Veracity of this great Judge than of the Justice of his Sentence In other terms as our Lord the King is wise according to the Wisdom of aâ— Angel of God to know all things that are before him so we believe he spoke herein with the Sanctity of an Angel and no less according to the Sense of his Royal Heart than according to the Truth of the thing Wherefore undoubtedly let some men think or say what they please he does not estimate his Subjects Loyalty by a warpâ—g Conscience or versatil humour in Reâ—gion No good or wise man Much less â—rince can in his heart approve either â—redulity and Rashness in believing or â—nstability in what is once on sober â—rounds believed There is nothing more â—oathsome to a person of any sense of Worth or Honour than a readiness to â—hange a mans Perswasion because he apprehends it may turn to his Rise or secuâ—ar Advantage To be free and open and use that Parrhesy which Honesty and Vprightness ever may I took not up my Religion from the Placits of Man but from â—he holy Scriptures of eternal Truth delivered to the world by inspired men and faithfully transmitted to us by Gods holy Church which Scriptures I have been instructed in from a Child and have read over diverse times upon my knees before God as well as otherwise with all the care I could I have thence learnt amongst other parts of my Duty my Duty to God and my Duty to my King and if any man catch me wittingly and deliberately tripping in either I decline no Censure nor Punishment But I am almost daily told by men whose Insolence I believe His Majesty if he understood would little approve that my King is not of my Religion I still answer thereto I cannoâ— tell nor am I busie to enquire but I blesâ— God and night and day pray to him to blesâ— our Gracious King for that Liberty Protection and Encouragement which we Protestants of the establisht Church enjoy in our Religion under his sweet wise happy Government And as to His Majesties Religion I say he is no more accountable to his Subjectâ— for that than he is for his Crown nor may they any more censure than prescribe to him therein All that concerns them is to pray God would guide him and inspire with all Christian Temper and Counsel those to whom under God he commits the Guidance of his Conscience And having said thus much I will only add As to my Religion from henceforth let no man trouble me For ought I know I profess the Religion the King would have me For if I should profess my self of any other I should dissemble and that I believe His Majesty with reverence be it spoken would no more approve in me or any man else than God does I have thus said what I had to say of the Occasion of publishing these Sermons It remains to the full discharging my Promise that I say a few things of their frame or make They consist not then of any profound cuâ—â—us or refined Notions nor is their Style â—curate or correct But they are what I â—prehend Sermons ought to be plain hoâ—st and strong I mean their Language is â—sie natural and such generally which is â— soon understood as heard Their Matâ—â— nothing but what in the Subjects â—andled is the sum of our certain Christiâ—â—ity And the Reasonings used in them I â—ope such as may convince There is at present a great complaint aâ—ongst the Book-sellers that there is nothing â—lls so dully as Sermons And yet I rememâ—er my Lord Verulam somewhere says in â—ommendation of the English Preaching â—hat if Preambles Transitions and passages which are purely matter of form with some such like particulars were taken out and the substance of our English Sermons extant collected into one Book it would certainly be one of the best Books in the world or words to this purpose Now what is the reason of the former complaint 'T is certain Sermons were no such Drugs in his days Has there then befallen any universal Degeneracy amongst us since his time which has altered the case None certainly universal for there have been better Sermons by far publisht since the death of that great Judge for such he was in all kinds of Learning than any I know before and particularlâ— those of the before at least matchless Bishop Sanderson And there are at this time in present being a great number of as excellent Preachers both in the City of London and disperst through the Kingdom oâ— England as most we can find to have liveâ— since the Apostles days many of whosâ— Sermons are in print But the truth of thâ— matter is this In the late days of the Liberty of Prophesying when every one took on him the honour not only of the Priesthood but even oâ— Apostleship that would and a bold pretencâ— to Grace Inspiration was enough to qualifie any man for the Pulpit there came for t such a swarm of putid and nonsensical as weâ—â— as too often unchristian Abortions of Preachments that mens stomachs then in a sorâ— turn'd many begun to abhor and ridicule thâ— Word of God and even the most sober sorâ— could not but loath such vile Entertainments Of this kind were all the Millenarâ— and generally all the Antinomian Rabble oâ— Preachers with more who followed the Parliament Camp whom I will not name Another sort there were who had some kind â—â— learning and seem'd at first hearing to havâ— something of soundness in them but in process all the Divinity you should find in their Sermons was pickt out of little Systems and Annotators beyond which very few of the men of those days ever went Henderson himself confessing to Arch-Bishop Vsher he had never read the Fathers and lay all in some Geneva-opinions servilely taken up a few terms of Art and Notions ill applied possibly not half digested or understood and in words and phrases of uncertain significations a vein of Canting running thro the whole Of these two kinds were I believe one tenth part of the Sermons preached and printed for neer twenty years together from the beginning of our late unhappy Civil Wars in England But God be blessed though such preaching was general yet was it not universal There were all along these times a secret stock of profoundly learned Divines excellent Preachers compel'd to be too secret God knows the remains of the old scattered Church and the Seed of our restored present establisht Church of England Arch-Bishop Vsher Doctor afterwards Bishop Saunderson Bishop and after the Restauration Arch-Bishop Bramhall Bp. Brownâ—ig Dr. Hammond Doctors and Bishops Jeremy Taylor John Pierson with many others these mens Sermons and many of their Discourses which though not printed Sermon-wise yet were divers of them first delivered in Sermons before ever printed in the form we have them no one I hope will account Drugs cast by or not think to deserve a very good place in his
whosoever does fear God will honour the King I begin with the first of these the Fear of God not only because it stands first in my Text but also because it is in order of Nature the truest and only sure foundation of the other All Duties towards men when sincerely payed must have their foundation in our Dutifulness towards God When our Lord had occasion to touch on the true and natural Order of Christian Duties he tells us this is the first and great Commandment Matth. xxii 37 38. that we love the Lord our God with all our Heart with all our Mind with all our Soul and with all our Strength And the second is That we love our Neighbour as our selves teaching us hereby that we can never love our Neighbour as we should do except first we most entirely love God The loving God with all our hearts can only sweeten and influence our Souls into an universal Charity And proportionably in the present case the Fear of God can alone implant in our hearts universal and invariable Loyalty And therefore I must confess I cannot see how vicious men can be true Loyalists Natural Love Education Interest Fear and other like causes may beget and nourish a short temporary and partial Allegiance The vilest men may be subject for Wrath but good men only will be subject as the Holy Ghost directs for Conscience sake And such Loyalty will be impartial indefectible and eternally cordial Briefly therefore in the first place of the Fear of God Now by the Fear of God we are to understand such a constant Sense or Aw of God of his Sovereign Dominion Power Omniscience and Justice as restrains us from Sin and quickens us to Duty The Fear of God therefore first supposâ—s most deeply rooted in our hearts a real Belief of his Being and a sober Knowledge of his Nature He who doubts whether there be a God or is either ignorant or dubious of the truth of his infinite Perfections can never have in his heart a true Fear of him For as that Fear presupposes I say such Understanding and Belief so secondly it consists in at least most proximately and immediately flows from or depends upon a constant actual or virtual Attention to what we thus understand and believe of him The thoughts of him and of these his Perfections are generally ever and anon recurring and by that means habitually fixed in the mind The Thoughts I mean 1. Of his Sovereign Dominion and Authority over all He alone is King of Nations Jerem. x. 7. supream and most absolute over all Peoples and Kingdoms and Languages and over each individual Man And therefore who shall not fear before thee O thou King of Nations for to thee it doth appertain forasmuch as amongst all the wise men of the Nations and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee 2. Together herewith do the thoughts of his Omniscience or actually knowing all things possess the heart for begetting in it that Temper which we call the Fear of God Psalm cxxxix 2 3 4 6. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising thou understandest my thoughts afar off thou compassest my path and my lying down and art neer unto all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but lo O Lord thou knowest it altogether Such Knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it In other words it is not possible for any of us so intimately to know our our selves as God knows us I cannot tell what I shall think or what I shall not think to morrow perhaps not an hour hence But God knoweth my thoughts while they are yet afar off He by one simple incomprehensible act sees all things persons and actions past present and to come And whereas the Heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked so that a man himself knows not all the Wickedness of his own heart The Lord searcheth the Hearts and tryeth the Reins of the Children of Men all their Counsels and Contrivances all their hidden acts of Malice or Concupiscence are open and bare to him And therefore who can but fear before him Especially considering what also is another ingredient or ground to the Fear of God 3. That this same Omniscient God is also most just and holy Most holy so as that he can no wise approve or allow Sin Habbak I. 13. Thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity that is God most perfectly abhors it And therefore he will most certainly punish it where persisted in or not repented of Rom. II. 6 8 9. He will render to every man according to his deed to them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of man that doeth evil Yea so severe is Gods hatred of Sin that sometimes when upon mens Repentance he forgives their sin as to the eternal punishments he yet in his Wisdom and Justice sees fit to inflict upon them here some temporary punishments Psalm xcix 8. Thou answerest them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their Inventions which whoso considers must certainly fear before this holy God Add hereto lastly the attending to or consideration of his infinite Might Power As he hath resolved and will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Eccles vii last so is he able to effect it No Malefactors can possibly fly from or escape this Judge he has Emissaries enough millions of Angels good and bad to fetch all in And all shall appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done 2 Cor. v. 10. Let us now put all these together Admit a man believes and actually thinks there is a great and glorious Majesty unseen indeed but seeing all who is Lord of Heaven and Earth and all in them this God is most holy and most just both resolved and able to bring all things into Judgment even to the very imaginations of the thought of mens hearts must not there needs amount hence a most profound Aw and Dread of this great God And must not this Fear both restrain such in whose Breasts it is conceived from wicked practices and excite and awaken them to all well-doing Thus then we have most plainly heard what the Fear of God is and together how it is begotten in the heart what roots or foundation it has Now for the second Duty Honour the King Honour imports or signifies an inward Esteem and outward Respect paid to any by reason of the Excellency we apprehend in them Thus in the beginning of this verse Honour all men For some Excellency there is in all men that is in every man more than in any other Creatures we know The Image of God is
particulars of that Honour we are to pay the King by the Law of Christ The Honour of Obedience of Faith and Allegiance of Supplies and Tributes of Candour and charitable Thoughts and lastly of our Prayers of all kinds Obj. 1. And all this is true will some say yes it were fit too to be practised were Kings such as they should be Answ 1. As to this vile Suggestion which it is too plain many more men harbour than dare speak out I might only give again the same Answer I have formerly given and say in one word we can find no fault in our King but what is more the three Nations than his own Guilt Our former Crimes therefore and the Effects they have had upon him cannot but most iniquitously and unchristianly be made Arguments for withdrawing our present Duties Answ 2. But once again Secondly Consider I pray you the Text and Context the emphasis both bear the Time in which and the Persons to which both were spoken and if we have not such an Answer hence to this Objectin as will make us all ashamed so much as to think of withholding any branch of the Honour mentioned due to our King I am much mistaken As to the Time it is most certain this Epistle must be writ either in the time of Claudius or Nero's Empire according to Baronius in the formers be it under whichsoever of the two they were both not only Heathens and Enemies to Christianity but villanously vitious Then as to the Persons if we consider to whom the Apostle directs these his Commands not only in general to all the Christian multitude but more especially to the dispersed Christian Jews in Pontus Asia c. this contributes further to the utter avoiding all the force can be conceived in this Objection The Jews we know were a people peculiarly chosen by God and by him priviledged above all Nations amongst other Promises made them that of dominion over the Nations was one especially eyed by them and nothing did they expect more constantly or passionately by the Messias then temporal Empire But even to this people and to the Christian that is the best part of them doth the very Apostle of the Circumcision preach Subjection Honour and Obedience even towards Heathen Emperours and Princes Now weigh the whole Emphasis Was it thus particularly and expresly commanded to the primitive that is the purest and most excellent Race of Christians that have lived in any ages of the world that they should be dutiful and obedient to their Princes though the worst of men Were these same Commands too in common without any exemption imposed upon the Jews that people peculiarly priviledged as it would seem to the contrary Nay were they as by name required to be subject and obedient to all the Kings of the Nations they should live under Were the Sons of God as I may stile them thus required to yield Subjection to Aliens and men without God in the world and can now any of us think that upon some private Reasons of our own we may forbear or do not owe like Duty to our Native Liege-Lord and Sovereign the same a moâ—â— Gracious Wise Just and Virtuous Prince for shame let us banish out of our Souls such Suggestions Object 2. But it may be further urged 'T is not impossible that a Princes Title may be disputable and what will you say in such a case Are we to obey Intruders against tht rightful Heir Answ 1. I answer first there was never any Title so just and indisputable but some unreasonable men have contested it We find by the sacred Story that when God appointed Kings by immediate nomination from Heaven there arose certain men Sons of Beliel who refused to own them yet was their Title no less Divine and just for all that But as to the Title of our present Sovereign I protest before God I cannot see any colour any shadow of plausible appearance that can be brought against it What man of any Face Reason or Conscience can disbelieve our late Gracious Kings voluntary Protestation both by Word of Mouth and under his Hand to his Privy Council and after publisht to the World Consider at what time it was made on what Inducements possible it could be made Had he not the Affections of a Father as well as of a Brother Was he likely to gain any thing by violating Honour and Conscience in avowing a falshood Or could any thing but Justice Care of his Peoples Peace and Safety together with pure Conscience and an entire regard of Truth move him to give his Royal Word Hand and in a sort Oath and that of his own accord to attest the No-title of the present Rebellious Pretender and the most just and full Title of our present Sovereign Lord and King This one thing in may apprehension must for ever stop the mouths and satisfie the Minds of any that will hear Reason Answ 2. Again as to all that can be done by way of Ratification or to speak more properly Recognition of our Sovereigns just Title has it not been done If you consider the way of his coming to the Crown can it at all be said that he set up himself Was he not immediately recognized and proclaimed by the Nobility Privy Council and the whole body of his People as far as then appeared from the chief City of his Kingdoms throughout City and Country every where in the whole three Kingdoms Then to wave the Solemnities of his most August Coronation have not the full Houses of Parliament recognized declared and avowed him as their only right-Lord and King Are not all degrees and sorts of men concluded in and by their Representatives in Parliament 'T is rescinding and giving the Lye to our own act nay pardon the expression 't is Rebellion against the Laws and Statutes of the Realm against Acts of Parliament if such a thing as Rebellion against them be possible as well as Rebellion against the King for us to stagger or be falling off now But I hope I did not need to have been so particular and earnest in this place However the matter coming in my way I was unwilling to be wanting to my Duty and that any of you should be wanting to yours Wherefore to enforce now what I have been so long teaching and asserting dâ—e Honour to our King let us now consider the other point remaining the Connexion betwixt these two Duties Fear God honour â—he King The putting them thus immediately together seems to suggest that if we do fear God we shall honour the King and that by giving him all these branches or kinds of Honour mentioned Now the general Ground of this Conclusion is that the Fear of God is an universal and invariable Principle of most impartial Obedience to the whole Law of Christ He who fears God makes no such difference between the Commands of God as to account any small or such which he may wave at pleasure without