power Iob 29. he tells us he delivered the poor that cryed the fatherless and him that had no helper the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him and he caused the widows heart to sing for joy he was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame he brake thâ— jaws of the wicked and pluck'd the prey out of his teeth And thus and by this means his glory was fresh upon him How blessed a thing is it thus when it may be truly spoken of our Supreme Authority as it is by Pontius Diaconus concerning Cyprian in the management of his Ecclesiastical power Nulla vidua reversa est sinu vacuo nullus indigens lumine non illo comite directus est nullus nudus auxilio de potentioris manu non illo tutore protectus est for to this end hath God raised them up and set them as the Sun in their respective Worlds to communicate to truth and holiness justice and whatsoever hath a Moral or Theological excellency and goodness in it the whole emanations of their light and influences The Author of the Records of the life of St. Cyprian tells us that he that at that time was to be Bishop of Carthage had need to be such an one Qui doceret poenitentiam lapsos veritatem haereticos unitatem schismaticos and therefore concludes upon the fixing of him in that imployment benè benè tunc verè spiritualiter contigit quod vir tam necessarius tam bonis rebus â— martyrio delatus est Happy was that providence that saved such an hopeful person fitted for such a necessary holy work I may truly say That that sacred person whom God hath re-invested in the Throne of these Kingdoms had need be such an one and more then such as having not onely a collapsed and disjoynted and disordered Church but divided and disparted State to set in order and therefore need to be such an one as Cyprian was Ingenii spiritualiter temperati qui inter resultantes collidentium fluctus iter medium librato limite gubernaret I remember Iustinian the Emperour in one of his Letters to Mennas Patriarch of Constantinople tells him that the end of his Office as Imperator was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep the faith of Christ from being perverted and the friends of Christ for in those elder times the name of the Church was not appropriated to the Clergy from being persecuted and he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made it our principal care 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For which cause onely we are satisfied we are both put and prospered in the possession of this Throne This then being the end the pursuit hereof is the excellency of all Power and Principality 2. That is the Glory and Crown of Magistracy which is and tendeth to the greatest happiness of the people that live under their Government and Authority He is the Minister of God to thee for good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. 4. It is not unsuitable for Christian ears that saying of Metellus Numidicus a Roman Censor Dii immortales plurimum possunt sed non plus velle nobis debent quam parentes the gods may do more but they should not desire more good and profit to their people then their Princes should And it was no small part of the reason of the deifications of many of the Heathens gods that they had contributed some remarkable benefit to their people The Jews themselves will mourn if a Ruler dye or be afflicted that loved their Nation and built them a Synagogue The Sun it self is more glorious not so much by that light it hath but gives and communicates to this dark be-nighted Globe in which we live It is no unusual thing for the fondest people to deal with their Magistrates as the Frogs in the Fable with their King when they prove or by prejudicate vulgar opinion come to be mistaken as unprofitable or destructive to common benefit I would not have the people to be the Censors of the manners or deportment of their Princes so as to suck in the apprehensions of the discharge of their allegiance upon the supposed inconsistency of their Authority with common good but however it hence is manifest that the glory of their motion in that Orb of Supremacy in which they are fixed by God depends upon their beneficial communications to the real welfare and happiness of those that are concerned in the fatal effects of their Conjunctions Aspects or Eclipses Let me add then that your greatest benefit you can reap by any Authority over you is this in the Text when by the influence of that Power you become a City of righteousness holiness and truth having thereby the free distribution of justice amongst all and the full establishment of Truth in Doctrine Purity in Worship and an encouraged justified holiness in all that profess the name of God Alas the good that you should have by Magistracy doth not lie in the enjoyment of liberty to serve your lusts and the profane principles of a graceless spirit to set up the Idols and Errours of your own hearts and to enforce your will-will-worship or superstition upon the Consciences of others but it lies in the enforcing of duty holiness righteousness and reformation and the perpetual discouragement of whatsoever intrencheth upon the interest and propagation of grace and truth as it is in Jesus Christ. He doth you most good that makes you most good most Holy Orthodox Sincere living up to the fulness of your light and putting a soul into your Worship and Profession by the Spirit and Power of Godliness I am not unsensible upon what foundations many thousands of persons do bottom their joy in the deliverance of this day I wish their joy were greaâ—â—â—â— but their grounds were better and that as their gladness is bottom'd on the expectations and hopes of some future good so that that good were somewhat of more Divine extraction and real excellency then what is in the eye of most of men Oh! what if we shall have a King and yet fear not the Lord what then should a King do to us what if we shall have no more Wars with men and yet still have the most fatal Wars with God what if we shall lie under less of suffering and yet live under more of sin what if we shall have better Laws but worser Lives what if our Liberties and Estates and we shall meet again and yet Christ and our souls shall part for ever and never meet more what if we shall have plenty but no piety a lawful merciful gracious King to Rule the outward man but a bloud-thirsty implacable Tyrant the Devil to hurry the souls of men to destruction Oh! Christians think of it There are too many who scandalize our Government and cast dirt upon the royal Scepter in promising to themselves I know not what licentiousness without a Curb revenge without a Law destruction of others without distinction Popery
it was the grief of Ahab yet it was the grace of Elijah in a right sense that he was the man that troubled Israel that set his face and sharpned his Ministry against the wickedness of that Idolatrous Usurper When the Prophet Amos speaks the truth of God against the house of Ieroboam the Land cannot bear his words and if he will Prophecie any more he must flee to the Land of Iudah where his lawful and natural Prince was but no more in Bethel for it was the Chappel House and Kingdom of the Usurper Amos 7. 10 12. The truth is if the Ministers of the Gospel do as they ought to do publish freely the mind of God against the horrid encroachments are made upon Magistracy by force and violence or if they have not a freedom to take all such Engagements Oaths and Promises as are imposed upon them to the renouncing of the just Authority of their legal Princes the very interest of usurpation is bound up and concerned in the extirpation of such and of this my self and many others have had too sad and ample experience Certainly never did Nation know more fearful vexations more scornful contempts more treasonable charges against more horrid abuses more universal dislocations of the most godly Ministers and more Magisterial Lordings over them in the work of their callings then we have done since the fatal blow was given in 164â— to our sacred and Supreme Authority I know these are unwelcome and unpleasing things to insist upon and therefore I shall trouble you with no more then this Lastly Usurpation shall not prosper Kingdoms and Principalities bottom'd upon bloud rapine and injustice shall shortly expire themselves and have the hand of vengeance against them be they never so strong potent and magnificent It was not long before every man that pissed against the wall was cut off from the race of Ieroboam 1 King 14. 10. 1 King 15. 29. Baasha left not any of his house that breathed Nor had Baasha's posterity any long possession of the Crown 1 King 16. 10. for Zimri a Captain of his Army smote and slew him And had Zimri peace who slew his Master 2 King 9. 31. or had the Family of Iehu any durable possession of that Crown which they unjustly as to themselves although justly as to God took off from the head of Ahab No Usurpers have ever this fate attending their Principality that by their own justification of force upon their lawful Soveraigns they have left that example of liberty to men that in no long time proves the cut-throat and destruction of their own Authority and that principle and power which dispossessed the rightful proves as effectual to dispossess the wrongful and invading Magistracy How fully hath this been evidenced in our times and days may be fully seen by the practices and declarations of some persons whom I forbear You may say The non-prospering of usurpation is good Better so by much then to have it fix and settle True and so say I also as I marked before Such fleeting of the Scepter when placed illegally is the most hopeful way of its fixation in its natural basis And therefore I would advise discomposed States to keep on foot such a variation of Authority as to forme or persons as the best way of issuing the dissettlement in a retrogradation to the peoples common interest and satisfaction But yet such grand mutations are not without their sad and severe impressions upon the peoples good peace and quietness And therefore when God shall restore to a people their rightful Power and Authority and free them from these inseparable evils of usuâ—pation this is a mercy of no small obligation and advantage 3. If God do restore to a people such a Government as that of Moses Ioshua David and Solomon then they have Government vested in the hands of them who are good and holy and such as the Lord delighteth in Such Persons and Princes of such blessed tempers may well be as was said of Titus Deliciae humani generis The Darlings and Delights of all the People I shall not largely run over the Story of those Authorities but shall set before you some remarkable things of them 1. They were such as ruled in righteousness David would not have the floor of Araunah No not to build an Altar on to the Lord. unless he might pay him the value of it 2 Sam. 24. 24. Of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen 1 King 9. 22. but preserved them in the possession of those rights which God had given them Lev. 25. 39. and such was the administration of his power that the whole earth sought unto him to hear his wisdom 1 King 10. 24. To enumerate the particular acts of righteousness in these Princes would be too long the sacred story affords you abundant satisfaction True it is the best of Saints have a spot in their Chronicle and the best of Kings are liable to have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some rash and inconsiderate actions to let them and those that deiâ—ie them know they are but men Such were those two acts of David about Urijah and the other about Mephibosheth in an evil advised misconceiving of his loyalty because he went not with him in his departing from Ierusalem although he had more affection to his King then Ziba that wretchedly misreported him to get his estate But the general administration of their powers was such that the rights of people had a sweet encrease and peaceable growth under the shadow of their wings and the blessed influences of their Authorities 2. They were such as ruled in mercy Medeanâ—ur morbis non indigenentur â—grotis saith Masius in his observations upon Ioshua's speech to Achan and Tacitus tells us a good Prince non poenâ semper sed saepius poenitentia contentus esse debet should take more satisfaction in the penitency then the punishment of transgressors and with Antoninus Pius conclude it more his honour to save one Citizen then to destroy a thousand enemies It is the saying of Seneca Principi non minus turpia multa supplicia quam medi eo multa funera and besides the natural beauty of clemency and mercy in Supreme Authorities all Politicks inform us it is no less the pleasure of the people then it is the preservation of the Prince Non sic excutiae nec circumstantia tela quam tutatur amor What a remarkable president of this was that blessed David 2 Sam. 19. 22. when he looked upon the sons of Zerviah as his enemies for counselling him to destroy that Shimei who had cursed him in the day of his flight and raised up Amasa who was General of the host of Absalom his rebellious son to be Captain of his own Army continually in the room of Ioab 2 Sam. 19. 13. by which carriages he bowed the heart of all the men of Iudah to him as one man so that they sent word to the King Return
without a penalty and what they please to impose upon the Worship and Worshippers of Jesus Christ without a Scripture Should it be so which God forbid the thoughts of should enter into my heart yet were this a good for thee and that good which God hath raised up his Anointed ones to accomplish for thee Oh! let it not enter into your thoughts lest the very Birds of the Air do tell the matter Thus poyson were better for the body then suitable nourishment and liberty safer then restraint to him who through phrenzies or other strong distemper hunts after nothing more then opportunity to destroy himself I know indeed there are many blessed fruits which these Kingdoms may joyfully and warrantably and with much confidence expect to be the product of this blessed restitution of his sacred Majesty Such as are the vindication of this Church and Kingdoms honour the wiping off the aspersion and rouling away the reproach of disloyalty from too many upon whom it is too familiary but most unjustly cast the settlement of our peace and the prosperous future state of all but let me say of this If God shall as we hope and pray he will by the influence of the Kings Authority sentence the reproachers of his ways and people into everlasting silence muzzle the mouth of blasphemous swearers rout the societies of abominable drunkards into corners that they dare not see the Sun clear the streets and empty the houses from the provoking crew of Sabbath-breakers and set up with encouragement the Worship of the Gospel the practise of holiness in all orders of men pray let me say of this as David of Goliahs sword There is none like that other things do well but this excels them all For however distastful these things may be and cross to the grain of many too many with us yet this would be the greatest mercy to your souls your eternal precious souls ten thousand to one to be shipwrack'd and lost if left to the boundless liberty of your own hearts and this would be the greatest mercy even to your outward estate For what hopes of any blessing from above where settlement and prosperity is abused where that deliverance which should be the grave is made but the womb and birth of that wickedness Idolatry and unreformedness that doth and will keep up the controversie with God without composure Hence it hath so often come to pass that people who have not become holy by being made externally happy in such eminent ways of deliverance as this have so often seen the speedy eclipse of the brightest Sun of their own prosperity Certainly if the toleration of Prophaness and Heresie and Idolatry in the Church be crudelis misericordia a thing that carries in it more of cruelty then of charity to the souls of men and if the drawing of the sword of Ecclesiastical power in the hands of the Ministers of the Gospel against the growing corruptions of their Flock be an act of the greatest mercy as appears 1 Cor. 5. the same will hold in its proportion in Civil Powers of whom let me shut up this and say They are then the farthest off from doing unjusty when they make us the furthest off from doing wickedly they have then been truly Fathers of their Country when they have made their people at least professedly children of their God they have then done their Subjects the greatest good when they have put a stop to sin which is their greatest evil they are then most like Gods when by their power the people are less like Devils they may save souls by the loss of sensuality save life by the loss of unbounded liberty save the truth by the casting over-board the sinking weight of humane innovations save the Church by the necessary allay into some common mediocrity of inconsistent parties and principles and entail happiness upon the Throne by setting up holiness and truth in all their people What Cyprian writes to the Confessors shall close up this for us in our lower or Princes in their greater elevations Ea concedere quae in perniciem populi vertant est decipere nec erigitur sic lapsus sed per offensam dei magis impellitur ad ruinam 3. Lastly That is the excellency and glory of Magistracy which tends most to their own eternal blessedness and acceptation with God We should judge that to be the Crown of Princes here which shall be their Crown at the great day of the appearing of Jesus Christ. The eminent grace of the Thessalonians their purity and constancy in the faith the Apostle calls 1 Thes. 2. 19. his hope and the Crown of his triumphing before the face of Jesus Christ at the day of his coming and even an Heathen himself could say Consulere patriae parcere afflictis for â caede abstinere dare orbis quietem sacule pacem suo hac summa virtus petitur hâc coelum viâ this is the way to everlasting rest for Royalty Oh! what account could Ieroboam give of his Idolatry Ahab of his cruelty Gallio of his indifferency the Arrian Emperours of their Heresie Nero of his inhumanity Iulian of his Apostacy when they stand before the judgment-seat of God the King of Princes how would then those things which Lactantius observes made the corrupt and sinful world to repute them as gods then confine them for ever to the society of Devils Give me that which God will own which the King of Kings delights to honour when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest and according to the real goodness of their ways every man shall have praise of God Those things cannot be the desirable things of Government which prove to be the damning and defiling things of Governours at that day nor can that be other then the perfection of it now which then proves to be the approbation of it with God Judge you therefore within your selves wherein the choicest beauty and greatest blessing of Authority lies whether in suffering their Dominions to be an habitation of Devils a Cage of every unclean Bird to be Magna latrocinia the stages of prophaness and impiety the Nurseries of Heresie Superstition and Popery the grief of Saints and the provocation of God or in causing them so far as the influence of their sacred power can extend to become the Cities of righteousness truth and holiness This this is that which shall have its euge at the last and be crowned with the royal approbation of God himself when all other their works shall be burnt up as dross hay straw and stubble I have done with that and shall have done all when I have spoke a word of this last Observation viz. To have our Judges restored as at the first and our Counsellors as at the beginning our Authority such as shall be 〈◊〉 to make us a City of faithfulness truth and righteousness 〈◊〉 are mercies which it is the method of God to give a 〈◊〉 when by his pâ—â—ging