voluntariè date to render it him willingly and freely for this difference some Criticks make between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one takes in whatsoever the other includes and adds to it a frankness and cheerfulness in the Giver Our money hath the Kings stamp upon it and that vindicates his right to it Two main motives there are which may encourage us in the paying this honour 1. Christs example in the very same case He saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2.21 hath left us an example that we should follow his steps and the Scripture hath remarked his example in the perf ormance of this duty when in his Mothers Womb a kind of Poll-money was laid by Augustus upon all his subjects Luk. 2 3 4. The blessed Virgin with her husband Joseph went to their own City to be taxed Yea the Divine Providence so ordered it that while she attended this payment the Saviour of the world was born into the world It cannot be denied but afterwards he submitted in this nature when the Collectors came to St. Peter with that question Doth not your Master pay tribute He answered yes Matt. 17.24 25. It seems he had formerly done it and that was not the only time though then he was willing to work a miracle rather than give offence by his backwardness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notwithstanding lest we should offend them go thou to the Sea and cast and book and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou hast opened his mouth thou shalt find a piece of money that take and give unto them for me and thee verse 27. 2. The Equity there is for it Kings are Gods Ministers employed for the Common good and therefore it is just they should be well maintained by the common purse They are preservers of peace providers for wars neither of these can be done without contributions They attend the good and service of their Kingdoms and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the Apostles argument for this cause pay you tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Rom. 13.6 But I presume there is enough if not too much said upon this subject Therefore 2. There is an honouring them with our bodies Whereby I mean a yielding obedience to their commands Thus the Apostle useth honour for obedience Children obey your Parents For which he cites the fifth Commandement Honour thy Father and Mother Ephes 6.1 2. This is the same with St. Pauls subjection Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13.1 and St. Peters submission submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake 1 Pet. 2.13 What the Ancient Doctors of the Church thought of this honour we shall soon discern Let one witness for all Athenagoras who flourished about 150 Years after Christ In Legat. pro Christianis ad Imp. Rom. ad finem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We do willingly obey your Magistrates in all things which are commanded us What those all things are we shall enquire presently In the mean while observe the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Your Governours speaking to the Heathens So that they concluded it a duty to live in subjection to the Emperours though not owning the Christian Faith And methinks this speech of his comments excellently upon that charge to Titus as a dispenser of the Gospel put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates Pit 3.1 I know obedience to Princes is an unpleasing doctrine a morsel which some mens throats are so narrow not to meddle with their consciences they have much adoe to swallow yet when all is alledged it will appear their duty whereto I could charitably hope they might more easily be perswaded when once truly informed in its due latitude and extent For the discovery whereof let me lay down four Rules having first premised in the general that obedience is of two sorts active and passive so that in some cases the one in some the other may concern us Therefore Rule 1. Where the commands of Princes are lawful all Subjects are bound to an active obedience which must be yielded heartily and conscienciously Nay I doubt not to assert that a passive obedience only in such cases renders us no better than transgressours Magistrates should find the people as ready to obey as they are to enjoyn And take notice I say this obedience should be yielded heartily and conscienciously because the command of God herein layes an obligation upon the conscience Ye must needs be subject not onely for wrath but also for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 It is expressly a duty of the fifth commandement They are our Civil Parents and Children are bound to obey their Parents though against their own inclinations in things which be lawful The onely difficulty will be wherein this lawfulness must be placed For the understanding of which word I affirm that all things are lawful which are not sinful and sin can onely be known by a violation of some Scripture-precept either in direct terms or by necessary consequence This is the Apostles definition sin is a transgression of the law 1 John 3.4 If their injunctions prove in convenient they are accountable to God for them but that inconvenience doth not discharge us from our obedience That this was the judgement of the first Christians I appeal to Ignatius born before our Saviours crucifixion Epist ad Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be obedidient to Caesar in those things where your obedience may be without danger and those of that time valued nothing as dangerous which was not sinful Provoke not your Governours to wrath that you give no occasion to those who seek occasion against you Now sure this Holy Martyrs Testimony reacheth as far as my Rule and further I perswade no man For Rule 2. Where the commands of Princes are unlawful We are not to obey actively It is possible there may be such commands and in such cases we must take up a resolution of not obeying The reason is because we are first and mainly obliged unto God and no other obligation can lay a force upon us further than it comports with that which we owe unto Him It is therefore worth observing that fear God and honour the King are put together as if the first were not onely a direction to and an argument for but a limitation also of the latter Thus when the Primitive Christians were called by the Heathens to offer sacrifice in their Temples they gave this reply as Justin Martyr relates it In Apolog. 2. pro Christianis pag. 64. Edit Morell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We worship God alone but in all things else we joyfully serve you This was the case of the * Dan. 3.17 18. three Children required to adore Nebuchadnezzars golden Image and refusing the case of †Dan. 6.9 10. Daniel when Darius decreed that no petition should be made to
Church when the Arrians were favoured above the Orthodox One party separating from the other and the fautors of that blasphemy persecuting the true believers with unchristian cruelty I need not mention the lamentable broyles which ruined Germany by the rage of the Anabaptists These calamities have and do and will follow if the foundations of doctrine be destroyed And no doubt the like evills must be expected upon destroying the foundations of Government It was well said men had better live where nothing is lawfull than where all things are and a bramble Government is better than none Tyranny makes any Kingdom a kind of Purgatory but Anarchy makes it a very Hell nay what if I say even Hell abhors it for that place of torment admits of some order and there we meet with a Prince of the Devils Take away the exercise of Authority and you introduce confusion Bring down the Soveraign power and every Peasant will make himself King The ordinary rabble are so mad-headed that if affairs be left to their management piety and honesty will both suffer Religion and justice will be turned out of doors 'T is not in vain the Scripture four times repeats In those days there was no King in Israel Since the reason of recording it so often may be gathered from the places where it is found When that people had no setled Government every man was a Law-giver to himself and never did they Commit more wickedness or endure more misery Micah steals his Mothers money part whereof when restored is made into an Image and the man gets an house-full of Gods what is the reason In those days there was no King in Israel Judg. 17.6 Micahs house is robbed by the Danites and those Children of Dan worship this Image How came this Idolatry In those days there was no King in Israel Judg. 18.1 The Levites Concubine is abused to death when was this gross uncleanness In those days when there was no King in Israel Judg. 19.1 Israel and Benjamin quarrel because the adulterers escape unpunished 40000 Israelites are slain and the tribe of Benjamin reduced to 600 and that calamity proceeded from the same ground In those days there was no King in Israel every man did that â—hich was right in his own eyes Judg. 21.25 But what need we travell as far as Canaan when poor England hath experienced these fatall mischiefs It is not beyond the reach of our memories to recollect sad Evidences of this truth Our Kingdom was once the wonder of its friends and the terror of its enemies and so continued while the foundations were unshaken but violent hands were laid upon them by Ambition and Faction A company of Male-Contents like so many Jehues drove on their designs with such fury that the Sword prevailed above the law the people I am sorry to say it were preached into rebellion Loyall subjects were the only Malignants and God could not be served if Caesar were obeyed How many lives and estates were sacrificed to the popular fury Lords and Commons fell by thousands till at length that Incomparable Prince and Blessed Martyr laid his neck upon the block Infandum jubeo renovare dolorem The body of the Kingdom had surfeited of peace and plenty and our state-empyricks knew no cure but to cut off the head Possibly there were some grievances to be redressed some corruptions had perhaps crept into Church and Commonwealth was this the way to give ease for the one or to root out the other It is strange that the shrinking of a Beam or the jutting of a wall can no way be helped but by pulling down the house This is to avoid a lesser evill by admitting a score of greater A score did I say that number is too small their name is Legion for they are many So we found them and groaned under them for severall years till the Almighty providence repaired our ruines and set up our pillars in their places again God grant they may stand firm against all the attempts of dangerous underminers But since there is a possibility of an iniquity in and a misery followeth the destroying these foundations no marvel if each pious soul bethink it self of its own duty and often ask the Psalmists question If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do And so I pass to the second generall part of the text 2. The Interrogation which may be looked upon 1. As vox reflectentis The voice of one searching into the true grounds of this dreadfull misery Which seems more probable because several translations render it in the praetertense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the septuagint and our Liturgy-Psalms what hath the righteous done David was satisfied Gods Judgements are deserved before they be inflicted The vapours of sin cause the showers of sorrow Lament 3.33 He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of men And because we may sometimes read malum in malo the evill we do in the evill we suffer it is worth a serious search how our fault and our correction suite that the Quaery may be soon resolved if the foundations be destroyed what the righteous hath done Why should not we then who have shared in the misery be as diligent in the duty The task will be easie For if our calamities were written in blood our sins have been graven with the point of a Diamond Disobedience to Authority in Queen Elizabeths days 1 Kings 18.44 was like the cloud seen by Elijahs servant about the bigness of a mans hand which in process of time growing greater and greater Eccles 11.3 overspread the face of our heavens and if the clouds be full they will empty themselves these did and in so violent a manner as to beat down all before them Little shelter could be found from that storm Nor could it be otherwise imagined when our own hands by uncovering the house had exposed it to the weather well might the posts be rotted and the building fall And when we have thus enquired into the cause how can we reflect upon it without aking hearts and moistened eyes bewailing our misery sinfulness and imprudence which leads me to the second notion 2. As vox deplorantis the voice of a Mourner And this will agree with both Translations With the old what hath the righteous done so it is vox deplorantis peccaium with the new what can the righteous do so it is vox deplorantis impotentiam 1. Vox deplorantis peccatum a Lamentation for the sin The best grieving for the afflictions of Joseph is first to grieve for the sins of Joseph Men can never be truly affected with their punishments till they be rightly apprehensive of their wickedness And observe the phrase it is what hath the righteous done not what hath the righteous suffered To convince us the Psalmist had an eye at the malum culpae as well as the malum paenae that he wept for the crime committed as well as for the misery
t ng up altar against altar barns against Churches new models of worship to cross the presribed form put us in fear that the foundations of Government are in a tottering condition For had these things no relation to Religion yet as thwartings of the Civil power they must needs bode mischief to the King and Kingdom Yet though these Pillars be so shrewdly shaken your seasonable assistance may not only secure them from quite falling but also establish them firm and unmoveable Let but men be throughly discouraged when they offend in this nature let them but a little feel your severity who have thus long contemned your clemency and they will either be reduced into good order or however become less irregular It is possible my words may be accused of cruelty sure there is no reason for it We judge it prudence if a fire happen rather to uncover the roof to throw away the tiles and break down some of the rafiers than suffer the house to be burnt to the ground And certainly it is better that some particular men especially when refractory and contumacious be curbed by those penalties which laws have provided than an whole Kingdom should either become a nest of Heresies or a field of blood But my zeal may perhaps make me presumptuous in offering to prescribe to your Lordships or these Gentlemen It is time to have done and I end all with this prayer God Almighty direct and guide you and all concerned in the publick affairs before you to His own Glory the Kings Honour the Kingdoms happiness the settling us upon those firm foundations of truth and peace Isai 63.7 that we who are members of the English Jerusalem may see it a praise in the whole earth and after we have served our Generations may be admitted into the new Jerusalem Heb. 11.10 that City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God there to reign in everlasting glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Honour Praise Dominion and Power henceforth and for evermore Amen CAESARS DUE Honour A SERMON Preached at St. Martins Church in Leicester May 29. 1669. before the Mayor and Aldermen By Tho. Stanhope A.M. Vicar of St. Margarets in Leicester CAESARS DUE Honour 1 Peter 2.17 Honour the King THese few words conclude the Epistle appointed for this Solemnity and the Church having chosen them for the occasion they cannot but be suitable for a discourse upon it The Day we celebrate in remembrance of those signal blessings it hath brought to us in a King 29. May 1630. as he was natus and renatus upon it born into the World and reborn to his Kingdom 29. May 1660. whereunto though he had a right before yet after a compelled exile now nine years ago he took possession of his Royal Palace And in the midst of our rejoycing for him it is but fit we should learn our duty to him which the Apostle hath shortly summed up in the Word Honour Honour the King At the 13. verse of this Chapter is propounded a due Christian carriage towards Magistrates probably enough there set down for some extraordinary reason It seems those early dayes of Christianity were tainted with the strange error that a dutiful Subjection to Authority could not consist with but was an abridgement of our Gospel liberty This is intimated verse 16. As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God A freedome indeed is granted but then that freedom must be rightly used not to encourage sedition or dis-obedience to make it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cloak of maliciousness to cover faction ambition sinister designs or any thing of that nature but that men should duly and rightly use it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the servants of God Upon the mention of which Word the Apostle as it were recapitulates and drawes the whole service into a narrow compass verse 17. With relation to four Objects thereof 1. Mankind in general Honour all men 2. Christians in particular Love the brotherhood 3. God as the principal Fear God 4. Our Prince as immediately under him Honour the King It may not be amiss to draw some few observations from the placing these two last together which shall onely be done in a few words before I fix upon my main Subject And here let us note Obser 1 That the same infallible Spirit which hath declared a duty to be owing unto God hath likewise declared a duty to be owing to our King That very Scripture nay that very verse which calls upon us to fear God cals upon us also to honour the King It is a gross mistake if we fancy our selves any more at freedome from the one than we are from the other Obser 2 The same infallible Spirit which hath declared the duty owing unto God and the duty owing to the King hath linked these two duties together There is nothing between to part them but as soon as the one is delivered the other follows Fear God Honour the King Nay as if this were not sufficient Solomon connects them together with a copulative Particle Prov. 24.21 My Son fear thou the Lord and the King Now Quae Deus conjunxit c. What God hath joyned together let no man put asunder In vain do we think ever to be truly pious towards God till we be truly loyal to our King Obser 3 The same infallible Spirit which hath in a large comprehensive word declared the duty we ow unto God hath in a like comprehensive word declared the duty we owe unto the King That our returns to neither of them may be narrow and scant Fear hath sometimes that full signification to include all acts of piety This do and live for I fear God Gen. 42.18 Honour so large an acceptation as to comprehend all service and duty Honour thy Father and thy Mother Exod. 20.12 Now as the first of these is used here with respect to the Lord Fear God so the latter with respect to our Soveraign Honour the King In which Words there are two parts 1. The Act Honour 2. The Object the King both which with a consideration of the persons to whom this Epistle was written viz. the believing Jewes converted to Christianity make it plain that the duty hath relation to us as a Christian precept delivered by Christs Apostle to those who were then Christs followers and so we also stand engaged to Honour the King A truth which will appear as if written with a Sun beam when we have enquired into the nature of this Honour and the grounds whereupon it is called for In the dispatch whereof for methods sake because the word Honour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and admits of several significations under each of them I shall subjoyn the reasons for it warranted by Scripture whence we have the best direction for our duty and confirmed by the testimony of the Primitive
God for so many dayes and still he continues in the course of his devotions the case of the * Acts 5.40 42. Apostles when prohibited to preach Christ Jesus yet were they not afraid to speak boldly in his name But then we must remember those things were simply unlawfull Worshipping Images a plain breach of the second Commandement neglect of prayer a sin both against the first and second and the not preaching contrary to the very precept given to those particular persons Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea c. Acts 1.8 So then before we deny our active obedience it is fit we be well satisfied the things are indeed unlawful for which we deny it Fancy or opinion will not serve the turn Nay a mis-informed conscience will not secure us from guilt because that mis-information is in it self a sin But if upon good ground we find they are such then Rule 3. In case unlawful commands be laid upon us we must quietly submit to those penalties which are appointed by the Laws of our Princes And this is the true passive obedience As sin must not be committed so suffering must not be declined It is true shall God afford a way of escape so as liberty or life may be secured without violating our conscience we may thankefully accept it but if not we are engaged to submit unto bonds imprisonment and death it self Thus the three Children though they would not worship the Image Dan. 3.21 Dan. 6.16 refused not to be cast into the fiery furnace Thus Daniel though after the decree continuing his supplications submitted to be thrown into the Den of Lions and the Apostles though they desisted not from preaching Acts 5.41 In Orat. cont Gracos pag. 144. Edit Morell yet took they their punishment patiently rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was Tatianus his answer when commanded to deny his God It is the onely thing I shall refuse to doe but though I must not be perswaded to it I can be content to die for it And Tertullian discoursing how the Christians entertained those severe sentences pronounced against them In Apolog. cap. 50. Sententiis vestris gratias agimus cum damnamur à vobis à Deo absolvimur We thank you saith he for them because when condemned by you we are absolved by God And certainly this is the true way of learning our Saviours lesson Luke 21.19 In your patience possess ye your souls Which will make way for the fourth Rule Rule 4. We are not upon the account of any unlawful commands to rebel against our King God hath not in any case allowed it and it is directly contrary to that passive obedience which we are engaged to exercise Solomon tells us of a King against whom there is no rising up Prov. 30.31 For him we may and ought to rise against him we may not Wars tumults seditions or the fomenting these upon what pretence soever by Subjects against their Soveraign are utterly against the word of God The peoples duty is subjection and Princes are accountable to God alone it is not for us to usurpe his place to correct or punish them at our pleasure My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Prov. 24.21 cum seditiosis so some Translations render it with the seditious Rebellion is a most grievous sin and it is impossible a Rebel should ever be reconciled to God without a very great measure of repentance The Apostle hath entailed damnation upon them Whosoever resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation In Apolog. cap. 37. Rom. 13.2 Tertullian applauding the quietness of Christians under their Heathen Governours shewes plainly that if they durst be Rebels they might easily be Conquerors or if not Conquerors the Prince would have so many fewer to defend him they filling the Streets and Cities and Armies and concluding against such pernicious practices tells how willingly they were slain that they durst not have a thought of rebelling but on the contrary nunc pauciores hostes habetis prae multitudine Christianorum Now saith he the number of our enemies is so much the less by how much the number of Christians is the greater I have run through the doctrinal part of the Text and shewed you wherein this Honour to the King consists and upon what grounds it is due with some Rules to direct you in your obedience to their commands Let me conclude all with a short Application And the use I insist upon shall neither be a reproof of former neglects Vse men love not to have their sore places rubbed too hard nor of humiliation for former errors God knows that is too proper for a 30 of January but of exhortation to duty and to the duty in the Text If you be Christians you are obliged to this which is the duty of Christians if the servants of God you are bound to be ruled by the word of God Yea let me say we have greater reason than those who lived in the infancy of the Church Their Princes were persecuting Heathens ours is a Christian King Nay we have a stronger engagement upon us than to an ordinary Christian King if we reflect upon what God hath done for him and for us in him And here let me but remind you of two things 1. He is a King whom God wonderfully preserved to bring unto his Throne Covering him from the dangerous attempts of his enemies under the shadow of his own wings It is not fit we should forget what snares were laid to entrap him before the barbarous murder of his Royall Father what tempting offers were made to betray him after his escape from the defeat at Worcester How particular a Brovidence attended him in forreign Countries during his tedious exile But with all imaginable thankfulness are we to commemorate the wonderfull goodness of God who kept him unchangeable in his Religion amidst the plausible allurements of his Popish friends and the detestable ingratitude of his pretended Protestant Subjects Large promises were made by the one in case he would countenance their Superstitions and the cunningest contrivances were laid by the other to support their unjust interests Yet God kept him untainted by the first and rendred him secure from the latter disappointing them in our own devices For 2. He is a King after such preservation brought to his Kingdom by Gods miraculous power It is true the hand of heaven may be seen in all things but in some more visibly than in others I could almost say few passages of Providence have been more strangely remarkable than this whereof we speak To give you a short account of it Notwithstanding the variety of interests abroad in the Kingdom notwithstanding the multitude of foes we may easily imagine he had some drawn to be so