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nature_n	humane_a	law_n	positive_a	2,470	5	10.9031	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07368	Religion and alegiance [sic] in two sermons preached before the Kings Maiestie, the one on the fourth of Iuly, anno 1627. at Oatlands, the other on the 29. of Iuly the same yeere, at Alderton / by Roger Maynwaring ... ; by His Maiesties speciall command.	Maynwaring, Roger, 1590-1653.	1627 (1627)	STC 17751.5; ESTC S123212	43,779	94

last terrible sentence of Damnation for he that resisteth receiues Damnation From within from without frō home from abroad from aboue from beneath from Heauen from Hell Damnation it selfe doth the Apostle fetch Arguments to perswade this Transcēdent Duty No mention nor so much as any touch of any Limitation Caution Protestation or Pragmaticall Sanction in all the holy Scriptures to barre Kings of that Obedience which by naturall Right to them doth appertaine In any case whatsoeuer but onely where their Commands stand in a cleere and direct opposition to the Law of God If Nebuchadnezar had not erected an Image and commanded the People to fall downe and worship it If Antiochus the mad had not by his Decree constrained the Machabees to eat Swines-flesh If the Heathen Emperours had not compelled the Christians to cast Incense into the fire of Idols If these Kings had commanded no more then the Persons and some of the Purses of the People surely They for their disobedience would neuer haue suffered a Temporall nor for their Obedience euer feared an eternall fire And this is a Truth so solide and fundamentall that it hath the cleere and expresse Text and testimony of holy Writ is grounded on the perpetuall practise of all the Primitiue Saints and Martyrs hath the consent of all the holy Bishops and Catholike Writers Neuer any good or learned man taught or thought the contrary till the Deuill of late infused it into the heads of those Two fierie and entailed Foxes of the world the Roman Iesuites and German Puritans To put an end then to this whole matter It may cleerely by what hath been already spoken appeare vnto all of indifferent and impartiall Iudgement how many are the Paradoxes which They runne themselues into who in this case doe in so stiffe a manner Refuse Obedience to Supreme Authority For first what a Paradox is it in Diuinity to opine That Religion is an Oratresse to perswade Rebellion or Disobedience to sacred and anointed Kings This being the Weapon wherewith Saint Augustine did ward the blowes of Heathenish Objections made against the Christians Give vs if you can such Cons●ls such Prouincials such Husbands such Wives such Parents such Children such Master such Seruants such Debtors such Creditors such Iudges such Officers such Kings such People or Subiects such Publicians such Tribute-Prayers as Christians are and the Doctrine they professe teacheth them to be And indeed impossible it is That of Religion which is the Mistresse of Obedience any man should learne the euill Lesson of Disobedience Againe What a Paradox is this in Nature to thinke That the Part should not con●orme it selfe to the whole Nature hauing stampt this Law and it being the very Imprease of Natures light That euery Part ought in right to Comply with the whole or greater Part. So in all the Councels of the Church and Parliaments of the world hath it euer beene since the world began without which yeelding of the lesser to the greater Side or Number no Lawes could euer haue beene agreed vpon nor the World or the Church euer enjoyed any peaceable or happy daies Now these Refusers of Obedience haue quite forgotten their very yee●ding to the maior part For what a handfull are They compared with almost two hundred thousand men which haue willingly submitted and lead the way of most dutifull Obedience towards his Majesty And therefore these Recusants must of necessity follow them in so good a Rule and Precedent vnlesse they will haue Men thinke that the very Light of naturall Illumination is damped in them Thirdly What a Paradox is this in point of Policie to imagine that a part of the Republique though the greater should submit their shoulders to the Burthen of the whole For in euery well-ordered Common-wealth as by Distributiue Iustice each person hath a share in the Profits and Honours therein So by the same Iustice ought he to beare a part in the Taxes and Burthens thereof For it hath the ground from that Rule That euery Commodity that passeth vnto any man carries with it a certaine Burthen correspondent Nay this is founded expresly on the Apostles words Where he teacheth and that from the very sense of Nature That the Members ought to haue the same care one of another much more of the whole or greater part For any Members therefore in this case to enjoy a Priuiledge is to prei●dice the whole and so to extinguish and ouerthrow the Safety and wel-●are as well of the N●turall as of the Politique Corporation and the Sacred Constitution of both Fourt●ly What a Paradox is this in Loyalty and that very soule to farre to depresse supreme Authority and to tie the hands and clip the wings of sacred Kings and to attempt the keeping of them within such straight and intolerable Bounds as not to be able to command that from their Subiects which the Lawes of God and Nature doe most plentifully allow them yea though it be for the singular Behoofe Benefit and Aduancement of the Common-weale as at this Time and in this Case it is cleerely manifest Fiftly What a Parodox is this in the Practique Observation of humane Lawes so farre to preferre them in our Practice as to cause them hereby to preiudice and preponderate diuine Determinations and so through a kind of preposterous Zeale vnto the One to eleuate the Authority of the Other It being a certain truth That so farre are humane Lawes in force as they derogate not from the Eternall Law of God and naturally Impressed Light In preiudice of which Lawes of God and Nature if any man in the world should obserue the Constitutions of Men he did sinne mortally Neither doe Mans Lawes exact Obedience any farther then so farre as the obseruance which they require may not cause men to Rush ouer the euerlasting bounds of Lawes diuine Sixtly is this in Humanity and morall honesty That what one Friend vsually doth for another One Christian nay one Man for another nay What a Turke will doe for a Christian and a Christian for a Turke and a Iew for both What and much more the Primitiue Christians did at the command of such Princes who did pursue their Persons and Religion with cruell Torments and bitter Contumelies the same and much lesse Christian men should deny to a Christian King and such a King of so great Goodnesse and Patience Iustice and Clemency Wisdome and Prudence Pietie and pure Conscience that of Him we may say as Eadmer said of Saint Dunstane That he is Vir totus ex Virtutibus factus Or as the Scripture saith of Dauid the King of Israel A man after Gods owne heart yea and after the heart of all good men I am sure And to say this is no Soloecisme For this if we say not we shall be found Lyers against God who hath made him so There was

or sacred than Wise Counsell So neither is there any way to preuent dangerous Sequeles in a Common-wealth more effectuall then the Soueraigne Counsel of Those who are Wise in Heart and Mightie in Power 2 That no way so pregnant to raise vp a Damme against the ouer-flowing of Wickednesse and superfluity of Naughtinesse and those fearefull Euils into which our sinnes are like to sinke vs as hearkening to the Counsellors of Peace 3 Nothing more seasonable in this Age wherein Prophanesse hath so farre ouer-run Pietie Pride Meeknesse and Vice in a manner drowned all Vertue and Modesty as to boare the eares of men that they may giue all Audience and Obedience to wise Counsell 4 Nothing more the cause of so little feare of God and Reuerence toward Man as there is in these daies then is the supine-slacking of this Obedience 5 And in●fine nothing so much the cause of this Neglect and in a manner Contempt of all dutifull submitting to Supreme authority as the want of that Discipline and due Correction wherewith men ought to bee framed and smoothed in their Minority and tender age Dutifull obedience being eu●r the effect of morall and wel-disposed Minds of Regular and wel-composed Affections And most certaine it is That if the hand of Discipline bee not held more streightly ouer this late and stif-necked Broode that is now growing to Maturity in the world nothing is more to be expected then that the comming Generation will bring in such a Torrent of Vice and Corruption as will ouer-runne the World with Rudenesse Lewdnesse and extreme Barbaritie and bring vpon vs that Curse which Esay threatens to them who ought timely to represse such intemperancies That the Child shal behaue himselfe proudly against the Ancient and the Base against the Honourable and which in time will grow to such Monsters as the same Prophet speakes of in another place who being but a little pinch'd with hunger or touch'd with the least Calamitie will Curse their King and their God and looke vpward not being a whit ashamed of themselues or afraid of humane or diuine Reuenge For what makes the Nature of Man more stiffe and inflexible than hardening in sinne What more desperate and daring then Impunity in their euill morall dispositions and neuer to suffer that smart of Correction which is meet for the backe of Fooles Hence it comes to passe that the hearts of men in their tender yeares being neuer subdued with any Religious Awe nor acquainted with any Reuerence or godly feare toward their Superiours doe afterward in their riper times become so desperate and audacious so lewd and licentious as to be so far from honouring the Person of the Ruler that they dare with great boldnesse Traduce his Actions I will end this Point with an obseruation of Plutarch who comparing these Tempters of Supreme Authoritie saith They be like vnto certaine Ouer-curious Men that desiring to trie conclusions with Poison doe taste it themselues whereby it comes to passe that together with an Experimentall Conclusion of their knowledge th●y draw vpon themselues and that most iustly the fatall conclusion of their Liues I should now speake of the Counsellor Solomon which was my Fift Circumstāce and I hope you know hee gaue a Wise mans Counsell and the Counsell of a Prophet But I must passe to the Second generall Part of the Text. For Preparation whereunto and that I may deriue both my Discourse and your Contemplation to the view thereof We must know That this World is not One thing only but many things yet fairely disposed and fitly ordered and for this cause it is called a World that is a Trim and goodly Ornament Now no Ornament can be without Order but a tumultuous Motion and Confusion Order therefore as Saint Augustine saith facit quiescere Order gives to euery thing its proper place and so procures and preserues Rest and Quiet thereunto In Order therefore of necessitie must bee those two things which Iustine Martyr calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transcendencie and Lowlinesse Sublimitie and Inferioritie Supremacie and Subordination Maiestie and Subiection Now that which is most high and supreme be it in Heauen aboue or on Earth beneath that is euer the best Which that wise and illuminate Heathen Ecphantas did see full well when he said In Heauen God on earth the King is chiefe Of Creatures Man of Men the King most sacred is Now a Naturall Ground it is That looke what is best and most diuine that ought to Rule and what is of a lower straine of Goodnesse that ought to bee at Command and in Subiection And so in Goodnesse God being the highest of necessity all Power as well of Dominion as of Iurisdiction originally resides in him And hence is that of the Prophet Esaiah The Lord God is our Law-giuer the Lord God is our Iudge the Lord God is our King In the first we doe beleeue that our Persons to him are acceptable In the second that our Actions to him are accountable In the third that our Substance is liable to his honour and seruice as Salomon elsewhere saith Honour God with thy Substance and with the first fruits of all thine Encrease And from that naturall Right that is in God to giue Lawes vnto the Creature and by them to gouerne all things and from that naturall Obligation which is in Man to submit to the Creators Law is supported and held vp all the Credit Reuerence and Obedience which is due to all Lawes both of God Nature and Men and all that Power which is deriued to Men be they Kings or Priests is wholly and immediately transmitted from God in whom is the Plenitude of all Power To the King then as the best and highest vnder God and after God the most diuine is communicated all Power of Dominion ouer the States and Persons and of Iurisdiction ouer the Deeds and Actions of mortall men Nor yet doth Gods Prouidence stay here but goes further and as he is the Fountaine of those Powers and doth deriue them to and bestow them on and settle them in all Earthly Potentates for the endlesse good of all Generations of Men So hath he a speciall care to see that Power both feared and obeyed in Them who are the Dispensers of his Power and Ministers of his Prouidence And for this cause therefore doth he himselfe call for in his Word the Actuall and perpetuall discharge of that naturall Obligation which lies vpon all the Sonnes of Adam To yeeld all Reuerence and Obedience to the sacred Mandates of their Soueraignes and not onely so but fetcheth Reasons and fils his mouth with Arguments to presse and perswade the same And further to this purpose not onely vseth Reason but Religion too which is the Queene of all Vertues and Crowne of all Reason And that inregard of the Oath of God that so wee might thereby

neuer such a thing heard in Israel Lastly What a Paradox is this in point of Patience for any man to disobey the Commandements of a King requiring but what by Scripture and Nature is allowed him and for Disobedience to resolue to Suffer and in so Suffering to thinke themselues Martyrs By whom such Impressions as these are made in their minds is not hard to coniecture I will say no more of it then what the Author of the imperfect work said somtime in the like case Tolle hoc Vitium de Clero Remouefrō Clergy men that vitious and ambitious appetite to please the Peoples humours and to sew pillowes vnder their elbowes and all things shall succee'd right well both in Church and Common-wealth But as for any Conformity that such Recusants may haue in their supposed-dese●ued Sufferings with Martyrs Who altogether suffered for Righteousnesse-sake I for my part can conceiue none at all Core Dathan and Abiron whom for their Murmuring against the King God suddenly sunke into hell fire might as well alledge that their Sufferings had some semblance with that of the Three Children in the Babylon-Furnace And Theudas and Iudas the two Incendiaries of the People in the daies of Caesars Tribute might as well pretend their cause to be like the Machabees And the two Malefactors who were crucified With our Lord at the same time might as well haue said That for the sense and semblance of Bodily paines their Sufferings were not vnlike His But for the Cause they differed as farre as Light and Darknesse And the Cause it is not the Paine that makes vp a Martyrs definition So that I resolue all into this Conclusion Those Persons can haue no Conformity with Christ in their Sufferings as Martyrs haue who in their Doings runne cleane crosse to his Example and Doctrine both That Cause cannot bee good nor that Conscience well warranted in what it doth that is not able to defend it selfe in what it doth or suffers 1 Neither by any Law or light of Nature 2 Nor by any Text or Testimony of holy Scripture 3 Nor by any Rule of Morall honesty 4 Nor by any Original Law or Iustice. 5 Nor guide it selfe in what it doth or suffers by any reasonable or well-grounded Precedent from Them who for their Wisdome and Religion haue beene Exemplary in their Generations And now for the fourth and last Part. The Regard which we are to haue to Religion Religion as I said is an Oath the Oath of God yea and our Oath too for it ties vs to God Regard it then we must and ought because an Oath for that it is Gods Oath and our owne Oath also 1 Regard it we must as a Rule to direct 2 As a Reason to perswade vs. 3 As a Vertue yea a Queene of Graces to Controll and Command vs. 4 As a Vow that strictly bindes vs vnto God As a Rule of direction The Schoolemen haue a Maxime and they take it from the Scriptures That the will of Man being crosse and vnhappy in it selfe becomes then most right and equall when it receiues Motion or Direction from the will of God reuealed in his Word This Word then which is the Seed of Religion is the Rule of Direction too A dangerous thing therefore it is to suffer Men in any Christian Common-wealth to drinke in that Phanaticall and Erronious Spirit which teacheth them to relinquish those cleere and common Rules of Natures light and supernaturally-reuealed Truth by which all men ought to bee guided and to reduce all things to the Dictates of a priuate Conscience and Enthusiast-like so pertinaciously to adhere thereunto that they cannot be beaten from them Neither by any force of humane Reason Nor by any ground or Fortresse of Religion Nor by the weight and greatnesse of any Royall Iniunction Nor by the Representation of any be they neuer so great Vrgencies of State Neither by Mercy receiued Nor by Iustice inflicted Nor by the most laudable and religious Examples of Those who haue strewed vnto them the way of most dutifull Submission in this kinde Regard it also we must as a Reason that ought euer to be most potent and able to perswade vs For this was the very Stile Character of the ancient Saints which they did professedly both Beleeue and Practise That for their most blessed Lords sake who is eternall in the Heauens they did yeeld all Reuerence and Obedience vnto their Temporall Lords and Kings on earth Reigned they neuer so Despotically nay neuer so Tyrannically or with neuer so little Clemencie To Regard it likewise as the Queene and Empresse of all other Graces are wee bound without whose Actiue and Imperiall Charge the exercise of all other Vertues as well Diuine as Morall will proue remisse and idle Religion being the only Grace that can bring to passe as St. Peter speaks That we neither become barren nor vnfruitfull in the kuowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ. And in the fourth place Wee stand bound religiously to obserue and keepe Sacred the grounds of that Religion by which our Soules are Confederate to God And to beleeue that we can doe nothing cōtrary to the Principles thereof without the fearfull Violation of that Oath whereunto God himselfe is not only a Witnesse and a Party but an Vndertaker For whersoeuer these Bonds of Religion are wilfully and against Conscience violated there the very Light of Nature and Dictates of Right Reason are trampled vnder foot Humanity and morall Honesty find themselues grieued the Conscience wounded cries secret Shame and Horrour to that Soule that wilfully rusheth ouer such cleere and open Land-markes This tender hearted Matron Religion weepes bitterly to see the sinfull Transgression of that Positiue Charge which saith Vow to God and deferre not to Pay But fiftly aboue all To Regard it because the Dis-regard of it Imposeth vpon God himselfe most heauie Preiudices causeth his Name to be blasphemed and the way of his Truth to be euill-spoken of Takes from God the honour of being reputed the highest Truth fastens vpon him an opinion of Ignorance Charges that God that cannot Lie as if he did fauour Falshood when we call for him to stand by not onely as a Witnesse but as an Vndertaker to our Faithlesse Protestations Impleades him as vnfaithfull in his owne Promises vnto Men and in fine bereaues him of that very Esteeme Regard and Honour which done vnto a mortall Man is worthily counted vile and hatefull and was neuer done to God without some fearefull Token of Di●ine Vengeance Looke we then and that seriously to our Rule to our Reason to our Religion to the Oath of God to the Commandements of God to the Counsell of God to God himselfe to our owne Conscien●● toward all These to Gods W●ath and Vengeance threatned to the Contemners of All or any of These to his Temporall and Eternall Promises to such as haue an Eye of Regard to euery of These So