Selected quad for the lemma: honour_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A66607
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A sermon preached before the judge at the assizes held at Nottingham, on the 19th of July, 1689 by W. Wilson ...
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Wilson, W., Rector of St. Peter's Church in Nottingham.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing W2957; ESTC R8299
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16,299
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32
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it consists in doing Justice and shewing Mercy and walking humbly with our God. Now Justice and Righteousness is frequently taken in the Holy Scriptures in a very large sense for the sum of that Duty which we owe to God in which sense it extends it self to all the Duties of both Tables And the Reason may be this because God in respect of his being our Creatour has a right of Dominion and Soveraignty over us to command us what he pleases which when we refuse to observe we are unjust in disowning the Right he has to our Obedience And the observance of his Commands is stiled a doing of Justice because we then give that Deference to our supreme Lord as is due to him Sometimes this Duty is taken in a narrower sense for our doing all those Offices and discharging all those Duties that we owe to our Neighbour and in this sense it is limited to the Duties of the second Table But in its strictest sense it respects only that single vertue which consists in the doing to all Men as we would they should to us or in the giving to every Man his due And according to the different Relations that we stand in to each other the Duties that Justice obliges us to are various It requires Inferiours to be Modest and Humble and Superiours courteous and gentle The People conformable to Laws and the Magistrates ruling in the fear of God. That Equals and Neighbours be kind and condescensive and all Men govern themselves by rules of equity in their Dealings and by those of good Nature in their Conversation That we walk uprightly work Righteousness and speak the Truth from our Hearts Render to all their dues saith the Apostle Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custome to whom Custome Fear to whom Fear and Honour to whom Honour Rom. 13.7 In which words the Apostle sums up that Duty and Homage that Support and Subjection that Reverence and Obedience that is owing to the Persons and Authority of those whom God has set over us And can any thing be more just and equal than that we should Honour the Person and reverence the Power that protects us Can any thing be more fit than that we should with the most grateful Minds bless God for the Patronage of those under whose Shadow we live in Safety and by whose Industry and Vigilance Order and peace are preserved that we should by a quiet and peaceable Deportment make the burden of Government as easy and light upon their Shoulders as 't is possible when they really are what they are stiled Nursing Fathers to their People and the Ministers of God for good In a word that we should bear Faith and true Allegiance to those to whom we are not only bound by all the ties of Gratitude but to whom a signal Providence has determin'd it and the Duty we owe to the Society we are Members of does require it For if we must be allowed to suspend our Duty and Allegiance till the Rights of Princes be determin'd for ought that I know there are few Societies in the World but must of necessity break up since there are few Princes can pretend to any better Title than what the Sword and Usurpation of their Ancestours has given them and still fewer whose Possession is setled upon so fair a Foundation as that of their present Majesties Was there nothing but Possession to be pleaded in the case I do not understand but a King of England may by virtue of it claim our Allegiance as fairly as either Augustus or Nero did from the Romans And yet it was with a respect to the latter of these that St. Paul required the Roman Christians to subject themselves because of his Possession Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers for the Powers that are i.e. the Powers that are in being or that have possession of the Crown are ordained of God. Rom. 13. And this our great Casuist Bishop Saunderson has determin'd to be not only Lawful but a Duty we owe to our selves because it is a madness to provoke him that has the Power of the Sword to our Country whose Peace and Safety we are bound to consult and take care of and to him likewise that does bear the Sword since thereby our Persons and Fortunes are protected Neither does he only give us his own but St. Chrysostome's Judgment in the case who so interprets the Apostle's Command to be subject for Conscience sake as if he had said since every Citizen or Member of a Community is conscious to himself how many benefits he enjoys by the publick Authority let him know that as a Recompence for so many Advantages his Obedience is due to him that has the Government But here is not Possession alone but the Consent of the whole Body of the Kingdom and I think I may challenge any Prince in the World to shew that his Title does stand upon a better Foundation The only thing that can here be objected that I can think of is that we being under a preceding Obligation to give our Allegiance to the present King is so far from being a Matter that in Justice we are obliged to that it is a great piece of Injustice to him to whom we have formerly bound our selves And truly I should be apt to think so too had not that unfortunate Prince suffer'd himself to be so far transported by the evil Counsels of those whose designs could not be carried on but by the destruction of our Constitution to invade those Laws by which our Rights are secured and the Measures of our Obedience stated and bounded But when he would not be contented with the Obedience that we obliged our selves to but endeavour'd by alienating a principal Part of his Authority to make us Traitors to our Constitution by subjecting our dearest Rights to foreign Jurisdiction those that have carried Obedience to the highest have here made a stand and I think 't is a folly to talk of being bound to give that Obedience which is not only not accepted but renounced But it is not only to the Cottages of the Poor that Justice is confined but Kings and all in Authority may be reminded that Subjects have their Rights as well as Kings their Prerogatives and that nothing does make a Government more easy or graceful than the keeping Judgment and doing Justice 'T is this does adorn the Diadems of Princes and make the Seats of Judicatures reverenced as well as feared Whatever unbounded Power the flattering Discourses of Court-Parasites have to their own as well as the Subjects Mischief complimented Princes with David was as well skill'd in the extent of a Princes power and had as much reason to be a Friend to the Prerogative as any Man yet he in his dying words declared no doubt for the Instruction of and as a Caution to his Son Solomon that he that ruleth over Men must be just 2 Sam. 23.3 But now if the Power of the Prince