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A39744 A sermon preach'd at St. Paul's Cathedral January 30, 1698-9 before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen by W. Fleetwood. Fleetwood, William, 1656-1723. 1698 (1698) Wing F1256; ESTC R28630 15,075 35

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of their Kings from any Violence or else that David abstained out of a principle of Tenderness or from the unreasonableness of the thing it self or from the Infamy that always waited on that wicked Practice The Laws of God did certainly secure the Lives of Kings as well as other Mens if it did no more And it appears by the very name of Treason that the Civil Constitution had preserv'd the Royal Person sacred and inviolable and if we take our Measures from the absolute and arbitrary Sway of all the Eastern Monarchs we cannot but conclude the Customs of Judaea amongst the rest must have conciliated a mighty Awe and Reverence to their Princes And for the unreasonableness of such Attempts it is plain that a Government can't possibly subsist for any time where any kind of Violence is allowed against the Magistrate We see what wicked work is made in some unhappy States where private Executions of Revenge betwixt Particulars are indulg'd or frequently conniv'd at But Government is at an end where Rulers are expos'd to popular Assaults or private Assassinations Besides there is a great indecency in the nature of the thing to see the Lord and Master of a Nation reduc'd to wretched Villany to see the Man whom all the Kingdom honour'd and ador'd despis'd and trampl'd on but most of all to find a Sovereign Arbiter and Disposer of his Subjects Lives to be despoil'd of his own But Lastly 't is and has always been and always will I hope be infamous to shed their Blood Altho' Mankind has generally a relish of Liberty and has for every Age receiv'd the mention of its brave Asserters with Reverence and Esteem yet I know not how where-ever it has been vindicated by the Blood of Kings tho' they were truly very bad it gives some kind of Shock to human Nature and blemishes the glory of the Action Never perhaps was any Man more sitted for the vindicating the ancient Liberties of Rome than M. Brutus was a Sober Vertuous Honest and Disinterested Man freed from all imputation of Revenge or Malice by his Enemies and one that had no other prospect in the World than the redeeming of his Country from its Slavery and yet because he could not compass his Intent but by the death of its brave Ravisher his Vertues and most noble Qualities have all been lost under the Infamy of Parricide and Traytor so natural an abhorrence have all Men for shedding of Princes Blood and taking away their Lives But what then is the World provided for no better than so Hath God indeed subjected all Mankind to the tyrannick impotent and arbitrary Sway of some few Men who have sometimes less Wisdom and frequently less Vertue than their Neighbours it fares but ill it seems with us when our Estates and Properties our Lives and Persons Wives and Daughters our Liberties and our Religion too are put into the hands of some weak wicked or perverse yet uncontrollable Humour will not this Impunity breed greater Licentiousness in Princes and augment the slavery of the Subjects to such degree as it can go no lower and so the sacredness of one Man shall be the ruine of many Thousands In answer to this we must acknowledge that according to Nature and good Reason there seems to be a great deal of Iniquity and Partiality in these Cases but we must say withal that Religion is neither chargeable with these Hardships nor answerable for them God hath declar'd himself in favour of no one sort of Government with respect to all the World nor laid it by Command on all People Our Saviour said His Kingdom was not of this World and did indeed concern himself with nothing of it St. Peter and St. Paul did press Obedience and Subjection on the Christians as they found occasion but then it was Obedience and Subjection to the Laws and different Constitutions of the different Governments they liv'd under and did not thereby change or think of changing them There were no question in the Apostles Days very different Forms of Government in the World some Absolute and some Limited some made their Will the Law and others govern'd according to known and settled Laws some succeeded by way of Inheritance and others were elected to the Rule Now if when St. Peter and St. Paul press the Christians they wrote to to Submission and Obedience they only mean that those particular Christians should obey the parcular Governments they liv'd under then there arises no Obligation to any other Christians to obey their Governours by Virtue of any thing said by these Apostles But if all Christians are hereby understood to be exhorted to Obedience to their Governours as most undoubtedly they are then are all Christians exhorted to pay such Obedience to their Governours as the particular Constitution of the Government they liv'd under call'd for and requir'd And then the Christians who liv'd under an absolute Monarch were to pay such Obedience as that Government requir'd and the Christians who liv'd under a limited and mixed Monarchy were to obey as that Government requir'd and so of all the rest they were all to submit themselves to the several Governments they liv'd under for 't is not to be presum'd that St. Peter and St. Paul by their pressing and commanding Christians to submit to and obey their Governours chang'd the several Forms and Constitutions of Government and requir'd the Christians of a limited and mixed Monarchy to obey their Superiors in the same manner measure and degree as those of an Absolute one did theirs but Christianity requir'd such Obedience as the Laws and Customs of the Country call'd for and exacted at their hands And truly it would be strange to imagine that Christianity should press Men to obey in Instances where the Laws of the Country require no Obedience since every Country is presum'd to understand and consult its own Interest best and to secure such Obedience from the Subjects as would best procure and continue such their Interest And therefore if one Country had liked and approved of such a Form and Constitution of Government and found it best and fittest for it with respect to its Situation and its Neighbourhood and to the Temper and the Genius of its People and Inhabitants if it had pitch'd upon such Laws as it found by Experience most convenient for it if such and such were the Powers and Prerogatives of the Superiours and such and such the Privileges and Immunities of the Subjects Christianity did not intend to alter this and say that the Superiors shall have more Power and a fuller Authority over the People and the People shall have less and fewer Privileges than what are already agreed to on both hands Neither did it come to set the People higher and the Princes lower than they were Christianity did not meddle with these Matters nor say any thing on either side but coming to settle Peace and Quiet Truth and Honesty Justice and Religion in the Hearts