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truth_n apostle_n church_n religion_n 1,757 5 5.8454 4 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A67688 Religious loyalty, or, Old allegiance to the new king a sermon, preached on the eighth of February 1684 ... / by Erasmus Warren ... Warren, Erasmus. 1685 (1685) Wing W968; ESTC R15670 26,631 34

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And then farther LOYALTY or OBEDIENCE is as peremptorily required of all God's people now as ever it was of the Jews heretofore Yea it is as vehemently and importunately exacted of them as RELIGION it self which seems to argue that they are no very different things * S. Peter 2.13 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the LORD's sake whether it be to the KING as Supreme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's the Topic whence St. Peter most cogently argues For the LORD's sake So that how could he have urged the Best RELIGION more forcibly upon them than he here does this submission to the KING And yet which is worth observing the KING he speaks of the Roman Emperour had no such clear Hereditary Title to the Authority he held as our KING hath For instead of ascending the Throne by descent from Ancestors and a long unquestionable lineal Succession Nero who is thought by some to have reigned at this time was introduc'd in a * Illud dementer quod praeterito Britannico filio Neronem privignum haeredem imperii fecit Hor. Turselin Epit Hist Lib. 4. mad and irregular way For Claudius brought him in over his own Son Britannicus's head who was the right Heir Yet to this Nero were the Christians to submit Even those Christians who just before were stiled an holy Nation a royal Priesthood a chosen Generation and a peculiar People Yea they were to submit to him for the LORD's sake and that as to the Supreme As to One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who in St. Peter's judgment was above the Soldiery and above the People and above the Senate and supereminent to all Mortals with whom they had to do And if the Primitive Saints thus yielded Submission to this Heathen Ruler whose coming to the Empire was indirect and whose Title so far turned upon a wrong hinge Who but Men as mad as Claudius would refuse Obedience to our present SOVEREIGN or raise the least shadow of scruple against it whose RIGHT to these Crowns is so undoubted And which is something more still Christians are charg'd by the same Apostle and that in one and the same breath as well as in the same Epistle and Chapter Verse 17. FEAR GOD and HONOVR the KING Which as it obviates all Pleas that might be drawn from the Gospel to confront or pervert the Doctrine of LOYALTY as Christian Liberty the having no other KING but JESVS or the like And as it baffles all Arguments for kicking against Government or endeavouring to subvert it which might be fetch'd from the Prince's being of a different Religion from his being an Atheist or an Heretic a Tyrant or a Persecutor while the chief Apostle commands the first Christians to HONOUR one of the vilest and cruellest of the Ethnic Emperours so it gives us to understand again that RELIGION and LOYALTY are near akin and in some respects very much the same thing And therefore St. Peter we see links them fast together and by a very quick and direct Transition passeth over coherently from one to the other And truly when Solomon and St. Peter the one the wisest Prince and Preacher in the Jewish and the other the Prime Apostle in the Christian Church concur thus fully in point of judgment touching the near affinity betwixt RELIGION and LOYALTY and the necessity of both why should any question the truth of either And yet they are not onely fairly agreed in the case but so perfect and absolute is the Consent betwixt them that they signifie and declare it by connecting or tacking both of them together in almost one and the same Expression For Fear GOD and honour the KING differs but little from Fear thou the LORD and the KING But how can FEAR which is a thing arising from apprehension of Evil have GOD for its Object who is the CHIEFEST GOOD Fear thou the LORD The Question is pertinent and answered thus Fear in the Text is not to be taken for a meer natural Passion or according to the Definition that Moralists give of it But for an ingenuous filial and respectful awe to be testified in the reverential Veneration of the DEITY If this be too narrow a notion of it yet and not adequate to the full Latitude of its meaning here as in likelyhood it is not for Fear is a very comprehensive term and is commonly in Scripture put for the intire Systeme of RELIGION we must then amplifie or inlarge its signification farther and think thus concerning it That it is a Complex or body of holy Virtues and Duties Fear thou the LORD that is if we would express it in particulars Love thou the LORD Honour thou the LORD Trust thou the LORD Obey thou the LORD And therefore we find in the Bible that those Graces or Duties are the usual Concomitants if not Constituents of this excellent Fear Thus what does the LORD thy GOD require of thee but to Fear the LORD thy GOD and to LOVE Him Deut. 10.12 And as Fear is there placed with Divine LOVE so sometimes it is joyn'd with Divine HONOUR Where is mine HONOVR Where is my FEAR Mal. 1.16 Sometimes with Divine Confidence Ye that Fear the LORD TRVST in the LORD Psalm 115.11 Sometimes with Divine Obedience SERVE the LORD with Fear Psalm 2.11 Now this being the full sence of FEARING the LORD here in the Text it will be of singular use to direct us into genuine expressions of our LOYALTY For the Fear of the KING being much the same with the Fear of the LORD though subordinate and inferiour to it as above was noted Hence it will follow that our Fear of Him must be a set of Principles and a Conjugation of Duties amological to those that compound or make up the Fear of the LORD And if we would act it aright we must do it in Correspondent or sutable Instances onely with abatements equal or proportionate to its comparative inferiority To speak more plainly and so as all may understand As they who Fear the LORD aright must have their Fear constituted of and exhibited in Affection and Honour Confidence and Obedience So they that fear the KING aright must have their Fear made up of the like Ingredients and signified in the like Expressions onely as I said we must keep to due measures still Yea as true RELIGION or the Fear of the LORD must consist of and be manifested in Heartiest Affection Highest Honour Firmest Confidence and most Chearful Obedience So our true LOYALTY or Fear of the KING must symbolize or partake with it here again and come up to it in a meet and laudable resemblance We must Love him Cordially Honour him Greatly Trust him Fiducially and Obey him Readily Should I not press this with earnestness upon the present occasion I might well be thought to forget mine own Duty for not minding you of yours I shall do it therefore as briefly and yet as fully as I can He that hath ears