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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	church_n	head_n	universal_a	3,572	5	9.0629	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36371	The honour due to the civil magistrate stated and urg'd in a sermon compos'd for the day of thanksgiving for the happy discovery of the late horrid and execrable conspiracy against His Majesties sacred person and government / by Theophilus Dorrington.	Dorrington, Theophilus, d. 1715.	1696 (1696)	Wing D1942; ESTC R14688	25,086	35

be loath to be governed Besides Pride is the most common Vice of corrupted Nature and that which is for the most part dearest to it and the last that is cured And Pride loves indeed to receive Honour but does not care to give any It makes a Man think he never receives enough but it makes him think too that the least Measure is enough to give It is no wonder then if Humane Nature needs to be exhorted to such a Duty as this I proceed then to the second Part of the Discourse propos'd which is to urge the Practice and Performance of this Duty as it has been stated And there are these Considerations following which require it of us and ought to move us to it 1. We must know that Magistracy and Government is an undoubted Ordinance and Institution of Almighty God It is the Will and Appointment of Heaven that all Nations should have some Government and Order among them That some one or more should have Authority to rule and the rest should reverence love and obey that Authority He has establisht this Order to enforce upon Mankind the Laws of Piety and Vertue To Influence towards the keeping up those Vertues in the World which he requires Men should glorifie and honour and acknowledg him by and those which are necessary to render them easie useful and comfortable to each other And he knows very well how necessary some Government and Authority among Men is to these Purposes That without this Mankind would be as wild as the Savage Beasts and perhaps as little regard Him and be as mischievous to one another as they It may be reckoned a reasonable Confirmation of this that Magistracy and Government is an Ordinance and Institution of Heaven that we find such a thing still maintain'd and kept up in the World notwithstanding the common Unwillingness of Mankind to obey and be rul'd Nothing is more evident than a universal Unwillingess to submit to Government and be confin'd by Laws It is not a new but an old thing and that which has always been for the Subject Part of a Nation to be apt to grudge at and envy the Authority of those that govern and often to wish and as far as they durst to endeavour to make it less There have been always some proud ambitious and covetous Men among them who would fain have a Share in the Government for the Profit and Honour of it to themselves and who have wheedled the People to their Side by finding mighty Faults in the Governours promising they would govern them better and especially would give them more Liberty And 't is an old and a common thing that they get some Fools to believe them and to think them mighty Lovers of their Country and the People because they cry up Liberty much and to account them mighty good Men because they find great Fault with others The Histories of all Nations are not without frequent Instances of Designs and Struggles of this Nature And these things are very pernicious to Governments and tend to overthrow and destroy them Yet is Government and Magistracy maintain'd in the World It cannot be certainly that it could subsist against so great and constant an Opposition if it were not supported by the Wisdom and Power of Heaven If there were not the Force of a Divine Institution and a constant Care and Application of the Divine Providence to maintain it But I account the Authority of Holy Scripture a better Proof in Matters of Religion than any Reasonings of Men Let us therefore take notice of what that says to this Matter and perhaps there is not any thing more expresly taught us there than this The Apostle Paul expresly calls Government an Ordinance of God Rom. 13. 2. and says Whosoever resisteth the Power or opposes Government resisteth the Ordinance of God And they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation they commit herein a damnable Sin God himself says By me Kings reign Prov. 8. 15. When we are commanded to submit to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's Sake and to be subject and obedient to the Civil Magistrate for Conscience Sake These things speak it a Law of Heaven that Honour and Obedience should be paid to the higher Powers that is to those who are in Authority among Men and so do conclude that Magistracy and Government is an Ordinance of God We ought to look upon Magistrates as the subordinate Officers of the great and universal Governour of the World of him who is Head over all things to the Church and who has all Power given him both in Heaven and Earth He has an unquestionable Authority to Rule and therefore has Right to set up what Officers under him he pleases to govern the World by he can communicate Authority and Power and that which they act by is his and is deriv'd from him if all Power be his This the Apostle Paul most evidently teaches us when He calls the Governour The Minister of God Rom. 13. 4. And the Apostle Peter urges Christians to submit to such as to them that are sent by God for the Punishment of evil doers and the Praise of them that do well Now this is certainly a good Foundation and Argument for Honouring and Obeying the Higher Powers This makes Authority to be a Divine and Sacred thing And makes it Rebellion against God to Rebel against the Magistrate We shake off the Divine Authority and refuse the Dominion of Heaven when we despise and refuse the Governments on Earth We break his Law we insult his Officers and Vicegerents those that do in a peculiar manner bear his Image and represent Him to the World when we slight and oppose their Authority Therefore is this commonly found in those who have not a due Reverence for Almighty God himself but have lost this either by Profaneness or by a fond Conceit of their extraordinary Favour with God and a habit contracted thereupon of rude Familiarity with Him Our Saviour says to a sort of Officers under Him which undoubtedly ought to be reckoned Inferiour to these that which therefore we may conclude is with more force and reason Applicable to these He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me If we despise and affront his Vicegerents this rises to an affront and contempt of Himself So absurd and foolish is the pretence of opposing the Civil Magistrate to promote the Kingdom of Christ and to rebel against his Laws and Authority because we will own no King but Jesus Christ He that opposes the Civil Magistrate does therein oppose the Kingdom of Christ which he pretends to advance for he opposes the Officers and Administrators of that Kingdom And tho' this Principle and Practice may be sometimes found together with a mighty and a fierce Zeal against Popery it is a deplorable and gross Ignorance at best which makes these two things consist in the same Persons For this Principle is in truth the

THE HONOUR Due to the Civil Magistrate Stated and Urg'd IN A SERMON Compos'd for the Day of Thanksgiving For the happy Discovery of the Late Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy AGAINST His Majesties Sacred Person and Government By THEOPHILVS DORRINGTON London Printed for John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. ADVERTISEMENT THE materials of the following Discourse are Thoughts which have a long time taken possession of my Mind upon a good consideration of the Duty therein urg'd and of the Behaviour of the World with Relation to it The Occasion of putting them now together was The Happy Discovery of the late Wicked and Detestible Conspiracy against the Life of Our KING whom may it please God long to preserve and by consequence against our Peace Liberty and Religion and the Welfare of Europe It was at first design'd for a Sermon and in particular for the Day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for that Discovery to which I intended it should have been somewhat more expresly accomodated in an Application at the End To be sure the best way of expressing our Thankfulness to Almighty God for having so wonderfully again preserved our Good KING is to study and practice all that Duty which God requires we should pay to the KING But having had no opportunity to use the Discourse in that way by reason of my uncertain Circumstances at present I have resolv'd thus to Publish it Thus it came to pass that it is in such a Method And the Duty is here Stated and Vrg'd as becomes a Sermon from the Intimations of Holy Scripture concerning it and the whole Discourse is chiesly grounded upon Principles of Religion Being then after this manner at first composed I was willing to let it go with this Character Because the greatest Reverence and Regard is certainly due to Religion and to what is firmly and necessarily connected with the Principles and Precepts of it All That therefore may with great Reason have a mighty force and power upon Men. I heartily pray that this Discourse may as much as is necessary revive this Happy and Important Instance of Religious Practice amongst us to the Honour of our Holy Religion the Obtaining the Divine Favour and Blessings upon the Nation and the Promoting the Tranquillity and Prosperity of our Good KING and his People To which Ends I am sure this Practice will mightily conduce THE HONOUR Due to the Civil Magistrate 1 Pet. 2. 17. later part Honour the King ALL the Rules of Religion are design'd to promote the Happiness of Mankind and this we may very reasonably believe of them since they were all contriv'd by that Good and Just and Wise Being who created us Those Laws which tend to form us into orderly Societies and direct the Behaviour of Men towards one another if they were universally observ'd would certainly produce all that Advantage and Happiness which can be deriv'd from Society and Communion with one another While we perform what is made our Duty towards other Men this is not only for their Good and Advantage but tends to our own too As it is for the benefit of the World that the Great Universal Governour the Lord of Hosts has appointed Governments among Men and this as the Apostle says is an Ordinance of God for Good so 't is for the Benefit of the World that those Governments be duly Honour'd and Obey'd This is not only to the Advantage of those that govern but also to theirs who are govern'd And most certainly a Man may out of Love to his Country and from a hearty Concern for the Welfare even of the People urge them as the Apostle in our Text. does to Honour the King I shall therefore in this Discourse propose what Honour must be paid to the King and offer those Arguments which ought to induce us to it We have in this Text an evident and express Comand to Honour the King By the King is meant the Person or Persons who bear and execute the supream governing Authority of whatever Nation The Precept here supposes a single Person because the People whom the Apostle wrote to were under such a sort of Government but it does not at all oblige or require that all Government should be manag'd by a single Person The Duty of Subjects to the King or Governour is comprehended here under the same Word which directs the Behaviour of Children towards their Parents in the fifth Commandment Of which Command this Precept in our Text is a Branch The Septuagint translate the Hebrew Word in that Command by the same Greek Word which the Apostle uses here And the Apostle Paul expresses that which is required by the Fifth Command by the same Word which the Septuagint use in Eph. 6. 2. From what is requir'd then in several Places of Scripture to be paid by Children to their Parents we may learn how the Civil Magistrate is to be Honour'd And as Children must reverence and respect must love and obey must assist and cherish their Parents as there is occasion so must Subjects demean themselves towards their Prince It seems very well said by some Learned Men That there is a peculiar Fitness and Propriety of Speech in using the Word Honour in that Command rather than Love or Fear though our Parents are to be lov'd and also reverenced or feared Because say they He that Loves does not always reverence and observe And he that Fears does not always Love but he that Honours doth both Reverence and Love It is the best general Account then that we can give of the Meaning and Extent of this Precept to say It includes all that which a reverential respectful Love or a kind and loving Reverence does require and would exercise it self by This I shall now represent as well as I can so briefly do it in the following Particulars 1 The Subjects must acknowledge and allow all that Authority and Power in the Prince which of Right belongs to him This I think is of it self very evident to be included in the Command to Honour the King And that it does belong to it Solomon intimates in those Words My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Prov. 24. 21. We must neither in Principle deny nor in Practice oppose or contradict nor any ways endeavour to undermine or lessen the Authority which belongs to the Governour We must treat him with Respect as a Superiour and prefer him and his Interests before our selves and our own Every Subject must esteem him superiour to himself therefore all must esteem him superiour to all If he be higher than every Part of the Community beside himself he is higher than the whole It is a dishonourable Opinion of the Governour to account him a Servant of the People Though a good Prince will as we to our Comfort find at present entirely give up himself to promote the Happiness of the People under him as if he