I will that I will or as in the English I am that I am h Exod. 3.14 to shew the Soveraignty of his authority and the incontroulableness of his will and power So in like manner hath he given to earthly Monarchs power too i Rom. 13.1 John 19.11 over his Church or people in their particular Dominions in proportion to their Vicegerency under him as their Master and Lord paramount The Lord is absolute both in power and supremacy he is higher than the highest k Ecclesiastes 5.8 Ps 89.27 and who shall say unto him What dost thou l Job 9.12 Isa 45.9 Dan. 4.35 and the King is next him he hath no superiour but the * The very Heathens by the light of nature did acknowledge this Doctrine Marcus Aurelius says in Dion Cassius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Imperial Authority God only may be Judge In excerptis Dionis Cassii vid. Herodotum l. 3. c. Lord himself to whom he is bound to give an account he doth whatsoever pleaseth him Where the word of a King is there is power and who but God may say unto him What dost thou * Ecclesiastes 8.3 4. And therefore King David said unto God Against thee thee only have I sinned Ps 51.4 3. As the Lord and the King are very fitly and wisely joyned together in regard of their headship prerogatives Supremacy and power c. so also in regard of their Election to their Kingship The Lord to demonstrate his absolute Power and Supremacy will be the Author both of his own Election and his Vicegerents too 1. Of his own he Elected himself King over n 1 Sam. 12.12 Israel The Israelites were Gods own chosen inheritance o Deut. 9.26 Ps 105.43 and therefore he chose to be their King to govern all their affairs both in Church and State in a special manner 'T is true he had even then his Viceroys under him but they did not rule like the Kings of other Nations the Lord himself did by them rule his peculiar people after a peculiar manner as their King till the days of Samuel where all the Elders of Israel gathered themselves together and by a wilful saucy Traiterous Rebellious Disloyal ungrateful and obstinate demand of a King to judge them like all the Nations p 1 Sam. 8.5 19. rejected him from ruling over them q 1 Sam. 10.19 For though in that wicked Act they cast off Samuel also r 1 Sam. 8.8 as being their Judge and the Lords Prophet and Viceroy yet it was the Lord indeed that therein was chiefly rejected as being their only King and Soveraign as well as the Lord their God As Samuel told them before to stop them if he could from being obstinate in desiring a change and the Lord himself confirms it when he said to Samuel they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them f 1 Sam. 8.7 For which cause that they might perceive and see that their wickedness was great which they had done in the sight of the Lord in asking them a King Samuel called unto the Lord and the Lord sent such terrible thunder and rain upon their Harvest that they were afraid it would have destroyed even them themselves And therefore all the people said unto Samuel Pray for thy Servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not for we have added unto all our sins this evil to ask us a King t 1 Sam. 12.17 18 19. This you see without repentance is the love God hath for them who fear not him nor his Viceroy u 1 Sam. 12.18 but desire a Change Yet since their mind was still for Monarchy which all the Nations about them had chosen by the light of nature the Lord granted them a King according to their Petition w 1 Sam. 8.7 but only he would not grant them the liberty of Electing him themselves The people cannot remove Kings and set up Kings without usurping the Lords Prerogative Dan. 2.21 for that is a Prerogative so annexed to his Headship that he could not possibly do it without intrenching upon his own Royalty and Supremacy as he is King of Kings We should think it very unreasonable if any should desire without our appointment to have the choice of him that is to be our servant how much more then is it unreasonable for any to desire to have the choice of him that is to be Gods Deputy and Viceroy Whenas the distance between God and man is so great that it is beyond Comparison Therefore the Lord would not suffer his King to be the peoples Elect but as at first he was the Author of his own Election so now 2. He would be the Author of his Vicegerents too For though it be said Behold the King whom ye have chosen x 1 Sam. 12.13 Yet that choice was only in regard of their wills to have a King and the Election of him if they could and therefore it is added in the same Verse and whom ye have desired For behold the Lord himself chose him y 1 Sam. 10.24 and appointed Samuel to anoint Saul for their King z 1 Sam. 10.1 12.1 13. But though the Lord chose them a King yet he was such a King as might be a Curse to them for their desiring a Change as is expressed in the manner of his Reigning over them a 1 Sam. 8.11 c. And indeed though they might foolishly imagine that if they had had a King of their own Election as they also wickedly desired he might be the more plyable to their humors it belonging to them with as much right to remove him when they pleased yet since they went so unadvisedly to work in asking a King under the pretext of Samuels old age and the male administration of his Sons b 1 Sam. 8.5 without desiring Gods choice and consent they could not expect if they had believed God that their King should prove any better than a Tyrant c 1 Sam. 8.18 for God foretold them by his servant Moses thus When thou art come into the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee and shalt possess it and shalt dwell therein and shalt say I will set a King over me like as all the nations that are about me Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose that is in the sense of the Targum of Ben. Vzziel Ye shall seek instruction of the Lord and after that ye shall set a King over you One from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17.14 15. But to this precept you see they had no regard they would not take Gods choice and advice nor stay his time and pleasure till David had changed his Sheephook into a Scepter who being a man after Gods
hence are justly condemned two sorts of men amongst us 1. Those that dare presume to stile themselves the Godly Party and yet refuse all Loyalty to their Prince That pretend very much to fear the Lord and yet are not afraid to dishonour their King And who are such but only our Pharisaical Puritans and Fanaticks Time was we know when those Godly-gulls and Holy-cheats made the deluded people of this Kingdom to believe that he did fear God the most who did the least honour his King that he was the most godly who would offer the most affronts and indignities to his Prince Nothing was counted with them a greater piece of Piety than to stir up the people against their Soveraign by raising jealousies and casting abroad rude and scandalous Pamphlets almost every day to libel and disgrace him Which as that Holy Martyr King Charles 1. Himself saith in his Divine meditations * ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ that Golden Manual like sparks in great conflagrations did fly up and down to set all places on Fire Yea he was thought to be the most Religious who was the best Incendiary to set a well ordered Kingdom in a Flame Hist of Indepen Compleat Part. 1. p. 55. and could cheat the giddy multitude the most into Rebellion no Ambassador to him that was the greatest Herauld of War and like a Geneva Bull could roar out loudest from the Pulpit Up ye Fanaticks Arm Arm ye are the only Godly party who have as much right to Rob the King and his Loyal Subjects as the Israelites had to spoil the Egyptians g Exod. 3.22 all that you can find is your own But only you must not think that you like ravening Wolves can make a prey of their possessions unless you hide the designs of your pride and covetousness under Sheeps clothing h Mat. 7.15 If therefore you have any lingering mind after the wages of unrighteousness i 2 Pet. 2.15 as we know you have as any Balaams of us all then you must deal wisely k Exod. 1.10 imitate our Language and behaviour to the life know no other godliness but your espoused gain l 1 Tim. 6.5 and make Religion but a stalking Horse to Rebellion regard not the voice of Conscience lest it interrupt you but yet be sure to carry it always about you that it may be ready to further your sinister ends and proceedings with its outward shews and varnish Be ye as Hypocritical in raising a Rebellion against your King as ambitious Absalom was when he raised a conspiracy against his Father m 2 Sam. 15. though like David he be a man after Gods own heart yet pretend ye that there are some grievous abuses in Church and State which if you were made Rulers and Judges your integrity would quickly remedy that so your Godly party being strengthned by the stoln hearts of others you may accomplish your ambitious and covetous ends the more assuredly to the temporal ruin and downfal of your King and Country O! Tell this not in Gath nor publish it in the streets of Askalon lest the Daughters of Philistins rejoyce lest the Daughters of the uncircumcised triumph n 2 Sam. 1.20 For time was then too when these cursed Cains and Amalekites did all of them combine together and were not afraid to stretch forth united hands to destroy the Lords anointed o ver 14. And yet forsooth they pretended that it was out of fear to God to promote his Cause and his Glory Yea they thought they did God good service to kill their King and make him a glorious Martyr for God and his Country as Christ our Prince of peace foretold his Disciples of the like that was to happen unto them to make them stable in their persecutions p John 16.1 2 For as these Rebels did this Barbarous Villainous and unparallel'd act because they had no saving knowledge of God the Father and Christ God-man the Son q ver 3. So our Martyred Soveraign like King David in all his troubles though both had their failings demonstrated himself to be a true Disciple of Christ indeed for notwithstanding all the various modes whereby these proud and impudent wretches had him in great derision yet he declined not from Gods Law r Ps 119.51 But the guilty Consciences of these Parricides the true seed of Corah and his Complices two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly all of them Parliament men of their own Election ſ Numb 16. told them that the murder of their Soveraign was not enough to keep those Places Dignities and Power which before they had usurped from him unless they barred all his Heirs from succeeding Therefore though they consisted of two juntoes and were divided into two adverse Factions the one Presbyterians who to use their own distinction murdered the King in his Political Capacity and the other Independents who murdred him in his natural Yet they most firmly agreed in making an Act * Hist Independ Compleat Part 2. p. 140. p. 241. Part 4. p. 22. for the Dethroning of his Highness James Duke of York and all the Royal Family not sparing so much as the Kingly Office it self Especially therein they united themselves together against the next Heir to the Crown our now most gracious Lord and King as unanimously and as solemnly as those two deadly Enemies Herod and Pilate were made friends against Christ t Luk. 23.12 They hunted him from place to place for his life as Saul King David like a Partridge upon the Mountains u 1 Sam. 26.20 most inhumanely saying like the Husbandmen in the Parable w Luk. 20.14 this is the Heir come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours Yet they had the impudence to pretend that all was but expedient for the good and welfare of the whole Nation the Glory of God the safety and liberty of the people Salus populi is the common pretence of all Rebels Caiaphas pretended the same for Crucifying Christ it is expedient saith he that one man die meaning Jesus and that the whole Nation perish not x John 11.50 And Cromwell too pretended the like for the murder of our Soveraign unless he die the whole nation must perish but as that which was pretended to be so much for the safety of the Jews brought a fearful destruction upon them so this which was pretended to be so much for the Glory of God and the Liberty of the People hath been seen by woeful experience for twelve years together to have been the very bane and ruin of the Nation When was there ever more slavery and bondage in the State And when more Anarchy and confusion in the Church Munster it self saw but the Prologue to our Tragedy But to maintain this their Usurpation they still persisted in their old Hypocritical zeal and re-inforced it too with such wonderful shews of godliness that if it were possible they
under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved e Acts 4.12 And St. John saith He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the Wrath of God abideth on him f John 3.36 17.3 Heb. 2.3 1 John 5.10 O therefore as you tender your everlasting Peace delay no longer to kiss the Son of God Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour g Psal 2.12 not with a Judas's kiss to betray him h Mat. 26.48 but with the mouth of Faith and obedience in token of homage i 1 Sam. 10.1 that he was Anointed to be your Lord and King by God the Father k Psa 89.27 Revel 1.5 Phil. 2.8 9. lest by your infidelity ye perish from the Way the Truth and the Life l John 14.6 And you O Christian Kings that are already established in the Faith and imbrace Christ and his Gospel the only means of your Salvation accomplish ye the end of your Ordination be ye true defenders of the Faith and Nursing Fathers to the Church that Christ may defend you from your enemies and nurse you in your Kingdoms manifest your wisdom by scattering the wicked in judgment and bringing the Wheel over the ungodly that the Lord may establish your Thrones in righteousness m Pro. 20.8 26. 25.5 Let Christ rule in your hearts by Faith n Ephes 3.17 Col. 3.15 that you may rule his people the more faithfully Pay ye True Loyalty and subjection to Christ your Lord and Master that your Subjects may the more chearfully pay you yours In a word have a care of increasing your accounts by negligence in your charge o Luk. 12.48 But crown your Sacred Office with Christian examples that at last you may exchange your corruptible Crowns for Crowns of glory But Lastly we must not forget that if a King should be wanting in his duty to fear the Lord yet our duty is nevertheless to fear the King let him be what he will that can be no excuse to us we must not forsake the Lord for his sake but still be subject unto him for the Lords sake Wickedness in a King may bring destruction upon himself but we know from what hath been said before that it can be no plea for Rebellion Yea suppose a King should be a notorious enemy not only to the Lord but to our selves too yet for all that we must not Rebel but still be subject and obedient David a man after Gods own heart when he was a Subject to King Saul that remarkable Tyrant and Rebel against God gives us in this a very fair example for when the evil spirit of King Saul rose up against him and that so violently that he sought to smite him even to the Wall with his Javelin and though afterwards he declared his malice to be as great as Davids innocency both by hunting him from place to place like a Partridge upon the Mountains and devising all the ways he could besides to take away his life p 1 Sam. 19.9 10 c. yet when he had him at his mercy even at such times when he came to attach him q 1 Sam. 24. c. 26. he would by no means Rebel lift up his hand or his heel against him no nor suffer those that were about him to do it though they much incited him thereunto alledging that the day was come in the which the Lord said he would deliver his enemy into his hand But alas they savoured not the things that be of God r Mat. 16.23 the Lord delivered him into his hand not that he should kill him but only to try his Loyalty whether he would kill him or not and so the words following interpret it that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee Å¿ 1 Sam. 24.4 5. And so accordingly he proved himself a True Loyalist indeed the more he feared the Lord the more he feared the King he cut off but the skirt of Sauls Robe and his heart smote him much less durst he kill him t Psal 4.4 Satan for all his great policy could not prevail with him to do that he said unto hismen The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord With these words David staid his servants and suffered them not to rise against Saul u 1 Sam. 24.5 6 7. And when Abishai for the same reason would have killed him in the Wilderness of Ziph David was astonished at his boldness and impudency and forbad him with great indignation saying Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless w 1 Sam. 26. But behold instead of satisfying a revengeful nature upon his enemy he so pacified his wrath by yielding that he even inforced tears from his eyes x 1 Sam. 24.16 17 c. made him promise him that he would do him no more harm yea confess his own folly and bless him y 1 Sam. 26.21 c. This is so exactly according to what his Son Solomon hath taught us Ecclesiastes 10.4 that he may seem to have borrowed his Wisdom and Counsel therein from this very story the words are these If the Spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offences If the Spirit of thy Ruler rise up against thee let it be for what cause it will yet for all that thou must not leave thy place and rebel to make him yield by constraint but keep thy order and station still z 1 Cor. 7.20 24. and endeavour to pacifie him by yielding This is the duty of us all how great then is the sin of them that leave their places and rise up against their Ruler when his spirit is calm and sedate and by their Rebellion inforce him aftewards to rise up against them and yet refuse to pacifie him by yielding though themselves have been the cause of his provocation Fanaticks themselves may be Judge but withal let them repent lest by their pride and obstinacy they also provoke Gods anger against them And in a word let us all be as careful always to discharge out duty to the Lord and the King that we may not make our selves for ever miserable by Rebellion but that as Kings on Earth dye like men so we in heaven may live like Kings a Psal 82.7 Revel 5.10 Part II. NOw Secondly that we may obtain this heavenly and Royal inheritance of the True Loyalist and avoid the everlasting perdition of Rebels Solomon also gives us a seasonable caution to meddle not with them that are given to change for by Changers here are meant Rebels such as neither fear the Lord nor the King but under an hypocritical pretence of being great Zelots in Religion pride themselves in nothing more
own heart d 1 Sam. 13.14 was the fittest to succeed him in the Government e 1 Sam. 16.7 but they most arrogantly and presumptuously assumed unto themselves a Power of Electing whom and when they pleased Because they were the Elders of Israel and particulary of that chief Council of them called the Sanhedrim instituted by God at the request of Moses for his assistance they thought they might do any thing For which cause the Lord again complains of them in the Prophet Hosea mentioning their Crime in the Plural Number for the clearer example to all Nations under the Sun They have set up Kings but not by me or according to the Arabick Version they have Reigned from themselves and not from me They have made Princes but I knew it not Hosea 8.4 that is contrary to my Will allowance and approbation Thus you see that it is absolutely unlawful for any either Elders Sanhedrim or Parliament men upon any pretence whatsoever either to chuse or be chosen a King without Gods leave counsel and advice as he hath appointed and directed in his word How much more then is it unlawful to set up any other form of government besides Monarchy Gods own both by Order Precept and Example Yet many in this latter age of the World now iniquity doth abound and get the upper hand f Mat. 24.12 have presumed to do it I need not trouble you with an instance of this out of any History for its illustration you know we have had a more eminent example of it already in Cromwell that Arch-Traitor and Usurper and those Phanaticks and Changers that set up the Idol and worshiped it than all the Histories in the world can afford besides being put all together But if the Ruler be not Tyrannus titulo a meer Usurper like him and illegally chosen but one that having a just Right and Title to the Crown entreth into his Throne by the right door and climbeth up not some other way the same is no Thief nor Robber g Joh. 10.1 2. but may be said to be as directly from God as Monarchy is it self though he be otherwise never so much Tyrannus exercitio as grand a Tyrant in practice as King Saul or as much a Heathen as King Cyrus h Isa 45.1 'T is by God that Kings Reign as well as by him that Princes decree Justice Proverbs 8.15 There are no judgments nor evil of punishments in any Nation or City under the Sun but the Lord hath a hand in them all i Amos 3.6 2 King 33. Therefore to bring about those ends without putting himself to the expence of a Miracle he not only sometimes takes away Religious Princes and in their room permits Usurpers but also anoints bad Vicegerents under him as well as good As is evident by the examples of Saul Nebuchadnezzar Jehu and others k Jer. 25.9 2 King 10.30 whom though as such when they have once accomplished the ends for which they were ordained he either takes away in his Wrath as at first he gave them in his Anger l Hos 13.11 or else reserves them for a greater judgment to come yet as they are his Vicegerents appointed to execute his Wrath and pleasure upon Offenders he hath invested them both with a Soveraign Title to rule and a Soveraign Power to maintain it Headship and Prerogatives are so firmly united together in the Lord and the King that the one cannot possibly subsist without the other 1. From hence we may see the great absurdity of Cromwell the Usurper that Notorious Changer Cursed Hypocrite and Deceiver in separating Soveraign Title from Soveraign Power which the Lord in himself and the King hath thus firmly joyned together The guilt of his Conscience would not suffer him to assume the name of a King No nor his Diabolical policy neither lest he should seem to favour that Kingly Government which he had destroyed But to maintain his Usurpation of the Royal due and the favour of his Fanaticks he would change the name and be called their Protector yet his ambition would not suffer him to neglect the usurpation of the Kings Power For which cause he and his most abusively granted the King to have the name of a King still if so be he would be so contented without the power because they knew without that the King would be as was said of Pompey but magni nominis umbra the shadow of a King without the substance yea to be a titulary †Josep Antiq. l. 15. telleth us that Marcus Antonius being urged by his Dalilah Cleopatra to call Herod to an account replyed that it was not fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to demand of a King an account of what was done in his Government for so he would not be a King King would be a King no more in reality than a King in a Play Therefore it is observable that Mephibosheth like a True Loyalist called David not only by the name of King to shew his Soveraign Title to rule but also by the name of Lord saying My Lord the King to shew his Soveraign Power to command 2 Sam. 19.30 2. From hence it also is that by our most wise and Royal Master we are here enjoyned to fear the Lord and the King because power the foundation of fear belongeth to them both To the Lord as God the greatest Supreme and to the King as his Minister and Vicegerent m Rom. 13.4 Therefore St. Paul joyneth fear and power saying Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power Rom. 13.3 And to speak all in a word The reason wherefore the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King are here joyned and enjoyned together is for an exegesis or exposition one of the other to shew that he that is truly Godly and fears the Lord is also a True Loyalist and fears the King and that he is only a True Loyalist and fears the King who is truly godly and fears the Lord True Godliness and Loyalty the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King like Hippocrates's Twins live and die together Godliness without Loyalty is not true but Pharisaical and Loyalty without godliness is only nominal false and adulterate Now as the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King is the same in kind though not in degree because the fear of the King is terminated in the fear of the Lord So it is meant not of any legal or servile fear derived from the lower spring of Nature which it would be if it were grounded only upon their Power But of a pure filial and Evangelical fear derived from the upper spring of grace grounded not only upon power but upon cordial love and duty As the true Godlilist fears to disobey and dishonour the Lord not legally only for the sake of his power but filially out of pure love as an obedient child fears a kind Father n Deut. 10.12 Gal. 4.7 Heb.
12.6 7 8 9. so the true Loyalist fears to offend his King not slavishly only for the sake of his power as the nominal Loyalist doth for fear of punishment but Evangelically out of a filial fear and perfect love to God Which as St. John saith casteth out all slavish and tormenting fear o 1 John 4.18 In a word the true Loyalist looks upon his King not humanely as one that hath only power and authority to terrifie and punish him if he do evil but spiritually and abstractedly as he is Gods Minister and Vicegerent ordained for that very end And therefore he fears and subjects himself to him of necessity not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake p Rom. 13.4 5. Thus you see the nature and quality of fear which makes the difference between the true Loyalist and the false But now we must consider that as a filial and Evangelical fear being as it were the Royal Head the primum mobile or first mover in all the Spheres of Religion q Pro. 9.10 Job 28.28 doth in its progress produce 1. True honour to the King and that both of esteem and maintenance and 2. With true honour all the parts of obedience r Ecclesiastes 12.13 So these duties and commandments are counterfeited by the Devil Gods Ape either by corrupting the hearts of his Children with a servile fear or by changing himself in them into an Angel of light In all which the True Loyalist will also be discovered from the false by the difference of their originals For your better understanding whereof take this for a general Rule That the True Loyalist makes the fear of God the groundwork of all duties to his King he eyes God in all and doth all for his sake and to his glory Whereas the counterfeit Loyalist doth in all only eye either humane powers or his own safety sinister ends or vain glory As 1. The True Loyalist is one that honoureth his King not only for the fear of his power and authority and the Penal Laws of the Land as the nominal Loyalist doth but out of love and fear to God because so is his will and Commandment ſ 1 Pet. 2.15 in which respect St. Peter hath joyned them both together saying fear God honour the King t 1 Pet. 2.17 2. Though a Kings Majesty and Grandeur be the foundation of humane honour as well as his power is of a servile fear yet the True Loyalist honours his King not for the sake of them alone meerly as they are humane as the Carnal Loyalist doth but as his King receives them from God his only Lord and Master and in that respect are impresses of the Divine Yea and in regard of his supremacy Prerogatives too annexed to his headship 3. The True Loyalist honoureth his King not for any self-interest or by-end of his own as the time-serving self-seeking Jesuitical Loyalist doth but still only for the Lords sake because he is his Minister and Vicegerent Lastly The True Loyalist honoureth his King not in word only as lip-holy and heart-hollow Pharisees honour the Lord u Mat. 15.8 9. but ex animo sincerely from his very heart in deed and in truth 1 John 3.18 for duty and Conscience sake because God hath commanded him to give honour to whom honour is due w Rom. 13.7 And no marvel for thus the True Loyalist honoureth all his other Governours both in Church and State 1. He highly esteemeth in love all his spiritual Governours both Bishops and Pastors of the Church not for their persons x Rom 2.11 James 2.9 Jud. 16. but for their works sake not because they have the rule over him but because they are over him in the Lord and are Ambassadors for Christ to admonish and beseech him in his stead to be reconciled to God y 2 Cor. 5.20 1 Thes 5.12 13. Phil. 2.29 Heb. 13.7 17. Rom. 10.15 2. He much honoureth too all Magistrates and Civil Governours according to their several orders and Degrees whom his King hath put in authority under him in the State not for their powers sake but still for the Lords sake because they have received their power from him to execute his wrath upon evil doers and for the praise of them that do well z Rom. 13.4 1 Pet. 2.14 16. How much more then doth he honour his King who is a person not only Civil but Sacred too Civil in respect he is not to intermeddle with the Holy Function of a Minister any more than King Vzziah was to invade the holy Office of a Priest a 2 Chron. 26.18 or we are to meddle with them that are given to Change But Sacred in respect he is Gods Deputy and Vicegerent ordained under him Supreme Head and Governour over all both in Church and State as well the highest of the Clergy as the lowest of the Laity God himself always held the Scepter above the Miter to defend it and therefore King David calls himself expresly the Lord of Zadok the High Priest b 1 King 1.33 Yea in a word the True Loyalist considers that as his Lord God himself is the common Father of us all c Mal. 1.6 so hath he appointed the King his Vicegerent to be Pater patriae the Father of his Country And therefore he respects him accordingly above all as an obedient Son doth his Father that so he may neither stand in the light of his own honour by dishonouring his Lord God in contemning in his King the Image of his authority d 1 Sam. 2.30 nor withstand his promise of long life either in this World or the World to come or both by breaking the fifth Commandment This is enough to let us see that True godliness and Loyalty True Loyalty and goldiness the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King go hand in hand together both in the Affirmative and in the Negative 1. The consequence à majori ad minus is undeniable in the Affirmative He that doth the greater duty in Religion will not stick to do the lesser quisquis Deum timet etiam Regibus honorem habebit 1 Pet. 2.17 1 Sam. 8.8 12.18 saith Calvin he that feareth God will also honour his King And 2. The consequence à minori ad majus is as undeniable in the Negative He that refuses to do the lesser duty in Religion to be sure will not do the greater he that will not fear and honour his King no man can be so sottish to think that he feareth God Therefore what St. John saith concerning our love to God and our brother e 1 Joh. 4.20 I may as truly say of our fear to God and our King If a man say I fear God and dishonoureth his King he is a lyer no less than a Quaker for he that honoureth not his King who is visible how can he fear God whom no man can see and live f Exod. 33.20 From
a handful as it were and some of them disloyal too against a multitude 1. Therefore O ye Prophane and ungodly Loyalists though God forbid any such sad times should come again to try your Loyalty in yet it is behoofeful that you as well as those that call themselves the Godly Party purge out all your sins by a true timely and unfeigned repentance and holy resolutions of better obedience that your Hypocrisie and deception may also vanish as well as theirs Mat. 12.41 42. Unless you mean to have the very Gentiles rise in judgment against you for being under the light of Nature better Loyalists than you under the glorious light of the Gospel For all men are obliged even by Nature it self to venture their dearest blood for the safety of their King Our Saviour himself who came to fufil the Law of Moses and perfect the Law of Nature u Mat. 5.17 hath confirmed it for a never dying Maxim If my Kingdom saith he were of this World then would my Servants fight c. John 18.36 And no marvel that it should be thus for the King as he is Gods Vicegerent and our Supreme head and Governour is as the men of Israel said of King David worth ten thousand of us w 2 Sam. 18.3 yea more than us all the very light of the Nation x 2 Sam. 21.17 This proves that the King is Major Vniversis contrary to that false Childish Fanatical and Antimonarchical distinction that he is Major Singulis Minor Vniversis Be ye then as Loyal in your resolutions as you are in your professions and as careful of your Kings preservation as Abishai and the men of Israel were of King David's y 2 Sam. 21.17 Lest for your neglect of a duty of so high a concern the greatness of your Talent bring upon you a greater Curse than that of Meroz Luke 12.48 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the inhabâ—â—â—nts thereof Because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the Mighty Judges 5.23 2. Though no pretence at last shall excuse any Gainsaying and Rebellious people z Rom. 10.21 but all that despise dominion and speak evil of Dignities must without discrimination perish in the Gainsaying of Core a Jud. 8. to the 22. yet be ye wary how ye offer any occasion to your weaker brethren to be Revolters from their Loyalty or obstinate in their Fanaticism by mixing your Loyalty with prophaneness lest you aggravate your Torments in Hell by making your selves guilty of their sin and punishment as well as your own You have seen in or from our late times of Rebellion what confusion and destruction our Old prophane Loyalists brought upon their King and Country by shaming so good a Cause which they owned How they filled our Land like Rama with mourning by their Cursing and Cursed Oaths b Jer. 23.10 Mat. 2.18 even bitter mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon c Zech. 12.11 Mal. 3.5 Ecclesiasticus 23.11 And finally what Aegyptian Bondage and darkness they enwrapped the whole Nation in both Church and State by moving Fanaticks as was pretended with their drunkenness and debauchery to extinguish the light of England In a word therefore take ye warning in time and follow their pernicious examples no more lest you find death in your Pots indeed d 2 Kings 4.40 the death of your Souls to all eternity e 1 Cor. 6.9 10. But manifest your Allegiance by adorning your Loyalty with holy lives answerable to your professions Tit. 2.10 that thereby you may both remove all objections and colours of Rebellion from any that watch for matter of advantage and exception against you and offer them as great an occasion to imbrace True Loyalty if they will accept it as they have from all True Loyalists if they were not wilfully blind and obstinate that so the more hearts being united to the Lord and the King we may get the more strength to resist our Enemies and the more securely enjoy Peace amongst our selves both in Church and State Now 2. As the True Loyalist when he is in the place of a True Conformist honours God not only with reverence but with his substance f Prov. 3.9 Mic. 4.13 so the True Conformist when he is in the place of a True Loyalist honours his King not only with due respect and esteem but also with maintenance The same man in one respect renders unto God the things which be Gods and in the other he renders unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's g Luk. 20.25 Prayer and thanksgiving he pays to God as his immediate Rents and dues Tythes and offerings mediately in his Stewards and Ministers But Tribute or Taxes c. he renders unto his King or Caesar in a more special manner as he is Gods Minister and Vicegerent and next under him his supreme Head and Governour Therefore it is very remarkable that our blessed Saviour who pay'd Tribute himself which his pretended Vicar refuses to do to shew the great necessity of this duty Dr. Boys upon the dominical Epistles and Gospels p. 163. never did any miracle about honour or money except this one of giving Tribute unto Caesar Mat. 17.27 The consideration of this moves the True Loyalist to pay his Tribute and Taxes c. to his King freely and voluntarily out of love and fear to God and his Commandments Whereas the Nominal Loyalist though he also pays Tribute and Taxes c. to his King as well as the True yet he pays them unwillingly and by constraint out of fear of the Kings authority and the Penal Laws of the Land But the True Loyalist I say considers that his King is Gods Minister and Vicegerent appointed by him for the good of his Church both as a rewarder for the praise of them that do well and as a revenger to execute his wrath upon them that do evil And therefore as the Apostle hath taught him h Rom. 13.3 4 5 6. he pays his Tribute and Taxes c. with all subjection not only for Wrath but also for Conscience-sake By this you may perceive that though the True Loyalist and the nominal agree in this that both of them pay Tribute and Taxes c. to their King yet in the mode and ends of their paying they differ as much as a servile fear and a filial yea a Humane fear and a Divine the fear of God and the fear of man How much then are Quakers and such Godly gulls to blame who thinking they do God good service in resisting the higher Powers chuse rather to suffer imprisonment or any affliction in the World than to pay any Tribute or Taxes c. at all And glory in it too and plead Conscience for the same as if God the jealousie of whose honour burneth like fire was the Author of Rebellion against