Imprimatur.  
Octob. 18. 1682. SAM. CROBROW.   

A SERMON Preached July 26. 1682. IN THE Cathedral Church Of St. Peter in YORK.  
At the Assizes for that County.  
By James Hickson, M. A. and Rector of St. Cuthbert's in York.  
LONDON, Printed for Richard Lambert Bookseller in York, 1682.   

To the Honourable WILLIAM LOWTHER, Esq HIGH-SHERIFF Of the County of YORK.  
SIR,  
HAD not your desire (which I shall always look upon as Equivalent to a Command, such have been your repeated Favours) to have those unpolished Notes made Public, delivered before you, (never calculated for the Press) overpersuaded me, no other Motive should have prevailed. And for a Reason of this my Resolution (once positively espoused and determined upon) I could tell the World, as others have done, (if I had that kindness for it) for my Inability, and draw up an Indictment against my own Imperfections; but these (if ever) will be too soon discovered; and who will applaud that Man's discretion who should knowingly uncover his Defects before those who instead of Pity and Redress, would expose and deride 'em.  
My Design, in the ensuing Tract, is Just and Honest; and the knowing Reader will connive at, though he cannot commend the Method and Management of it. As for the censorious, who are commonly prejudiced and disaffected (whose Bolts are soon Shot) as it hath never been my Practice either Publicly or Privately, to Claw and Curry their Factions humours; so I shall not be concerned for their Disrespect.  
One thing will recommend the Discourse to the Generality, namely, its Brevity; which in a great Measure will compensate for the coursness of the dress. I am,  
SIR, Your real and obedient Servant, James Hickson.   
PROV. 20.8. 
A King that sitteth in the Tbrone of Judgement, scattereth away all Evil with his Eyes.  
IN the Fourth Chapter of the First Book of the Kings, we there read the Wisdom of King Solomon particularly described and charactered from the effects of it; for if we consider him only quatenus Man, none of the Philosophers since Adam may be compared to him, either for Ethics, Politics, Physics, or Metaphysics. So great a Botanist, so curious a Simpler, that he writ from the Cedar to the Hyssop; so admirable in Natural Philosophy, that he spoke of Beasts, and Fowl, and Creeping things, and Fishes.  
And though all his profound Commentaries upon Nature are withdrawn from Mankind (which would but have fed their Curiosities) yet his Divine Morals, in this incomparable Book of the Proverbs, are transmitted to all Ages, and shall outlive the World. By these our Lives are directed, and the Enormities of them curbed and condemned.  
I find good Proverbs recommended (by one) above other Discourses for five Excellencies, which we shall only Name. First, For their Antiquity, Antiquiora nobiliora, and in this respect these of our Royal Author are especially valluable. Secondly, Their Brevity doth signallize their Worth, in that they do not (like tedious Discourses) so burden the Memorative faculty. Thirdly, Their Significancy in couching a great deal of matter in a few words, is no small addition to their worth; and upon this account I find 'em called Mucrones verborum, Pointed Speeches; whose succinct profoundness makes amends and recompenseth for their plain, homely, and familiar habit. Fourthly, Their Experience pleads fair for their entertainment: They have for the most part a Probatum est, affixed to them, for their ground and rise was from experience, and that many times woeful. So that we may be wise upon better and more safe and easy Terms than those who made 'em, or from whom they had their rise. Fifthly, They are to be reverenced for their Truth, and though Proverbs have their limits, as well as General Rules have their exceptions; and though they do not always hold good, yet there is presumption that for the most part they do.  
The Greeks express them by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, highway Expressions; because (as a Father observes) such Proverbs, or Sentences, were written and engraven by the Highways for the information, as well as for the delight and divertion of Travellers; not only affording them matter of Contemplation, but also to confer and discourse of with others as they Journeyed. The Proverbs of Solomon are called his Sons, Reigning by them as gloriously in his Wisdom, as he ever did over Israel by his outward Splendour and Magnificence. They are for the most part independent and entire of themselves, without having any relation to the precedent or subsequent Words, of which our Subject is one.  
A King that sitteth in the Throne of Judgement, scatterth away all Evil with his Eyes.  
We shall First, Explain the particulars of the Proverb itself.  
Secondly, Deduce those natural inferences from it, which may serve both for our Admonition and Caution.  
A King that sitteth in the Throne of Judgement. 'Tis a Hebrew phrase, and Lavater upon the place makes the signifiation of it very large and extensive. It implies to know Causes, to administer true Justice, to defend the Good, and to force and compel the Refractory and Disobedient; and this (saith he) is the Duty of all Kings and Magistrates, This if they do impartially, and without respect of Persons, then nutu oculorum, they will depress and run down Wickedness and Vice with the greatest ease and facility. The Septuagint render it, When a just King sits upon his Throne, Evil dare not face him; it dare not offer or present itself before him. For the Generality, though they have so little of Christianity (how great a Clamour and Noise soever they may seemingly make about it) as not to obey the Public Magistrate for Conscience sake, because 'tis their duty, and commanded them by the express Word of God; yet when once Justice comes to be impartially executed, few or none (of such great Pretenders) will endure the Lash of the Penal Laws. (A King that sits in the Throne of Judgement,) i. e. saith Lapide the Jesuit, A King who makes use of his Regal Authority committed to him by God himself, by being a Father and a Tutor to the Good, but to the Disobedient a Revenger to execute Wrath.  
Great, (saith another) is the Majesty of a King many ways; but he is in his greatest Majesty, when he sitteth upon the Throne of Judgement; for when Judgement is his Throne, than Glory is his Canopy. A Monarch is then in his true altitude, his Lustre is then vertical and in its full brightness. A King who thus sits in the Throne of Judgement, who irrespectively commands that Justice shall be executed, according to the demeris of those who transgress the Laws, will scatter away all Evil with his Eyes. His angry Eyes against Evil being so sharp, that the Transgressor's dare not look upon him to appear before him. Then are the Sun and the Wind met; the Sun of his Wisdom, and the Wind of his Power, by searching and punishing, to drive away and disperse even all the Clouds of Wickedness. [Scattereth away all Eveil with his Eyes.] His Eyes are the beholding of Iniquity, and the punishing of it; the one whereby he beholds what Iniquities are predominant which endanger and threaten his Throne, and the other whereby he looks that Punishments be inflicted upon Malefactors; that they be inflicted not only by the Sentence, but by the execution of the Sentence. 'Tis the execution of the Penal Laws which destroys Evil; for a bare beholding of Iniquity without punishing of it, is but to mock Justice.  
One of the Fathers upon the Devils expostulating with our Saviour, St. Mark, Chap. 1. Ver. 24. [What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth, art thou come to destroy us?] saith, upon our Saviour's reply, [Hold thy peace.] That our Saviour would not be praised by the Devil's voice, but by his Torments; and one applying it to our Subject saith, That their is no greater praise of a King, than his sitting upon the Throne of Judgement, and destroying Wickedness by punishing the Authors of it; for their Ruin, is his Glory.  
In most Expositors which I have met with upon our Subject, I find 'em quoting this Proverb, Oculus Heri saginat Equum; and thus they apply it, as the Master's Eye fat's the Horse, so the King's Eye disperseth Evil, blasts the increase of it, and by his Eye Justice flourisheth.  
Cyrus' the first Persian Monarch, signifies the Sun in their Dialect, and thus I find the King compared to the Sun upon several Accounts.  
For First, As the Sun arising and being gloriously seated (as it were in his Charitor upon his Throne) disperseth Mists and Darkness, and likewise causeth Thiefs, Traitors, Murderers, Adulterers, and (whose works hate the light) to conceal themselves lest their Works of Darkness should be discovered, and made manifest; so a Wise and Just King, by his Sunlike inspection, scattereth by his Justice the Ungodly and Workers of Iniquity.  
Secondly, As the Sun in his course not only views successively the parts of the Earth, but also makes them fruitful by his auspicious influence; so the King by his Delegates and Representatives, suppresseth Iniquity by his presence; composeth the Differences of Litigious men; helps those to right who suffer wrong, and are oppressed; and puts a Curb into the mouth's of such unreasonable men, who would (if let alone) turn Religion into Rebellion, and Faith into Faction.  
Thirdly, As the Sun is pleasant and delightful to sound Eyes, but to the unsound, very troublesome and vexatious; so the King's Eye towards the good, is pleasant, but to Malefactors 'tis terrible; though he only looks upon 'em through his Delegates and inferior Magistrates.  
The words of our Subject may be likewise mystically understood, as well as literally; for as generally it belongs to all Kings, so peculiarly it is appropriate to the King of Kings (our Lord and Saviour) to whom God has given all Power, all Judgement; for when he shall come to Judge all the Earth at the great Day of Account, he shall have no need of Prisons, or Chains; he shall not stand in need of Military Forces to compel them, but by his very look he shall scatter and confound the Wicked in their own Devices.  
The Proverbial sense of our Subject is this. That Authority being ready and constant in doing Justice upon Malefactors, doth drive away all Evil with the very look of it. Or in a Phrase equally intelligible, the putting of the Penal Laws in Execution, is the most proper, if not only method to restrain and curb the growing Vices of the Age. From the Words themselves we shall deduce Three Observables.  
First, As the word King denotes Power so we shall remind you that Magistracy, and especially Monarchy, is God's Ordinance.  
Secondly, We shall show you, that as the King's Throne is Gods, so God hath constituted him over his People, for the punishment of Wickedness and Vice (to execute Vengeance upon Malefactors) as well as for the praise of them that do Well.  
Thirdly, That none may flatter themselves (who make no Conscience to disoby the Lawful Commands of a Lawful Authority) because of their present impunity; we shall remind such, that although they may for the present escape the Temporal Sword, by their Politic Contrivances, yet the Judge of all the Earth shall meet with 'em; for as there is a Reward for the Righteous, so doubtless there is a God that Judgeth the Earth.  
First then, as the word [King] denotes Power we shall remind you that Majesty, and especially Monarchy, is God's Ordinance. A King that sits in the Throne of Judgement. In the eighth Chapter of Ecclesiastes, at the fourth Verse, the Wise man tells us, that where the Word of a King is there is Power. Another Translation reads it, [There is in the word of a King a kind of Power.] 'Tis most true of God that his Will effects his Work, and his Word gives Power; and God having made Kings his Vicegerents hear on Earth, has in some sort communicated his Power to them.  
Magistracy is an Office of Gods own institution, and there is Divinity impressed and Stamped upon the very Face of it. As Moses, so every Prince's Face shines with the Glorious Beams of Divine Power communicated to them. He is the Fountain of all Lawful Authority, for all Power belongs unto God, and he gives it to whom he pleaseth. Such Promotion (says the Psalmist) comes neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from any point in the Compass; but 'tis God that sets up and appoints Magistracy: Therefore did S. Paul plainly tell the Romans, in the Thirteenth Chapter, what Majesty was, (viz.) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Ordinance of God. And God himself declares in the Eighth Chapter of the Proverbs, Verse 15. That by him Kings Reign, and Princes decree Justice. For me Kings Reign, (saith another Vertion.) It is the Tenure but of some men to hold their Lands in chief immediately from the King, but it is the Tenure of all Kings to hold their Crowns in chief of the Lord of Heaven and Earth. 'Tis the Royal Charter which God himself hath granted to Kings, that they wear their Crowns not by his Permission only, but by his Commission; they Reign not only by his Sufferance, but by his Ordinance. And though St. Peter in his first Epistle, Chapter the second, Verse the thirteenth, calls it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an Ordinance of man; yet it is not so to be understood as if it were of man's invention: But because man is the Subject, man is the Object, man is the End of it; because 'tis executed by them, exercised concerning them, and intended for their good; so upon these accounts 'tis called an Ordinance of man. The forms of Adminstrations indeed may be of man, but the Original institution is of God. For (says the Prophet Daniel) it is the most High that Ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and he giveth it to whomsoever he will, Daniel the fourth. Nay even wicked Rulers derive their Power from God: And thus our Saviour himself told Pilate, St. John the Ninetenth, Thou couldst have no Power against me except it were given thee from above. He that gave the Sovereignty to Augustius, a Mirror of Humanity, gave it also to Nero, a Monster, who delighted in Blood and Cruelty. The Apostate Julian was vested with Imperial Dignity, as well as the most Christian Constantine; though we must distinguish betwixt a Permissive and a Commissive Power.  
Sovereignty is a Ray of Divinity, and the Pedigree of it, like the Sceptre in Homer, (conveyed by innumerable Predecessors to Agamemnon) was first handed down from Jupiter; therefore do the Grecians upon good warrant use the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to signify Superiority or Government; which in its genuine acceptation signifies the Beginning, to denote the antiquity of Government, which had a being when the World was in its infancy. And I find it the opinion of some who tell us that even in innocency (if Adam had not fallen) there should have been Blandum Imperium, though not Onerosum; 'tis true indeed Servile Subjection came in by Sin, but Civil Subordination was before the Fall.  
Kings and Rulers (says one) may be said (as we find recorded of Melchizedeck) to be without Father and Mother; not in respect of their Persons, but in respect of their Office; that being an Emanation from the Deity: And as Kings are not Filii Populi, but Filii Dei; therefore 'tis no other than the result of Pride, Ignorance, Self-interest, and Ill-manners in those men (of what Party or Faction soever they are) whether they be the Followers of Ignatius, or Bucanan, who dare call Monarches the People's Attorneys, and consequently to be deposed by 'em upon breach of trust. They who hold this, and such like pernicious Principeles, may without Reflection or satire, be called the Devils Attorneys, to do business for Hell. And such Factors in this Century have been, and (I fear) still are so Numerous, that as they have once overturned the Nation with Rebellion and Confusion, so nothing but the watchful Providence of the Great Keeper of Israel can abate their Pride, assuage the Malice, and Confound the Devices of such Contrivers.  
But to proceed. That Magistracy, and especially Monarchy, is God's Ordiance, the Light of Nature has Disciplined the very Heathens into this great Truth; one of their Poets making this ingenuous Confession, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that Kings and Rulers are from God. And the Natural abhorrency of Anarchy Imprinted in the Hearts of all men, doth Implicitly Argue the Divinity of Magistracy. And no man hath a will to live where every man may do what is right in his own Eyes. The most unruly know not how to subsist without a Ruler, and the Kingdom of Darkness itself could not subsist without a Polity; and thus our Saviour told the Blasphemous Jews, If Satan be divided against himself, how shall his Kingdom stand.  
Why should men murmur against a Lawful Authority, seeing they cannot possibly live without some Authority. For in the most Fatal and Bloody Rebellions which have ever been Acted upon the face of the Earth, they have only ended, Mutatione Domini, non Dominii; (as one Excellently) in the change of the Person, and not in the extinguishment of the Office. The putting it into other Hands, not the putting of it out of all Hands. The very first Rule that Nature dictates to Man, is to seek a Ruler; therefore (says he) a Commonwealth without a Governor, is like the World without a Sun, a Ship without a Pilot, or a Body without a Soul.  
When the Author of the Book of Judges, (whom some suppose to be Samuel, others Hezekiah, others Ezra,) when the Author of that Book, whosoever he was, would Portray to the life the sad and pittyable Estate of Israel, in the intervals of Government; he adscribes this as the main reason for the Commission of all their execrable Enormities, That there was no King in Israel; and consequently no Peace, no Justice, no Religion: For every Micah will then have his Closet of Idols, and every Man will Worship as it pleaseth the usurped Liberty of his preverted Judgement, and ungovernable Affections. And without Magistracy not only whatever is Sacred would be usurped, abused and destroyed, but also there would be no such things as Liberty and Property in the Kingdom. (Though the Generality make such a clamour and noise about 'em.) If Men therefore would not have these entrenched upon, and abriged, they must take the right way to preserve 'em. (viz.)  
First, They must give the Tribute of Honour and Reverence to the King, the Father of their Country, upon whom God has Stamped this his Image and Superscription. 'Tis God's positive Command in the Second Table, to Honour our Parents; and 'tis a received Maxim, That our Political Parents are to be preferred before our Natural. For (as one excellently) Gods Commandments are like the Sciences, which are more or less valuable according to the Nobility and Excellency of the Objects, about which they are conversant. For instance, As that Love we own to our Neighbours, gives place to that Love we own to God, so the Honour we bear to all Men, is inferior to that we own the King; therefore St. Peter placeth the Honour we own to the King, next to the Fear of God. 'Tis called a Jewish Proverb, (I am sure 'tis no despicable Counsel) Migrandum est ex eo loco ubi Rex non timetur: We must avoid that Place where the King is not Reverenced; for contempt of Authority bodes a Storm, (some heavy Judgement) and indeed how should it be otherwise, for the levelling of a Nation, and the Ruin of it, closely follow and attend each other.  
Secondly, If we would have our Liberties and Properties secured to us, we must render to the King the Tribute of Maintenance, as well as Honour. He (says one) that is Righteous towards his Fellow Subjects, and makes no Conscience to wrong his Sovereign, is a Rebel to the Crown and Dignity of Christ; for he is undutiful to the King of Nations by whom all King's Reign,) who pays not his due to the King of that Nation where he lives. If we consult the Turkish History, we shall find the loss of Constantinople, and thereby the whole Grecian Empire was occasioned, through the insatiable Covetousness of the Inhabitants, who though exceeding Rich, could not be moved by any Prayers and Entreaties, to supply the Necessitous Emperor in order to their own safety.  
Thirdly, If we would enjoy our Properties, and s●t Peacably under our own Vines, we must render to the King the Tribute of Obedience; a Duty so truly Christian, that we read the Apostles never urged any Duty upon their Auditors, or to those they writ with, more cogent and binding Arguments than upon the account of this. And that which should the more recommend this Duty to our Practice is this: Because the Apostles both taught and practised Obedience to the Higher Powers, even then when the aspect and influence of Civil Authority was the most malignant to Christianity. Nay, they were even then Obedient, when the particular Cruelties against them gave the greatest advantage unto Temptations of Disobedience. If we peruse the Acts of the Apostles, and the History of the Primitive Christians, we may by the perspective of History contemplate their Inprisonment, (though unjustly Committed) but not behold them in the Camp to resist Authority; we may behold them drawn before Magistrates, not drawing Magistrates before them, (as the Author to the Hebrews more fully informs you.) They were Stoned, but we never find them Stoning. Stricken with the Sword, but we never find them Striking with the Sword. We do not find them (like our Saints of the late Edition) binding their Kings in Chains, and their Nobles in Fettors of Iron. And though (as one says) all Christ's Subjects are Free, yet 'tis a Freedom from Spiritual Bondage, not from Civil Subjection. Christ's Freemen are obliged to Obedience for Freedom from Rule argues Slaves to Sin. True Liberty is a Power to do what we ought, not what we will; consisting in a Freedom from the Dominion of men's Lusts, not from Humane Laws; a Freedom from Sin, not to Sin. In a word, it consists in a Liberty to serve God, and not in disobeying the Lawful Magistrate. And 'twere well if all who conceit themselves Saints, and Precious ones, were really so; for than they would be better Christians, and better Subjects. And granting (for suppositions sake) that these tender ones were really Saints, (truly and universally Conscientious) yet they are not Angels; and consequently as they are but Flesh and Blood, they may both do Wrong and suffer Wrong, and so stand in need of the Public Magistrate to keep 'em right, and to do 'em right.  
Fourthly, If men would enjoy those Properties and Privileges, which they keep such a noise about; they must Pray for all who are set in Authority over them, that under them we may lead quiet and peaceable Lives. Subjects should have their Eyes up to Heaven for those who sit at the Helm of State; whilst they are Consulting for our Safety, we should be Praying for them. And that God requires this Duty from us is plain from St. Paul's command, 1 Tim. 2.1, 2. I will therefore that first of all, Prayers, Supplications, Intercessions, and giving of Thanks be made for all men; and then comes to particularise, in Kings and all that are in Authority. But as if these were no Apostolic Command, as if this were no part of Gods revealed Will by which man must be Saved, the Generality (what by the prejudice of Education, and the conduct and advice of some Factious Shebaes') are strongly possessed that those plain Commands of Obedience to Authority are cancelled, and may be dispensed with, if they be persuaded in their Consciences that the Commands of their Superiors cross and thwart with the Divine Laws, (they themselves being the Sole Judges) and must they not keep their Consciences? Now 'tis notoriously evident, and in all Ages has been demonstrated, by woeful Experience, that the pretences of Conscience have not failed to Patron and abet the greatest Villainies which have ever been practised upon the Face of the Earth. But the plain truth is, When People pretend a tenderness of Conscience in Indifferences before they are Commanded by Authority; and in the mean time make no Conscience of Obedience and Subjection to the Lawful Commands of their Lawful Sovereign; they mean nothing by their Consciences but themselves, the securing and advancing of their Temporal Interest. And consequently, if you tell People of this Bran and Genius, of the practice of the Primitive Church; tell 'em of Turtullian's Apology for the Subjection and Obedience of those Christians (when at the same time they wanted not Force, if they would have turned Rebels) and you may as well tell 'em a Story out of any ordinary Romance, or out of the Legend. If you can help such men to Wrist and Misinterpret the Penal Statutes; if you can direct 'em how to elude the Penal Laws, so as they may continue in the open breach and defiance of the Positive Commands of Lawful Authority, than you do something, than you shall not want the reward of Divination. Give men thus tenderly Conscienced a Lawyer better read in Tully's Offices than the Whole duty of Man. Give 'em an Attorney of a Dexterous Application (which is only a Periphrasis, or Modish Synonimons for a Knave) who can provide for the nicking of a Cause, that the Wicked may not triumph over the People of the Lord, and then you please them.  
We come now to the Second Observable inferred from our Subject; which is to show you that as the King's Throne is Gods, so God hath constituted him over his People; for the Punishment of Wickedness and Vice, (to execute Vengeance upon Malefactors) as well as for the Praise of the Good.  
That the King's Throne is God's, we find demonstrated and plainly evidenced by that Quotation out of the first Book of the Chron. Ch. 29. Ver. 23. Solomon sat in the Throne of the Lord as King, instead of David his Father. The Sceptre of the King is God's Sceptre; and as 'tis given by him, none else can take it from him. Those men strike at the Centre of all Power, (God himself) who assert, that the King's Power is of the People's Creating.  
As some men have Atheistically Imagined, That the Soul of man is nothing else but a resultance of the Temperement and Constitution of the Body of man, and not an infussion from God. So (says one Excellently) for men to think (and I wish it were not otherwise communicated) that that Power by which the World is Governed, to be but a resultance of the consent, and the tacit voice of the People, and no particular Ordinance of God, is an undervaluing, a false conception, a misapprehension of those Beams of Power, which God from himself derives upon those whom himself calls Gods in this World; and thus we find them Styled in several Places in Holy Writ, I have said ye are Gods, etc. And 'tis well (as one Excellently upon the 82. Psalms) that Kings are not the Children of the most Voices, but of the most High; and though (says he) the Approbation of the People may serve ad Pompa●●, yet not add Necessitatem: They may add something to the Solemnity, but nothing to the Essence of the Constitution.  
That God hath constituted the Supreme Magistrate over his People, for the Punishment of Malefactors, is not only described at large by St. Paul, Rom. 13. but our Lord and Saviour likewise assures us of as much, St. Luke, Ch. 22. Ver. 25. you read there that the Disciples contending amongst themselves which of them should be accounted the Greatest, (the ground and bottom of the contest had its rise from that Petition, which Zebedee preferred to our Saviour at the instance of her two Sons, St. James and St. John, that the one might sit on his Right hand, the other on the Left in his Kingdom; (i. e.) be the greatest men for Temporal Honour and Advancement) our Saviour in taking down their Ambitious Heats and Strive about Superiority, convinceth them of their Folly, by an Argument drawn from the different Offices of Worldly Kings, and those of the Apostles by an Antithesis of their distinct Constitutions, in these Words, The Kings of the Gentiles exercise LordShip over them; and they that exercise Authority upon them, are called Benefactors. By Kings of the Gentiles our Saviour not only expresseth Heathenish Monarches, but all Political Magistracy, and they are expressed here (Synecdochicè) by Kings of the Gentiles; either because Gentile Monarches did then especially Govern the Kingdoms of the Earth, or else because the Word (Gentiles) denotes all People collectively, whether Heathens or Christians. And he there expresseth the Office of the Public Magistrate in these two Words, Dominari, and Benefici; For the punishment of evil Doers, and for the Praise of them that do Well.  
That the Authority of the Supreme Magistrate is necessary for the punishment of evil Doers, nothing is more clear; for without the Magistrates Sword, every private Man's would be set against his Neighbours; and the excellent Seneca could tell us, that the not punishing of Malefactors, is to Scourge and Torment good men. And upon this account was it that St. Paul says of the Supreme Magistrate, that he bears not the Sword in vain; by the Sword is understood the Power of exercising and putting the Penal Laws in execution against Malefactors, to give them suitable Punishments to their demerits; and by bearing the Sword, he alludes to the custom of Princes and Magistrates, who have the Sword and other Ensigns of Authority carried before them.  
We need not urge quotations from Holy Writ, to show how much the impartial execution of Justice exalts a Nation; nor need we enumerate those Positive Commands from the Almighty, to those who are in Authority; That Judgement run down as Waters, and Righteousness as a mighty Stream. Nor need we so much as remind you what Comminations are denounced, what Woes are threatened to those who turn Judgement backward, who make Justice stand a far of, etc. For 'tis enough that we take notice how much the very Esence and Constitution of Government itself is endangered, whilst the execution of the Penal Laws is Balked, and Public Offenders in the very Face of Authority unpunished.  
For First, if Malefactors be not Punished (by Malefactors I mean not only Murderers, Felons, etc. but all others who live in an open and wilful breach of the known Laws) if these be not punished and suppressed by Authority, the Natural good of men is endangered (i. e.) the Lives and Bodies of the King's good Subjects are continually hazarded.  
Secondly, If Malefactors be not Punished, our Moral good is endangered, Virtue will be discouraged, run down, and suppressed; and Vice will become no less spreading than Fatal and Destructive.  
Thirdly, If Malefactors are unpunished, our Civil good is endangered; our Goods and Possessions cannot be called our own.  
Fourthly, If the Penal Laws are unexecuted, our Spiritual good is most of all endangered, our Religion (as now by Law established) will be made a prey to our Enemies, who already laugh us to Scorn, and who would gladly be crying once more (with those Impious men the Psalmist mentions) Down with it, down with it, even to the Ground. But God we trust will defend this part of his Catholic Church, which he himself hath planted in these Kingdoms. And though She be Militant against Principalities and Powers, against Spiritual Wickednesses; and though She hath so many incarnate Agents who causelessly conspire Her fall; yet (as the Psalmist zealously) Let God arise, and all her Enemies be scattered; and the joint contrivances of Devils and Men against Her shall be brought to nought: And to this end, Let us beseech God (with the Church) that he would strengthen the hands of our Gracious King Charles, and all that are put in Authority under him, with Judgement and Justice, to cut of all such Workers of Iniquity, (who would unhinge the present Government in Church, and State,) that so they may never prevail against us, or Triumph in the ruin of God's Church amongst us.  
We come now in a word or two, to the Third Inference from our Subject; which is, That none may ●…atter themselves (who make no Conscience to disobey the Lawful Commands of a Lawful Authority) we shall only remind such and leave it to their serious Consideration: Although they may for the present escape the Temporal Sword, by their Politic Contrivances, yet the Judge of all the Earth shall meet with 'em (for as there is a reward for the Righteous, so doubtless there is a God that Judgeth the Earth.)  
At the entrance of Abraham's Expostulation with God in the behalf of Sodom, and the other Cities, Gen. 18.25. he useth these Words, (Shall not the Judge of all the world do right)? And Job tells us, Far be Wickedness from God, and Iniquity from the Almighty; surely God will not do Wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert Judgement. Now though some men may hug themselves with that Heathenish Divinity, (Prosper●m & Faelix scaelus virtus vocatur) though they may Blasphemously Father the success of their unjust Proceed upon the Providence of God; though they may for the present so manage their Extortions, Oppressions, Libels, Mutinies, Factions, Treasons, etc. as that no humane Laws can hinder their Endeavours, Contrivances, and Cabals, in order to their Rending the beautiful Frame and Constitution of Church and State, (and all this to gratify their Pride, ill Nature, and Interest) yet shall not God meet with such, and pay them what they deserve? Though men may so Tamper with the Country, as that they shall be brought off and cleared in this World, whilst yet they live in the open breach and defiance of the known Laws, yet God will not be mocked, (the Judge of all the Earth shall do right upon 'em.) And though for a moment men may impose upon, and flatter their Consciences, having got the weather gage of the Penal Laws; and have provided how to put by the Stroke of the Magistrates Sword, and then say the Law is open, if any be grieved, let them remedy themselves, we must endure it, and there's an End; yet assuredly God will enter into Judgement with such▪ and there will be no error assigned in his Judgement; For (says one) there is no appeal from God not throughly informed, to God better informed, because he always knows all Evidence before it be given; therefore however we may Juggle here upon Earth, yet when he comes to Judge, all the Workers of Iniquity s●… confess his Judgement to be right, though the re●…t be their own Eternal Condemnation. Now that all of us in our several Places and Callings, may so respectively discharge our Duties to God, and our Neighbours, that this Life ended we may be received into Everlasting Habitations, God grant, for Christ's sake. Amen.  
FINIS.