Selected quad for the lemma: honour_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
honour_n	due_a	fear_v	tribute_n	3,178	5	10.8957	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40476	The wickedness and punishment of rebellion a sermon preach'd the 26. July S.V. 1685 (being the day of thanksgiveing appointedby His Majestie for the defeat of the rebels) before the right worshipfull the Fellowship of Merchants Adventurers of England residing at Dordrecht / by Aug. Frezer, M.A. of St. Edmunds Hall in Oxford ...	Frezer, Augustine, b. 1649 or 50.	1686 (1686)	Wing F2204; ESTC R42039	21,832	42

offend God in breaking any one of his comandments tho he keeps all the rest cannot be supposed to keep the rest out of any principle of conscience or the fear of God but for some other consideration and will make no conscience to break all the rest whenever he shall have the same occasion or temptation to break them that he has for the breaking of any one Now it is notoriously known to any one that has read the scripture that nothing is or can be more expresly commanded by God than the Honour obedience and subjection which is due to Kings And all this is not only comprehended in the fifth commandment by the honour due to parents but there are several other more particular commands about it to teach us how we are to regulate our very thoughts our words our actions and our whole deportment towards them We must not entertain a dishonourable thought of our Prince implyed in the prohibition a not to curse the King in our thought b We must not revile him or speak evill of him c We must not lift up a hand against him or resist him d We must behave our selves reverently in his presence We must obey his commands and give him that tribute or custome which belongs to him which is necessary for the support of his rule and dignity and which is but a small recompence for the benefits we receive by his Government And all this is no more than what is particularly commanded by God in the old Testament and by our saviour and his Apostles in the new and has bin taught and practiced by holy men and by the church of God in all ages which is all comprehended under the word fear or honour which is so often mention'd and commanded with relation to Kings as their Right and Due and which cannot be denyed them without sacriledge disobedience to God himself Render therefore to all their Due Tribute to whom tribute is due custome to whom custome fear to whom fear and honour to whom honour But not to insist at present any further upon other particulars of the duty which subjects ow their King I shall only speak a few words concerning resistance and the nature or quality of our obedience the wilfull misunderstanding whereof is the cause of all our troubles and of all our divisions 1. Concerning the lawfullnesse of resistance which some of our late Rebels have been so far deserted by God as to assert not only in words and with their pens but with their blood and their last breath there need no other arguments be used to confute it and for ever to stop the mouths of all rebellious gainsayers if any thing could convince them than the Testimonies of David and St. Paul whose authority I am sure is indisputable and not to be question'd by any that own the scriptures to be the word of God VVho can stretch forth his haud against the Lords anointed and be guiltlesse was the Amulet or charm if I may so call it which the man after God's own heart had bin taught by the spirit of God to make use of upon any occasion or temptation that he had to revenge himself of his greatest enemie to curb his own passion and to restrain others from offering the least violence to their lawfull soveraigne The other Testimonie is of St. Paul Ro. 13. 5. VVherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath but conscience sake In the former passage David laies it down as a principle of the law of nature acknowledged by all the world that it is impossible for any man that is a subject to resist his prince and be Innocent VVho can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Annointed and be guiltlesse In the latter the Apostle asserts the necessity of subjection in opposition to resistance which is forbidden condemn'd threatned with damnation Rom. 13. 1. 2. upon the score of conscience that if there were no other reasons to oblige men to be subject drawn from hope of reward or fear of punishment yet they were bound to be so out of conscience and they might with as safe a conscience break any of the Comands of God as resist Which two testimonies against the lawfulnesse of resistance will never be answerd or evaded by those who are so audacious and impious as to speak or write in favour of such as take up armes against their lawfull Prince upon the account of conscience and Religion as is pretended who may as well hope to reconcile light and darknesse or God and Belial as the principles and practices of such Persons with the scriptures and the fear of God 2. Concerning the nature or quality of that obedience which is due to Kings We must obey them in all things except where a superiour command has already engaged our obedience to the contrary The commands of a superiour are still to be obeyd before the commands of an Inferiour and therefore if the King who is only God's Vicegerent or deputy shall command any thing that is contrary to what God has commanded us before in all such cases the Rule of the Apostles is to take place that it is better to obey God than man Acts. 4. 19. In all other things which are left undetermind by God and are not contrary to his will when they ar commanded by those who are set in authority over us our obedience is necessary and indispensable And therefore to secure us from transgressing our duty to God and our superiours we must endeavour to acquaint our selves with the whole will of God reveald to us in scripture that so we may know wherein it is lawfull for us to obey our superiours and wherein we may lawfully refuse to comply with them Where our obedience is lawfull it is alwaies necessary and it is alwaies lawfull where the thing commanded us is not forbidden by God tho it may happen to be contrary to our interests or Inclinations We must be subject and obedient as well to froward and severe Masters as to the good and gentle for this is thanks worthy if a man for conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully And from hence I shall take the liberty to inferre that where the matter of the Command is of a doubtfull nature or when we doubt of the lawfulness of it our obedience is stil necessary because the thing commanded is not for bidden by God at least not directly or expressly forbidden for if it were there could be no doubt of the unlawfulneste of it and if it be doubtfull we have as much reason to think it may be lawfull as unlawfull and the presumption of its lawfullnesse ought to be for the Magistrate who is suppos'd to be better able as haveing greater helps to judge of what is agreable to the will of God and then besides all this we have the Commands of our superiours and the necessity of our obedience if the thing we are

commanded be not apparently sinfull to justifie or at least to excuse our compliance As for that objection which I foresee may be brought against what hath bin said from Ro. 14. 23. where the Apostle speaking of eating some sorts of meats with a doubting conscience when the persons who did eat of such meats as had bin for bidden by God doubted whether they were not still forbidden and yet would venture to eat of them He that thus doubteth saies the Apostle is damn'd if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin But this objection does not reach the case we are speaking of because the Apostles doubting person was at liberty not to eat of the things whereof he doubted and in all cases of the like nature where men are at liberty it is safest to forbear a doubtfull action as for example it is doubtfull whether it be lawfull to practice usury and every man is at liberty whether he will practice it or no and therefore it is safest not to practice it but obedience to Magistrates is no such arbitrary matter but is a duty laid upon the conscience and if we are not well assured that the thing commanded is sinfull it is certaine we sin if we refuse to yield obedience to it which I conceive to be the case of those who refuse to conform to the publick worship and service of God as it is enjoyn'd by Authority and establish'd in the Church of England For the further confirmation of what hath bin said I shall ad one Argument more drawn from the nature and well beeing of all Government that if a scruple concerning the lawfulness of a command from our superiours be allowed to be of equall weight with the duty of obedience then the obedience of subjects will be arbitary because it is impossible to see into mens hearts and when they have no mind to obey it is but pretending a scruple of conscience for their disobedience for if they may lawfully scruple so as to be excus'd from their obedience then it is unlawfull for the Magistrate to punish them for not obeying and it will be all one as to the exercise of the Magistrates power whether the scruple be real or pretended and how can any government subsist which is thus precarious and made to depend upon the pleasure or humour of the people And therefore the Principles which draw such consequences after them cannot be true or agreable to the will of God and by consequence the contrary which I have asserted and explaind to you must be true because according to the command of our saviour it renders unto God the things that are Gods and unto Cesar the things that are Cesars It gives God all that honour and obedience which himself requires of us and it tends most to promote and preserve that Order and Peace which God has instituted and established in the world To conclude this particular they who scruple to comply with the commands of their Prince or the lawes of the Government where they live without being convinced by clear and sufficient reasons of their unlawfulnesse do plainly show that they are weary and dissatisfied both with their Prince and with their Government and when people come once to be weary of a thing they begin to wish they were rid of it and would be willing to exchange it for something which they fancy to be better and from wishes they proceed to words and must be laying open the faults they discover either in the Government it self or in the Governours which they would have redressed and the next step is to action to take the Government into their own hands and to reform it as they think fit themselves and this cannot be accomplished without a Rebellion which the Authours and Contrivers endevour to palliate with the mask of Religion or of a Godly thorow Reformation And by these footsteps you may be able to trace all the Rebellions that have bin fomented and carried on among our selves more then among any other people in the world from their Infancy and Original to their full Growth and who have bin the men in all of them that have most contributed towards them and have bin most active in them and to whom the Character which is given by the wise man to some persons in the Text does most fitly agree of such as are given to change which brings me to the negative part of the Duty enjoyn'd in the words And meddle not with them that are given to change 2. To fear God then and to be given to change it seemes in the Judgment of Solomon whatever the Doctrine of our modern casuists may be are things of a quite different and inconsistent nature He that fears God is not given to change and he that is given to change does not fear God which is a farther confirmation of the Doctrine or observation from the former part of the words where God and the King are joyn'd together as partners of the same duty of the same Fear and Reverence which is due to both We must fear God and we must fear the King we must honour God and we must honour the King and we must obey God and we must obey the King where this fear honour and obedience which we are commanded to give to the King does not interfere with that fear honour and obedience which belongs to God but to be given to change is inconsistent with both nor does he either fear God or the King who lies under that Charge or Imputation If we would therefore fear God and the King as we ought and as we are comanded to do We must neither be given to change our selves nor have any thing to do with those that are 1. If we would fear God and the King as it is our duty to do We our selves must not be given to change To be given to change is to endevour the Alteration or Reformation of the Government under which we live without the leave and against the will of those that are in Authority which is a resisting the higher powers which I have irrefragablie proved to you it is not lawfull for subjects to do upon any pretence or provocation whatsoever which may encline or dispose us to endevour or to attempt a change Now the usual Pretences or Provocations which hurry men into Rebellion against their Prince and to endevour the change and the subversion of the Government under which they live may be reckon'd these four especially Ambition covetousnesse Revenge and Religion or Reformation Against all which and whatever other passion or pretence may excite or provoake us to cast off the fear and reverence which we ow our Prince the wise man gives us his advice Eccl. 8. 2. 3. 4. I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Be not hasty to go out of his sight stand not in any evil thing for he doth whatsoever