A DISCOURSE SHOWING That KINGS have their Being and Authority from GOD, That therefore Good KINGS when Dead are lamented, That all while Living are to be Obeyed, AND That Treason and Rebellion are punishable both in this and the next World.  
Preached the Sunday following the news of the Death of our late King of Blessed Memory, Charles the Second.  
By JOHN CURTOIS, Rector of Branston, near Lincoln.  
LONDON, Printed for Jo. Hindmarsh, at the Golden Ball, against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill. 1685.   

TO Sir HUMPHREY WINCH, BARONET.  
Honoured Sir,  
I Present here a Discourse to you which I preached to my Parish the Sunday after we had heard of the Death of our late Sovereign: By which you may see how faithful I am to my Trust, in instructing them to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, as unto God the things that are God's. And I think it was received by them with that respect and affection, that is due from all honest and good men to a Discourse of this nature. A while after I had the opportunity to Preach it in the Cathedral at Lincoln, where it was kindly resented by many Loyal persons, of whom the number is very great in that City. But there were a few Heterogeneous men crept in among them that were as much disgusted at it, and no sooner out of the Church, but they fell to calumniate and belie me, perverting my intentions and laying to my charge things that I never said: So that to vindicate myself from the Aspersions of these men I have made the Sermon public as you see it, after the same Copy by which I spoke it. It will, I presume, endure such a public Test: For upon a strict review I find nothing there but what is agreeable to the Doctrine of our Church, and the late General acknowledgements of our Loyal Nobility, Gentry and Clergy in their Addresses to His Sacred Majesty. And therefore I question not your Favourable acceptance of it in particular. As it hath, so it needs, nothing else to commend it to you, but the Loyalty of it, which, it is Argument enough that you approve of, in all its Appearances, because at the Critical time of Trial you abhorred and withstood the Unnatural and  Bill of Exclusion; and the same Party, which, in those days of iniquity, would have Excluded His Sacred Majesty from his three Kingdoms, would have also excluded you from the Parliament.  
That all future Parliaments may consist of such worthy Members as you, such as will distinguish betwixt Religion and faction, legality and injustice, such as will be as True to the Church and State as the King is pleased to be Gracious to them, is the earnest prayer of,  
Honoured Sir, Your most obliged and most humble Servant, JOHN CURTOIS.   
ROM. XIII. 1. — There is no Power but of God, the Powers that be are ordained of God. 
HAVING received the sad tidings of the Death of our most Gracious Sovereign Charles the Second, I think it requisite to say something, as early as I can, that will be suitable to it: And therefore I pitch upon this Subject as proper and seasonable to exercise your Devotions at this time.  
In these words Saint Paul plainly teacheth this Doctrine.  
That all Kings or Supreme Governors of Nations are Constituted of Almighty God, and Rule solely by his Divine pleasure and Authority.  
I shall clear this unto you, and then draw an inference or two from it.  
First, This was eminently true of the several Governors of the Jews. They had all particular and apparent Signatures and Impresses of the Image and Authority of God upon them. For when from all the Nations of the World God had set apart the Jews to be the Object of his more immediate care, he is said to have sent Moses to be a Ruler and Deliverer unto them by the hand of the Angel which appeared to him in the Bush: By reason of which power so signally conferred by God, he was entitled King in Jeshurun when the Heads of the People and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together. And when God was pleased to remove his servant Moses to a Crown of Glory in Heaven, he nominated Joshuah to succeed him in the same Authority. And after the removal of Joshuah, he raised up Judges to them, men of absolute and uncontrollable power for the time they continued, inferior to Kings only in the title. And lastly, to oblige them with variety of dispensations, at their own desire and according to a former promise of making them every way as Glorious as the Nations round about them, he gave them many Governors with the Title of Kings too, to go out before them and fight their battles.  
But although the Kingdom of Israel might seem here to have had a more signal designation and her Governors a more particular commission from God than any other, yet  
Secondly, the Gentile Rulers were as truly the Ministers and Vicegerents of God in their respective Dominions though not so remarkably. Thus Syracides saith, 
Eccl. 17.17.  in the division of the Nations of the whole Earth, God set a Ruler over every people, but Israel is the Lord's portion. And the same is signified by the men whom we are certain God inspired to reveal the truth.  
The Prophet David, speaking of Rulers in General calleth them Gods and the children of the most High. 
Psal. 82.6.   
And that of Solomon is as General. 
Prov. 8.15, 16.  By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice, By me Prince's Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth.  
And particularly, in the Prophecy of Isaiah, 
Isa. 44.28, 45, 1.  Cyrus the King of Persia is styled the Shepherd and the Anointed of the Lord. And in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, Nabuchadnezzar, 
Jer. 27.6.  King of Babylon is styled his Servant. And the Prophet Daniel telleth that King expressly, 
Dan. 2.37.  The God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom, Power and Strength and Glory.  
The Son of God himself said as much, 
John 19.11.  when he confessed that Power by which Pilate acted under the Roman Emperor to be given him from above.  
And so his Apostle in the Text in the Reign of a Heathen saith, There is no Power but of God, the Powers that be are ordained of God.  
Accordingly the first Christians taught. 
L. 5. Contr. Har.  Irenaeus saith, that by whose appointment men are born by his appointment Princes are constituted. 
Apol. c. 30.  Tertullian saith, that they have their Power thence whence they have their Spirit. So Optatus, 
lib. 3.  There is no person Superior to the Emperor but God only, who ordained the Emperor.  
Nay, the wiser Heathens that had any sense of Religion had the same sentiments of the Divinity of Regal Power. This is the meaning of that Benediction of the Queen of Sheba, when she was full of Admiration at the Wisdom of Solomon, 
1 King. 10.9.  Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on the Throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee King to do Judgement and Justice.  
The Romans in their Lex Julia adjudged the same punishment to Treason as to Sacrilege, 
Ulpian l. 7. De Off. Procons. in l. 1. ff. ad Leg. Jul. maj.  as looking upon an injury done to their Prince, to be an injury also to Gods; 
Hist. Hea. Gods. l. 3. p. 187.  whose place of power upon Earth the Prince supplied. The Kings of Egypt had Asps usually represented upon their Crowns, to express the Holiness of their persons, whom none ought to dishonour or injure without a signal punishment; as being the most Sacred Images and Lieutenants of God upon Earth. So firmly did the better sort of Heathens, who believed an invisible overruling Being, believe likewise the power of Kings to be derived from it.  
Now, it does not invalidate this Truth. 1. That some Princes exercise their power Tyrannically and Rule wickedly, oppressing and murdering their Subjects. For the power is nevertheless of God though it be abused and perverted by men. As it is in the case of Episcopacy, the spiritual power, by which the Bishops govern the Church, must be acknowledged to be received from Christ, though the Bishop of Rome Tyrannize in the exercise of it: So it is in the case of Kingship and Regality, God must be owned to have conveyed and consigned over the Temporal Power to all Princes though the Grand Signior of the Turks, and others, play the Tyrants within their Dominions. And yet we may not here conceive God to be Author of the wickedness, as of the Power, for it is the Power only not the abuse of it that is from God: The latter proceeds from the Prince's evil heart alone. God maketh him a Prince, and he, through the corruption of his Nature and the malicious Temptation of the Devil, finds out many inventions to do wickedly. The Kingly Power as other good and perfect Gifts do, descendeth from God, although they may be all some time or other abused by evil instruments and to evil ends and purposes. Our Saviour intimated this in granting Pilat's power to be from Heaven, by whom he knew he should be sentenced to die as a Malefactor. St. Paul did the same, speaking the Text in the days of Claudius or Nero, two of the worst of men and the greatest Tyrants that ever were. Neither 2. doth it invalidate this Truth that some Princes come to this Power by Conquest, some by Election, and others by Inheritance. For these are but several ways and means of Conveyance and Investiture; they are but as Conduit Pipes to carry the Water from the Fountain to separate places: Still the Power is derived from God to the Prince, by which soever of these means he be invested with it. 1. Although he fight for it, and by the Sword, maketh his way to the Throne, yet when he is placed there, he sitteth as God's Vicegerent, having no Superintendent but God: The People are all subjected to him by right of Conquest.  
Or say it be 2. By Election, by the Votes and Consent of the People that he is seated on the Throne, yet being once there, he becomes their Sovereign Lord, Ruling by a Power Superior to theirs. For the Power is God's, not the People's: They are only God's instruments in conferring the Regalia's; and when the Ceremony is over, have no more to do, but to obey.  
And if it hold true in Conquered and Elective Kingdoms then how much rather 3. 
Deut. 21.15.  In all those Nations where the Crowns are Hereditary; the way which God appointed in Israel before their settlement in Canaan, and after it, did so signally bless in a numerous Succession of Heirs.  
In all Hereditary Kingdoms the people have nothing to do but, upon the Death of their King, immediately to obey the next Heir Apparent, and humbly to recognize him for their Sovereign. Their Approbation or Consent here is of no signification; for he is born to Reign over them, and whether they will or no, doth rightfully inherit that Power which God hath entailed upon his Family.  
And (to speak something here particularly of our own Nation) thus it is, thanks be to God, in the Kingdom of England. (And we have reason to thank God for it, because we are hereby free from many mischiefs which unavoidably attend the change of Kings upon Conquests or Popular Elections.)  
Here God hath, for many Ages past, by wonderful Providences made known the Family that is to Govern us, so certainly and so apparently, that none but he that desires to be a Rebel to God and the King will ever dispute the Title. Whence it is become a Maxim in our Law that the King never dieth. And that nothing is to be assented to in Parliament which tendeth to the disinherison of the Crown. Hence also we find it ever subscribed to those Ensigns of Royalty, which descend perpetually with the Crown, Dieu Et Mon Droit, God and my Right. So in all public Edicts we find this inserted, Dei Gratiâ Rex, By the Grace of God King of England: And upon Twelve several Festival days in the year, our King offereth upon the Altar a sum of Gold to God, in signum specialis Dominii, as a public Acknowledgement That by his Grace alone he is King. And this every man of us solemnly assenteth to, that taketh the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy." In the Oath of Allegiance, we promise to bear Faith and True Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors. In the Oath of Supremacy, we first utterly testify and declare that the King's Highness is the only Supreme Governor in this Realm; And do therefore promise that we will bear Faith and True Allegiance to the King's Highness, his Heirs, and Lawful Successors, and will to our power assist and defend all Jurisdictions, Privileges, Preeminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the King's Highness, his Heirs and Successors, or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm.  
So that by the way we may wonder at the great impiety of our late pretending Patriots, who with so much heat and boidness Voted the Exclusion of the Rightful Heir, in plam contradiction not only to their Natural Allegiance but also to their Promises and Declarations solemnly made by these Oaths. They ought, I think, to seek God and the King's Pardon, or a public Repentance: And when they are so ingenuous, and not before, we may in Charity hope, that they will be better Christians and better Subjects for the future.  
But, to convince you more fully that our King, by the unalterable Right of Inheritance Succeeding to the Crown, Reigneth by God, and him only, let us a little distinctly consider, that there is neither person or thing within his Dominions but what are subject to him, as by the ordinance of God, and right reason, so likewise by our own public concessions. The People are all so, and so are the Laws. The People of this Nation whether singly or Representatively considered are subject to the King.  
If we look upon them in their single persons, which of them can pretend equality with or superiority to his Prince? Who indeed but he that is as mad as the man in Bedlam, that vainly imagines himself to be a King.  
Or look upon them Representatively, in the Church or in the Parliament, in both they are subject to him, first in the Church.  
The Church as humbly and as expressly as she can acknowledgeth the King's Supremacy and her own subjection, In her 37th Article she saith. The King's Majesty hath the chief Power in his Realm of England and other his Dominions, unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil, in all Causes doth appertain, and is not nor aught to be subject to any Foreign Jurisdiction. To which she addeth, Whereas we attribute to the King's Majesty the chief Government, by which Titles we find the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended, we give not to our Princes the ministering either of God's Word or of the Sacraments, but that only Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself, that is, that they should rule all Estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal, and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers.  
In the 3 part of her Homily of Obedience she saith, This is God's Ordinance God's Commandments and God's Holy Will that the whole Body of every Realm and all the Members and parts of the same shall be subject to their Head their King.  
The like is said by her in the 5th part of her Homily against Rebellion. The holy Scriptures do teach most expressly that our Saviour Christ himself and his Apostles St. Paul, St. Peter with others were unto the Magistrates and Higher Powers, which Ruled upon their being upon Earth both obedient themselves, and did also diligently and earnestly exhort all other Christians to the like obedience unto their Princes and Governors, whereby it is evident that men of the Clergy and Ecclesiastical Ministers as their Successors, ought both themselves specially and before others to be obedient unto their Princes and also to exhort all others unto the same. Our Saviour Christ likewise teaching by his Doctrine that his Kingdom was not of this World did by his example in fleeing from those that would have made him King confirm the same: Expressly also forbidding his Apostles and by them the whole Clergy all Princely Dominion over People and Nations; and he and his holy Apostles likewise, namely Peter and Paul did forbid unto all Ecclesiastical Minister's Dominion over the Church of Christ.  

See Can. 36.  So in her 55th Canon she requires her Preachers before their Sermons to pray for the King's Most Excellent Majesty as Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor within this Realm and all other his Dominions and Countries over all persons in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil.  
And as this Supremacy is now acknowledged, 
See Fulwood's Roma Ruit. c. 9  so it has been granted by the Church of England to her King ever since she was a Church, except for those small spaces of time that the Pope usurped it after the Norman Conquest. But in Henry VIII. Reign it was fully resumed and with the concurrence of all the Estates in Parliament resettled in the King. And upon this principle our Reformation from all the other Popish corruptions was founded, viz. that the King had the Supreme Power in the Nation, and by that might protest against and reform all the Papal Abuses which had corrupted the Church and Kingdom. And therefore those Sects and Parties of men amongst us, the Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, Quakers, etc. are not to be accounted of our Church because they deny the King's Supremacy. But are Retainers still to the Church of Rome, being not yet reformed from this Romish corruption, of subjecting the King to the Church. Next, as the Church is subject to the King, so is the Parliament. The Parliament is called by the King's Writ. And when they meet they own his Supremacy and promise Allegiance to him upon Oath. During their Session, they can make no Laws by themselves, but only advise, propound and petition what may be for the good of the Nation: And therefore are called the Great Council of it, consisting of Three Estates, The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and The Commons; the latter of which is said not to have been before the Reign of Henry III. who required their presence to Stem the Tide of his Baron's Rebellion. And although since through a long Tract of Time and the concessions of some Kings they have a claim to certain privileges yet sure not to that of Supremacy or Coordination with their Prince. For any or all of them to say they are above or equal with him is a contradiction as well in Reason as Terms. For besides what is urged before, they may be adjourned, removed prorogued, or dissolved as the King pleaseth. They live and die, are and are not by one breath of his mouth. Whence he is said to be Principium, Caput & Finis Parliamenti. And to put all out of doubt of it, several Parliaments have in several Acts and Statutes acknowledged the King's Supremacy and Sovereignty over them addressing to him under the Title of our Gracious Sovereign, and our Dread Sovereign Lord the King, His Most Excellent Majesty, etc. calling themselves his most dutiful and Loyal subjects. None ever denied it but the Long Parliament under King Charles I. which was therefore since by another declared to be a Rebel Parliament.  
Lastly, the King is not subject to the Coercive Power of the Law. There is no Law made but with His Royal Assent: And when the Law is in force it can have no power over him, because the Authority it hath, it receiveth from him both as to the Being and Execution of it. He can in dubious cases interpret the meaning, in severe cases remit the rigour, and at any time suspend the penalty of the Law. All Suits, all Processes at Law, all judicial proceed whatsoever are from him. All other our Magistrates Act by Commission from him; and when he thinks good to recall his Commissions, are no more than private persons, without rule, without power. Hence was occasioned that Loyal Motto upon the Rings of some of our Late created Sergeants at the Law A Deo Rex, à Rege Lex: i. e. the Power the King hath is from God, the Power the Law hath is from the King.  
All this sure speaketh him not subject to the Coercive Power of the Law. And what? Although it be confessed that at his Coronation he taketh an Oath before the People to Govern by the Law: Yet is he not therefore Coordinate with or inferior to the people or the Law, because it giveth him no Right or Title to the Government: The Right and Title he hath are Antecedent. Both the Crowning and Proclaiming of him are only Public Declarations that he is by Birthright in Lawful Possession of it.  
And if he should not observe his Coronation Oath, who shall say to him thou art wicked and ungodly? What Law is there that can reach his Sacred Person? Or what particular man or company of men can exhibit a Commission from God to judge and condemn him?  
But I shall prosecute this Argument no farther. Enough is said to convince any reasonable man.  
Thus I have made it clear to you that all Kings or other Supreme Governors of Nations are Ordained of God, and own their Sovereignty to God and God only, by what ways or methods soever they be invested with it, whether by Conquest, Election or Inheritance. And that the King of England in particular, who Reigneth over us by the indisputable Right of Inheritance, is as truly God's Minister and Vicegerent as any other Prince can be, knowing no Superior but God.  
Let us now draw an Inference or two from the premises.  
First, Kings having their Being from God, when God takes away from a Nation a Good and Gracious King, one that Rules as well after his Example and Will, as by his Power, it becomes matter of public mourning and lamentation.  
Cruelty and Oppression are things so odious in their Nature, and so mischievous in their consequences, (being as prolific of evils as Pandora's Box, Murder, Depopulation, and a long, etc. attending) that a Tyrannical Prince soon groweth uneasy to his people; the men as wicked as himself are weary of him, impatient for his death, curse and abhor him, wish and conspire his ruin. And though the good man dares not do this, because his Religion will not suffer it, yet upon his fall he lifts up his eyes to Heaven and blesseth God for the deliverance whilst he hates the Treason. Whereas on the contrary, Love and Clemency, and all the other Qualities of a Godlike. Prince are so amiable and attractive, so productive of public benefits, peace and plenty and every thing that conduces to make a Nation happy, that when these are manifested, the people rejoice in their Prince, while Living, as the Light of their eyes and the Breath of their Nostrils; they love him as their Father, and depend upon him as their Saviour. The profane equally with the pious are ready to rise up and call him blessed; to esteem his Life worth ten thousand of their own and to offer up themselves and all they have in defence of his Royal Person. But when God, who gave them this blessing from Heaven, is pleased to call it thither again, than these Great rejoicings are immediately converetd into sorrows as excessive. They look upon their Prince indeed to be happy, but upon themselves to be forlorn and miserable. And therefore as Rachel, when she had lost the Darlings of her Affections, they grieve and will not be comforted, till Nature hath had her Fill of Grief, or the sorrow be in some good measure proportionate to the loss.  
This hath been the general sense of the World from the beginning of it. The ancient Jews and Christians and Heathens also give Testimony to it.  
When Moses died the Children of Israel wept for him in the plains of Moab thirty days. 
Deut. 34.  The visible assurance they had of the continuance of God's special care over them, the Divine Accomplishments of Joshuah his Successor, their earnest expectations of Canaan, could not divert that mighty sorrow which they had conceived at the death of this excellent Prince, who had preserved and brought them through the perils of the Wilderness to the confines of the promised Land.  
So at the death of their King Josiah all Judah and Jerusalem mourned. 
2 Chron. 35.2.  And Jerimiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations, and made them an ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in their lamentations. He had purged their Religion from all Heathenish superstitions, he had repaired their Temple, and restored the Worship of it to its primitive purity, and so had endeared them to God and himself. And they thought in return, they could do nothing too much to perpetuate the memory of his Goodness: And therefore, besides their mournful Elegies at his Funeral, they transmitted their Griefs to posterity in a Book of Lamentations.  
Upon the death of Constantine the Great in Nicomedia, 
Zuing. Theatr. Vol. 1. l. 1. p. 97.  the first Christian Emperor (who had not only embraced Christianity himself but had industriously promoted it throughout the Empire) his Soldiers were so overcome with sorrow, that they tore their , cast themselves prostrate upon the ground, dashing their Heads against the wall, omitting no outward expression of Grief that a sorrowful heart could dictate, crying out in doleful Accents that they had lost a Protector, a Guardian and a Father. The Citizens, at the same time, as men out of their wits, ran howling about the streets, not able to suppress their Grief within: Others, as men amazed, walked silently about with their Heads hanging down; all complaining that they were no longer possessors of the comforts of this life. And answerable to this were the sorrows of the Senate and People of Rome for his death. At the Relation of it, their Baths were shut up, their Markets and Plays unfrequented, and their public sports and pleasures and days of Festivity neglected. They could find no Alleviation to their Grief, but by painting him above the Firmamental Regions partaking with other blessed Souls of Heavenly Glory, and by petitioning his Son Constantius that they might have the Honour of interring his Remains at Rome.  
And the like were the Resentments of the Roman Senate for Titus Vespasian, 
Id. p. 98.  one of their Heathen Emperors (a Prince so universally famed for his Virtues, that his Motto was Princeps bonus Orbis amor) upon the news of his death they rushed into the Curia, and there bewailed their loss of him in Panegyrical Orations, and could not be satisfied till they had decreed him the honour of an Apotheosis, till they had Deified, and placed him amongst the rest of their Supernal Gods, whence they might hope for some sarther Experiments of his favour and protection.  
To name no more, this is a Truth that our own experience testifies. How grievous hath the Death of our Late Sovereign been to every one of us? How full of surprise and sadness was the news of it? At its first Reception we looked as half Dead ourselves, and stood staring upon one another as men at our wit's end: Every eye was ready to drop a tear and every heart to breathe a sigh. I think I may truly say, never was King of England so generally and so hearty lamented. And is was no more than was due to a Prince so extraordinary Good as he was, a Prince that exceeded all others in a benign and gracious Government; a Prince (to say all of him we can in a little) than whom we cannot expect, we cannot wish, we cannot pray for a better. And I question not but his Memory will be ever precious with us, and we shall never mention him now dead but with that respect and honour that we served him when alive. Only, here, I would advise that we reflect not on him as men without hope; but as we look with an eye of sorrow back upon him, so that with an eye of joy we would look forward upon his Successor, our present King, James II. by a true Lineal descent seated upon the Throne of his Fathers; that we would hope from him all the generous Actions of his Ancestors. We shall be very ungrateful and unworthy if we do otherwise: For this most Serene Prince hath more than once exposed his Life to the mouth of the devouring Cannon, and the as merciless Sea, for our preservation. And since the Death of his Royal Brother hath been pleased to give his Royal Word to preserve this Government both in Church and State as 'tis now by Law Established. A distrust of that would be an odious suspicion of his want of the sense of Conscience and Honour. It would be likewise an impious distrust of God's Good Providence over us. For we are told by Solomon, 
Prov. 21.1.  The King's Heart is in the Hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Water: He turneth it whethersoever he will. So much to our first Inference.  
Secondly, Kings having their Being and Authority from God, are to be obeyed. So St. Paul argues in this first verse of his 13th Chap. to the Romans, Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers; for there is not Power but of God, the Powers that be are ordained of God. And the like at the 4th verse, etc. He is the Minister of God, a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil; wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for Conscience sake: For, for this cause pay ye Tribute also, for they are God's Ministers attending continually on this very thing. Render therefore to all their Deuce; Tribute to whom Tribute is due, Custom to whom Custom, Fear to whom Fear, Honour to whom Honour.  
So then, every subject is to pay Obedience to his Prince, as being the Minister of God. No man, no order of men can plead exemption or dispensation from it. For the words are general and indefinite, and being of a moral nature comprehend all Potentates and all Subjects in all times and places. This is the sense of the most ancient and learned Commentatours upon the place.  
And according to them that of St. Peter in his 1 Epistle and 2 Chap. Hath the same extent and meaning, where he bids, Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the King as Supreme, or unto Governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doeing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.  
But these Apostolical precepts must be understood to extend no farther than to things warrantable by a previous Law of God: For if a King command or enact any thing that is contrary to what God hath already declared to be his will, therein the Subject is to not yield obedience to him. The reason of it is, because God is Superior to the King, and all the Authority the King hath, he hath received from God: And therefore no good Christian will nor aught to obey his Prince any farther, than it may be consistent with his primary duty to God. And the Apostolical practice herein is a good comment upon the Doctrine. When some of the Apostles were commanded by the Sanhedrim of the Jews not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus, 
Act. 4.19.  they gave this Answer, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard. And afterward, when they charged them with neglect and disregard of their commands, saying, did we not straight command you that you should not teach in this name, 
Act. 5.29.  and Behold you have filled Jerusalem with your Doctrine, they answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.  
The like to which had been done before by some holy men of God under the old Testament. When King Nebuchandnezzar had set up a Golden Image and had made a decree that every person under his Government should fall down and worship it, 
Dan. 3.18.  and that he that denied it, should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not regard his Decree, and told him they would not serve his Gods, nor worship the Golden Image which he had set up.  
And when King Darius had. 
Dan. 6.7, 10.  Established a Royal Statute that whosoever should ask a Perition of any God or Man for thirty days save of himself, he should be cast into a den of Lions. The Prophet Daniel when he knew the King had signed this writing went into his house, and his window being open in his chamber he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks unto his God as he did aforetime.  
From all which it is evident, that the Commands of a King are obligatory to every Subject except where they cantradict the Commands of God; and then the Subject may lawfully deny the performance of them. But then he ought to be well satisfied by serious and deliberate examination of the matter, that what he so refuseth bears a real contrariety to the Commands of God: For a Conscience, not thus rectified, cannot justify any such refusal. These Holy Men indeed now mentioned denied obedience to the commands of their Governors, but, First, they were truly satisfied that in performing of them they should directly violate the Laws of God.  
And after all, if a man cannot with any satisfaction to his soul to give an Active Obedience to the Laws of his Prince, yet he must yield a Passive Obedience: i.e. if he cannot with a good Conscience do the Law he must quietly suffer the penalty of it; he must not refist his Prince with force or violence, but patiently submit to the punishments he shall inflict upon him.  
This is a Doctrine that is harsh to flesh and blood, and so indeed are most of the Doctrines of the Gospel, but is as clearly the Christian's duty as any other there revealed. St. Paul is as urgent for this Passive Obedience as for the Active in the verse following the Text. Whosoever therefore, saith he, resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation.  
And so is St. Peter in the words following those  from him, Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward; for this is thankworthy if a man for Conscience toward God endure Grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. And then he proposeth Christ as the great pattern and exemplar for it, For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.  
And both St. Peter and St. Paul with all the other Apostles acted answerably to this Doctrine and their Master's example. This we are ascertained from their Acts recorded by St. Luke, and from other Histories of their Lives. The Governors of the Church that followed the Apostles in the first Centuries, and so had reason to understand their Doctrine best, exactly transcribed this Copy; publicly teaching and practising the same. 
Euseb. l. 3. c. 36. p. 108. ed S. Polycar. Ibid. l. 4. c. 15. p. 132. Cypr. ad Demetr. Ep. 83. §. 2.  All the weapons they used themselves in defence against the severity of the Pagan Emperors, and all they taught to be used by every Christian were their Prayers, Fasting and Tears. And so it came to pass that when Christianity had gained ground on Heathenism and was so far advanced in the Empire that the Christians equalled if not exceeded the Heathens in number and courage, 
Tertul. Apol. c. 37. p. 30. Naz. in vec. 1. in Jul. p. 94.  they generally valued their Faith and Allegiance more than their lives, and chose rather to open their Breasts to the point of the Emperor's Sword, 
Just. Mart. Apol. 2. Vsser. ep. Ign. p. 9 Lactan. de Just. l. 5. c. 13. p. 495. Tertul. ad Scap. c. 1. p. 72.  than lift up their own against his. Their Persecutors in the heat of their Cruelty saw this and confessed it. And the Apologists for Christanity rejoiced and gloried in it, as one great cause of the propogation of their Religion. Agreeably to these first and purest Ages of Christianity, the Church of England teacheth her Children not to resist or rebel against their Prince.  
This she doth very copiously and strenuously in her Homily against Disobedience and Rebellion set forth in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth. Which, because she doth so largely there insist upon it, I shall rather choose to refer you to, for your better satisfaction, than mention any particulars from it.  
It was necessary this Doctrine should be vehemently pressed in the days of that Queen, because there were then a company of men started up that began to corrupt and ridicule it, 
Bell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 9 & l. 5. c. 7. Knox to Eng. and Scot p. 78. Hist. p. 343. Buch. de jure Regn. p. 61. Bp. Bancrost danger. Positions.  such as Bellarmine the Romanist, the two Presbyterian Scots, Knox and Buchanan, and our first Nonconforming Divines; men, who as the Apostle saith of some other enemies of the Truth, could not but be willingly ignorant. But they had the Luceferian Ambition to be above all that are called Gods, to be Kings themselves, and therefore had brazened their Foreheads and were resolved to say any thing that would serve their designs in dethroning the Rightful Sovereign. And indeed there is nothing in the World could do it more effectually than this; for the Subject being once persuaded of the Lawfulness of Resisting his Prince, any little humour or passion, any private grudge or animosity would be soon heated into open Rebellion. And so it followed; the viperous progeny of these men in after years improved and promoted their Father's principles: They sat brooding a while upon that Cocatrice's Egg; and then Rebellion and Regicide sprang from it. The Malcontented people did actually rebel, and King Charles I. was murdered. And, not satisfied with that, the same men have with the same Trumpet of late sounded another Alarm to Battle. And therefore it is but necessary that the Clergy of the Church of England should as loudly sound a Retreat by proclaiming the duty of Nonresistence and Passive Obedience. And it is their glory and their honour that they do so, because they are hereby true to God, the King and the Church. 
Speech concerning Bill of Exclusion printed for Baldwin.  Notwithstanding some of the Excluding Speech-makers cast it into their Teeth as their shame and reproach. The shame be only theirs that contrary to Oaths and protestations, throw dirt in the face of their Venerable Mother, and for no other reason malign their Spiritual Guides, but because they tell them the Truth. That of St. Paul is very Applicable to them, 
2 Tim. 3.8.  As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the Truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the Faith, but they shall proceed no farther; for their folly shall be manifested unto all men as theirs also was.  
I will say no more than that the very Heathens will rise up in judgement against the men of this leaven. 
Tac. Hist. l. 4. c. 8.  For, Marcellus told the Romans that Subjects might wish for good Princes but aught to bear with any. And Pliny, That as man are Reverend in their behaviour when they converse with God, 
Praef. ad Admiran. Rom.  so ought they to be in their deportment to their King. And as the Supreme part of the World is above the disturbance of the lower Regions so the Courts of Princes are not to be profaned with the rude approaches of their people. 
L. 2. exem. Po. c. 16.  So Sacred and revereable was the Person of a King among the Ancient Heathens, by the mere light of natural Religion.  
After all this some perhaps may Quaere in particular, What if Our King should actually endeavour to destroy the Religion that is now by Law Established, or punish us for the open profession of it, might we not then Lawfully take up Arms, and list up our hands against him in defence of Religion? To this I cannot answer better than in the words of the Learned Dean of Canterbury, viz. 
Letter to late Lord Russel.  That the Christian Religion doth plainly forbid the resistance of Authority; That though our Religion be Established by Law, yet in the same Law that Established our Religion, it is declared that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King. Besides that, there is a particular Law declaring the power of the Militia to be soley in the King; and that ties the hands of Subjects though the Law of Nature and the General Rules of Scripture had left us at liberty, which I believe they do not, because the Government and peace of Humane Society could not well subsist upon those Terms.  
Thus the Question is resolved by that Reverned Person. But (blessed be God) there is no reason to ask this Question, calculated only for the Meridian of a bloody Antichristian Covenant, or Association. It is a Question as unseasonable now, as it is at all times improper for a Disciple of the Son of God, who never needs the Arm of flesh to defend his cause. But, because the evil of punishment is usually the surest conviction of the evil of sin, to satisfy you fully of the wickedness of Treason and Rebellion upon all Accounts whatsoever, I shall here take leave to observe a while their direful and tremendous consequences, or the signal punishments that have attended them, recorded both in sacred and civil Story for our Admonition.  
Many of the Instances of sacred Story are collected to our hands by Sir Edw. 
Short View of late Troub. p. 650.  Coke. And I will give you them in that order as they are lately recited from him by Sir William Dugdale.  
It appears, saith he, in the Holy Scriptures that Traitors never prospered, what good soever they pretended, but were most severely and exemplarily punished, as Corah, Dathan and Abiram, by miracle, The ground clavae asunder that was under them, 
Num. 16.31, 32.27.3.  and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Corah, and all their goods; they and all that appertained to them went down alive into the Pit; and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation.  
Athaliah the Daughter of Amri who Massacred all the seed Royal of Judah except, 
2 Kin. 11.16.  one Infant which was concealed from her, and so for seven years usurped the Crown, was at length slain by the sword.  
Bigthan and Terish, 
Esth. 2.23.  who sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus, were both hanged on a Tree.  
Absalon, 
2 Sam. 18.9.14.  in Rebellion against his Father David, was hanged in an Oak, and Joab took three darts in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalon while he was yet alive in the midst of the Oak.  
Achitophel the promoter of that Rebellion hanged himself and died. 
2 Sam. 17.23.   
Abiathar the High Priest, 
1 King. 2.26, 27.  who had been Traitorous against King Solomon, was thrust out from being Priest unto the Lord; though he had his life indeed granted him because he had boar the Ark before David and had been afflicted in all wherein David was afflicted.  
Shimei, who had cursed and cast stones at David, 
1 King. 2.46.  was slain at last by the hands of Benaiah, at the command of Solomon.  
Zimri, 
1 King. 16.18.  that killed Elah his King and Master and all the House of Baasha, that he might Reign securely, after seven days Reign, to save himself from the hands of Omri was forced to burn the Palace over his own head and there perished in the flames.  
Theudas a Mutineer in Israel, 
Act. 5.36, 37.  boasting himself to be some body, to whom a number of men about four hundred joined themselves, was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to nought.  
And Judas of Galilee, who risen up after him in the days of Taxing, and drew away much people after him, he also perished, and all even as many as obeyed him were dispersed.  
These examples we have in sacred Scripture of the disastrous events which have attended Rebels and Regicides. Other History is as full of them. For as men of such profligate spirits have never been wanting in the World, so God hath never been wanting to make examples of them.  
The Plotters and Actors of the Assassination of Julius Caesar, 
Sueton. vit Juli Caesar.  though they escaped the legal punishment which the Senate condemned them to, yet, being pursued by Divine Nemesis, died all immature and unnatural deaths; some of them stabbing themselves with the same Dagger they had stabbed Caesar.  
Pope Gregory VII. 
Otho Frising. Chr. l. 6. c. 35.  (the first Pope that took the impudence to excommunicate and depose Kings) having stirred up the Princes of Germany against the Emperor Henry IU. and by them endeavouring his utter Ruin, was, during the Contest, by the consent of his own people, turned out of the Papacy, and at length by a sense of his own miseries, upon his deathbed forced to confess and lament his crime, 
Sigeb. Ann. 1084.  imputing it to the instigation of the Devil. This we may believe from the Relation which Sigebert gives of it, 
Ibid. Ann. 1085.  who lived at that time, though Bellarmin many years after charges him with a lie, 
Bell. de Scrp. Eccl. p. 215.  for no other reason but because he was Loyal to the Emperor.  
Radolph Duke of Suevia, 
Vespergens. Ann. 1080.  the great instrument of that Pope in the War against the Emperor, lost his Right Hand, and received some other mortal wounds, of which being ready to die, he bitterly bewailed his wickedness, and, sighing, observed to the bystanders, that he had lost that Hand in the Rebellion against his Sovereign, with which he had sworn Allegiance to him.  
I might produce many other instances from Foreign Histories, but I choose here to divert to a few Observations, which the aforesaid English Author makes upon some Traitors of our own Country, because they probably will the most affect you.  
Montfort Earl of Leicester (saith he) the principal Actor in the great Rebellion against Henry III. 
Short View of late the Trou. p. 599.  with his Eldest Son Henry was slain at the Fight near Evesham; his head, hands and feet were cut off by the fury of the Soldiers; and though his body through the charity of others was buried in the Abbey, the common people, out of high indignation towards him, who had been the chief instrument of misery to the whole Realm, digged it up and carried it to a more remote place, esteeming it unworthy of Christian Burial by reason it had been so much infected with the Leprosy of Rebellion. Neither did the judgement for his iniquities terminate here but pursued his two other Sons Guy and Simon, who being escaped out of Prison got into France, and there, endeavouring to bring in Foreign Forces, ended their days in misery. As for his Complices, most of them perished in that Battle at Evesham; and the rest, excepting one, were taken prisoners and disherited. But afterwards through the King's special favour restored to their Lands upon several Fines according to the measure of their offences.  
And that which he relateth also of Oliver Cromwell, that Archtraitor against Charles I. is as remarkably judicial.  
Immediately upon Cromwell's Murdering the Reverend Dr. Huit, 
p. 456.  his Beloved Daughter Claypole was perplexed with such an excessive Grief of mind that falling into a sharp fit of sickness, wherein crying out against her Father for Dr. Huits death, she died with the most bitter torments imaginable. Which death of hers was the forerunner to that of this wicked Tyrants, for soon after a deep melancholy seized closely upon him; in which the Gild of so much innocent Blood as he had spilt might perhaps somewhat touch him; but without doubt, that which stuck nearest to him, was his real consideration that he could never ascend to such a height of Sovereignty, as his ambitious desires had long gaped after. And these sorrows and perplexities of his restless mind, meeting with some natural infirmities of his Body, struck him into a sharp and severish distemper, of which in a few days (notwithstanding his own and his chaplains Revelations to the contrary) he died in great discomposure, upon the same day of the month whereon he had been twice wonderfully victorious.  
After his death, his Carcase, though it was artificially emboweled and embalmed with Aromatic Odours, wrapped also in six-fold Cerecloth, and put in a sheet of Lead with a strong wooden Coffin over it, yet did it in a short time so strangely ferment, that it burst all in pieces, and became so noisome, that they were immediately necessitated to commit it to the Earth, and to celebrate his Funeral with an empty Coffin.  
And here I cannot but add that his memory will ever stink as did his Body, both equally loathsome and abominable to all Good Men. (Wretch that he was, who, to perfect the sum of all his Villainies, added this as the last Figure, that when he had solemnly protested to take care for the safety and welfare of his Prince, he brought him to the Block, and struck off his Head before his own Royal Palace in the face of the Sun and the People, and even then wiped his mouth and said he had done no wickedness.) But neither yet had the Divine Vengeance left him: For although he had at his death usurped the Sepulchre, as in his life the Throne of a King, yet he was not suffered to remain there in peace, or to mix with Royal Dust, but not long after his Interment, was digged up and drawn thence on a hurdle to Tyburn, the place which he did best deserve and become; where he hung stinking in his corruptions with as much Shame and Infamy as before he had lain in State and Grandeur, a reproach to all prosperous wickedness, and a scarecrow to Rebellion.  
And this reminds us also of the inglorious ends of many of his Fellow-Trytours, who died about that time by the hand of the Common Hangman; and whose Head and Quarters are yet standing upon the Bridge or other places of our Metropolis, as lasting monuments of their villainy.  
And happy had it been for some of later date, if these or any other examples could have given them warning, those late Rebels against King Charles II. many of whom we all know have had the same Fate with their predecessors, to suffer the legal punishment due to their crimes. And one of them to avoid the Hand of public Justice, as Achitophel and Zimri, fell by his own, became his own shameful Executioner.  
Thus you have seen, from the beginning of the World to our own Age, the Actors of Rebellion and Treason exemplarly punished. But I deny not that there have been of old and yet are some Rebels and Traitors that go to their Graves in peace like other men dying natural and easy deaths. Yet this ought not to be any plea for or encouragement to their wickedness; because we see God hath given example enough to the contrary in terrorem to affright others from it: And however it be as to this present World, we are ascertained he hath awarded everlasting punishment to it in the next. So we hear from St. 
See Dr. Hammond's Ann. on that place.  Paul in the verse following the Text, They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation.  
Which in its utmost extent must necessarily mean that they who by force or violence do oppose their Lawful Sovereign in this Life, shall after this Life ended, be condemned eternally to suffer the Torments of Hell.  
Verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth: And though some of his Acts of Providence are here unsearchable and past finding out by the short Line of Man's finite understanding, yet in the next Life he will abundantly convince the World that he will do right, 
Psal. 58.11.  that he will, as he hath said, render to every man according to his deeds. To them, who, by patiented continuance in well-doing, seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality; 
Rom. 2.6, 7, 8, 9  eternal Life. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the Truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath; tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil.  
Therefore (Sirs) if you have any regard to the Commands of God, if you have any regard to your Temporal and Eternal Happiness, never resist the Lord's Anointed, never privately plot, or publicly fight against your King.  
It is to be feared that our present Sovereign will have the same enemies all his Ancestors had since the Reformation, I mean the Fanatical part of the Nation, who have been all along declared enemies to the Monarchy and the Church. The Jesuits (those creatures of Ignatius Loyola that were created on purpose to embroil and destroy every Reformed Regal and Ecclefiastical Government, and are accordingly sworn to it) first instilled their Antimonarchical and Schismatical principles into them; and still, under the disguise of holy and sanctified Brethren, and fine pretences of Gifts of Prayer and Gifts of Preaching, and the like intoxicating whedles, they nourish and maintain the same. And while they are willing to be deceived and run into Conventicles, where these poisons are infused, notwithstanding the many Warnings they have had from the faithful Ministers of our Church in printed Sermons and other Treatises, what hope can we have of better things from them?  
But be not you of them; partake not with them in their sins lest you partake with them in their punishments. Remember always and follow that pertinent Advice of St. Paul, 
Rom. 16.17.  Mark them which cause Divisions and Offences, contrary to the Doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.  
And that of Solomon, 
Prov. 24.24.  My Son fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change.  
Finally, be ever ready to aid and assist the King against all his enemies whatsoever, to the utmost of your powers and capacities. And be ever praying for him, that Almighty God would secure his Sacred Person from the secret conspiracies and the violent outrages of seditious bloud-thirsty-men, that he would strengthen his Arm and render him perpetually able to make good his most gracious Promise to preserve the Government both in Church and State as 'tis now by Law Established.  
Grant this (O Lord) for the sake of thy Blessed Son, by the powerful Operation of thy Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed for ever all Power and Dominion. Amen.  
FINIS.