A SERMON PREACHED At St. Paul's March 27. 1640. BEING THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS majesty's HAPPY INAUGURATION TO HIS crown. By HENRY KING, Deane of Rochester, and Residentiary of St. Paul's: One of His majesty's chaplains in Ordinary. printer's or publisher's device LONDON, Printed by Edward Griffin. 1640. יהוה JEREM. 1.10. Behold I have this day set thee over the Nations, and over the kingdoms; to Root out, and to pull down, to destroy and throw down, to build and to plant. DId not the solemn coming up of your Tribes to this Place, and the public preparation loudly speak that festival we meet to celebrate; the very reading of this Text, were Trumpet enough to proclaim the cause of your address and my appearing here. I may begin my Sermon as David his psalm: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King: Psal. 45.1. and the Hodiè in the Text applies my speech to the season. That God who This Day set Him over us warrants the occasion, and this Scripture gives me matter. The words were spoken immediately to the Prophet Jeremy, a son of oil by his Office, though not of him but improperly and figuratively. Quod dicitur Jeremiae, Eccè constitui Te, non dubium quin figurata tota locutio sit, Aug. lib. 3. de Doctrina Christiana cap. 11. saith ●aint Augustin. Jeremy then was the Messenger, not the Party, for which reason one Translation reads not Constitui, but Legavi Te. Literally and Properly, they are meant of Christ, importing his regal Power, and the Latitude of His kingdom▪ Non ergo Jeremias, Ambros. in Psal. 43. sed Dominus Jesus. Not Jeremy, but the Lord Jesus, sa●th ●t. Ambrose. Nor is He alone, St. Cyprian, St. Chrysostom, Victorinus and o●hers agree with him. which makes good St. Hieromes' attestation, Multi hunc locum sup●r Persona Christi intelligunt: Divers understand this Text of Christ's Person. Hieron. C●mment. in Ierem. 1. nevertheless, as we d●aw copies without wrong to the original, so without injury to the sense of the Text, or the Person of Christ; I shall apply the words to the King, who in respect of his Office and Domination upon Earth is Christ's Image and Deputy; the Christus Domini, the Lord's anointed. First therefore, Divis. 1. I shall from hence trace this sovereign Power to the very Spring, discovering unto you the Author whose Ordinance Dominion is, who is God himself; Ego Constitui, I have set, or I have Constituted. Secondly, the Person Exalted, Thee. 2. Thirdly, the Extent of this Exaltation, Over the Nations, 3. and over the kingdoms. Fourthly, 4. the End or Exercise of His Power, which is twofold: 1. Destructive, to root out, and to pull down, to Destroy & to throw down. 2. Conservative, To Build, and to Plant. The Ecce here prefixed shall serve as an Herald to usher in my Discourse and Application. Behold. Behold. And sure an Argument wherein God and the King are interessed will deserve an Ecce. Both these Persons meet in the Text, yet in that order, that the King may know his dependence upon God, and the People their obedience to the King, even for this reason, because God hath set him over them▪ Where He comes privileged by such an Author, and vested with such Authori●y, He will deserve not an Ecce alone, but an Osanna too, Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. 1. I have set. For this, I, is the Lord, I have set. Though you find no Name subscribed, the Deed sufficiently declares the Author. And where the Act is Eloquent, other denominations are of little use. Men are divided by their Tribes, and distinguished by their Titles; If God have any Name, it is to be read in his Attributes; the first of which is His Power, and the effect of that Power; Ego Constitui, I have set thee up. The Government of the Earth is in the hand of the Lord; Ecclesiastic. 10.4. and when Time is, He will set up a profitable Ruler over it, saith the son of Syrac. Heathens themselves were sensible of this truth. Homer terms Kings, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, and Callimachus, Homer. Callimachus. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, The offspring of Jupiter. So Tacitus, Tacitus Annal. lib. 3. Principes imperium à Deo habent, eosque instar Dei esse. Princes receive their sceptres from God, and are in His stead. Do they not appear worse than Heathens who go about to fetch the derivation of Kings from any other Pedigree than this? Those who either place the power of making them in the Pope, as do the Pontificials; or in the People, as Buchanan, Populo jus est, Buchanan de Iure Reg. Edit. Anno 158●. Edimburgi. ut imperium cui vult deferat; Or that join the People in Commission with God, abridging the Latitude of the Text, and liberty of God's institutions: Deum Reges Instituere, Regna Regibus dare, Junius Brutus vindic.. quaest. 3. Reges Eligere, Populum Reges Constituere, Regna tradere, Electionem suo suffragio comprobare, (A Distinction whose terms are contrary to the Text, 'Tis there Constitui te:) God Institutes, the People constitute the King; God gives the kingdom, the people deliver it; God elects, but the People confirm the Election. If this be true, sure our Bibles are false, and our interpretation as erroneous as our Texts: Why do not these Men who in many things so nearly parallel the Jesuits, get leave from their Consistory, as the other from the Conclave, to frame an Index Expurgatorius, to expunge those places of Scripture which make against them? Dan. 4.7. Blot out that of Daniel; The most High ruleth in the kingdom, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. You heard now, who said the People had right to bestow it where they listed. Blot out that of Moses; Let the Lord God of the Spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the Congregation. Num. 27.17. * Nisi Regem suffragiis Electum habeamus, vereor ne legitimum ullum habituri simus. Buchan. ibid. Prov. 8.5. God's election is nothing, unless the People approve it. Lastly, Blot out that of Solomon; By me Kings reign: These men have more wisely ordered the matter. And let Kings Themselves no more write, Dei Gratiâ (which Rebuffus notes to be the just acknowledgement of His Power, who gave Them Theirs) since 'tis not so much, By the Grace of God, as by the favour and Leave of the People. It was ignorance of the first Cause, which threw a mist of blindness upon the World; which mist for all the beams of Knowledge that have shone upon it, never since could clear up. For it is a permanent Error in mankind to mistake the Instruments, and Secondary Agents in God's purposes, for the main Efficient. It is so in this, where because in the settling or translation of kingdoms, some Intermediate Actors are used, many ascribe th●se Effects to them, which are only the work of God. The Romans were wont variously to distinguish the derivation of their Empire. By Force, so Julius Caesar was invested: By the senate's Election, Eutrop. lib. 7. so Tiberius. By the soldiers, so Severus. Fenestel. cap. 4. By Inheritance, so Octavius Augustus But to what means soever they imputed their Emperors, were it Birth or Conquest, Election or Usurpation, 'tis God who gives the Title to kingdoms by the First, and He also directs and permits it by the Last. When the Israelites desired a King, they asked him of God, who first designed Him, and by a Law never to be reversed, reserved the Choice as a Prerogative peculiar to himself. Thou shalt make Him King, Deut. 17.15. whom the Lord thy God shall choose over Thee; so that if he come in by any other way, the Act is quarrelled by the Prophet, and disclaimed by God himself, They have set up a King, but not by me. Hos. 8.4: If by Succession, it is God, who Regulates and prolongs that happy Line. Children are God's blessing to every private family; but an heir to a kingdom, is His Blessing to a Land. Which Blessing is enlarged in the goodness of the successor. Therefore when the good Emperor Marcus Aurelius, perceived the ill inclination of his son Commodus who was to succeed, he wished himself dead. But contrary to him, Hiram congratulates those who were sent from Judaea. Blessed be the Lord God, 1 King. 5.7 who hath given unto David a wise son over this mighty People. And this was that son whom David professes the Lord himself had made choice of. Of all my sons (for the Lord hath given me many) He hath chosen Solomon to sit upon the Throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. 1 Chr. 28.5. Nor only in these calms of Peace, but in the Tempest of war, where the Sword hews out a title to the crown, and the Robe of the Prince, instead of Purple, is died in Blood; Even in this storm, is God the Pilot, to guide all actions to His Ends. In the passing away of the first Monarchies from the Assyrian to the Persian, His hand was set to the deed, visible upon the Wall, and legible in those fatal Characters which told Belshazzar, that the Date of his kingdom was numbered and finished. Dan. 5.26. And truly if you consider the power of Belshazzar, and the number of his tributary Princes, and the strength of Babylon his Metropolis which was fenced with a treble Wall of great height, and the difficulties Cyrus encountered at the assault, being forced by many Channels and trenches to drain the River of Euphrates, that so he might approach the Walls which otherwise had been inaccessible, you will perceive it was not an arm of Flesh, 2 Chro. 32.8 Sr. Walter Rauleigh. Hist. 1. part. lib. 3. cap. 3. pag. 35. but the Ordinance of God, which made Cyrus strong and successful. Let all the Kings of the Earth then Throw down their sceptres before this Maker of Kings▪ and ascribe unto Him Their kingdoms and their Power, for they are His. Tuum est Regnum & Potentia. 'Tis part of the Doxology in Christ's prayer. Let them not reckon their crowns the acquisition of their own wisdom or strength; as Jacob told Joseph concerning his portion, With my Sword, Gen. 48.22. and with my Bow I took it. But cry with that victorious captain of the Lord's battles, Iudg. 7.20. The Sword of the Lord, and of Gedeon. The Lord first, and then Gedeon. Gedeon may be the instrument, the hand to achieve; but God the Cause, God the Guider and Director of the Stroke. And as the King casts down His crown before the Lord, Let the People cast themselves down before the King. They that lift up their hands against Him in public Rebellion, or their Tongues in murmur against his commands, or their Hearts in disobedient and discontented thoughts, are as ill Subjects to God as to the King. You need not ask, Whom have they resisted? St. Paul tells you, Rom. 13.2. They have resisted the Ordinance of God; for Non est potestas nisi à Deo, He hath his power from God, His Office is God's Ordinance, His person dignified by Him too. Constitui Te; I have set Thee up, which is the King's Exaltation, my second point. 2 Thee. When our Saviour rebuked the unruly Wind and Sea, the Disciples asked with wonder, Math. 8.27. Who is this whom both Elements of air and Water obey? If any inquire who he is before whom God hath prostrated the obedience of of his people, by whom he calmeth the uproar of the multitude, And strivings of the people; Psal. 18.8. He can be no other than the Man whom the King of Kings was pleased to honour above all the rest. He may be greater than all the Rulers of the Earth, the Lord Christ, but less He cannot be then the Lord's anointed. He may well be that Lord unto whom the Lord said, Psal. 110.1. sit Thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool, (for the Text naturally bears it) but meaner He cannot be, than the Man of God's right hand, Psal. 80.17. whom he hath set up and made so strong for Himself & for His purposes. It was an Argument of God's mercy and care of the World, that though the apostasy of Mankind deserved in justice a final d●ssolu●ion whereby all things might have reverted into their first Chaos, yet in the very Act of His displeasure when He dissipated those who in the building of Babel cast up a Mound against Heaven, and raised a work to assault Him in his Throne, He appointed a Ruler over every People, Eccle. 17.15 when He divided the Nations. commonwealths without their Governor were like Ships without an helm, in danger to strike upon the Sand or break upon the Rocks. The King is the state's Pilot, and His Law the compass. By Him are we kept safe from Enemies, who by invasion might break in upon us from abroad, and by Him defended from domestic quarrels in which by falling foul on one another, our Fortune might be broken into nothing. Sheep without a shepherd, and Water without a Bank, and a Body without an Head are emblems of a State without a King. The King is the Head, the People the Body. He is the shepherd, they the Sheep. Homer. Iliad. Homer calls Menelaus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. And Moses beseeches God to appoint a man over the Congregation, Num. 27.16. lest they should be like Sheep without a shepherd. Lastly, as Saint John saith, Aquae sunt populi. Rev. 17.15. The people are as an inundation of Water, like the waves for number, and for noise, and would resemble the wild disorder of a wrought Sea (for David joins the Noise of the waves, Psalm. 65.7. and the madness of the people together:) did not the King by his Authority limit their inconstant motion. So necessary is a King, even as * Cujus usus non minor inter homines quam ignis, aquae, solis & Aeris, Calv. Instit. lib. 4. cap. 20. Lam. 4.20. air to our Breath; 'Tis Calvins' expression, and a true one. The Prophet Jeremy calls Him the Breath of our Nostrils. There is nothing which more clearly demonstrates the God of Order, than the subordinate Government of the kingdoms of the Earth. Nor doth any form of Government come so near His own, which is the Archetype, the first and best pattern of all others; as the monarchal, when a state is governed by a King as sole Commander over all. For in this singularity of power, that person who is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, the lively Image of God, will some way represent the Unity of his Maker too. Therefore Gerson defines Dominion, that it is a sovereign Rule eommitted to One, Regnum describitur, Gerson part. 2. de Origin, Iur. & leg. Aristot. quod est Politia sub uno Bono, Which Aristotle confesseth to be the most Divine and Ancient kind of Gubernation. Vetustissima & Divinissima Regis gubernatio. Search the whole volume of holy Writ, from Moses to the judges, and from them to the Kings, and tell me whether you find more than One successively designed by God to be the Prince and Ruler of the people. Indeed there is good natural reason for it. Should the Account of time be regulated, not by the sun alone who is the Prince and Monarch of the sky, but by the joint Motion of the other Planets, which were a kind of Oligarchy; or by the stars of the first Magnitude which are Optimates Coeli the peers of Heaven, and were an Aristocracy; what disorder would then creep into our calendar? But how great would that Confusion prove, if those Gregarian sparks, those Plebeian lesser stars, which people the sky, and only glimmer by that Contribution of Light which they receive from the greater Luminaries, should have a predominant influence upon our Seasons? To prevent therefore such irregular mischief, the creator gave the rule of the Day to the Sun alone▪ And He who kindled that Glorious light in the Firmament, Set up also the King to govern by the splendour of his Authority upon Earth, as being the Light of our Israel, 2 Sam. 21.17 and God's Lieutenant; or (so Plato calls Him) as God amongst Men, Plato in Polit. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Nor only amongst the people of God, but in all other Nations of the world was the Authority at first singly invested in the King, if you will believe Justin the Historian. Principio rerum gentium nationumque imperium penes Reges erat. Iustin. Hist. lib. 1. And though Livy reports that Regum imperium grave visum est, Livius. Dec. 2. lib. 1. & Vnius Dominatio populo Romano displicuit, the Romans disliked their Government under One, and thought they should do better to put the command of the commonwealth from a King to a Senate, or to Consuls, yet (as Gregorius Tholosanus well observes) in a very short time they dearly repented the error of their alteration. Gregor. Tholo●an. Syntag. jur. lib. 47. ca. 17 n. 1. Magna vis necessitatis urgentis quae etiam superbissimos cogat stultitiam suam fateri & aliquando resipiscere. For not nine years after, upon the insurrection of Manlius Octavius, one of Tarquin's Race, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Plutarch. in Camillo. they were forced to put the Government to one again, whom they styled dictator, who was indeed a Monarch for his time, freely and absolutely commanding all: for so is his Office described by the writers of the Grecian affairs, as Gregor. Tholos. observes, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. 'tis true that once in the Carthaginian war against Hannibal, Polyb. Hist. lib. 3. the giddy multitude made two dictators, Minutius Rufus and Fabius Maximus. Plutarch. in Fabio Max. But upon the loss of that part of the Army which was led by Minutius, whose pride and rashness by dividing himself from the counsels or help of his Colleague, hazarded the whole commonwealth, they would have no more dictators than Fabius. Nor did they ever after ordain more than one; even until the time of Julius Caesar who retained the stile of perpetual dictator, reducing the Roman Government according to the first form into one Hand, only exchanging the title of King into Emperor. I add no more of this: Plutarch tells us, that in perilous times nothing so much conduceth to the safety of a State then Si unus in principatu unâ sententiâ & liberâ, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Plutarch. in Camillo. & impuni magistratu fungeretur (so Gregor. Tholosanus renders him.) That one only exercised a free independent and uncontrolled Authority over all. Whereas commands depending upon divers votes beget distraction and ruin. And as this course prevents war, so it best conserves peace; Pacis interest omnem Potestatem ad unum transferri. Tacit. Hist. lib. 1. Indeed if there be but one soul to inform the natural body, why should there be more than one to rule the body of a State? In the predominance of the will or the fantasy, or the affections, or the passions, above reason which should be sovereign, we see what a distracted Man is made. Is it not the same in a State? when fantastic or wilful or turbulent spirits rise up to contradict their Prince, and disturb a realm? I shut up this Point, in the conclusion of Tacitus; Tacitus Annal. 1. Unum imperii corpus unius animo regendum videtur. 'tis best to trust the care of the kingdom to that one whom God hath appointed over it. I have set thee over the Nations, and over the kingdoms, which imports the Latitude of His Power, and is my third point. It was an old complaint, 3. Over the Nations. that ill Glosses corrupted good laws. Those perversions have long since crept into the book of God, and men's particular interests have distorted the Texts thereto their own practices. This Scripture hath not escaped the Rack of some Interpretations which would strain it to authorise an universal Monarchy, and others who from this foundation would raise the Pope's Supremacy above Kings. For the first, I deny not the words taken in their primitive meaning import an universal sovereignty; But it is in Him only whose Inheritance is the Heathen, Psal. 2.8. whose title is King of Kings; that is the son of God, Rev. 19.16. for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Psa. 103.19. His kingdom ruleth over all. But to extend this to any son of Man, is contrary to God's purpose, and above man's capacity. When Nabuchadnezzar is termed King of Kings, Dan. 2.37. 'tis in respect of the many Tribu●ary Kings under him. Quia multis & magnis Regibus imperabat; Per●rius in Dan. 2. And when Cyrus professeth, Ezra. 1.2. The Lord of Heaven and Earth had given him all the kingdoms of the Earth; All is taken Synecdochically, for the Greatest or the Most. Gen. 14.1. So though Tidal be called King of the Nations, he was only King of the Scythians. But where this stile is left indefinite and absolute, it belongs only to Christ. If then such a one as Salmander, call himself, Omnipotent: Drexel. Prodrom. Eternit. cap. 1. or the Emperor of Bisnega delight to be styled, Magnarum Provinciarum Deus, Dominus Orientis, Austri, Septentrionis, Occidentis & Maris, The God of great Provinces, Lord of the four quarters of the Earth and of the Sea; or the Persian, Frater Solis & Lunae, siderum particeps, Brother to the sun and moon, Kinsman to the stars: or Solyman the Turkish Emperor, Lord of Lords; I shall not much wonder: These are such who in their timpanous excrescent Titles imitate Him of whom the Spirit of God testifies, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Revel. 13.4. A mouth was given Him which spoke high Blasphemy. But if any who should know Christ better, and understand their own limits are so excessive in their claims, as if all the world were made for one alone (as La conveniencia de las dos Monarquias Catolicas de la Iglesia Romana y la del Imperio Espanol. Author Juan de la Puente Madrid. 1612. Juan de Puente settles it upon the Catholic King) by assuming so much to themselves, they detract from Christ, usurping upon his right. I deny not divers kingdoms, and several Nations may be united under one sceptre. It was a vaunt of the Roman Empire, and perhaps true enough, that Solem utrumque currere in imperio suo cernebat, Petrus Cunaeus de Repub. Heb. l. 1. cap. 10. The rising and setting sun were the extent of their Territory in the length. But God only, is that great King, in whose hand are all the corners of the Earth. Psal. 95.4. The son of Man is Sole Lord of the Princes of the Earth: Revel. 1.5. unto Him the Ancient of days gives such Dominion and such a kingdom, Dan. 7.14, 27. that all People, Nations, and Languages, and all Powers serve and obey Him. For the other that is the Pope's Supremacy, a thing not dreamt of in the Churches purer times; it is a pride ill comporting with the Mitre, and much misbecoming Peter's successor. If Christ disliked the strife for precedence amongst the Disciples, Luk. 22.26. determining the controversy so, that he who made himself lest, was by Him reputed Highest; we may well conclude, that Princeps Apostolorum, Prince of the Apostles, was an attribute never begot in His purpose, nor formed in his school. In what Luciferian forge than may we believe that stile of Princeps Regum, Lord of Kings and Disposer of kingdoms, was shaped? If the Master allow not his Apostles to quarrel amongst themselves for Place, can we think, he likes that the apostolical See should justle with His anointed for the upperhand? whereas Pindarus could say, that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Pindar. Kings are the Highest upon Earth; and a better author, Super Imperatorem non est nisi Deus qui fecit Imperatorem, God only here is above the Emperor. And yet He who is Servus Servorum, A Servant of Servants in nothing but his Name, hath by his equivocal practice long attempted the lifting up his Triple Mitre above the Crown (as Neptune once his Trident above Jupiter:) And whensoever He lists to abuse the Throne, by setting his own chair where that should stand; He will abuse Scripture to make it good. If He list to play at football with crowns, spurning them into what goal he pleases, as once Celestin. 4. settled the crown, and then kicked it off the Emperor Henry 6. head. He hath an Omnia sub jecisti pedibus ejus, for his warrant, Thou hast put all things under his feet. Psal. 8.7. If He will make the neck of the King his footstool, as Alexander 3. used the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa at Venice; he quotes the psalm for it, Thou shalt tread the young lion and the Dragon under thy feet. Psal. 90.13. If he desire to lift up his own Candlestick made of the alchemy of swelling Ambition and Avarice, wrought by the Jesuits, the best chemists of the world, enchased and embossed by the Canonists with titles of the richest Blasphemy which the tongue of men or devils could devise, Dominus Deus noster Papa, Extravagant. Johan. xxii. Tit. 14. verbo Declaremus. Our Lord God the Pope, & * Theses Caraffae d●dica●● Paulo Quinto vice-Deo. Neapol. Excus. 1609. Revel. 1.12. Vice-God; One who Non obstante jure Divino, in despite of God's Law does what he lists: I say, if he desire to set his counterfeit Candlestick higher than any of the Seven Golden Candlesticks, and then make his own dim Candle, (whose modest light ought To shine in good works before men) blaze like a Comet to out shine the lights of Earth, and vie with the Host of Heaven for Lustre, he can find Text for that too: so did Innocent III. from God's creating Two Lights, one to rule the day, Gen. 1.16. the other to rule the night, and blushes not to make Himself the Greater. So that whereas Christ whose Vicar he calls himself, is content with the stile of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, The star of the morning▪ Revel. 22.16 no proportion of light, nor measure of brightness will serve as Emblem of his Power, but the sun. Not to trouble you farther: if he desire to pare the Authority of Princes, and make the King his Subject, He will with Boniface 8. and John 22 pervert this very Text, I have set Thee over the Nations and kingdoms. The note is altered much since the days of Gregory the great, He (as He acknowledgeth to Theotista the Emperor Mauritius his sister) took his bishopric then as a Donative from the Emperor, Grego. Epist. 5. Eccè Serenissimus Dominus Imperator fieri jussit. He was pleased to make him so. Now in requital, his successor takes upon him to make the Emperor. Formerly, the Pope was wont to begin His letters to Kings with this salutation, Salutem in eo per quem Reges regnant, Health and safety be to you in Him by whom King's reign; now he salutes in his * Gratiam & Apostolicam Benedictionem. own Name, for he takes on him to dispose the kingdom, and command the King. It was not so from the beginning; Aaron the High Priest never quarrelled with Moses for the place, but obeyed him in all things, as Prince and Ruler. 1 King. 2 35 And Solomon exercised his authority upon Abiathar, thrusting him from his priesthood, and bestowing it upon Zadoc. Indeed the best Popes ever submitted to the regal Authority; & one of them gives the reason Eleutherius by name, who in an Epistle of his, written to King Lucius, Antiquit. Britannic. pag. 5. in margin. sometimes King of this Island, (which Epistle is recorded amongst the laws of Edward the confessor) tells him, Vicarius verò Dei estis in regno, He was within his own kingdom God's Vicar, set up with absolute power to govern the Person and the Place, Church as well as State; which is the just meaning of being Set over Nations and kingdoms. But much of your wonder concerning the Pope's Ambition will be taken off, when you shall know the Consistory to be a competitor in the canvas for Superiority above Kings. S●ecan. de discipline. Eccles. p. 456 Quotquot Christi aut Ecclesiae nomine censeri volunt, Disciplinae sese subjiciant. As many as are Members of Christ, and of His Church, must subject themselves to the Consistorian Discipline, Non hic excipitur Episcopus aut Imperator? Nulla hic acceptio aut exceptio personarum. ibi. B●za. De Presbyt. pag. 124. neither Emperor nor Bishop excepted. And Beza is as zealous as he in the cause; Quis tandem Reges aut Principes? &c. Who shall exclude Kings or Princes from this Non Humanâ sed Divinâ dominatione; not human, but Divine domination of the Presbytery? Nay some of this rigid Sect have gone so far, that as the scornful Bramble in the Parable of Io●ham scratched and contended with the Better Trees for the kingdom, Iudg. 9.15. they make the people scramble with their Prince for priori●y, and carry it too; Iun. Brutus Vindic. contra Tyrannos quest. 3. Buchanan. de Iure regni. Populus potior Rege. And another, Populus Rege praestantior etiam & major, Populi in legibus ferendis summa potestas. Lex Rege, Populus lege potentior. The People greater and better than the King. The Law above the King, the People above the Law. Read they that list, they are the words of Buchanan. I know I may take up the prophet's words in this particular, Habac. 1.5. I tell you a wonder, which many whilst they hear will not believe. But it is an undeniable truth. Let the Allegations I have produced out of their own Books testify for me, that I slander them not. Whence you may plainly discern, that these two jarring extremes, Papacy and Presbytery, whose faces stand contrary to each other, whose opinions are opposite as the sides of the Diameter, meet in this one ecliptic line, to darken the Authority of God's anointed; To pluck Him down, and hold Him under whom God hath set over Nations and kingdoms, to Root out, and to pull down, to Destroy and throw down, to Build and to Plant; which is the Exercise of his regal Power, and my last part. When I consider the Majesty of a King, his spreading Titles, 4. To Root out, and pull down. to Build, and to Plant. Dan. 4.8. P●al. 82.6. like Nebuchadnezar's Tree whose forehead touched the Clouds, whose stile reaches Divinity; For God himself hath said, They are God's: When I consider the extent of his Command, and the subjects of His Power, I cannot but conclude with Livy, Livius li. 26. Regnum res inter Deos hominesque pulcherrima, A kingdom is the most excellent thing in the eyes of God or men. But when I consider the disquiet, the frequent toil and daily disturbance to which a King is submitted, I may with another vary the stile, Potentia quid est aliud quàm speciosa molestia? Ludovicus Vives. Dominion is nothing but a glorious trouble. They that only look upon the glittering matter of a Diadem, and the Lustre of the Jewels set in it, may apprehend somewhat to delight the eye: but could they understand how many cares are lodged and concentred within the Pale and Circle of that crown, I may in the words of a great King say, They scarce would take it for the wearing, though it lay in their way. It was (no doubt) a sad Experience which wrung those words from Caesar's mouth, when you would name a mass of cares and crosses, Cogita Caesarem, Think upon Caesar. We who are shrubs, and in the humble valley of a private life, shroud our obscure heads, hear not the loud Tempests nor feel those incessant storms which beat upon the Cedar; whose exalted top raises him nearer to the lightning and rage of the upper Element. We who sit within our own thresholds and under our own Vines, are not sensible of every noise and danger which threatens a State. Post upon Post, Micah. 4.4. Ier. 51.31. and Messenger after Messenger run to advertise the King, and whosoever's Midnight is interrupted by the news, Ours can complain of no disturbance. We therefore who enjoy the blessing of His shelter, and reap the fruits of His Care, whose trouble is to confirm our quiet, and whose broken sleeps, (as Epaminondas once told his soldiers) are to procure our sounder rest; were there no command of God, nor tie of Religion which should enjoin us to obey and love Him whom He hath set over us, might think ourselves bound to yield Him these duties, as largely merited in the pains He takes to support our good, and his continual labour to effect that Peace which we more freely taste then He. I may justly use that speech which once the Poet to Augustus, Ovid. Trist. l. 2. Non tibi contingunt quae gentibus otia praestas Man is borne to labour, saith Job, The very Bread he eats is moulded with the toil of his hand, Job 5.7. and macerated with the sweat of his brow. And truly if we observe it, this bread of carefulness is served up to the King's Board as part of his diet. This Text will show you of what grains it is made up, and with what labour kneaded; as if God had translated the First man's Curse, into the Best man's Office. You have heard of Swords broken into Plowshares, Esai 2.4. and Spears into scythes; I can from hence tell you of Spades and Pruning-hooks turned into sceptres. Adam's Husbandry is a Type of the King's Office. Adam was set to dig and dress the ground; Gen. 3.23. so is the King, to root out and to Plant, to cast down, and Build. Houses are indeed Epitomes of kingdoms, and Gardens Models of commonwealths. When God speaks of a Nation or kingdom to build and plant it, Ierem. 18.9. the King is both his overseer and actor. He is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, like a faithful Architect, He builds up the walls of his Jerusalem, and repairs the breaches of Zion, that so he may secure all from the searching drifts of fraud, or gusts of open violence. Nor is He Cementarius only, but in a sense Hortulaenus too. His Office hath in it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, somewhat of the dressing of a Garden or husbanding ground. Let not the Comparison seem vile; God Himself accepts it. He is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} (saith Christ) the Husbandman, John 15.1. 1 Cor. 3.9. and we {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} His husbandry. He sowed us in the bed of Nature, and will reap us in Glory hereafter. He plants us in our several vocations, and by the irrigation of His grace quickens our Root, and our Leaf, our faith, and our works which are the germination and fruit of that faith. Mary Magdalen mistook Christ for the gardener, and Saint Augustin commends her mistake. How can we dislike the figure in his Deputy the King? when God is here pleased to express His Office by Planting and plucking up by the Root. The disorders of the people are the rubbish of a Land, their Vices like weeds; the schismatic is a thorn in the sides of the Church, the factious a Thistle in the State. He that desires to make a clear and flourishing commonwealth, must cleanse the soil from such rank weeds extirp the Brambles, and land off the fear boughs, else never can any Plantation of good Morality or Religion thrive. I need not further pursue the Metaphor. These last words present unto your view the two Pillars upon which a kingdom leans, the Justice and Mercy of the King. The one in the conservation of good Plants, and cherishing such dispositions as are built for virtue to inhabit. These are the Duo verba laeta (saith Saint Hierom) The other in punishing the bad, Hieron. Comment. in Ierem. 1.11. expressed in Quatuor Tristibus in four sad words, though the Septuagint sets down but three, Septuagint. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}▪ These Quatuor Infausta (for our Tr●nslation numbers them according to St. Hierom & the Chaldee Paraphrase) Rooting out and pulling down, and destroying and throwing down, comprehend the Coercive power of Christ as King. For which cause expositors illustrate this place by the Iron R●d wherewith he bruiseth the Nations, Psal. 2.9. and the Sharp Sword in the Revelation. Revel. 1.16. This Coercive power hath he committed to his Deputy. And it is one of the flowers of the Crown peculiar to his regal Office Naturally and Regularly exercised by the King: for by his masters warrant He bears the Sword; and saith Saint Paul, He bears it not in vain. Rom. 13.4. Indeed He should bear it in vain, did it either sleep in the Soabberd through the slack execution of laws; or when it should strike, were it hindered and withheld by other hands, who as Judges of the King's Actions countermand that Authority which God intended as Absolute, as it is lawful. Much more if when it is drawn out, the edge should be turned against Him. Arise O Sword, and smite my shepherd, was the barbarous inhumanity used towards Christ, Zach. 13. 7· and (I confess) ofttimes since practised upon His Vicegerent. I do not only mean the Sword of Excommunication more frequently used by the Bishop of Rome then his crosier, (At which weapon also Knox and Buchanan have showed themselves as cunning Fencers as he) but the material, the criminal Sword, And this defended as stiffly by those you scarcely would suspect. Men, who like the mutinous Israelites, upon all occasions of pretended discontent, Exod. 32.4. cry down Moses, and set up an idol made out of popular Votes and Contributions. Men who have found an arm to wield the Sword of Justice, which God never appointed, in the manage of which irregular Authority they have presumed to set the people on the Bench, and place the King at the bar. Hear it justified by one of their own pens, Buchanan. de Iur. Regn. Rex cum ad populi judicium vocatur, Minor ad Majorem in jus vocatur when the King is cited by the People, the less is brought in question by the greater. Ecce iterum Buchananus, Juvenal. satire. & est mihi saepe vocandus Ad partes. This is strange stuff, which I know as much offends you, who are dutifully met in the fear of God, and in this Holy Place to do honour unto His anointed whom▪ He hath set over you, to hear, as me to rehearse. How much more ingenuously & mannerly do the Jesuits deal with Princes than these kinds of men? Suarius in his Book written against our late learned sovereign; Post quam Rex legitimè constitutus est supremam habet potestatem in his omnibus ad quae illam accepit, etiamsi à Populo illam acceperit. Suarius defence. Fid. Cathol. lib. 3. cap. 3. Admit the King were made by the people, (as it is quite otherwise, He is constituted by God,) yet being made, he hath an absolute independent and unquestionable Authority over the People. And Mariana thus writes, Iohan. Mariana de Rege & Reg. Inst. lib. 1. cap. 2. Adjuncta est Regia Majestas quasi Multitudinis Custos. The King is that Person unto whom God hath committed the charge and custody of the people. A truth which ye have the more reason to value, since it comes from their pens whom you all know to have been none of the best friends to sovereignty. 1 Esdr. 4.41 But Magna est veritas; Great is the truth everywhere, and great this truth which extorts consent from these, and will evict it from all, but such who preposterous to God's order and method will needs read this Text backward, turning the heels to Heaven, the head to Earth, whiles they go about to whelm the kingdom over the King; and set the Nations, that is, the people, above Him whom God hath set over them. I have set Thee over Nations and kingdoms. Application I have done with the Text, and should here end. But your expectation, and the duty I owe to this Day, require some just Commemoration from me. Here therefore my Eccè turns to you, who in your relation to the Text are concerned with the King. If I have hitherto spoken of a King, is he King for his own sake or for yours? No, the Text tells, he is Super vos constitutus, He is set over you. As God then hath given him the kingdom, so he hath given you the King, Vobis datus est; and in that gift, as he hath Crowned the King with a Crown of Gold, he hath Crowned you with a Garland of Peace. There was a time, when there was no King in Israel: Judg. 17.6. would you know the Character of that time? Every man did what was good in his own eyes. No Law then but Lust and Will the Rule of each ones Actions: Might, armed with injury and violence, made the weaker Subjects, and outrage was authorised by the power of the actor. Think, how beyond all expression miserable your case were, should the anger of God cause those times to revert upon you. When barbarous Rapes and ho●rid Massacres, (cries wherewith your ears have never been acquainted) should sound in every corner of your City. Here then begin your thanks to God, that to prevent all these mischiefs, He hath given you a King. And now, as God once said to Moses in the top of Mount Pisgah, let me say to you, Deut. 3.27. Lift up your eyes Westward, and Northward, and Southward, and Eastward. Look upon any other parts of the World which are governed without a King; or where there is a King, yet so abridgd in his Authority that He is, as it were in Wardship to a Senate or some such Supervisors, in Saint Paul's phrase under tutors and governors, Gal. 4.2. and from the manifest inconveniences which Plurality of Rulers hath produced in the World (for They are a punishment to a Land) learn to prize your own happiness under one Ruler, Prov. 28.2. as he in Homer, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Homer. Iliad. 2. and to pray that those may never be Masters of their will, who would subject either Him or you to then Tumultuous Parity. Look forth yet once more upon kingdoms governed by forms monarchal and Absolute as yours; and think whether Talem Constituit; whither God hath set such a one over them as over you. Whether the People (in David's words) are in such a case as you, Psal. 145.15 free to the exercise of true Religion, and quietly enjoying every man his own; and from these steps you will find cause abundant to raise the measure and to multiply the acts of your thanksgiving to Almighty God, and to say, He hath not dealt so with any other Nation. Psal. 147.20 When in the grateful apprehension of these blessings, you have applied unto yourselves what I have now said, I shall most properly apply all other circumstances of this Text, both to the Day, and to the Person in whose honour it is solemnised. I may indeed justly take up the words of our Saviour in the gospel, Luk. 4.21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. Fifteen years are now fully run out since God who Taketh away, and setteth up Kings, Dan. 2.21. did with one hand both take from us and restore. He translated one King into his own kingdom, & established another upon this Throne. Thus Dominus dedit, Job 1.21. Dominus abstulit. The Lord gave, and the Lord took away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord. This very day was our sky darkened, and by the setting of a sun ever Glorious and Memorable in his Race, an unnatural midnight threatened us even at noon day, for than He fell; yet I may truly say, Sol occubuit, nox nulla secuta est: though that Light was taken from our eyes, no night ensued; for a New Light kindled out of His Ashes began to shine upon us, and that Stella de Jacob in a good sense, That star of Jacob, who was risen long before, and (though at some distance) sparkled in our hopes, now increasing in the proportion of his light, appeared as he drew near a perfect sun, in our zodiac. Where ever since He hath happily run; and may he there long continue in Himself, and longer in His Posterity, even whilst the sun and Moon in the Firmament continue their Motion and Light. That so this Hodiè in my Text may bear towards Him some part of that signification which it doth to Christ his Master, whose yesterday and to day is for ever. This day hath God set Him up, and Over Nations and kingdoms, literally so. Gregor. Tholosan. Synta. Iur. lib. 6. cap. 7. n. 6. Those who are well read in the school of Honour, and have taken the Altitude of Prince's Titles, define four dukedoms to the making of a kingdom, and four earldoms to each of them. How God hath magnified that sacred Person whom He hath set over you, may be discerned in the number of His realms. Under His sceptre are several kingdoms, and shall I say different Nations? or rather, what more commends the skill and confirms the greatness of the Builder, Two of Them by Union made One: According to that of the Prophet, Faciam eos in gentem unam. Ezek. 37 22. I will make them one Nation. How that Cement which combined them is now grown loose, or that distance appears to make them look like Two again, becomes not me to dispute. I will rather pray that He who is the Great peacemaker may in his good time close the rupture, and as our Gracious sovereign hath by all means endeavoured their reuniting (in this according to the Text truly Cementarius) So in the return to their Obedience unto Him, They may be rendered One with Us again. Only this, with much joy I must take leave to say; That what ever else occasions the difference, Religion cannot be the Cause. It was blasphemously spoken by Rabshakeh: 2 Kin. 1.10 Let not thy God deceiv● thee in whom thou trustest. In all Christian modesty I say to you, Let not any on whose trust you rely, Those who undertake to speak from God, deceive you by persuading This to be the Cause. I appeal to their own Conscience, if they dare be tried by truth, whether in any One fundamental point our Church hath shrunk from the Orthodox Faith, or fallen nearer to Popery Now then at the first Reformation. Our Sacraments as then, so now administered, that no jealousy of Romish Superstition or slighting profanation can taint either Him that Gives, or those that Receive. Our Ceremonies the same, and Those much praised and indeed admired by learned Bucer in his Censure passed upon the English Liturgy, Bucer. Scrip. Anglic. pag. 456. Basil. 1577. at the request of Archbishop Cranmer, Egi gratias Deo qui dedisset vobis has Caeremonias eo puritatis reformare: nec enim quicquam in illis deprehendi quod non sit ex verbo Dei desumptum, aut saltem ei non adversetur commodè acceptum. Calvin. Epist. 200. Anglis Francfordiens. And by Calvin earnestly commended to those English who fled to Frankfurt, whom he exhorts to Conform. And as he persuades them, to be less Rigid, Vos ultra modum rigidos esse nolim; so He professeth that himself would become more moderate; and if ever he lived to Print his works anew, correct those asperities which gave offence. Calvin. de libero Arbitrio contra Pighium. citat. a Spalatensi lib. 7. cap. 12. pag. 318. Hoc quoque non gravatim agnosco. Nos, si quandò recudantur opera nostra, quae rudiora erant expolire, mitigare quae asperius dicta, &c. Denique in quibus offensionis periculum veremur, moderari etiam & mitigare. Quod ad formulam Precum & Rituum Ecclesiasticorum valde probo ut certa illa extet, à qua Pastoribus in suâ functione discedere non liceat. Calvin. Epist. ad Protector. Angliae. 87. Lastly, our Book of Common Prayer whose form for the general is according to Mr. Calvins' own Rule, in his Epistle to the L. Protector of England settled and Constant: whose particular Matter, by Bucer, Peter Martyr, and other learned Divines who lived in the Time of the Reformation, was approved as a work beyond Exception, every way consonant to the Word of God. * Bucer. loc. cit. cap. 1. In descriptione Communionis & Quotidianarum Precum nihil video in Libro esse descriptum, quod non sit ex Divinis Literis desumptum, si non ad verbum, ut Psalmi & Lectiones, tamen sensu, ut Collectae. For which cause he exhorts, that with all religious care it should be retained and vindicated from neglect. Religione igitur summâ retinenda erit & vindicanda haec ceremonia. This I say, continues not varied from the second Service Book of King Edward VI. but in some Two Circumstances; One in the Litany, where somewhat is left out; Act for Uniformiry of Common Prayer. the Other in the Communion, where somewhat is added, as the Act before our own declares. And therein, Those very words, whose omission in the last Printed Service Books occasioned so much cavil, are justly the same with King Edward the sixth's Service Book of the first Edition. If any doubt the truth of what I deliver, let their own Eye resolve them. It was St. Paul's commendation of the Berans, Act. 17·11. that they took not things upon trust, but themselves searched to see if they were so indeed. I would fain commend their Example to you, who if you can be content so to do, you will neither be mispersuaded by any who for their own ends suggest apparent falsehoods, nor prejudicate those who contradict them. You see the Latitude of the King's Domination considered in the Subjects, Nations and kingdoms. Will you see in what manner He hath exercised His Power over Them? And here I appeal to all: Under what Kings sceptre hath been greater care taken to prevent Divisions and weed Faction out of the Church? Witness that Declaration of his Majesty which banished those abstruse controversies concerning God's Decrees of Election or Reprobation from the Pulpit. Themes, which only filled the Hearers with scruples, and sent them home with fears; Teaching by it busy men to preach Christ as they ought, not Themselves, by venting their dangerous wit or Spleen. Or when hath more sedulity been used to remove all scandalous Rubbish out of the State, which ill morality or lawless abuse of local custom had contracted? When held Distributive Justice (which Plato terms {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, the Prop of kingdoms) a more equal balance, to give every man his own? Or when hath criminal justice been tempered with more Mercy? It was a just complaint of Draco'es' Laws in Lacedaemonia, that their Execution was as bloody as their Character, for they were written in Bloody Letters: And the Romans lamented the cruelty of those Tribunals where the cheap Proscription of Lives made the judgement seat little differ from a Shambles: Amos 2.6. poor men sold for shoes (so the Prophet.) Or as the Turks to this day sell heads, so many for an Asper. If there be (as I would hope otherwise) any such amongst us, who make such low account of men's lives, that they destroy, where they might Build hopes of amendment; or Pluck up by the Root, where they need but pare the leaf: If there be any who in discharge of such places are governed more by custom then Conscience, who take dark Circumstance and lame surmise for Evidence, rashly giving Sentence, and as precipitately proceeding to Execution, Let their own souls run the fearful hazard of this Account. They learn it not from Him who placed them on the tribunal, whose Sword hath seldom been wet with striking Offenders, and scarcely unsheathed against those who brought themselves within the reach of His Coercive Justice. I may well apply that of Seneca, By practising so long upon his Patience, Eum docent esse crudelem, qui discere non potest, They have whetted and provoked Him to a Severity, which He hath been most unwilling to put in Execution. Now for the Conservative part of His Office, expressed in these terms, To Build, and to Plant: whether you take Building Materially or Morally, in both these sens●s hath He been and still is a Glorious Builder. Nor will I carry you far off for instance. As the Disciples to Christ concerning the Temple of Jerusalem, Mark. 18.1. so let me say to you, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, See the materials for the re-edifying of this Mother Church, of which should I say nothing, the Timber would cry, Et Saxa loquentur, and the very stones speak. Did any Eye within these few years hope to behold this neglected Temple (like Zion in her mournful widowhood sitting in the Dust) trimmed up like a fresh Bride? Her wrinkled face guttered with the tears of her decay, and furrowed by the injury of Time, made smooth again, Her ragged garments changed into costly robes. Need I tell you who hath put upon her, beauty for Dust and Rubbish, and a face of repair for ruin? Is it not the zeal of our most gracious Jehoash? who hath not only (as King Jehoash) said, go out into the Cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money, 2 Chr. 24.5 to repair the House of God, but set them a pattern in His Own Munificence; Is it not His zeal, and the Care of his Pious Jehoiaeda the High Priest? who hath faithfully Stewarded the cheerful Contributions of the Princes and all the People, vers. 10. and (what I mention to your Reputation) Your Benevolence to the advancement of this Good work performed to God, and to His House. vers. 16. I can refer you to other Walls than These, of differing Matter, and quite another Station; whose Foundations are laid not in the hills, Psal. 86. 1· (as the Psalmist spoke of Jerusalem) but in the Floods. I do not here cry out in the poet's wonder, Quanti montes volvuntur aquarum! what hills of water roll there? but what a royal navy (for Number and burden far exceeding all which preceded Him) to bestride and mount the tops of those foaming billows? what mountains of oak upon those Watery mountains? what Wooden Castles to keep the Ocean in awe? like strong Walls and Bulwarks to repel those Adversaries, who have long made this kingdom the aim of their Ambition and Revenge. V. Chalcondil. Mart. Crusi●. in Turco-Graec. & Archiepiscop. Mytelen. de capt. Constant. It was the Grecians obloquy, indeed the loss of the whole Empire, that at the Siege of Constantinople they would not help their Emperor Constantinus Palaeologus with money, either to provide Ammunition, or pay soldiers to Man the Walls; A.D. 1453 29. Maii. by which defect that famous city was left to the pillage of Mahomet, and their incomparable wealth enriched the Turks, a very small portion whereof timely afforded had saved all, and rescued themselves from slavery. It will be much for your Honour that in succeeding Times History may not have cause to report you men of such narrow hearts or Close hands; And let it be your present Comfort, that, like good Patriots for your country's safety, you have contributed to the Building and Manning of those Wooden walls; which unless they be able to keep off an Enemy, You flatter yourselves in vain to think that yours at home can do it. Finally, for his moral Building, I may boldly affirm, That for all the virtues requisite to the making up of a most complete Prince, and the Example of such a Life wherein the blackest fangs of detraction (though dared to speak their worst) can find nothing to traduce or fasten on, No one (Consult your Chronicles) I say no One hath more fairly Edified, than He whom God hath set over You. With how much truth may I apply to Him the poet's compliment to Augustus? Ovid. Trist. lib. 2. urbs quoque Te, & rerum lassat tutela tuarum, Et Morum, similes quos cupis esse Tui. He hath as Gloriously Reigned over you in His Example, as in His Care. And to the whole World approved himself as Great a King in virtue, as in Title; In every particular, making good that Rule, Sit Exemplo major qui est authoritate Maximus. Whether I look on his Oeconomick Relations as Husband, Father, or indeed as a good Man: Or whether I mention his solid wisdom, and clear Judgement, able to steer the Counsels, and direct the most prudent Ministers of State in His affairs: Or his undaunted Courage (for as God hath given Him a strong and Active Body, so He hath matched it with as Active a Mind) not sparing to adventure His own Person where the safety of His People required. And thus,— Monstrat tolerare labores, Non jubet, He hath not only commanded others upon danger, but lead them on Himself: Or His excellent Moderation and Patience, not apt to be wrought into easy heat or rash effect of Passion: Or the Humility of His Disposition made up of Titus his Affability accessible to the meanest Suitors who come to solicit Him, and at all times more like a Father than a Master to those about Him: Or His singular Integrity, in which He may acquit himself as righteous Samuel once did, bear record of me before the Lord, whom have I done wrong to, or whom have I hurt, 1 Sam. 12.3. or of whose hand have I received any Bribe to blind my Eyes? making His Justice, not His Power, the rule of what He doth. For Nescit posse quod posse non debet, He will not know the use of his Authority, but where Religion and Right make his Commands legitimate. Let me not here omit the Regular distribution of his Time, for his Exercise, for his meals, through the whole Course of his Life never guilty of the least intemperance. 'Tis that which Solomon holds worth the noting: Blessed art thou, Eccles. 10.17. O Land, when thy Princes eat in due season, for strength, not for excess. But above all, (that indeed which crownes the rest,) The Regularity of his Devotions, used by Him with such Reverence and Constancy, that He hath made the Court canonical by His hours. Twice every Day, and openly presenting himself in God's Service, as if He meant by his own practice to demonstrate before His household, a Text much like the Apostles Rule, 2 Thes. 3.10 He that will not Pray, let him not eat. I am not to learn, that in such Arguments as these, men's ears are commonly so obstructed with prejudice, Truth can hardly find Admittance; The supposed Ends of the Speaker, or flattery of the Object are the ordinary excuses to divert their belief. But this must not prohibit me to speak, nor should it make you loath to hear. I do not forget Where I am, or Whose Errand I deliver. This is no place to give Titles to Men, but to give Honour to God. Yet I must tell you, when there is so much Justice in the Cause, and so much Merit in the Person, and such an Opportunity as this to warrant, and my Conscience to bear Record, that in the Attestation of Saint Paul, I speak the truth in Christ, Rom. 9.1. I lie not. For 'tis not Quod Audivimus, but Quod vidimus, I take not up on hearsay, my own Attendance hath long and often made me an eyewitness, and I thank God that I have seen it. I say, for me on these terms to be silent, were to prevaricate against the Truth; and for you not to desire to hear it, were to declare yourselves most unthankful to God, who hath blessed you with so Religious and Just a King. I might add a great deal more: But as the Person I speak of needs not, so all I can deliver, falls short, and rather Darkens than Sets Him forth. I will therefore in the last Place, for all the virtues His Example hath Planted amongst you, for His sincere endeavours to continue (like a true Nursing Father of His Church) the Religion planted in It, Esa. 49.23. Exhort you to Pray, that for our sins God deprive not us too soon, of so rich a Blessing, by Taking Him away. For if there be any (as I am far from the belief) who love not to hear Him praised; I hope they may well like to hear Him prayed for. Pray therefore for the Life of the King, Ezra 6.10. and of his sons: Pray for Him, and for His Plants, The Pledges of our future Peace; That God will bless Him in His Gracious Queen, and Her happy Fruits, In His Root, and in His Branch, Deut. 28.3. In the City, and in the Field. Let all who rise up against Him be Covered with shame and ruin, Psa. 132.19. But upon Himself, Let His Crown flourish; O let it long flourish. And when the sad Day comes wherein He must exchange This kingdom for a Better; Let His Crown of Gold be changed into a Crown of Glory. Amen. FINIS.