Selected quad for the lemma: power_n
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A42126
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Loyalty essential to Christianity being a sermon preached the thirtieth of June, 1685 upon the occasion of the news of the damnable rebellion in the west and in the course of the constant lecture in the parish church of Dedham in Essex / by Thomas Grey.
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Grey, Thomas.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing G1971; ESTC R23956
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18,382
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32
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a Lawful Power Secondly As a further proof of the Proposition I will examine how the Doctrine of Loyalty is established by the followers of the same Jesus and who no doubt being guided by his infallible Spirit delivered the Precepts of his Religion according to his mind whose it was St. Paul Rom. 13. 1 2 Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation or if instead of Damnation there it should be read Judgment and that too be understood only of the Magistrate as some would persuade viz. That if the King catch those that resist he will hang them yet such a Prediction or Threatning or if it be less viz. a determination but of the natural tendency of such practises to lead to a shameful and untimely Death by the hand of Justice yet that sure delivered after an Apostolical Judgment upon the whole Cause is sufficient to deter any thinking Man from them But if it be indeed Eternal Damnation as this alone Reason proves because 't is a Punishment assigned for Resisting or Despising an Ordinance of God which is here threatned to those that shall resist Lawful Powers that is enough to prove obedience and submission to them a necessary Duty in Christian Religion The same Apostle also in another place viz. 2 Cor. 10. 4. tells us That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God The Holy Jesus that gave such gifts to men of wonderful and miraculous Abilities never delegated to any of his followers the Power of controuling or resisting Magistrates which yet he could as easily have done S. Peter that with one word struck dead Ananias and Saphira Act. 5. must yet be obedient to the Decree of his Crucifixion and S. Paul that struck Elymas blind Acts 13. and did such mighty Wonders upon other occasions must yet make use of none of his Powers against Ananias Felix or Nero no Miracles to be wrought to oppose any Judicial Sentences of Magistrates The wisdom of Heaven had taken others and quite contrary measures for the founding and preserving his Church in the World St. Peter also 1 Epist 2. 13. Preaches the same Doctrine submit your self to every ordinance of man and founds it upon the Injunctions of the Holy Jesus for the Lords sake And continues the Obligation to the several Subordinations of Magistrates Ver. 14. Adding Ver. 15. that this was the will of God for the Glory and Honour of his Religion And Ver. 20. he puts the Case of unjust suffering from or oppression by Governors and directs the carriage of all Christians in such a Case If you be buffeted for your faults and take it patiently What glory is it but if you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently This is acceptable with God St. Jude also in his Epistle sharply reproves those that despise dominions and speak evil of dignities Ver. 8. denouncing God's severest Judgments against the Gnostick Hereticks for this among other of their impieties And the afore-named Apostle St. Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 2. Ver. 1. speaking of damnable Heresies afterward Ver. 10. mentions those that despise Government and are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities I shall think now that you truly believe this Doctrine of Submission to Governors abundantly proved to be a Necessary and Essential part of Christian Religion by the concurring testimonies of the sacred Pages when I have only added that Rebellion and Sedition Heresie and Schism which are Disobediences to Governors in Church and State are ranked by the Holy Ghost among the works of the Flesh viz. as that is opposed to the Spiritual and Holy Doctrine of the Gospel Gal. 5. 19 20 Now the works of the flesh are manifest i. e. notoriously known to be impure and contrary to the commands of Jesus such as these Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Seditions Heresies Murders Drunkenness c. Now we may see by the companions which the Spirit of God has assigned to Seditions and Heresies that these are of the same Immoral and Damnable nature with the other And the Apostle affirms of these Ver. 21 That they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And Ver. 24. He pronounces of these with the rest that they are utterly inconsistent with Christs Religion For they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts And now for a Conclusion to all this suffer me to repeat to you that numerous Catalogue of Prodigious Impieties in men which the same Apostle St. Paul in his second Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. foretells should over-run the World in the latter days in the midst almost of which you will find Traytors to be reckoned Men shall be Lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers Disobedient to Parents Vnthankful Vnholy without Natural Affection Truce-breakers false Accusers Incontinent Fierce Despisers of those that are Good Traytors Heady High-minded Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God having a form of Godliness but denying the Power of it Enough it is sure to affright any man that has but a tolerable value for the Holy Book from ever being a Traytor to his Prince when he shall but consider what company the Holy Scriptures have placed such guilty and miserable Wretches with Thirdly The Divine Original of Sovereign Power proves subjection to it a necessary portion of that Religion which has God for its Author And it is a Conclusive Argument that that Religion never came from Heaven that teaches or encourages any opposition of that Authority which God himself has set up in the World For if Satan be not divided against Satan most certainly then the Wisdom of Almighty God is always consistent with it self And moreover all the greatest confusions that could happen in the World would be fastned upon the wise Governor of it if when he had ordained Powers and Sovereignty among men he should allow or encourage the resisting of them Now that the Origine of Sovereign Power is from God is evident from many places of Holy Writ Hence Kings are called Gods Psal 82. 6 And the Children of the most Highest Not only as being concerned in his especial care maintenance and provision but also as partaking of his Authority and having that in them which is an emanation from and resemblance of his own Government of the World And Prov. 8. 15 By me Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice And the Prophet Daniel Chap. 2. 21. tells Nebuchadnezzar That 't is God that setteth up Kings And therefore they are called the Lords Anointed And St. Paul in the fore-quoted place affirms the Powers that be to be Ordained of God and that they which resist the Power resist the Ordinance of God which 't is evident that nothing that comes from God
can in the ordinary establishment of things teach to do Whatsoever therefore has been impiously pretended to the contrary 't is evident that the Original of Sovereign Power is Divine and consequently if our Religion be so too it must teach a reverence and submission to those that have their Powers delegate from the Great Governor of the World Fourthiy If it be considered that Obedience to Magistrates and the not resisting their Authority be absolutely necessary for the Peace of the World and to secure the undeniable Interest of all Mankind it will from thence I think clearly follow that 't is a necessary portion of Christian Religion For I think 't is a Proposition Universally true That whatsoever is truly necessary for the Interest of Mankind in their several Societies and Relations to each other is in the Moral Obligations to it effectually provided for and secured by the Laws of the Blessed Jesus Now 't is impossible but all must own that nothing can be more absolutely and immediately destructive to the Interest of all Societies of men than disobedience to and resisting of the Governors of them and consequently upon that very account it must be repugnant to the Laws of the Gospel There is nothing the whole World has more entirely agreed in than the absolute necessity of Government without which all those intolerable mischiefs would ensue which every gratification of a private Humour or Eust could Produce And Obedience to Governours stands upon the same invincible Necessities that Government it self does for without this the other is but a name and a speculation impossible to subsist or to serve any of the needs of Mankind I will name a few of those horrible mischiefs that would certainly destroy the Peace of the World if the resisting Governors were upon any pretext allowed lawful And first Every private mans Rights Liberty and Property would be exposed to every Invasion and could not possibly be fixed with any sort of certainty or safety Search the Annals of the World and see if these darlings of Mankind were not always exposed to Rapine and Ruin whenever the Sovereign Power has been resisted 't is the natural and certain Consequent of a Rebellion against the Supreme Governor to spoil and oppress particular Persons The stories of our own Late Horrible Confusions are fresh enough in mens memories to prove this to be true Liberty and Property has been the cry of the Faction a long time It was to secure these as they pretended that they raised that Horrid Rebellion during the Reign of that Royal Martyr of Blessed Memory the Father of our present Glorious Monarch and the remaining Ruins of many Families and Estates can witness how well they did it And the Present Rebellion will give a good account no question of the preservation of the Liberties and Properties of men when we shall know how many honest People are undone by their Violences and Outrages besides what the Actors in it have exposed themselves to from publick Justice which if God be merciful to us will shortly overtake them And moreover if one Traytor succeeds in his Attempts the same or better Principles will induce others to disobey him and so there is no end of Confusion and Disorder Secondly If it might be admitted lawful on any Pretext whatsoever to resist Governors unless the reserved cases were effectually stated published and owned which I think is not possible to be supposed the mischievous effects would be the same as if it might be done on any account without reserve And if this were done yet we know that the Populace is so easily wheadled by the Heads of a Faction with the noise of a few taking words and are so ready to receive any impressions that may prejudice them against their Governors and so easie and forward to determine in favour of those that dare to oppose them that if there should have been but one reserved case in which it were lawful to resist 't is no hard thing to believe that all and every thing would have been drawn to it and one such exempted case would have rendred all Government unable to preserve it self and liable to be unhinged by every Designing Rebel that has but cunning enough to manage the Many Headed Beast into the clamouring up of his Pretences and abetting his Designs than which nothing can sooner or more certainly destroy the best and wisest establishments of any Society of men in the World Thirdly Another mischievous effect of opposing Magistrates is the Letting and Disturbing the course of publick Justice in all its Branches which thing alone necessitates the decay of a Community and which naturally results from that evil I am disswading from For when Governors are forced to take care to secure themselves against Rebellion and Invasion of their Authority how can they be at Liberty or indeed have the Power if the Party that opposes them be Formidable of securing the Rights of their Subjects by the peaceable Administrations of Justice For then Malefactors that are single escape from Justice to make up the force and numbers of them that Invade it And indeed of such Dregs of Mankind do such Tumults generally consist Then private differences about Property must be delayed 'till it be seen whether the Government be able to support itself and secure the execution of its own most just Determinations And in the mean time 't is not unlikely that all that do wrong will be at least abettors of those that oppose Authority if it be but that they may the longer continue their Vsurpations upon the Rights of their Neighbours and the injured Person has his wrong greatned to him by the delay and is discouraged too in his Obedience to those that should and can't relieve him Lastly That I may Epitomize the proof of this whole matter It shall be sufficient to add the consideration of the sad stories of our Late Confusions How many are there still among us that need no more than their own Memory and Observation to convince them that nothing can be a greater plague to a Society of men in every respect than a Popular Rage And those of us that did not live in those days yet cannot sure be altogether ignorant of the wretched effects of that Vnchristian Anarchy if we have but a little considered the occurrences of our own time We can never be so liable to be injured by the worst of Monarchy as by the Invasions of Government under any pretence whatever And moreover every man I think can bear a wrong or injury from his Prince with more patience and less vexation than he can from the unruly Rage of his Inferior or Servant or those that he has maintained by his Charity and yet these we must expect and suffer whenever Rebellion breaks out as is evident from the History of the Late Times as we call them in very many Examples Tragical enough I am persuaded that I am not mistaken when I affirm that there