is wise as an Angel of God 2 Sam. 14.20 And Acts 6.15 They beheld his face as if it had been the face of an Angel Farther the great happiness of holy ones in heaven is set forth by their likeness to Angels They shall be as Angels Matth. 22. 30. Now what glorious persons then are Magistrates that have the names of Angels given them Angels are called Dominions Principalities Powers Col. 1.16 Ephes. 1.21 So are Magistrates Jude v. 8. Titus 3.1 Be subject to Principalities and Powers But the Text speaketh more of their dignity Magistrates have not only the highest names of the most honourable visible creatures Men and of the most honourable invisible creatures Angels but of the Creatour of God himself the Fountain and Standard of all Dignity and Honour I have said ye are Gods When Jacob would manifest to Josephs children the extraordinary respect he had for their father he doth it thus My Name be named on them and the Names of my Father Abraham and Isaac Gen. 48.16 It is a great honour to be called the servant of God Paul gloried in this Titus 1.1 So did David more in being a subject to God then a King over men Psal. 36. Title It is a greater honour and favour to be called Gods son Joh. 1.12 1 Joh. 3.1 Is it a mean thing saith David to be the Kings Son in law 1 Sam. 18.23 Magistrates are children of the most High they are sons to the King of Kings But the greatest honour of all is to be called Gods for God to say My name be named on them This is the highest name that can be given Here is a ne plus ultra This is the highest Name which is above all names and as the Diamond to the Ring addeth both vertue and value to whatsoever it is affixed As because Gold is the most precious excellent metal therefore we lay gold over other things we guild peuter brass yea silver it self So because God is the most excellent name it is laid to other things that thereby their worth may be set forth As the Sons of God Job 1.6 The City of God Psal. 46.4 The River of God Psal. 65.9 The Kingdom of God * Now in their dignity Magistrates resemble God in these two or three particulars and therefore are fitly called Gods First in receiving honour from others Honour accompanyeth power as the shadow the body There is naturally in man an aw and respect towards those that are Magistrates They are the Fathers of their Countrey and their subjects like children owe them both obedience and reverence Divine worship is to be given only to God in heaven but civil worship may be given to Gods on earth David speaketh of himself being a King His glory is great in thy salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou put upon him Psal. 21.5 Joseph when advanced to be a Ruler in Egypt rideth in the second Chariot and hath one crying befor him Bow the knee The most high God that giveth them Kingdoms doth also give them Glory and Majesty and honour Dan. 5.28 29. God indeed hath the greatest honour as the Supreme Governour and Law-giver but Magistrates receive it upon his account as they are his Representatives and Vicegerents When I went out to the gate saith Job that is to the place of administring justice for that work was done in the gates as Ruth 4.1 Job 5.4 Psal. 127.5 the young men saw me and hid themselves and the aged arose and stood up the Princes refrained talking and they laid their hands on their mouths Job 29.8 9. My son saith Solomon fear thou the Lord and the King Prov. 24.21 God is the proper object of fear hence the Greeks call him fear but the Gods because invested with his authority and intrusted with the administration of his Kingdom upon earth are also to be feared as Superiour to us though inferiour to God Secondly their dignity appeareth and in this they resemble God also in giving Laws to others Magistrates have power to enact laws for the encouraging of vertue and discouraging of vice for the preservation of peace among their people Zanchy saith There are three offices of the Magistrate whereof one is to ordain laws for the worship of God and the welfare of men There is indeed one Supreme and absolute Law-giver James 4.12 whose will and word must be the rule of others laws Besides in spirituals none can give laws to bind the conscience but God Isa. 33.21 In that sense The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver but in external policy the Laws of men are to be observed And they have power to make such laws as are sutable unto and convenient for the wealth and safety of their Dominions The end of Magistracy sheweth their legislative authority for neither will piety be promoted nor the publike good procured or peace preserved without it And questionless God would never have injoyned Subjects to obey if Magistrates had not power to command Laws are the walls and Bulwarks of a Nation which in a great part may secure it against invasions from abroad and insurrections at home The standing Militia which protecteth the lives of the people The hedge which keeps men in from oppressing their neighbours The deeds and evidences which give us a right and title to our estates They are the nerves and sinews of the Body Politick or as Physick to the natural body to prevent diseases and purge out ill humours Man is by nature an untamed Heifer loathing the yoke of subjection prone to rage and rebel so that he needeth all means imaginable to rule and restrain him The wise Governour of all things hath therefore thought fit not only to give Christians a natural law and moral law from himself but also positive laws from men that this threefold cord which is not easily broken may bind him fast And this surely speaketh Magistrates to be like God for even the Heathen themselves would ascribe their laws to some one of their Gods Zoroastres who gave laws to the Persians ascribed them to Oromazen Trismegistus among the Aegyptians ascribed his Laws to Mercurius Lycurgus who gave laws to the Lacedemonians would make Apollo the Author of them Solon and Draco among the Aehenians said that Minerva was their Law-giver So almost in every Nation they who had the Legislative Power ascribed the invention of their laws to their false gods But the Word of God which is a perfect rule for all men doth impower Magistrates to make laws not according to their lusts but agreeable to his revealed will Thirdly The dignity of Magistracy wherein they likewise are like to God consisteth in their executing the Law In punishing the nocent and acquitting the innocent Execution is the life of the Law the lustre and glory of the Prince the security of the good people A Law unexecuted is like a sword without an edge for no use or service And
thae resist the Magistrate shall receive to themselves damnation Rom. 13.2 My second use will be by way of Exhortation First to Inferiours If the God of Heaven hath appointed Magistrates to be as Gods on earth it exhorteth us to honour them Honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 saith the Holy Ghost Honour to whom honour belongeth Rom. 13.7 There is honour due to our civil as well as to our natural Parents so much is expressed in that standing Law of God the fifth Commandement Exod. 20. Though they are to be honoured as Gods yet not as the true God civil respect is due to them not divine Yet some Roman Emperours out of intolerable pride have affected to be called Gods and commanded others to sacrifice to them This civil honour is to be visible 1. In giving reverence to their persons 2. In yielding obedience to their righteous precepts First in reverencing their persons Magistrates are honoured by God and therefore may well be honoured by us Those who are dignified by God must not be debased by men We ought to honour them in our hearts by standing in aw of them by esteeming them as they resemble God Prov. 24.21 and are in his place to be higher and worthier then others Thou are worth ten thousand of us say they to David 2 Sam. 18.3 The godly people counted King Josiah The breath of their nostrils Lament 4.20 And the Holy Ghost brandeth them for sons of Belial that despised Saul in their hearts though he were a wicked King 1 Sam 10.27 In our carriage we must honour them by rising up to them Job 28.9 by bowing the body to them 2 Sam. 14.20 by silence when they speak Job 29.9 10. Honour is an outward signification of that inward reverend opinion which we have of them for their dignity and greatness They are honoured in our speeches The Patriarchs call Joseph their Lord Gen. 42.10 and themselves his servants vers. 19. Paul calleth Act. 26.25 Most Noble Festus Hester 5.8 If I have found favour in the fight of the King and if it please the King to grant my Petition and to perform my request saith holy Hester to the Heathen King It is reported of the great Grand-father of Fabius Maximus that though he had bean five times Consul and had obtained many triumphs for divers honourable victories yet when his own son was Consul be willingly submitted himself to him served under him as his Lieutenant followed on Horseback his son in his triumphing Chariot But such Heathen will rise up in judgement against many christians Secondly your honouring them must appear by your yielding obedience to their lawful precepts In the Kingdom of Christ this is wonderful saith Zanchy That he willeth and commandeth all Princes and Potentates to be subject to his Kingdom and yet he willeth and commandeth that his Kingdom be subject to Princes and Potentates Tit. 3.1 Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates Subjection note their acknowledgement of obedience to be due and obedience notes the act it self of obeying or the practice answerable to the fore-mentioned principle By Principalities are meant those that have the Supreme power as Kings or chief Magistrates Powers signifie such as exercise delegated authority and hold from those higher Powers as Presidents of Provinces Lieutenants of Counties Judges Justices Maiors c. Now put them in remembrance Men are apt to be forgetful both of obedience to God and the Gods Naturally we are so proud and high that we are unwilling to stoop to those that are higher and therefore we had need to be put in mind of our duties to submit our selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as Supreme or unto Govenours as unto them that sent by him 1 Pet. 2.14 Good Rulers we must obey saith one as God bad for God But take notice I say Magistrates must be obeyed in their lawful commands If a King saith our Civil Law giveth laws out of his Territories he is not to be obeyed And it Magistrates command what God for biddeth they give laws out of their own Dominions and therefore saith the Divine law they are not to be obeyed God indeed is to be obeyed universally and unlimitedly intuitu voluntat is upon the bare sight of his will but I must examine the laws of men by the laws of God and if they dissonant and disagreeing to Gods laws I must be disobedient to their laws No meer mans Ipse dixit is sufficient Acts 6.29 We ought to obey God rather then men The men of Calicot say some will do whatsoever their Emperours command though it be to worship the Devil as some write they do but we must observe the order of commands Fear God is before Honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 And again My son fear the Lord and the King Prov. 24.21 And Eccles. 8.2 My son keep the Kings command and that because of the Outh of God which latter words And that because of the oath of God are not only a reason but as is excellently observed a limitation to the precedent Exhortation They are a reason or enforcement It is necessary to give obedience to Magistrates not only out of fear towards them because of their sword but out of conscience towards God because of his vows that are upon us Rom. 13.5 and so it seems to relate to some Covenant and Oath of fidelity which was taken by the people towards their Princes 1 Chron. 11.3 Isai. 19.18 And surely Oaths to Magistrates are to be kept though some slip Oaths as easily as the Monkies do their collars and like the man possessed with the Devil break all those bonds asunder God will have a time to make inquisition for perjury when his roll of curses ten yards long and five yards broad shall rest in the house of him that for sweareth himself and destroy it Zach. 5.2 But the words may be considered as a limitation Keep the Kings command but so that thou do not violate thine Oath and obedience due to God Thy fealty to the Gods must be such as will consist with thy fidelity to God for we are bound to God and his service by Oath and Covenant 1 Pet. 3.21 Psal. 119.106 And no subordinate obedience must make us forget our obedience to him who is Supreme We must obey Rulers usque ad aras as far as Religion will suffer us and no farther My obedience to man must be regulated by a good conscience towards God Dan 3.6 17 18. 1 Sam. 22.17 Act. 5.29 As a subordinate Officer is not to be obeyed when he useth his power against his Prince which he received from his Prince and should have improved for his Prince So neither is a Prince to be obeyed when he useth his power against God which he received from God and should have improved for God As we must give unto Caesar the things that
when he is out of the way do they not find many Tyrants for one Every man would be an oppressor were there no man to be a restrainer What would a Nation without goverment be but a desert of savage beasts what would Towns be but dens of Thieves and what would families be but stages of unclean birds yea what would most men be but like dogs trying all right and title by their teeth and strength Men naturally are more afraid of the noise of the Musket then of the Bullet I mean of the frowns of the Rulers then of the fire of Hell and therefore were they once free from them they would do that which would soon undo both themselves and others Now the necessity of Magistrates calleth for reverence and obedience to their authority The more needfull things are the more gratefull they should be Things that are superfluous may be slighted things that are only convenient may be the less valued but things that are absolutely necessary must be highly esteemed I tell thee the Ministry is not more necessary to the well-being of the Church then the Magistracy to the well-being of the State You may as soon see a Tree thrive without a root as a Common-wealth flourish without a Ruler Magistrates are in Scripture called the heads of the people Exod. 18.25 because they are as necessary to the body Politick to direct and govern it as the head is to the body natural therefore as the members yield respect and are subject unto the head if the head do but ake all the humours of the arm as some observe run to the head and therefore the arms are thin and slender because they want their proper nurture yea if the head be in danger how do the other parts hazzard themselves for its shelter many an hand and arm hath been wounded that the head might be saved thus should subjects shew their respect to and tenderness of their superiours for if a member or some of the inferiour parts be cut off the body may live but if the head be taken off if Governours be set aside Actum est de republica that Kingdom that Common-wealth cannot stand long Secondly Consider the severity of God against the contemners of Magistrates There are several in the word of God that stand up like the Mast of a Ship cast away by Sands to warn us that we steer not their course least we be sunk also Those who opposed the preservers of our civil lives have not seldom been punished with violent deaths Corah and his company Abimelech Athaliah Adonijah Absolom Zimri Joab Sheba with several others will confirm this truth And humane as well as divine writings speak to the same purpose James the first King of Scots was murthered in Perth by Walter Earl of Athol in hope to attain the Crown for so had his Sorcerers prophesied and crowned he was with a Grown of red hot Iron clapt upon his head being one of the tortures wherewith he ended at once his wicked dayes and desires Becket Mortimer Tyler Warbeck Sanders Story Campian the Piercies the Powder-Plotters Rhodulphus Duke of Suevia Richard the third of England and many others have been marked with divine vengeance for contemning this divine Ordinance My Son saith Solomon fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For their calamity shall arise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both Prov. 21.22 i.e. of them that fear not God and of them that fear not the King And Eccles. 10.8 9. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it and whoso breaketh an hedge a Serpent shall bite him Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby These four proverbial expressions speak the danger of them that go about to supplant their Rulers Whilest they are digging pits to catch others the earth falleth on them and murdereth themselves When they are breaking up the old hedge of Government Serpents and Adders which use to harbour in old walls and hedges will sting them God will make men know that it is a dangerous thing to confound rule and subjection and to break down the partition wall which he hath set up between Magistrates and people When these sharp instruments which they run against wound them deep they will believe that it is bad medling with edged tools and that there is a truth in those words of the Apostle They that resist procure to themselves damnation Rom. 13.2 that is both corporal punishment and eternal torment saith Peter Martyr If thou wouldst not therefore suffer with others take heed of sinning with other Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked persons saith Moses to the Congregation upon the conspiracy of Corah Dathan c. against their rulers and touch nothing of theirs least ye be consumed in all their sins Numb. 16.26 They that join in common rebellions must expect to be joyned common destructions Be not impatient of rule as thou desirest to avoid that ruine which Gods mouth doth threaten and his hand will execute on such rebellious ones Let those many examples which are in Scripture and other Authors mentioned of them that are hung on Gibbets as monuments of Gods fury fright thee from their acts least thou partake of their ends Believe it no King can possibly be so tender of his own honour as God is of his own Officers Do not therefore shoot off thy guns of opposition against the Gods least they recoil and kill thy self Reviling of natural parents was banishment by Plato's Law death by Gods Law Exod. 21.17 Those then that revile civil parents shall not alwayes go unpunished Thirdly Consider thy felicity and welfare doth under God depend much on the Gods The Apostle enforceth this use by this very Argument For he is the Minister of God for thy good Rom. 13. If he labour to do thee good why shouldst thou imagine evil against him To render evil for good is God-like Mat. 5 ult. but to render evil for good is devilish Magistrates are shields Psal. 47.9 they defend their subjects from the darts and bullets with which the sons of violence would wound them Shepherds Numb. 27.17 to defend them from the devouring mouths of ravenous creatures They are called the foundations of the earth because they support the building from ruine and sinking Prov. 10.25 Coverings Ezek. 28.16 which importeth that Engine under which Souldiers used to be protected in assaulting the walls of an enemy against the stones and darts which were thrown down upon them Guides Prov. 6.7 because they lead and direct the people Angels 2 Sam. 14.15 in that they defend and protect the people The Fathers and Mothers of the Countrey Gen 41.43 Judges 5.7 because they take care of and provide for their people Healers Job 34.17 because they cure their wounds and make up their breaches They deliver the poor that cryeth and the fatherless
Ruler is like a Diamond in a golden Ring which shines radiantly but there are few Jewels so set Among all the Kings of Israel not one godly man Among the Kings of Judah very few * Men in high places are apt to have their heads giddy and thereby are in great danger of falling Of one only Roman Emperour Titus it is said that he was the better for his honour most are worse The Spirit of God calleth you the children of God And all of you are children of the most High Now how exactly how circumspectly should the children of God walk Much obedience may be expected from servants but more from sons their preheminence is more and therefore their obedience should be more The fathers of the flesh look for much dutifulness from their children but surely the Father of Spirits may look for more from his children Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom ye shine as lights in the world Ye that are Gods sons are appointed to blame others that do evill and therefore it behoveth you to be blameless your selves Qui alterum accusat probri c. but blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke The sons of great men should be without riotousness or rebellion but the sons of God should be without suspition or rebuke that is walk so strictly as that they should do nothing blame-worthy If God be your Father where is his honour Mal. 1.6 Do you honour him in your hearts by giving him your superlative love and fear and trust and esteem Do you honour him in your houses by causing all within your charges to worship him according to his Word Are your houses houses of holiness praying reading singing catechising houses are they examples of Religion to your neighbours Is holiness to the Lord written upon your selves your children your servants your estates and upon all the belong to you Do you honour God in your lives by walking as he walked Are ye followers of him as dear children Ephes. 5.1 Do you resemble him as children their Father Are you holy as he was holy in all manner of conversation Was your everlasting Father when he walked in your flesh upon earth ever guilty of cursing or swearing or lying Did any rotten communication ever drivel out of his lips Was he ever guilty of oppressing the poor or despising the needy of seeking himself or of doing his own will Did he ever neglect praying and instructing his Family of the Apostles or supplication by himself Was not he at prayer early in the morning a great while before day and was not he up at it all night Was it not his meat and drink to do the will of his Father and to finish his work Did not he go about doing good glorifying God upon Earth and doing what was well pleasing in his sight Surely ye that are the sons of God by nature and office should resemble the Son of God by nature O Sirs Think of it ye that are the sons of God by deputation should resemble this Son of God by generation Be not as Eli's and Samuel's and Davids children a disgrace to your Father But as Constantines sons resembled their Father in his good parts and practices so be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect Mat. 5. ult. Davids daughters were known to be his children by their garments 2 Sam. 13.18 Do you make it known to others that you are the children of God by not defiling your garments by keeping your selves unspotted from the world by looking to your cloathes that they be not defiled though ye walk in dirty streets be as the children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation Consider the Devil is ever watching for your halting and like some unkind servant he blabs presently to the Fathet what a dirty pickle his children are in Suppose he seeth the dirt of drunkenness of uncleanness of squeezing tenants of prophaning the Sabboth of scoffing at godliness of irreligion and atheism in your houses and immediately carryes your cloaths to God as the Patriarchs did Joseths coat For he accuseth men before God day and night Revel. 12.10 Saying Lord is this thy sons coat Know now whether it be thy sons coat or no Gen. 37.32 Do thy children use to carry themselves as my children Surely these are of their father the Devil Can you imagine that God should own you No certainly as the Pope disowned the Bishop when the Emperour had sent the Buffe-coat in which he was taken prisoner and delivered him up to justice he will not dishonour himself by owning you Nay how can you expect but that Jesus Christ who sitteth by and heareth the indictment against you who useth to appear as an Advocate for others when the Accuser of the Brethren pleadeth against them should even second the Bill against you and say to God as Moses Deut. 32.5 They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of Gods children they are perverse and crooked persons Father these are sins not of weakness but wickedness they are not infirmities but enormities they are not the spots of thy children Those that cast thee out of their hearts and let the flesh have the Supremacy there that cast thee out of their houses and let the world have the Superiority there Those that make no conscience of thy day and their duties whose whole care is to be honoured and enriched whose heat and fervour is for credit and profit and put thee off with a few fragments of time and a few scraps of their estate which they can spare from the world and flesh those sin like wretches like rebels not like Saints like sons Their spots are not the spots of thy children There are spots which may be and spots which cannot be the spots of Gods children All sins are unsutable to but some sins are inconsistent with sonship yea the preheminence of Adoption doth absolutely deny the predominancy of any corruption When Antigonus was to go to a place that might probably prove a temptation to sin he asked counsel of Menedemus what he should do He bade him only remember he was a Kings son So say I to you that walk every day in the midst of many snares of temptations and therefore should have the greater care and circumspection Remember that ye are the sons of the King of Kings and do nothing unworthy of the name by which he calleth you or the place to which he hath called you It might have been a cutting word to the heart of Brutus whose hand was then stabbing Caesar What thou my son Brutus I could not have expected better from a slave but little looked for this from a son How think you can the Lord take it that you who are his children should wound the Body of his Son with oaths and curses his sacred laws by
Gods attributes He hath a Mercy-seat to note that he sitteth at ease when he is shewing mercy Whereas judgement is his strange work Isa. 28.21 we read likewise that mercy pleaseth him Mica 7.18 Thus the God should be mercifull men your hearts should be full of mercy and pitty to the sinner when your hands are executing justice against the sin The Bee doth not sting till provoked God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 There should be bowels of compassion in him than pronounceth sentence of condemnacion Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferooe Augustus never pronounced a deadly sentence without deep sorrow Our Laws forbid Butchers to be Jurors because it is supposed they will be hard-hearted Among several qualifications which the Jews required in their Judges these were two 1. That they should be Fathers of children hoping that their paternal affection would incline them to commiseration 2. That they should not be Eunuches for they concieved such very cruel It is a bestial cruelty to delight in blood The laws of Draco are generally condemned for they were written in blood and the offender was sure to die of what nature soever his offence was A. Gell. Our English Deborah Queen Elizabeth did not without cause exceedingly prize Seneca's first book of Clemency because it treated of that which is so needfull to a Prince It is the Devils work to be Abaddon a destroyer It is Christs work to be Goel a Redeemer Mercy and truth preserve the King his Throne is established by mercy Prov. 20.28 Mercy sometime to them that sin through weakness may be as profitable as severity to them that sin through wilfulness It was certainly a cursed speech of that man or rather Monster whom the Italian Orator mentioneth that being a Judge said To hang many is my Jubile and a great execution is my great recreation The expression of the Roman Emperour is worthy of imitation That he had rather save the life of one of his Subjects then take away the lives of a thousand of his enemies Life is a precious jewel more worth then all this world Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job 1. It is not therefore to be taken away for every trifle I do not now dispute the question Whether any Theft may lawfully be punished with death but I am sure every Theft ought not The Romans had their Axes and Rods carried before their Consuls to shew that if the lesser punishments as of the rods would serve the greater of the Axe should not be used And they did justly lament the cruelty of those tribunals where the cheap prescription of lives made the Judgement-seat differ little from a Shambles 3. Work as Gods among men in promoting piety to your power The great design and work of God is to promote holiness in the world This was his aim in his internal work or his decree Ephes. 1.4 This is the great end he drives at in his external works As in the work of redemption Tit. 2.14 Luke 1.92 In bestowing his word The precepts in it are the perfect rule of godliness Gal. 6.16 the promises are pretious encouragements to godliness 2 Cor. 7.1 the threatnings are like the Angel with a drawn sword in his hand to deter men from the way of ungodliness Rom. 1.18 And his works of providence are to the same purpose Afflictions are like the fire to consume the dross and purifie the gold Heb. 12.6 Mercies are like the warm influences of the vernal Sun to draw forth the Sap of grace and hasten mens growth in holiness Thus should the Gods promote godliness as the chief business which the most high God hath given them to do Other things of what nature soever which come within the reach of their care are questionless much inferiour to this And this they should do Partly by their patterns in being examples of godliness to their people Their lives should be so exact that they should be able to say as Gigeon Judges 7.17 Look on us and do likewise or as Paul Walk as ye have us for an example Partly by your precepts your edicts and commands should be like those of Asa 2 Chorn. 14.2.4 Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their Fathers and to do the Law and the Commandment Mark upright Asa did not leave men to choose their religions nor to live as they listed but he commanded them to obey Gods Law He did not strictly enjoyn the payment of Taxes or Customs and such civil things and leave it as a matter of indifferency whether men would mind religion or no but his Laws did enforce and confirm the Laws of God as far as he was able Partly by countenancing maintaining and providing able Ministers 2 Chron. 19.8 1 Cor. 9.13 for the Church as also by taking care that they discharge their trusts faithfully 2 Chron. 29.3 4 5.1 Chron. 16. It is observed of Julian the Apostate that to root up Christianity he disgraced the Orthodox Ministry took away Church maintenance and forbad Christian Schools and places of learning so Sozomen lib. 5. cap. 5. This very course is now cryed up the Lord prevent it The Prince indeed is not called to be a publike Preacher but he hath a call to see that none abuse that calling to the hurt or poyson of his people Partly by suppressing and discountenancing them whose doctrines or lives hinder godliness Suppressing evil is necessary for the promoting good Holy Asa removed his Mother from being Queen upon this very account 1 Kings 15.12 13. The toleration of any in such sins is an intolerable sin And the jealous God will one day make Magistrates know that they shall bear his anger for bearing such evill doers as blasphemers and Hereticks are I speak not against a true Christian liberty in things that are indifferent or in things that are not fundamental but I cannot but speak against this Antichristian licentiosness which is though under other terms so much pleaded for It may well make a dumb child speak when his Father is so deeply wounded in his Word Honour People and Ordinances as he is in our dayes If State-reason compel men to suffer it they must know that it will prove State-ruine Shall it be treason and death to speak thus and thus against men that are mortal weak Gods and shall it not at all be penal to blaspheme the Almighty and Everliving God in denying his Truths which are more worth then the whole world Surely Blasphemies Idolatry and Heresies sins against the first Table are greater as being more directly and immediately against God then sins against the second Table and therefore deserve punishments vide 1 Kings 18.18 Exod. 21.17 Levit. 24.10 to the 17. v. Job 31.25 26 27. Deut. 13. per totum though care should be first
but with Kings are they on the throne Job 36.7 He is totus oculus all eye he seeth you through and through his eyes are with Kings on the throne to observe what the King doth there to see whether Justice and Judgement are the habitation of his throne whether the Scepter of his Kingdom be a righteous Scepter whether he be cloathed with grace as with a garment and arrayed with purity as well as purple to see whether the zeal of Gods house do eat him up Psal. 69.9 and he prefer the Spiritual before the Temporal good of his people to see whether he will suffer them to be lawless in Religion and allow out of hellish policy that which is destructive to Piety even a cursed Toleration Gods eye Sirs may well make you look well to your walking to your hands and hearts Are uncleanness injustice oppression lukewarmness atheism bribery fit objects for Gods eye It was ordered in the Law of Moses that when any went forth of the Camp to ease Nature they should dig an hole with a Paddle and cover it and the reason is given For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy Camp therefore shall it be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee Deut. 23.13 14. This Law noteth how the presence of God should keep us from polluting our selves Sin is the souls execrement Gods walking among us should work in us an hatred of such defilements Gods eye may make you work as gods among men Cesars Souldiers were prodigal of their blood when he beheld them How bold should ye be in the discouraging the sturdiest stateliest Offenders How forward in the countenancing the poorest pious Christian considering that God beholdeth you Epaminondas rejoyced much that he had done noble exploits his Parents being alive to take notice of them What noble acts soever are done for the promoting Godliness for the stopping the mouth of wickedness by the children of the most High are all known to the everliving Father who recordeth them faithfully and will reward them bountifully be therefore exact in your walkings and zealous in your working since your labour shall not be in vain for the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult. Secondly Consider the day of your dissolutions is hastening While ye are creeping only in Gods way or doing negligently Gods Work death is posting with speed towards you Consider the verse following the Text though he hath said Ye ars Gods and called you children of the most High yet ye must die like men Your honours and your worships your Majesties and your Highnesse must shortly lie in the dust and be as low as the meanest Diseases spare none for their fine Cloaths high Places or great Estates And the Cannon of death doth as soon hit the great Commanders as the Common Souldier it maketh no difference Charles the great Pompey the great and Alexander the great were all little in Deaths hands Men in places of greatest power are not persons privileged from the Arrest of this surly Sergeant Ye that are Divine in name have human mortal natures and as ye are Shields of the earth so ye are earthen Shields What is said of the Duke of Parma's Sword is true of Death it maketh no difference between Robes and Rags between Prince and Peasant It is the way of all the Earth Josh. 25.14 The great Road in which all Travell and the end of all the living Job 30.23 The great Inn to which all travell There is no man saith Solomon that hath power of his Spirit to retain it neither hath he power in the day of death there is no discharge in that war Eccles. 8.8 It is storied of Alexander that having heard of Paradise he was very eager of seeking it out and for that end came into the East part of the Earth where an old man meeting some of his Souldiers bad them tell Alexander that he sought Paradise in vain For the way to Paradise was the way of Humility which he did not take but saith he Take this stone and carry it to Alexander and tell him that from this stone he shall know what he is Now the stone was a precious stone and of such a quality that whatsoever thing was weighed with it that was still the heavier only if it were covered with dust then it was as light as straw thereby signifying that though Alexander and men in Authority out-weigh others in life yet when they are covered with dust when death cometh they are as light as others all their greatness cometh to nothing O how little Earth containeth Great Men when they die who will not be contented with much while they live If then ye must die shortly doth it not behove you to live strictly If your time be little should not your work be great for God and your souls Whether thou wilt think of it or no death is approaching thee the Sun doth not move faster in the Heavens then thou art moving to the earth The glass of thy Life for ought thou knowest is nigh its last sand Sure I am thou art now nearer thine unchangeable estate then ever thou wert and doth it not concern thee to walk exactly among men and to work industriously for God! O how much wilt thou wish at an hour of death that thou hadst walked humbly with God and wrought hard for the Lord all the time of thy life T is observed among the Papists that the Cardinals who think their Cowle and other Religious Habits ill becoming them in their health yet are very ambitious to die and be buried in them And I have taken notice in several Churches where are the Monuments of great persons that their Effigies must be erected kneeling with a Bible in their hands holding their hands up to heaven and looking very devoutly with their eyes up to the same place when I have heard of some of them how Prophane and Atheistical they were in their Lives that they used the name of God often in swearing but seldom in praying and prized a Romance or a Play Book above and read them oftner then the Bible Truly thus it is Piety that is trampled under feet by you now in your health and life believe it will be a pearl of great price with you in your sickness and death then you will think the holiest man the happiest man the Precisest Christian in the most blessed condition then you would willingly change states with them which are now Objects of your scorn then you will wish that you had denied your selves crucified the flesh glorified God and walked after the Spirit that you had spent that time in Praying and Reading which you have spent in Carding or Dicing or vain Recreations that you had improved that wealth and strength in the Service of your Saviour for the honour of God and welfare of your soul which have been laid about the World and your lusts O Sirs when this time cometh you will have other