Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A53312
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The character of a good and bad subject, or, The duty of the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland manifestly proved by the word of God, wherein is made appear the fatal consequences of rebellious principles : in a sermon / preach'd by Constant Oates ...
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Oates, Constant.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing O26; ESTC R17279
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10,753
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21
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THE CHARACTER OF A Good and Bad Subject OR THE Duty of the PEOPLE OF ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND Manifestly proved by the word of GOD wherein is made appear the fatal Consequences of REBELLIOUS PRINCIPLES IN A SERMON Preach'd by Constant Oates Preacher of the Gospel 1 Epist Pet. chap. 2. ver 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be unto the King as Supreme or unto Governours as those that are sent by Him 1 Pet 5. 5. Likewise you younger submit your selves to the elder yea all of you submit one to another and be cloathed with humility London Printed for the Author 1682. TO THE PEOPLE Of ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND UNto You my fellow Countrey-men and Subjects or which ought so to be I who am not under those capacities of Guifts as some Learned you may meet withal yet not meeting with the like Discourse I now think it convenient to present to publick view this small Treatise which indeed is The Duty of all good and faithful Subjects which love to live in Peace both in Families and Nations I have therefore here laid down the Duty of Subjects to their Prince and of Children to Parents and Servants to Masters And herein I am perswaded lieth a great part of Christiantity and I am sure the Peace and Safety of a Nation and ease to all Governments both in Nations and Families for what disquiet is that Family in where there are ill Servants or Children And what Peace hath that Nation which is full of Rebellious and ill men Sirs The weal of a Nation lies in good and quiet Subjects and to live peacably and quietly is every mans Duty therefore the Apostle in Heb. 12 enjoyns all men to that very duty of Peace and Quietness Follow Peace with all men says he and Holiness without which none shall see God And therefore I recommend this Treatise to you to shew you so far forth as a good Subject and an English man ought to do not questioning but it will be well accepted by some good Subjects But if it meets with any resistance I shall not think it to be because what I have here asserted is not Truth Nevertheless that person that ill resents it is not a good Subject and cannot bear with the Doctrine of Obedience and Subjection either to God or Mam. I am sure here is nothing but what the word of God doth hold forth and maintain Therefore I shall be the less concern'd at the opposition it may meet with from Disloyal or ill men but where it meets with a good Subject and an honest Heart I fear not but it will be acceptable And as for all others I leave it to God and their own Consciences to judge whether this be not their Duty And now my good Brethren Countrey-men and fellow-Subjects wherein I am short in stirring you up to the duty herein asserted make You it up by your own ingenuity and Loyalty both to God and Man which that you may do is the Prayer of Your fellow-Subject C. O. ROM 13. verse 1. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God or as the Margin has it ordered of God BEfore I enter upon the words themselves I think it not amiss to let you understand what sort of people I am like to meet with for it is impossible to please all men peradventure this small Treatise may meet with some discontented Dissenters rather than Phanaticks because I will give it a more sober term than mad-men which we know the name implies Therefore I will not say mad-men may meet with this but some dissatisfied Dissenters may meet with it who upon the first view of the Text will be apt to reflect on the Author and say that he is a Papist Royallist Tory or such-like But let them say what they will they may be sure he is no Dissenter nor one of those who will neither obey God nor Man But if this small Treatisemeet with any such all that I shall say is that word of the Apostle and one of the greatest of the Apostles in the verse following my Text viz. Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation And this is all I shall say to such at present and now I shall fall to the words themselves wherein are these five things observable 1st an Exhortation 2dly the persons exorted 3dly the thing exhorted to 4thly the persons to whom this duty is due 5thly the reasons or argument of the whole As 1st the exhortation and that is let 2dly the persons and that is every soul 3dly the thing exhorted to that is be subject 4thly the persons to whom this duty is due that is the Higher Powers 5thly and lastly the reason and argument of the whole for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God Let every soul be subject to the Higher Powers for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God The Text being thus divided into five branches or heads I shall raise these five Doctrines severally from them and speak somthing to each The first Doctrine is That it is the duty of every Gospel-minister to teach the people to be in due subjection and not in Rebellion The 2d Doctrine is That it is not only the duty of Ministers so to preach but of every one so to be in due subjection The 3d. Doctrine is That subjection doth become all men The 4th Doctrine is That the Higher Powers ought to be submitted unto The 5th and last Doctrine is That God is the great Ordainer of all Powers I shall treat of these in order and will begin with the first of them which is this That it is the duty of every Gospel-minister to teach people to be in due subjection and not to sow the seed of Rebellion amongst them which Doctrine I will handle thus first prove the Doctrine by the example of Apostles Secondly lay down the reasons of this point Thirdly shew you the ill consequences of non-subjection Fourthly and lastly wind up the Doctrine with the Application First I prove the first Doctrine That it is the duty of every good Minister to teach the people to be in subjection for which take these Texts of Scripture with the example of so good an Apostle and Minister of Jesus as Paul was I shall not multiply Texts but these few that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every thing may be confirmed The first Text is Titus 3. verse 1. Put them in mind to be in subjection to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates and to be ready to every good work which Text doth plainly confirm this Doctrine as if the Apostle should say or at least-wise did know that there would be some Rebellious Ones in the world Therefore
tell him of his Enemies see 2 Sam. 15. 31. And they told David Achitophel is amongst the Conspirators Sam. 16. 15 16. This is the third Character The fourth Character is this A good Subject is of a good and willing nature ready to bring and run with good Tidings to the King Do but see what good Subjects David had in his streights when his Rebellious Son as some now-a-days would do even pursu'd him to death No sooner Joab like a good Subject as he was had destroy'd the King's Enemies but they ran to bear the King Tidings 2 Sam. 18. 19. and almost to the end of that Chapter you may see how ready they ran to bear the King Tidings ver 19. tells us to this effect Then said Himaaz the son of Zadock Let me now run and bear the King tidings how the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies And again in ver 22. he saith I pray thee let me run after Cushi Nay when Joab denied yet he ver 23. presses one to persuade him and saith But however let me run and Joab said unto him Run From whence it is worth observing that a good Subject will not take any repulse but will and is always willing to bring his Prince good Tidings At the close of this Chapter we do not only see their willingness but the care they had of their message to the King for fear of displeasing or grieving him Therefore Cushi when the King ask'd him ver 29. Is the young man safe he to mitigate the King's grief answers him prudently and with great care putting him in mind of his Enemies and makes him this reply The enemies of my Lord the King and all that rise up against thee to do thee hurt be as the young man is Thus now we see not only the willingness of a good Subject running to bring the King Tidings But also the care and tenderness they have of him This is the fourth Character I now come to the fifth Character of a good Subject which is the last I shall give at this time A good Subject is troubled and grieved at the Exilement of his Prince and will not be satisfied till he is returned to his Throne Nay a good Subjects voice as the voice of Israel 1 Sam. 18. 19. We will have a King to reign ever us they were not satisfied till they had a King to submit to and they are not willing to part with him much less then would they murder him No but on the contrary would mourn for their King's Exilement 2 Sam. 19. 24 30. And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came to meet the King and had neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his cloaths from the day the King departed until the day he came again in peace Thus you see how a good Subject doth sit in a disconsolate condition while his Prince is in Exilement and is not only thus sad for his Exilement but will rejoyce at his return see ver 30. where he uttereth these words Yet let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto his own house These are the Characters of a good Subject Therefore let us examine our selves which of us loves our Prince as these did So much for the Characters of good Subjects I come now to the Characters of a bad Subject Therefore because he cannot be called a Subject that is Rebellious I will put it into these terms The Characters of the King's Enemies He is an Enemy to the King and Government he lives under that like Shimei curses the King and takes advantage to do it when the King is in streights Do but see that wicked Enemy of the King when he saw his Lord forc'd to leave his own house goes and curseth him and reviles him 2 Sam. 16. 5 c. And thus said Shimei when he cursed Come out thou bloudy man thou man of Belial and in the 8th verse he tells the King Thou art a bloudy man So that you may see what the King's Enemies will do when they see their King in streights I come now to the second Character of an Enemy to the King which is this They will not only be Enemies to the King but all that belongs to him Do but see how they chas'd this present Prince from his Father's house and made him fly to an Oak for refuge and sought his Life too if they could have found him for his Fathers would not do as late experience hath made manifest to us whom God preserve from the hands of such Enemies But take Scripture for this Character that they hate not only the King but his Friends for I am resolved to say nothing but what experience and Scripture makes appear see 2 Sam. 17. 12. it is Hushai's Counsel to defeat Achitophel but how ready we see the King's Enemies are to hearken to it So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground and of him and all that are with him there shall not be left so much as one man Now see what the King's Enemies reply to this And all the men of Israel said The counsel of Hushai is better than the counsel of Achitophel Thus you see how ready they are to take counsel against the King so we end with the second Character of an Enemy to the King The third and last Character is this He that is an Enemy to the King will not stick to abuse him as we have heard already but would like that wicked Enemy slay him at once see 1 Sam. 26. 8. Then said Abishai to David God hath delivered thine Enemy into thine hand this day Now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with this Spear even to the ground at once and I will not smite him the second time But David like a good Subject said Destroy him not But this Murdering King-killing Enemy pretends Religion for his work and tells David The Lord hath delivered him into thine hand and calls him David's Enemy to heighten his hatred against him Thus you see men that are Enemies to the King will rather then miss of their intent do any thing and they have Religion for a Cloak and Hood-wink for their Violency and therefore saith he The Lord hath delivered him into thine hand therefore I pray thee let me slay him Thus I have done with the Characters of those black Enemies to Kings and Governments and shall say no more but these words of David Can any man smite the Lords Anointed and be guiltless This is the first Use which is a Use of Examination and Characters of a good or bad Subject I now come to the second use which is of those motives I promised to give you to press you to the duty here injoyned The first motive is this Consider that Subjection is commanded and required of you both by the Law of God and Man Besides look and see what Rebellion has done It has murdered a good Prince already therefore when your Ancestors have been Disloyal be you the more Dutiful and part not with one grain of your Loyalty Consider what becomes of Rebellious men but Death and Destruction be not of those whom the Apostle speaks of 2 Pet. 2. 10. That walk after the Flesh in the Lust of Vncleanness despisers of Government Pernicious are they they are afraid to speak evil of Dignities What a sad thing is this And what an age we live in when there needs so much Loyalty and Love Therefore be persuaded to love God and honour the King and be not of a Rebellious mind but be of the mind of those in 2 Sam. 16. 15 16. These were men of a good and loving nature to their Prince and were ready at all turns to serve him And therefore be persuaded to be of those that will lay down their Lives and Estates for the King Consider what Rebellious persons bring upon themselves nothing but Death and Destruction at one time or place or other You may read how Absalom was caught up by the hair of the head for his Rebellion Sirs God hates Rebellion and Rebellion is worse than the Sin of Witchcraft it breeds nothing but Destruction Therefore be persuaded to this your duty seeing God calls for it from you Thirdly The third motive is this and that is to you young men Learn to know your Prince for as there is a duty to a Parent due from you so there is a Duty and Allegiance to your Prince and I hope I may say that there is not One in Ten thousand in England Scotland or Ireland but what are loving Subjects If not I wish they were known for it is a shame to England to have a bad Subject since they have so good a Prince who loves to see his People in Peace and Quiet for herein lies all our happiness that we can say in reality what others did say fainedly to Absalom God Save the King The third and last Use is a Use of Reprehension and Reproof to those that dare be so bold as to be Disloyal and speak against Government I dare be bold to tell ye You deserve death here if you have it not hereafter Therefore I shall close with the words of the Apostle and then let any be bold if they dare which words are these Rom. 13. 2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinonce of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation FINIS