to Preach to Administer Sacraments to Bind and Loose this Power was from Heaven 2. Take a second Instance in an Oeconomical matter Say a Servant chuseth his Master or a Wife her Husband each of theft pitch upon the Man but neither of them gives him his Authority but both consent to submit unto it his Power of Governing his whole House-hold is from Nature 3. Take a third Instance yet in a Political matter Say a Parish do chuse their Constable or a City their Mayor or a County their Sheriff these indeed determine upon the Person but they give them not their Power nor do they act in the Names of the Electors but their Authority to keep the Peace to Distrain Goods to Seize and Execute Malefactors is from the King and the Kings Officers they are Why much like hereunto is that other Instance when a People chuse their King though it would be better for the World if no People did so Haereditary Government being the best After a great deal of Clamour Disorder Animosity Strife Confusion Distraction and perhaps Bloudshed at last Necessity brings them to agree upon the Man But the Kings Authority comes not from the dirty hands of a Rout nor doth he act in the name of a Soveraign multitude but his Power is from God By his Command Kings are constituted by whose pleasure Men are born God appoints Cujus jussu homines nascuntur hujus jussu Reges constituuntur apti his qui in illo tempore ab ipsis regantur Iren. lib. 5. adv Haeres cap. 24. them and fits them according to the condition of the Times saith Irenoeus And so Tertullian affirms that the Emperor is thence whence the man was before Inde est Imperator unde est homo antequam Imperator Inde Potestas illi unde Spiritus Tertul Apol. c. 30. he was Emperor He receiveth his Power from the same hand which gave him his Spirit And elsewhere saith he We Christians worship the Emperor so Colimus Imperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi expedit ut hominem à Deo secundum quicquid est à Deo consecutum solo Deo minorem Tertul. adv Scapul as 't is lawful for us and expedient for himself as a Man next unto God as one that hath received all that he hath from God and as one that is inferiour to God alone Now if the case be thus where a Monarchy is Elective as the Roman Empire was whatever is suggested to the contrary the Plea is much the Stronger for the Divine Authority of a Prince where the Crown descendeth by Inheritance as God be blessed it doth with us and for the good of the Kingdom may it descend still in that Natural and Peaceful course to the Worlds end In this case the Consent of the People is neither Essential nor Accessory as they are not capable of conferring the Authority so they are praecluded the liberty of disputing about the Person where there is an apparent or undoubted Heir for God and Nature have already determin'd the Controversie Men may Recognize his Right and in point of Conscience are bound to do so as the Men of Israel did Recognize Saul's Right after he had been Anointed but where a Kingdom is Hereditary ones Right taketh place upon the voidance of another's Possession which is the ground of that Maxim in our Law which is the sharpest Dagger in the Republican's Heart that the King cannot dye I have been the longer upon clearing the account of the Divine Authority of Kings because it was the only consideration which David had in his thoughts when he was moved to proceed so severely against this Amalekite for offering violence unto Saul Quare non Timuisti How came it about that thou wast not afraid that thy Heart did not sink that thy Soul could suffer thee to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord 's Anointed And hence we may fairly proceed to Two Conclusions 1. That it is a Fearful thing even to Resist the Lord 's Anointed A Fearful thing indeed according to St. Paul's Divinity if it be a Fearful thing to be Damned For Opposition tendeth to Destruction and there is no more difference between Resisting and Killing then there is between the means and the end or between putting a Sword to a Princes Throat and direct Cutting it If he be a Murderer by Interpretation who Hateth his Brother he must be a Regicide in the intent who draweth out his Artillery against his Prince and Rebels are beholding to our Charity alone in this as well as other cases if we do not say that never any Subjects drew the Sword against their King but with a Resolution if there was no other remedy to sheath it in his Bloud I do not intend for the Time will not give me leave to handle the case of a Defensive War against a Rightful Soveraign a case that never was maintained but by an Atheist or a Papist or a Protestant-Jesuite When our Saviour commanded us Not to resist evil Math. 5. 39. we must suppose him to teach us to suffer Indignities with Patience as well from the hands of a Superior as from the hands of an equal And when St. Paul affirms that whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. 2. we must conclude that a War against Lawful Authority is a War against Heaven And when St. Peter requiring us to Honour the King presently Subjoined Servants be Subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the Good and Gentle but also to the Froward 1 Pet. 2. 18. we must look upon him to have taught us the necessity of Passive Obedience in the State as well as at Home for otherwise it would follow what is unreasonable to conceive that Princes have not so much benefit by the Gospel for the securing of their Authority as every Ordinary and Private Man hath And in saying thus much God is my Witness that I aim at no other end but to vindicate the Doctrine of the Cross which divers lately have endeavoured to expose to Contempt and Derision But to return to David's practice in reference to Saul because David's having of an Army has been pleaded by Rebels to justifie Resistance for the removing of this Objection many things are to be consider'd 1. That David's case was Particular for he was already Anointed unto the Kingdom and was Haeres Viventis not only Lawful Heir but as sure of the Crown as if Saul had been dead 2. That the little Army which David had was not of his own Raising but they resorted unto him of their own accord partly for Refuge-sake for they were Indigent and Discontented Persons partly to shew David their best respects partly out of Pity and Compassion to a wronged Prince and the Hearts of Men are generally Pitiful and Compassionate in such a case and partly to endear themselves to David and to make their Fortunes by him when he should
require that Sacred Bloud of us so as to make us smoak under that Wrath which is the vengeance of another life Vs especially who cannot Read nor so much as Think of that Dismal Tragedy without the deepest Sorrow Hatred and Abomination yet we have too great Reason to suspect that the Sin is not Forgotten in Heaven that there is no such Act of Oblivion There but that as we have Smarted for that Sin already so we may Smart still under those Plagues and Judgments which are the Discipline of this life We are to distinguish between a Sin and its Punishment The Sin may be forgiven and upon true Repentance is certainly forgiven so that it shall not Rise up in Judgment against the Sinner at the last day But seldom does the Cry of a Vocal Sin cease before God letteth loose some Temporal Judgments upon it either for the warning and Admonition of other Men or for the Correction and Reformation of the Sinners themselves or for the exercising of their Patience or for the like Holy and Gracious purposes The thing is clear from that Instance concerning David whom God visited with the Death of his Child and with other Sharp and Poynant Evils for the Wickedness acted upon Bathsheba and her Husband though the Sin it self was forgiven him The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die said Nathan Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great Occasion to the Enemies of the Lord to Blaspheme the Child that is born unto thee shall surely die 2 Sam. 12. Nor is it a just Ground for our Confidence and Security to consider that the Sin of this day was acted by a Few in comparison and that several years agoe too For the Sin of One Man and much rather of an Army may be so Odious and Abominable in Gods Account that by Occasion thereof he may visit the Iniquities of a whole Nation Let us go to Achan for an Instance Upon the Destruction of Jericho Achan found a Babylonish Garment a wedge of Gold and two hundred Sheckles of Silver and because He took of the Accursed thing the Anger of the Lord was kindled against the whole Body of the Children of Israel so that at the very next Battel they were all Routed by their Enemies Josh 7. 2. Again God is not wont to punish a Nation to the Full assoon as the Sin is committed but usually leaves a great part of the Burden many Talents of Judgment to fall down in after-times to put Men still in mind of that Guilt which otherwise they would bury in perpetual Oblivion Let us go for an Instance hereof to the Jews in the days of Moses At Shittim they joyn themselves to Baal-Peor and a Plague ensueth thereupon But though for Phinehas his Zeal the Plague was soon stayed and the Wrath of God was turned away from Israel for that time yet afterwards in the days of Joshua when the Israelites had been Possessed of the Holy Land Phinehas himself Remembred the Iniquity of Peor and told the People that they were not cleansed from that Iniquity unto that day Josh 22. 17. Now to draw down this Consideration to our selves if God be wont by way of Discipline to chastize Evil Men as a Governour even after he has taken away the Guilt of their Wickedness as a Judg if by Occasion of One crying Sin committed by a Few or perhaps by One only he doth sometimes bring Calamities upon a whole Nation and if this be often done some Considerable time some years after the Sin was acted Then truly we of all People living have most Reason to call to mind the Calamities we have groaned under and to Interpret Providence the Right way and not only to mistrust that God hath visited us hitherto but moreover to Fear that he will visit us still especially if we Repent not from the bottom of our Hearts for that Loud and Clamorous Sin of this day the Destruction of the Lords Anointed and a Man according to Gods own Heart too though he was Destroyed and Murder'd not by our own Hands but by the Hands of a Few Amalekites and that above Thirty years ago To come a little closer yet Of all the People of this Land You of this City are very deeply concern'd to lay your Hands upon your Breasts and your Mouths in the Dust and the Sin of this day to every one of your Hearts For though God be blessed we can truly say and Boast That this City nay this Kingdom was never more Happy than it is this day for that great Number we have here of Brave Heroick and Right Loyal Spirits witness their Generous and Successful when they were thought Desperate Adventures of Late to stop that Torrent of Wickedness which was coming in afresh upon us and God alone Knows how far it would have gone and how many it would have swept away had it not been stopt Yet all this notwithstanding it is necessary for you to Remember the days of old and the years that are past and not suffer the Horrid Sin of this day or the Judgments which God hath executed upon this City to slip out of your minds or to be past over lightly without a due Sense and Application thereof Now what if we should conceive that when this City was turned into a Flaming pile the righteous God came to purge it from the Bloud of his Anointed When the Jews of old were in any sharp afflictions the business of the Golden Calf usually came fresh into their Minds and on every turn they mistrusted that God afflicted them for the iniquity of their Fathers in making a Golden Calf The story of it you have at large in Exod. 32. the People would have some Representation to go before them instead of Moses their proper Captain and Leader they prevailed with Aaron to consent and concurr with them and they contributed their Riches their Gold and their Ear-rings to carry on the Work of the day and at last out came a Calf a little Similitude of the Great Idol which was Worshipped in the House of Bondage whence they had now been delivered so that though they had escaped out of Egypt yet they espoused the Egyptian Religion To Accomodate this story a little We must acknowledg that God had marvellously delivered us too out of Our House of Bondage changing only the names Rome for Egypt we had a Moses too set over us Meek and Good and one that was Learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians But the People were Sick to have an Idol of their own makeing in the room of their Moses and some that waited at the Altar had a Stomach that way too and the Zealots of this City would not fail of their utmost help but brought their Riches into Guild-Hall their Money Plate and Rings and even their Thimbles and Bodkins and what came of this at last Why truly out came a Calf a Golden Calf a Dainty thing that had cost great Sums but yielded no Milk a Religion like that Idol which we had been Delivered from full of Superstition and Jesuitism in the belly of it and differing no more from Popery than a Calf differeth from an Ox. And why should we not think now that when God visited us with his Judgments he did not remember Peoples Ingratitude to him and his Anointed Or why should we not Fear that he will remember us again and that with more Sore and more Dreadful Judgments if People persist in their Ingratitude still For this is a Sin of no ordinary rate but one of the First Magnitude the Kings Authority being a Donative of Heaven and a Ray of Gods Majesty and his Power to Govern and Punish being given by Gods own Warranty the Sin of Rebellion must necessarily be of a Daâ—â—â—â—g Nature and of a Clamorous Tongue however forme whose Consciences are Armour-proof against all Arguments from Scripture and Antiquity have begun again to speak of the Lawfulness of Resistance as if their hands were already laid upon the Hilts of their Swords Take heed therefore you especially of this Great City that ye join not in the Confederacies of Korah lest ye utterly Perish in his gainsaying Is the Iniquity of Peor and the Sin of the Golden Calf too little for us Are not the Judgments which we have groaned under heavy enough yet but do we sollicite God to add more Talents to the weight still Assure your selves that if People Repeat their Sins God will not fail to Repeat and Double his Blows and he hath more Judgments in Treasure besides the Plague and the Fire and the Posterity that cometh after us will as we our selves have done see the Follies and smart greatly for the Impieties of their Fathers for as Ezra said upon the Return out of Captivity After all that is come upon us for our Evil deeds and for our Great trespass seeing that God hath punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hath given us a Deliverance a miraculous deliverance out of our Thraldom should we again break his Commandments and join with the People of these abominations would not God be Angry with us till he had Consumed us so that there should be no Remnant nor Escaping For the preventing of the worst of Evils it is our great Concernment and ought to be our great Care and 't will be found to be our best Interest when all is done to lay aside all Unnatural Animosities and Heart-burnings which Evil Men make use of to Distract this Kingdom and to tear all our Establishments in Church and State into pieces and to be filled with the True and Primitive Spirit of Christianity to be Meek and Gentle and of Humble Minds to Act according to that Wisdom which is Pure and Peaceable to Study to be Quiet to endeavour by all possible means to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace to be Tractable and Honest in Heart to be subject to the Higher Powers and that not for fear of the Laws only but readily and ingenuously and for Conscience-sake to Fear God to Honour the King and to Love the Brother-hood to be in perfect Charity and Vnity among our selves as becometh Brethren and so in all manner of well-doing to commit our selves to God to whom be Glory Dominion and Praise Amen FINIS
David and the Amalekite Upon the DEATH of SAUL A SERMON Preached on Jan. 30. 1682. Being the Anniversary of the MARTYRDOM OF King Charles I. Of Blessed Memory By EDWARD PELLING Rector of St. Martins Ludgate and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Somerset Tell it not in Gath publish it not in the Streets of Askelon c. 2 Sam. 1. 10. LONDON Printed by J. Redmayne Jun. for William Abington at the three Silk-Worms in Ludgate-street 1683. To my most Honoured Lord Charles Duke of Somerset Marquess and Earl of Hertford Viscount Beauchamp and Baron of Trowbridge May it please your Grace IT is no small part of your Honour that you are descended of such Noble Ancestors as have been Great and Eminent both for their Alliance to the Royal Family and for their continual Fidelity to the Interest of the Crown He that shall peruse only the History of the Late Rebellion and the Letters which did pass between his Late Majesty and the Queen may easily see how Confident that Blessed Prince was of the Loyalty and how Faithfully he was served all along by the Wisdom and Courage of your Noble Grand-Father the Lord Seymour and your Great Vncle the Marquess of Hertford who was the First General of the Kings Forces against the Parliament and lived to see the happy times of Restitution and Dyed Duke of Somerset full of years and Honour since the Restauration of his present Majesty But that which greatly addeth to your Honour is that as you inherit the Titles so God be blessed you inherit the Loyalty of all your Honourable Predecessors Which I say My Lord not by way of Complement but to do you Justice And I must beg your Graces Pardon if that Expression seems to Derogate from your Virtue in making your Loyalty to be not a thing of Choice as all Virtue is but a Principle cleaving to your very Nature which cannot be overcome It is this that hath indear'd you to the King who has given you an Earnest of his Favour in Reposing in you so Great a Trust in the North for Conducting your affairs with so much Judgment and Integrity assoon as ever Providence brought you to bear such a great Figure in the World It is this that has made you to lie so deep in the Hearts and Affections of Good Men wbo take Heart and Courage by seeing your Grace to act so in all things like a good Subject notwithstanding those Temptations which have Mis-led some whose longer Experience should have taught them Wisdom It is this My Lord which I must crave Leave still to put you in mind of that above all things you be careful to have a most Tender regard of your Virtue and to be ever as you are Faithful and True to your Prince For hereby you will do right to the memory of your Honourable Progenitors you will maintain your Honour Clean and Vnspotted you will be useful to the King to the Church and to your Country you will be an Honour and Comfort to your Friends and an Excellent Example to the World It is for these Ends My Lord that I take upon me to present to your Grace this following Discourse begging your Lordships Kind acceptance of it and beseeching God whose Providence hath been so Gracious to you hitherto to Guide Govern and Preserve your self and Noble Consort and to Bless Both your Graces with the long Happiness of an undivided Heart and with a Numerous and Flourishing Issue which is the Hearty Prayer of My Lord Your Grace's most Humble Faithful and truly Affectionate Servant and Chaplain Edw. Pelling 2 SAM 1. 14. And David said unto him How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord 's Anointed BEfore we enter upon the consideration of this place of Scripture we must come fairly to it by making our way through the Context to which the Text doth relate and thus it was There had been now a War between Saul and the Philistines a War that was founded on the Law of God whereby the Children of Israel were forbidden to make any Covenant with the Inhabitants of Canaan or to shew them mercy Deut. 7. 2. This War ended in the Death of Saul and the overthrow of his People though he was made King by God's own appointment though he was God's own Vicegerent over God's own Inheritance and undertook a quarrel pursuant to God's own Will yet in the Conclusion both He and his Forces Good Jonathan himself not excepted are routed upon Mount Gilboa by the Vncircumcised Philistines To shew that Success in War is not an Argument of the Righteousness of a Cause or of the Righteousness of a Party but of the unsearchable Wisdom and Righteousness of God Saul being defeated was full of Horror and Desperation and resolved to hasten out of the World since he had fled before the Philistines and because his Armour-bearer could not be entreated by reason of that Awful regard he bore to Majesty to befriend his undone Soveraign with a Mortal Blow Saul gives Himself his Deaths-wound with his own hands An Amalekite happening to be there took off his Royal Diadem and Bracelet and with great Speed carryed them to Ziklag to David who by Common Fame was known to have been Anointed next Heir to the Crown of Israel David received the news of Saul's and Jonathan's Death with excess of Sorrow But hearing that this Amalekite had had an hand in Saul's destruction his Heart was struck through with Amazement and Indignation Though Saul had been his Bloud-thirsty Enemy yet his Soul was on a Flame at the sad Tidings of his being Murder'd and though this young man was not one of Saul's Subjects but a Stranger yet for the Sake of God whose Impress the Unfortunate King bore for the Honour of Majesty and out of respect to Saul's Divine Vnction and Character he was resolved to revenge the Kings Death with every drop of this Amalekites Bloud and this was the Preamble to his just Sentence How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord 's Anointed In which words we are to consider by way of Explication 1. First the matter of Fact which this Amalekite own'd himself to have been guilty of 2. Davids deep Resentment of the Relation which this Amalekite made of the matter 1. The matter of Fact was that he had stretched out his hand to destroy the King of Israel this he acknowledg'd and seemed to boast of as a Meritorious office which he had done for David who was to be Saul's Successor in the Throne Now it has been a great doubt both among Jews and Christians whether this was a Reality or only a Pretence Many of the Hebrew Doctors affirm which is also the general sense of Sunt apud Hebraeos qui putant hunc Amalekiten adulatorum more mentitum fuisse quando se dixit Saul interfecisse Munster Antiquit. Judaic lib. 6. Christian Writers that Saul killed himself