Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A35085
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A sermon preached upon the anniversary solemnity of the happy inauguration of our dread soveraign Lord King James II in the Collegiate Church of Ripon, February the 6th. 1685/6 / by Thomas Cartwright ...
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Cartwright, Thomas, 1634-1689.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing C706; ESTC R21036
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21,714
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46
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A SERMON PREACHED upon the Anniversary Solemnity OF THE Happy Inauguration OF Our Dread Soveraign LORD King JAMES II. In the Collegiate Church of Ripon February the 6 th 1685 6 By THOMAS CARTWRIGHT D.D. Dean of Ripon and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed by J. Leake and are to be Sold by Walter Davis in Amen-Corner MDCLXXXVI To my LORD THE Lord HENRY EARL of PETERBOROW Groom of the Stole and First Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber to His MAJESTY one of the Lords of the Honourable Privy-Council and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the GARTER My LORD HOmilies are by our Rubrick and the Statute to give place to Sermons where they may be had and therefore the Minister who Officiates on the King's-Day is obliged rather to Preach a Sermon of his own Composing upon the same Argument than to Read the Homily concerning Obedience to Rulers and Magistrates This I doubt not was chearfully done by Persons and in Places of the greatest Eminency and we in the Country thought our selves bound to be as Dutiful as those in higher places as Affectionate to his Majesty's Service tho' not so Eloquent And tho' many of Richer Parts have of their Abundance cast much more into this Treasury yet Men of Meanest need not despair of His Majesty's Gracious Acceptance Mar. xij 42. whilst like the poor Widow in the Gospel they come to Express their Pious Officiousness to Support his Crown by their Oblations tho' they betray their Poverty by the Meanness of them and shew how much greater their Zeal is than their Abilities to serve Him This I did as well as I could in His Majesty's Collegiate Church of Ripon nor is it Ostentation that makes me Preach it over again from the Press but pure Charity towards the Cure of the Leprosie of those Rebellious Principles which every Priest must needs see tokens enough to discern to be that Plague in the Head which renders too many among our People so utterly unclean as that they are only fit to dwell alone and without the Camp of Israel Lev. xiij 44. ves 46. And as the Priest under the Law who attempted the Cure of any other Leper was by God's Direction to begin at the Right Ear xiv 14. and from thence to proceed to his Right Hand so I thought my self obliged to Print what I had Preach'd that they might Handle what they had heard and be the more perfectly Convinc'd how much it concerns us to Endeavour their Cure and them to join with us in our Prayers to God for the Perfecting it The Subject Convinces me how ready some will be to take Offence at the Author and Argument of this Sermon and tho' I neither fear the Censure nor court the Favour of Men so disaffected to the Government yet I thought my self obliged to make Choice of such a Patron as had been a Pattern of Loyalty to others and was Himself Able and Willing to Protect both and to Maintain that Truth which hath been the Rule of Your Life Your Lordships Devotion to Your Prince and Zeal for His Service being as well known as Your Person And tho' there be little in this Discourse Worthy of Your Judicious Eye or Owning Yet the Cause which it Pleads being That for which Your Honour hath always Expressed so Great a Concern as to venture Your Life and Estate in it makes me not Despair of its Acceptance And Your Eminent and Vndeserved Goodness of which I have had so long Experience secures my Pardon for Prefixing Your Name to it If my Abilities had born Proportion to my Will it should have been as far beyond as it now will fall short of Your Lordships Expectations But my Comfort is That as it gives me an Happy Opportunity to Testifie my Gratitude for Your former Favours so there will be a Power in Your Acceptance to make Plainness an Ornament and to Oblige others to think well of the mean but sincere Performances of him who accounts himself obliged to be as well as to subscribe himself My Lord Your Lordship's In all humble Duty and Unfeigned Observance THOMAS CARTWRIGHT 1 KINGS viij 66. On the Eighth day he sent the People away and they Blessed the King and went unto their Tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his Servant and for Israel his People WE are now happily Assembled in the Collegiate Church of Ripon endowed and conferr'd upon us by the Bounty of our Royal Founder King JAMES the First of ever blessed Memory in the Second Year of his Reign to Celebrate Aug. 2. 1604. according to the Laudable and Religions Practice of good Subjects in former Ages the Joyful Inauguration of his Grandson our Gracious Soveraign Lord King JAMES the Second on the First Day of the Second Year of his Reign And we may now remember with Comfort and Satisfaction to our Consciences how the Men of Ripon or our Friends of Ripon as they Ironically call'd us were singled out and traduced not many Years since by Julian Johnson Ferguson and other hot-spurs of the same Faction and Sedition who were then carrying on an Accursed Conspiracy against the Crown and Church of England and Exposed to the Madness of the People to be Ridicul'd and Revil'd for our early and then unfashionable Loyalty expressed in our Address in hopes that they might either have Laugh'd or Frighted us out of our Duty and Religion Now that we may testifie to the World our unmoveable Steadiness and the renewed Evidence of our Fidelity to the Crown in all unshaken Principles and Practises of Loyalty let us do the proper Work of the King's Day in its season Let us Bless God for the miraculous Disappointments of all the malicious Hopes and infernal Designs of those Blood-thirsty Men being not only agreeable to their Anti-Monarchical and Anti-Episcopal Principles but in truth inseparable from them Let us be joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord hath done for David his Servant and for Israel his People Shew your Love to his Person and your Zeal for his Government resign up your selves as you have done your Charter to Him not doubting of a proportionable Favour and Encouragement and as you have stood to your Prince in his severest Tryals according to your bounden Duty so let it not be in the power of any Discontented Persons whatsoever to Taint you with the least blemish of Disloyalty We want nothing blessed be God and the King as to our External State but what to wish for Do we not enjoy Peace Plenty and Liberty nay and the Best Religion in the World and why then should we disquiet our selves or others with the fanciful Imaginations and unreasonable Fears of future Evils for which in reality there appears no Foundation but in our own distemper'd Brains Let us do our Duty and the King his Pleasure let us not prevaricate with God or him but be
as obedient to his Commands as Israel was to Solomon's Whose Excellent President I have chosen to set before you to Copy after A Text which you must needs by this time see to be proper and pertinent and such as by the Blessing of God is made very seasonable and suitable to this Day 's Solemnity Which if it had fall'n into the hands of one whom better Parts and more Leisure had fitted for this Service might have afforded you a Discourse not Inferiour to what this great and first Anniversary Solemnity might teach you to expect But the happy Occasion of our meeting and your own obvious Meditations upon it will easily draw out the Paralel between this People in my Text and your selves without the help of a Preacher The main Ingredients which concur to the completing the happiness of any Kingdom you will find to meet here in my Text A Wise and devout King a Loyal and Religious People and a good understanding between them Solomon takes care to build and adorn the Temple of God and the People contribute freely and largely to it He brings the Ark of the Covenant into the City of David they attended it with all due Solemnity he establish'd Religion by a Law and the People take special notice of the Honour and Welfare of Religion under his Government Vers 11. of the Glory of the Lord filling the House of the Lord as a testimony of his owning what the King and they had done Vers 30. and of God's hearkning to the King 's and their Prayers in the House which he in their sight had newly Dedicated to him Prov. iij. 9. He honoured God with his substance and with the first-Fruits of his Increase he Sacrific'd Two and twenty thousand Vers 63. Oxen and an Hundred and twenty thousand Sheep They were well pleased with his Royal and Religious Performances and his Peace-Offering to the Lord this was the Joy of their hearts and they feasted themselves with the Remembrance of it to see Holiness and Happiness meet together Piety and Prosperity kiss each other Vers 65. Solomon held a Feast and all Israel with him a great Congregation Seven days and Seven days and on the Eighth day he sent the people away and they Blessed the King and went unto their Tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his Servant and for Israel his people God hath blessed us with a Prince at this time not inferiour to him in my Text for his Knowledge and Conduct in Government one who hath been brought up most part of his Life in the School of Affliction which hath wrought Patience and Patience such Experience in him such knowledge of Men and Business that if he do not by Judgment Establish this Kingdom the fault will not be his but our own For we cannot expect either from God or the King to be made happy whether we will or no we may pull down Destruction upon our selves and our Posterity by the very same methods that we did in his Father's time we may be Destroyers of our selves and the establish'd Religion and make our selves Examples of God's and the King's Justice But if we will take Example of this people in my Text the Sons of Zerviah shall never be too hard for our David nor will he ever be out of love with us or our Religion Loyalty is the King's Joy the Kingdoms Happiness and the Subjects Glory and if all people would be Loyal no Kingdom could be miserable I am sure not ours All the ties of Duty and Gratitude do at this time indispensably oblige us to it and to give his Sacred Majesty the best assurance we can that we know our Duty and that we are firmly resolv'd to act according to it as did this people in my Text On the Eighth day he sent the people away and they blessed the King and went unto their Tents joyful and glad of heart for all the Goodness that the Lord had done for David his Servant and for Israel his People In which words there are Five Particulars observable I. Regia populi Dismissio the Royal Dismission of the People On the Eighth day he sent the People away II. Populi Benedictio Votiva the People's dutiful Valediction They blessed the King at parting III. Populi Submissio the Peoples ready Submission They went unto their Tents IV. Populi Exultatio the People's Satisfaction and Triumph They were joyful and glad of heart V. Exultationis ratio the good Ground and just Reason of their Triumph 'T was for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his Servant and for Israel his People I shall endeavour to Explain and Apply each of these Particulars in its order The first whereof is I. Regia Populi Dismissio the Dismission of the People when and by whom it was made Arab. Octavo a septem postremis post solennitatem die On the Eighth from the latter Seven days Solemnity of the Dedication or Encoenia such as our Wake-Days and Church-Feasts are for in both Solemnities there were Fourteen Days Seven for the Dedication and the other Seven for the Feast of Tabernacles which began on the Fifteenth of September After the exact Termination whereof Solomon informed the People then Assembled from the Eastern to the Western-borders of his Dominions of their Duty to God and the King and having made a Collection among them to defray the charge of the Sacrifices which had been offer'd when they had done the business for and unto which he call'd them he lets them know That he was not willing to detain them any longer from their private Employments and that he dispensed with their farther Attendance and gave them leave to depart on the morrow Which they accordingly did on the 23. of September with their Hearts as light as their Purses they carried away little Money but much Mirth along with them into the Country and were so far from grudging what they had so piously spent in God's and the King's Service that they gloried in its Acceptance and thought their Moneys well bestow'd and their Journey well paid for The Subjection of the People to their Prince was then thought as natural as that of Children to their Parents they never dream't of a State of natural Freedom When he call'd them they came and when he dismissed them they went away I wish the same Prudence Temper and Moderation had always been in all our fellow Subjects then would not that wild Notion and seditious Opinion ever have been broached among us That the King cannot Prorogue or Dissolve his Parliaments in which his People are Representatively Assembled till their Petitions be answer'd and their Grievances redressed or that they may tarry till they dismiss themselves and not depart when the King thinks fit and convenient as Solomon's People in my Text did with great Submission and Satisfaction which they intimated to the King when it was