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judgement_n	according_a	lord_n	time_n	1,649	5	3.4597	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62275	A sermon preached at Reading, Feb. 25, 1672, at the assizes there holden for the county of Berks, before the Right Honourable Sir Edward Turner, Knight ... and Sir Edward Thurland, Knight ... by Joseph Sayer ...	Sayer, Joseph, 1630 or 31-1693.	1673 (1673)	Wing S797; ESTC R7938	19,707	42

1 Thes 4.11 Let every man attend that work to which the great Disposer of all things has been pleased to set him Let him carefully contain himself within the limits of his own calling without aiming at high things or intermedling with that which is the Province or concern of other men 2. A Second special Duty included in this general is to render all due Honour and that in thought word and deed both to the Power and to the Person of our Superiour For these two Power and Person cannot be divided distinguish them we may so we do it to better purpose than some have done it in our days I say distinguish them we may but sever them we may not The Power exists in the Person and we are to honour the Person with respect to his Power as St. Peter teaches us Fear God honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 not the Power abstracted from the Person but the Person for the sake of his Power And so here in the seventh Verse of this Chapter Rom. 13.7 Render unto all their dues says the Apostle speaking to Subjects with respect to those that have Authority over them particularly Honour to whom Honour is due Now in the first place 1. One part or branch of this Duty is to honour these in our thoughts By thinking honourably of their Persons By judging charitably of their Actions 1. We must have honourable thoughts of what they are What the Apostle sometime said to his Corinthians with respect to himself and other Preachers of the Word 1 Cor. 4.1 So account of us as of the Ministers of Christ may be said to every Subject with respect to Kings and such as bear the Sword You are to account of them as of the Ministers of God Rom. 13.5 for so the Scripture calls them in the Verse before my Text. You are to esteem of them as of those that are ordained of God for the good of Humane Society as in the same Verse You must not look on them as meer men Psal 82.1 6. but as Humane Gods Psal 82 1 6. as the Deputies Lieutenants and magnificent representations of the Divine Majesty as those whom God hath intrusted to supply his room to represent his Person and to execute his Judgments 2 Chron. 9.8 and again 2. Chron. 9.8 19.6 Chap. 19.6 2. We must have charitable thoughts of what they do put the best and not the worst construction on the Laws they make and the execution of those Laws If any thing seem harsh and inconvenient in their menage of affairs we must give them their due honour by judging candidly and favourably of it considering with our selves that they have reasons of State for what they do whereof we are ignorant 'T is injoined us Eccl. 10.20 Not to curse the King in our thoughts i. e. neither to wish ill to him nor to think ill of him This Negative does include an Affirmative that we are therefore to entertain good thoughts of the King and of his Government If every thing does not go as we would have it If other Laws be enacted or Laws otherwise executed than according to our phancy or judgment we are apt presently in our secret thoughts to condemn our Rulers of imprudence insincerity injustice partiality cowardize or the like when in the mean time the greatness of their Authority and our necessitated ignorance and unacquaintance with State-Affairs should restrain our thoughts from such harsh and hasty censures in things we do so little understand It being as unfit for private persons to censure their Governours as it is for little Children that have newly learnt their Primer to take upon them to correct the learnedst Scholar Let me give you but one instance and I beseech you note it Suppose you had been present when King Solomon was deciding the controversie between the two Mothers about the dead and living Child When he called for a Sword to have the living Child divided in two that so each Mother might have a part would you not have thought him a very rash cruel inconsiderate Prince Would you not have said within your selves What will this young King now do Will he cut this knotty cause in pieces because he can't untie it And for as much as there is no evidence unto which of the two Mothers the Child belongs shall the Child be therefore slain and because one Murther was committed accidentally shall another be done purposely What a miserable people are we like to be that are to live under such a Prince Thus perhaps you would have thought whereas if you had staid the issue of things you would have seen his prudence and admired it and have changed your mind of him as the Barbarians did of St. Paul when they saw the Viper on his hand Act. 28.4 they concluded that he was a Murtherer whom though he had escaped the Sea Vengeance would not suffer to live but when he shook the Viper without hurt to himself from his hand into the fire they straight changed their mind Acts 28.6 and said that he was a God The King gave order for that which he had no desire should be done only to find out that which could not otherwise be discovered as you may see at large in the third Chapter of the first Book of King 1 Kin. 3.16 to the end of the Chapter This may warn us not to entertain hard thoughts of our Governours when at first blush we are unable to reconcile their Actions or Expressions to the strictest rules of Piety Justice Prudence or Charity Prov. 25.3 The Kings heart is a depth unsearcbable Prov. 25.3 The Actions of wise Princes are meer Riddles to vulgar apprehensions neither is it for the shallow capacities of the multitude to fathom the deep projects of Sovereign Authority And as they cannot fathom them so they ought not to censure them If Charity thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.5 7. but doth hope all things even of all sorts and conditions of men then certainly it should most of all do so by Kings who ministring for our good do deserve the greatest measure of our love 2. A Second part or branch of this Duty is to honour them in our words both when we talk to them of them 1. When we talk to them our words must make it appear that we respect and honour them We must give them their due Titles and we must speak to them after a different manner from our way of speaking to other men Take an instance of it in holy Paul when Festus upbraided him with madness he did shew how much he honoured him for the sake of his Authority he did make no unhandsom no uncivil retort to that severe and groundless imputation but addrest himself thus Acts 26.25 with an humble reverence I am not mad most Noble Festus but I speak forth the words of soberness and truth We have a like instance in Mephibosheth speaking to David

shall shew thee and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee according to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee thou shalt do thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand or to the left And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken to the Priest that standeth there to minister before the Lord thy God or unto the Judge that man shall die and thou shalt put away evil from Israel and all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously Nay we are not only bound to yield Obedience in all those thing which we know to be lawful and in all those things which we know not but only suspect to be sinful but even in those things which being lawful in themselves holy Scripture not forbidding them we do verily think by reason of some mistake and errour of judgment to be sinful We are still under an Obligation of obeying though in such a case Obedience cannot be yielded without sin We are bound to obey because God commands it The mistake of our Judgment cannot disoblige us from nor dispense with the sacred bond of Gods Precept Sin can never free from Duty The errour of our judgment is a sin and that can never change the nature of a sinful omission making that which is sinful in its self become safe for us Innocently impotent to his duty 't is impossible any man should be and yet obeying in this case we are sure to sin against God because we do that which we verily take to be sinful which does argue that we would have done it had it been really such as upon mistake we apprehend it to be and that therefore we have no fear of God before our eyes in as much as we durst adventure on that which we verily thought would be a violation of the Divine Law and a provocation of Gods displeasure against our selves and therefore it is the same thing to us as if it had been really sinful a transgression of the known Law of God so that in such a case doing or not doing obeying or not obeying we are sure to sin against God that 's the great unhappiness of an erring Conscience And yet there is no absolute perplexity for there is a third thing required and to be done and that is deponere erroneam conscientiam to lay aside ones erroneous Conscience and mistaken Conceptions That is the remedy in such cases to endeavour by an humble diligence in the use of all proper and proportionable means to be truly and rightly informed that so the Judgment may be purged from errour and the Conscience thereby freed from this desperate necessity of sinning But what if after serious endeavours a man cannot be convinced of the truth cannot shake off his erroneous and mistaken conceptions cannot extricate himself from the snare in which he is engaged What is to be done in such a case He is to endeavour it still having been serious in some degree already he must be yet more serious in his search and study after the truth Hos 6.3 Hos 6.3 Then shall a man know when he follows on to know the Lord when he seeks it again and again seeks for it as for silver and searches for it as for hid treasure Prov. 2.3 Prov. 2.3 When he does persist in the use of means is exceeding earnest in prayer to God for it constant and indefatigable in his endeavours after it He must be more willing to understand and embrace the truth than he is willing that what he errs in should prove true He must lay aside all prejudice and prepossession and must read and hear what 's written and may be said on the one side as well as on the other And if he be biassed in any thing it must be in an humble jealousie and mistrust of himself and according to Saint Pauls direction Phil. 2.3 in esteeming others better than himself and then Joh. 7.17 according to our Saviours promise he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or not God will instruct and teach him though not by immediate revelation that is not to be lookt for now yet by a particular secret and unknown assistance The humble man shall have grace 1 Pet. 5.5 1 Pet 5.5 The meek shall be guided in judgment and shall be surely taught Gods way Psal 25.9 Psal 25.9 But the man that will not take this course his continuance in errour becomes his greater condemnation and may be lookt on as Gods judgment on him for his pride and partiality for his negligence disrespect to Authority and for his want of care to be rightly informed But what if a man has bound himself by Oath to do contrary to what the Law of his Prince Commands Let Mr. Perkins be heard in the case An Oath does not bind says he against the wholsom Laws of the Commonwealth Rom. 13.1 because God hath commanded that every soul be subject to the Higher Powers it is in his Cases of Conscience concerning Oaths this being the second of those six Cases wherein he tells us that an Oath doth not bind An Oath ought to be kept with all imaginable care and strictness and that in all things whatsoever that are not contrary to a Christians Duty but the intervention of a Duty supersedes the Obligation of an Oath The voluntary Obligation which a man lays upon himself cannot vacate that precedent Obligation that is laid upon him by the Lord. Surely God never meant that his Name should be made use of in an Oath to oblige mens Consciences to a violation of his own Commands Let this horrible thought be once admitted and men are at liberty to do what they list they may change the nature of things and may make it lawful yea necessary to break all the Commands of God and to commit all the sins in the World If a man be unwilling to perform some necessary Duty as to pay his Debts to relieve the Poor to sustain and honour his Parents to keep the Lords Day holy to frequent the place of Gods Publick Worship to partake of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper or the like 't is but binding himself by Oath to the contrary and he is discharged from what before was his Duty And as for the omission of Duties so for the executing of a mans Lusts If a man scruple at Adultery Incest Theft Murder Sacriledge Idolatry Schism Rebellion or the like 't is but binding himself by Oath to do these things and their nature being immediately changed he is to press them upon his Conscience as obliging necessary Duties Once admit this errour and you are furnished with an excuse for whatsoever wickedness you have a mind to commit 'T will instruct you how to justifie all the sins in the World to the utter extirpation

the Light of Israel 3. A Third special Duty included in this general is to yield them obedience and that both Active to their Precepts Passive to their Punishments We are to execute their Commands with cheerfulness and to bear with patience what they inflict on us In the First place 1. We are to execute their Commands It is our Duty to yield an active Obedience both in things Civil and in things Religious but with this limitation while they command us nothing that is inconsistent with our Duty toward Almighty God i.e. nothing that God forbids Whatsoever they do lawfully command we are in conscience bound to obey it Defence of the Cure of Church-Divisions p. 87. What the Scripture does not make to be a sin the Magistrates Command will make to be a duty 't is Mr. Baxters expression whose testimony in this case should me thinks prevail with those who are least affected with this most needful Doctrine of Obedience And lest perhaps it should be thought that he took up this Opinion but very lately to them who shall read what he hath written it will appear to have been his constant Opinion Thes 320. That Rulers must be obeyed in all lawful things is one of his Theses in his Aphorisms of Government Nay Kings and Magistrates must be Obeyed Thes 321. not only in things Civil but even about the Worship of God in all lawful Commands that his next Thesis which he presently thus explains So much of the Circumstances of Worship as God has left to be determined by men we must obey the Magistrate in if he determine them and much more when he doth but enforce Gods own Commandments Pag. 400. to 407. Both there and again more largely in his Book of Church-Government and Worship he instances in the several circumstances of Time Place Gesture Vesture and other Modes and Forms of Worship of all which particular circumstances he discourses at large and there tells us that being left undetermined by the Word of God and therefore left to be determined by the Laws of men in all these we may be bound by the Commands of lawful Authority Nay we are bound to obey the Magistrate not only in those things which we know to be lawful but in all those things which we do not know to be sinful And so we are told by the same Learned Author as far as I can understand him in these words We must obey the Magistrate Thes 323. though we know not their Commands are lawful so long as they are so indeed and we have no sufficient reason to believe them unlawful This Doctrine he abundantly proves both there and in several other places particularly in his Book of Church-Government and Worship by such Arguments as are not to be answered Pag. 461 462 484. Gods Word commands Obedience to the Magistrate in express and down-right terms Obey them that have the rule over you Heb. 13.17 Heb. 13.17 Keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Eccles 8.2 Obey Magistrates Tit. 3.1 Eccles 8.2 Tit. 3.1 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake 1 Pet. 2.13 1 Pet. 2.12 Tit. 3.1 1 Pet. 2.15 Gal. 6.9 2 Thes 3.13 1 Pet. 2.13 It does reckon such Obedience among the good works of the Gospel which a Christian should be always ready to perform and calls it by the name of well-doing of which a Christian ought not to be weary If now the thing commanded by the Magistrate be not known to us to be as plainly forbidden as this Duty of obeying what the Magistrate is pleased to command is well known to be injoined by God what excuse can be had in the least for our not obeying Shall our own uncertain conjectures and but suspitions only be of so great weight and moment as to prevail against a known and certain Command Or ought not that much rather which is doubtful give way to that which is certain the interposition of the Magistrates Command being of so great weight and moment as to render that a Duty whereof we are not to doubt which before we did not know but did suspect or only doubt to be a sin Holy Paul indeed has told us Rom. 14.23 that Whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14.23 i. e. Whatsoever we either do or forbear without a reasonable perswasion of the lawfulness of our so doing or so forbearing 't is to us a sin And so again in the former part of that Verse He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of Faith But withal we ought to know that this Text of Scripture is to be understood only of those things which are left to our own choice being at liberty as we please either to do or to forbear them But it speaks not of those things wherein we are limited by the Commands of those that have Authority over us whom to disobey in things lawful is sin against Almighty God and all sin without repentance brings damnation upon our selves Neither is it without great reason that although we are to abstain from a thing doubtful being at our own disposal free and unconfined as to that particular yet we both may and ought to do it when Authority has injoined the doing of it I say not but that if we have time to consider and means to inform our selves of the nature of the thing which is injoined we ought first to consider and conscientiously use those means to inform our selves of the lawfulness of the thing ere we do what is injoined us But if our doubt be invincible or the Command require so speedy an Obedience that we have not time or cannot use means to resolve it in such case the Command of our Superiour is enough to put an end to our doubting our Superiour being Gods Deputy authorized and commissioned by him to resolve us in such doubtful cases so that his Command is a clear determining of the doubt after which we are to doubt no more while we continue in those forementioned circumstances his Command being reason enough to make us own that thing to be our Duty which as yet we do not certainly know nor can absolutely conclude to be a sin To this purpose let it be observed what 's recorded in Deut. chap. 17. verse 8 9 10 11 12 13. Deut. 17.8 9 10 11 12 13. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment between blood and blood between plea and plea and between stroke and stroke being matters of controversie within thy gates then shalt thou arise and get thee to the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse and thou shalt come unto the Priests the Levites and unto the Judge that shall be in those days and enquire and they shall tell thee the sentence of judgment And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord thy God shall chuse