former the Apostle calls it Godly Feare God is the Author of it I will put my feare in their hearts The end of it Esa 32.40 and the object of it first and immediatly and man onely so far as God hath communicated something of himself as his Majestie wisdome authoritie power to him Feare the Lord and the King Observe first the Method The Lord Then the King The feare of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdome the beginning of wisdome is the feare of the Lord. A man may be witty but not wise without it he may be as subtle as the serpent but cannot be as innocent as the dove Jacob covenanting with Laban calls to witnesse the Feare of his Father Isaac Gen. 31.53 i. e. That God that Isaac his Father feared David doth not onely explaine this duty what it is but press it upon us why it is to be done with prevalent arguments Come let us worship and fall downe and kneel before the Lord our maker for he is the Lord our God he hath made us c. This is a duty confess'd by all though practised by few The fool indeed saith in his heart there is no God in his heart i. e. in his secret thoughts as rather desiring that it was so then concluding that it is so in his heart not with his lips in articulate words He is afraid either that the Echo of his own expression should give him the lye or that for Atheisme and blasphemy openly profesâ—'d he should strike him with death who first breath'd into him the breath of life But to leave such speculative and practicall Atheists either in mercy to be converted or in terror to be confounded What strange spectacle is this that I see Professors pious and precious souls such as seeme not without the power of godlinesse and yet want the forme no outward posture of the body that may expresse the reverence of the soule No sacred esteem of times places or things separated to holy use who to avoyd superstitious vowing exclude all formalities of worship deny God those external Civilities of his worship that they will scarcely deny their equalls and dare not deny their superiors The servant as though he was free from his Master sits in the Congregation with his hat on and that not in winter onely but in summer not upon any account of infirmitie but I feare presumption for heate and sweat will make him lay it by What will Turkes Jewes and Pagans think of us who in the externalls of their worship do far outstrip us and perhaps in their zeale also though it be not according to knowledge What will the holy men of God The noble army of Martyrs The glorious Societie of Saints and Angels who not onely kneel but fall flat on their faces not onely uncover their heads Rev. 4.10 but cast their Crowns downe to the earth before him What will they say to David or rather what will David say to them who while they boast of his Spirit deny his practise in every letter and whereas they would be thought to be men after Gods own heart they seeme to proclaime it that they thinke him like themselves See what David did and do the like I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy feare will I worship towards thy holy Temple Psal 5.7 This feare of God then is an awfull apprehension of the sacred Majestie of Almightie God proceeding from a loving and a loyall heart binding over the soule to all services of love with a voluntary resignation of our selves our profits pleasures preferments and what is ours to his will and pleasure This is not only The whole duty of man to feare God and keepe his Commandments but his chiefest dignitie which not onely preserves the soule here in grace but also Crowns it with glory hereafter My son feare thou the Lord. The other object of our feare is The King It is our Saviours order and Command To give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods The Apostle appoynts that tribute be payd to whom it belongs and Honour to whom honour is due Come forth ye sons and daughters of Jerusalem see the Regalia that Throne of Majestie which God himselfe hath set up for him and that Crowne of honour wherewith God himselfe hath Crown'd him in the day of his espousalls He hath joyn'd him with himselfe in the same expression Cloathed him with the Robes of his own honour mounted him in royall equipage with himselfe and causing it be proclaim'd by Solomon no meaner a person then the greatest of Princes is his Herauld Thus shall it be done to that man that the Lord will honour Feare the Lord and the King The Act is the same Feare Feare The Lord. The King Of the first I have treated already now of the second and next immediate object of our Feare The King i. e. A single person cloth'd with authoritie chosen of God and of the people sitted for called to and setled in power and dignitie is to be fear'd i. e. with a loyall and loving heart reverenced and obey'd next and immediately unto the Lord in the Lord and for the Lord. Neither was this any Nationall or legall command onely impos'd upon the Israelites but see also the very same made by the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 2.17 Feare God Honour the King Evangelicall Morall universall and perpetuall Where let me first congratulate the word honour by way of explanation which takes off the edge of admiration from subjects and of ambition from Princes It includes not onely reverence obedience and care of or for but also Recompence Reward Maintenance Kings themselves are servants design'd to defend preserve keep safe as a Shepherd his flock the people committed to their charge Our bare heads our bended knees all our salutations and signes of reverence our honour and feare are indeed a tribute due unto God but payd to the King as his Stuard commissioned by him to require and receive them of us Wonder not then that God should thus guild an earthen pot and lay up the treasure even of divine honour in an earthen vessell It is the Lord He may do what he will and the Honour is his he may doe with his owne what he pleaseth Two things lye plaine before us First That kingly government is of divine institution and approbation commanded and commended by God himself All other governments and governors are appoynted by the King and in subordination to him The text is plain 1 Pet. 2.13 14. Submit your selves to every ordinance or law of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as supream or to Governors sent i. e. authorized commissioned appoynted by him Thus Daniel was by the King made a great man and a Governor and he that raigned over one hundred twenty and seven Provinces Est 1.1 appoynted Governors over every Province v. 14. But to cleare this
as he that blessed God that he was born a vassall to the Crown of England Barrabas was committed for sedition and murther Those two are not easily seperated Yet oh the misery of popular tumults how easily are they moved to put to death the holy one and the just and to require a murtherer to be given unto them Seditions against Princes and government established are not very many in Scripture yet some we read of as that of insinuating Absalom who saved the executioner a labour and was hang'd in a halter of his own spinning That of Sheba the Son of Bieri whose head soon after ransomed the whole body of his Army both against David The best Princes have many times the worst subjects their pliable natures are easiest abused and turbulent spirits having as the man in the fable by some concessions gain'd a handle for his ax in requitall cut down the Tree But of all seditions in holy writ that which the Apostle calls The gainsaying of Corah seems to be take it in all parts and under all considerations the most dangerous and desperate Numb 16. The Ring-leader is Corah an eminent person in the Tribe of Levi with whom Dathan and Abiram two of the sons of Ruben who gain into their confederacy two hundred and fifty men Captains of the assembly famous men in the congregation and men of renowne these gather together against Moses and Aaron and in plain terms tell them That they take too much upon them all the congregation is holy yea every one of them why then should they seeing the Lord was amongst them lift up themselves above the congregation of the Lord. Was not this recorded in sacred writ I could scarcely receive it for a truth being a faction made up of pretended religion and intended ambition Specious pretences countenanced by men famous both in Church and state so coloured and covered over with dissembled sanctity that even Moses and Aaron the King and the Priest must suffer in their reputation and honour and in the Vulgar account passe for Tyrannicall and Antichristian But true it is for truth it self hath recorded it and in as much as it is written for our learning We may learn from it First That innocence it selfe is no guard against impudent and slanderous tongues Moses though the meekest of men must passe for a Tyrant if seditious souls will dare to say others will be ready to believe it though there be no cause for it Secondly Moses and Aaron the Magistrate and the Minister are equally levelled by factions and as instituted at first by God to comfort and support one another as Saul and Jonathan lovely in their lives so in their deaths they are not seperated Thirdly That blasphemy hypocrisie and counterfeit holinesse ever ushers in sedition and rebellion All the Congregation is holy every one and the Lord is with us c. Fourthly That the grand abetters and maintainers of faction are not only bred but often eminent in Church and State Their enemies being usually those of their own houshold I shall descant no longer on this seditious subject may those that reade it consider what hath been said and the Lord give us grace to prevent that woe which is threatned against them that followed the wayes of Cain who slew righteous Abel and are lead away like Balaam with the wages of deceit ready to doe any thing for money and have perished in the gainsaying of Corah Jude v. 11. And this leads me by the hand from the Doctrine the word of Command My son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with the seditious to the Reason a word of terrour for their destruction shall come suddenly and who knows how speedy may be the ruine of them both What Daniel sayd of the Dreame let me say of this for the certainty of it it is doubled first by way of assertion secondly of expostulation of these in order In the assertion observe first The judgement threatned Destruction When Separation and Confusion is the worke what fitter wages then ruine and destruction Is not destruction to the wicked and strange punishment to the workers of iniquitie Job 31.3 Is it not Gods solemne protestation Ezek. 35.6 As I live saith the Lord I will prepare thee unto blood and blood shall pursue thee except thou hate blood blood shall pursue thee Are not the threatnings of this nature many Is not the vision plaine Though it tarry for an appointed time yet he that shall come will come Have not the children of affliction comforted themselves with these meditations in their worst conditions It is Davids Counsell Psal 55.22 Cast thy burthen upon the Lord and he shall nourish thee and will not suffer the Righteous to fall for ever But for the implacable enemies and treacherous friends of his Church such as maintaine crueltie and strife in the Citie such as lay their hands upon those that be at peace and breake the Covenant Whose words are softer then butter but warre is in their hearts whose expressions are smooth as oyle yet are they swords Such God will bring downe into the pit of destruction bloody and deceitfull men shall not live out halfe their dayes v. 23. But this is not all not onely a destruction but theirs is threatned observe Secondly A destruction appropriated as it were to the nature of the Crime seasonable to the time and sutable to the occasion in the punishment God writes the sin and in the penaltie proclaimes Lo this is the Man and this was his Fault Adonibezecks confession may be their superscription As I have done so God hath rewarded me Judg. 1.7 They either suffer with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we call them either God casts them into the same pit that they have digged for others or into another like it either he hangs them with Hamman upon the same gallowes or makes another very like it There is ever some conformitie either of the subject or some remarkable Circumstance of time or place Their destruction is mighty bitter strange great deadly compar'd to illustrated by and often joyn'd with hell it selfe Briefly it may be said of the seditious what is recorded of Corah his companions The Lord creates a new thing in the earth they are not visited as others are neither doe they die the death of other men God usually pleads the Cause of his servants before the sons of men bringing without any desire or endeavour of theirs the mischievous designs of their enemies upon their own heads and their violent dealings upon their own pates Which leads me to a Third Observation It comes unexpected uncontriv'd No secret plots are needfull to contrive that which God hath design'd publiquely to bring about in the sight of Heaven and before the Sun Mans device cannot further but may at least seemingly obstruct Gods resolution It comes many wayes how often is the Candle of the wicked put out and their
end in its own evill What bloody beginnings though with intentions of reforming church and state ever brought forth happy conclusions unlesse a miracle of mercy the effect of true and lively repentance did create life out of death light out of darknesse and good out of evill And now I have toucht upon that center to which all the lines of my discourse tend and in which they rest Repentance and godly sorrow for our grand transgressions and impieties against God and disloyalties against our King is the only haven into which the weather-beaten ship of this common-wealth of England must be put if she that hath been so long afflicted and tossed with tempests would ever find safety or comfort We have sought the Lord stretcht out our hands made many and long prayers and God hath not heard us why our hands are full of blood we have fasted and humbled our selves and yet the alseeing eye of God takes no notice of it alas the reason is evident we have fasted to strife debate to strike with the fist of wickednes Oh that every wise man in this nation would seriously lay to heart the saying of that wise woman 2 Sam. 14.14 We must all dy we are all as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again Neither doth God when he executes justice spare any persons yet he hath appointed means that he that is cast out may not be utterly expelled I cannot look at the miseries of our dayes without grief of heart and sorrow of mind I cannot remember the dayes of by-past slaughter nor eye our present distractions but I must wish with Jeremy that my head was full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people Did David beg of God to deliver him from blood-guiltinesse with so much earnestnesse for one mans blood and are we senslesse of the blood of thousands slain in these uncivill civill wars the price of whose blood is confusion and misery nay which is worse after a tryall of our own wayes which we see to be evill and to have no lesse then a nationall death and destruction for their issue yet we repent not to give glory to God Oh England England hath not God given thee a time of repentance and thou hast not repented what dost thou expect but that God should cast thee into a bed of sorrow and punish thy vain presumtions with unsufferable torments If what hath been delivered in the doctrinal part of the text be truth and he deservs to be ston'd for blasphemy that denyes it thou hast erred and hast been deceived God hath hitherto pitied thy wandrings lookt upon thee as sheep scattered upon the mountains without a shepherd Oh return return O Shulamite seek the Lord by repentance and fear and your King with submission and reverence Remember the oath of God your most solemne nationall covenant the pursuance of that was the Good Cause but since we broke Covenant with God in falsifying evading colouring and covering of oaths swearing falsly methinks God hath sworn in his wrath that we shall never enter into rest in government we have had none and in consciences I fear but little now by a deep humiliation and an acknowledgment of your sins committed against God and man repent and return and fear the Lord and his goodnesse in these latter dayes But what is said to all few take notice of as relating to themselves I must therefore more particularly apply my discourse to the Parliament City and Army To the Parliament Gentlemen you look upon your selves as the Keepers of our Libertie for your own soules sake consider seriously how you have kept it and what a libertie we are brought to is it not just such another as that which God proclaimed against rebellious Israel Jer. 34.17 A libertie to the sword to the pestilence and to the famine Such a libertie as is likely to make us a terrour an astonishment to the whole world I am for my own part a man of many bodily infirmities I know not what a day may bring forth in order to my dissolution let me be arraigned before the severest of your Commissioners for a malignant rather then at the barre of Gods justice for an hypocrite I have ever been I blesse God a plain spirited man and such you must expect and suffer me to be If you be not able to beare my speech your friend your familiar what will you doe when God shall reprove you and set all in order before you Two things you owe an account of to God and to the Country First of the authoritie by vertue of which you act and secondly of the aime end yea of the manner and method of your actings For the first many thousands in England do deny that ever they intrusted you in any such authoritie as you assume For my part I doe look upon you as the Remnant of a venerable Parliament in order to which I have been ready to vindicate in what I might your proceedings not as the best that may or such as ought to be for ever our rule or guide but such as necessitie hath impos'd upon us for a time till better might be established in order to which I took heinously the last defection and rebellion of the Soldery against you did declare to the receivers of the tax that I would pay no tax towards the armies maintenance When some of Lamberts Officers lay at my house in their march into the North I did expostulate the Case with them told them how hainously the Country took it c. To which they made this answer The Country had no Cause to take ill the dissolving of this Parliament for it was their Parliament not the Countries setled by them not by the Country and to do their work not the Countries This they did say and besides giving of you hateful and ridiculous names did render you the objects of contempt and scorne but you have pardoned them and I shall be silent I beseech you examine your Call and Commission to the exercise of this authoritie We are a free people and you your selves have declar'd That it is Tyranny and Treason for any to impose upon us in poynt of government but by the legal and just choice of the people For the power that you have I professe I doe not envie it to you I rather pittie you You stand in all mens apprehensions upon slippery places It is not for the honour nor safety of these Nations to submit to such a decimation in State-matters That scarce the tenth part of a Parliament should passe for a Free and Full Parliament look upon your selves you that have seen the Majestie of a full Parliament in the dayes of Monarchy some of you have not when assembled in the House and tell me if you look like such an Honorable Assembly as that used to be That should