the Homage of a good Subject after he had been shut up in the Lions Den. He acknowledged him to be his King and honour'd him accordingly Dan. ij 24. O King live for ever And the Primitive Christians wished Julian himself Length of days and prosperity And as our Religion is not Evangelium armatum nor will suffer us to rise up against our King Vi Armis not to be done without the Violation of all the Laws of God and Man so neither shall we ever have occasion to do it as they had Precibus Lachrymis those pious Weapons with which the Primitive Christians overcame the Tyranny of their Persecutors Prov. xxi 1. For the King's Heart is in the Hand of the Lord and he who can turn it whithersoever he will hath inclined it hitherto and I trust will always do to the Protection of the Church of England Wherein we have his Royal Word for our Security and if that be not sufficient to allay Mens Fears and Jealousies I know not what will We can appeal to his Sacred Majesty how we adher'd as became us to his Right for Conscience-sake tho' against that which some short-sighted Polititians and worse Christians would have made us believe to have been our Interest We cannot but glory in the Reproaches and Injuries we sustain'd on his account from the Out-rages of the Mobile He is of too generous and gracious a Nature to use the Power which God hath given him to procure their Ruine who were always ready and ever will be to do their best to prevent his And therefore the Venient Romani the groundless Jealousies of Popery's coming in which alarums the Rabble shall not be such a scar-crow as to fright us out of our Wits and Religion nor shall it ever exasperate or enrage us to do any thing that is wicked upon the apprehensions of it nor to abandon our Loyalty Justice and moral Honesty to prevent it For it would be a Contradiction to maintain advance or establish Religion upon the Ruines of Justice which founds all Religion nor must God's Ordinance be secured in one point by endangering it in another No doubt but the King will gratifie his own Perswasion without any severe and cruel Methods on the other hand for he naturally abhors Sanguine Sacrifices Upon which consideration he hath been pleased by his own Royal and voluntary Declaration to renew and confirm to his Subjects the best Magna Charta that every they had A Blessing obtained without a Rebellion and which calls for a suitable Veneration and Return from his People He knows that ours is a Religion that hath always asserted the Rights of the Crown with Life and Fortune And how chearfully the Members of it have spent their Blood and Treasure in his own his late Majesty's and his Father's Service And how they stand affected to his Prerogative upon which they know all Popular Encroachments to be as fatal as Inundations of the Sea And that loose Reins cast upon the Neck of a Resty People will teach them a trick to throw their Rider till none can sit them And that none can live in the Communion of our Church who does not solemnly renounce all rebellious Principles and Practices and disclaim all Usurpations whatsoever upon Sovereign Powers He can never be over-ruled by any designing Men of what perswasion soever to put off his own generous Nature and innate Kindness to his old Friends He is very well content we should be as faithful to God as we are to him as true to our Religion as to our King God Preserve and Prosper him for it Alas We do but flatter our selves if ever we hope to be Govern'd without that which is commonly call'd an Arbitrary Power let the Word sound never so harshly The only question is Who shall have it Whether it shall be in the King or the People In one or many And the Denial of necessary Powers for the safety of the Kingdom which call them what you will are the Regalia the Inherent Rights of the Crown for Fear of Mis-Government is the ready way to lose all the Fruits and Benefit of Government it self for want of those powers to support it For 't is impossible for any Common-Wealth to subsist without that dreadful thing call'd Arbitrary Power if by Arbitrary you mean as I do Supreme and Absolute True it is That if this be vested in one the People are over-apt to call it Tyranny but if in many they are pleased to christen it by the glorious Name of Liberty Tho' if Tyranny consist not in the abundance but abuse of Power not in the uncontroulableness but unreasonableness not in the exercise but excess of it it will be as unjust and Tyrannical in them as in him so to use it Nor are Common-Wealths more secur'd from this sort of Tyranny than Monarchies Our own Statute Laws acknowledge 16. R. 2.5 25. H. 8.21 24. H. 8.12 That our King is subject to none but God and that he hath an Imperial Crown and they call his Kingdom an Empire And by the Common Law the King is neither inferior to the Three Estates nor co-ordinate with them but is Major Vniversis as well as Singulis Greater than all of them as well collectively as singly The Parliament doth but propound prepare and present the Project of the Law 't is the Royal Stamp that makes it one The sole Legislative Power is lodg'd in the King and to him saith Bracton belongs the interpretation of all Laws when made not in plain Cases but in New Questions and Emergent Doubts of which the King was the first and must be the last Judge too For if the People be Judge he is no Monarch at all and so farewel all Government There is no State in which there is not an ultimate Judicature which is not to be accountable and Queen Elizabeth used to say That she was to be accountable to none but God Nor did the Protestants call this Tyranny or Arbitrary Government in her Days And therefore let not the Dragon's Tail pretend now to lead the Head least after much fruitless Toil it draw the Body of Three Kingdoms into the Ditch Things are not always in themselves as they appear to us We see them but on the Dark side the King hath more Wisdom than to lay open the Arcana Imperii to us And if an Implicit Faith be due to the meanest Artificer in his own Art how much more is it due to the King in the profound secrets of Government His Actions are manifest but his Reasons seal'd up in the Cabinet of his own Royal Breast And if Bodinus says true Lib. 1. de Rep. c. 8. A Sovereign Prince may Derogate to the Law which he hath promised or sworn to keep if the Equity thereof be ceas'd and that of himself without the consent of his Subjects Suppose there were a Law That the People should pay no Taxes or Contributions to the publick Good
things which make for peace go along with them as far as you can with Truth and Charity and where you part let it be like Friends So shall we Edifie one another in our most holy Faith make the Pleasure of his Majesty's Government abate the Burden of it 1 Tim. ij 2. and lead quiet and peaceable Lives under him in all Godliness and Honesty as did this People in my Text under Solomon whose dutiful Submission to him is the next thing to be consider'd and recommended to your Imitation to wit III. Populi Submissio They went unto their Tents They knew 't was fit for them to depart when it was the King's Pleasure but yet to tarry till it were so They resolved not to continue longer nor yet to leave him sooner They would have been glad to have enjoyed the Blessing of his Presence longer but having receiv'd his Commands to be gone they departed and went unto their Tents every Man to his own Habitation without any Dispute or Regret to abide in his Calling to which he was call'd as a Member of the Common-Wealth to meddle with nothing but his proper business and left the Administration of Religion to the Priests and the Government of the Kingdom to Solomon Not from the Court to the Camp not from waiting on him to war against him but from the Temple to their Tents For St. Paul says That Kings are not by God's Sufferance Rom. xiij 1. but by his Ordinance and therefore even supposing them never so bad they are never to be resisted Vers 2. You may take up the Buckler of Patience but you must not take up Arms against them for Rebellion is such rank Poison to the Soul that the least Scruple of it is Damnable Ibid. the very Intention of it in the Heart is Mortal Our Religion will never suffer us to dispence with our Loyalty to serve any worldly Interest or Advantage no not for its own Defence It sets the Crown fast and easie upon the King's Head without Catechising him For be his Heart inclinable to any Religion or none it leaves him no Rival none to Insult or Lord it over him It disclaims all Vsurpation Popular or Papal neither Pope nor Presbyter may controul him none but the great God the only Ruler of Princes can over-rule him to whom 't is his Duty Glory and Happiness to be subject Tho' the King should not Please or Humor us tho' he should rend off the Mantle from our Bodies as Saul did from Samuel nay tho' he should Sentence us to Death of which blessed be God and the King there is no danger yet if we are living Members of the Church of England we must neither open our Mouths nor lift up our Hands against him but Honour him before the People and Elders of Israel 1 Sam. xv 30. We must imitate Jeremiah in Prison Daniel in the Lions-Den Amos struck through the Temples Zachariah Murder'd between the Porch and the Altar our blessed Saviour living under Herod and Tiberius and Crucified under Pontius Pilate His Disciples under Caligula Claudius Nero and Domitian Christian Bishops under Heathen Persecutors none of which ever Revil'd their Princes or Resisted them Who questioned Saul for slaying the Priests and revolting to Idolatry Who questioned Joram a Parricide and Murderer of his Nobles or Joash for his Idolatry and slaying the High-Priest Did the Sanhedrim do it Who questioned Theodosius for Murderdering Six thousand innocent persons Who questioned Constance Valens or Julian the Apostate Who traduc'd their Persons or Dignities or offer'd them any tumultuous Affronts or Remonstrances So that unless we in these latter days do understand the Mind of God better than the Jewish Church and the Primitive Christians did we must not ask our Prince why he Governs us otherwise than we please to be Govern'd our selves We must neither call him to Account for his Religion nor question him for his Policy in Civil Matters for he is made our King by God's Law of which the Law of the Land is only Declarative 'T is God alone who can take Vengeance of him if he does amiss and proportion Punishments to his Person Upon his Providence are we oblig'd to depend who never fails to help Religious Men and Kingdoms in their Distresses Rom. viij 28. and makes all things work together for their good But I need not plead for Submission unto Evil Kings since God of his infinite Goodness hath bestowed so Good and Gracious a King upon us Who tho' he be not of our Religion had we but thankful Hearts to acknowledge his Favours his Kindness is as great to us as if we were of his for he is not a Nero but a Constantine the Great to us The Jews say That the Keys of the Temple were not hung at the High Priests Girdle but laid every Night under Solomon's Pillow as belonging to his Charge To establish Religion by a Law is the King's Province To uphold and maintain the Church and her Legitimate Children this he hath freely undertaken beyond our Expectations if not Deserts And if he be not so good as his Word at last I pray God the Fault be not ours The Ark of God was not shaken as many fear'd it would have been at the Death of our late gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles the Second but continued steady without the least Commotion No Cry in our Cities no Complaining in our Streets no Tears but those of Love and Loyalty The Lord is still with us and hath set another gracious King over us and the presence of God's Ark is once more secured to us even in Verbo Regis in the Word of a King which is as sacred as his Person and as currant as his Coin for in his Word there is Truth as well as Power Eccl. viij 4. And those early and most gracious Assurances of his Princely Piety and undeserved Goodness towards us made in his Privy Council this time Twelve-month have been still renewed repeated and multiply'd to us in despight of all our Ingratitude which would make a passage to Men's Hearts through their Brains if they had any and teach them first to admire his Goodness then to be confident in it and thankful for it and to say as Mephibosheth of David My Lord the King is as an Angel of God Do therefore what is good in thine Eyes 2 Sam. xix 27. Was he ever worse than his Word to any Man Or what ground hath he given any of us to apprehend that he ever will be so Who was ever so exceeding tender of his Honour as he so Just to all so Kind beyond example to his Friends and Servants How can we ever trust our Lives and Fortunes in safer Hands than his He hath done more than ever any of us durst ever venture to look for to give us Confidence in him enough to puzzle our Understandings as well as our Gratitude And how can he give us better security
than he has done Shall we suspect him without cause or remain dissatisfied when he hath given us the best Security that our Cause admits of Or quarrel for more when we have enough Or how can we ever hope to be the better by provoking him in whose Pleasure we are so Happy Why should we endanger the losing of those substantial blessings we have by snapping at the shadow which we can never catch and doth not belong to us if we could To suspect our Prince where we cannot help our selves is of all Fears the most unreasonable 'T is not safe by Insolence and Peevishness to provoke a meek and merciful Prince to Severity and Rigor Princes must not be upbraided with their Promises much less threatned and menac'd with audacious Expostulations if they do not perform them for their Promises are Donatives and 't is reason the Doner should have the explaining of his own mind when they to whom he promised it owe it chiefly if not only to his Grace and Favour 'T is therefore our interest as well as our duty to use our King with all the submissive Intreaties imaginable Irreverent Reproofs not becoming Subjects to their Soveraign And how can we declaim enough then against those Jugling Hypocrites among us who talk of nothing but their Zeal for Religion whilst they design nothing but Rebellion Who to get a misunderstanding between the King and his People use all the Black Art and Industry which quick-sighted Malice can teach them to Poison the unthinking People with strong Suspitions of his Majesties Truth Honour and Justice We must be wanting to our Religion King Church and State if we should tamely suffer our People to be seduc'd into such groundless Fears and Jealousies and not tell them That if these Profligate Wretches did not transgress all the bounds of Truth Reason and Modesty they could not possibly render him suspected much less odious and that if their Impudence were not equal to their Malice they could never make such false and scandalous Reflections upon his Person and Government as they daily do They would make us believe That we are upon the very brink of those Dangers which Wiser Men cannot see and complain of those Greivances which no body feels or suffers Did our Religion ever Flourish more than now Were we ever more Considerable either at Home or Abroad Would you fain see another Rebellion spring out of the Ashes of the Two last if not sit still Trust God and the King let them Govern the Kingdom and be thankful to his Majesty for keeping such Guards about him Rom. xiij 3. as may be a Terror to Evil-doers and a safeguard to them that do well Consider well Whether the greatest Sticklers for the Church of England at this time be most conformable to it themselves whether they themselves are obedient to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws which they seem so Zealous to maintain that they fear we shall all be undone if any one of them be broken Take heed there be not Anguis in Herba Look well about you before you leap into their Snares May not a Private subject by their good leave break Twenty Laws with less Noise than their Soveraign one Do not they act like Men who have a design to beget a Misunderstanding between the King and his People and hope to gain something of both if they could inflame the Crowd into an Insurrection Do they not long to set the Kingdom on Fire to warm their own Fingers and to enrich themselves as some once did with the Spoil and Plunder of their Neighbours Will you tamely suffer them to pull down the goodly Fabrick of Church and State to mend their own Fortunes which are as desperate perhaps as their Designs And will you venture the spoiling of all in hopes of mending your selves in One Circumstance Did not God ordain Adam to rule over his Wife without giving her or her Children any Commission to limit his Power What was given to him in his Person was also given to his Posterity and the Paternal Government continued Monarchical from him to the Flood and after that to the Confusion of Babel Gen. x. 10 11. when Kingdoms were first erected and planted over the Face of the Earth And so what Right or Title the People can have or what Commission either of Limitation or Mixture to restrain that Supremacy which was as unlimited in Adam as any Act of his Will it being due to the Supreme Fatherhood or from what time it commenced the Scripture no were tells us Where is the Peoples Charter extant either in Nature or Scripture for invading the Rights of the Crown Or what Authority can they have from either to introduce their Devices of presiding over Him whom God and Nature hath set over them Nay how vain and void of Sense are all these Popular Projects Who can set such bounds to his Prerogative as to impose Penalties on him if he exceed or put those Conditional Limitations in Execution Nor can the King himself divest himself of his Supremacy or discharge his Subjects of their Allegiance And if any Monarch will be so free-hearted as to lay down his Lawful Power at his Subjects Feet if he will throw up that Commission which he had from God independant of any other and take a New one from his Subjects as some Inferiour Magistrates do from him quam diu se bene gesserit or durante beneplacito populi during the Pleasure of our Sovereign Lords the People he forgets that it was a Divine Hand coming out of the Clouds which set the Crown on his Head and that when there was but One good King upon the Face of the Earth only Solomon their Original was deriv'd from God above and not from the People beneath For 't was God himself who best knew it that said By me Kings Reign Prov. viij 15. Be their Religion and Administration of their Office what pleases them they are of God's making and must not be of the People's marring Our King comes to his Crown by Lineal Descent from the Loins of our David He is no Alien or Stranger to the Royal Race nor does his Promotion come either from the East or from the West But 't is God who hath set him over us with his holy Oyl hath he anointed him and set him on his Father's Throne 'T is to God's Grace alone that we owe our King and by the Royal Concessions of him and his Ancestors do we enjoy our Liberties and Properties And the Duty of Subjects to their Princes of Servants to their Masters and of Children to their Parents is obliging to them tho' they never swore to do it for 't is not the Result of Christianity or Policy but a principle of Nature which Religion doth not alter but establish Tho' Darius were an Alien and an Enemy to his Religion compelling to Idolatry and kept the People of God in Captivity as Slaves yet Daniel paid him