A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES AT CHELMSFORD, In the County of ESSEX, AUGUST 31, 1685. Before the Honourable Sir THOMAS STREET, Kt. One of the JUDGES of his Majesty's Court of COMMON PLEAS.  
By JOHN SCOTT, D. D. Rector of St. Peter's Poor, London.  
LONDON, Printed by M. Flesher, for Rob. Horn at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange, and Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1686.   

To my Honoured Friend JOSEPH SMART, Esq High Sheriff of the County of Essex.  
SIR,  
I Do not think myself obliged to make an Apology to the World for the publication of this Sermon, which you very well know, Sir, is none of my act, and I am sure was far from my intention when I composed it; indeed, as for the faults of the Sermon, I alone am responsible, but than it ought to be considered that the more faulty it is, the more obedience I have shown in the publication of it; and indeed, it would have very ill become me, especially after I had been preaching up Submission to Superiors, so far to have contradicted my own Doctrine by my Practice, as not to have complied with the repeated desires of the learned and reverend judge, yourself and those loyal Gentlemen of the Grand Iury. I know very well that Discourses of this nature are but too needful in such an Age as this, wherein the minds of the People, by sucking in the contagious breath of false Teachers, are so woefully infected with seditious and rebellious Principles; against which I have herein endeavoured to prescribe as much antidote as the narrow compass of a Sermon would contain; but in so short a Discourse it is a hard matter to do justice to so copious an argument. And I am apt to think, Sir, that had not your judgement been too much bribed by the known candour and goodness of your nature, by your kindness to the Author of it, and especially by your immovable Loyalty to your Prince, which could never be shocked by all the late attempts of a popular Faction, you would have found defects enough in it to have excused me for my own credit sake from publishing it to the World; but since it must be, I pray God it may answer your honest intention, which I am very sure was to do good to the World by it, to open the eyes of those miserably misled Souls that in numerous droves have been seduced into Faction and Disloyalty, and to direct their wand'ring steps into the paths of righteousness and peace and obedience. I remain,  
Sir, Your most obliged and affectionate Servant, JOHN SCOTT.   
Rom. XIII. I. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers; for the Powers that are, are ordained of God. 
IN which words you have first a Duty enjoined, Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers. Secondly, A reason enforcing it, for the Powers that are, are ordained of God. In the duty there are three things considerable. First, The extent of it, it is to every Soul. Secondly, The matter of it, it is to be subject. Thirdly, The Object of it, the higher Powers; of each of which I shall discourse very briefly.  
First, Here is the extent of this Duty, it is to every Soul, that is, to every man of what Order or Degree or Quality soever, whether he be High or Low, Rich or Poor, Spiritual or Secular, none are exempt, let every Soul be subject; without any exception either of St. Peter and his Successors, or of the Body of the People, for the reason extends equally to both, because the Powers that are, are ordained of God; they are by God's Commission and rule by his Authority, and therefore neither the Bishop of Rome, nor the majority of the People can claim exemption from this duty of Subjection, without arrogating to themselves an Authority superior to God's; for if we must be subject to them, because they rule by God's Authority, then it's certain there are none that are subject to God but are under the force and obligation of this reason.  
But than Secondly, You have here the matter of this Duty, and that is to be subject, in which comprehensive phrase is included the whole Duty of Subjects to their Princes and Governors, honouring their Persons, reverencing their Authority, assisting them against their Enemies, defending the rights of their Government, and conscientiously rendering to them their due Customs and Tributes; but more especially and particularly, it includes our free and ready submission to them in yielding a cheerful obedience to their Commands, so far as we can innocently and consistently with our duty to God, and where we cannot in patiently undergoing all those pains and penalties they shall think meet to inflict on us for our disobedience, in suffering their unjust persecutions without murmuring or clamour, without disturbing their Government, or resisting their Authority, or endeavouring to repel their Force with Force, but meekly submitting our cause to the judgement of God, who is the Patron and Protector of oppressed Innocence: But for our clearer understanding this necessary duty of subjection to our Princes and Governors, I shall briefly explain the particulars implied in it, which are these five.  
First, It implies our ready and cheerful obedience to them in all lawful things.  
Secondly, Our obedience to them in all doubtful things.  
Thirdly, It implies our obedience to them in all those cases wherein we are not able to judge for ourselves.  
Fourthly, It implies great wariness and caution, in pronouncing against their judgement and determinations.  
Fifthly, It implies our meek and patient submission to the penalties of their Laws and determinations, when upon a full persuasion of the unlawfulness of them, we cannot actually comply with them.  
First, This subjection to our Prince implies our cheerful and ready obedience to him, in all lawful things, for, whatsoever God hath neither commanded nor forbidden by his own immediate dictate and authority, he hath authorized his Vicegerents to command or forbid, as they shall judge it most expedient for the public; so that when they command what God hath not forbidden, or forbid what he hath not commanded, their will is God's, who commands us by their mouths, and stamps their injunctions with his own authority; and unless we admit this, we totally divest the Magistrate of his power of making Laws, because there remains no other matter for new Laws, but only that which the Laws of God have left indifferent: so that unless this may be commanded or forbidden by the Magistrate, he hath no new matter left to make new Laws of, when therefore the matter which he injoins or forbids, is left free and unrestrained by the Laws of God, we are obliged in Conscience by that divine Authority which God hath vested him with, to render him a free and cheerful obedience.  
Secondly, This Subjection to our Governors implies our ready obedience to them in all doubtful things, for it is to be considered, that 'tis as much our duty to obey our Governors in things that are lawful, as not to obey them in things that are unlawful; and therefore if we only doubt whether their Commands are lawful, or no, our doubt ought to make us as fearful of disobeying as it doth of obeying them, because the danger of sinning is on both sides equal, and therefore in this case where we are necessitated to determine ourselves one way or tother, it is doubtless our duty to determine on that side which makes most for the public security and peace, which next to the Honour of God and the Salvation of Souls ought to be preferred above all things; wherefore in cases of a doubtful nature, 'tis both modest and safe to subscribe to the judgement of our Superiors, because in so doing we have not only our own ignorance to excuse, but their authority to warrant us; and if we should happen to be in the wrong through our modesty and humility, 'twill be safer for us than to be in the right through our pride and self-conceit.  
Thirdly, This duty of Subjection to our Governors, implies our ready obedience to them in all those cases wherein we are not capable of judging for ourselves; for he who refuses to obey his Governors in matters that he cannot judge of, disobeys he knows not why, and to avoid doing that which he doth not know to be a Sin refuses to do that which he knows to be a Duty; so that though that which he refuses should be unlawful, yet this cannot be the motive of his refusal who understands not the reasons which make it so; but by following the reason of our Governors where our own cannot guide us we take the best course we can not to be mistaken, and if we should be mistaken we have this to excuse us, that 'twas by following an authority which God himself hath set over us, whereas if we are mistaken on the other side, we are altogether inexcusable.  
Fourthly, This duty of Subjection to our Superiors doth also imply great wariness and caution in pronouncing against their judgement and determinations, for by the Laws of Christian modesty we are obliged to believe our Governors to be wiser than we, because they have a larger prospect of things, and greater advantages of enquiring into them; and therefore though we may have some little probability that their judgement is false, or their command unlawful, yet we ought not presently to determine it so, unless it be in such plain and evident cases as do not only outweigh the probability of their opinion but the authority of it too; for he who rashly rejects the command of his Superiors as unlawful, plainly shows that 'tis not so much the Sin of their Command that displeases him as the Authority of it, and that 'tis not his Conscience that takes offence at it, but his Humour; for if it were Conscience, the reverence which he bears to the authority which commands him would inspire him with an awful respect to the judgement of his Superiors, and a modest suspicion of his own: He therefore who upon every slight appearance of probability against the judgement of his Superiors immediately pronounces it false and erroneous, plainly shows that he hath too little deference to them and too much to himself; and while he thus undervalues their Wisdom and overvalues his own, it's evident that he wants a great deal of that modesty and humility that becomes a dutiful and obedient Subject.  
Fifthly and lastly, This duty of Subjection to our Superiors also implies our meek and patient submission to the penalties of their Laws, when upon a full persuasion of the unlawfulness of them we cannot actually comply with them; for when the Commands of our Prince do interfere with the Commands of God, it is an undoubted Rule that we must obey God rather than Man; but then at the same time that our Allegiance to the Throne of Heaven obliges to refuse active Obedience to our temporal Prince, it indispensably obliges us to render passive, and not to use any violence against him, though it be in the defence of our Estates, or Liberties, or Lives, or which ought to be dearer than all, our Religion; for the just use of violence is founded in a just authority over the Person upon whom it is exercised, and supposes a right in him that uses it to call the Person to account against whom he uses it, and punish him according to his demerit, without which right the use of violence is an injurious outrage and oppression; but sovereign Princes are in their several Dominions next to and immediate under God, the most high Sovereign of the World, and therefore having no Authority but his above them are accountable only to his Tribunal; so that for Subjects in any case whatsoever to offer violence to their Prince is to usurp the Throne of God, and invade his sovereign Tribunal, for in offering violence to them we claim a superiority over them, and in so doing impiously trespass on the peculiar of the Almighty, and arrogate his divine Prerogative of being King of Kings and Lord of Lords; for since God alone is placed above them, as being the sole King of sovereign Kings, how can we assume superiority over them without setting ourselves in the place of God? unless therefore we will render ourselves guilty of the highest affront to, and profanation of the divine Majesty, we have no other remedy, whenever we are reduced to that extremity as that we cannot obey our Prince without disobeying God, but to discharge our duty courageously and faithfully to God, and meekly and quietly to submit to the unjust Persecutions of our Prince, referring our Cause to that sovereign Tribunal before which Princes and Peasants must one day give an account together for every unjust and unrighteous action: And though this may seem a hard Chapter to those who consider only one side of the case, yet there is nothing more apparent than that the liberty of resisting Princes would prove a far greater mischief to the World than all the Cruelties and oppressions of the most barbarous Tyrants; for what though there never was any Governor so wise and good as not to be chargeable with some faults and miscarriages, we ought to consider that our World must be governed by Men and not by Angels, and that perhaps there never was any lawful Prince so bad, the benefits of whose Government did not far outweigh the mischiefs of his Tyranny; and that therefore it is wisely eligible for us rather to suffer a less evil than to deprive ourselves of a greater good. It is a notable saying of Tacitus, where he brings Cerialis the Roman General thus bespeaking his revolted Soldiers, Quomodo sterilitatem, nimios imbres & caetera naturae mala, sic luxum vel avaritiam dominantium tolerate: vitia erunt donec homines, sed neque haec continua, & meliorum interventu pensantur; i. e. you must bear the Luxury and Covetousness of your Rulers as ye do Barrenness and unseasonable Showers; there will be faults as long as there are Men, but bad Men are not always, and we are generally compensated for them with a succession of good. But had God left us at liberty to resist when we are oppressed, the consequence of this must have been an eternal state of War, in which instead of suffering the oppressions of one Tyrant, we should every one turn Tyrant to every other, and therefore 'tis apparently for our good that he hath tied up our hands. And thus with all possible brevity I have explained the Particulars included in this Duty of Subjection.  
I now proceed to the third and last considerable in this Duty, viz. the Object of it, viz. the higher Powers; by which its evident we are to understand the Persons of sovereign Princes and Governors, and not the Laws and Constitutions, as some of our Republican Doctors pretend, for this Epistle was writ either under Claudius or Nero, whose Wills were the only Laws they governed by, and yet these were the higher Powers to whom the Apostle requires our Subjection; and those whom he here calls the higher Powers in the third Verse he calls the Rulers, and in the fourth Verse he tells us that this higher Power is the Minister of God, and a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil, which must necessarily be meant of the Governors, and not of the Laws; and accordingly St. Peter thus explains it, 1 Pet. 2. 13. Be subject to every ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the King, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as supreme, which is the very word that is here used for the higher Powers, so that by the higher Powers here must be meant the Person or Persons that are vested with the supreme and sovereign Power; for that in every Nation there should be a sovereign Power is as indispensably necessary as that there should be a Government; for wherever there is any Government there must be a last Appeal, otherwise no difference or controversy can ever be finally decided; and wherever the last Appeal is, whether it be to a King, a Senate, or the majority of the People, there must be absolute and sovereign Power from which there can be no farther appeal, and against which there can be no opposition or resistance; for to talk of a supreme Power which is not unaccountable and irresistible is nonsense, for whatsoever Power is liable to be called to account or resisted, hath a Power that is superior to it, and so cannot be supreme: and accordingly the Apostle declares in the Verse ensuing my Text, that whosoever resisteth the Power, resisteth the Ordinance of God, and that they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Now the supreme power to which we of this Nation owe subjection is the King, whom our Laws do declare and recognize to be our supreme and sovereign Lord, for so, for instance the Statute of Praemunire declares, that the Crown of England is in no earthly Subjection, but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same, and 25 H. 8. 21. makes this Recognition to his Majesty, That his Grace's Realm hath no superior under God but only his Grace, and that next unto God they owe him a natural and humble obedience; and in other Laws it is declared to be high Treason to levy Arms against the King either within or without the Realm, and that it is unlawful for both or either Houses of Parliament to raise or levy War offensive or defensive against his Majesty or his Heirs and lawful Successors, and that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King, and that we are to abhor that traitorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person, or against those who are commissioned by him; by all which it is abundantly evident who this higher Power is among us, to whom we are to render our Subjection.  
Having thus explained the Terms of the Duty, I proceed in the next place to the Reason of it, for the Powers that are, are ordained of God.  
All Sovereign Princes do derive their power and authority from God, whose Almighty providence doth more peculiarly concern itself in the disposal of Crowns and Sceptres, and doth influence all second causes to conspire in the advancement of such persons to Empire, as he himself has first chosen and approved, for there is no person can have right to govern in God's Kingdom under him, unless it be by commission and authority from him; and indeed to derive the authority of Sovereign Princes from any other head but God, is in effect to deny him to be the supreme Governor of the World, which those persons would do well to consider who make the people the Fountain of regal authority; for as on the one hand, if it be by God's Authority that King's Reign, it is God that governs by them, and not the people, so on the other, if it be by the people's authority, it is the people that govern by them and not God, if it be the choice of the people that makes their Prince without any Commission or Authority from God, than it is certain that Princes are the people's Vicegerents and not God's, but now in all governments the supreme is the Fountain of all inferior authorities, and if there be any authority within its Jurisdiction that is not from it, and dependent upon it, it must be coordinate with it, and then it cannot be supreme, how then can God be supreme Governor of the World, when there are other coordinate Authorities with him that are independent from him, and that owe not their being to him? The People's choice therefore even in Elective Governments, can signify no more than the bare presenting of a person to God, to be authorized his Vicegerent by him, who if their choice be just and lawful, is supposed to direct them to it by his providence, and consequently to consent to and approve it, and thereby to authorise the person so presented, for Sovereign authority in the abstract is ordained and instituted by God, but abstracted Authority cannot govern without a person vested with it, and to vest him with it, he must not be only applied to the Authority, but the Authority must be applied to him; but now where the people have a right to Election, they can only apply the person to the Authority, but 'tis God's consent and approbation which applies the Authority to the person, who thereupon commences supreme under God, and hath no superior Tribunal but God's to account to, and thus according to the Prophet Daniel, the most high rules in the Kingdoms of men, because as Lord of all the Lords, and King of all the Kings of the Earth, he rules by their Ministry, and they rule by his Authority; and hence in Scripture they are said to be the Ministers of God, Rom. 13. 6. The Christ's or anointed of the Lord, Isa. 45. 1. And are styled Gods, and the Children of the most high, Psal. 82. 6. And hence also they are said to act in God's stead, and to judge not for men but for God, 2 Chron. 19 6. And their Kingdoms are said to be given them by God, and they to be advanced to their Thrones by God, 2 Dan. 21. 37.  
Since therefore all supreme Powers are ordained and commissioned and authorized by God, it hence necessarily follows, that to refuse subjection to them is no less than open Rebellion against God himself; for Kings in their several Provinces, are the Viceroys of the Almighty Sovereign of the World, and therefore as he who denies subjection to the King's Viceroy affronts the Authority of the King, so they who deny subjection to the King, brave and affront the Authority of the King of Kings; for since it is by God's Authority, that the King rules, 'tis God's Authority that they refuse to be ruled by, for whatsoever the personal qualifications of Princes are, we ought to consider that the Character they bear is Divine, as being a ray and representation of the great Majesty above; and therefore 'tis not so much to them that we are obliged to bow down as to the Divine Image which they bear about them, so that like Ambassadors they derive not their honour from themselves, but from the Sovereign Majesty which they represent and personate, and the veneration we render them like that which Moses paid to the burning Bush, is not so properly rendered to them, as to the Divinity in them; whether therefore they are good or bad we are obliged to respect them as the supreme Vicegerents of God in the World, and to consider their Persons as consecrated with the Divine Majesty which Robes and invests them, and herein consists the force of the Apostle's reason, for the Powers that are, are ordained of God.  
And now having given you an account of the duty in the Text, Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers. I shall crave leave briefly to enforce it, by some other motives and considerations, besides that which the Apostle here urges, viz. That the Powers that are, are ordained of God.  
First, Consider, that upon our dutiful Subjection to our Prince, depends our temporal Happiness and welfare; for as without government there can be no Society, so without obedience there can be no Government; and so long as men are indisposed to obey, the Government must be a burden to them, and they to the Government; and whilst the Rulers and Subjects instead of being supports are oppressions to one another, they are in the ready way to dissolve and fly in pieces, and what can the consequence of this be, but an overflowing deluge of Miseries and Confusions, of the truth of which, we of this Nation have not many years ago made a woeful experiment; for when through our restless impatience of Subjection, we had pulled down our lawful Sovereign from his Throne, and unhinged the ancient frame of our Government, what was the issue of it but Oppression and Slavery, and endless Confusion? for when once we had unfixt ourselves from our proper Centre, how did we roll through every form of Government, still addressing to each for relief and ease? and when we had moved every Stone, and raised it to the top of the Hill, it still came tumbling down again upon us; so that ours, like Sisyphus his labour was like to have no other end, but various, restless, and endless Calamity, till at last, God took pity on us, and resettled us on our ancient Foundations; so that had it not been for this late shameless and barefaced Rebellion, by which if God had not been more merciful to us, we had hurled back ourselves again into our old confusions, I could never have imagined we could have been so abandoned of our reason, as in the same age to act over the same Tragedy again; but if as a just punishment of our Sins, God should permit us to be so far infatuated, as to sell our liberties again, for fear of being enslaved, to fight against the principles of our Religion in the defence of it, to rip up the Bowels of our native Country to preserve it, and in a word, to go to cross or pile with a company of beggarly Malcontents for our own Estates and Fortunes, and run ourselves into present and certain mischiefs, to prevent future and contingent ones; if these things, I say, should happen again, which God forbid, a very small Prophet may easily foretell the woeful consequence of it; and when we shall see our Fields strewed over again with the Carcases of our Friends and Relations, our Cities, Towns and Countries laid waste by an unnatural War, and shall come to cast up our accounts, and to reckon all the Blood and Treasure we have spent, only to purchase Confusion or Slavery, than we shall remember perhaps with tears in our Eyes, that it was nothing but a surfeit of happiness that caused our misery. But, beloved, I hope better things of you, and of the wisdom and dear-bought Experience of the Age; if therefore we would be secured from these public Calamities, let us render to our Prince all dutiful subjection, the least defect of which is an apparent advance towards Ruin and Confusion.  
Secondly, Consider that upon our dutiful subjection to our Prince, the honour of our Religion depends, for men do generally esteem and value things according to the present good or hurt which they do in the World; and even Religion itself, though it be the most sacred thing among men, is usually valued by the present advantages which accrue from it, and how beneficial soever it may be as to the other Life, if it should be found hurtful and mischievous in this, it will be impossible to secure it from the hatred and contempt of mankind. Now there is nothing in which men are at present more generally concerned, than in the support and security of the Government under which they live, the weal of which is like a public Bank, in which every Subject hath his stock and share; so that if once it should appear that our Religion is mischievous to Government, mankind would soon conspire to proclaim War with it, and to decry and explode it as a public nuisance to the World. Now the generality of men do judge of Religion by the actions of those that make the loudest Pretences to it, and if once it appear that they are factious and ungovernable, those who understand no better, will certainly conclude that it is their Religion that teaches them to be so, and being possessed with this opinion of it, it is no wonder if they fall foul on it, and decry it for a common makebate and kindle-cole: for that which strikes at Government strikes at mankind. When therefore we represent our Religion as doing so, by making it a pretence for Faction and Disobedience, we do what in us lies to alarm the World against it, and to expose it as a common Enemy, to the public Odium of mankind; and I verily believe should men consult the Devil himself, what course they were best take to blast the honour of Religion, he could not direct them to a more effectual one than under sanctified pretences to turn Rebels to the Government; and accordingly heretofore the Adversaries of Christianity could find no such effectual calumny to blast and expose it as this, that it was an Enemy to the civil Government, as wisely enough considering, that could they but infuse into mankind a belief of this scandal, there was nothing could be more conducive to antidote men's minds against it, and to render it base and infamous in the opinion of the World; whilst therefore we conduct any seditious design under the holy banners of Christianity, we join hands with its open and professed adversaries, and endeavour so far as in us lies, to defend their most malicious Calumnies against it; and our factious behaviour glossed with pretences of Christian zeal, is a much stronger proof of that Heathen Calumny, than all the arguments of Celsus, and Porphyry, and Hierocles together, because the confession of a seeming Friend, is of much more credit than the accusation of an open Enemy; whilst therefore we make our Religion a colour for our Faction and Disloyalty, we confess it to be guilty of the most infamous thing that it was ever charged with, by the worst of its enemies, viz. that it lays trains of factious Principles in men's Hearts and Consciences, on purpose to blow up, Thrones and Governments, and throw the World into Ruins and Confusions; whereas on the contrary by our firm and unshaken Loyalty to our Governors, we give an ocular demonstration to the World, that our Religion is good for the best purposes, that it is not only beneficial in order to our future happiness, which being distant and invisible is not so apt to affect Men, but that it is the most effectual instrument even of our present safety and welfare, as it is the great prop of Thrones and the surest supporter of Government, upon which the welfare of Mankind depends; and if we can but once convince Men, as we might easily do by our steady Loyalty, that our Religion is the best security of Government, without which the World of Men is a mere Wilderness of Wolves and Tigers, we shall in this do it greater honour, and give it a more glorious reputation in the World than by our most demure and specious pretences to Sanctity without it; for whatever Men may imagine, it is demonstrable that factious Godliness is a greater reproach and scandal to Religion than open profaneness and impiety.  
Thirdly, consider that upon our faithful Subjection to our Prince the safety of our Religion depends; for there is nothing in the World can more endanger our Religion than our making it a pretence for Rebellion, for hereby we inevitably expose it to the hatred of Princes, and do what in us lies to arm their power against it, for by our actions we do in effect make this open Declaration to them: Sirs, To tell you plainly, ye may thank our Religion for our Disobedience, we would be Loyal but it will not suffer us, and therefore ye were best have a care of it, for if ye do not suppress it it will undermine your Thrones, and one time or other arm the hands of your People against your Persons and Dignities: When therefore we set up our Religion against our Governors, we force them in their own defence to set themselves against it, and to endeavour so far as in them lies to root it out of the World, and if being provoked by our Sedition, they should ever draw their Swords against it, it may thank us for it, who first began the Quarrel and gave the Challenge, and did in effect declare by out Actions, that unless they forced us to lay down our Religion, our Religion would force them to lay down their Crowns, yea and though we should succeed in our Rebellion and prove too hard for our Governors, yet first or last our Religion will be sure to smart for it; for when we have pulled down them we must set up some others in their room, and whosoever they are, though they may love the Treason by which themselves were advanced, to be sure they will hate the traitorous Religion, and never think themselves safe in their Usurpation whilst those Principles prevail in the Consciences of the People upon which they rebelled against their former Governors; for let Men be never so zealous for seditious Principles whilst they are Rebels, you may depend upon it they will be as zealous against them when they are Usurpers, and be as much concerned to suppress and extirpate them as ever they were before to uphold and propagate them; of the truth of which ye have a notorious instance in the late Usurper, who though while he was a Subject was a zealous stickler for those Religious pretences under which that barbarous Rebellion was conducted, yet was no sooner seated in the Throne but he grew quite weary of them, and could he but have seduced our sequestered Clergy from their natural Prince, which he sundry times attempted, would willingly have pulled down those Seditious Sects that raised him, and reestablished the Church of England, of whose inflexible Loyalty to Government he had had sufficient experience.  
Our Loyalty therefore is not only the honestest but the wisest provision we can make for the safety of our Religion, because hereby we recommend it to Princes as the safest guard of their Thrones, and the surest defence of their Authority, as that which will secure and facilitate their Government, and tie their Subjects to them by their Hearts and Consciences, and when by good experience they are convinced of this, they cannot be enemies to it without being enemies to themselves, and arming their Power against their own authority.  
Fourthly and lastly, Consider that if we of this Nation had no other motive, yet in mere gratitude we stand obliged to render faithful Subjection to our Princes, for considering with what an easy and indulgent Government, and with what a succession of excellent Princes God Almighty hath blessed us, I know no Nation under the Cope of Heaven that may be so happy as ourselves if we please; for as our Government is in the frame and constitution of it a most easy Yoke and gentle Burden, so for sundry Ages we have had Princes as gentle and gracious as our Government; Princes that have studied our ease and our happiness, and that have in nothing so much exceeded as in their Mercy and Indulgence towards us; for, not to mention that glorious Lady Queen Elizabeth, that wise and learned, that peaceable and gracious Prince King james I. of the Blessings of whose Reigns but few if any of us were partakers, not to mention that pious and every way incomparable Prince Charles I. whose sacred Blood is such a monumental shame to Treason and Rebellion, as must make Rebels and Traitors, if they have any modesty remaining in them blush and be confounded for ever; besides these, it is not long since that God almighty hath deprived us of one of the wisest, most gracious and merciful Kings that ever swayed a Sceptre, a King that had been long endeared to us not only by the gentleness of his Reign, the prudence of his conduct, and the incomparable sweetness of his temper, but also by sundry miraculous Deliverances, and as miraculous a Restoration, a Restoration that proclaimed and signalised him the Darling and Favourite of the divine Providence, a Prince that reigned in all honest Hearts by the inconquerable Charms of his own native goodness, which had virtue enough in them, had the thing been possible, to have obliged Ingratitude, and even to have made Faction ashamed, and Fanaticism Loyal. And now to him in despite of all the Hellish machinations of a restless Faction, our present rightful Lord peaceably succeeds, a Prince whom God seems to have reserved on purpose to make us amends for the inestimable loss we sustained in Charles the Wise and Good; and indeed considering the great and Princely Virtues which adorn his Mind, and shine through the whole Sphere of his activity, we have all the encouragement in the world to promise ourselves a continuance of those Haltion days under his happy influence, if by our own intestine Seditions we do not cloud and disturb them that we have so long enjoyed under the auspicious Reign of his Brother; for if from an undaunted courage and firmness of Mind, if from an immense greatness and generosity of Soul, if from an inflexible sincerity and integrity of Manners, if from an impartial Justice, sweetened with an indearing benignity of Temper, if from the fair conjunction of all these Royal Virtues in a Prince, a People may presage their own happiness, we have all these to build our hope on in our present Sovereign, who to give an absolute confidence to our hope, hath graciously deposited in our hands that sacred pledge of his own Royal Faith by a public repeated Declaration inviolably to preserve our Laws, and Liberties, and Properties, and which ought to be dearest to us than all, the established Religion of our Church, which for purity of Worship and Doctrine, for antiquity of Discipline and Government, for loyalty of Principles and Practice, outshines all the Churches in the World; and for us to mistrust the security of that Faith which yet was never forfeited to any Man, would be not only rude and disingenuous, but unjust and malicious; so that considering the admirable frame of our Government, and the unparallelled goodness of our Princes, we are certainly the most obliged Subjects in the World. And if after this we should prove factious and disloyal, what will the World say of us, but that we are a People of a base and ungrateful Genius, whom no goodness can endear or oblige? and what may we expect from God, but that, as a just retribution for our black ingratitude, he should make us feel the smart of all those barbarous Tyrannies and Oppressions which hitherto we have unjustly complained of? Wherefore, unless we intent to render ourselves both infamous to Men, and odious to God, let us cheerfully comply with this great Precept of our Religion, Let every Soul of us be subject to the higher Powers, forasmuch as the Powers that are, are ordained of God.  
THE END.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
THere are lately published by the same Author the Books following.  
The Christian Life, Part I. From its Beginning to its Consummation in Glory, together with the several Means and Instruments of Christianity conducing thereunto; with directions for private Devotion, and forms of Prayer fitted to the several states of Christians. The third Edition.  
The Christian Life, Part II. Wherein the fundamental Principles of Christian Duty are assigned, explained and proved. Vol. I.  
A Sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, etc. Decemb. 16. 1683. on Prov. XXIV. 21. And meddle not with them that are given to change.  
A Sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, etc. on july 26. 1685. being the day of Thanksgiving for His Majesty's Victory over the Rebels, on 2 Sam. XVIII. 28. And Ahimaaz called and said unto the King, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the King, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lift up their hand against my Lord the King.