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A50678
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A sermon preacht at the Cathedral Church in Norwich, upon the 11th of April, 1696, the day of His Majesties coronation / by Henry Meriton ...
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Meriton, Henry, d. 1707.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing M1815; ESTC R32083
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23,018
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40
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seem to favour the contrary Opinion such as the deservedly Celebrated Saunderson and Vsher it was when they saw a King so coursely handled by his People and the just Prerogative forced to vail and make court to every Buff-coat Mechanick In the heat of opposition they might strain the point too far and to set the stick right bend it so much on the other side Had they lived in our days I doubt not but these good Men would either have renounc't their Doctrine if yet it were their Doctrine or explain'd it to Mr. Hooker's sense 2. Methinks again it 's very natural to conceive when People began to multiply into such a number as to overstock that portion of that vast Common of the World their first Plantation they should as Bees streightned for room swarm and look for a new Hive Now as soon as they begin to settle there I pray what must be done by them to keep them from the disorder of the state of Nature where every one is Judge and King equal and independent upon one another as to any political Subjection they could owe to one another Must they stand gazing to Heaven for a Governour to be sent from thence to them with all his implements of Arbitrariness even the Yoak and Pack-saddle for the working and loading of the Beast as also the Curb and the Barnacle to tame him with if he kick Or Must they be like those Men that sprung from Cadmus's Teeth fall a killing one another or fall to cutting of Throats for the Government Would not Right reason which is the voice of God as before direct them to place a supream Authority upon some or other of themselves to be an umpire of their Controversies and keep them in peace according to such measures and limitations as were thought fittest for the attaining the ends of Government the Preservation of the People Even in absolute Monarchies where People put the greatest trust in Kings they can yield up no Power but to those great Ends and if they have unwarily contracted to other purposes it is ipso facto Null being contrary to the obligation of a superiour Law the Law of Nature which is the Law of God whose chief end is the preservation of the People And thus it will be plain without vexing the Scripture with strained interpretations how Government can be an Ordinance of God according to St. Paul and yet an human Rom. 13. 2. Creature according to St. Peter 1 Pet. 2. 13. Because God makes use of this human means the consent of the People for setting up Governments in the World so that the Supream Power in Common-wealths comes though by Men yet not from Men but from God's Command exprest by the Law of Nature or right Reason to promote the good and safety of Mankind Thus also all the Objections against the incapacity of the People to confer the power of Life and Death not being vested with such an Authority themselves are easily answered this Power of Life and Death being from God though by the People as much as the Government is For the same Law of Nature which as I have said is the Law of God that directs Men to put the Government must also direct them to put such a Power into the Rulers hands as might enable him to attain the ends of Government which he could not do if he had not Power over the lives of his Subjects in some Cases 2. I shall prove to you that 't is impossible that political Government should ordinarily arise from any other source but this There are but these 4 or 5 ways that offer at any plausible competition 1. Paternity 2. The divine Donation to the Heir of Adam 3. Providence 4. Conquest 5. Prescription But I shall prove none of these Five can be the Foundations of political Authority 1. Not Paternity for 1. That 's no Obedience to a political Authority unless by way of Analogy that 's enjoyned in the 5th Command if it were so I see not but such an Authority might derive from maternity as well as paternity the same honour being to be given to the Mother by that Command that 's to be given to the Father unless we have a Salique Law against the Fifth Commandment 2. Paternal Authority is but of a short Duration being only necessary to Discipline and govern the weakness of the Child in Non-age till he be arrived at the use of his Reason to guide himself though a filial Reverence and Honour ought to continue indispensably till Death 3. Political and paternal Authority are vastly different for the Son may be a political Head to his Father while his Father hath a Paternal Authority over him as is evident in the instance of my Lord Darnly and King James as also in Kish and Saul 4. If political Authority arose from Paternity it could extend no surther then Paternity a relation founded upon Paternity cannot be transferred but you must transfer its foundation the same Paternity with it and so your Governour must be your natural Father as well as your King 5. If political Authority arose from Paternity every Father would be a King and so we should have Kings enough Every Town would not only be an Heptarchy but an Hecatontarchy if there were so many Families there I won't deny but Fathers might be the first Monarchs of the World when Children were Men and so out of the state of pupillage they were like enough to submit to their Fathers as their Law-makers and Governours the Father must sure be fittest to be trusted with such a charge Paternal affection must engage him to have a tender regard to the Properties of his Children He also may be supposed to be endowed with greater Wisdom and to be furnish't with a larger Estate that might fit him for the more chargeable parts of Government Besides the custom of commanding them when Children made it an easie transition from Paternal to Political Authority and therefore right reason might direct the Children to such a Choice and from thence Paternal Authority passes into Political and so though Fathers might be Kings yet they were not so as Fathers 2. Political Authority cannot arise from the Divine Donation to the Heir of Adam 1. For then we should be left in great perplexity who that Heir should be whether Daughters or Brothers or younger Sons Sons should wear the Crown in case of Competition with 100 other Difficulties we should be entangled in that are not determined in Scripture Besides We could certainly have but one King in the World The Kings of the Earth I believe will give them but little thanks for this Doctrine for it dismounts them all but one and sends them to Plow nay that one I fear will be in danger too who can derive his Pedigree perhaps no more from Adam then a Cromwel or a Massaniello Besides if it were our good Fortune to find out this Heir all the Kings of the Earth were bound to
all our Israel render the most Cordial and Conscientious Obedience to him whom God hath chosen as one therefore that hath a Right to the Crown he wears I hope I have sufficiently proved this Point besides this Doctrine hath lately had the Westminster Stamp upon it and therefore now I trust it may go for currant I am sure the contrary that the King is not chosen of God and hath no Right to his Crown if it be not Treason yet is the Mother of it that Mother that lately went big with so many Granvils Fawkes Parryes and Throgmortons Clements and Ravilliacs but blessed be God the Monster miscarried The Nation seems at last to have the same Sence of the Mischievous Consequence of this Principle and therefore have justly arraigned and condemned it in their Associations Doth it not plainly follow from the Point proved that His present Majesty is chosen of God that we should rendeâ— the most Cordial Obedience to him as one that hath Right to Rule us Should we warily suspend and hover till Success and Victory satisfie our Tender Consciences and resolve our Doubts Should we only submit to him as a King de facto for Wrath till Opportunity offer it self to pay our Duty to another supposed de Jure for Conscience-sake Which is a Becket's Obedience Salvo jure Papae Should we shelter our selves under the shadow of his Government and creep into his Bosom only for Warmth and Vigour to sting him as soon as we dare Should we take Oaths to such a King as weak Stomachs do a Potion which we are ready to throw up again immediately or as an Amulet and Charm to keep off Danger Should we make it our business to damp and cool Mens Zeal to such a Government When we had one on the Throne too great a Friend to Popery God knows How were we then for the Divine Right of Government what a general Out-cry was there through the Nation for the great Diana of Absolute Prerogative Non-resistance Soveraign Power above Law Irresistable Tyranny we were ready to spit Hell-fire and Damnation in the Faces of every one that opposed And when some went about to remove a Popish Successor then the indefeasable and Divine Right of Succession is the Theme other Sins escape without much notice while Sacrilege Rebellion and Treason are the Wild Beast let loose to be chased and hunted down by us Do but mention a Bill of Exclusion all our Beacons are set on Fire as if Geneva and Scotland were pouring in upon us whole Hosts of Classes and Lay-Elders Presently we are deafned with the noise of 41 and Thousands of ghastly Spectrums are conjured up to scare little Children with for I dare say few wise Men were concerned at them But now that we have a Protestant King who when Popery was rushing in upon us hath thrown himself into that Flood to stem the Torrent with his naked Breast Good God what a cold â—it hath been upon us to assert his Government If a Man hath been never so little warm in the Justification of His Majesty he must be sure to run the Gantlope and to indure almost a St. Stephen's Martyrdom to be pelted with Stones or words almost as hard How have the Discreet and the Wise been applauded the Men of Temper and Moderation Hoc Ithacus velit There 's a Gentleman in the World that cares not how Soft and Moderate we are I warrant you I hope the late execrable Treason hath chafed our Zeal into a warmer Temper at last So that we shall not only yield our Obedience to His present Majesty for Conscience-sake as to one that hath a Right to govern us being chosen of God but with a Zeal suitable to the present Importance of the Duty 2. Let us pour out our Hearty Thanksgivings unto God that hath not only given us such a Ruler upon the Fifth of November but given him again to us by dashing that Murderous Design against him on the 21st of February This was a Design so plain and evident that it is not capable of a Sham no Meal-Tub or Presbyterian Plot can be devised to ballance it no Youths from St. Omers can be gotten to out-face it the most frontless Impudence begins to be ashamed of it and they whose Foreheads were hard enough to baffle the Design of 78 seem somewhat to blush at this of 95. This was again a Design so Mischievous to take away the Light of our Eyes and the Breath of our Nostrils They had obtained one part of Nero's Wish for all the People of England had morally but one Neck and they had like to have obtained the other to have cut it off at a Blow if the Almighty had not with-held them Those Artificers of the Church of Rome will be ashamed sure to see themselves out-done in their own Craft by our new Workmen in Iniquity to see a Modern Villany so far exceed their old Jesuitical patterns and faced with such an impudence as only became their Fraternity when they had Travelled with Iniquity as the Psalmist says and brought forth Falshood and the bloodiest Designs that ever was contrived to be done by Day-light They had the boldness to lay the Monster at Heavens Gates and invite the Holy God to answer for it teling him plainly 't was his Cause that what they did was for him and his Religion Ah pudet haec dici potuisse That such an horrible thing should ever be committed in our Land This was so Bloody and Barbarous a Design that the Fifth of November seems to be jealous she should lose the honour of precedence They have stretched out their Hands but as the Psalmist says None of the men of might have found them At the instant when they should have struck the blow God sends a Cramp into them and down drops the bloody Sword and le ts loose a Tormentor upon some of their Consciences that never left stinging and lashing them with Terrors till they drove them to his Majesty's Feet crying out Non possum occidere Marium Sir I can't kill you and from that wrack they discover all Though some of the Party have Armed their Consciences with such a Callus that the Guilt of such a Treason could not be able to fix a Sting upon them or make them in the least sensible For God's sake let it not be Reported that Three Clergy Men of the Church of England should assist them to put on that Armour of Hell just when they were to encounter the King of Terrours and step into an Eternal State Ah tell it not in Gath publish it not in the Streets of Askelon least the Daughters of the Uncircumcised Philistins Triumph notwithstanding some of them have contest the Villany and I hope repented of it so that the snare is broken by the Snare-makers themselves and blessed be God we are Delivered Great God What Thanksgivings are due to thee for this Deliverance that contains in it so many Deliverances a Deliverance of our Laws Liberties Properties Lives and that which is dearer still our Bibles What Heart can be big enough to receive the Joy of it What Voices can be loud enough to sing thy Praises for it Shall we call to Heaven in Holy David's Rapture Psal 148. 2. to the Holy Angels to assist us with theirs while we are singing our Te Deums and Magnificats or shall we pause a while till we our selves be admitted into their Quire when our Harps shall be better Strung and our Voices more in Tune to joyn with them in that Anthem Rev. 5. 13. Blessing and Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever In the mean time What shall we render unto God our Flocks and Herds are too scant a Sacrifice whole Lebanon will not be sufficient for Burnt-Offerings Let 's offer up our selves our Souls and Bodies as a living holy acceptable Sacrifice which is our reasonable Service let 's resolve as David truly Lord we will be thy Servants and this God shall be our God unto Death 3. Let 's pray for him whom the Lord hath chosen as the Israelites did here for Saul Le ts thus hold up his heavy Hands now that he 's going forth to Fight the Amalekites let 's fire all our Spiritual Artillery against that Agag as the Christians did against Julian when he sought against the Persians Let 's Petition for him as the Church did for David the Lord bless him in the day of his trouble the Name of the God of Jacob defend him send him help from the Sanctuary and strengthen him out of Sion Let 's pray That he may have health of Body length of Days Loyal Subjects Powerful Fleets and Armies Faithful Allies Success and Victory over his Enemies the stability of his Righteous Throne in this World and the Possession of a Crown of Righteousness in the World to come I hope there is none of us will yet continue so morose and sullen but as the Murmuring Israelites did at last being sufficiently satisfied with the Wisdom of God's Choice that there was not such another to be found among the People will joyn with us in the common Shout and Acclamation God Save King WILLIAM FINIS