A SERMON Preached at St Lawrence-Jury London upon the 9th of September BEING THE Day of Thanksgiving FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF THE King Kingdom From the late Treasonable CONSPIRACY By BENJAMIN CALAMY D. D. Vicar of St. Lawrence-Jury and one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed by R. E. for W. Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. TO THE INHABITANTS OF The Parishes of St. Lawrence Jury and St. Mary Magd. Milkstreet London Gentlemen THE Kindness with which you at first received me and have all along expressed towards me since my being placed amongst you hath been so great and obliging that I ought not in Reason to deny you any thing tho' never so much against my own Inclinations that you are pleased to request of me Yet yive me leave to say that upon my own deliberate perusal of the following Discourse I cannot find any thing in it at all answerable to your Earnestness for its being Printed It was the Occasion the Subject and the Temper which the Consideration of the Wonderful Deliverance of our Most Gracious King and these Kingdoms did on that Solemn Day of Thanksgiving put you into that made this plain Sermon pleasing to you in the hearing of it all which Advantages it will want in the Reading But however I had rather fail in any thing than let slip so fair an Opportunity of shewing my self duly sensible of your Great Respects to me For which I am and always will be thankful And I know no better way of being so to purpose than by endeavouring to do amongst you all the good I possibly can Which I am assur'd I cannot more effectually do than after your immediate Duty to God by encouraging and promoting an Hearty Obedience to the King and Church and a sincere Love and Friendship amongst your selves To effect which shall be the constant study and labour of Gentlemen Your most faithful Friend and Servant BENJ. CALAMY Ecclesiastes X. 20. Curse not the King no not in thy thought and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter THE original word which is here translated Curse is variously rendred by Interpreters but the easiest sense seems to be this That we are here forbid tho' never so secretly and closely speaking any evil of or designing any evil against our Soveraign upon any pretence or occasion whatever Curse not the King no not in thy thought we must not so much as wish any Mischief or Harm to him and curse not the rich c. By the rich Grotius understands virum summatem a Person in Chief Dignity and Power whom God hath set in Authority over us and so these latter words are either only a repetition of the former to give the greater force and emphasis to them or else by the rich may be meant subordinate Magistrates and Ministers of State sent and deputed by the King who is Supreme to whom all internal Reverence and Honour ought to be paid as well as outward Subjection and Obedience to express the sense in words ordinarily used amongst us we must not Compass Imagine Desire or Contrive any thing that tends to the Dammage and Prejudice either of our Soveraign Lord the King or of any that are Commissionated or Authorised by him Curse them not in thy Bed-chamber that is tho' we seek the darkest Retirements the most private Corners however cautious we are that there be no Witnesses present who may bear testimony against us so that we think our selves secure from all possibility of Discovery yet a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter Which words signifie that God by his Wonderful Providence some way or other by Means we never thought of shall bring about that all these evil Speeches and clandestine Designs against his Vicegerent shall be revealed to the utter Confusion of all those that are engaged in them Thus these words do not only contain a Prohibition of any secret Plots and Conspiracies against our Governours but propound also a weighty Argument to discourage men from any such wicked Undertakings Because let them be carried on never so cunningly and closely yet they shall be as suddenly and surely discovered as if the Birds of the air had listned to all their Whispers had over-heard all their Discourse in their secret Cabals and immediately flown away with the news and given in Evidence against them An expression like to this we may find in the Prophet Habakkuk 2. 11. where it is said that the stone should cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber should answer it What is whispered in a corner what is hatched in darkness yet by unlikely Means by unthought of Accidents which by the greatest subtlety and caution could not be provided against shall be disclosed and brought to light the Divine Providence being peculiarly concerned for the Defence and Protection of Soveraign Kings and Princes and in an especial manner watching over them as the choicest Object of its Care Now that it is thus that God Almighty is more particularly engaged for the safety of Kings and Supreme Governours so as wonderfully to appear for their Deliverance from the treacherous Conspiracies of Ungodly Men we have both good Reason upon which to believe it and the Experience of all Ages doth abundantly confirm it We have good Reason upon which to believe it and that upon these two plain accounts I. Because Soveraign Kings and Princes are God's Deputies and Vicegerents set up by himself and they derive their Power and Authority from him alone God Almighty the Maker of us all is the only Absolute Lord and Uncontrolable Soveraign of Men and Angels Part of his own Power and Authority which he hath over his Creatures he hath delegated and committed to Kings and Princes who are the most principal Instruments and Ministers of his Providence in the World Hence are they called Gods and Children of the Most High Psal 82. 6. God hath invested them with some part of his own Majesty stamped his own Character upon them and appointed them in his place to perform and administer even some part of his own Divine Office if I may so speak amongst men Thus constituting them Earthly Gods as to their Persons sacred and as to their Actions accountable to none but that supereminent Divine Authority that gave them Commission This is not any new-coined Divinity invented in favour of Arbitrary Power by Court Parasites and needy Flatterers who seek Preferment as the Enemies of our flourishing Monarchy have sometimes represented it but it is expresly delivered in the Holy Scriptures was professedly owned and taught by the Primitive Christians and hath been the constant Doctrine of the Reformed Church of England Nay it is agreeable to the general sense of Mankind and might be made out by rational Evidence if we had no other
Ordinance of God saith St. Paul To oppose and shake off their Government to Plot and Conspire against their Life is to Rebel against God and when we will not suffer our Lawful Soveraign whom the Divine Majesty hath appointed to Rule over us we do by just consequence and fair interpretation endeavour what we can to dethrone God himself and prove Traytors not only against our Natural Lord and King but against the Heavenly Monarch himself by whose Commission he Reigns II. Another reason to perswade us of the truth of this that God's Providence is more peculiarly engaged for the safety and protection of Soveraign Kings and Princes may be taken from this Consideration viz. how much the Publick doth depend upon and is concerned in their welfare and prosperity Thus the People 2 Sam. 18. 3. told King David when they would not suffer him to expose his own Person to hazard in the Battel against Absalom Thou art say they worth ten thousand of us Hence was he called the light of Israel Thou shalt go no more out with us to Battel said Abishai 2 Sam. 21. 17. that thou quench not the light of Israel Nay that wicked King Zedekiah of whom it is expresly said 2 Kings 24. 19. that he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord yet is stiled by the Prophet Jeremy Lam. 4. 20. the Breath of our Nostrils The Fates of whole Kingdoms depend upon them All that live under their Government are interested in them and partake with them and a Villanous Attempt succeeding against our Soveraign may stab an whole Nation to the Heart and fill all places with Blood and Confusion Now God Almighty extendeth his Providence to the meanest and minutest things He cloatheth the grass of the Field he provideth for the Raven his food a Sparrow doth not fall to the ground without his knowledge by him are all the hairs of our Head numbered and can we think that this same Providence is not more particularly employ'd in matters of such vast moment which are of such Universal Consequence as the Life and Safety of Kings and Princes God exerciseth a more special Providence over their Sacred Persons on whom under himself the whole Community doth depend For the sake of the People whose Happiness is so closely wrapt up in the prosperity of their Prince doth God Almighty guard him from secret Treachery defend him from open Assaults and by various means deliver him from imminent Dangers Especially good and gracious Kings who are Fathers of their Country and Nursing Fathers of the Church who maintain the true Religion encourage Vertue protect Right and Innocence and resemble the Divine Majesty not only in Power and Authority but also in his Attributes of Justice Mercy and Goodness they are more tenderly regarded by God He hideth them under the shadow of his Wings he keepeth them as the apple of his Eye he giveth his Angels stricter Charge over them that no evil may approach them Such Princes being publick Blessings to the Kingdoms or Nations over which they preside in their safety must consist the greatest part of the Common Welfare And thus if we consider either Governours themselves or the People commited to them we shall see sufficient reason to believe that Soveraign Kings and Princes are the peculiar Care and Charge of Divine Providence Nor have we reason only to believe this but the experience of all Ages doth most abundantly confirm it For surely there is not any one thing wherein God's Providence hath more remarkably appeared and interposed it self at all times than in Discovering the secret Plots and Defeating the traiterous Designs of wicked Men against the Government they lived under which hath been often done by such ways and means as have most evidently demonstrated the Finger of God in it and must be ascribed to him who only doth wonderful things Nor have we perhaps besides what Divine Revelation affords us a greater Argument to prove this World to be Governed and all things in it directed by the vigilant Eye and powerful Hand of Almighty God than the sudden and seasonable Discovery of such Damnable Enterprises contrived with the utmost caution and secrecy carried on with great subtlety and cunning and just ripe for Execution yet in an instant blasted in a trice broken all to pieces either by a surprizing dread and fear seizing the Conspirators themselves or an unlucky word over-heard or an unaccountable suspicion of some ill Designs which tho' founded upon no reason or a very trifling one yet hath proved true or God hath smote upon the Conscience of some one of them and for the ease of his own tortur'd mind he is forced to a Discovery or a jealousie that they are betrayed by others hath made some of them give the first notice of it themselves or a Letter miscarried or some fright mistake oversight something hapning otherwise than was expected hath brought the hidden works of darkness to light by which the King and his People have been just snatch'd out of the Jaws of Ruine True indeed it is that there are some Exceptions against this Sometimes it hath hapned that such Desperate Undertakings have been prosperous and God's Providence hath suffered even a Good and Excellent Prince to fall a Sacrifice by the Merciless Hands of a Bloody Assassin or being over-powered by his own Rebellious Subjects to be more pompously Murdered under the pretence of Justice of which we have had a sad and never to be forgotten Instance in our own Nation But then this hath been permitted when the sins of a Nation have been extream and called aloud for Punishment when God hath been long and highly provoked to give up a People to Destruction who have filled up the measure of their Iniquities then hath he sometimes suffered such inhumane Barbarities to take place But ordinarily it is otherwise and by some secret invisible means God doth either infatuate the Counsels and confound the Devices or else by some fortunate accident seasonably discover the horrid Conspiracies of his own and the Kings Enemies A Bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter Of the truth of all that I have now said concerning God's wonderful Care and Providence over Soveraign Kings and Princes we cannot reasonably desire we cannot easily meet with a more Illustrious Instance than his Majesty that now is whom God long preserve A Prince for whose safety and protection Heaven hath all along so signally interested it self and so miraculously defended him in spite of all the restless attempts of his and ours either open or secret Adversaries that I cannot but wonder if no other Argument could prevail with these Sons of Belial to desist from such Hellish Enterprises yet that they should not at last be tyred with Plotting against him to no purpose that they should not despair of doing him any hurt for whose Defence and Deliverance God Almighty hath so frequently and
Confirmation of it That Supreme Governours have their Power and Authority from God alone is expresly delivered in Scripture and that not only of the Kings of Israel who were evidently established by God's Appointment but in general we are told Prov. 8. 15 16. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Thus Cyrus an Heathen Emperour is called God's Anointed Isa 45. 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus and in the last Verse of the preceeding Chapter he is called God's Shepherd Princes being often by reason of the resemblance between the Pastoral Office and Government called Shepherds I have made the earth saith God by the Prophet Jeremiah 27. 5 6. and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me and now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my Servant Thus Daniel declares that the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will And he tells Nebuchadnezzar cap. 2. 37. that it was the God of Heaven that had given him a Kingdom power and strength and glory In the New Testament nothing can be plainer than the beginning of the thirteenth Chapter to the Romans where St. Paul tells us that there is no power but of God that the powers that be are ordained of God Whence in the next Verse he stileth Magistracy or Government the Ordinance of God and in the Fourth Verse the Ruler is called the Minister of God not of the People to execute his vengeance upon them that do evil I shall not now trouble you with any Quotations out of the Primitive Fathers who so often acknowledged even their Heathen Emperours to have been constituted by God and to have held their Empire from him alone and to have only him above them It is plain that this was always the Doctrine of our Church of England as appears from the Book of Homilies wherein we are taught That the High Powers are set in Authority by God that they are God's Lieutenants God's Presidents God's Officers God's Commissioners God's Judges ordained of God himself nay it hath been directly asserted in our Church That the most high and sacred Order of Kings is of Divine Right being the Ordinance of God himself founded in the prime Law of Nature and clearly established by express Texts both of the Old and New Testament Nor is it our Religion alone that teacheth us this but the same was of old owned both by the Heathen Poets and Philosophers that Kings were from God and to his Supreme Authority ordering and appointing it was to be referred the Original of all Soveraignty and Rule amongst men Nor indeed can it be well conceived or reasonably imagined from whence Kings and Soveraign Powers should have Right to Govern and Command but from God alone Since he is the undoubted Lord of the whole Earth and alone hath full power and right to Govern it I cannot see but that whoever shall go about to confer any power of Government or take upon himself any such Authority over others were it not by God's appointment and institution he would thereby put himself upon disposing of God's right without his leave or ordering So that Government and Superiority of one or more over others is all Tyranny and Usurpation upon God's right or else it must be granted to be Ordained by God himself And it being so necessary for the Happiness and Welfare of Mankind that it is impossible Peace and Order should be maintained Justice administred or that we should live in tolerable safety every man enjoying his own without Government it would seem an unworthy disparagement and reflexion upon the Divine Wisdom and Goodness to have left the World without any such provision for the quiet and security of it Thus whatever the Form of Government may be which is different in several places whether it be in a single person or many or in the Body of the People or their Representatives whatever hand the people may have in some places according to the particular Customs of their Countries in Chusing or Designing the person or persons that shall be invested with this Supreme Authority yet the Power and Authority it self is derived only from God and is neither received of the People in trust nor is the Soveraign Power answerable to them for the Administration of it Which is sometimes illustrated thus Tho' the Wife may chuse what person she pleaseth to make her Husband yet the Husbands Authority over the Wife is not owing to her nor doth she confer it upon him but it is of Divine Appointment The King as it hath been said of old in regard of the Nature of his Body is of the same Mould with every man but in respect of the eminency of his Dignity he is like unto God who is Lord over all whose Image he beareth and by whom he holdeth that Power which he hath over Men. Now this being so clear and undoubted that Kings and Princes represent the Person of God and bear his Image since they are Earthly Visible Corporeal Gods for so you find it Exodus 22. 28. a place parallel to the words of my Text Thou shalt not Revile the Gods nor Curse the Ruler of thy People Since they are the Vicegerents of the Almighty Soveraign Authorised and Commissionated by him his Deputies and Lieutenants here in the world we may easily hence conclude that his Providence cannot but be more particularly concerned for those whom he calleth to such an High Office whom he placeth in such Dignity and Eminence He cannot but have a more special regard unto and a more than ordinary Care over them because of their peculiar relation to him as his Representatives As it is here amongst us in Humane Governments the Supream Soveraign is highly concerned to uphold and support all his inferiour Magistrates in their several Places and Offices to protect them in the discharge of their Duty to keep up their Honour and Reputation and to provide that all due respect be paid to them He resents all injuries and affronts offered to them as done to himself He looks upon all those who set and oppose themselves against them as Enemies to his Imperial Crown and Dignity and that himself is struck and aimed at by any Violence done to his Officers or Ministers So it is in the Case we now discourse of Supream Governours have the same relation to God as subordinate Magistrates have to their Soveraign Princes they are employed and intrusted hy him and accordingly he expects subjection to them as to himself that we should honour and serve them according to that High Divine Character they bear He therefore always in a more remarkable manner stands by them and watches over them as the chiefest of his Servants and nearest to himself He takes what is done against them as done against himself Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the
serve and promote Popery than that very way which they took to keep it out But besides this Consideration of their Religion we shall find the persons concerned in this late Treason under as great Obligations to have lived quietly under the present Government as could possibly be laid upon Men. Some of them were actually in the late Rebellion and had hitherto enjoyed the benefit of his Majesties Gracious Act of Indemnity owing their Lives and Fortunes to his Majesties unparallel'd Clemency Of whom it may be truly said what St. Peter saith of some in his days 2 Epist 2. 22. It is happened unto them according to the true proverb The dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire So hard a matter is it to cure one bewitched with the Principles of Rebellion that after above twenty years he shall return to his old trade as bare-facedly as if we had never heard of his former pranks Many of them were Persons who besides his Majesties pardon had partaken largely of his Royal Grace and Favour been advanced by him to great Honour and Dignity been intrusted in places of great Power and Eminency and after they had raised their Families and gotten great Estates by his Majesties Bounty then lifted up their Heels against him to whom the King may well say what our Blessed Lord did to the Jews St. John 10. 32. when they took up Stones to cast at him for which of those many good works I have done for you do you now design and contrive this mischief against me Others there were that were ingaged out of Discontent because they had not all they had a mind unto because they were not employed in the publick proportionably according to the opinion they had conceived of their own worth and usefulness to the King and Nation or because they did not now appear in so high a Station as they had done formerly Add to this his Majesties wonderful Lenity and Indulgence towards all sorts of Dissenters the fresh memory of our late Troubles and Confusions and the direful Consequences of them the easiness of our present Government under his most Gracious Majesty who adheres so close to his Laws and hath given us all possible assurance that he will always do so that great Plenty and Peace we have for so long time enjoyed excepting only the disturbance which our own intestine Divisions and Commotions have raised the little prospect any could have of bettering his Condition by such a Revolution as was designed and we must conclude that never any men had less reason or provocation to enter into a Conspiracy against the Government than those Persons who were actually ingaged in this late Treason 2. Consider the Motives from which they acted where I do not mean the true and real ones which did indeed sway with them and were different according to their several Ranks and Qualities some of which I have already mentioned but the pretended ones which they made shew of to gain a Party and to fasten the People to them and it would not be very difficult to guess what these were had we never heard of them To be sure the Good and Interest of the People Care of their Liberties and Properties and the Defence of the true Religion against Popery Fear of Popery and Arbitrary Government and evil Counsellors once in the memory of very many here present made this Nation run mad and set us all together by the Ears cost an infinite Treasure the Lives of many thousand English-men and which was more to be valued of that Excellent Martyr King Charles the First And what was the Conclusion of all but instead of Liberty enslaving the Nation to a Military Power instead of Property Plunder Sacriledge and Sequestration and the setting up freakish Enthusiasm instead of True Rational Religion And may it not yet without offence be said that Men were just playing the same Game over again The same Fears and Jealousies were started and industriously propagated amongst the People the Government by a number of impudent Libels that every where swarmed and were exposed to every ones view publickly traduced and defamed all ill Reports of the Kings Ministers of the Clergy and all Loyal persons studiously spread amongst the People and handed from one to another every miscarriage heightned and aggravated all Faults and Misfortunes laid at the Kings door every thing that was done or ordered mis-construed and mis-interpreted the Church of England represented as daily approaching nigher to that of Rome and Mens minds were so generally possessed with such sad Prognosticks of strange and dismal Evils just coming upon us that even some honest Persons were almost frighted out of their Wits and Allegiance and could not suspect any harm in them who talked so speciously of Reformation of Abuses and securing of Religion and defending the Kings Person all which as now plainly appears was designed only to prepare the People for the contrived Insurrection and Rebellion Now of all Rebels they are certainly the worst that are such out of Conscience and no such desperate Villains as those who think to please God by Murders and Massacres Other wicked men may be often checked are sometimes restrained by their Consciences and dread of a future Judgment but what Evil shall they ever boggle at who commit such gross Wickedness out of compliance with their Consciences out of Obedience to God and expect to be rewarded for it in another World And is it possible by any thing we can do to bring greater dishonour to or more effectually to prejudice Rulers and Governours against Religion than by pretending it to patronize and countenance Faction and Rebellion If this were the true Genius of Religion to make men Unpeaceable Turbulent Seditious and Mutinous it would then become the great Interest of Princes to guard themselves against it as the very Pest of Humane Society and dangerous to the Civil-Government but thanks be to God this is not the temper of our Christianity Our Saviours Religion begets in Men the most Gentle and Meek Patient and Governable Spirits and is so far from being inconsistent with Loyalty to our Prince that it is the greatest tye and obligation to it in the World and there is no one can throw off his Allegiance towards his Earthly Soveraign but at the same time he renounces all Duty and Conscience towards God That Religion therefore of which Loyalty is not a very considerable part is not of our Saviours but of our own making and when it disposeth Men to such Outrages and publick Mischiefs it is worse than no Religion at all 3. Consider what had followed had God permitted this Horrid Conspiracy to have taken effect What certainly had followed God only knows but we cannot think any other thing but miserable Confusion and the Destruction of us all For what a Bloody Tragedy must presently have begun as soon as the surprizing news of the Murder