we haue done our most and best seruice to them For which cause our power failing vs to requite them as wee ought wee must pray to the God of all power for the safetie peace and prosperitie of Princes that our prayers may testifie the zeale of our hearts and desire of our willes to obtaine from God farre greater recompence for them then wee can any way render them Yet may we not slacke to do them all the honor we can aswell with humilitie of the outwarde Man as with fidelitie of the inward When S. Peter saith Honour the King we must not thence exclude bodily honour which is sensible to others and restraine it to the honour of the minde which neither wee can shew nor they can see but by externall signes The Commaundements of God binde the whole Man no part is exempted where Submission is required And because it is growen a great fashion in needelesse curtesie to bow and touch the anckle and in necessarie duetie to stand starke and stiffe let vs see in a word or two whether the Custome of this Countrie in kneeling to their Princes bee seruilitie or flatterie as some reckon it or a parte of their due honour and dignitie Ioseph suffered his Brethren to bow downe to the ground before him as hee dreamt and saide they should and yet was Ioseph but the next person to King Pharaoh and his vicegerent This dreame and deed were both of God when Iacob would foreshew his sonne Iudah that the Scepter should not depart from his Linage hee saide Thy Fathers Sonnes shall bow downe vnto thee and heerein Iacob was a Prophet and spake by the Spirite of God Dauid after he was Annoynted to succeed Saul in the Kingdome bowed himselfe with his face to the Earth before Saul and when he was King he receiued the like homage from Mephibosheth the sonne of Ionathan from Ioab his sisters son from Absolon his owne sonne from Arannah the Iebusite of whome hee bought the threshing floore all these bowing themselues vpon seuerall occasions with their faces on the ground before King Dauid and yet was Dauid farre from yeelding or accepting more then his due Nathan the Prophet of whom can be no suspition that he vsed flatterie or was ignorant of his duety bowed himselfe saieth the Scripture to King Dauid with his face on the ground when hee asked him who should sit on his Throne after him God neuer alloweth the outward Man to dissent from the inward in any kinde of dutie the mouth blesseth where the heart loueth and the bodie stoopeth when the minde honoureth The third point which belongeth to Princely dignitie is that which the Apostle calleth Custome and Tribute I call Recompence The dutie may not be denied howsoeuer the reason thereof may be somewhat varied Therefore pay ye also Tribute saith the Apostle If wee referre this to the former words you must be subiect for therefore pay ye tribute then is Tribute a signe or sequele of our subiection For since wee our selues must be subiect all that is ours both goods and lands must needes be vnder the same condition More worthy are our bodies then our goods and our liues then our lands If the Principall be not exempted from Subiection how should the Accessarie If we refer it to the words following for this cause pay we Tribute for they are Gods Ministers attending their charge the Reason is very sound and dependeth on the maine proportion of Gods Iustice and prouidence Parents must be requited because they cared for vs when wee could not help our selues Preachers must be maintained because they labor in the Word and Doctrine generally God would haue no man attend any office by which he shuld not liue How euident a Right then is it that Princes supplying Gods place and applying themselues wholy to the preseruation of their People and safegard of the Commonwealth should haue their paines recompenced with all honour and aboundance and their Affaires both of peace and warre supported by the goods and lands of their Subiects Our Sauior when it was asked whether it were lawfull to pay Tribute vnto Caesar giueth a farther reason in saying Render vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars in effect Restore him his own A double right hath Caesar to the things which we thinke and call ours one by donation another by preseruation for if we looke to the first subduing of all countries by the Sword and the first endewing of each place and person by the Prince and the strengthening and setling thereof by the Law so long as men obey we shall finde that temporall things in euery Kingdome as they were first receiued from Caesar and haue beene continued by Caesar so they are still enioyed vnder Caesar and must in cases of disobedience by Law returne to Caesar and when neede requireth by parts be refunded to Caesars vse By preseruation not onely our goods and our lands but our bodies and liues are Caesars though he neuer gaue them yet because they are kept and garded by his power and care that they might bee ours Otherwise we should enioy them but a while if euery man might freely haue his forth execute his fury without restraint or feare of Reuenge malice mischiefe would so fast multiply There is therefore a Tribute or Due to Caesar as well of our labours and liues as of our goods and lands all which being preserued by Caesars Sworde and Scepter must be employed and expended in Caesars Seruice Whether therefore Tribute and Custome be a seale of our Subiection or a debt of Compensation or a part of Restitution it is plainly Gods ordinance and a manifest consequent Argument or monument of our obedience to Princes Howbeit to lighten the burthen procure the welfare and retaine the loue of their subiects both Heathen and Christian Princes that haue beene wise and moderate haue rather eased then fleeced their People and hauing Lands and Reuenewes sufficient of their owne to maintaine their Royall estate haue not imposed nor expected Taxes oftner nor greater then their needefull occasions required Tiberius the Romane Emperour was wont to say Shepheards do sheere not flea their sheepe and Princes be Shepheards of their People as God said to Cyrus thou art my Shepheard Feare is added by the Apostle as incident to Princes power not properly but conditionally when wee doe euill Wilt thou be without feare of the power saith he Doe well so shalt thou haue praise of the same but if thou do euill feare he is Gods Minister to take vengeance on him that doth euill Feare of vengeance is a medicine prouided to preuent sinne Praise is Prize appoynted to prouoke vertue The King as a Father should cherish the good with fauour and encouragement as a Lord hee should represse the badde with feare and punishment The righteous are the sonnes of God and worthie to receiue consolation The wicked are the seruants of sin
A Sermon preached at Westminster before the King and Queenes Maiesties at their Coronations on Saint Iames his day being the 28. of Iuly 1603. By the Reuerend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Winchester Printed at London by V. S. for Clement Knight and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Holy Lambe 1603. To the Christian Reader CHristian Reader I present vnto thee heere a Sermon preached by the right reuerend and learned Father the Lord Bishop of Winchester at the late Coronation of the Kings most excellent Maiestie which hauing with much adoe obtained of a good friend of mine about his Lordship I hope it shall no whit offend his Lordship if by this meanes hee doe more seruice to the Church then by the vttering of it hee could doe in one though so honorable assembly I dare not presume to censure it The Sermon it selfe the Royall presence before which it was vttered and the learning and grauitie of the Preacher grace it much more then whatsoeuer I could studie to say in commendation of it Reade it therefore dilligently and learne by it to obey Gods ordinance willingly and so I commit thee to God Rom. 13. verse 1. The powers that are are ordained of God SO true without exception it is which the Apostle saieth in the next wordes before There is no power but of God that man at his first Creation and in his perfection could haue no power ouer Beasts Birds and Fishes till GOD with his owne voyce made him Ruler ouer his Creatures and put all things in subiection vnder his feete If none could dispose of Gods works besides the workeman nor vse the Creatures voyde of reason without the Creators leaue howe much lesse might any man haue dominion ouer the Seruants and Sonnes of God created after his owne Image and sanctified with the grace of his spirite had not God ordained the power of men ouer men with manifest woordes authorized Rulers to take and keepe their places Priuate and inferior powers as the husband ouer his wife the father ouer his children the maister ouer his Seruantes were to be allowed and ratified by God from whome is all power before they could be lawfull Publike then and Superiour powers as they containe and commaund all those gouernments and farre exceede them so must they haue a larger and stronger warrant in the worde of GOD than any other Regiment hath Which that wee may the better perceiue I thinke it fitte for this present time and place to obserue not onely how the Princes function in generall is established by God but more specially how the braunches thereof namely their power their honour and their seruice are ordained and confirmed of God To expresse them more distinctly Their Authoritie is deriued from GOD resembling his image Their dignitie is allowed of GOD to partake with his homage Their Duetie is enioyned them by GOD to preserue his heretage The first they haue receiued from GOD the second they must receiue from men the third they must yeelde to both And first of resembling Gods Image The likenesse that Princes haue with the kingdome of GOD and of Christ consisteth in the Societie of the names and signes which they haue common with Christ in the Sufficiencie of the spirite wherewith God indueth them in the Sanctitie of their persons which may not be violated in the Soueraigntie of their power which must not be resisted The Societie of their names is euident I haue sayd ye are Gods and all the Sonnes of the most High And of this very Scripture our Sauiour saith it can not be dissolued that is it can neither be false nor frustrate since it is the word of God Stedfaster than Heauen and earth is the worde of God Heauen and earth shall passe away but my wordes saith our Sauiour shall not passe away If vanity and falsity in our speach argue the weakenesse and wickednesse of our harts how impossible is it the worde of GOD shoulde want either trueth or force Wee are seuerelie prohibited to take Gods name in vaine which is most holie and mightie And shall wee thinke that God himselfe wil giue his name to Princes in vaine Is God as Man that hee should lie Hath he spoken it and wil he not performe it Or shall his worde returne to him emptie and without effect GOD forbidde wee shoulde so much dishonour him or deceiue our selues Since then Princes can not be Gods by nature being framed of the same mettall and in the same moulde that others are It foloweth directly they are gods by Office Ruling Iudging and Punishing in Gods steede so deseruing Gods name heere on earth As it was said to Moses Beholde I haue made thee Pharaohs God that is his people his person his land his life and all hee hath shal be in thy power and depend on thy word As Christ giueth Princes his name by calling them Gods and the Sonnes of the most High So he taketh their Names and Signes to shew the Vnitie and Soueraigntie of his Kingdome and to seuer it from all other kindes of gouernment for Christ is neuer called in Scripture a Consull a Senatour or a Tribune of the People but the name on his garment and on his thigh as Saint Iohn saith is King of Kings and Lord of Lordes that is a most mightie King and Lord. Insomuch that when Christ is described in the Scriptures as a King all the ornaments and ensignes of a Kingdome are namely recited and personally referred to him though in him they be spirituall and eternall which to men must be materiall and temporall Thy Throne O God endureth for euer saieth the Scripture of Christ as the Apostle expoundeth it The SCEPTER of thy kingdome is a Scepter of Righteousnesse Wherefore God euen thy God hath annoynted thee with the Oyle of Gladnesse aboue thy Partners On his head saieth Saint Iohn are many Crowns and out of his Mouth as working his Wil by his Worde goeth a sharpe SVVORD wherewith hee shall smite the Heathen To Princes then as Partakers with Christ in the power honour and iustice of his Kingdome heere on Earth are allowed of God a Sword in signe of Power a Crowne in shew of Glory a Scepter for a token of Direction a Throne for a seate of Iustice and Iudgement and Invnction as a pledge of outward Protection and inward Infusion of grace All which Signes and Ornaments of a Kingdome since Christ assumeth from Princes and applieth to himselfe he confirmeth to be lawfull in Princes because they are common to them with him who admitteth or accepteth no vnlawful or superstitious thing as pertinent to his person The Spirit also which Princes receiue from God wherewith they are guided in doeing their office sheweth their Resemblance with the Sonne of God Men choose the fittest they can finde to supply their places because they want meanes to make others meeter than
they are But God who worketh all in all according to the good pleasure of his wil and hath power most abundant to enable all his Agents for any work he hath in hand neuer calleth any man to serue him whome hee doth not furnish with gifts according Workemen hee would haue none to the making or decking of his Tabernacle but such as he replenished with the spirit of vnderstanding for that purpose Prophets he neuer sent any but with his words in their mouthes and his truth in their hearts which all their Aduersaries could not withstand gouernors then whose harts mouths and hands he vseth to keep his people in peace and pietie God neuer chooseth any but he first endewed them with a Principal spirit Whiles Moses alone sustayned the burden of the whole people in the wildernesse the abundance of Gods spirit on Moses was sufficient for the whole but when hee desired part of that labour to be eased God took off the spirite which was vpon Moses and diuided thereof to the seauenty Elders who assisted Moses As soone as Samuel by Gods commandement had Annointed Saul God gaue Saul another heart sayeth the Scripture and he was changed into another Man But when for disobedience the Kingdome was rent from him the spirite of the Lord likewise departed from him and from that day forward came vppon Dauid that was annoynted to succeed Saul It pleased God wel that Salomon at his first comming to the Crowne desired an vnderstanding Hart to Iudge the People and in signe of liking and granting this request GOD gaue him also that which hee asked not euen Riches and Honor aboue all the Kings of the Earth Of all good Princes the wisdome of God saith By me Kings rule and Princes decree Iustice that is the Kings heart is in Gods hand hee turneth it whither he will A diuine direction is in the Kings lippes his mouth shall not transgresse in iudgement A King sitting in the Throne of Iustice chaseth away all euil with his Eyes which are the shews of his affections So that not only the height of their calling is deriued from God but the strength of Gods spirit ruleth their Heartes guideth their Mouths and setleth their Affections to execute Iudgement and to banish euill from the Earth The inward Annoynting which is the diffusing of heauenly wisedome corage in the harts of Princes God testified by externall Inunction when hee first appointed a King in Israel And by that his Ordinance taught vs that their persons once dedicated to his seruice ar not only protected by his stretched out Arme but are and ought to be Sacred Secured from the violence iniurie of al mens hands mouthes and hearts Touch not mine Annoynted saith God by his Prophet Which though it be true of all whome God vouchsafeth inwardly or outwardly to Annoint yet is it chiefly verified of Princes whom God annointeth to be the chiefest of his people This Dauid wel saw when he so often saide The Lord keepe me from laying mine hand on his Annoynted for who can lay his hand on the Lords Annoynted and be guiltlesse Neither is violence only prohibited towards them but all offence in speach or thoght The Prince of thy People Lô Taôr thou shalt not reproch by word or deede The word Arar importeth both and so Despise not the king or make not light of him no not in thy thought for the Foule of Heauen shall bewray it that is God will strangely reueale it be it neuer so secret Yea the very Robes which they weare are sanctified When Dauid had priuily cut but the lappe of Sauls Cloake in the Caue to let him see that he spared his life Dauids hart did afterward strike him saith the scripture for cutting that peece of the kings garment So sacred is euery thing belonging to them that no part of their apparel may be wrongd or abused The force of their Annointing being perpetual general we must not think the outward action Iudaicall or Temporall Iewish it could not be that neither had his beginning from the Iews nor was restraind to the Iews The qualities and duties of a King are proposed in De. 17. but the Annointing of a King is no where mentioned in Moses Law Only Samuel had a precept from God to Annoint first Saul then Dauid so had Elias to Annoint Hazael king ouer Aram who was no Iew and Iehu King ouer Israel god by his prophet called Cyrus King of Persia his annoynted Likewise Salomon Ioash Iehoahaz and other Kings of Iudah though it be not expressed were Annointed notwithstanding there was no expresse commaundement of God for so doing but a continuance of the first Institution or approbation of Annointing Kings receiued from God Yea 200. yeers almost before there was any king in Israel or any mention of Annoynting them Iotham the son of Gedeon in his parable to the men of Shechem said The trees went foorth to Annoynt a king ouer them speaking of the Annoynting of Kings as of a thing requisite to the creating of Kings and wel knowen to them his hearers when as yet there was no precept nor example extant therof among the Iewes Which they must needes learne by the vse of other Nations round about them Since then Inunction of Princes had not his original from Moses who wrote nothing thereof but being first vsed in other places as appeares by Iothams Parable was afterward receiued and approoued by Gods direction when he created a king in Israel was extended to other Kingdomes countries namely to Hazael King of Syria and to Cyrus King of Persia who were strangers to the Law and people of the Iews And the vocation of Princes in no part of their power honor or seruice is abrogated or altred by the new testament as the Leuitical priesthood is but rather continued confirmed which is a manifest truth of sound doctrine I see no cause why the function of Princes still remaining the same the Inunction of Princes shuld not haue also the same signification operation approbation from God which it had in Dauid Salomon Ioash Iehoahaz and others depend vpon as good warrant as their Crownes Thrones Swords Scepters do all which are resemblances of Christs Kingdome and approued of God as signes assurances of their authority dignity and duty from God euen as Inunction is an earnest to them of that inward sufficiencie and outward securitie which God bestowes on their persons when hee aduanceth them to their Places The Soueraigntie of their power wil soon appeare aswel by the persons subiected as by the thinges committed to their charge Let euery Soule be subiect to the Superior powers saieth Paul in this place Euerie Soule yea though thou be an Apostle an Euangelist a Prophet or whosoeuer thou be saith Chrysost. for these things are commanded to all He that bringeth an