afficit said old Pythagoras That Magistrate who corrects not the faulty injures the blameless I adde further it enfeoffes you in the same guilt with them It is a known story how tart yet how true an answer was made to the Judge who expostulating with a Malefactor and pleading for how many crimes he had been pardoned was told that those crimes were not the mans but his because he had forgiven him and not punished him according to his deserts And the best of us have sins enough of our own that we need not grasp at those of others The truth is God hath directly pointed you to this duty in the Name he hath given you Rom. 13.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He beareth not the sword in vain for he is the Minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil 3. David served his Generation and by his courage and resolution in the wayes of God All the difficulties which attended him all the affronts he met with all the afflictions through which he waded could not damp his resolute spirit from retaining his integrity or draw him from his God Michal scoffs when he danceth before the Arke and he tells her I will yet be more vile than thus and will be base in mine own sight 2 Sam. 6.22 The Grandees and Princes thereabouts sat and spake against him yet did he meditate in Gods statutes Psal 119.23 Nay notwithstanding he endured some causeless persecutions yet his heart stood in awe of Gods word verse 161. He could not be daunted with the face of the greatest I will speak of thy testimonies before Kings and will not be ashamed verse 46. A Lyons heart is not more requisite in a Chyrurgion than in a Magistrate that he firmly and stedfastly purpose with himself not to be discoueaged at whatsoever happens that nothing terrifie or affright him that neither threats nor frowns neither fâ—wnings nor flatteries withdraw him from God or sink his Spirit One would wonder what kind of man Jeshua was that hears him so often charged to be couragious Be strong and of a good courage saith God for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the Land Josh 1.6 Have not I commanded thee saith God again be strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither be thou dismaid verse 9. All that thou commandest us say the people we will doe onely be strong and of a good courage verse 18. Not that he was either a Coward for want of valour or weak and flexible for want of resolution but having to deal with a stubborn people it was necessary to whet and set an edge upon his courage for preparing him against all trials Certainly there is no person in Authority but he must expect to grapple with some hardship to meet with some severe encounters and perhaps when he doth best to hear worst nor is there any thing to buoy him up and bring him safely off but arming himself beforehand with a serious resolve that nothing shall be of force to move him out of the wayes of God This therefore God expects from you in order to the serving your Generation that you valiantly maintain his truth and when any thing comes in contest between God and Man that you shrink not from him nor turn to the right hand or to the left It is not for you to swim with the stream but to strike against it be it never so fierce and if you cannot beat sin down yet at least to keep from the infection of it to determine as Joshua did when he took his farewel of Israel If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord Josh 24.15 And that leads me to the next Particular David served his Generation and by an exemplary life and conversation Which was so great a part of his service that our English Annotators have made an especial remarke upon it and thus give the sence of my Text after David had lived uprightly towards God in his appointed times he died Indeed so exact was his walking that all the good Kings after him are said to walk in his wayes or to doe as he did Of Josiah we read he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the wayes of David his Father 2 Kings 22.2 and of Hezekiah he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his Father did 2 Kings 18.3 And the wicked Princes are said not to walk in his wayes or to do like him So we read of Abijam his heart was not perfect with the Lord as the heart of David his Father 1 Kings 15.3 The truth is he was a man though not without infirmities yet of a most excellent life therefore called the man after Gods own heart Acts 13.22 And the Character of him is He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the dayes of his life save onely in the matter of Uriah the Hittite 1 Kings 15.5 And truly this is an eminent part of your duty in serving your Generation and that which will have a very great influence upon all about you Believe it there will be many eyes upon you some out of a good some out of a bad intent some out of love some out of envy And every slip in you will be so much the greater as your place is higher for he that enters upon a Publick Office puts off the man and puts on the Magistrate Nor is there a likelier way to make others good than your being so Philosophers tell us that the inferiour orbes are carried about by the motion of the primum mobile And we know the Proverb Regis ad exemplum c. 'T s true of a Borough or Town as well as of a Kingdome such as the Rulers are such will the people be We see it in the case of Israel While Joshua and those with him who were exemplary for piety lived the people was pious too Israel served the Lord all the dayes of Joshua and all the dayes of the Elders that outlived Joshua Joshua 24.31 And you cannot at present imagine what a comfortable reflexion it will be hereafter that by your good conversation during the time of your employment you have contributed towards the promotion of piety and holiness In short men advanced to more than ordinary height most certainly prove either Stars or Comets and either enlighten or infect our lower World For we are most what led by practice praecepta docent exempla trabunt precepts instruct us but precedents more forcibly encliue us and as a Divine of our own expresseth it wittily though the words of the wise be as nails fastned by the Masters of Assemblies Fullers Holy State in the Character of a good Parent yet Examples are
vindicate him True he is a patient in every Crime as all sins strike against his law but more especially in some than in others and in none more than this of Sacriledge A word of as large a comprehension as the thing is of a pestilent nature It is usually reckoned of three sorts with relation to things to places and to persons The last Ages have had Wide throats and greedily swallowed many holy Morsels What is past lies not within your power to remedy but if any ravenous Harpie be fastening upon that which remains be so just to God to beat him off and pluck it out of his Claws Secure his Portion and rest satisfied he will secure your estates Cast an eye upon the Holy places and let them partake a little of your care suffer not our Churches to be excommunicated nor our Congregations to be gathered into Barns whilst the Houses of God stand too too empty Certainly there is a relative holiness in them by their solemn dedication to Gods service if so this offence is Sacriledge unless Aquinas was mistaken by whom it is defined Sacrae rei violatiâ— Aquin. 2. 2. Q. 99 Art 1. resp ad arg 3. Gravius peccatum est sacrilegium quò peccatur contra personam sacram quam quò peccatur contra locum sacrum Aquin. 2. 2 qu. 99. Art 3. Exod. 15.11 and that violatio interpreted by quaecuncue irreverentia But the Schools agree the hainousest Sacriledge is against a Person and what person greater than God All holy things challenge a reverence by Vertue of their holiness He most of all who hath stiled himself glorious in holiness Do not thou overlook any thing which may reflect upon Him If you find that his Name be blasphemed that his word be profaned that his Ordinances be contemned that his day be unhallowed and alas these sins are too common among us for Gods sake let them not escape an especiall remark from you nor the offenders some serious rebukes from your Lordships Pardon my zeal in these passionate wishes Gods honour must be regarded if ever we expect to be happy I fear being tedious and therefore will contract May all who are concerned in the affairs of these days either as Jurors or Witnesses beware of Achars faults If once forsworn you are guilty of them both In case you are employed between party and party you rob your neighbour of his goods either by procuring or confirming an unjust title If between the King and the prisoners you either rob your Soveraign of a subject by condemning the innocent or you steal from justice by acquitting the guilty Besides God hath stamped holiness upon an Oath Therein men use his name they call him to witness the truth of their words therefore Perjury is a branch of Sacriledge Exod. 20.7 and as such it shall be rewarded for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain Once more I return to your Lordships and present Achar not as standing at the Bar but as lying in his Prison Places of that nature were certainly designed to be houses of instructions as well as of correction that however the body might suffer the soul might be bettered that however the guilty might smart for their faults before men they might be drawn to repentance before God That if the Crimes they committed deserved death helps might not be wanting to prepare them for it and if through the laws clemency they came off with life their former restraint might be a dayly Monitor to warn them against such ungodly courses But experience proves Goals are Goals in a double sense fellons are held as fast in the fetters of sin as in the fetters of Iron and it is hard for a man to enter the Prison a child of hell but he leaves it ten times worse It might not be unworthy of your Lordships to think of this particular along your Circuit Here God be blessed through the charity of Benefactors a provision is made for teaching the prisoners in some other places I am sure it is not where at this time it needs sufficiently Dâ—ylâ— Be pleased therfore to consider the condition of those poor creatures that your sentence from the bench speak not death both to body and soul It will certainly be an act of the highest compassion and an imitating the example of that good Joshua who endeavoured to work so effectually with Achar that the same stones might not kill him and damn him Let them suffer under your justice here so they meet not with Divine vengeance hereafter The sum of all is God must not be dishonoured Israel must not be troubled Laws must not be infringed Achars must not be spared And then will our land enjoy peace and tranquility the blessing of the Almighty will rest upon our heads we shall partake of his present favour and in due time of his future Glory Which God grant we way all do through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Honour Praise and Dominion henceforth and for evermore Amen THE Righteous Man's Concern FOR THE Churches Misery A SERMON Preached before the Judges at St. Maries Church in Leicester July 22. 1669. By Tho. Stanhope A.M. Vicar of St. Margarets in Leicester The Righteous Mans Concern for the Churches Misery Psalm 11.3 If the foundations be destroyed what can the Righteous do HOly Men have usually met with their share of troubles The way to heaven is paved with flints and strawed with Roses Our world is a Sea and the best sail through it with the wind in their faces That Royall Prophet to whose composure this psalm pretends though by the infallible spirit declared a man after Gods heart Acts. 13.22 18 am 26.20 was sufficiently sensible how dear a rate his piety cost him with a wicked Saul who sought his life and endeavoured his destruction Hunted he was like a Patridge and then no marvell his enemies should say flee as a 〈◊〉 to your Mountain V. 1. Saul and his Parasites had knit their brows and then no wonder if they bent their bows they shot forth their bitter words a sign they made ready their Arrows upon the string and all this preparation was to wound that good man and those who were like him privily to shoot at the upright in heart V. 2. Yet as pious souls preferr the publick concernes before their private interests he values not what related to himself in respect of what referred to the Church of God If she fared ill he could not fare well And apprehending her foundations in danger of being overturned he breaks forth into the question before us if the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do In which words you may please to observe two general parts 1. A Supposition 2. An Interrogation A Supposition if the foundations be destroyed An interrogation What can the righteous do In the Supposition there is the matter and the form or the Suppositum
and the modus supponendi In the Suppositum the subject and the predicate the subject the foundations the predicate destroyed In the modus supponendi take notice of three things for the word if will bear them al 1. the possibility of it the foundations may be destrayed 2. the iniquity of it It is a very wicked thing to destroy them 3. the miseny or calamity which attends it it will be a sad thing if the foundations be destroyed The Second general is the Interrogation What can the Righteous do or according to some translations What hath the Righteous done both may be taken in under three notions 1. as vox reflectentis 2. as vox deplorantis 3. as vox inquirentis The firstagrees especially with the old the second with both and the third with the new reading of these parts in their order I begin with the first the Supposition and therein with 1. The Subject or matter of the suppositum the foundations I may spare the pains to tell you that the word is by some rendred snares or nets as if David had particularly intended Sauls designs against him We have nothing to do with it in that notion suiting perhaps as little with the sence as with this occasion Thus far I shall use it and no further May destroying the foundations prove as great a snare to all who endeavour it as could correspond with Sauls batred without prejudice to Davids innocency Omitting therefore the variety of translations we fix upon the English where the Metaphor is drawn from a building to which the Church and State are here compared And not here only but in other places too St. Paul calls the Church the house of God 1 Tim. 3.15 Jerusalem is builded as a City that is compact together saith the Psalmist Ps 12.3 Jerusalem where God had his Temple and the King had his Throne And thus we shall see these foundations are either foundations of Doctrine or foundations of Government Take away the one and the building will totter for want of its Jachin which doth establish it Take away the other and it will reel for want of its Booz for in it is strength 1. There are foundations of Doctrine Those points which comprize the substance of Christian Religion We ordinarily call them fundamentals And the Scripture useth the term in the text Heb. 6.1 not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God which in the beginning of that verse is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the principles of the Doctrine of Christ such are the being and attributes of God the divinity and humanity of our Saviour the infallibility and authority of the Scriptures the immortality of the soul the resurrection of the body and the like for upon these we build our Religion and the building can never stand unless the foundation be firm Admit men once to deny these principles or to be perswaded into a disbelief of them and never expect to find their actions savour any thing of piety or honesty It is evidently plain that a practical conviction of these grand truths hath the greatest influence upon our souls to make us good scrvants to our God and good subjects to our King True the Gospel primarily aims at our piety yet doth it withall design our Allegiance that with equall conscience we pay the duties owing to the powers on earth as we do to the almighty power of heaven I had almost forgot to mention St. August in loc Augustines exposition in his Hoc dicit contra omnes Hereticos For then the Psalmist by foundations must mean doctrinall truths if Hereticks who pervert these truths be destroyers of the foundations 2. There are also a second sort of foundations those of Government which we suppose to be the fundamental laws in a nation grounded upon the Maximes of naturall and Civill Pollicy Thus St. Hierome expounds the words Hierom. in in loc si leges dissipatae sint if the laws be dissolved 'T is well known there is no civilized much less Christian Kingdom but hath its nationall constitutions if that be not too low a word whereby the people are governed God himself would not let the Israelites be without them as a means to uphold societies and keep every person within his due bounds Now as Lawes are virtually lodged in the supreme Magistrate so as by his consent Le Roy. le veult they receive there sanction so in an especiall manner He may be intended in the text David as a King speakes of himself at the same rate the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it Ps 75.3 And certainly there cannot be a greater shake given to any nation than an infringing the just Authority of the Prince or of those to whom he commits either Ecclesiasticall or Civill Jurisdiction I say Ecclesiasticall for some of the Rabbins have been so favourable as to name the very Priests for these foundations I dare not plead to so much reading but a worthy Author asserts it to be Rabbi Solomons gloss fundamenta i.e. Vicaris decapla in loc Sacerdotes super quos fulciebat se populus the Priests who were the peoples prop and support Wonder not I speak for our own order It is pity we should lose those priviledges which the bounty of God and his Vice-gerents have given us These then are the foundations of doctrine and of Government the subject of the proposition whose predicate follows 2. The predicate destroyed if the foundations be destroyed Where the Psalmist still prosecutes his Metaphor for the word signifies a demolishing of buildings Not only a picking some stones out of the wall which yet might be incomvenient nor beating down the higher stories and upper rooms though that would spoil the houses beauty but the laying it levell with the ground which must render it perfectly un-inhabitable Thus when the doctrines of Christianity are boldly denyed and the laws of a Kingdom insolently epposed when the people seditiously refuse either to be led by Moses or Aaron then may we wofully complain of the foundations being destroyed And so I pass from the first thing the suppositum to 2. The modus supponendi the manner of the supposall in the word if If the foundations be destroyed And here we are first presented with 1. The possibility of it That these foundations MAY BE destroyed for de impossibilibus non est supponendum no wise man much less the All-wise God would suppose impossibilities And indeed the truth hereof doth but too plainly appear No sooner did the Son of righteousness begin to shine but clouds arose to darken his light Truth was no sooner sprung out of the earth but errors began to peep out of hell The Church in her infancy was pestered with Herefies and the tares grew up as fast as the wheat There was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among Satans followers as there was among Christs disciples A
t ng up altar against altar barns against Churches new models of worship to cross the presribed form put us in fear that the foundations of Government are in a tottering condition For had these things no relation to Religion yet as thwartings of the Civil power they must needs bode mischief to the King and Kingdom Yet though these Pillars be so shrewdly shaken your seasonable assistance may not only secure them from quite falling but also establish them firm and unmoveable Let but men be throughly discouraged when they offend in this nature let them but a little feel your severity who have thus long contemned your clemency and they will either be reduced into good order or however become less irregular It is possible my words may be accused of cruelty sure there is no reason for it We judge it prudence if a fire happen rather to uncover the roof to throw away the tiles and break down some of the rafiers than suffer the house to be burnt to the ground And certainly it is better that some particular men especially when refractory and contumacious be curbed by those penalties which laws have provided than an whole Kingdom should either become a nest of Heresies or a field of blood But my zeal may perhaps make me presumptuous in offering to prescribe to your Lordships or these Gentlemen It is time to have done and I end all with this prayer God Almighty direct and guide you and all concerned in the publick affairs before you to His own Glory the Kings Honour the Kingdoms happiness the settling us upon those firm foundations of truth and peace Isai 63.7 that we who are members of the English Jerusalem may see it a praise in the whole earth and after we have served our Generations may be admitted into the new Jerusalem Heb. 11.10 that City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God there to reign in everlasting glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Honour Praise Dominion and Power henceforth and for evermore Amen CAESARS DUE Honour A SERMON Preached at St. Martins Church in Leicester May 29. 1669. before the Mayor and Aldermen By Tho. Stanhope A.M. Vicar of St. Margarets in Leicester CAESARS DUE Honour 1 Peter 2.17 Honour the King THese few words conclude the Epistle appointed for this Solemnity and the Church having chosen them for the occasion they cannot but be suitable for a discourse upon it The Day we celebrate in remembrance of those signal blessings it hath brought to us in a King 29. May 1630. as he was natus and renatus upon it born into the World and reborn to his Kingdom 29. May 1660. whereunto though he had a right before yet after a compelled exile now nine years ago he took possession of his Royal Palace And in the midst of our rejoycing for him it is but fit we should learn our duty to him which the Apostle hath shortly summed up in the Word Honour Honour the King At the 13. verse of this Chapter is propounded a due Christian carriage towards Magistrates probably enough there set down for some extraordinary reason It seems those early dayes of Christianity were tainted with the strange error that a dutiful Subjection to Authority could not consist with but was an abridgement of our Gospel liberty This is intimated verse 16. As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God A freedome indeed is granted but then that freedom must be rightly used not to encourage sedition or dis-obedience to make it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cloak of maliciousness to cover faction ambition sinister designs or any thing of that nature but that men should duly and rightly use it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the servants of God Upon the mention of which Word the Apostle as it were recapitulates and drawes the whole service into a narrow compass verse 17. With relation to four Objects thereof 1. Mankind in general Honour all men 2. Christians in particular Love the brotherhood 3. God as the principal Fear God 4. Our Prince as immediately under him Honour the King It may not be amiss to draw some few observations from the placing these two last together which shall onely be done in a few words before I fix upon my main Subject And here let us note Obser 1 That the same infallible Spirit which hath declared a duty to be owing unto God hath likewise declared a duty to be owing to our King That very Scripture nay that very verse which calls upon us to fear God cals upon us also to honour the King It is a gross mistake if we fancy our selves any more at freedome from the one than we are from the other Obser 2 The same infallible Spirit which hath declared the duty owing unto God and the duty owing to the King hath linked these two duties together There is nothing between to part them but as soon as the one is delivered the other follows Fear God Honour the King Nay as if this were not sufficient Solomon connects them together with a copulative Particle Prov. 24.21 My Son fear thou the Lord and the King Now Quae Deus conjunxit c. What God hath joyned together let no man put asunder In vain do we think ever to be truly pious towards God till we be truly loyal to our King Obser 3 The same infallible Spirit which hath in a large comprehensive word declared the duty we ow unto God hath in a like comprehensive word declared the duty we owe unto the King That our returns to neither of them may be narrow and scant Fear hath sometimes that full signification to include all acts of piety This do and live for I fear God Gen. 42.18 Honour so large an acceptation as to comprehend all service and duty Honour thy Father and thy Mother Exod. 20.12 Now as the first of these is used here with respect to the Lord Fear God so the latter with respect to our Soveraign Honour the King In which Words there are two parts 1. The Act Honour 2. The Object the King both which with a consideration of the persons to whom this Epistle was written viz. the believing Jewes converted to Christianity make it plain that the duty hath relation to us as a Christian precept delivered by Christs Apostle to those who were then Christs followers and so we also stand engaged to Honour the King A truth which will appear as if written with a Sun beam when we have enquired into the nature of this Honour and the grounds whereupon it is called for In the dispatch whereof for methods sake because the word Honour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and admits of several significations under each of them I shall subjoyn the reasons for it warranted by Scripture whence we have the best direction for our duty and confirmed by the testimony of the Primitive