our Emperours a secure Empire a safe House valiant Armies a faithful Senate a good People a quiet World and whatsoever Caesar or any man can wish for or desire Thus have I shew'd you that it is the duty of all good Christians and all good Subjects to Pray for the Safety and Preservation of the King I come to the reasons inforcing this duty and the first is we have need to pray for the King 1. Because his Safety is fiercely opposed and his Life in danger upon the account of Policy and under the pretence of Religion Upon the account of Policy Monarchy it self is undermined by the Republicans to lay a foundation for such an Anarchy as they are pleased to call a Common-Wealth but this being wholly out of my Sphere I shall not invade the States-man's Province any further than to tell you besides being Subjects to the King in our Parents Loins and so under Obligations to Obedience by the Law of Nature we are in the bonds of Religion and Conscience tyed to Subjection by many solemn Oaths wherein we have lifted up our hands to the most high and sworn not to indeavour any alteration and change in the Government And I hope we are none of us so fond of a Common Woe as to go to the Devil by wilful Perjury to set up the Tyranny of our Fellow-Subjects and for your fuller Satisfaction give me leave to repeat the words of the Learned Bishop Sanderson whose single judgement is of greater value than the whole rout of those that would unhinge our Government Lib. de Oblig Consc p. 350. I think saith he an Hereditary Kingdom may not lawfully be changed for an Elective nor for any other sort of Government either by the People alone nor by the People and Nobles joyntly nor by the whole Body of the People in their greatest latitude that is the People Nobles and the King consenting together unless perhaps the whole Royal Progeny should so totally fail that there is not one surviving who may claim it as his due by Right of Inheritance all which considered it amounts to this That unless we will violate the Law of Nature and Religion and incur the heavy guilt of Perjury we must behave our selves like dutiful and obedient Subjects praying always God Save the King Again the Safety of Kings is impugned under the pretence of Religion by the several sorts of Dissenters whom I cannot being under one denomination unless it be in calling them all Amalekites and truly it will concern them to consider if they do not deserve the Name and I pray God give them grace to consider whether the Curse of Amaleck be not justly their portion I say this Truth is opposed by the Rebellious and Bloody Tenents of the Jesuits Anabaptists and Presbyterians I rank them all together for tho' like Sampson's Foxes their heads part yet their tails are joyned to put the Kingdom in a Combustion It is the constant Tenent of the Jesuits that King-killing is not only Lawfull but Meritorious if he be an Heretical King that is to say if he be not a Roman-Catholick And to this devilish Doctrine are they so wedded however some of their Church are pleased to obscure it that they leave no ways unattempted to put 'em into practice as the woful Tragedies they have Acted on the Theatre of the World is too sad a proof And that these are their Principles I refer you to Azor Bellarmine and Mariana who have wrote printed and published to the world Tracts of the Lawfulness of Regicide of whom I shall add no more here Cause and Cure of Scandal Pag. 11. having done it fully in another Treatise The Safety of Kings is opposed by the bloody principles of the Independents Anabaptists and Fift-Monarchists for what else were the publick Preachments of all these men in our late days of Rebellion but what tended to the ruine of our Monarchy Evangelium Armatum pag. 26. as you may read in the Parliamentary Sermons of Burton Marshal Nye Caryl Bridges Saltmarsh c. And of the same stamp were the harangues of Muncer in Germany as you may read at large in the first of Sleidan's Commentaries God that cannot lye saith he hath warn'd me face to face to attempt the Change of the Government by killing the Magistrates and Phipher his Brother in Iniquity did but dream of Killing Rats and Mice and Expounds his Dream of Murthering the Nobles and did not those Fift-Monarchists the English Rebels in Venner's Rebellion having laid their Accursed Designs the Sunday before in their Conventicle in Coleman-street proceed in the same manner and justifie their Principles with their Arms till the hand of Justice overtook them It was an Observation of old Regnabit Sanguine multo Ad Regnum quisquis venit ab Exilio The King that returns after Exile will Reign for the future in Blood and Revenge but our Gracious Sovereign resembling God in one of his noblest Attributes that of his Mercy had at the same instant given Life to them who were indeavouring to take away his Odiorum causae acriores quia iniquiores Their Hatred was the sharper because it was the unjuster and so stain'd themselves with the black Guilt not only of Rebellion but of an ungrateful Rebellion whereas an ordinary stock of Ingenuity and Religion upon the receipt of so great a Mercy as Pardon and Property would have silenced their Murmurings and made them loud in Applauses and Thanks for the felicity of his Reign but on the contrary we see that when men are inclin'd to Mischief upon the account of their Religion they prove the greatest Villains in the world and notwithstanding all obligations that Heaven and Earth can bestow upon them Hell gets the upper hand Nor have the Sons of the Presbyterian Kirk less opposed the safety and wellfare of Kings by those dangerous positions they have published to the world Doctrines that will make you blush sweat and tremble if you have any fear of God or any honour for the King And that I may not be supposed to do them wrong I will Cite their Names and Books from whence I have collected them Pag. 30. Goodman saith in his Book of Obedience That it is unlawful in any case to resist the Superior pnwers is a dangerous Doctrine taught by some by the Permission of God for

other effected both But my assurance that I speak to many of those Prudent and Loyal Magistrates and Citizens whose early Abhorrence of Rebellious Associations and many other demonstrations of their Duty and Allegiance to his Majesty and Submission to his Laws are an unquestionable Evidence that they understand their Interest as well as Duty I shall wave all Discourses on that Subject and with begging pardon for this digression take leave only to shew you by what Methods you may demonstrate your Care of the publick Safety and this I do not as an Imperious Dictator but as an humble Remembrancer First By having a watchful Eye over those Amal●kites that by Sowing Sedition amongst you make way for all kinds of Mischief and this besides your Duty and Allegiance you have Provocations too from your own Danger Since some that have been Obliged to this City for their Bread like Vngrateful Villains would have made it the Theatre for Bloody Tragedies and is all their Pretences come to this are these the men that were so fearful of Popery cryed so loud against Arbitrary-Power and called themselves the only true Protestants did the several Factions of the City and Country Club Pray and Drink together for no better purposes than the Murther of a gracious King and the ruine of a Flourishing Kingdom I need make no Answer their Flying from the Face of Justice hath done it for me and confirm'd the Saying of a Learned Statesman That the biggest part of Dissenters are criminally Disobedient I Confess that Charity commands me to believe that some Dissenters are more peaceably minded but these may be easily differenced from the rest by their meekness Patience and readiness to be informed but for those that have Brazen Brows and Iron Necks I can never believe them to have Tender Consciences Therefore if there be any under your Government that will do nothing but what is Right in their own Eyes let them undergo what is Just in Yours for you are more bound in Conscience to Execute Righteous Laws than they can be to break them When the Rabble have a mind to Rebel every thing they would have introduced or altered is their Conscience when 't is only a Pretence that they may Desie the Laws Outface Authority and Advance themselves against whose Cruelties the Execution of the Laws can only defend us and if this were done in all places our Peace would not be disturbed we should either have No Plots or None Prosper and have frequent occasion to bless the Name of God for the Security of Laws and Magistrates the Suppression of Treasons and Conspiracies and the Continuance of Peace and Plenty By putting a stop to that flood of Atheism and Irreligion which hath overflown the whole Land for we can never expect God to be long our Friend Si Religio tollitur nulla nobis ratio cum Caelo est Lactant. instit lib. 3. c. 10. if we do not Reform our Lives There is no Peace to the Wicked saith God and while we make a Mock at Religion what can we expect but that God should Laugh at our Calamities All the Miseries of England may be dated from the time that Men began to wax Wanton in their Religion for then did they become Immoral Loose and Debauched in their Lives Heresy Schism and Factions in the Church and Sedition Privy-Conspiracy in the State are but Gemini Fratres which come into the World at one and the same time And till Sin and Wickedness Debauchery and Prophaness be suppressed which makes the Heavens look so Black over us we cannot expect the Face of God to Shine upon us with a happy Peace and Tranquility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good Men always make the Best Subjects and they that out of a Pure Conscience give unto God the things that are Gods will never be wanting to give Caesar his Due and you cannot any better way Serve the King and the Government than by restraining Impiety and promoting among all his People the Fear of God and a due Sense of Religion And that your Endeavours may not be ineffectual remember to strengthen them with your fervent Prayers saying God Save the King Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for the sake of our dearest Lord and Saviour to whom with thee O Father and the Holy Spirit be all Glory and Praise for Evermore Amen FINIS