brave the Magistrate and face him and dare him with their Numbers as if they were ready to come to the Poll with him and count whether more People come from the Church on a Lords-day or from the Meeting vying for multitude especially if the weaker Vessels the Vessels of Frailty will but pass Muster Poor Bashful tender Hearts and tender Consciences As if a Holder-forth cannot Preach Christ in the Wild of Kent as in the Throngs and Crowds of a City or Corporation Well the Magistrates surely do well enough know their meanings and what they would be at And such a Discourse as this and such a Text as this can no where be so properly or so well Improv'd as in this Assembly the most Honorable and most considerable of this greatest and most Glorious City of the whole Kingdom the great Hinge of Peace and War Those Preachers are like Jobs Comforters Job 13.4 either Forgers of Lyes or Physicians of no value that do not handle or do not handle to purpose this Distemper What disquiets your sleeps but Fears of Disturbances from the Spirit of Popery and the Spirit of Foppery I know not which is worst they are both Bloody and Dangerous the former by Plotting but Blessed be God their Plots come to nothing the latter by Plotting and Acting too God knows not to mention the Defolation the Bondage the Tyranny and oppression this City groan'd under for so many years under so many Masters and different Tyrants Three or Four several ones in a year sometimes before His Majesties Happy Restauration but even since though the Papists might Plot Rebellion and Treason yet the Phanaticks have not only plotted but twice been up in Armes which the Papists never were twice I say in Armes and Open Field Fights in Scotland where our Miseries were first brooded and begun their Rise but Blessed be God as soon Defeated which was Gods goodness more than our Deserts no Thanks though to the Coventiclers and Field-meeters they show'd their good will and their good Religion and their tender Consciences in the Interim oh true Church Militant here upon Earth Why should Ministers make wild and randome discourses in the Pulpit and but beat the air applying remedies to distempers that the City and Kingdom are not especially plagu'd with alas Faction and Foppery and Popery are the great disease of the Kingdom with which it now at this day as well as of a long time it has been vext and griev'd hic seca hic ure here make applications otherwise we Preachers are like those the Apostle speaks of 2. Thes 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Working not at all to the purpose but busie to no purpose What shall Jesuits dare to venture their lives to come to pervert our Nation in the Spirit of Popery and shall Fanaticks dare and brave the Magistrate to his Face in publick in the Cities in the greatest City of the Nation and all this with an Impudent Forehead like the Whore in the Proverbs wiping the mouth and saying they have done no wickedness and all this in contempt nay in defyance of all Law and Authority and shall no Man dare to say and speak publickly what they dare do publickly Is it no sin no crime no shame for them presumptuously and with a High Hand and a Brazen Face to transgress the Laws and is he fit to be a Minister of God and the King that has neither honesty nor courage to Check and Rebuke it The great and good Emperor Constantine the first Christian Emperor took another course with Factious Coventicles Euseb de vit const He prohibited them by Edict and Proclamation see the Proclamation and Edict at large in Euseb de vit constant Theod. l. 1. c. 19. He Burnt their Books and proscribed the Authors and Abettors to use his own words Pestium illarum audacia ministri Dei hoc est meâ Executione coercebitur Their Plaguy Impudence shall be restrained by the Authority of the Minister of God that is my self c. that good Emperor Those bold pestilent fellows that dare offend in defyance of all Authority I 'le make bold to punish their Fool hardiness by my Authority A Speech as pious as Princely and a pious Example to Princes For ancient and modern experience has taught that faction like a Top never goes well but when under the lash and well whip't 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore obstinate and prating Fanaticks or Seducers saith St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Paul whose Mouthes must be stopped oportet os obturare it is very fit they should be stopped Why it follows because they subvert whole Houses teaching things that they ought not for filthy Lucres sake When the People had got a new Religion but a false one King Josiah puts it down and is commended for it 2. Kings 23. from the 4. verse to the 14. verse The same did King Hezekiah 2. Kings 18.3 4 5 6 7. The first Law of Theodosius that good Emperor in his Law Book is de sacrâ Trinitate quid credendum Theod lib. legum A Lawful King may not only imperata facere but imperare facienda though I know the Learned Grotius scruples this latter but he was a Hollander By this Regal Supremacy Solomon deposed Abiathar the Arch-Bishop because he sided with the Rebels 1 Kings 2.27 Constantine did the like to Vigelius and Justinian to Silverius Otho the Emperor ejected Pope John 12. for his Necromancy and Wickedness 'T is Chrysostom's Paraphrase on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.1 Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers whether Apostle Evangelist Pastor or Teacher Pope or Bishop Presbyter or Presbyterian they must needs be subject and that for Conscience-sake if they have any Conscience any Conscience unseared Rom. 13 5 Vid Chrys Hom 3. ad Antioch any Conscience not hardned To whom assents Theodoret Theophylact Oecumenius and all that are not posses 't with the evil Spirit to keep to my old terms of Popery or Foppery King Josiah came not with Cap in hand to the High-priest 2 King 23.4 but commanded him to reform this and that Nefas est in dubium deducere ejus potestatem cui omnium gubcrnatio superno constat delegata Judicio saith the 6th Toletan Counsel speaking of the undoubted right of King Chintellanus The four first General Counsels were called by Emperors not by Popes Socrat l. 5 in proem nor the Clergy Pope Leo petitions the Emperor to call a Counsel in Italy and he call'd it at Ephesus Supplicationi nostrae dignetur Imperator annuere Lev. Epist 9.24.26 Let the Emperor vouchsafe an Ear and hearken to the request of his humble Petitioner But many years after the Canon of Pope Boniface runs a stile and Language more Magisterical Dictator like Dicimus Definimus De majoritat in glossâ pronunciamus esse de necessitate salutis omm humanae creaturae subesse Romano Pontifici We say it we
is as fit for 1680 as it was for 1640. And we will not dissemble the truth of it but let it have its full Scope For this Text is part of the Epinicion or Song for Victory obtain'd by Deborah the Queen or Judge of Israel Judges 4.4 She Judged Israel at that Time and Barak her Captain General The Title of this Chapter wherein the Text is is The Song of Deborah and Barak after Victory obtain'd against the Queens Enemies the Captain of whose Host was wicked Sisera who with a Mighty Army came to Fight against Deborah the Soveraign of the Israelites of which her Subjects some Fought for their Soveraign Deborah as Zebulun and Naphtali some would not Fight for their Soveraign as Meroz Therefore Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord the help of their Soveraign there called the help of the Lord against the Mighty Enemies of Soveraign Majesty So that the help of the Lord in this Text is evidently the help of Deborah the help and assistance of the Soveraign Magistrate against the Enemy This is so plain and Evident from the Context that nothing can be more Intelligible Whence observe Doc. that to help the Soveraign Magistrate against the Enemy is to help God Or thus They that Fight not for their Soveraign Fight not for God And they that Fight against their Soveraign Fight against God Or the Kings Enemy cannot be Gods Friend Or He that Honors not the King Fears not God Or thus All Rebels and Disloyal Persons to their Soveraign are Cursed Rebels and Disloyal to God Truth 's so clearly deduced without any wresting from this Text as well as throughout the whole Scripture Canonical that we may well wonder that there could have been such Pulpiteers as to Cheat their Hearers with quite contrary Doctrines and Deductions from this Text or such easie Gulls amongst their Auditors that could be so grosly impos'd upon and be juggled out of their Lives their Money their Plate nay it is to be feared their Souls are accursed if this Text be true not only for refusing to Assist their Soveraign the Cursed Crime in the Text but much more for resisting him even to Blood and their own Damnation so easie are and so Damnable too many times those Juggling Tricks that Cheats the Vulgar Cheat the Vulgar Alas What is more Ordinary But this was the most Gross most Palpable and the most Fatal Cheat that ever was put upon them and from the Holy Scripture wretchedly wrested and from the Pulpit too Fatal to the People Fatal to the King and Kingdom With this Text that is the most Loyal Text in all the Bible was the Kings Army rooted our Blessed King Martyr'd and Murther'd and the Kingdom Ruined Which may teach Soveraigns by woful Experience that if they let loose the Reignes of Government especially in Ecclesiastical Affairs if they cannot or will not restrain the License of the Pulpit and Pulpiteers they loose the best Flower of the Crown and expose themselves and their People to the wild Expositions and Harangues of every bold Expositor and Boutifeau Where by the way note how necessary it is for a King as to outward Administration to keep the Key of David that Openeth and no man shutteth Isa 22.22 and shutteth and no man openeth and not to trust the opening the meaning and Interpretations of Scripture to his Adversaries or Rebells or such as he has no influence upon whether Pope or Presbyterian Popery or Foppery And have we not Laws enough and strong enough to bind the Bloody hands of both and hinder their growth if men have but honesty and courage enough to put them in Execution And this Doctrine so apparent in the Text that to help our Sovereign against his Enemies is to help God and not to help him is to be lyable to the Curse of God is founded upon these two following Reasons and infallible Arguments which I shall place in Answer to the third Quere why Meroz was accursed Reas 1st Because Disloyalty and Rebellion against the Soveraign Magistrate is a Sin of the same horrid nature with Disloyalty and Rebellion against God himself Nay the Holy Apostle does not say they are like one another as ever they can look but they are one and the same Rom. 13.2 Job 35.6.7.8 He that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God the Imperial Edict of God For if thou Sinnest what doest thou against God saith Eliphaz or if thy Transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou against him If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Thy wickedness may hurt a Man as thou art and thy Righteousness may profit the Son of Man Upon this account Jehoiakim who rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar contrary to his Oath of Allegiance and Covenant 2 Chron. 16.13 with an Infidel King and is said to have broken Gods Covenant Ezekiel 17.19 by breaking the Covenant made to that Heathen King whose sworn vassal he was as appears also Ezekiel 17.13.18 Murmuring against Moses the Chief Magistrate is called tempting of God 1 Cor. 9.10 And the People in their Confession of the Mutiny say as much Numb 21.7 We have sinned for we have spâ—ken against the Lord and against thee where note that speaking against Moses is called speaking against God even as the Royal Ayd in the Text is called the help of the Lord. Is not the People's murmurings against Moses called murmuring against God Exod. 16.2 The Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him and what are we your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord which must be taken implicitely for expresly they murmured only against the Chief Magistrate and Chief Priest Moses and Aaron Exod. 16.2 Nay God himself calls the rejecting of Samuel the Chief Magistrate the rejecting of the God of Israel 1. Sam. 8.7 1. Thes 4.8 The Spirit of Loyalty which moved Amasa to help the King is called the Spirit of God 1. Chron. 21.18 From whence then came that Spirit that moved Sheba to Rebellion and made him therefore a Son of Belial 2. Cor. 2 15. 2. Sam. 20.1 What Communion has Christ with Belial If then the help of the Soveraign be the help of the Lord as it is styled in this Text by the Spirit of God that Nick-names nothing then who do they help that ayd Rebells against their Sovereign The Devil without doubt And how meritorious is it in the sight of Heaven to help our Sovereign upon Earth the Blessing of God goes along with these whilst the other are Cursed by God and his Holy Angel as Meroz was Cursed Meroz Disloyal Meroz Thus the Indictment had been rightly drawn up against Naboth 1. K. 21.10 for Blaspheming God and the King if but the latter clause could have been prov'd The Counsel in their addresses to the Emperors made use of
should believe Moses and the Prophets handed to them by Tradition and Humane Authority Ay but the Pharisees the Puritan Party of the Jews they must have a surer Card for their Religion then other Jews and therefore they were not content with Faith though the Prophet Habakkuk had told them that the just should live by it Hab. 2.4 no they must have more Religion and a better ground for Religion then the other Jews or then God required or did expect which was Faith only And would make the World believe that as if they had been as old as the first Mutineers and Ambitious Puritans Corah Dathan and Abiram and had seen Moses Face to shine like the Face of an Angel when he came from speaking with God in the mount they do not only by Tradition of their Fathers believe no but they knew that God spake by Moses Mr. Calvin I confess for him and his followers that he was forc't to give a Definition of Faith contrary to that in Heb. 11.1 for fear the Papists had run him a ground For if he believed Christ and the Gospel upon humane Authority or the Authority of the Popish Church which he renounc't he knew not well how to answer the renouncing the Tradition of that Church without also renouncing Jesus Christ and his Gospel therefore which he should not need he was glad to define Faith to be a stedfast and an assured knowledge of Gods kindness c. and this by a certain witness of the Spirit within a Man By which secret perswasion if he means Gods Grace to make a Man believe Humane Authority Christian and Humane Tradition and Laws whereby we believe the truth of the Holy Scripture he is in the right but he is evidently out of his Story in calling this Faith an assured Knowledge For alas the best of us except we Lye and Cheat and Vapor as those Puritan Pharisees did we must say with the Apostle we see but in part as in a glass Darkly and not with stedfast and assured knowledge as the Saints Triumphant do and as did the Apostles who saw and knew our Blessed Jesus and Saviour in the Flesh But hence comes all the mischief from this Vapor and Lye in making our Faith just like St. Thomas his whose seeing was believing and the rest of the Apostles what ever was true of the Apostles must be true of us which is an abominable Cheat and Imposture They were Witnesses of Christs Resurrection we only tell what they said or did Witness at the second or third hand said I no at the Thousand'th hand and at long run by the Tradition of the Christian Church and Laws of the Land he that pretends other ground for his Faith either believes he knows not wherefore and is a Fool or Enthusiast or Fanatick which is all one and a Cheat and Impostor or else is a Papist and has an Implicite Faith in the Church of Rome or else by doing Miracles as the Apostles did can and must give a Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power In the Name of God what would these Disturbers of Man-kind be at Here 's ado with their Religion their Religion and there 's not one of them knows where he got it except from the Church of England or the Church of Rome And yet they disclaim both these and consequently can demonstrate nothing nor rationally convince any Man of the Truth of their Faith except by their own secret perswasion which though it may be of God yet they cannot shew and prove but that it may be a Lye a Cheat and from the Father of Lyes Are they Ordain'd to Preach the Gospel Let us see their Commission and Ordination They answer they are Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by those that were Ordain'd by the Papists c. I knew whether they would come at long Run Nor can they justifie to the World that that English Minister of Gods word that is not the Kings Minister Ordain'd according to the Sacred and Christian Laws of England is any other then a Minister of the Pope or the Devil either a Papist or an Enthusiast and possest with the Spirit of Popery or the Spirit of Foppery Religion true Religion our Saviour says like a Tree is known by the Fruits consult all Histories antient and modern view the present posture of Affairs if ever this Hundred Years there ever was any Rebellion Massacre Tumults or Treasons Blood Rapine and Murder but either Papist or Fanatick or both had the great hand in it To look no further back then the Reign of King James who dethron'd his Mother and made a Slave and property of him in his Infancy but that Bloody Knox Buchanan and the rest of that Puritan Presbyterian brood by woful experience he tells his Son our late Martyr'd Sovereign in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That under pretence of Religion he should find Alas alas He did find it by sad experience no such Barbarous and Bloody Villains in the World When King James came into England they still made him weary of his Life and the Papists on the other hand endeavor'd to take away his Life by the Gunpowder-Treason But Blessed be God unsuccessfully all his Reign but what the Plots the Popish Plots could not accomplish against his Son the Presbyterian Plots did perfect Crowning their Villany with the Blood and ruin of the Kingdom bringing the Blessed King to the Bloody Scaffold and our Gracious Sovereign to the more Ignominious Stool of Repentance And is this your Religion where did they learn it not from God from Holy Scripture nor from this Text but from the Devil who was a Murderer from the beginning and a Lyar like these his Children and the Father of Lyes These things are plain and palpable and had not now been remembred but that Men tread the same steps follow the same methods may we not Fast and Pray say they sad oh sad may we not Preach wo be to us if we do not Preach the Gospel and wo be to you good People if we do not Preach as if the Gospel were confin'd and Monopoliz'd to a Crew that can show no Authority no Commission no Call no Warrant for what they do except from the Pope and Jesuits who I fear have a great Influence among them The King and his Laws Ordain and constitutes in England the only true Christian Bishops Priests and Deacons as he does the only true Judges and Justices of the Peace and he may deprive all of them equally And therefore if they cannot justifie there Ordination and Commission their Warrant and their Call in an Ordinary and orderly way nor yet by Miracles in an extraordinary way let them no more so idly so impudently and so vainly apply the Apostle's sayings to themselves but contrarily wo be to them if they Preach the Gospel without sufficient Call Warrant Ordination and Lawful Authority Pilate rationally and honestly subjoyn'd to the