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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	father_n	son_n	trinity_n	3,742	5	9.9958	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93723	The magistrates dignity and duty. Being a sermon preached on Octob. 30. 1653. at Pauls Church before the Right Honourable, Thomas Viner, Lord Major, and the aldermen of the city of London. Being the first sermon after his entrance into his majoralty. By William Spurstowe, D.D. minister of Gods Word at Hackney neere London.	Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.	1654 (1654)	Wing S5095; Thomason E727_3; ESTC R203652	18,023	51

further then the girdle the lowest to such as goe no further then to the neck or shoulders But all have the name of gods as the smallest penny beares upon it the image of the Prince as well as the greatest piece though in a lesse character and compasse Fourthly they are not gods in regard of the ultimate end of their office or of their actings in it God as he is the fountaine of all being so is he the end of all being As all things are of him and from him so must all things be for him and to him Rom. 11. 33. He can have no other center of his actions then his hononr and glory no more then he can have any causes of his being besides himselfe As he is Alpha so he must be Omega In this respect no Magistrate or Assembly of gods can be like unto God because they are his Ministers whom he hath ordained for the good of others Rom. 13. 4. They are as lamps that spend and waste themselves to enlighten others They are as the eyes in the body which look not upon themselves but are exercised in watching for the safety of the least member And when any Magistrate ceaseth thus to act he is then both most unlike God and most unworthy of the high Name and Title of a god A self-seeking Magistrate is one of the worst of plagues judgements that can befall a people he is as a gangreene in the head which brings both a more speedy and a more certain ruine then if it were in some inferiour and lesse Noble part of the body He is not then a Shepheard to defend the innocent sheep that run unto him for protection but a wolfe to worry and devoure them He is not then an Olive-tree that drops fatnesse but a Bramble from which fire comes that burnes up and consumes the Cedars of Lebanon He is not a Sunne that is the publique servant of light unto the world and shines not for it selfe but others but a Comet that scatters abroad malignant vapours and by its blazing bodes nothing but ruine He is not in the politique body as a sanguifying Liver in the body naturall that sends forth nourishment to every member and fils every veine with blood but as an ill and distempered Spleen that robs the whole of its due nutriment to make it selfe great above what is convenient for its own welfare and the good of every other part And oh that we had no better evidences then jealousies and presumptions that many among us who are called by the name of gods might be said to be self-seeking gods that many who sit in publique places were not byassed with private respects having it more in their designes and in their thoughts how to make themselves great then how to make the Publique prosperous by causing judgement to roll down as waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream Amos. 5. 24. The learned Tully who was a zealous Patriot and lover of his country did wish two wishes though hee never saw either of them affected the one was that he might see Rome setled in its just Liberties the other was that he might see every mans estate proportionable to his affection and love unto the publique And surely if this wish might take place in our times I believe the purses of many would be more empty and the coffers of the State would be more full The third particular propounded is to shew how lawfull Magistrates are called gods For it is not a naked title which conveyeth nothing of substance and reality with it They are not gods as an Herauld is a King at Armes who hath onely the name of a King but nothing of the dignity or Revenues of a King Hee who hath given this name of excellency unto them hath derived an answerable power and authority in regard of which they may be justly called gods and that in a three-fold respect First they are gods by way of Representation as they stand in his stead and have the managing of all affaires which concerne his soveraignty and glory The Earth is the Lords Psal 24. 1. and to him whose the earth is doth all power and dominion belong Psal 62. 11. Now because men cannot beare the immediate dispensations of God no more then the Israelites could his giving of the Law from the Mount but cryed out unto Moses speake thou with us and we will heare but let not God speak with us lest we dye Exod. 20. 19. Therefore hath God been pleased to convey his power justice and wisdome by the ordinance and institution of Magistracy but yet after such a manner and way as that all the transactions of justice and all the ensignes of power and authority are truly his and not theirs The Lawes which they rule by are his and not theirs The legislative power is not theirs but onely the executive power There is one law-giver who is able to save and to destroy James 4. 12. The Throne on which they sit is Gods Throne 1 Chron. 29. 23. Solomon sate on the throne os the Lord. The Scepter which they bear in their hand it is Gods Scepter Exod. 4. 20. Moses had the rod of God in his hand The judgement which they give is Gods judgement Deut. 1. 17. You shall not be afraid of the face of man for the judgement is Gods Secondly they are gods in respect of that peculiar honour and dignity which is put upon them above others They are all sons of the most high Psal 82. 6. But how Not by Generation so Christ is the onely Beloved and the onely Begotten Son of God Not by Adoption so Believers onely are called the sons of God being by a spiritual conformity unto him made like unto him and bearing the Image of God upon them as a childe doth of his Father But they are sons of God by way of Eminency their office and power being above and over all others as being his Deputies Vicegerents their persons being more sacred as being his Anointed ones their relation to him being more singular and speciall as being in a more immediate subordination unto God then others are Now this title of sonnes God gives unto Magistrates that he might the better draw and win men to yeild a just subjection obedience unto them The sons of great Personages have respects observances given to them which are denied unto their servants when the one are slighted the other usually are regarded The Lord of the Vineyard when his servants were beaten and killed by the husband-men to whom he sent them did yet expect that their behaviour and carriage to his Son would have been far otherwise and upon that ground he sent him saying they will reverence my son Mat. 21. 37. But when violence was done unto him then messengers to offer peace are no more sent but an Army to destroy And so when men despise dignities lightly esteem the sonnes of the most high whom God would have

hand writes downe the sentence which they pronounce Oh then how circumspect had they need to be who have such a strict and severe observer of their actions alwayes present among them Secondly by the property of his Justice and power He judgeth among the gods When they judge and decree righteous things then he judgeth with them and ratifies the edicts and sanctions which they make but when they turne judgement to wormewood and leave off righteousnesse in the earth Amos. 5. 7. then he judgeth the gods themselves then in the midst or openly in the sight of others he breaketh in pieces mighty men without number and sets others in their stead Job 34. 24. 26. I shall begin with the first part viz. the persons which do make up and constitute the solemne meeting and convention which the Text speaketh of And I shall make it the principal drift of my present taske to speak of them and to them The second part I shall onely touch upon by way of application and enforcement to move those who are called gods to behave and carry themselves like gods doing nothing unworthy of so great a name Monstrosa res est gradus summus animus infimus sedes prima vita ima A high seat and a base minde a principal place and a common behaviour is a thing not only unsightly but deformed and monstrous as Bernard tells his Eugenius In the handling of the first part I shall propound for the explication of it three particulars First who they be that are called gods It is a title that is not vulgar and will not fit every person no more then a Crown will suit with every head or a Scepter with every hand Select and choise persons they must needs be and such as beare a more lively resemblance of God then others who have his own name conferred upon them Secondly I shall shew how they neither are nor may be called gods Thirdly what those respects are in which they may be justly stiled gods for it is not a title without reality He that hath imposed upon them his name hath also imparted unto them his power First who they be that are called gods They to whom this high appellation is given have also many other names of eminency bestowed upon them in the Scripture They are called Vertices populi the Heads of the people Numb 10. 4. Such as are as far above the common ranke of men in their worth as Saul was above the people in stature who when he stood among the people was higher then any of the people from the shoulders and upwards 1 Sam. 8. 23. They are Scuta terrae shields of the earth Psal 47. 9. which among all military instruments were the most honourable and were wont to be preserved with the greater care and adorned with the greatest cost They are Saviours or deliverers Judg. 3. 9. which is a word of that Emphasis as that Tully saith Ita magnum est ut unto verbo exprimi non possit It is so great as no one word can expresse the force of it They are called Chirurgeons or Binders Job 34. 17. Shall he that hateth right governe or as it is in the Hebrew binde It is their office justissimas facere luxationum compositiones to heale Ruptures in a State and to set every bone in its just place They are foundations Psal 82. 6. upon the strength of which the weight of the whole building stands and is preserved from ruine and sinking If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous doe Psal 11. 2. They are Fathers Isa 49. 23. which is a name as Tertullian observes that includes both power and goodnesse Who hath more power over his child then a father to doe with him as he pleaseth and who hath more bowels to do every thing for him which he desireth All these and many other more titles of honour doth the Scripture heape upon those persons who in the Text are called Gods which is of all the greatest and the highest And they who are here dignified with the name of gods are no other then the bench and seat of lawfull Magistracy to whom he hath given power and authority by a charter from Heaven to order and regulate the affaires of the sonnes of men on earth and to prevent all that confusion and ruine which would inevitably fall out if every man should be left to doe what ever is right in his own eyes Now the end that God hath set so many sacred signatures and marks of honour upon their persons is First that they may the better read their duty and know how to carry themselves in the discharge of that great trust which is reposed in them It is not that Haman like they should swel with pride and make no other use of their power then to execute their lustfull passions of wrath and revenge upon every one that Mordecai like cannot stoop and bow to break Gods lawes to fulfill their imperious wills that are vitiated with corrupt and morbid humours Such a temper is more fit for those that are Nimrods hunters of men Gen. 10. 9. then for them that are nursing-fathers Isa 49. 23. For such as are Flagella dei the scourges of God as Attila was wont to be called that are permitted by him to chastise and afflict a people for their sins then for such that are ordained Ministri dei Ministers of God for the good and benefit of them over whom they rule Rom. 13. 4. Secondly the end is that thereby God might implant in the minds of men an awfull reverence towards their persons and a willingnesse to yeild obedience to their just commands If we consider how like unto the Sea the multitude is in its motions which every blast of winde doth disturbe and makes to become tempestuous and how like they are in their passions unto tinder which every sparke that falls doth kindle and set on fire Is it not a wonder that oftentimes the presence of one or a few Magistrates should not onely bridle their fury but also calme it and allay it that one word from their mouthes should extinguish the fire of sedition that is ready to break forth into a flame as Caesar did the mutiny of his whole army onely by saying Quirites How can all this be but that God himself hath imprinted his own name upon Magistracy and by their several titles as by so many golden letters hath made it to be read and seen by every eye that there is a divine constitution under an humane person The second particular propounded is to shew in what respects Magistrates are not to be esteemed gods For as there are sundry respects in which they truly may and ought to be reputed gods yet there are divers others also in which they ought not to be called gods Foure I shall touch upon though more may easily be added to them First they are Nuncupative gods by their titles and appellations but they are not gods

in their being and essence They are neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gods in their substance or nature or in the least manner like un to God in their being The divinity is not stamp't upon their persons but upon their office Their divine constitution doth not change their native condition there is a wide difference between the lofty Cedar that grows in the mountaines and the low Myrtle that is in the valley but yet they are both but vegetative beings and have the earth as their common parent So between the greatest Monarch and the meanest peasant there is a vast disproportion but yet the originall and principles of their being are the same What the oppressed Jewes spake that were in bondage to their brethren Our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren our children as their children Nehem. 5. 5. may be truly said of all earthly gods their off-spring is as the off-spring of other men and their own flesh as the flesh of others their diseases are as many their paines as bitter their life as uncertaine their death as certaine Pares nascuntur pares moriuntur in the womb and in the tombe they are all alike All their excellency ariseth from their office and that communicates to their persons such an honour and reverence as that men may not despise them as the sonnes of Belial did Saul 1 Sam. 10. 27. or reproach them as Shemei did David 2 Sam. 16. 7 God himselfe hath strictly forbidden it Exod. 22. 28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods of thy people They are to have osculum oris the kisse of the mouth to testifie the reverence of the outward man thus Samuel kissed Saul 1 Sam. 10. 1. they are to have vota cordis the prayers of the heart to evidence the affection of the inward man and this the Apostle enjoynes 1 Tim. 2. 2. Secondly they are not Gods by way of Ironie and derision as the Idols of the Heathen in Scripture are called gods or as the Gluttons belly is called his god or as the covetous mans mony is said to be his god This honourable title God doth not give to Magistracy as the Souldiers did the name of a King unto our Saviour Matth. 27. 29. Arraying him Crowning him bowing the knee unto him not to worship him but to scorne him God is more jealous of his name then to give it for any such purposes And yet in thefe licentious times wherein the worst of men take a liberty both of speaking and doing what they please how is the Sacred Ordinance of Magistracy trampled upon with the foot of Pride and Scorn How is it with loud clamours cryed down as if it were a thing altogether useless and unprofitable like to some old heartless and useless drug that hath lost all its vertue and efficacy Yea how is it looked upon by many as a powerful obstacle and hindrance unto the growth of Christs Kingdom and the enjoyment of those glorious liberties which best sute Gospel times and therefore they think it fit that it be wholly removed and dealt with as Ezekiah did with the brazen serpent which being no more an ordinance but an Idol he brake it in pieces and called it Nehushtan 2 Kings 18. 4. But if there were not very strange suffusions upon the eye of these mens reason Magistracy which is in it selfe a straight and right object could never appeare to be so crooked as to be deemed rather a stone of stumbling then a corner-stone to support the building to be an Idol to be broken rather then an institution to be preserved For who can be either to storie common or sacred so great a stranger as not to know with what innumerable evils that Monster of Anarchie hath always been attended If we look into the Book of Judges wee shall finde that when there was no King in Israel or Ruler that might put them unto shame there was gross Idolatry set up in the seventeenth Chapter there was Violence Rapine together with shedding of blood exercised in the eighteenth Chapter there was Uncleanness and Ravishings unto death in the ninteenth Chapter If you look into the late Annals of Germanie wee may finde that it was the scene where these and such like evils were acted over again with greater rage and fury when those who were professed enemies to Government and Authority had got power into their hands And can we at home ever expect to gather Grapes of these Thornes or Figs of these Thistles The Persians had anciently a custome that when their chiefe Ruler dyed there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lawlesnesse and liberty for five daies after that every one might doe without controlle what he pleased Now in this short intervall of government there were such robberies murthers violences of all kinds committed by the headlesse multitude as that they were exceeding glad that government should take place again And should there be but such a liberty amongst us but for the space of so many houres which God forbid many that are not now sensible of the benefit of Magistracy would if they had not put off humanity quickly change their opinion and as strongly desire it and wish for it as before they loathed and despised it Thirdly Magistrates are not gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to equality of power and dignity The blessed and glorious persons in the Trinity though they have an order among them yet they have no priority or posteriority though they be distinct subsistences yet they have an unity of essence they are all equally God and alike infinite in their power wisdome and goodnesse But so it is not with the earthly gods their power their honour their wisdome are not equall or alike in all though they be as so many lines that derive their being from one common center yet they do not equally stretch themselves towards the same circumference Some are like Stars of the first magnitude that move in an higher orbe others are as Stars of a lesse magnitude that have their motions in a narrower and lower sphere Some have potestatem vitae necis the power of life and death others have onely the power of custody and of inflicting lesser punishments and censures Some are as the fountaines of authority and others are as the rivulets that flow from them This distinction the Scripture it selfe makes 1 Pet. 2. 13. when it exhorts believers to yield submission to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto other Governours that are sent by him But as Gold hath the name of Gold when it is in the thin leafe as well as when it is in the massie wedge so are the lowest Judicatories an assembly of gods as well as the highest Nazianzen speaking of Magistrates resembles those that are of the first ranke unto pictures that are drawn from head to feet the middle sort unto such pictures as are drawn no