Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A57354
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A sermon preach'd at the Cathedral of Norwich upon the annual solemnity of the Mayors admission to his office, being June 17, 1679 by B. Rively ...
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Riveley, Benedict, 1627 or 8-1695.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing R1549; ESTC R428
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15,315
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42
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Levites went a begging and one Tribe went to war with another to decide that by the longest sword which a few hours serious debate and reference to publick Justice would have peaceably determined And as it serves thus by way of prevention so again 't is by this that wholsome Laws are made and executed that Justice is done that Peace is preserved that Vice is punish'd that Virtue is encouraged that human Society is kept on foot that we enjoy our selves and that we may serve our God The Apostle gives it us in short that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. And if this can be a vain Invention that ferves to all these purposes I am very much mistaken Let us therefore admire it as a wise and gracious provision of God that we have such a Rank and Order of men set up amongst us as should do all this for us and be as Fathers of their Countreys and Shepheards of the People and Nurse of the Church and Heirs of restraâ—nt and God's among men through whose vigilancy all others might sleep through whose care they might be secure through whose publick employment they might attend their private such as might be Sanctuaries to the Friendless Treasuries to the Poor Shields to the oppressed a Praise to them that do Well and a Terror to Evil-doers And well is it for the World that this last part of their Office is in any competent measure discharged for 't is too obvious that most of the Civility Honesty and Religion too that is amongst us is owing unto it men generally walk more by sight than by faith and the Magistrates Halter scares more than the Ministers Hell and though this restraint upon wicked men by virtue of the Magistrates sword doth not finally save their own souls yet undoubtedly it saves a great many other folks lives which is so material a consideration that with it I will shut up the Expository part of my Discourse and come to Application Since the Magistrates Sword as it emblems Vse 1. his Authority is not in vain as to its Author or End neither ought it be in vain as to its Execution or Effect It ought not to be in vain in the execution This is only applicable to the Magistrate and as subordinate too for the making of Laws and imposing them that is the Potestas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Legislative power is in the Supream But the execution of Law and Administration of Justice to the people is the work of the Subalterne Officers and Deputies under him Give me leave then to be the Rembrancer only of such that according to the Duty of their places they would be pleased to put the King's Laws into execution lest they be thought otherwise by God and the People to bear the sword in vain The good of the publick depends much upon subordinate means Let the Kingdom be never so well provided of a Wise and Gracious Prince and of good and wholesome Laws if they that are to be the eyes hands and feet of him that is the head be either lame or blind how necessarily must the whole Body suffer And if they that are to be as the Arteries and Veins to convey the Life-Blood of Law and Justice through the parts do not perform their Office nutrition must cease and consumption must invade and both will be charged upon that obstruction 'T is granted the King's Authority virtually extends it self throughout his whole Dominions but how can it be actually exerted in particular and various places without faithful and diligent Ministers under him Let the Lord-Lieutenant in a County or the Mayor in a City be a St. George on a Signe-post and the people will represent the King of the Countrey but as a King in a Comedy by and by Let the stagnation or stop of Justice be in the lower Vessels it presently redounds to the detriment of the Head endangers the Body of the Government and in a little time brings an unprofitableness upon the Ordinance of God unprofitableness did I say yea it perverts it and makes it serve quite contrary ends than it was in tended for If the Magistrate be couchant 't is ten to one but disorder and misrule will be rampant If the Governor be a Log no wonder if the Frogs and Vermin leap and croak about it Unexecuted Law first gives impunity to Vice and consequently Courage for Evils unsupprest will soon grow insolent and in a short time what was Leave at first will come to be Law and a better Law than the Law it self at last And the face of the Common-wealth shall be much what as the sluggards field in Prov. 24. 31. Overgrown with Briars and Thorns Wormwood and Hemlock instead of those Plants of Renown Righteousness and Peace and Order and Truth and Obedience Gentlemen I beseech you mistake me not I am not so pragmatick as to go about to teach you your Duty which must needs know better than I my designe is only to mind you of it and to excite you to diligence and faithfulness in it you have your Rule before you the Law of the Land and that Blessed be God wise for its contrivance safe for its end and useful for its effect 'T is not medling beyond this your Rule that I would tempt you to but actting according to it I think is justly expectable at your hands But so much for general Use now let me proceed to a modest particularity And First for you Sir who must by and by resigne up your Sword into another hand I have but two things to offer to you Take the best care you can that you go off the Stage with as much innocence as you came on for besides personal faults there are a sort of sins called Nostra â—liena our other folks sins that a year of May oralty may be apt to be charged deeply withal Give glory to God in the humble confession of them and crave his pardon in and through the merits of Jesus and what you want of perfection a thing the best come short of endeavour to make up in your integrity Be but able to make good Samuels close 1 Sam 12. 3. Whose Ox or whose Ass have I taken whom have I defrauded of whose hand have I received any Bribe I mean let but God and your own Conscience acquit you and no matter whether the People give their Plaudite or no. Moreover I desire you Sir to remember that though you now cease to be a kind of Dictator in this Government yet you must continue to be Consul and though the main Load shall be taken off your Shoulders yet you must be willing to lend a hand to the burthen still And this you have reason to esteem not only your Honor but your Happiness because thereby you have an opportunity of playing an after-game and consequently of amending what you shall see amiss in the fore one But if there
be so much heed to be taken in an Act of Resignation what is there in an Act of Engagement sure 't is an easier matter to surrender than to undertake a Magistrates Office 2. To you then Sir that are our Rising Sun let my Speech be next directed Consider that you may lawfully take that Sword which God and Man both put into your hands and when you are invested with your power use it for Gods Honor the Kings Service and the peoples benefit Begin with God and Religion for a Gallio-Magistrate that cares for none of these things is rather to be accounted a Herdsman of Cattel than a Governor of Christians Pray first unto God your self that he that girt you may bless you and then entitle your self to the Prayers of the Church by improving your Authority to its singular advantage Govern with your Example as well as with your Sword and what of evil your Office cannot reach let your Frown and your Eye scatter away So saith Solomon A prudent Governor scatters away evil with his eyes Prov. 20 8. The good example of a Magistrate seems hugely reasonable upon his own account and other folks too upon his own because he would hardly punish that in another which he is guilty of himself and so he would be tardy in his Office And then upon others account because there are a great many people in the world that look in no other Book but the Lives of their Governours and they go either to Heaven or Hell as they are led by their Superiors But chiefly let your power and zeal bend it self against those sins of Swearing Drunkenness Whoredom and Prophanation of the Lords day because these are crimes grown too modish popular and strong for to be â—awed by any Church censure or reproof And the best way for Reformation that I know of in this case is strictly to execute the Laws of the I and against them Finally let that Religion have your constant profession and countenance which hath crowned this Nation with so many blessings and such deliverances as seem almost peculiar to it I mean the Protestant Religion as it is established in the Church of England and let her publick Worship pure Ordinances decent Rites and lawful Ministers never fail of your presence support and encouragement But next to fear God is Honor the King 1 Pet. 2. 17 and this Sir is as much your Duty as any private Subjects yea and a greater obligation upon you and however your place exalts you above the common Level yet you must own a subordination and accountableness to your Sovereign Though you have an Officer to carry the Sword before you yet you are your self the Kings Sword-bearer too Your may have the Show but he must have the Service you may have the Honor but he must have the Duty of it or else you put the Kings Sword into your scabbard and fight against him with his own weapon Next to God's and the King 's the peoples Interest is worthily considerable to you for Government is not for you that Govern but for them that are governed not for private but for publick ends 'T is not to fill your own pocket but to shake down the Fruit to them that are underneath that you are advanced to a high place The Sword you take is by no means an Instrument of Particular Favour or of Personal Revenge but of Common Justice and must be Weilded to the Publick Ends of Law and Right of Defence and Offence as Cases happen within the Verge of your Government You are Sir in a diverse Notion the Cities Master and the Cities Servant as is Master you have a Port allowed you which it is your wisdom to keep for he that despiseth himself is the more easily despised by others Be not wheadled by any Man out of your Authority let him appear in what Cloak he will As the Cities Servant you have all her just Rights and Priviledges to maintain and for your Assistance you have many Fellow-Servants equally engaged whose Aid you need not want in their vindication and assertion Sir I have no more but as Michaiah to Ahab yet without his Irony Goe up and prosper Vse 2. Let me now speak but one word to the People and I have done That the Magistrate should not bear the Sword in vain by a neglect of his Duty I have both generally and particularly exhorted Now that the People may not make him to do so whether he will or no I come to Exhort them for they have a way of blunting and dulling the Magistrates Sword let him Whet it and Weild it never so well And that is by their Obstinacy and Perversness and Resty Ungovernable Humor But Brethren and Fellow-Citizens let me hope better things of you That which in the Designation of God and in its own Nature is so useful and necessary to Humain Society do not you render unprofitable to your selves by a Peevish Crofs and unsubmissive carriage under it Sirs Do not you treat those Scarlet Robes as some bold Birds will do a Mawkin in a Corn-field nor contemn that Sword as if it were but a Lath in a Velvet Scabbard Do not despise Dominion or speak evil of Dignities but preserve an awe and reverence alwayes upon your Spirits to Publick Authority as towards an Ordinance of God and believe it a matter wherein the Publick Welfare and the Honour of Religion are very much concern'd Do but suffer that Lawful Sword of Government which you live under to have its proper effects upon you to keep you within due bounds of Order and Soberness and Obedience and you will thereby very much prevent its being borne in vain you will ease your Magistrates of a great part of their burden and you will gain unto your selves the reputation of Loyal Subjects and true Protestants And now I think on 't this is a new Argument I have to enforce this Duty upon you withal You see at this day the great Cry is against Popery and that which most justly hath made that Religion odious to us is the Bitter Opposition it bears to the Government of this Nation as it is now to remain Refractroy Ill-natur'd Discontented with and in any way open or secret Rebellious against the present Government is plainly to take part with the Papists and to help on their Malitious Designs against us And you can no way better approve your selves not only Christians at large but of the best sort that is of the truly Reform'd Stamp and most agreeable to the Primitive-Christian Spirit then by living in Subjection and Obedience to your Supreame and Superiors in Church and State It is too late here to meddle with the so much exagitated Question How far we are to obey Governors this I am sure To pretend Conscience against Obedience is expresly against St. Paul's Doctrine teaching us to obey for Conscience sake and to Disobey for Conscience in a thing indifferent is never to be found in the Books of our Religion Goe home then and if you be as you Profess Christians and Protestants shew it not so much by your Railery against the Pope as Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon c. as by heartily loving and embracing that Church which he hates and pursues you see with all his Spight and Spleen and confess at last that that Settlement must needs be of God that hath out-lived so many Wars and Conspiracies and Fires and Swords and Poysons against it and take it not amiss if according to the Charge given to Titus and in him to all the Successive Ministers of the Gospel I do upon this occasion put you in mind to be Subject to Principalities Tit. 3. 1. and Powers and to obey Magistrates which is nothing else in effect but to strike in with the best Natur'd King the best Constituted State and the best Reformed Church against the Worst sort of Enemies in the whole World FINIS