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B06421
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A sermon preached at Windsor before his Majesty, the second Sunday after Easter, 1684. by John Archbishop of Tuam.
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Vesey, John, 1636-1716.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing V282A; ESTC R185967
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16,479
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46
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its Original is the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. As a City may elect a Mayor by priviledge of Charter but his Authority when elected is from the King so is the Kings from God where the People have the greatest share visibly in the Designation of the person but they onely prepare and dispose the matter in the political Generation but the Soul of Sovereignty is Divine and infused from above and not by low and popular traduction if you consider Government to take its Rise either from the Order of Nature or from Conquest or particular Designation either Divine or Humane And so much may suffice for the first Reason why Princes are called Gods and Sons of God they are begotten by him I have herein possibly made too bold with your patience though the temper of this Age be too just an Apology for my doing so But if ye suffer Fools as the Apostle speaks but I know not how gladly if every Journeyman become a Kings Monitor and every Pebble in the Guttur thinks it self a Jewel worthy of their Crowns or the Brests of Priests there to shine and rise up into Oracles suffer us also in the discharge of what we owe to Religion and our Sovereign to tire you a little on so necessary a Doctrine and such Inferences as fairly flow from it As 1. The Prince deriving his Authority from God it follows hence he is accountable to none but God He stands or falls to his own Master and he calls no man Master upon Earth This is truly in right reason a consequence from the Nature and End of Government There must be some person or persons according to the Frame of the Polity from whom there must be no Appeal Some Authority must be absolute and injusticiable or the Process will be infinite and the Grievance without Remedy and the circular and endless motion of Appeals more grievous than any Tyranny 2. If the Prince derive his Authority from God it follows again His Laws oblige the Conscience of the Subject Such as command lawful things for to an unlawful thing there can be no obligation because he hath no authority from God to make unjust Laws and therefore if he doth they do not oblige the Conscience of the Subject to that obedience which is called active though even in such cases he is obliged to subjection to endure the penalty which they call passive obedience But if the matter of the Command be a thing indifferent not forbidden by any Law of God Moral or Positive there the Prince creates an obligation in Conscience to conformity and obedience For men to think they must have the same liberty after they are entered into Society either Civil or Religious as before is contrary to the very nature and end of Society they must submit themselves in things lawful to the determination of the Communion whereof they become Members and the enquiry lies not whether the thing enjoined be expedient or inexpedient for of that the governing part must judge but onely whether it be lawful And it is lawful if not forbidden by God and if lawful before it becomes now after the Law necessary in its use and so is our obedience Nor doth this take away the natural indifferency of the thing nor the liberty of Christians nor exalt Princes into Gods Throne or make them Lords of Conscience for that is still free to judge of the natural indifferency any more than our obligation in Conscience to believe what the Apostles have delivered makes them Lords of our Faith a Title which they disclaimed as proper to him who is the Author and Finisher of it 2. Princes are called Gods not onely because he begets them but they are like God in the administration of their power Which is a reason assigned by Hierocles why the Heroes were called also the Sons of God in the Ethnick Theology Now Princes resemble God when they act by the same principle and for the same end 1. In making their Justice shine with equal dispensation on the Righteous and the Wicked and not onely in doing but in loving of Justice This carries a double benefit with it to him that sues for it and him that distributes it The love of Justice sweetens the toil of the Employment and makes that a Recreation which without it is a Drudgery for it is a joy to the Just to do judgement 2. Princes resemble God in Mercy This is the first letter of the Name whereby God proclaims himself to Moses Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious c. and herein he is principally to be imitated by such as are called by his Name in moderating the rigour of Law when men in their simplicity and honest meaning may fall within the lash of its severity or when the face of the Poor is ground and eaten up like Bread by the greediness of an Oppressor It is impossible but there should be frequently such cases wherein if the Letter of the Law be strictly observed the end will not and it is the Glory of a Prince in such cases to extricate persons out of the snares of legal Entanglements and his Prerogative is then much more advantageous to his Subjects than all their boasted priviledges I need not say on this occasion what Prince of the World is the most lively Image of this most Heavenly Attribute whose Mercy like the Divine Original is indeed over all his Works who makes not every man an Offender for a Word nor every Offence Capital but is strong and patient though provoked every day 3. Princes are like God when they act as by the same principles of Justice and Mercy so for the same end and safety of the Society They are therefore elsewhere stiled Restorers of Paths and Healers of Breaches and here the blessing of the Peace-makers falls upon their heads which saith our Saviour is to be called the Sons of God Mat. 5.9 and the more they intend this God-like end in preserving the peace not only of their own Subjects but of the World in general the better title they have to that Beatitude and nearer resemblance to the God of Peace There are indeed some Sons not very like their Father who resemble the great Destroyer rather that is daily seeking whom he may devour Such are Disciplines and Scourges in the hand of God as one of the Gothick Kings called himself to chastise the Christian World for their Luxury and contempt of God and his Commandments But though these are onely stimulated with the Lust of Domination yet they are over-ruled by the Divine Providence and directed to a point they thought not of and often forced to bring Glory to God in the conclusion though they designed onely their own in the first motion of their Arms. But what ever excesses the wantonness of Power may tempt some Spirits to they have the best right to this high Title of being the Sons of God and are the most natural
Lords of their People who like Parents are always laying up for their Children esteeming their peace a common advantage the Glory of their Reign as the publick Good of the World is the Glory of God There is certainly great truth in that celebrated Aphorism Salus Populi Suprema Lex esto but the vulgar sense is to be corrected by considering what is meant by People Safety and Law 1. We are not to prescind the Head from the Members but by People to understand the whole Body all in as well as all under Government And so indeed the care ought to be mutual and reciprocal for neither can be safe when the other is in danger but the principal should be for the principal and vital parts and the best Armour placed on the Head and Heart Thus while David perceived his Kingdom to be exalted for the sake of Israel 2 Sam. 5.12 21.17 the People called him the light of Israel which they were fearful should be quenched 2. We are not to understand Safety in the most uncircumscribed and indefinite sense for Peace of any kind on any terms but such as the Apostle prescribes which by Prayer for Princes we may hope to enjoy under them 1 Tim. 2.2 a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Now happy are the People that are in such a case this is a blessing greatly desirable a Reformation heartily to be endeavoured when Peace and Godliness and Honesty meet together and kiss each other 3. Peace and Safety thus described is the Supreme Law that is the general Rule and Canon of Direction to all in their respective Stations it is the Princes Reason of State the Compass by which he steers the Government where plain and positive Law hath not directed and where it hath he must often leap over nay break through many positive Forms to come at it for that is the Supreme Law to which all positive Laws as inferiour must give place for the sake of that the Prince may dispence with these but that is indispensable it is superiour to him in a way of perpetual direction which he is the most proper Judge how to intend and follow This Law also is the Square and Reason of the Subjects obedience by which and Prayer they are more likely to obtain their end than by Rebellion and Schism that being a method of Gods appointing but this an unsanctified way that never will be blessed by him Thus you see this so applauded Maxim is far from confounding Government by making Rulers accountable to those they Govern that the Right to Govern is from the People if you divide the Head from the Body because their Good is the and of Government is a false Inference from a false Principle the preservation of the whole is the end and not of any part and if the good and safety of the People separately from the Prince were the Supreme Law yet it follows not that either his Right is derived from them or his account of the Administration must be made to them For God hath the same end the Common Good in the great Monarchy of the World and yet is not liable to an Indictment by his Subjects for any mal-administration And Parents and Masters of Families intend the same end in their petty Monarchies and are not questionable or punishable by their Children So that this cannot give Subjects any superintendency over the Princes Councils or Actions but obliges them rather in their private capacity of Obedience and Religion to conspire to the same end the Glory of God in the Publick Good Both these are designed by God and both by the Prince and the distinction is rather formal than real between them for though they may be distinguished they cannot be divided but are to be promoted by the same means God cannot be honoured by Sin and therefore we must not do evil that good may come of it God may suffer it for that end but we must not do it for that or any end No more must publick Safety and common Good be secured by any thing that is unjust or dishonest Religion must not be reformed by Rebellion nor destroyed for the sake of a palliated worldly Peace The very Heathens were so generous as to scorn by base Compliances and wicked Plots and Stratagems to preserve their Country and therefore a contrivance of Themistocles for the publick Good being imparted to Aristides was rejected by the Senate upon Aristides his Report that it was not honest concluding nothing profitable or honourable that was dishonest but when the common Good is carried on by just and wise Counsels a peaceable life is endeavoured by pious and honest policy the People have at once great safety and God great Glory and this is the care and travel Princes have under the Sun to be in continual motion that their Subjects might have the comfort of their Influences though they are too often requited with noisom stenches and stinking exhalations But as God is never weary of doing good to those who weary him and themselves with doing evil so neither should Princes though their Subjects prove ungrateful and rebellious Thus much of the second Reason why Princes are called Gods and Sons of God they are like him acting the same Attributes and for the same end 3. Thirdly and lastly They are so called because God as a Father takes a special care of just Governments and pious Governours There are sometimes Providences that seem anomalous and exceptions from this Rule when God suffers Religious Kings to be smitten by and for the sins of the People which is one of the heaviest Judgments that can befal a Nation to be made their own Executioners by cutting the throat of their own peace and happiness But as Princes are called Fathers of their Country and have bowels for their Subjects so hath God for Princes whose Seats could never be so secure amidst so many strivings of the People but that the Lord is King be the Earth never so unquiet and covers the head of his Anointed and bears up the Pillars of his Throne So we find notwithstanding all the Plots the secret Caballings and open and bold Designs of Davids Enemies Psal 2. God says Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion exalted him to the top of Regal Power God seems to point at him with a hand out of the Clouds as a person reserved for some great work and by his miraculous deliverances eminently to declare him to be his Care and Darling Thou art my Son Psal 2.6 7. this day have I begotten thee Which Scripture though it had a literal verification in David and a mystical one in our Saviour may be accommodated to the Histories of other Empires and no where more fitly than to the modern state of this Kingdom in the support whereof the Divine Providence hath observably concerned it self when all the foundations of the Earth were out of course