have the greatest Strength Whosoever then should endeavour to Eclipse the Splendor of the Crown would find themselves under a greater Cloud and as it is reported of those that fight with Spirits would find every blow that they offer to Majesty to be irresistibly thrown on their own heads 3. Upon a Principle of Conscience Every part of the Moral Law binds the Conscience standing by the King in times of danger must be a part of that or else the Honour enjoyned in the Fifth Commandement men make no better than a piece of painted Pageantry And this the Rebel doth not value he will easily adventure the violation of the Divine Law if he can escape the scourge of the humane What Security then hath the Prince from factious spirits The greatest is an Oath because this doth immediately bind the Conscience If now Conscience be the knowledge of a thing to be good or bad in order to a regular Practice I can collect no more from Dr. Hammand's small Treatise of it what kind of Conscience must those men have that have sworn not only not to Act but not to Conceal any Treasonable Design against the King have yet been prodigal of their Labors in the most direful expeditions Conspiring the Murther of their King and a general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others timely hearing and concealing the Debates as if the Ear was not as guilty as the Hand they are alike in the Oath they render Traytors as liable to Temporal as they are Ambitious of Eternal Punishment Oh injur'd name of Protestant Religion the greatest Professâ—rs of which make a â—rock of 〈…〉 are mov'd by humor thinking themselves bound to pursue the bent of their inclinations or phancy pleasing themselves with that which in irrational Creatures supplies the place of reason or passion being transported with groundless jealousies drawing false Conclusions from false Premises viz. The Great King would sell us and bring in Popery therefore 't is lawful to Murther him or the instigation of Satan putting them on to resolute courses of Lying Swearing Reviling Damning or shedding of innocent bloud they couch all under the Name of Conscience which if regular must have the most lively tendency to the preservation of Government 4. Upon the Principle of Profit This I shall not long insist on because too sordid for a principle of Humanity much more of Christianity This hath made some so cold when the King hath been besieg'd with dangers that they would not stir so much as their Tongues in his Vindication willing with one sort of Vermin to fall on their Legs if the Government stand they know themselves secure if not they hope they shall be so for the sake of disloyalty This hath made others hot and fiery for the unhinging of the Government men that think they have not honour enough for their merits and so cry down the King as unequal in his distributions or some that have been turned out of Offices compendiously sweet because they knew not how to behave themselves in them or other Roysters that have lavished the share they had in the last Crown and Church Lands or a fourth sort Nonsensical Ninnyes that have been at great Expence in standing by their unhappy Post and have little other livelihood than the promises of those that have a just Title to nothing But in couragiously appearing for our Lord under God there is real profit and such as all good men like A profit mixt with a good conscience a profit unacquainted with new England over witting a profit without balderdashing Ware and Religion together a profit without a sigh at the end of a lye to bind it When the King is free from danger such a profit do good industrious men usually find preserv'd on the Sea from unwelcome Pyrates this in particular concerneth this Honorable Society in the Ports of lading from abuses and outrages secured in the times of War from fears and dreadfull apprehensions by his Majesties ships those stout and impregnable bulwarks On the Land from rude and uncivil incursions by depending on the Wisdom and Power of our Sovereign App. Who then would not enter the List with Ittai Who would not be with the King in Life to rescue him from those Sons of Hell that lye in Ambush for him But if in Death a Natural one God long avert a Violent one Ever who would repine to answer the same summons with Him But who would not rather choose if it must be so to be thrust out with him then to lead a Slavish Life inferiour to the Mercies of Death Let us leave the disposal and event of things to Him that turns the Dyal of the World at his own pleasure But withall wish that the observation of the Roman may be true viz. That Cor. Tac. Kings are never firmer in their Throne then after a Rebellion Let us pay all due reverence to that dignity which Heaven hath fastned on the Crown let us return all submission and obedience to that Authority which God hath let down from the throne of Heaven to the King 's let us embrace his clemency that had rather rule with a Scepter of Gold then dash in pieces with a rod of Iron Let us abominate the principles and practises of all those that are past amendment as is plain by this unparallel'd Conspiracy a parcel of I want words the spawn of Fire and Brimstone not to be prevailed on by dignity or compelled by Authority nor melted by clemency speaking evil of the one resisting the other and shamefully undervaluing the third Let us inform the people of those devilish and sinfull means they use to bring the Palace to a Dunghil those swarms of lyes which have fled abroad and they suck in as truths unawares and what a blessed reformation is like to ensue Such a one as would turn Churches into stables and the revenues for a maintainance for themselves and better natur'd Creatures their Horses But if Justice hath not quite forsaken the Earth if principles of Honour sway if conscience hath not lost its forcible power If respect of private Interest which of right ought to be least but with some is most powerfull will attract us every thing will add speedy wings to our Loyalty teach us to cleave closely to our King in his greatest extremities expressing our selves to him in the words of Ruth Where thou dyest Ruth i. 17. will I dye nought but Death shall part thee and me And when the Guards of Rebellious Angells would make him a man of sorrow to cry out with no less fervency then when he was anointed with oyl of gladness God Save the King Amen
that he was bribed to betray the Army to the Trojans When by these cob-web textures they have persuaded the credulous to believe that which they never did themselves it may be very rational for those of an ordinary capacity to ask what may be done in this so sad and desperate a calamity and they will soon be answered if they have any kindness for themselves and Families which is natural if they have any regard to rhe settlement of a better Government which is morall if they have any love for Godly ministry which is Divine if they will lend their helping hands i. e. Arm themselves for Rebellion they doubt not of a thorow Reformation Secondly Reformation to set up such a puppet of Reformation as this it was clearly proved that one of the Regieides which was hanged since the Kings restauration was sent from New England hither for the promoting of that bloody Civil War farther explain'd thus That he was sent hence to Ireland for the driving on the design to extirpate Monarchy The strongest poyson cannot want a leaf of Gold for a Cover nor the grandest wickedness a florid pretence of piety To seek God in Prayer is a fine cue for the strikeing off the Head of his Annointed Joab's Kiss and his Sword were at no great distance from one another You see saith the Rebel how men sweat and groan under the heavy weight of state Pressures for absenting themselves from their Parish Churches there were indeed strong endeavours used to free us from our yoke and deliver us from the cramping severity of a penal Act made by Queen Elizabeth if we come to Church we are pester'd with Superstitions and Ceremonyes And there were ways thought of to suppress them but obviated by the Patriots of Episcopacy if the restless labours of good that is disaffected men had taken effect quam tu urbem c. What a glorious Metropolis should we have had what prosperous Kingdoms what an admirable face of Government in the Church Our Common-wealth might have been the envy of the treacherous Batavians and our Church a pattern to the plantation at Geneva or the rigid'st discipline of New England Could we have but one that desires it for King we have his Royal word for it that he would do every one Justice No complaining in our streets those that had too just occasion would have had their mouths sealed up to a perpetual silence No warping men of religious tempers such a Religion is naturally so no corruption of Courts with bribery nay perhaps not such a thing to be heard of amongst us We would govern you quietly by the Sword secure your rights and possessions from the invasion of others give your Consciences liberty of managing your souls at your own rate and give your painfull teachers the fattest encouragements for their undertakings And by these means they render the Present Government hatefull and insupportable and put ignorant Dolts on madding for they know not what kind of alteration But however some may ripen themselves for the fatal Tree by acting contrary to their knowledge and others of great ignorance and facile belief been persuaded into the Lawfulness of Insurrection yet the obligation of Loyalty never ceaseth 2 Prop. T is the duty of all subjects to stand by their Prince in case of danger Many are willing in the time of his peace and prosperity but flinch at the approaches of peril But standing the burnt as 't is the mark so t is the duty of every true subject First upon a principle of Justice It hath been thought fit not only in ours but other Kingdomes that Life-guards should be instituted for the preservation of their persons altho in ours they were first voted useless indeed they are for their bloody purposes and afterward were to be smartly attacqued witness the confession of him who Tyburn stop'd in his carreir But however t was but just in those who would have stript him to have offer'd their own persons as a Guard for his security Under whose Umbrage do they themselves shelter themselves By whose careful inspection do they sit every man under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree Of whom may it be said under his shadow we live Is it not of the King Is it meet then that we should receive the full and comfortable influence of his Protection without paying the least Tribute of our Assistance Is it just that he should be bound with an Oath at his Coronation frequently hinted by those that do not understand the words and is it not as just that Subjects should be obliged by an Oath of Fidelity Bare words are but a slender security What hath the King to trust to in case of Purbeck Invasions What hath he indeed to trust to in case of Domestick Assaults and violence to his Person when even those that gave their words for his Defence shall be as forward in their Actions for his Misohief and Ruine Can the dull Earth reflect those beams upon the Sun which she hath received from his benign influence Can Rivers return their grateful Streams to the Sea whence they are derived Can small obedient Creatures draw their stings as so many swords to dispatch those Droans that shall intrude on the Territories of their Monarch A foul shame to all Professors of disloyalty to be out-done in points of justice by these small Insects and the most senseless parts of the Creation 2. Upon a Principle of honour And here the moral Question whether it be in the person honouring or the person honoured may be answâ—â—'d affirmatively in both 'T is so in the Subject that industriously hazards all to put his Prince out of the reach of danger Were the truth of this scrupled I might produce many instances of those whose Memory lives for ever for standing between Death and their King And we our selves alass are too sensible what a Blow England receiv'd at the dismal Stroak given to our late Sovereign what a black brand of Infamy was affixed on that score how odious an English Man sounded in other Countreys honour'd with no greater Title then that of a Devil In standing by our King we stand by our selves and in honouring Him we are the most forward consulters of our own Glory Our Schismaticks vilifying of him have caused him to Fez Ma be lessened abroad and this was intimated as I am informed by an Heathen Ambassador 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isoc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The Power of the Persians we know grew to such an height not by the wisdom of the men but by the great observance of their Kings Nothing can add more to his Renown abroad then the strong experiments of our united duties at home by which we at once render him truly Glorious our selves famously formidable and our Posterity setled upon the Foundation of a Perpetual Monarchy Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. It is manifest that those that obey their Kings constantly
Loyalty Recommended IN A SERMON Preached before the Worshipful Society OF MERCHANTS ADVENTURERS AT St. Stephen's Church in BRISTOL November 10th 1683. BY JOHN RAINSTORP M. A. And of the City Free-School LONDON Printed by J. Wallis for Joanna Brome at the Gun in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1684. TO THE Master Wardens Assistants and the Commonalty of the Worshipful Society of Merchants Adventurers in Bristol Gentlemen 'T IS notoriously storyed of Demosthenes That being to make an Oration before King Philip he stumbled in the very threshold Not that I put you in the Scale with the King or my self with the Orator but that which so much disheartened him animates me viz. Your Greatness As on the one hand I have not run out of the Pulpit into the Sea pretending Directions or any thing like them towards Navigation but only that which is always necessary true stanch Loyalty and that which holds at least analogically among all creatures So on the other I heartily desire your favourable Patronage to this honest design of spreading Loyalty as far as the Name of Piety may reach I must Confess self-interest prompts this desire for thus I shall be secure from the value of those Censures which like a fog may arise from the lower and ever prejudicial sort of People but this I hope may be as voluntary in You such eminent instances of Loyalty as advantageous to me who pressed the Necessity of a Plus Ultra I avoid Tediousness being in few words Honoured Gentlemen Your Faithful Obedient Servant John Rainstorp A SERMON On 2 SAM XV. 21. And Ittai answered the King and said As the Lord liveth and as my Lord the King liveth surely in what place my Lord the King shall be whether in death or life even there also will thy Servant be WHat News is this so strongly rumour'd What Tydings has reached our Ears from Jerusalem Absolon would fain be King But may not this be unworthily put upon him by men of envious and malevolent Spirits May not this be a politick way for these to insinuate into David's favour by raising clouds of jealousies where there is no occasion of fear May not this in probability raise them much higher if they can have but Absolon's Neck for their Foot-stool No you will imagine him to be a person of honour and therefore to be credited in his expressions Oh that I were made Judge in the Land Vers 4 And what should hinder was he not a man of beauty and without blemish so we are told 2 Sam. xiv 25. Was he not a man of universally just inclination so he himself tells us in this Chapter Was he Vers 4. not a man of marvellous courtesy to impart kisses to the very scum of his adorers Crafty salutes and popular pretenses of justice But let our thoughts be kind beyond his merits and suppose him a man without exceptions 't is great for any one but what claim or title to the Crown David was still living were he once fallen the way to the Throne might be clear and the Trumpet might proclaim Absoloms Triumphant introduction to Monarchy But the Kings Life puts a very great obstruction in the way and hinders the young man from mounting the region of his itching Ambition Some course therefore must be thought of to remove these unpleasant rubbs This as usually was endeavoured by calumniating the Government there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee He is grown careless in the methods Vers 3. of Juistce and taken off from these things of noble concernments by things of much inferior moment Josephus adds that he told the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That his Father had evill Councellours But if I were King my mouth should be ready to pronounce as soon as yours could demand Justice So base and fawning are the spirits of those that would raise themselves on the stumps of Popularity And by this means he stole the hearts of the men of Israel Men of simplicity saith the holy Ghost Vers 11. That which pleaseth the Eye or Ear draws the Rabble and smooth speech is more regarded then wholesome Laws And now commenceth sorrow and confusion David thinks himself no longer safe in Jerusalem for fear will not suffer any to be secure he commands his Guards and retinue to make ready and so takes his farewell of the City But finding a stranger his goodness was willing to dismiss him and free him from the ill consequence of Rebellion to which himself is exposed Return and take back thy Brethren mercy and truth be with thee And Ittai Answered the King c. Before I come to the substance of the words I am willing to take notice of the Author of them Ittai a stranger A very eminent one The great design of strangers is to view the pleasantness of another Land the temper and manners of the people the Laws and Government of a countrey and after the diversion of a different climate to return back to their own native air and soyle Or to dispatch some business of great weight which without traveling might admit of neglect or controversy and those grand importances by this means are often settled which by reason of remoteness of place and distance of persons have lain confused Or else to spy the condition of a countrey what Posture 't is in What places are least fortified and lye most open to the enemy what heart the countrey is in for provisions and how the wills of the inhabitants are inclined to Peace or War This we find surmised by Joseph to his Brethren Ye are spyes and to see the nakedness Gen. xlii 9. of the Land ye are come And to what purpose else is Absalom recorded to have sent spyes throughout all the tribes of Israel Vers 1◠But for strangers to move out of their own sphere and concern themselves with state affairs things which belong unto the King is very rare accounting it needless for them to interest themselves as doubtfull of success or unprofitable supposing it but certainly dangerous if a disaffected faction should prevail But our great Heroe stumbles at none of these difficulties he consults not the security of his own Person He is so far from counting David's Retinue unnecessary that he forceth himself as a voluntary supply He alledgeth not the hazard of losing his estate but boldly vindicateth the necessity of supporting the King 's He tells not this or that Peer or this or that City that he will stand by them with his Life and Fortune but assureth the King of his sturdy resolution tho' danger openeth ' its mouth in the blackest and largest dimensions How worthy such a Daring and Loyal Champion against the degenerating Imps of Rebellion that the King should enrich him with great riches and make his Fathers house free in Israel And so I take leave of the person and come to the substance of the words As the Lord lives c. From which
words I lay before you these two Propositions First That Kings may be in danger Secondly 'T is the duty of all Subjects to stand by them First Ad generum Cereris sine caede sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges i. e. that few Kings dye a natural Death so saith the Satyrist It had been Juvenal happy if that observation had not lived beyond the Age wherein 't was conceiv'd at least that it might have been confin'd to the practice of Heathens or that the damnable Doctrine of King-Killing had not been dispers'd as well as the Jews themselves but this is rather to be wished than expected the Contagion is ran too far over Christendome scorning to be shut up Men have villanously ran at the breasts and throats of Princes and with no less mettal struck of Nobles then that proud Roman did the heads of lofty Poppyes This unhappy Kingdom hath not had the least share of Experiance 48 hath been late and dismall enough but as if that had been a trifle as bloody malice hath been since repeated and drove on with greater fury the Son must be split by pretences of Friendship then let him prophecy who smote him Then dogedly condemned to necessity or sell a birthright for fresh supplies then suddenly sent to Heaven without so much as the pretence of an High Court of Justice Such a thirst after more martyrs blood as if what had been spilt already might not worthily create more Fasts in the Church of England then there are Festivals in the Church of Rome The thing is too plain being matter of fact let us inquire into the Reason why the persons of Kings should be so miserably expos'd Then the Methods which evil men use to compass worse designs as for the end of them 't is so obvious and so manifest to all of our Eyes that I shall pass it The reasons are First their Dignity and this raiseth Envy It had pleased God Almighty for the harmony of the universe to make several orders and distinctions of men as he hath vouchsafed to some more eminent parts and larger endowments than to others whence it comes to pass that some are better qualified for the managing of peculiar provinces the hand that is expert at the spade is by no means fit to sway the Scepter Nor the back which is clad with the coursest weeds to be enwrapped with Princely Robes When Persians crown'd their Slaves 't was but a mock solemnity to their ensuing slaughter and when such have got the crown by force it hath been as far from the intention of nature as the birth of monsters which usually go out of the world in as little esteem as they came in Not that God hath by any means allotted an equality in the World but according to the model of Heaven Where he is Sole Monarch he hath appointed a subordinate Government upon Earth and tho' inferiour to his he hath commanded that to be obey'd in the height and made obedience a necessary part of mens Religion This name we know the Rebell uses as a refuge I will not call it a Sanctuary of all his underhand wiles and stratagems Ask him what makes him forsake the Church he can tell you nothing but Religion ask him what makes him rail against and murther Archbishops and devote other Orders to a wretched doom 't is the same Religion Ask him what makes him to take up Arms against his lawful King and appoint the Meeting fields as a seat of that War which the Gospel hath forbid 't is the same Religion In a word ask him what makes him libel encourage and contrive a general desolation 't is the same Religion never is Religion so rack'd and tormented as when General of the Rebels Army But this is only noise that which sticks in their maws is the dignity of Superiors God's dispensations seem too ragged for them and therefore they would file them off they think themselves let Heaven measure as it will men of as great knowledge and deserts and as fit for badges of honour as others but if Providence be ignorant and partial they will be wise and just to themselves and carve themselves out according to the value of their own merits And by this means comes Kings to lye obnoxious to the envy and sometimes the mercy of those Caytiffs that would strive to invade Heaven were it not out of their reach and fly at his face by whom Kings Reign Secondly Authority and this raiseth stubbornness This Heaven hath not only stampt upon their dignity but engraven it so deep that no tract of time is able to wear it out His Vicegerents he makes not only great but formidable not only to be gazed on and admired for their glory but to be revered and dreaded for their power As the laws and badges of honour in other Kingdoms were not for a meer shew but the Terror of Malefactors so among us they are no less significant This law bindeth every Subject to duty and upon the failure the Ensigns of Power are to appear and compel the unwilling Sons of disobedinece But this is very distastful to embitter'd spirits they are loth to truckle under that Authority which God hath erected and fondly think that their many headed monster a Common-wealth would be best because most suitable to their humors For the carrying on of this what voices have been scrued up to the highest note what stratagems have been kept awake How many Ambassadors from Hell have taken their journey into this World and compassed the Earth to and fro What horrid lyes have filled the Air with a pestilential breath How many doses of perjury swallowed without nauseating a conscientious Stomach how many volumes of Paper wrackt into a promise of promoting Rebellion How many draughts of poyson gluk'd in beyond the retrivement of an antidote How many fireballs hurl'd never to be extinguish'd I suppose but by the blood of the engineer Thus it hath pleased the Devil to dictate thus it hath pleas'd his own Children to hearken Our Saviours Question concerning the baptism of St. John may here be well propos'd Is the Kings Authority from Heaven or by man Doth God or the shout of the Rabble make a King Doth he act by the appointment of God or the suffrages of the scum of the people That the Civil Authothority is derived from the People hath been long since exploded by all good men and lately as a brat of Hell condemned to flames by the judgement of an University If the former be true as is the Opinion of one Oxon. that I am sure is no friend to the Church of England in these words The Power of the Magistrate doth Mar. Reh Transp 2 P. most certainly issue from the Divine Authority the obedience to that Power is by Divine Command And in another place The dispute concerning the Magistrate's Power ought to be superfluous for that is certainly founded upon his Commission from God and for the