A SERMON OF THANKSGIVING For the Happy Delivery of CHARLES the Second KING of England, &c. From the Conspiracy of 1683. Preached the ninth of September 1683. in Thomas-Town in the County of KILKENNY. ROTTERDAM, Printed for P. K. and are to be Sold by William Weston in Christ-Church-Lane Dublin. To the Right Honourable James Lord Viscount Ikirryn, &c. MY LORD, THis small Present will be censured disrespect, if the greatness of the Subject do not supply its bulk: It speaks of Loyalty, wherein nothing is small; as in its opposite, 'vice, Treason, I deem nothing but great; a Subject suitable to your Lordships inclination, and very commonly the matter of your discourse: A virtue, that besides being hereditary to the Noble Family, whereof your House is a great branch, is so singular in your Lordship, that it deservedly crowns all the other Noble Qualities of body and mind, wherewith the Heavens have plentifully blessed your person, whose rehearsal your modesty forces me to omit, and confine my Epistle both to the subject and brevity of the discourse, wherein what is low and imperfect will be winked at, when once Honoured by your Lordships acceptance; and will be construed in favour of the Endeavours of your Lordships very Humble Servant, E. M. A Sermon of Thanksgiving for the Kings happy delivery, &c. Text, Matth. 22. Ver. 21. Reddite quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari. Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. AT length appeared the happy day, wonderfully longed for by our zealous Loyalty, to pour out in public those thanks to Almighty God, which frequently we offered in the secret altar of our souls, for the most blessed delivery of the best of Princes: Never did a better King rule subjects; never were subjects more ungrateful to a deserving Prince. His Royal parts, his Imperial merits were the joy always of his Nations, were either the emulation or check of his Neighbours, and the encouragement of his Subjects: Never did the Realm enjoy such years of Peace, never the present Wealth, never the present Settlement and Felicity. A Prince that has been certainly the great care of the Heavens in all his passages: Of old did the birds of the Air forsake their bed to lend him a nights lodging in the oak; the insensible Trees knitted their Branches, and wove of their leaves a Canopy to abscond him from the fury of his enemies. An oak more Royal for being the Throne then of Charles, than for being Jupiters three. Of new, in this last passage the Sun advanced all its Beams, The discovery being in June. ran the longest course of days to search this horrid contrivance, and leave the fewer hours of darkness to cloud so black a design. The elements contributed to his welfare, and by the accidental Fire of Newmarket lighted him Torches for his escape. Enemies they are to Heaven, they forfeit the influence of the Planets, they deserve the furious efforts of the Elements that contrived mischief against the Darling of Heaven; Planets and Elements that were denying caesar not only what belonged to him by his Birthright, and all the Laws of Heaven and Earth, but the very breath whereby he lived. This to enlarge, will be the work of the following discourse, which to compass, help me to oblige to our assistance the Mother of Mercy, saluting her with the Angel, Hail Mary, &c. mat. 22. Ver. 21. Reddite quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari. Give unto caesar what belongs to caesar. NOthing more inculcated by catholic Tenets, than due obedience to our Princes; and nothing more sacredly observed: The facing on us of King-killing Doctrine is a calumny contrary to our maxims and practise. We know that the foregoing words were uttered by our Saviour, Give caesar, the Emperor, 1 Pet. 2 ver. 13. the King, or the Prince, what belongs to him: and by St. Peter Ep. 1. Subjecti estote omni humanae creaturae propter Deum, sieve Regi, quasi praecellenti, be humble and subject to every human creature for God, to the King by reason of his Excellency: By the same St. Peter in the same Chapter, ver. 17. Honorificate Regem, Ver. 17. Ver. 18, honour the King; and in ver. 18. Servi subditi estote in omni timore dominis, non tantum bonis& modestis, said etiam dyscolis; all ye that are servants be humble with all fear and submission to your Masters, not only those that are good and modest, but even to the froward. St. Paul to the Romans, omnis anima potestatibus superioribus subdita sit, Rom 13.1. let every soul be subject to the higher powers, their power is from God; so that he who outstands their power does resist Gods Ordination; the same doctrine he delivers in his Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians: Ephes 6 5 Coll. 3.22 whence it is by catholic doctrine certain, that though Princes were wicked, though Kings were tyrannical, yet for the Principality they have from God, they are to be honoured, not in the least amnoyed. David honoured Saul, though by God reproved, though most unjustly his sworn enemy. St. Maurice, St. Sebastian, St. George, and thousands more fought under Infidel Emperors, and obeied their orders in all things belonging to Principality, when it did not entrench on the worship of the true God. Julian, says St. Augustin, Aug. in Psal. 1● 4. fell from a Christian Prince to be an Infidel, an Apostate, and Idolater; Christian Souldiers followed the Imperial Banners of the Pagan: When the cause of Christ was controverted, they knew but him; that is in Heaven: if he ordered them to excurr into that Province, to fight against that Enemy, to storm that City, he was exactly obeied; only when the worship of a Statue, the adoration of an Idol, the burning of Frankincense to the Marble Gods was commanded,, then did they distinguish the Everlasting Lord from the Temporal; Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari. This subordination of Inferiors to Superiors, this correspondence of Subjects to their Princes, is not only Divine Ordination, as I have proved, but the dictates of very nature remonstranced in the sensible and insensible creatures: The body answers the motion of the Soul, the Head rules the limbs of the body, the Heavenly bodies do command the earthly, so the Moon presides over the moist, the Stars over the vegetable, the Sun as King over earth and Stars. In the sensible creatures you will see the flocks of Cranes follow one leader, the Bees wait on their fair King, and at the trumpets signal attend his motion to sally from the citadel of the Hive, and with drawn swords of stings, and sails of wings, they follow him to plunder the beauty of the Gardens, the ornament of the fields, the lustre of the flowers, the blossomed dress of the trees, the gold of the rose, the silver of the lily, the purple of the violet, to suck the thyme, to prey on the tulip, to rob the saffron, to plant a new colony, or conquer new territories. Tria sunt, says the Holy Ghost by the 30 Proverb, quae benè gradiuntur,& quartum, quod feliciter incedit, Prov. 30. ver. 29. there are three things which go well, and the fourth walks happily; a Lion the strongest of Beasts, Gallus succinctus lumbos, a Cock gird in his loins,( so does St. Jerome translate, but the English version has grey hound) a Ram, and a King, whom there is no resisting: such ought to be our obedience to our sovereign Ruler, as is afforded by the irrational creatures to their noble Prince the Lion, by the innocent Hens to their vigilant Leader, by the white flock to their Head. From this obligation springs, that by all the Orthodox Doctors, the honour, worship and obedience due to Princes, is commanded in that precept of the Decalogue, wherein we are ordered to honour our Father and Mother, and that so positively, that there are cases wherein our duty tells us we must rebel against those that begot us, to stick to those that rule us, and deny our Father to own our King. Whence we must infer, that the least stir of tumult or rebellion against the Prince is reluctant to all the Ordinances of Heaven, is an abortive product of Hell against the pure dictates of nature, and practise of the creatures both sensible and insensible: No pretence can authorize an insurrection, no excuse can qualify a revolt, no misgovernment can justify the attempt to the Crown. Saul fought that fatal battle with the philistines, wherein he forfeited Son's, Kingdom and Life. A young Slip of Amaleck brought David the tidings of his enemies defeat along with his Crown, 2 Reg. ●. I stood on him, says he, at his own request, to put him out of pain, because he was run through with his lance past recovery, and I took the Crown that was on his head: David ordered him immediately to be killed. For what, I pray, so hard a sentence? for condescending to ease a dying man, for putting him, at his own entreaty, out of torture, for helping the feebleness of his pulse, that could not strike home. St. Peter Damianus thinks that was not the reason, Amalecites, dum diadema se de capite bellantis abstulisse confingit, gladio David percussus interiit, he was killed by David because he meddled with the Crown; there is no excuse for fingering with the Diadem, no circumstances can warrant the least violence against the Royal Dignity: The gems of the Crown are so many stars guarding the temples of the Prince, but so many thunderbolts in the hands of the subject; the Diadem is an ornament on the Kings head, but a sword to spit himself with in the servants fingers; Reddite quae sunt, &c. By the second of S. John, our Saviour tied a whip of some cords, slashed out those that were selling sheep& cowes in the Temple, John 2. ver. 15. driven the cattle, scattered the moneys, tumbled the tables. Was it not more proper he should deputy one of his Disciples to punish the misdemeanour, and correct the fault? No, says Eucherius, per semetipsum facta examinat magistrorum, the abuses committed in the Temple, the irreverence to Gods Seat, Eucherius lib. 2. Reg. the making the house of God an Exchange, was the defect of the Rulers, was the abuse of the Scribes and pharisees, who observed not the Laws, being Magistrates and Judges for their observance: Our Saviour then does not entrust his Apostles to punish the faults of their Sovereign Rulers, does not subdelegate his Disciples to survey the actions of their Princes, to himself only he reserves their censure, to his own judgement does he confine their trral: let not the subject inspect into his Princes actions, let not the vassal judge his Judge; God only is beyond them, to him alone is the scrutiny of their doings reserved: the Prince must give the heavenly King account, the subjects none, of his feats, but of their own loyalty, Reddite, &c. If it were lawful for any to murder his Prince, if warrantable to seize his Rights and Titles, Exod. 5. it would be certainly to Moses the messenger of God, the master of the Elements, the worker of Portents, and the God of pharaoh: He was ordered by God to rid his people of the slavery of Egypt: did he stir his congregation to a tumult? did he incite the popular inclination to an insurrection? did he preach them that a rebellion was wanrantable, when he had Gods Broad Seal for his security of delivering them? No; what then? Moses and Aaron entred to pharaoh and said, Haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel, dimit populum meum ut sacriffeet mihi in deserto, My sovereign Lord and Liege, the Lord God of Israel sends you this message, Let go my people that they may offer me sacrifice in the desert: He does not conspire with his kinsmen to deprive pharaoh of his life, he does not plot with his countrymen to rob him of his Crown; he makes his address like a good Subject to his Prince, intimates him Gods Ordinances, strives to sway his power by reason, and smooth his might by persuasion. Hear from a learned Expounder Lypomann: these Brethren Moses and Aaron, Lypom. in 5 exod. though they had a command from God of setting the Israelites free from the slavery of Pharaoh, and tho Pharaoh was a King beyond exceptions the most wicked of Princes, and one who by peremptory expressions was condemned by God; yet they did not arm the Israelites their popular against the King the lawful Magistrate in Egypt, they did not lay a-wait for his life, nor ambush his breath, but rather contain themselves in all due subjection, and beg submissively and obediently the retrieve of their grievances. So far is the Subject from being empowered to make an insurrection, so distant from being authorised to aim at the murder, at the Diadem, at the prerogative of the Prince; whose censure, if disordered, is not to be scanded by the servant, but examined by God alone, Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari. You see, catholics, how contrary to the Laws of God, how great enemies of Heaven, how hellishly addicted were those who occasioned the present Assembly of our thanksgiving, who aimed at the Birthright, at the sceptre, at the Crown, at( I tremble to utter it) the life of noble King Charles. If there were miscarriage in his Government, it tyranny in his Councils, if heavy loads on his Subjects, if grievances on his Vassals, even then insurrection would be damnable, rebellion would be diabolical, murder would be the blackest of Treasons, as I have proved. Rebel then, what will your Plot be? what colours will your conspiracy bear? what shapes will your hellish design carry, when all his actions do make out the contrary extremes? Was it because he made your Territories happy beyond the Provinces of Europe, that you envied his life worthy to continue through the years of Eternity? Was it, because he reduced your divisions into union, your usurped power into lawful, your abuses to rights, and your riots to civility? Was it, because he enriched your Towns with plenty, your Garrisons with peace, your Estates with settlement, your Families with quietness, your Commerce with gain, your Trading with security, your Nation with victories? Was it, be cause he stored your country with wealth, your Banks with credit, your Coffers with the coin of all Nations, your Mints with the Plate of Mexico, and Gold of Peru? 3 Reg 10 ver. 2. So that in his time Silver is in England, as it was in Solomons days in Jerusalem, as thick as stones; or like the Birth-time of Pallas by the Fables, whole showers of Plate poured on the earth. Was it, because that on his own account he cleared your Brethren from the bondage of Argier? Was it, because he secured your Navigation from Norway to scandaroon, from Lands end to the remotest Philippina? Was it, because he made common to your Nation the porcellans of China, the wealth of Japan, the spices of the Molucas, the pearls of the East, the gold of Guiney, the varieties of the Medicerranean, the silks of Levant, the deliciousness of Italy, the Canary, Spanish, Rhenich, and Calabrian relishes? Was it, because he yielded your friendship courted by all near and foreign Nations, and your enmity formidable to the remotest? Was it, because that from the rising of the Sun the Bantam with his Embassy wooed you, the Russian complemented you, the Morocco courted you, and he that stiles himself God of the Earth the Grand signior honoured you? If your obstinacy does not deafen you, and your black Treason blind you from hearing& seeing in these reasons your obligation to your Royal Ruler, I will instance one point more wherein he tops the greatest virtue of a Prince. Among the virtues that yield Monarchs great, Liberality is the Queen. I mistake if there be any attribute in Gods perfections, that he brags of so much as of Mercy and Munificence; its beyond all his works, by the Royal Prophet: and our Saviour discoursing to him says, Pater, Domine Coeli& terrae, mat. 11. Father, Lord of heaven and earth; first Father, then Lord; for fatherly sweetness is the first thing that appears in a good Prince. Misereris, omnium, quoniam potes omnia, Sap. 1. says the Book of Wisdom, you take compassion on all, because you are all powerful: God will have his beneficence run the same course of his power, his mercies take the same measure of his command, and his bounty sly as far as his Seniories. If you intend, says the golden bill of St. John Chrysostom, to commend a Prince, Chrysost. hom. 4. ad Philip. you can fix nothing on him more commendable than mercy, principatus enim proprium est misereri the main point that belongs to a Prince is compassion, the greatest ornament of the sceptre is giving, the richest Carbuncle of the Diadem is munificence. That King of Italy theodoric happy in his Secretary Cassiodorus, said, that it is the part of a benign Prince to go beyond the bounds of equity for the advantage of clemency, quando sola est miscricordia, Cassiod. 2. var. 9. cvi omnes virtutes cedere honorabiliter non recusant, for only mercy is the virtue to which all other virtues do yield, do give place, do get out of the way for honours sake. Quasi primogeniti tauri pulchritudo ejus, Deut. 33. says the 33 of Deut. speaking of Joseph, that his beauty is like that of a firstling Bull: the Bull is of the stoutest Fighters, but with this difference, that the Lion, the Eagle, and such like, do fight for spoil, do quarrel for prey and food; but the Bull satisfied with the next grass, oppresses none for his own food, drinks nones blood, fights and wrestles for his Herd, does not combat for larger grazing. Such a kingdom is praised in Joseph, that stands by suavity, not by rigor; by mildness, not by blood; by munificence, not by exaction. I am deceived if the want of this virtue did not deprive Moses of the entrance and kingdom of Canaan: Num. 20. Speak( says God to him) to the rock, and it will give water: He took his wonderful rod, struck the rock twice, and abundance of water spouted out; but he lost the possession of the holy land thereby. What did he act unbecoming a great Ruler or Prince! I'll tell you; he did not speak to the rock as he was commanded, loquimini ad petram, but struck the ston once and again, as if the water did not relish with him, unless it did gush from stroke, and drop from wounds; nothing more unbeseeming a Royal mind: therefore is this great governor told he shall never enter his conquest of the promised land for the action. What did your Blunderbush traitor expect to meet in the breast of your sovereign? it would meet a heart so sweet, so merciful, so compassive, so beneficent and liberal, that I believe the led, capable of more tender impression than your cruelty, would sly back from annoying it. As mercy is the Queen of Royal virtues, so has it swayed in his Kingly mind, compassive almost to excel. Where did one of a thousand suffer, that were involved in the darkest crimes? never did one suffer whom it were mercy to save, or with whom the Laws could dispense. Never did Prince less rack his Subjects, Free gifts of Parliament. less suck their substance: He exacted not, they bestowed; they made free gifts, he compelled not: but out of his own patrimony maintained their peace and wealth at home, their traffic, correspondence and confederacies abroad; so indulgent, that never was England now what it is. I may compare him to the King of the Bees, who remarkable for his golden spots, yet is more renowned, that voided of anger he bears no weapon, carries no sting, Picula nam Princeps figere nescit apum. His liberality finds always work for his singers, none departs from those hands dissatisfied that asks within reason; his glories do depend of bestowing, when others rejoice in getting. He may be styled with the Emperor Titus, deliciae humani generis, the delight of mankind, who used that golden sentence, when a day slipped him wherein he had done no body some particular kindness, Amici diem perdidinius, Friends, Cassiod●… Var. 1. we have lost a day. I may say of him what the luxuriant Pen of Cassiodorus said of his Italian Queen, cvi par est quidem aequitas& voluntas, said mayor benignitas quàm potentia; Our Prince has Equity and Justice, Territories and Kingdoms, Armies and Fleets, said mayor benignitas quam potentia, yet more benignity than power, more mercy than authority, more liberality than revenue, more of fatherly tenderness than Imperial command. What occasion then, Parricide, had you to entrap that life so loving, so sweet, so commendable? unless you say, that as the devil hates God because he is good, so did you your Prince for his Kingly parts. Welcome then, happy sovereign, from the Bullets of your Murtherers: We congratulate the escape of that life worthy to live eternities: Live many years, and reign by love in the hearts of your true Subjects, and by terror in your enemies, when so many amiable parts of your person do not persuade their obstinacy. As you command by love in our souls, so we summon all our power and faculties, our reason and senses to render with a joyful heart our most cordial thanks to Almighty God for your safe escape. We invite, O merciful God, the fishes of the Sea, the innocent notes of the chirping Birds of the Air, the beauty of the creatures on Earth, the noble Elements, the splendour of the Celestial Luminaries, the gems of the Firmament, the heavenly Quires from the lowest Angel and Saint to the highest Seraphim to magnify thy Mercy, to extol thy Providence, to admire thy Bounty, to offer Thee prostrate most infinite thanks for thy gracious care over our Prince, and to help in the present Auditory to sing you a Te Deum Laudamus, Te Dominum confitemur, &c. FINIS.