Moor Mayor. Jovis xi. die Maii 1682. Annoque Regis CAROLI Secundi Angl. etc. xxxiiij.  
THis Court doth desire Dr Turner to Print his Sermon Preached on Sunday Morning last at the Guild-Hall Chappel, before the Lord Mayor, and Aldermen of this City.  
Wagstaffe.   

A SERMON Preached before the Lord Mayor AND The COURT of ALDERMEN At Guild-Hall Chapel on the 7th of May 1682. By FRANCIS TURNER, D. D.  
LONDON, Printed by J. Macock, for R. Royston, Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty. 1682.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir JOHN MOOR Knight, Lord Mayor OF THE CITY of LONDON: And to the Right Worshipful the ALDERMEN his Brethren.  
My Lord,  
WHEN I delivered this mean discourse in so solemn an Audience, where the King's Ministers of Justice, with others of the long Robe met the worthy Magistrates of this Great City, to begin the Term at the Church, with imploring the Blessing of God upon that excellent Government which you and they jointly support; I was much encouraged to see so many Noble Persons, and so numerous an Assembly practising so Religiously beforehand the Doctrine I came to Preach, joining in the Public Supplications and Common-Prayers. Your devout Appearance and hearty Concurrence in the Divine Service, gave me some Idea of those times a gallant Loyal Citizen describes in a Speech of his (which for its Eloquence might have flowed from the Mouth of any Roman or Grecian Orator, and for its Piety might have become the Tongue of the gravest Divine — There have been Times (says 
See Alderman Garro-way's lately reprinted speech spoken at a Common-Hall in the Year 1642.  he) that he that should speak against the Book of Common-Prayer in this City, should not have been put to the patience of a Legal Trial. We were wont to look upon it as the greatest Treasure and Jewel of our Religion; and he that should have told us he wished well to our Religion, and yet would take away the Book of Common-Prayer, would never have gotten Credit. I have been (says he) in all the parts of Christendom, and have conversed with Christians in Turkey. Why, in all the Reformed Churches there is not any thing of more Reverence than the English Liturgy, not our Royal Exchange, or the Name of Q. Elizabeth, so famous. In Geneva itself I have heard it extolled to the Skies. I have been three Months together by Sea, not a Day without hearing it read twice. The honest Mariners then despised all the World, but the King and the Common-Prayer-Book; he that should have been suspected to wish ill to either of them, would have made an ill Voyage.  
But though so goodly a Congregation as yours, whose Devotions I had the Honour to serve that Day, was one of the best sights I had ever seen, yet I live in hopes of seeing a better one Day; I mean the same Honourable Assembly translated from your Lordship's Chapel to our Church of St. Paul's, which gins to lift up its head and to beg for its self from every Charitable Hand, especially from those within the Walls of the City its Fellow-sufferer.  
Now I should forget myself and the Duty to which I Exhorted others, if I should not give this proof of my obedience to You that are in Authority, and I do it the more cheerfully to You that employ your Authority, so well and wisely, as Fearing God, Honouring the King, and not meddling with them that are given to change. I should not be true to my Text, if I should not submit myself, and this plain Sermon to be disposed of, as you have been pleased to Order.  
My Lord, I am your Lordship's most humble and most obedient Servant, FRAN. TURNER.   

A SERMON Preached before the Lord Mayor, etc.  1 TIMOTHY two. 1, 2. 
I exhort therefore that first of all, Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions, and giving of Thanks be made for all Men.  
For Kings, and for all that are in Authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty.  
I Exhort therefore first of all— And I be-beseech you Brethren to suffer the word of Exhortation: So the same blessed Apostle that exhorts us here, addresses himself to his Brethren of the House of Israel, Heb. 13. 22. No question this in my Text is an Exhortation to the greatest of all Duties, which the Divine Writer thinks so necessary to recommend at the highest rate, I exhort therefore first of all. Indeed here are two of our most important Duties joined together, or as it were interwoven, and we are exhorted to them both;  
First, To the due performance of the public Worship and Service of God, for which there is all this Provision, that Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions, and giving of Thanks be made for all Men;  
Secondly, These Offices of the Church are most particularly directed to secure the Honour and Obedience due to the Civil Magistrate, whether supreme or subordinate, for Kings and for all that are in Authority;  
Thirdly, The use of these good means is referred to these two great Ends, the first of which most concerns our Temporal welfare, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life; the second reaches even our Eternal Condition, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty.  
1. And first we are exhorted to the care of God's public Worship and Service, on which we are now attending, to which the Apostle presses us elsewhere that we should all of us be either Preachers, or at least not hearers only but doers of this word of Exhortation, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. For I must observe to you, that St. Paul is not writing instructions here to his beloved Son and Disciple Timothy for his private Devotions, but from his way of speaking, (not barely, I exhort thee to pray; but I exhort first of all that Prayers be made, that is, be prepared, appointed, established,) 'tis probable that he is dictating as the great Apostle of the Gentiles, and as Paul the Aged, directing this Apostolical young Man to whom this Charge is committed, that he might know how he ought to behave himself in the House of God, which is the Church of the Living God. For Timothy whom he besought to abide still at Ephesus was this Church's Angel. Therefore St. Paul enjoins him what was convenient for ordering the pure Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth, for settling it in the Church where the Holy Ghost had made him a Bishop. And it may farther appear what kind of public Worship is prescribed to this Church of Ephesus, from what was practised in the most flourishing Churches in the first and the best Ages; the greatest Lights of the Ancient Church undoubtedly left behind them the plainest Commentaries on my Text, in the pious Offices they composed for Divine Worship. True indeed what they left so well devised and designed, has been corrupted since with Litanies to Saints and Angels, and many false Doctrines are crept into their Devotions in the Church of Rome, which would be practical Errors in us, and turn our very Prayers into Sin, if we should join throughout with them in Theirs: though to speak truth, they do not all pretend so much as to join themselves in what the Priest is in a manner whispering to himself in an unknown tongue, they neither hear, nor understand it. But I beg leave to say in behalf of the Church of England, when our Israel came out of Egypt, and our House of Jacob from among the People of a strange language, though we borrowed some Jewels of them, I mean some part of their Ancient Prayers, and brought them away; yet we have so accurately filled them, so carefully polished and freed them from the rust they had once contracted; those that possessed them heretofore, do hardly know them again; nor will they own them now, being rather dazzled than delighted with their present lustre: so that we are in no danger of such a Process in Law, as 'tis said the Egyptians commenced against the Israelites to recover their Jewels again many hundred Years after, since they had proof enough in whose hands they were from the Book of Exodus. But our Book of Divine Service is no such perilous Evidence in our case: our wise and pious Reformers received indeed, and retained some part of a Liturgy, (let none think ill of the Word, for 'tis a Scripture-word for the Worship of God in several places of Scripture, they retained I say some part of a Liturgy) that was used before the Reformation, but used before Popery too; for what they so retained, was most of it out of the Scripture, out of the Epistles and Gospels, and the Book of Psalms. And so we may say they received and translated the Bible itself, which was before in the same hands, but in a manner useless to the People, since neither That was allowed them in our Mother Tongue. Nay, to speak truly, we can hardly be said to have retained any Prayers of theirs; rather we have restored the Pure and the Primitive Devotions, and rejected such as were truly and properly theirs, that were liable to any just Exceptions: we have kept to those of the Old Catholic stamp, and laid by the New, the Catholic falsely so called: we have tried and purified ours seven times in the fire, they risen as it were from the Ashes of those Renowned Protestants who compiled them, those excellent Men that suffered a glorious Martyrdom for being Protestants: they were the Men that separated the precious from the vile, and that is the admirable temper which God approves, Jerem. 15. 19 if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth, and I may add the next words to determine the Case between our truly Apostolic Church of England, and those of Rome, Let them return to thee, but return not thou unto them.  
But now let no Man imagine that the same forms, if composed with sufficient variety, may not be used for all men, whom here we are bound to pray for, or that they may not be constantly used by all men of the same National Church; and the more constantly used, so much the more devoutly with daily increasing fervors, if all men would bring along with them a due intention of mind, and would practise the method of retiring within themselves by a good preparative Meditation: And consider, I beseech you, as to that objection of stinting or confining the Spirit, any man's Prayer for others, offered I mean in behalf of a whole Congregation, be it to the Speaker never so unpremeditated, is as much a form to the hearer if he goes along with it as if it were premeditated; nor ought set Prayers to be called a stinting of the Spirit, when David a Man after Gods own heart, has left us almost as many Forms of Devotion as he left Psalms behind him. Form thy Spirit by the affection of the Psalm, says St. Austin, that is, frame and enlarge thy 
Conc. 3. in Psal. 30.  Soul to follow the same Holy Spirit that poured it forth. Alas! what's our Spirit in Comparison of Christ's Spirit, for he had the spirit without measure, and yet at two several times he repeated and recommended the same Prayer, that is, the Lord's Prayer, and in Matt. 26. 44. He prayed the third time saying the same Words: And if it be said, that a Form of Prayer can never express the needs and necessities of all men who are here to be prayed for; 'tis answered, that no more indeed can all the most tedious Extemporary Effusions be so particular. But yet a devout mind in the swiftness of thought, can easily apply, and sufficiently extend the Lord's Prayer, or a Psalm to particular Occasions, as a certain Father of the Desert instructs his Disciples how every one of them might become a kind of Psalmist; That we may enjoy this Treasure (saith he) it is necessary that we say the Psalms with the same Spirit with which they were composed, and accommodate them unto ourselves in the same manner, as if every one of us had composed them, or as if the Psalmist had directed them purposely for our uses. Loving when he loves, fearing when he fears, hoping when he hopes, praising God when he praises, weeping for our own and others sins when he weeps, begging what we want with the like Spirit, wherein his Petitions are framed, loving our Enemies when he shows love to his, praying for ours when he prays for his, etc. To proceed then, our Apostle prescribes in the first place Supplications, which are Litanies or Deprecations, for imploring Mercy and Protection against evils to come; next Prayers to procure the good things we stand in need of; then Intercessions, as the Apostle, Heb. 7. 25. most properly calls such Petitions of any kind as are made for others, seeing he ever liveth to make Intercessions for us: and lastly, giving of Thanks the most excellent act of the Soul, and the most delightful, for 'tis a joyful and a pleasant thing to be thankful. These several kinds of Prayers were to be made for all men, with a Charity as diffusive as the Love of God to the World, with a good will as universal as the Providence of his Goodness. But I must not dwell on any of these Common Places; I proceed to that which is more particularly designed and recommended by St. Paul to Timothy, that such Devotions as these should be offered up to God, as for all men, so especially, for Kings and for all in Authority, etc.  
First then our solemn Prayers must be made for Kings, a customary Duty paid to the Kings of the Earth, and to the Royal Lineage by the Jewish Church under the Old Testament, and here confirmed by this Apostle under the New: And how even Heathen Emperors valued the Prayers of the Church, is evident from the famous Decrees of Cyrus and Darius those Great Kings, Ezra 6. 10. where their design of rebuilding the Temple, and restoring of public Worship is avowed to be this, that they may offer Sacrifices of sweet Savour to the God of Heaven, and pray for the Life of the King and of his Sons. So Artaxerxes another mighty Monarch, but a Pagan still, had the same veneration for these Divine Offices, the same solicitude that Intercessions should be made to God for him and his Posterity, not without dreadful Apprehensions of a judgement worthy of God, if his solemn and decent service were neglected, Ezra 7. 23. Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of Heaven: for why should there be wrath against the King and his Sons? But then this Duty of praying for our Governors, is so well established by the Apostle's express direction here, and by the constant practice of the most Apostolical times, as makes it a most indispensable Office in the Christian Church; and methinks 'tis very observable how St. Paul here has fenced and guarded this Duty of ours, so as to leave no room for any to evade it; as if he had foreseen there would be a sort of Men (and they lived within our Memories, Men) who instead of praying for their King, would learn to pray against him: But then if all Kings according to the rule in my Text, aught to be prayed for, they who supposed their King was not to be prayed for any longer, no wonder if they advanced to the next immediate Consequence, to make him no King at all: nor is it strange if those in the Neighbour Kingdom, who of late had the hardiness openly to excommunicate his Majesty, and many others in Authority under him, delivering them over to Satan instead of praying for them as their Governors, forthwith proceeded to refuse them all manner of Allegiance and Obedience; but now allowing such Men all their most unjust prejudices against the persons of their Governors; yet does St. Paul in this place oblige both them and us, to make Intercessions for Kings as Kings, for all in Authority as lawful Magistrates, whether just men or no, he binds them to whom he writes to pray for the conversion of wicked unconverted Heathen Potentates: for it follows immediately upon my Text, For this, that is, this praying for all Men, for Kings and all in Authority, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God and our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth; where the Duty of praying for the Conversion and Salvation of those at the Helm of State, who all were arrant Pagans, is repeated and reinforced. Again in the 8th verse, St. Paul is pleased to rivet this Injunction, I will therefore that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting; methinks the Apostle forbids the Christians here, to be either censorious or scrupulous, as if their Prayers for the worst of Heathens, whether public or private persons should not be accepted, as he hath told them before, that this is good and acceptable; and in my Text he expresses himself in such terms, as may best secure his precept of praying for Kings from the most perverse dispute; as if he had taken it for granted, that some might in time arrive at that height of uncharitable Insolence, as to determine of Christian Princes, that they were in that case wherein St. John seems to dispense with St. Paul's precept here of praying for all men; there is a Sin unto Death, saith St. John, I do not say ye shall pray for it: but St. Paul in my Text has provided even against this supposition, though the Charity that hopeth all things were overcome, so that the Spiritual welfare of a Nero, or some other cruel Pagan and most malicious Persecutor of the Christian Faith were not only doubted, but in a manner despaired of; yet such a temper is found (as no wonder if the Apostle has bounded and limited these great things exactly) such provision is made, that as their Prince he was to be prayed for still, That they might lead a quiet and peaceable life. Thus it was in the case of that impious wretch Licinius, Colleague and Partner of the Empire with the Glorious Constantine, that same Licinius who became a bloody Tyrant, a Ravisher of Christian Virgins, a Murderer of holy Bishops, a most violent Persecutor of the Church; when he first broke out upon the Christians, the first thing he did, saith Eusebius, was to turn all the Christians 
Eccles. Hist. lib. 10. cap. 8.  out of his family, so (as much as in Him lay) miserably stripping and depriving himself of the help of their Prayers, which they according to the institution of our Fathers used to pour forth to God for him and for all men; no doubt it refers to my Text, and to this Apostolical Constitution; and the same Eusebius speaking of this wicked Licinius now grown to the height of impiety, He pulled down divers Churches, saith that Historian, and shut up others, that none of those who used to frequent them might assemble there, and perform Divine Service to the most high God; for he was of opinion, saith he, that they made no Prayers for him there, being induced to that opinion as being conscious to himself of his own crimes; which implies sufficiently that they did make Prayers for him still, though he thought the contrary.  
But Secondly, we are not only to pray for Kings, but for all in Authority under them, in which how the Ancient Church behaved herself, let one of the Fathers inform us, We pray, saith he, for all Emperors, for their long life, for the peace of their Empire, for the safety of the Royal Family, for valiant Soldiers under them, for a faithful Senate, an honest Commonalty, a quiet World, and whatsoever else ought to be the subject of our Prayers, as he is a man whom we pray for, or as he is Caesar. But is it enough that we pray for Kings and for all in Authority? some have been praying for them after a fashion, that have at the same time been fight against them. We must all pray to this end, and with this design, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, which is my Third particular.  
Now if the Church of Christ be so indispensably bound to Pray for Peace, and if our lives ought to be answerable to our Prayers (since praying for Peace is but mocking of God without keeping the King's Peace too) then let not any pretend to be good Christians, and sound members of Christ's Church, unless they be also good Subjects: Let none lay any claim to Godliness nor yet to Honesty, whose heart is not set to lead a quiet and peaceable Life; let all Ecclesiastical Power that exalts itself above the Civil for its Destruction instead of its Edification, be looked upon as a mere Antichristian Imposture. My aim is, first against the Power of Deposing Kings, that has been often claimed by the Bishop of Rome, maintained by his flattering Orators; nay, by the Great Cardinal Perron himself, in a very august and solemn Assembly at Paris; a power frequently practised and exercised to the great shame and ruin of Christian Kingdoms: These seem to pervert the place that is almost parallel to my Text, 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit yourselves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake; whether it be to the King as Supreme, or unto Governors as unto those that are sent by him, etc. One would think they read the words of St. Peter thus; Submit yourselves to me or to my successor as supreme, and unto Kings as to Governors sent by him.  
But is there not a many-headed Party of Sectaries yet still usurping that honourable Name of Protestants, as guilty of owning the like Principles and of acting accordingly? Have not Three Kingdoms but lately felt it in the Death of our Holy King by wicked hands; in the fall and bloodshed of many a Hero in Authority under him, in the loss of our Peace and quietness, in the decay of all Godliness and Honesty?  
These have attempted to set one part of my Text against the other, whereas we are called upon here to pray for Kings and all in Authority; these have introduced a distinction of taking Arms by the King's Authority against his Person: But as there is light and heat where the body of the Sun is not, for we enjoy light and heat upon Earth when the Sun is in Heaven, and yet to be sure where the body of the Sun is there is also light and heat in the highest degree, that is, in the fountain of them both: So 'tis true the King's Authority may be where his Person is not; but yet 'tis certain, wheresoever his Person is, there is also his greatest Authority: So that to take up Arms by his Authority, yet against his Person, is indeed to fight by his Authority, yet against his Authority; which is most full of contradiction: And where his Person is not, yet if none act and if nothing be acted but by his Commission and according to his Laws, that is still by his Authority, 'tis the same thing, the King is present there. God imparts to them whom he calls Gods, as it it were a Ray of his own Attribute, to be by their Influence, in a manner omnipresent within such a district and compass of their own Dominions, Political Virtue goes out of them into others when they shall think fit to have it so.  
But some of the stiffest Defenders of our late 
See Doctor Hammond 's pieces against Resistance. See Bellarmin. de potestate Temporali Pontif. Rom. lib. 5. cap. 7.  horrid Rebellion are agreed with the great Champion of the Papal Universal Monarchy, to offer another, and that a bolder distinction; and he tells us plainly that the Primitive Christians wanted not Authority and Right to resist upon occasion, and to make head against the Civil Powers, but that they wanted strength in those first Ages: So that for seven hundred years after Christ this privilege of the Church to assert Her Rights, though it came to resisting of the supreme Magistrate, was, it seems, wrapped up in silence. A fair prescription of seven hundred years, and of the very first years of Christianity too against such a Privilege! In the mean time what becomes of his great Canon of the Council of Trent, to interpret Scripture according to the Ancient Fathers? He that says St. Peter and St. Paul were not subject as other men to the higher Powers, for fear he should be forced to acknowledge their Successors are in like manner subject: I will not ask how he answers the plain words of Scripture, which he thinks to elude, Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers; But I would ask how close does he keep to the Church for seven hundred Years, and to the Fathers, who he pretends are his Guides? See but how well he agrees with St. chrysostom upon the place, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, though thou art an Apostle, says he, though thou art an Evangelist, though thou art a Prophet, whosoever thou art, thou art subject to the Higher Powers. But will they say our Saviour himself wanted Power, or else he had exercised his Prerogative over Kings and Princes in the midst of his Enemies? Did he want Power then, when he controlled all evil Spirits, and cast out Devils with the word of his Power? which is more than the greatest Monarch upon Earth could do, more than King Saul could do to cast out his own evil Spirit. Then, when he bid the Dead come forth, and presently the Earth gave up her Dead. Did he want Power then when he commanded universal Nature? when even the Winds and Seas obeyed him? when he showed by his feeding so many thousands with a few Loaves and Fishes, at how easy a rate he could have maintained and defrayed the most numerous Armies, whereupon they would have taken him by force to make him a King: But he no sooner perceived it, than he departed into a Mountain alone, choosing to be an Anchorite, rather than wear a Crown and lose his beloved Title, Isai. 49. 7. a Servant of Rulers, yet whom Kings should see and arise, Princes also should worship. He that had more than twelve Legions of Angels at his call, if he would but have prayed his Father to send them, one might wonder what hindered him from giving the word to one of them, that came to strengthen him in his bloody sweat, why did he not bid him strike the Tyrant Herod, or thunderstrike the Roman Governor Pilate, but that he confesses himself subject to him? That Pilate had power given him from above, that is, in right of his Masters the Romans, now lawful Sovereigns of the Jews, who had surrendered their 
Vid. Josephi Antiqu. Judaic. lib. 14. cap. 8.  Empire to Pompey the Great, for the use of the Roman State, even the Power of Pilate as one in Authority under the Imperial Romans was ordained of God: Therefore you see our Saviour, not only paid the Tribute-money to Caesar, but his Life-blood too; nay, he yielded himself to their Inferior Officers, and menaced the chief of his own, from whom this Power of Popes in opposition to Kings, is pretended to take its rise; he threatened St. Peter, I say, with perishing by the Sword, for drawing his Sword against those common Soldiers the Governor had sent to apprehend him. And was it only weakness that the Apostles forbore opening and executing their Commission as Earthly Potentates? as if St. Paul could not as easily have struck dead the Jewish Highpriest Ananias, that smote him on the Face, as St. Peter struck another Ananias with his Wife Saphira. But that Husband and Wife were counterfeit lying Christians, like these that we have to deal withal: they were no Kings, nor were they in Authority under them. Had they been such, no doubt St. Peter was better taught by this time, than to have used them so roughly: For otherwise, could not St. Peter have inflicted some terrible disease, that should have wrought immediately upon any Pagan Emperor? as immediately no question as Elijah could translate the Leprosy of Naaman to Gehazi. Where is the difference then between St. Peter and these Successors of his, for point of Ability to maintain the Rights and Royalties of the Church, if this of subjecting Kings and Princes had been one of them? But St. Paul though he was outraged then by that Mock-High-Priest (for St. Paul understood sufficiently that there was really no such Highpriest upon Earth, since Christ was ascended into Heaven) yet that being no time nor place to argue that point, the Apostle only pleads he did not reflect upon that; allowing, upon their supposition, that if he were Highpriest, or however, as he was a Magistrate, a Minister of Justice, he had done ill to revile him, and confirming it for a Christian as well as a Jewish Law, for it is written thou shalt not speak evil (much less than act Evil) against the Ruler of thy People: nay, he was so far from declining or disputing the Heathen Emperor's Jurisdiction over him, that he enters his solemn Protestation and Appeal, I stand at Caesar's judgement Seat, by whom I ought to be judged. And if the Heathen Emperors were so privileged from any design of Resistance among the Christians, have they now lost their Prerogative by turning Christians themselves? That were but poor encouragement for the Royal Converts. But did not the Primitive Christians pay equal and greater deference to Christian Princes? or did the Ancient Bishops of Rome keep the Commission, St. Peter had left them, dormant for want of Forces? Let the Apologies written by the Primitive Saints decide this question, Whether they were subject for Conscience sake or no? There they set forth how great a multitude of Christians there were in Rome, how perfectly they had it in their Power, if they were not extremely averse from such Devilish Practices, to fire the City at any time about the Ears of their Oppressors, yet still their Prayers and endeavours tended to this good end, That they might lead a quiet and peaceable life.  
And this should be our great labour in the sight of all men, as well as our earnest petition to Almighty God, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life; or which is all one, that we may enjoy a kind of lower Heaven upon Earth; for Heaven itself is described to us a place of rest and peace: I am sure the contrary, that is, War, and the dismal effects of it, are an emblem of Hell: For Hell is a scene of strife and gnashing of teeth at one another. The sword of the Lord does like Behemoth, that drinks up Rivers, but they are Rivers of Blood, when he bids it arise and go forth. His glittering Sword of War is seldom drawn without his flaming sword of fire, that goes along with it, to lay fenced Cities in ruinous heaps. But though nothing is more extremely opposite to the mild and loving spirit that Christians are of, at least that they should be of, than calling for fire and sword; though nothing disturbs their Devotions more than the Battle of the Warrior, with confused noise and garments rolled in Blood; yet there is somewhat else in War that makes a good Christian tremble, and frights him more, that is, the inundation of Vice which commonly runs along in the same channel with that of Blood. This consideration terrified him that durst encounter a Giant, the torrents of Belial, the overflowings of ungodliness made me afraid, says that man of renown: And yet in the state of War it was necessary for him to set open a kind of sanctuary for all comers, all that would follow his standard were welcome to him, the light and the vain fellows, as we read in his story. He was fain to court and advance the Sons of Zerviah that were too hard for him, because they were mighty men; though Joab the eldest of them was flushed in the blood of several brave and good men, yet still he must continue General of the Armies of the Living God. But on the other side, how invaluable is the blessing of Peace? How well does the same gracious King David compare the Unity of Brethren among themselves to those two precious things, the Dew that fell from Heaven, and the richest Oil that the Earth afforded? Even Seneca the Heathen Philosopher apprehended and acknowledged the necessity of his being a good Subject, if he would be a good Philosopher, or a happy man; Errare 
Epist. 73.  mihi videntur qui existimant Philosophiae fideliter deditos contumaces esse, etc. Sure (says he) they are mistaken that think such as give themselves up entirely to the study of Philosophy are proud and stubborn, disobedient to Magistrates and Kings, or those by whom the Commonwealth is governed; for on the contrary, none are more kindly obedient than they, because they cannot receive greater advantages than from such under whom they may enjoy a quiet retirement. Therefore (says he) those to whom the public safety must open the passage, before they can arrive at their end of living well, they must needs reverence the Authors of that good, as they would do their Fathers. Again says he of his good moral man, He loves those by whose means he may do this in security— Under whose protection he may study useful knowledge— thus the benefit of this Peace which appertains to all, is more highly serviceable to such as use this Peace well. He will therefore own himself indebted to those men by whose administration and care an entire repose and the free disposal of his own time is allowed him.  
Now if so much Love and Duty to All in Authority be so justly due from every Good Man that would follow after wisdom, then how much more from every Good Christian? but most of all from Us the Allowed Professors of the Christian Philosophy, I mean from Us of the Clergy? how mightily are we concerned to Pray for peace and quietness? to Preach up this, not only for Godliness, for Honesty sake, but also because the public tranquillity does most particularly befriend and favour the privacy so necessary and delightful to our Profession? we must needs reverence yours, and make supplications for you, and such as you, who under the King are in Authority, the great conservators of our Peace, that execute Justice and maintain Truth; the Oracles of the Law and Pillars of the Government, the shields of the Earth that belong to God.  
But God himself is the fountain of all this honour and power, this peace and quietness, for the Lord God is a Sun and a shield, as the Psalmist entitles him: a Sun to increase, to enliven, and add lustre to all we enjoy; and a shield to guard and secure us in all assaults: But then remember upon what terms he is so, and upon what condition; it follows in the Psalm, that the Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold; but it is only from them that live a godly life that he will not withhold it, or from them that walk uprightly. And so I proceed to my last particular, that we ought to pray for a quiet and a peaceable life, to this more excellent end, that we may lead it in all Godliness and Honesty.  
For though there may be Godliness and Honesty without Peace abroad, (I mean it of those good men that labour for Peace with all men, but cannot obtain it) yet there can be no peace and quietness either abroad or at home without Godliness and Honesty. 'Tis a case already judged by God himself, there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. There may be some past feeling, as the Apostle describes them: there may be others that may dwell careless after the manner of the Sidonians, that were quiet and secure, as though there were no Magistrate in the Land to put them to shame in any thing: there may be a kind of Lethargic Dream, or rather a Mortal Trance, such, as they say, Witches are cast into when the Devil abuses their Fancies with a Scene of Feasting and Revelling; but a lasting Peace within, must have a surer foundation, and that can be nothing but Piety, nothing but Purity and Chastity as some render the Text, nothing less than all Godliness and Honesty. But then again, these are the natural preservers of our outward as well as inward Tranquillity; for whence come Wars and Fightings among you? come they not from your Lusts? saith the Apostle. All foul disorders in private Families, in great Cities, in States and Kingdoms, are either from rioting and drunkenness, from chambering and wantonness, or else from strife and envy, so vile a Carnality that St. James calls it, the spirit that lusteth to envy.  
But Secondly, there is a Supernatural Gonnexion between Peace and Godliness, Honesty and Quietness. For though Peace in this World is (I have showed) one of the greatest and richest gifts and graces that God himself bestows upon Mankind, yet Godliness must be acknowledged a greater still, and the Supreme good that God in this life affords us. Now if we refuse the noblest portion and despise it, and it's everlasting rewards; is there any reason that God should continue his Grace of temporal Peace which we turn into wantonness? we are enjoined to follow Peace and Holiness: they that dare Pray for the former without a firm purpose to pursue the latter, what do they say in effect to Almighty God? Only, in this be gracious unto thy Servants, give peace in our time, O Lord, that we may make the better provision for our Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. Scatter thou for our sakes the people that delight in War, and stop the very rumours of Wars, that we may fill ourselves with costly Wines, and that no flower of the spring may pass by us, that we may crown ourselves with Roses before they be withered, that none of us may go without his part of voluptuousness, that we may leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place, for this is our portion, and our lot is this; that we may oppress the poor righteous man, that we may not spare the Widow, etc. This is a sort of Prayer that even the Heathen Poet thought too impudent to be offered aloud to one of their own tame Idols, Quod nisi seductis nequeat committere Divis; He must take his God aside (says he) that prays at such a rate, for sure he dares not let any man overhear him at such Addresses. Such a Petitioner deserves to be repulsed, as Jehu fiercely replied upon the Messengers whom Jehoram sent one after another to ask, is it Peace? what hast thou to do with Peace? or rather he might expect in return to so profane a suit, that some good Angel should do as Jehu did to that wicked Prince his Master (but not till God had deposed him) when he asked for Peace, Peace still (which he meant to use only for a Pander to the Whoredoms and the Witchcrafts of his Mother) he was answered with a bitter scoff, and then with an arrow to his heart; for he must needs say in his heart there is no God, that implores the Blessings of Peace and Quietness, but never intends the Duties of Godliness and Honesty. And sure, we little value and esteem either those good things of this life that are the fruits of Peace, or even those better things that concern our better part, that is, all Godliness, if we do not thus faithfully ask according to God's Will, that we may effectually obtain those Glorious Christian Privileges; to use the words of Lactantius the Christian Orator, Let us beseech God 
Lactantius ad finem lib. 7.  in our daily Prayers first of all, that he would defend those whom he has made defenders of the State, that he would inspire them with a will to continue steadfast in the Love of God. This is most beneficial to us all, to them in regard of their own Happiness, to us in respect of our Peace and Quietness. Many, 'tis true, that have born the Sword and the Sceptre, have done evil in the sight of the Lord: the fault was none of theirs that prayed for them, and their prayers have returned into their own bosom. Yet even in those Kings that have not been holy men, the Prophecy has been accomplished in a lower degree, that Kings should be nursing Fathers to the Church of God. So the Prayers of the Church had their effect in part, when Adrian Severus and Antoninus sat at the Helm, all three of them Heathen Emperors, yet far more equitable than their Predecessors, and favourable to the Christians. But these Intercessions of theirs were fully answered in the Royal Constantine, in the Great and Good Emperor Theodosius, and in other Christian-Romans that governed the World; so likewise in many other Pious Kings and Princes in all Lands. Contribute then your daily Prayers, add them to those that are on the file already, for those great Blessings we pray for in our Litany, where we beseech God that it would please him to bless the Magistrates, these being the great means to preserve Peace and Quietness, and the preservation of these being so necessary to promote all Godliness and Honesty. if the Apostle had bidden you do some great thing, would you not have done it to reap such vast advantages? what, when he only exhorts that Supplications be made? what, when our Saviour has promised, ask and ye shall receive? I do not urge you all to lead such a life of toil as these that are in Authority are fain to do; that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable. I do not ask every one of you to stand between the living and the dead, like Phineas with a Censer in his hand, but only to let your Prayers ascend as Incense. Nor is any such hard service demanded of you, as was once exacted of Moses, to be all day long at your Prayers: He is called the chosen of God, because he stood in the gap in all extremities, do you but lift up holy hands to God in Prayer, but do not think lightly of neglecting the daily public Worship of God, in the Church's Divine Service, do not refuse to join with one heart and with one voice in all the parts of it: We do not know the things that belong to our Peace; if we think it may be secured any other way so effectually as by persuading all men, if it be possible, and prevailing with them to be of the one Communion with this National Church; Give me 
Socrat. Hist. Eccles. lib. 2. in Vitâ Costantii Edit. Vales. pag. 144.  leave to relate a remarkable passage out of Ecclesiastical History, to show the mischiefs those men have fallen into that would not make themselves part of the constitution, and of the settled Communion in the Church. The Arians under the Emperor Constantius, who greatly favoured them, persecuted as well the Novatians as the Orthodox Christians, both parties being Enemies to Arianism; the Orthodox, hereupon mainly apply themselves to bring the Novatians back to the Church's Communion; and the Historian tells us they were within a very little of being entirely united, if the Novatians stiffly adhering to their old Rule had not refused to join with them; therefore both parties were together persecuted; at last the Arians prevail with the Emperor for his orders to send four Regiments of Soldiers into Paphlagonia, where they knew there was a multitude of Novatians to compel them, for fear of his Arms, to receive the Arian Confession: But these Novatians, pricked on with eager Zeal for their Sect, armed themselves with despair; many of them getting into a body, with long Scythes and Axes, and what ever came to hand, made head against the Emperor's Forces. It came to a Battle, in which most of that party fell, and all the Imperial Forces, a few excepted, were; slain. Thus in the Righteous Judgement of God were these men permitted to give the leading foul example among Christians, of waging War with their lawful Prince, after they had so long broken the Peace of the Church, and (however they weakened and exposed themselves, yet) obstinately stood out and refused to join in her Prayers: For this (I think I may safely say) is the first instance of making any Resistance against the Sovereign Powers by any that called themselves Christians. Such was the fatal progress of that Schism, thus desperately they fell who departed once from the Church, and would not be persuaded to return to it. Therefore as ever you would be found good Subjects to your Prince, good Citizens or good Men in any relation, yield this to the honour of God, and to the security of the Government to join in these best and most Sacred bonds, the Public Supplications and Common-Prayers for all men, for the King and all in Authority. St. Paul's Exhortation was never more necessary than now, For Prayers to be made that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life: 'Tis a generous principle, and besides even self-love would press it home upon you to make your own times (by your Godliness and Honesty, for those I have showed are the only means together with these Supplications and Prayers, to make the present Age) as quiet and as peaceable as you can. Imitate our Blessed Saviour in his Agony, now we are in a kind of Agony too, and pray more earnestly, and wrestle with God until he have mercy upon us. Three Sister-Kingdoms seem to join in this one just Petition, O pray for the Peace of Jerusalem: methinks the Church of Great Britain, in which we were born and Baptised, is ready to fall upon her knees, and stretches out her hands as a suppliant to you, that this Apostolical Canon may never be out of date with you, that first of all Supplications, Prayers, etc.  
FINIS.