Confirmation of it That Supreme Governours have their Power and Authority from God alone is expresly delivered in Scripture and that not only of the Kings of Israel who were evidently established by God's Appointment but in general we are told Prov. 8. 15 16. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Thus Cyrus an Heathen Emperour is called God's Anointed Isa 45. 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus and in the last Verse of the preceeding Chapter he is called God's Shepherd Princes being often by reason of the resemblance between the Pastoral Office and Government called Shepherds I have made the earth saith God by the Prophet Jeremiah 27. 5 6. and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me and now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my Servant Thus Daniel declares that the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will And he tells Nebuchadnezzar cap. 2. 37. that it was the God of Heaven that had given him a Kingdom power and strength and glory In the New Testament nothing can be plainer than the beginning of the thirteenth Chapter to the Romans where St. Paul tells us that there is no power but of God that the powers that be are ordained of God Whence in the next Verse he stileth Magistracy or Government the Ordinance of God and in the Fourth Verse the Ruler is called the Minister of God not of the People to execute his vengeance upon them that do evil I shall not now trouble you with any Quotations out of the Primitive Fathers who so often acknowledged even their Heathen Emperours to have been constituted by God and to have held their Empire from him alone and to have only him above them It is plain that this was always the Doctrine of our Church of England as appears from the Book of Homilies wherein we are taught That the High Powers are set in Authority by God that they are God's Lieutenants God's Presidents God's Officers God's Commissioners God's Judges ordained of God himself nay it hath been directly asserted in our Church That the most high and sacred Order of Kings is of Divine Right being the Ordinance of God himself founded in the prime Law of Nature and clearly established by express Texts both of the Old and New Testament Nor is it our Religion alone that teacheth us this but the same was of old owned both by the Heathen Poets and Philosophers that Kings were from God and to his Supreme Authority ordering and appointing it was to be referred the Original of all Soveraignty and Rule amongst men Nor indeed can it be well conceived or reasonably imagined from whence Kings and Soveraign Powers should have Right to Govern and Command but from God alone Since he is the undoubted Lord of the whole Earth and alone hath full power and right to Govern it I cannot see but that whoever shall go about to confer any power of Government or take upon himself any such Authority over others were it not by God's appointment and institution he would thereby put himself upon disposing of God's right without his leave or ordering So that Government and Superiority of one or more over others is all Tyranny and Usurpation upon God's right or else it must be granted to be Ordained by God himself And it being so necessary for the Happiness and Welfare of Mankind that it is impossible Peace and Order should be maintained Justice administred or that we should live in tolerable safety every man enjoying his own without Government it would seem an unworthy disparagement and reflexion upon the Divine Wisdom and Goodness to have left the World without any such provision for the quiet and security of it Thus whatever the Form of Government may be which is different in several places whether it be in a single person or many or in the Body of the People or their Representatives whatever hand the people may have in some places according to the particular Customs of their Countries in Chusing or Designing the person or persons that shall be invested with this Supreme Authority yet the Power and Authority it self is derived only from God and is neither received of the People in trust nor is the Soveraign Power answerable to them for the Administration of it Which is sometimes illustrated thus Tho' the Wife may chuse what person she pleaseth to make her Husband yet the Husbands Authority over the Wife is not owing to her nor doth she confer it upon him but it is of Divine Appointment The King as it hath been said of old in regard of the Nature of his Body is of the same Mould with every man but in respect of the eminency of his Dignity he is like unto God who is Lord over all whose Image he beareth and by whom he holdeth that Power which he hath over Men. Now this being so clear and undoubted that Kings and Princes represent the Person of God and bear his Image since they are Earthly Visible Corporeal Gods for so you find it Exodus 22. 28. a place parallel to the words of my Text Thou shalt not Revile the Gods nor Curse the Ruler of thy People Since they are the Vicegerents of the Almighty Soveraign Authorised and Commissionated by him his Deputies and Lieutenants here in the world we may easily hence conclude that his Providence cannot but be more particularly concerned for those whom he calleth to such an High Office whom he placeth in such Dignity and Eminence He cannot but have a more special regard unto and a more than ordinary Care over them because of their peculiar relation to him as his Representatives As it is here amongst us in Humane Governments the Supream Soveraign is highly concerned to uphold and support all his inferiour Magistrates in their several Places and Offices to protect them in the discharge of their Duty to keep up their Honour and Reputation and to provide that all due respect be paid to them He resents all injuries and affronts offered to them as done to himself He looks upon all those who set and oppose themselves against them as Enemies to his Imperial Crown and Dignity and that himself is struck and aimed at by any Violence done to his Officers or Ministers So it is in the Case we now discourse of Supream Governours have the same relation to God as subordinate Magistrates have to their Soveraign Princes they are employed and intrusted hy him and accordingly he expects subjection to them as to himself that we should honour and serve them according to that High Divine Character they bear He therefore always in a more remarkable manner stands by them and watches over them as the chiefest of his Servants and nearest to himself He takes what is done against them as done against himself Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the
A SERMON Preached at St Lawrence-Jury London upon the 9th of September BEING THE Day of Thanksgiving FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF THE King Kingdom From the late Treasonable CONSPIRACY By BENJAMIN CALAMY D. D. Vicar of St. Lawrence-Jury and one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed by R. E. for W. Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. TO THE INHABITANTS OF The Parishes of St. Lawrence Jury and St. Mary Magd. Milkstreet London Gentlemen THE Kindness with which you at first received me and have all along expressed towards me since my being placed amongst you hath been so great and obliging that I ought not in Reason to deny you any thing tho' never so much against my own Inclinations that you are pleased to request of me Yet yive me leave to say that upon my own deliberate perusal of the following Discourse I cannot find any thing in it at all answerable to your Earnestness for its being Printed It was the Occasion the Subject and the Temper which the Consideration of the Wonderful Deliverance of our Most Gracious King and these Kingdoms did on that Solemn Day of Thanksgiving put you into that made this plain Sermon pleasing to you in the hearing of it all which Advantages it will want in the Reading But however I had rather fail in any thing than let slip so fair an Opportunity of shewing my self duly sensible of your Great Respects to me For which I am and always will be thankful And I know no better way of being so to purpose than by endeavouring to do amongst you all the good I possibly can Which I am assur'd I cannot more effectually do than after your immediate Duty to God by encouraging and promoting an Hearty Obedience to the King and Church and a sincere Love and Friendship amongst your selves To effect which shall be the constant study and labour of Gentlemen Your most faithful Friend and Servant BENJ. CALAMY Ecclesiastes X. 20. Curse not the King no not in thy thought and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter THE original word which is here translated Curse is variously rendred by Interpreters but the easiest sense seems to be this That we are here forbid tho' never so secretly and closely speaking any evil of or designing any evil against our Soveraign upon any pretence or occasion whatever Curse not the King no not in thy thought we must not so much as wish any Mischief or Harm to him and curse not the rich c. By the rich Grotius understands virum summatem a Person in Chief Dignity and Power whom God hath set in Authority over us and so these latter words are either only a repetition of the former to give the greater force and emphasis to them or else by the rich may be meant subordinate Magistrates and Ministers of State sent and deputed by the King who is Supreme to whom all internal Reverence and Honour ought to be paid as well as outward Subjection and Obedience to express the sense in words ordinarily used amongst us we must not Compass Imagine Desire or Contrive any thing that tends to the Dammage and Prejudice either of our Soveraign Lord the King or of any that are Commissionated or Authorised by him Curse them not in thy Bed-chamber that is tho' we seek the darkest Retirements the most private Corners however cautious we are that there be no Witnesses present who may bear testimony against us so that we think our selves secure from all possibility of Discovery yet a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter Which words signifie that God by his Wonderful Providence some way or other by Means we never thought of shall bring about that all these evil Speeches and clandestine Designs against his Vicegerent shall be revealed to the utter Confusion of all those that are engaged in them Thus these words do not only contain a Prohibition of any secret Plots and Conspiracies against our Governours but propound also a weighty Argument to discourage men from any such wicked Undertakings Because let them be carried on never so cunningly and closely yet they shall be as suddenly and surely discovered as if the Birds of the air had listned to all their Whispers had over-heard all their Discourse in their secret Cabals and immediately flown away with the news and given in Evidence against them An expression like to this we may find in the Prophet Habakkuk 2. 11. where it is said that the stone should cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber should answer it What is whispered in a corner what is hatched in darkness yet by unlikely Means by unthought of Accidents which by the greatest subtlety and caution could not be provided against shall be disclosed and brought to light the Divine Providence being peculiarly concerned for the Defence and Protection of Soveraign Kings and Princes and in an especial manner watching over them as the choicest Object of its Care Now that it is thus that God Almighty is more particularly engaged for the safety of Kings and Supreme Governours so as wonderfully to appear for their Deliverance from the treacherous Conspiracies of Ungodly Men we have both good Reason upon which to believe it and the Experience of all Ages doth abundantly confirm it We have good Reason upon which to believe it and that upon these two plain accounts I. Because Soveraign Kings and Princes are God's Deputies and Vicegerents set up by himself and they derive their Power and Authority from him alone God Almighty the Maker of us all is the only Absolute Lord and Uncontrolable Soveraign of Men and Angels Part of his own Power and Authority which he hath over his Creatures he hath delegated and committed to Kings and Princes who are the most principal Instruments and Ministers of his Providence in the World Hence are they called Gods and Children of the Most High Psal 82. 6. God hath invested them with some part of his own Majesty stamped his own Character upon them and appointed them in his place to perform and administer even some part of his own Divine Office if I may so speak amongst men Thus constituting them Earthly Gods as to their Persons sacred and as to their Actions accountable to none but that supereminent Divine Authority that gave them Commission This is not any new-coined Divinity invented in favour of Arbitrary Power by Court Parasites and needy Flatterers who seek Preferment as the Enemies of our flourishing Monarchy have sometimes represented it but it is expresly delivered in the Holy Scriptures was professedly owned and taught by the Primitive Christians and hath been the constant Doctrine of the Reformed Church of England Nay it is agreeable to the general sense of Mankind and might be made out by rational Evidence if we had no other
publickly appeared This betrays the Folly as well as the Wickedness of all those who are ingaged in such Caballings and Plottings that they vye Power with God himself and resolve to destroy him whom by such a series of miraculous Providences God hath shewn himself resolved to save and protect Alas they are not only the Guards whom they must seize upon and master In vain are all their Meetings and Consultations about the feasibleness of such a Design unless they can find out a way to escape God's knowledge or could be too hard for the Almighty who hath undertaken to guard and secure our King and will see that no Weapon formed against him shall prosper Was it not by God's wonderful Providence that he was preserved from the Fury and Rage of those who embrued their Savage hands in his Fathers Sacred Blood Was it not the same good Providence that continually compassed him as with a Shield when his own Subjects in Arms against him sought his Death and Destruction Was it not the same Providence that for a long time hid and concealed him from the most diligent search of Blood-thirsty Rebels though so many Conscious yet none tempted by great Rewards and more powerful Fears to betray him and at last after a miraculous manner provided an escape for him and through innumerable dangers conveighed hime safe to a strange Land Was it not the same God who defended and supported him during a long and most unjust Banishment and at length by his own right Hand and outstretched Arm brought him safe again to his People and gloriously restored him to his three Kingdoms Hath he not since been graciously pleased in time to discover all the evil Designs of Wicked men against his Person and Government or hath prevented those which were never discovered Hath he not saved him from the Popish Plot And are we not this present day met together to bless God for his deliverance from a Fanatick one And after all have we not vast Reason from such large Experience of God's infinite kindness towards our most Gracious Soveraign and in him to us his People yet to hope that he will still preserve him and continue his Life amongst us to be every day a greater Blessing to these Kingdoms Give me leave therefore in this Case to apply the Words of the Psalmist in the beginning of the Second Psalm Why do the Papists rage and the Fanaticks imagine a vain thing What madness is this that thus possesses them to unite and associate together The heads of the several Parties and Factions set themselves and take Counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed King saying Let us break their Bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Let us not be tyed up any longer by that slavish Principle of Obedience to Authority for Conscience sake but rather like free born People throw off the Yoke which the King and his Ministers would impose upon us He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision The Almighty Soveraign by whose Commission and Authority our King Reigns shall despise all these foolish Attempts and will expose these presumptuous Rebels to the Scorn and Contempt of every man Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure Even then when they think they have effected their Design and made all sure God shall suddenly disappoint and confound them so that all men shall observe the tokens of the Divine Vengeance against them Yet have I set my King upon my Holy Hill of Sion See how madly they have Plotted against themselves For our King and his Government is not only yet preserved but we hope Strengthened and Established by their impious Conspiracy against it But more particularly we are now assembled to make due acknowledgments of God's wonderful Providence and Mercy in Discovering and Defeating the late Treasonable Conspiracy against his Sacred Majesties Person and Government In speaking of which I shall first of all briefly set before you the Horridness of the Conspiracy it self then the Greatness of the Deliverance we now bless God for and lastly add some few plain Advices suitable to this occasion I. The Horridness of this late Conspiracy will sufficiently appear if we consider only these three things 1. The Actors or Persons ingaged in it 2. The Motives from which they acted 3. The Mischiefs that would inevitably have followed had not God's Providence made timely Discovery of it and under these heads I shall only hint at some few things 1. As to the Persons that were ingaged in this Plot they may be considered under several Circumstances which do all highly aggravate their Crime and Guilt As that they were Protestants nay the most Zealous Protestants who would hardly allow any others to be such besides themselves Hence on all occasions they would appear most vigorous and active for the Prosecution and Suppression of Papists and counted all that were not so fierce and violent as themselves to be Popishly affected and ready upon any turn of the times to leave their Religion All this Zeal against the Papists they professed to proceed from a just Hatred of their Disloyal Principles which were inconsistent with the Civil-Government and dangerous to the Monarchy and the Kings Person as if they had a mind to save the Government from the Papists only that themselves might have the Honour of Subverting it They liked the thing well enough it was a glorious work but only they did not approve of the Instruments And if these must be called Protestants who can joyn in such Villanous Designs I shall only say that then I know some Protestants who are every jot as bad and as little to be trusted as any Papists We indeed of the Church of England for this one thing were not a little beholden to these Conspirators viz. That they were so careful to distinguish themselves from us and were for a finer and purer Communion than that Established by Law A Protestant is a word at large and may signifie any thing and comprehends all that are not Papists whatever they are for But the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England we all know what it is it is Stated and Defined and we are sure that it condemns all Disloyal Seditious Practices on any pretence whatever And therefore they who were ingaged in this Wicked Conspiracy however some of them might sometimes be seen in our Churches yet they were forced to find fault with our Establishment to decry our Bishops and Ministers and weaken their Authority to endeavour by all means to prejudice the People against our Church and to lessen its Interest which they knew stood in the way of their Designs And have not these Men now bravely provided for the Credit and Honour of the Protestant Religion Had these great haters of Popery gone to School to the Jesuits could they possibly have been taught a more compendious way to
serve and promote Popery than that very way which they took to keep it out But besides this Consideration of their Religion we shall find the persons concerned in this late Treason under as great Obligations to have lived quietly under the present Government as could possibly be laid upon Men. Some of them were actually in the late Rebellion and had hitherto enjoyed the benefit of his Majesties Gracious Act of Indemnity owing their Lives and Fortunes to his Majesties unparallel'd Clemency Of whom it may be truly said what St. Peter saith of some in his days 2 Epist 2. 22. It is happened unto them according to the true proverb The dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire So hard a matter is it to cure one bewitched with the Principles of Rebellion that after above twenty years he shall return to his old trade as bare-facedly as if we had never heard of his former pranks Many of them were Persons who besides his Majesties pardon had partaken largely of his Royal Grace and Favour been advanced by him to great Honour and Dignity been intrusted in places of great Power and Eminency and after they had raised their Families and gotten great Estates by his Majesties Bounty then lifted up their Heels against him to whom the King may well say what our Blessed Lord did to the Jews St. John 10. 32. when they took up Stones to cast at him for which of those many good works I have done for you do you now design and contrive this mischief against me Others there were that were ingaged out of Discontent because they had not all they had a mind unto because they were not employed in the publick proportionably according to the opinion they had conceived of their own worth and usefulness to the King and Nation or because they did not now appear in so high a Station as they had done formerly Add to this his Majesties wonderful Lenity and Indulgence towards all sorts of Dissenters the fresh memory of our late Troubles and Confusions and the direful Consequences of them the easiness of our present Government under his most Gracious Majesty who adheres so close to his Laws and hath given us all possible assurance that he will always do so that great Plenty and Peace we have for so long time enjoyed excepting only the disturbance which our own intestine Divisions and Commotions have raised the little prospect any could have of bettering his Condition by such a Revolution as was designed and we must conclude that never any men had less reason or provocation to enter into a Conspiracy against the Government than those Persons who were actually ingaged in this late Treason 2. Consider the Motives from which they acted where I do not mean the true and real ones which did indeed sway with them and were different according to their several Ranks and Qualities some of which I have already mentioned but the pretended ones which they made shew of to gain a Party and to fasten the People to them and it would not be very difficult to guess what these were had we never heard of them To be sure the Good and Interest of the People Care of their Liberties and Properties and the Defence of the true Religion against Popery Fear of Popery and Arbitrary Government and evil Counsellors once in the memory of very many here present made this Nation run mad and set us all together by the Ears cost an infinite Treasure the Lives of many thousand English-men and which was more to be valued of that Excellent Martyr King Charles the First And what was the Conclusion of all but instead of Liberty enslaving the Nation to a Military Power instead of Property Plunder Sacriledge and Sequestration and the setting up freakish Enthusiasm instead of True Rational Religion And may it not yet without offence be said that Men were just playing the same Game over again The same Fears and Jealousies were started and industriously propagated amongst the People the Government by a number of impudent Libels that every where swarmed and were exposed to every ones view publickly traduced and defamed all ill Reports of the Kings Ministers of the Clergy and all Loyal persons studiously spread amongst the People and handed from one to another every miscarriage heightned and aggravated all Faults and Misfortunes laid at the Kings door every thing that was done or ordered mis-construed and mis-interpreted the Church of England represented as daily approaching nigher to that of Rome and Mens minds were so generally possessed with such sad Prognosticks of strange and dismal Evils just coming upon us that even some honest Persons were almost frighted out of their Wits and Allegiance and could not suspect any harm in them who talked so speciously of Reformation of Abuses and securing of Religion and defending the Kings Person all which as now plainly appears was designed only to prepare the People for the contrived Insurrection and Rebellion Now of all Rebels they are certainly the worst that are such out of Conscience and no such desperate Villains as those who think to please God by Murders and Massacres Other wicked men may be often checked are sometimes restrained by their Consciences and dread of a future Judgment but what Evil shall they ever boggle at who commit such gross Wickedness out of compliance with their Consciences out of Obedience to God and expect to be rewarded for it in another World And is it possible by any thing we can do to bring greater dishonour to or more effectually to prejudice Rulers and Governours against Religion than by pretending it to patronize and countenance Faction and Rebellion If this were the true Genius of Religion to make men Unpeaceable Turbulent Seditious and Mutinous it would then become the great Interest of Princes to guard themselves against it as the very Pest of Humane Society and dangerous to the Civil-Government but thanks be to God this is not the temper of our Christianity Our Saviours Religion begets in Men the most Gentle and Meek Patient and Governable Spirits and is so far from being inconsistent with Loyalty to our Prince that it is the greatest tye and obligation to it in the World and there is no one can throw off his Allegiance towards his Earthly Soveraign but at the same time he renounces all Duty and Conscience towards God That Religion therefore of which Loyalty is not a very considerable part is not of our Saviours but of our own making and when it disposeth Men to such Outrages and publick Mischiefs it is worse than no Religion at all 3. Consider what had followed had God permitted this Horrid Conspiracy to have taken effect What certainly had followed God only knows but we cannot think any other thing but miserable Confusion and the Destruction of us all For what a Bloody Tragedy must presently have begun as soon as the surprizing news of the Murder