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power_n law_n prince_n sovereign_a 3,774 5 9.4515 5 false
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A58816 A sermon preached at the assizes at Chelmsford, in the county of Essex, August 31, 1685 before the Honourable Sir Thomas Street, Kt., one of the judges of His Majesty's Court of Common Pleas / by John Scott ... Scott, John, 1639-1695. 1685 (1685) Wing S2070; ESTC R38224 13,664 38

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long as there are Men but bad Men are not always and we are generally compensated for them with a succession of good But had God left us at liberty to resist when we are opprest the consequence of this must have been an eternal state of War in which instead of suffering the oppressions of one Tyrant we should every one turn Tyrant to every other and therefore 't is apparently for our good that he hath tied up our hands And thus with all possible brevity I have explained the Particulars included in this Duty of Subjection I now proceed to the third and last considerable in this Duty viz. the Object of it viz. the higher Powers by which it's evident we are to understand the Persons of sovereign Princes and Governours and not the Laws and Constitutions as some of our Republican Doctours pretend for this Epistle was writ either under Claudius or Nero whose Wills were the onely Laws they governed by and yet these were the higher Powers to whom the Apostle requires our Subjection and those whom he here calls the higher Powers in the third Verse he calls the Rulers and in the fourth Verse he tells us that this higher Power is the Minister of God and a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil which must necessarily be meant of the Governours and not of the Laws and accordingly St. Peter thus explains it 1 Pet. 2. 13. Be subject to every ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as supreme which is the very word that is here used for the higher Powers so that by the higher Powers here must be meant the Person or Persons that are vested with the supreme and sovereign Power for that in every Nation there should be a sovereign Power is as indispensably necessary as that there should be a Government for where-ever there is any Government there must be a last Appeal otherwise no difference or controversie can ever be finally decided and whereever the last Appeal is whether it be to a King a Senate or the majority of the People there must be absolute and sovereign Power from which there can be no farther appeal and against which there can be no opposition or resistence for to talk of a supreme Power which is not unaccountable and irresistible is nonsense for whatsoever Power is liable to be called to account or resisted hath a Power that is superiour to it and so cannot be supreme and accordingly the Apostle declares in the Verse ensuing my Text that whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and that they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Now the supreme power to which we of this Nation owe subjection is the King whom our Laws do declare and recognize to be our supreme and sovereign Lord for so for instance the Statute of Praemunire declares that the Crown of England is in no earthly Subjection but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same and 25 H. 8. 21. makes this Recognition to his Majesty That his Grace's Realm hath no superiour under God but onely his Grace and that next unto God they owe him a natural and humble obedience and in other Laws it is declared to be high Treason to levy Arms against the King either within or without the Realm and that it is unlawfull for both or either Houses of Parliament to raise or levy War offensive or defensive against his Majesty or his Heirs and lawfull Successours and that it is not lawfull upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that we are to abhor that traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those who are commissioned by him by all which it is abundantly evident who this higher Power is among us to whom we are to render our Subjection Having thus explained the Terms of the Duty I proceed in the next place to the Reason of it for the Powers that are are ordained of God All Sovereign Princes do derive their power and authority from God whose Almighty providence doth more peculiarly concern it self in the disposal of Crowns and Sceptres and doth influence all second causes to conspire in the advancement of such persons to Empire as he himself has first chosen and approved for there is no person can have right to govern in God's Kingdom under him unless it be by commission and authority from him and indeed to derive the authority of Sovereign Princes from any other head but God is in effect to deny him to be the supreme Governour of the World which those persons would do well to consider who make the people the Fountain of regal authority for as on the one hand if it be by God's Authority that Kings Reign it is God that governs by them and not the people so on the other if it be by the peoples authority it is the people that govern by them and not God if it be the choice of the people that makes their Prince without any Commission or Authority from God then it is certain that Princes are the peoples Vicegerents and not God's but now in all governments the supreme is the Fountain of all inferiour authorities and if there be any authority within its Jurisdiction that is not from it and dependent upon it it must be coordinate with it and then it cannot be supreme how then can God be supreme Governour of the World when there are other coordinate Authorities with him that are independent from him and that owe not their being to him The Peoples choice therefore even in Elective Governments can signifie no more than the bare presenting of a person to God to be authorized his Vicegerent by him who if their choice be just and lawfull is supposed to direct them to it by his providence and consequently to consent to and approve it and thereby to authorize the person so presented for Sovereign authority in the abstract is ordained and instituted by God but abstracted Authority cannot govern without a person vested with it and to vest him with it he must not be onely applied to the Authority but the Authority must be applied to him but now where the people have a right to Election they can onely apply the person to the Authority but 't is God's consent and approbation which applies the Authority to the person who thereupon commences supreme under God and hath no superiour Tribunal but God's to account to and thus according to the Prophet Daniel the most high rules in the Kingdoms of men because as Lord of all the Lords and King of all the Kings of the Earth he rules by their Ministry and they rule by his Authority and hence in Scripture they are said to be the Ministers of God Rom. 13. 6. The Christs or anointed of the Lord Isa. 45. 1. And are styled Gods and the Children of the most high Psal. 82. 6.