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A59882
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A sermon preached at the Temple-Church, May 29. 1692 printed at the desire of the Bench-Table of the honourable Society of the Inner-Temple / by William Sherlock ...
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Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing S3353; ESTC R15520
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10,506
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31
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the Worship of Latria but we may worship Saints and Angels with the Worship of Dulia tho' the Scripture appropriates all Religious Worship to God Thus as our Saviour tells the Pharisees God commanded saying Honour thy Father and thy Mother and he that curseth Father or Mother let him die the death But ye say Whosoever shall say to his Father or Mother it is a gift by whatsoever thou maist be profited by me and honour not his Father nor his Mother he shall be free thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition 15 Matth. 4 5. Thus it is in our present Case the Apostle commands us to pray for Kings and for all that are in authority No say these Men not unless they be Legal Kings tho' they have all the Ensigns of Majesty and are invested with the Regal Authority and Power with all the Legal and Customary Rites and Solemnites of Investiture and are acknowledged and recognized for King and Queen by the Estates of the Realm And thus this Command is of no effect neither for it seems it is a matter of Wit or Law or Philosophy to know who is King whereas St. Paul supposed that it was a plain matter of sense that he who administred the Government with a Regal Authority and was owned and submitted to by the Nation was the King for whom we must pray There is reason to conclude that St. Paul speaks of such Kings if we will allow that he spoke the Language of the Age wherein he lived for in that Age and in all the Ages of the World ever since those were called Kings and had the Preheminency of Power and Authority who by the Consent and Submission of the People administred the Government with a Regal and Soveraign Authority whether they had any Anticedent Right or Title to the Government or not I will not now dispute this matter but would only desire these Persons to consider whether they are as certain that by All Powers 13 Rom. 1. the Apostle onely means all such Powers as had an antecedent legal Right and Title to Power as they are that he expresly teaches That all power is of GOD Whether they are as certain that it is unlawful to pray for Kings who are legally invested with the Royal Power though as they imagine without any antecedent legal Right to the Crown as they are that the Apostle commands us to pray for Kings and for all that are in authority Whether they are as certain that it is their Duty to adhere to a supposed Right against the publick Judgment of the Nation in opposition to their Present Majesties who fill the Throne by the Consent and Authority of the Estates of the Realm though to the great Disturbance of Government and to the most apparent Ruine could they prevail of the true Religion the Lives and Fortunes of their Fellow-subjects and the Liberties of their Native Country as they are that it is our Duty to pray for Kings In a word whether they are as certain that the Roman Powers at that time were Legal and Rightful Powers by such an Antecedent Legal Right as they now insist on as they are that St. Paul commanded the Christians to be subject to those Powers and to pray for them These are very proper Questions about the degrees of Evidence and Certainty For if the Rule be plain and certain and the Exceptions from this Rule uncertain if the Rule have a Divine Authority and the Exceptions have nothing to support them but some uncertain Reasonings such Reasonings as contradict the general Sence and Practise of Mankind in all Revolutions I think wise and good Men ought to chuse the safer side and to suspect their own Reasonings since the Scripture has made no such Exceptions no not in a time of the most violent Usurpations when if ever there was the greatest reason to have made them and the generality of Mankind and even the most sober and considering Men reject them as having no solid foundation in Reason and Nature Having premis'd this I proceed now to consider the Manifold Obligations which lie upon us to pray for Kings First Because Kings are the great Instruments of the Divine Providence in the World they are those great Wheels which move and alter the whole Scene of humane Affairs every Irregularity in their Motions is soon felt and causes very fatal Convulsions in the State their Mistakes are like the Eclipses of the Sun but more portentous and ominous than they their Smiles or Frowns are like the kind or malign Influences of the Heavens which revive drooping Nature or threaten an universal Ruine Quicquid delirant Reges the People suffer by the Indiscretions and ill Government of a Prince but a wise and just and religious King is the greatest Blessing in the World and therefore we have as much Reason to Pray for the King as we have to pray that God would make his Sun to shine or the Rain to descend on the Earth Secondly Though Kings act with a Sovereign Power yet they are intirely under God's Government The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he will 21 Prov. 1. makes his Will and Affections run in this or that Channel as will best serve the ends of his Providence and Government The most absolute Prince is under secret and invisible Restraints God can a thousand ways change his Purposes and divert him from what he intended to something else which he little thought of and indeed it is very fitting that those who are so much above humane Restraints should be managed by an unseen Hand For if God does not govern those who govern the World there is in a great measure an end of his Providence for then the Fate of Kingdoms would be at the Will of Princes and that has the greatest Influence of any thing else upon the Happiness or Misery of private and particular Men. Now if God can if God does govern Princes this makes it necessary to pray heartily to God for them for there is the first Spring of Motion if we make God our Friend he will bless and direct and counsel our Prince who acts under him and in Subordination to his Counsels and Decrees Thirdly I need add no more to convince you how necessary it is to pray for Kings but to shew you how much they need our Prayers how much they need the Assistance and Direction of God to prevent those Inconveniences and Miscarriages which all humane Governments are subject to For 1. The Government of Kingdoms and Nations is a Work of great Difficulty and that which requires somewhat more than humane Art and Skill it is no easie matter to deal with the various Lusts and Interests and Passions of Men to maintain Peace at home and abroad to adjust the Interests of Subjects and Neighbour-Princes to make War and Peace to advance the Trade of the Nation and
to govern it when it is rich to be loved by Subjects without being thought easie and remiss which exposes to Contempt and to be feared without being hated to know whom to trust and whom to be aware of to discern Mens Integrity and Abilities for Counsel or for the Administration of Justice for Civil or Military Employs to know how to choose Favourites and which is as hard a thing how to govern them when to resist the Fury and Torrent of the People and when to comply without seeming to yield and a thousand other emergent Difficulties there are which require very prudent and yet extempore Remedies where every false step proves very injurious either to Prince or People These are the true Atlasses who bear the Weight of the World upon their Shoulders and if we find it so difficult to govern a Family a Parish a little Corporation to attend to one or to very few things of any moment and consequence shall we not assist those by our Prayers who have so much a heavier Burden to bear and which unless they carry it steady we our selves shall be crushed with the Fall of it 2. We must consider also that without the Divine Assistance and Counsel Princes are but like other Men and liable to the same Mistakes nay indeed they are more expos'd to Misinformations and Misrepresentations and such like Abuses which have a very ill Influence upon Government then other Men are No Prince can so particularly inspect all the Affairs of his Kingdom as a Man can his own Family and particular Estate but they are forced to see and hear with other Mens Eyes and Ears which too often prove very corrupt Mediums and tincture the Object with their own private Passions Court-Factions and the cross Interests of aspiring Favourites who carry on their private Intrigues without any regard to the Publick Good or the Service of their Prince but will Sacrifice all to undermine a Rival and to gratifie their Ambition and Revenge may sugest very ruinous Counsels to the dividing both the Hearts and the Interests of Prince and People and Court Parasites who are only Ecchoes to the Prince's Inclinations and always advise what they think he would have advised betray him to those Mischiefs which might be prevented by faithful Counsellors This is the Unhappy State of Kings which nothing but the Divine Counsel and Providence can prevent And is not this a very forcible Reason to pray for them Especially 3 dly when we consider that Kings are exposed to more and greater Temptations then other Men they have the same Passions that other Men have but not the same Restraints to curb them they have nothing but the Fear of GOD and the Considerations of Religion and another World which we find too weak to govern the generality of Mankind without some more sensible Motives What a Temptation is Sovereign Power when we see very few Men who can use any degree of Power without abusing it a Power which will justifie what it does and make it right which will not be opposed nor contradicted which governs the Opinions or the Tongues of Men which never wants Flatterers to admire whatever it does which can stamp new Titles and Characters of Honour when it pleases and at least change the Names and the external Value of Things though the Nature of Things is somewhat stubborn a Power which is apt to have very tender Resentments and to be very severe in its Revenge which gives free scope to all the irregular Appetites and Passions of Humane Nature Such a Power I say as this which is so easily abused and which is almost an invincible Temptation to abuse it self and which can do so much Mischief when it is abused is a sufficient reason to make us very earnest and importunate in our Prayers to GOD for Kings But if ever there were reason to pray for Kings certainly we have great reason to pray for the long Life and prosperous Reign of their present Majesties whom GOD hath set over us The Apostle directs us to pray for Kings that under them we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty As for Godliness this we must take care of whatever our Prince be No Prince can take our Religion from us if we resolve to keep it but they may disturb our Quiet and Peaceable Enjoyment of it which was the State of the Christian Church under Heathen and Persecuting Emperours and the reason of this Command to Pray for the Peaceable Enjoyment and Profession of their Religion This we enjoy with great Advantages under their Majesties Government and therefore have great reason to pray for them under whom we may if we please live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty Thanks be to GOD we are so far from any danger of being persecuted for our Religion that nothing can more effectually recommend us to the Favour of our Princes than the sincere Practise of Religion and Vertue They set us an Example of it themselves they like commend reward it where they see it Nay we have a King who exposes his own Sacred Person to all the Fatigues and Hazards of War to secure to us our Peace at Home and the quiet possession of our Religion to break the power of that great Oppressor who Invades the Liberties of Europe and Persecutes the Professours of the true Religion wherever he has Interest or Power to do it We have a King who has already rescued this Church and Kingdom when their Condition appeared hopeless and desperate and certainly had been so long before this had not God made Him the glorious Instrument of our Deliverance And shall we not pray for such a King who is the very light of our eyes and the breath of our nostrils To whom we owe our Laws and Liberties and Religion and on whose Preservation and long and prosperous Reign depends our greatest visible Hope and Prospect of a quiet and secure Enjoyment of them for the time to come And as we must pray so we must give God Thanks for King's too and for all the Blessings we enjoy under their Government This is one part of the Solemnity of this Day to bless God for the Restauration of the King and Royal Family and our Ancient Government and Constitution both in Church and State after the Miseries and Calamities of a Civil War and the Oppression of our Fellow-Subjects and those who can remember those Days must confess that this was a very great Mercy And though the Glory of this Day seemed to be Eclips'd and overcast in the Reign of the late unfortunate Prince yet it breaks forth again with a new Lustre and Brightness in the Advancement of their present Majesties from whose Government we may reasonably expect as great Blessings to this Church and Kingdom as ever they yet enjoyed Kings are God's Ministers and advanced to the Throne by him and a good King is as great a Temporal Blessing as God can bestow upon any Nation and the very Advancement of their Majesties to the Throne was it self a great and immediate Deliverance as great as our Redemption from Popery and Arbitrary Power And yet this is not all we are to bless God for but we are bound also to bless him for the almost miraculous Preservation of the King's Person as well from Treachery and Violence as from the Chances of War and for the no less miraculous Successes of his Arms especially the late wonderful Success at Sea of which I hope future Ages will feel the blessed Effects A Success in all the Circumstances of it so wonderful that I know no Story that equals it except we may compare it to the miraculous Overthrow of Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red Sea And yet it is no less wonderful that any English Protestants should invite the French to conquer them to place a zealous Papist and an Arbitrary Prince upon the Throne again and that after all the Miracles of Providence whereby these Designs have been defeated and as we have Reason to hope for ever disappointed there should be any Protestants who think it their Interest as long as ever they can forbear not to believe it and when they can disbelieve it no longer think it a great Judgment and Calamity upon them to be delivered But let Vs bless God that he hath answered our Prayers and saved us out of the Hands of our Enemies let us humbly beseech him to continue these Mercies to us and the glorious Instruments of them to bless their Majesties Persons Counsels and Arms and to perfect this Deliverance at Sea by as surprizing Successes which after such auspicious and promising Beginnings we hope in God may attend his Majesty's Person and Arms in Flanders Which we beg Almighty God to grant through our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory and Power now and for ever Amen FINIS