1. This Power Is it so sacred 2. Are we very certain that it is so 3. With reverence to the Supposition What if it be I answer in order First That it is as sacred as the having God the Author of it can make any thing Secondly We have the Veracity of Scripture that so it is and lastly If so it be there is no contending with an Almighty Power who hath placed Governours and Rulers over us no expostulating with an Infallible Wisdom who knows what is best for us no playing fast and loose with an All-seeing God who inspects the Thoughts as well as the Actions There is no room in this case either for Fallacy or force Arms or Arguments But the Decretory four words here in my Text By me Kings Reign confounds all Sophisms dissolves all Scruples stops all mouths and silences all Disputes The challenges of the People as if Authority were radically in them the contradictory perswasions of Co-ordinacy that is to say of a sharing of Soveraignty amongst Subjects the fancy of a Conditional Power and a Conditional Duty as if Kings were only the Trustees of the People the Paradox of a singulis major universis minor the conceit of erecting Government upon the sandy foundation of a diffusive multitude Take all these Cavils and Objections and as many more of the same kind as were ever hammer'd out by the malice and wit of Hell and corrupt Nature In these two little syllables Per me By me they are all answered and put to flight like the dust before the wind and beyond all thought or possibility of resource Unless they will appeal from the Potter to the Clay from Omnipotence to Flesh and Blond from the Truth of the Scriptures to the Dreams of some here and there What shall I say some disaffected Achitophel or Man of State. To proceed By whom was the World made By me saith the Divine Wisdom Whence had the Stars their Influences the Celestial Orbs their Motions Vegetables and Minerals their Vertues Who was it in fine that made every thing out of nothing by one word and by another drew Order out of that Confusion This was all done Per me still and the original of Government was as much the work of Gods Providence as the Creation was of his Power The holy Fathers speak so home and so unanimously to this point that the multiplying of Instances and Authorities would but weary out your patience and burn day-light You will do well to observe and still keep in your mind that the Doctrine of the Institution of Power as I have here delivered it is no other than that which hath been faithfully transmitted unto us by the blessed Author of Power himself Per me By me is a sufficient Testimonial that it is of Divine Authority But then there is Reges and Regnant yet to come And here we are to take notice of the extent and term or duration of this Commission It is spoken to all Kings to all Soveraign Powers under what form soever and so it is to all People in all Places at all Times and for ever without any sort of condition limitation or restriction in respect of Customs Decrees or any Political Sanctions or Provisions I speak this with all reverence imaginable to the Dignity of Humane Laws and to the Order of Humane Society But my meaning is that as God is the Fountain the inexhaustible Fountain of Power and incomprehensible in all his Attributes beyond what the Spirit of a Man is able to conceive so we cannot without Blasphemy so much as fancy to our selves that Wisdom it self can ever mistake its measures Which Contemplation brings me to the point I am now speaking of which is That all Humane Powers are but as Emanations out of the Bosome of Gods Eternal Providence without any other respect to mankind than as a Rule and Direction for them to Govern by Not but that Men are apt instead of carrying the Copy to the Original to bring down the Original to the Copy But still By me Kings reign is a Doctrine not to be questioned an Authority not to be disputed and a Foundation never to be undermined But it will be said perchance That the Vniversality of this Proposition goes too far and that the Canon of our Scripture is no Rule to a Pagan I answer This is a Truth founded in reasonable Nature A Truth that every Man finds writ in his Heart and in short a Truth that is calculated for all Meridians for all Religions for all Nations Civil or Barbarous with a particular regard to the Comfort the Peace and the Well-being of Mankind There are in the World that take upon them to bound Soveraign Powers by certain State-Measures and Models according to popular Conceptions of their own and to furnish plausible Arguments to the common People upon this subject But these are Governments of man making not of Gods and a sort of Kings that King Solomon never dream't of in his Per me Reges Regnant By me Kings Reign You have had here the Dignity of Power secured and the Officer Commissioned and the last word of my Text does now hand us forward from the Faculty and Signature of Power to a Consideration of it in the Exercise with a respect to the right Vse or Abuse of it I shall not need to enlarge upon it that in all Power there is first a Regard to be had to the Character and then again to the Vse or Administration of it The first is wholy Divine and Perfect the second lyable to the frailties and passions of Flesh and Blood so that as the Divinity of the one shall in no sort excuse the personal failings of the other Neither shall the Sacred Image of God that is stamped upon Sovereignty suffer any diminution of Reverence for these mistakes on the other hand it is not in the Power of the Person to V-nking the Office and much less in the Power of the People to call Gods immediate Minister to an Account It is Per me Reges by me Kings Not per me Senatus Populusque By me the Senate and the People Reign in an Imperial State. There is no room for Intruders betwixt the King of Kings and his Vice-gerents Be this spoken to the shame of Calumniators and to the confusion of those that instead of Trying the Crooked by the Streight bring the Streight to the Crooked and force the Oracles of the Holy Scriptures to the bent of their own Carnal Lusts Interests and Designs Is a Prince Religious Just Gracious Merciful Is he Resolute in War and Temperate in Peace Is he Firm to his Honour to his Word to his Conscience Is he Tender of his People and his Friends and placable to his Enemies Is he all this and as much more as might be added to make up the most Consummated Character of a Governour after Gods own Heart Per me Regnat He Reigns by me On the contrary is his Government Heavy upon us
by Oppression by Injustice by all sorts of Vexations Per me Regnat still The Good and the Bad Prince are Creatures both of the same Power stamped with the same Impress and as inviolably Sacred the one as the other Happy is that People however whose blessed Lot it is to fall under the influence of so Divine a Conjunction as when the Person that Governs is previously adapted by Grace and Nature to all the ends of his Office and Imployments I cannot pass this Hint without a thankful Consideration of Gods infinite Mercy and Goodness to us in the Person of Our Dear and Dread Sovereign It is no flattery but Duty Truth and Gratitude to own the Comforts we enjoy in the Confluence of all those Royal Endowments in the Ruler whom God hath set over us which may make a Prince Great and Glorious and a People Happy A Blessing that hath scarce left us any Temporal Comforts further to pray for beyond the Continuance of what by Gods Mercy we at this day enjoy A Prince under whose Protection we are safe in whose Clemency we are free and easie A Prince whose Benignity of Nature hath left us nothing to fear and whose overflowing Piety and Goodness hath hardly left us any Place for more to hope for It would be as endless to Enumerate the Mercys that we are possest of as it would be difficult to say what we want Blessed be Gods Holy Name for the share we have all that are here present in so inestimable a Blessing a Blessing that hath been snatched out of the very Jaws of so many several deaths by as many Miracles May the same Watchful Powerful Providence still and for ever cover that sacred Head and preserve Him hereafter as hitherto from his open and from his secret Enemies and in one word from the raging of the Seas and from the tumults of the People I have done with the Division of my Text in the several parts of it upon the heads of Government It remains only to speak a word of the whole by way of Innuendo or Application taking it all together Per me Reges Regnant By me Kings Reign These few words in the Context Preach this Doctrine to all Kings and Governours By me it is you Monarchs of the Earth saith the Almighty that you Reign You hold your Commission at my Will and Pleasure There is no other Power that hath any thing to do with you I have placed you in the Throne of my Greatness invested you with the Robes of Dignity I have armed you with the Sword of Justice I have deposited all the Ensigns of Majesty in your hands Not for your selves to Alienate or Dispose of but in Trust as you shall Answer it at my Tribunal Who then shall dare to Oppose You You Reign by my Order and who shall presume to dispute your Authority You Reign in my Name and who shall Question your Deputation In few words You Reign for me in me by me stick to the Order I have given you and execute it I will-have no sharers in Royalty I will suffer no Popular Competitions whether the Prince or Subject shall be uppermost or which is the same thing whether God or Man shall be Master Do you maintain the Dignity and Prerogative of your Commission and I 'le maintain the Sacredness of your Persons Do not suffer your selves to be transported in the Contemplation of the dazling Splendor of a Crown But look up to the Original of all your Greatness and Glory in whom you Live you Move and have your Being and by whom Kings Reign Per me Reges Regnant But it is time now that I speak a word to the Subject upon the point of the Obligation of his Obedience for the same Power as I have said which ordains Kings to Command obligeth Subjects to Obey The Second Part. IN this member of the Partition I shall observe the same Method of Distribution I did in the former Per me c. By me Kings Reign That is to say God makes Kings and Commissions them to Govern. Do they Govern well Thank God and bless Heaven for it Do they Misgovern There is no affronting the Minister upon any account whatsoever without falling foul upon the Ordinance and consequently breaking in upon the Divine Authority it self The common Objection upon this Topique is this Rulers are to be a terror to Evil Doers not to those who do well and that the Almighty Wisdom never gave a Commission of Power to destroy the main Ends of Government which consists in the Order and Peace of humane Society Put case that this Power may be sometime perverted Is Fire and Water ever the less necessary for the Use and Comfort of Life because of now and then a Deluge or Conflagration The Possibility of an abuse of Power is Incontestable for a Prince cannot Defend or Protect his People without such a force as may enable him to oppress them But what need many words Every man stands or falls to his own Master he that gives may take he that sets up may cast down By me Kings Reign is exclusive of any other Commission It sounds as much as by me alone they Reign Which is all one with saying in the Inference To me alone shall they account for the Execution of their Trust It would be well if all the Despisers of Dignities and the Murmurers against the ordinary Courses of Gods Providence in the Government of the World would thoroughly weigh and consider the Force the Intent and Authority of this same Per me in my Text before they enter into Censorious Expostulations with God himself about the Prerogative of his Ordinance of Power or with Gods Ministers about certain imaginary Conditions which they fancy to be imply'd or included in their Original Grant. If they would but give themselves time for one sober Thought upon this matter it is impossible but they must be convinced of the Vanity and Folly of all those Popular Schemes and Systemes of Power which Ambition and Carnal Policy have fashioned to themselves Are they afraid of Tyranny and not of Anarchy The one at the worst is only Personal Temporary Local the other extends to all Men to all Times to all Purposes to all Places and Embroyls Humane Society in a Civil War over the Face of the whole Earth But what is it at last that the Troublers of Publique Order contend for Would they be Vppermost There is no Vppermost upon a Level and that 's the very point before us As for Liberty and Property there 's no such thing where all is Common Our Reason tells us so and upon woful Experience we have found it so There is no thought of removing the bounds that God hath set us no place for Reforming or Refining upon the Regulations of Providence Government and Governours are Sacred and Inseparaable God hath joyned them and Man is not to divide them It hath a more pardonable appearance I must
confess to wage War with Man then with God. But what is the difference betwixt saying to the Almighty We will have none of your Governours and we will have none of your Government Non te abjecerunt Sed me says God to Samuel They have not cast you off but in you Me they have Rejected For it is not only Per me By me But Pro me For me that Kings Govern That is to say It is in Gods stead as well as by his Divine Commission that they Reign they are covered over with the Rayes of his Glory and are the Instruments of his Wisdom as well as the Creatures of his Power Per me By me that Kings Reign is a word of Comfort to the Obedient seeing they have the Creator of Heaven and Earth for their Protector and it is a word of Terror on the other hand to the Stubborn or Rebellious when they consider that they Fight against God and have the Lord of Hosts for their Avenger And there is no place neither for doubting whether it be Per me or not for Truth it self hath made Proclamatation of it in the very Syllables of my Text. There seems to be a certain kind of Rhetoritical Dignity in the very Marshaling of the words a particular Emphasis in this same Per me that puts a little stop to a mans thought as if it were to bespeak a Reverence for that which follows the very stile imports a Declaration with a Be it known to Men and Angels to Heaven and Earth that by me Kings Reign So that as the Obedient are sure of Gods Favour and Indulgence so the Almighty takes to Himself all the Indignities that are offered to Majesty They that make no Conscience of laying Violent hands upon the Thrones or the Persons of Kings would not spare the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth if they could reach him Whosoever strikes at the Divine Order of the World strikes at the Power and Wisdom that Created it Take away that Order and what 's the remaining Mass without it more than the Chymists Caput Mortuum that serves for nouse or purpose I cannot but take notice here over and above of the Indubitable Truth and Authority of the Assertion that By me Kings Reign carries a much greater weight and force with it then Kings Reign by Me the latter imports only a bare Answer to a plain Question As if a body should say By whom do Kings Reign By me says my Text. The other with a wonderful Energy determines the Question by Anticipation He goes too far that doubts The whole Scheme of Power is accurately Delineated and in the uttermost extent of it as fully comprehended in these four words The very Stamp consecrates the Matter and challenges a Resignation even before and without knowing what our Obedience is to be exercised upon For all the measures we have of Good or Evil are the proportion our Thoughts Words and Actions hold to the Holy Will and Pleasure of Our Heavenly Father It is Per me that teacheth the People their Duty sets them Right and keeps them right It prevents Mistakes clears all Cavils and answers all Pious Ends And in all cases of Difficulty Claim or Dispute whether should we fly but to the Original of Power with our last Appeals It is Per me in fine and only Per me that decides all Controversy We are now come in course to the two remaining parts of my Text Reges and Regnant Kings and Reign These words give the People to understand that their Governors are Gods Ministers and so there is no medling with them and as the Prerogatives of Government are Gods Powers so there is no controulling them It would be hard after all this yet if the Opposers of Royalty and Royal Preheminences should not find somthing at last to say for themselves in Excuse at least if not in Defence of their departure from the Doctrine of the Revealed Will of God as we read it both in his Holy Word and in the common Principles of Reason and Nature It is their way to hold their Disciples in hand that the Per me here in the Text doth not so much import an Authoritative Institution as a Permission of Government as if Order were the work of Passion Interest or Chance and an effect rather of Humane Necessity then of Divine Appointment The very fancy of such a Permission is little less then Blasphemy for it lays the Foundation of all Policy in Blood and Confusion so that out of War and from plain Cutting of Throats comes forth the Whimsey of their distinction of a Divine Permission There are others again that will allow Kings to Govern as Gods Ministers but for the behoof of the People infer a forfeiture of their Right to Govern from a violation of their Commission These People are not aware that the Character does not depend upon the Administration for whatever the Man be the King is Gods Ruler still and the People are still the Kings Subjects The Administration I say does not dissolve the Relation To summ up all in a few words Kings are Gods Deputies and the Powers of their Commission are of no less Authority than the Character of their Creation It is God that is the Author of both and the Duty of our Allegiance is of the same extraction with the function of the Government What is Reigning without Subjection What 's the Dignity of Power without the Obligation of Submission or Obedience Or what is Government it self but such a Chain of Connection as if but one Link of it be taken out the whole Frame would be in danger to fall to pieces To pass now from the Doctrine to the Application How vain how foolish and how impious is it for men to contend with an invincible and irresistible Power and to oppose false Glosses and Reasonings to the undeniable voice of Truth In a word the Foundations of Power are laid in the Decrees of God and there is no undermining of them By me Kings Reign denounces a thousand woes to the Vndutiful and Seditious Who shall dare to say they shall not Reign when God says they shall And especially upon the Terms of a Qui resistunt sibi ipsi condemnationem ferent This minds me of the Celebrity of this day a day for Sackcloath and Ashes A day of Blackness and Horror A day not to be mentioned not to be thought of but with weeping Eyes and bleeding Hearts A day of Sin and a day of Judgment meeting in the same Act as in a kind of deplorable Contention which of the two should exceed the other No Age no Story can match either the Transcendent Degree or the Daring Pomp and Ostentation of this wickedness In short behold a Great a Glorious and a Gracious Prince exposed upon a Stage as a Criminal of State Arraigned Tried and Sentenced as a Traytor to his own Subjects and his Head severed from his Body by the Common Ax under a form of Justice
Catholick Loyalty UPON THE SUBJECT OF GOVERNMENT and OBEDIENCE DELIVERED IN A SERMON BEFORE THE King and Queen In his Majesties Chappel-Royal at WHITE-HALL On the Thirtieth of January 1687. Prov. VIII 15. Per me Reges Regnant By Me Kings Reign Published by his Majesties Command By the Reverend Father EDWARD SCARISBRIKE Priest of the Society of JESUS London Printed for R. Booker 1688. TO HIS Sacred Majesty SIR IN Duty and Obedience to Your Majesties Order and in a most Profound and Reverential Acknowledgment of the Honour of Your Royal Command I have presumed to lay these Papers at Your Sacred Feet as the truly Catholick Doctrine of that Society whereof the Author hath the Honour to be a Member and who is to the highest degree of Veneration Sir The most Dutiful of your Majesties Subjects EDWARD SCARISBRIKE Catholick Loyalty Upon the Subject of GOVERNMENT and OBEDIENCE c. Prov. VIII 15. Per me Reges Regnant By me Kings Reign HEre is a whole Sermon Sacred Majesty wrapt up in a short Text of only four words Per me Reges Regnant And in this plain short Text the Wisdom of God Preaches to the Sons of men It Preaches I say to All without Exception to Rulers as well as to Subjects It admonisheth Kings by whose Commission they Govern and Instructs the People at the same time whom they are to Obey If the Irrefragable Doctrine and the Vncontestable Authority of this Emphatical Portion of Holy Writ had been taken into Thought and laid to Heart when time was as it ought to have been there wou'd have been no occasion for the Ruful Solemnity of this days meeting No Subject for an Anniversary in perpetual Memory and Detestation of so Execrable Treasonous and Barbarous a Regicide A Regicide committed in the Face of the Sun in Cold Blood and under a Pretext of Law Nay and to consummate the wickedness by the Hands of Rebellious Subjects and before the very Gate of their Soveraigns Royal Palace This is not a place or an Argument for high Flights or florid Discourses but without more words it was a Diabolical Violence upon the Person and Dignity of a Lawful a Just a Merciful and most Excellent Prince Now if Innocent Blood shall desite a Land even in a private single case of Murder and barely for defacing the Image of God in a kind of Theological Allusion or Figure what Judgments may not a Nation reasonably dread and expect from Gods Justice and Vengeance for so National so Daring so Complicated a Murder as this was A Murder that carried Oppression Treason Sacriledge and the whole Roll of Crying Mortal Sins in the Veins of it A Murder that struck at the Divinity of Power as well as at the Administration of it and at the same time attacqued the Life of the Prince and bid a defiance to his Royal Character Upon this consideration it is that we are called together to Humble our selves before Almighty God with Fasting and Prayers to Implore the Divine Mercy to accept of our true Repentance and hearty Contrition for all our by-past heinous Sins and grant us his holy Grace that we may live hereafter in perfect Union and Charity and in a dutiful Obedience to God and our Governours and in Love Peace and Agreement with one another For this reason it is that we are now met to prostrate our selves before the Father of Mercies most fervently to beseech him in his Infinite Goodness to be Gratious to our Brethren as well as to our selves and to avert that destroying Vengeance which we may so justly fear and cannot but tremble under the thought of for the almost inexpiable Sin of Blaspheming Gods Anointed and for the effusion of his Blood. Not but that I do in Charity hope and in a full perswasion of Reason presume that every Soul that hears me this day can lay his Hand upon his Heart and acquit himself of having had any part in this Hellish Tragedy either in Thought Word or Deed in a direct tendency to so black an end We cannot so much forget the Duties of our Profession either as Christians as Catholicks or as Subjects for we have been taught better things But a National Wickedness we know calls for a National Punishment And briefly Be it what it will we are all Offenders all Provokers and every good Christian is to bear his own Burthen without Criminating Instruments or Parties No Beloved Christians Repentance and Forgiveness is the Work and Duty of the day and it wou'd have a very ill Grace whilst we are upon our bended Knees in Supplications to the Dispencer of all Mercies for an Act of Oblivion for our selves at the same time not to allow an Amnesty one to another But to hasten to my business Here is a horrid thing done which most certainly wou'd never have been done if the Doers of it had but kept seriously in their thoughts these words Per me Reges Regnant By me Kings Reign and I do not know a better preservative for the future against these Principles and Practices that wrought all Our former Misery and Woe than a plain Expounding upon this Text Per me Reges Regnant St. Paul speaks to the same purpose Non est potestas nisi a Deo C. xiii V. 1. ad Rom. That is to say Government it self and all the Powers of Government are of Divine Appointment and Institution And this shall be the first point of my Discourse Now if it be granted that Government is of God it follows necessarily that Subjection must be so too for Order is the Excellency of Power it self and they derive both from the same Fountain Superior is Nonsense without Inferior and the Relatives cannot stand one without another If Governors be from God so are the Governed if Power so is Subjection Briefly I find one Proposition here involved in another and that the Obedience of the Subject falls as naturally within the prospect of my Text as the Power of the Prince and since they cannot be separated I shall treat of both First of Government how sacred it is as being of Divine Authority Secondly of Obedience with Doctrines and Applications suitable to the Matter and Occasion They are both joyned in the Methods of Gods Providence in Nature Reason Religion Policy Law Practice In a word the same Power which appoints Kings to Command obligeth Subjects to Obey To understand these two important Truths we must beg the Assistance of the King of Kings and and Lord of all Powers by the Intercession of the Virgin Mary Ave Maria. The First Part. IT is observable that in the whole Book of Life we do not find any thing more plainly set down more accurately read upon or oftner inculcated than the Doctrine of the sacredness of Governing Powers which is no more at last than what naturally results from the very words of my Text By me Kings Reign To begin with the Institution of Power give me leave to put three short Queries