Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	king_n	ordinance_n	resist_v	5,553	5	9.4425	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52340	A sermon preached in the cathedral church of Carlisle, on Sunday Feb. 15, 1684/5 being the next day after our Soveraign Lord James the Second, was proclaim'd King in that city. / by Will. Nicolson ...	Nicolson, William, 1655-1727.	1685 (1685)	Wing N1149; ESTC R17490	9,256	29

together And indeed we shall not need many Instructions to find out the reasonablness of the Wise Mains Injunction if we consider that the Power of Princes owes its Original to that of an Omnipotent God and therefore if we quake and tremble at the remembrance of the one we cannot but shiver at the thoughts of the other For all supream Governours and Law-givers such only excepted as have advanced themselves to that Station by their own I reasons and Ambition have a fairer Character than ordinary of the Divine Essence stamp'd upon them They are Gods Vicegerents on Earth and act wholly by his Authority and Commission Now whether their Titles and Government have descended upon them by hereditary Right or the free Voice and the Election of their Subjects their power is still the same They are ever the Ministers of God and not of the People and therefore are to be obeyed not solely in regard or bearing the Sword and executing Justice on Offenders but because they are the Ordinance of God and Deputies to the King of Heaven To say that an Elective Prince has his Power from those that have voted him into the Throne is indeliberate and unreasonable Nonsence For since no private Man has a Legal Power over his own Life to dispatch and execute himself upon the Sence of some gross and enormous Crimes it follows that he cannot transfer any such Power to another and therefore that those that have any just power of Life and Death must necessarily borrow it of him by whom Kings Reign and Sendtours decree Justice who only has the Supream disposal of our Souls and Bodies and who can at Pleasure throw both into Hell Fires The old Testament is every where very plain in asserting this Divine Original and right of Government Always stiling Princes the Anointed of the Lord or bestowing on them such other Titles as do necessarily imply that their Deputation comes from above The Almighty himself has there declared of them that they are Gods and that they are all the Children of the most High Having nothing common with other Mortals but that they dye like Men. And if so the Fear of God and the Fear of the King are not only mutually depended the one on the other but are one and the same It can be no less than Sacriledge to rob our Princes of that Tribute of Fear and Honour which is due to them and it must be direct Blasphemy to despise their Dominions and to speak evil of their Dignities Nay and to take of all occasion of Cavil upon a Princes Mal-Administration of Affairs and falling into Irreligious practises as if these failures were enough to forfeit his Commission and supersede his Authority we find in the Language of the Holy Scriptures the very Heathen Emperors stiled God's Anointed as well as the Kings of Israel and Judah as deriving their Authority from the same Fountain of Government the great and Almighty Law-giver of the Universe Thus Nebuchadnezzar the Pagan King of Babylon is called Gods Servant Jer. 27. 5 6. I have says God there by the mouth of his Prophet made the Earth and given it to whom it seemed meet unto me And now I have given all these Lands into the Hands of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my Servant and all Nations shall serve him and his Son and his Sons Son And therefore the Prophet Daniel applies himself to this Tyrant in the same awful strain as he would in any other Prince appointed by him who stands in the Congregation of the Mighty and delights to be intituled a Judge among Gods Thou O King says he art a King of Kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory Dan. 2. 37. And the Doctrine of the Gospel in this particular runs exactly parallel with that of the Law Our Saviour having there in the same Sentence and breath commanded us to give to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things which are Gods Which is only another Phrase for Fear the Lord and the King And does in as express Terms command us to remember that Religion and Loyalty go hand in hand and that a firm perseverance in Religious Practises is the surest Prop that can be thought of to support the Credit and Repute the Power and Authority of a Lawful Prince 'T is true our Saviour's Enemies accus'd him of this amongst many other Capital Enormities That he was a Fellow that perverted the Nation and forbad to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is a King Luke 23. 2. But had he bin as his Accusers there represent him a man of a Factious Spirit and one that loved to raise fedition he would certainly have resisted the Authority that led him to the Cross especially since upon one Prayer to his Father he could have bin furnished with more than twelve Legions of Angels to assist him Nor were his Apostles any greater Encouragers of Tumults and Rebellion than their Master St. Paul the great Doctor of the Gentiles tells his Flock that they must needs be subject to their Magistrates and pay them Tribute because they are Gods Ministers And therefore he advises them to render to all of them their dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour Elsewhere Rom. 13. 1 2. he requires passionately that every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers because there is no Power but of God the Powers that are are ordained of God And he there adds Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation St. Peter's Epistles teach the same Doctrine that we ought to submit our selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supream or unto Governours as unto those that are sent by him for so is the will of God And again This is thank-worth if a Man for Conscience sake towards God endure Grief suffering wrongfully For what Glory is it if when ye are buffeted for your Faults you take it Patiently But if when you doe well you shall take it patiently and suffer for it this is acceptable to God 1 Pet. 2. Upon the whole Matter our Duty to God and the King seem to be as inseperably linked and twisted together as the Love of God and of our Neighbours And how firmly that is done St. John will teach us 1 John 20 21. If a Man say says he I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from him that he that loveth God loveth his Brother also Which two Verses by a very small variation of the Words may be very well applyed to our present Purpose For if a Man say he fears God and yet fears not his King he is a Lyar

A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral Church OF CARLISLE On Sunday Feb. 15. 1684 5. Being the next day after our Soveraign Lord JAMES the Second was Proclaim'd KING in that City By Will. Nicolson M. A. Archdeacon and Prebendary of CARLISLE LONDON Printed for John Gellibrand at the Golden-Ball in St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. TO PHILIP MVSGRAVE Esq One of the CLERKS of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy-Council SIR I Know not what to think of the Present I here offer you If it be worth your Acceptance it cannot meet with a more deserving and worthy Patron and if not you have so much kindness for the Author that the Censure will be easie All I can say in behalf of it is only this That its appearance in publick is encourag'd by a City whose Loyalty has been sufficiently signaliz'd in her being own'd by the MUSGRAVES and I cannot doubt but that in this general Patronage some small share may be allow'd to Your most affectionately faithful Servant Will. Nicolson Prov. XXIV xxi My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with those that are given to change THat Solomon was as great a Master of Politicks as any other part of Knowledge and that He was as expert at rearing of Kingdoms as building of Temples we have little reason to doubt if we consider how unreasonable 't is to imagine that God who had promised to make him wiser than all the Children of the East and to furnish Him with Understandiing exceeding much should yet with-hold from Him that part of Wisdom which was most necessary for so great a Prince The young King was conscious of his own Weakness and Unfitness to go in and out before so great a People And therefore He readily concludes that the most proper Boon that He could possibly beg at the Almighty's Hand was an understanding Heart able to direct him in the Execution of Justice and to discern betwixt Good and Evil. Accordingly his Petition is heard and God assures him that his request shall be granted him in so ample a manner that for Wisdom none of all the Kings that had gone before him could be compared to him neither after him should there ever arise any like unto him Kings 3. 12. So that a Monarch thus wise and knowing could not be mistaken in his directions But his Advice must needs be look'd upon as most weighty and solid as well in his prescribing the Measures of our Duty to God and Allegiance to our Prince as in his Cautions against the impolitick Vanity of Treason and Rebellion In these particulars his own experience had been sufficient to instruct him without any extraordinary Assistances of a Divine Spirit He could not but have observed how the Mercy and Meekness of his Father David had encouraged some Sons of Belial in Factions and Conspiracies and withal how unsuccesful such Attempts had always prov'd and how the Designs of restless Men to subvert the Government and to establish Anarchy and Confusion had been continually blasted and overthrown Three notorious Plots especially had miscarried within his remembrance and these were enough to convince him of the madness and folly of such hairbrain'd and unsetled Hotspurs as are ever uneasie under the lightest Yoke and always giv'n to change The first instance in this kind that King Solomon had met with was in his Brother Absolom A Prince whose sweet Countenance and sweeter Carriage had as himself fancy'd procured him Interest enough to gratifie his Ambitions and sufficiently strengthned his Aim to wield his Father's Scepter Flush'd with the prospect of so good success he resolves to give the King Battel and either to carry the Crown or perish in the Adventure For the better furtherance of his Design he begs leave of his Father to retire to Hebron under pretence forsooth of paying a Vow and offering Sacrifice As Rebellion never appears barefac'd at first but steals into the World under the Veil and Mask of Religion This plausible Petition the good King has no sooner granted then he is alarm'd with Trumpets and the noise of War forced to quit Jerusalem and his Palace and leave his Throne to the Usurper But Traytors are seldom long liv'd having always Vengeance at their Heels and accordingly if we follow but Absolom a Chapter or two further we find him hang'd and stab'd The second Plot in the latter end of King David's Reign we find to spring out of the Ruins and Rubbish of the former The Rebellious Tribes having lost their General begin immediately to tack about and to sneak and fawn on their lawful Soveraign with as great a shew and appearance of Zeal as that wherewith they had lately opposed him They have ten parts they say in the King and therefore they conceive 't is a sawcy encroachment upon their Right for Judah to monopolize their Prince But the King it seems was too well acquainted with the rebellious Tempers of these Hypocrites to repose any great share of confidence in them And therefore he believes it to be the safest course to re-establish himself among his old trusty try'd Friends at Jerusalem Upon this Sheba a hot-headed Benjamite takes upon him to rally the Rebel-Forces and proclaims a second Revolt with this popular Remonstrance we have no part in David neither have we Inheritance in the Son of Jesse Every Man to his Tents O Israel 2 Sam. 20. 1. But before we come to the end of that Chapter we have the Head of this Fool-hardy blade thrown over the Walls of Abel and thereby another stop put to the progress of Rebellion The third and last Conspiracy within the Memory of Solomon was that of Adonijah 1 Kings 1. A design as unfortunate as either of the former and every whit as fatal in the end This brief survey of these three Plots is sufficient to illustrate the Text without any other Comment and we may hence easily learn upon what grounds the Wise Man was induced to give this advice to his Son To fear the Lord and the King and not to meddle with those that are given to change The Words do evidently contain in them 1. An absolute command pressing the observance of a positive Duty fear thou the Lord and the King ●●d A negative Precept or Caution against a dangerous failure meddle not with c. Of both which in their order And first I take it for granted that 't will be needless at present to inforce the Duty of fearing God I presome there can be none here who are not already sufficiently convinc'd that 't is this which is the beginning of Wisdom and that therefore to be ignorant of or not to regard our Obligations in this particular must doubtless be the errantest folly and madness imagnable So that our main business in this place will be to shew you the necessary connexion there is betwixt the true Fear of God and the Fear of the King and the reasons why King Solomon has here link'd them