Noah's dove with her olive-branch, or, The happy tidings of the abatement of the flood of England's civil discords as it was delivered in a sermon preached at Preston in the county-palatine of Lancaster on the 24th of May, 1660, being the publick day of thanksgiving for the restoring of His Sacred and Most Excellent Majesty, Charles the Second / by William Cole ...

Noah's dove with her olive-branch, or, The happy tidings of the abatement of the flood of England's civil discords as it was delivered in a sermon preached at Preston in the county-palatine of Lancaster on the 24th of May, 1660, being the publick day of thanksgiving for the restoring of His Sacred and Most Excellent Majesty, Charles the Second / by William Cole ...

Table of contents

Title page

To the Right Faithful, and Truly Honourable, Patriot of his Country, Lover of his Prince, and Servant of his GOD, Sir George Booth, BARONET.

Noah's Dove WITH Her Olive-Branch.

[Page]

Noah's Dove WITH Her Olive-Branch.

ISAIAH 1. 25, 26.‘And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy Dross, and take away all thy Tinne. And I will restore thy Iudges, as at the first; and thy Counsellors, as at the beginning. Afterwards thou shalt be called, The City of Righteousness, The faithful City.’

IN the midst of those Threats which are given forth from God by the Prophet against Israel, for the sin thereof, these Words do interweave a Promise of Mercie. It's Calvin's observation on the Text, That this is a constant method of God, in the Prophecies of Judgement to interlineate some comfortable Promise, to give some lucida intervalla; and [Page] that, Ne de Ecclesi [...] pror sus actum esse putent, ne terroribus fracti animos despondeant; left his People should think he hath cast them off, (a thing which he so much abhors the very apprehension of, Rom. 11. 1.) lest their hearts should faint under the hopelesness of deliverance. And indeed, however both the threats against, and present seizures of wrath upon a people, be lightly esteemed by the Sons of [...]elial, the seated sinners of this generation, whose Brow hath Brass, and whose Heart hath Steel enough toward off, and rebound from themselves any the most piercing Arrow that is shot from the Prophets, if not pointed and sharpened by that penetrating Spirit of the Almighty: Yet upon them who tremble at the word of the Lord, it works a necessity of some intermixed Cordials. And my Text is one.

That Mercy, that signal and capital Deliverance which is promised here, and promised to be as the pregnant Womb of many subordinate Blessings, which were to have their birth upon the restauration of this, of it, the Verses I have read give us to observe,

1. The manner of its Production; how it is brought to pass. And 1▪ therein is remarkable, God would bring it about at such a time; and that time was the worst of times; a time when rational conjecture would have said, Neither shall People nor Prince be any more. He that shall consider the resolution of the Lord, heightned with some vehemencie of passion (if I may so speak of that impassible blessed Deity) expressed vers. 24. and part of this, cannot but admire at the connexion of that with this; I will ease me of my adversaries, I will turn my hand upon thee; and I will restore, &c. Yet thus it is the way of God to disappoint the fears of his People, when they are fed with the deepest discouragements; to bring out the greatest hopes, when Good and Restoring, is in the greatest hazard: though we cannot make such a coherence and connexion to be sense, yet God can make it to be Reason and Experience, doth so in the Text, and hath done it at this day. At the same time when he is irat [...]s peccatis, he is propitius peccatoribus, as á Lapide comments on the Text. When one would think they had been smitten by God with an incurable blow, that they were even dropping into the pit, and the grave shutting its mouth upon all their glory for ever▪ yet [Page] then, saith God, even then, when Hope is lost, and Expectation hath groan'd out its last, then I will restore thy Iudges as at the first, and thy, &c.

2. God would bring this about by such means, in such a way, [...] and by the influence of such things: and this is further remarkable in the Text. These means are either 1. More remote; he would do it by a sore and deep affliction. God his easing of himself, is the loading of the People with a burden that shall break their hearts, and cause the strongest Axletrees of Government to crush in pieces under it; the little finger of his displeasure is heavier then the loyns of humane revenge; and yet he will lay his hand, his whole hand upon them, and yet he will do it again and again: for so the Hebrew [...] imports, reducam & reversabo manum: and the whole is brought in with this [...] from God. Ita fissores lignorum gravem daturi ictum, cum gemitu Corn [...]l. à Lapi [...]. & suspirio eum eliciunt; the blow shall be so grievous, that he himself shall as it were gather up all his spirits to set it home with the greatest violence; so grievous, that when he doth but mention it, he cries out, Alas, alas! and wo unto the people when it falls. And yet by this deadly breach, the Lord would binde them up: A strange course! that that Providence which tends in it self to their utter subversion, should be appointed to issue in their happy Establishment; that God should order that to contribute to their weal, which they could expect onely to contribute to their wo. But this is both usual and easie for that God, who can bring from evil, good; from darkness, light; from the Eater, meat; and glorious Beings, from nothing, or from the most indisposed matter. He oftentimes saves a soul through the operation of affliction and unsettlement, as Petrus de Valdo Guido Perigran in flor [...], Chro [...]c. (from whom the Waldenses) was converted by a sudden judgement upon one of his Company; and therefore no wonder, if by it also, he can save a State. And indeed, where the happiness of people is wrapped up in their legal Magistracie, and yet Magistracie it self hath by Violence or Usu [...]pation been intercepted to a present fixing in some anticipating power, and this is that stroak with which God hath afflicted any people, in such a case, Motion and Unsettlement, is most probable to prove the means of Restitution, Authority having a natural tendency to its proper [Page] centre, and moving by instinct towards its legal fixation, when those inter capedixes juris, those stops and obstructions are withdrawn. But yet in the State of Israel, distress and trouble after the Revolt of the Tribes under Ieroboam, did not help but hinder Deliverance, did not save but sacrifice the people to be the Victims of Divine Revenge, till the Assyrian had swallowed up both the usurping Princes, and People too. And therefore in my Text, 2. The more near and approximate Medium [...] &c. of this Mercie is Affliction, not considered simply, and in its Effects natural, but in its Effects supernatural, and in its sanctification by God, vers. 25. I will thereby purely purge away thy dross, Facit ut moriatur, v. g. Petrus impurus, [...]brius, incestus, superbus, & resurg at p [...]rus, sobrius castus, humilis. A lap. in loc. and take away thy tinne. The affliction of Israel, as to its causual relation to, and influence upon this promised happy settlement, is not considered in the Text, otherwise then as blessed by God to be the means of refining the people, and purging out the dross and tinne of corruption from their hearts. Afflictions that make the object holy, make it happy; where they work good in them, they work good for them; where their fruit and issue is [...], there it is also [...], Heb. 12. 11. the [...], Theoph. peaceable fruit of righteousness. Otherwise they are but as Physick, which through want of working rather hasteneth then hindereth death, rather kills then cures. Should I have prophesied the issues of our sad calamities, by the observation of their effects upon the hearts of this people, finding what is observable in the growth of Popery and Profaneness, Errour and Unrighteousness to any common eye, what word of peace could any Prophet have had from God, but that there have been some few, though the most despised and rejected of men, who have come out from great tribulations, and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, who have come out from our corrections, as gold from the fire, and as silver purified from the furnace? And although the glory of the Churches Deliverance be no wayes impartable or divi [...]ble betwixt man and God; yet let not those persons think they have any share or part in being the reason of this our present Mercie, whose lives have not been bettered by their losses; who have carried their wickedness, their lusts, their continued course of Atheism and Irreligion, their evil spirits along with them, through these evil times: that happiness of the Nation. [Page] which perished by such mens sins, is not now reviving out of its ashes for such mens sakes. That effect which this displeasure of the Lord hath had upon some, to humble, inform, convert, and draw their hearts to himself; this hath been the way, and this onely can be the way, by which the shatterings of Nations prosper to, and issue in their blessed settlement. It is usual for men who are really the greatest Blocks in the passage of Mercie, yet to challenge the greatest share in the honor of procuring it; when yet it is sent by God in answer to the repentance and prayers of his people. So they usurp not upon the glory which is due to God himself, let me say, as Mephibosheth to David, 2▪ Sam. 19. 30. Let them take all, for as much as my Lord the King is come again to his own house. Yet this I would have marked, that indeed the sanctified Ones are those ten in Sodom, for whose sakes the Lord will not pour out his wrath, if found in it; and that Blessing in the Vine, the new wine in the Cluster, for whose sake, and for whose sake onely (except for his own Names sake) Isa. 65. 8. he will say, Destroy it not.

3. God would so accomplish this, as that his own hand and [...] power should be perspicuous and plain to have been the Fountain of its accomplishment. I will restore thy Iudges, vers. 24. Thus saith the Lord, I will restore. True it is, there is no effect falls out in the world, but what doth owe its origination and production to the concourse of Providence, separating the action, as to its physical being, from the moral obliquity and irrectitude thereof, which is to be fastened upon its next and most approximate agent and principle: Yet there are some things which are the more immediate Refulgencies of the Wisdom, Power, and Glory of the Deity, the very Finger of God himself. And such a work is this: If any shall ask, as Amos 7. 2. By whom shall Iacob arise? for he is small: Who shall repair the broken staff of Government? The Text answers him in a voice from God, I will restore thy Iudges, as at the first. The Restitution of a Kingdom to the rightful establishment of its State & Government, is no smal, no easie work, is a work can be done by none but God. Where Usurpation hath possessed the Throne, and by continuance hath grown up to a face of legal interest; where the powers and strengths of interested Parties, lies as an unmoveable block in [Page] the way of Righteousness; where the spirits of them that are cordially zealous to its restoring, yet lie at such distance each from other, by reason of controversies that are excentrical at least to common peace, and maintain such implacability, and unreconcile ableness, although bottom'd onely upon passions and mis-conceptions; where the power of conscientious Principles in Christian Loyalty, is to overcome the disobliging height, and heat, and animosity (to say no worse) of discontented persons; where Christians discharged of their duty to their natural Prince, may run their comforts in Gospel-things to a possibility of more or less diminution and eclipse: but especially, where Magistracie, naked and unarmed of Assistance, is to adventure its Scepter upon the fidelity of Forces too sadly vertiginous and given to change; I say, here in such a case, yet to have such a Deliverance brought to pass, This is the Lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And thus much for the manner of the effecting of this Deliverance.

II. The next thing in the Text, is, the Mercie it self; and this for more perspicuity, I shall divide into three Branches. [...]

1. I will restore Iudges and Counsellors: there may be some variation and variety in the sense of these words. You may consider them three ways. 1. As importing some particular Form and sort of Government. The Scripture sometimes distinguisheth betwixt the administration of Government in the times of [...] ▪ Sept. Vide Abulensem Menoch. 9 de rep. Hebr. the Judges, and in the times of the Kings of Israel, Ruth 1. 1. 2 King. 23. 22. Till Saul and David's time, the children of Israel were ruled by Judges, and had no King over them. At that time the Government was mixed of Monarchy and Aristocracie; the Principality was elective by the People and their Parliament, I mean by the Grand Sanhedrim, the Assembly of Seventy Elders, which may be understood in the Text by the word Counsellours, [...], as the Septuagint renders it; it was not hereditary, but transmitted from Families and Tribes, as God raised up persons of singular activity and fitness, and as the people chose; though sometimes (as it usually falls out in all, but most of all in such kinde of States) as Ambition came to have confidence, [Page] power and opportunity, as you may read in Iothams parable, in Iudg. 9. Nor was their power so great as that of the succeedingMenochius de rep. Hebrae [...] rum. Kings, but compared by Menochius to the Dukedom of Venice. And thus this Prophecie or Promise seems to have had its accomplishment at the return from the Babylonish captivity; when the Government (till the Roman invasion) was some what like this in the hands of Ezra, Nehemiah, Ioshua the Sonne of Iosedec, Zerubbabel, and others. For though the Scepter was departed from Iudah, yet he had a Law-give [...] (though a Magistracy of a baser metal) betwixt his feet till Shiloh came. I conceive this cannot be the sense of the Text; and my reason is, Because, 1. there is no necessity to interpret the words Judges and Counsellors, as importing such a form. The fullest power of Monarchical Government being often expressed by this word, Psal. 75. 7. God is the judge: and when Absalom desires to be King in the room of his Father, 2 Sam. 15. 4. he speaks thus, Oh! that I were judge: to omit other places, the word Counsellors also may well be applied to the Supreme Authority and Legislative power; it being common in Scripture for those commands of God which have the highest Authority to enforce them, and his own decrees, to be expressed by this word, as may be seen in Isa. 14. 27. Isa. 23. 9. and Counsellors may be as this Sanhedrim afterwards was assistant to Monarchy, besides others particularly chosen to it, as 1 Chron. 27. 33. 2. And this sense would too much intrench upon that which was the Authority settled by God in the Family of David, and promised to continue in Iudahs posterity until Shiloh come. 3. Nor was there ever any restoring thereof after the captivity in the exactness of that form by which it was contradistinguished from regal power formerly; as might be instanced in divers particulars. 2. Further then, the words may import Government in its full administration and execution. You shall not only have Authority Supreme, but you shall have it fully executed. When Iehoshaphat provided for the good of his people, he set up Judges in all the Cities, as 2 Chron. 19. 8. and these were persons who for the ease and conveniency of the Kingdom, were to be ready to see to the dispensation of right at the appointment of the Soveraign Power. The Apostle [Page] Peter makes a distinction betwixt those [...], Supreme Authorities, and such as are [...], Magistrates sent and deputed by him: And thus Counsellors may be understood as I mention'd before, either of the standing Assembly of the seventy Elders, or such persons as Princes chose, out of a design to bottom their Laws and Government upon the deepest reason, most mature deliberation and sound advice. Thus then the promise should be; that as thou shalt have Magistracy restored, so thy Princes shall act by advice, and the Law shall have its full administration in the hands of his Deputies and subordinate Judges. But this is not full to the purpose of this Prophecie; for the breach of Israel was not the losse of these, but the losse of the Supreme Authority; the Kingdom was made base, and they had no strong rod to be a Scepter to bear Rule: this was their lamentation, Ezek. 19.

Therefore lastly, 2. The words do import the restitution of Government and Magistracy it self; not to lay any stress upon any particular form; for though it is true that after the Babylonish captivity the Tribe of Iudah and family of David recovered not the fullness of Monarchical power and splendor, yet then the people had their legal, although not their regal Magistracy. This saith God, I will restore, a lawful, righteous, fixed, settled Authority; I will set you free from the Babylonish usurpations of the Heathen, wherein you were vassels to a strange King, and servants to a people of a strange god. What the state of the people of the Jews was during the seventy years captivity, as to this total abolition of their rightful Princes, I need not open. But now, saith God, I will restore. And indeed such is the misery of Anarchy, confusion, and want of Government, that any form is better then none at all; and a Scepter, though in an unproper hand, is better then the Sword, Wars, and desolations: I say, Better then none; which may well apolog [...]ze for the submission to (though dissatisfaction with) usurped powers which hath been yeilded by good men in the time of the violent dispossession and disseisure of our rightful sacred Principality. But, saith the Lord, I will restore Authority; the rightfulness and legality thereof is more properly couched under the particle, thy, thy Judges, and thy Counsellors; and this is the next.

[Page]2. A second Branch of the promise, I will restore thy] Iudges, and thy] Counsellor [...]: this is no small part, though it be not the main and principal priviledge of the promise. Take up the importance of it in these particulars. First, I will restore thee such Princes as are thine, as being of thy own people; The Scripture speaks of it as a judgment upon a people from God, to be vassaliz'd to the power of foraign Princes of a strange language, and of a strange god. The command of God in the Law of the Kingdom was, Deut. 17. 15. that the King should be one from amongst their brethren; they might in no wise set a stranger over them, which was not their brother: and 'tis promised as a blessing, Ier. 30. 21. their Nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governour shall proceed from the midst of them; which though applicable to Christ, yet is by others understood of the restoring of Government after the captivity. This is a further discovery of this promised mercy, Thou shalt lie under the power and be judged by the Laws of the Babylonish Monarchs no more, but then I will restore the Princes that are and ought to be of thy own Religion, Nation, Language, People. Secondly, I will restore thee Princes such are thine, as being chosen, accepted, embraced, approved, rightfully established over thee, and sworn allegiance unto by thee; thy rightful, lawful powers, such whose authority is thy birthright, comfort, satisfaction. The power and prevailing of persons over a people may produce a Government: but it is not properly [theirs] unless it be that, and in the hands of such persons with which and with whom both Right and Law, Justice and the indispensable free Obligations and Oaths of people are fully satisfied. What a people may do if free, and as the Apostle speaks of a woman loosed from the Law of her husband, Rom. 7. by his death (which properly cannot be said of the Supreme Magistracy, however under a present force) is another case; but in the interim the intrusion of the greatest persons into that sacred bed, is but the ravishment of the people; and of such it may be said, as in that of Christ to the woman, This which thou hast is not thy] husband. How much the most powerful and fixed sword of usurpation, may under all the terrours it keepeth a people under, yet lie under the secret disownings, nauseatings and disgusts thereof by them, I need [Page] not open to you, whose hearts have been for many years exercised under that affliction, and whose many days of prayer and fasting for deliverance, have shewn the reality of such dislikes in your own experiences. And yet I do not think that the propriety and title of Kings is dependent on the approbation, Oathes and Covenants of their people, the title of authority being as it was with Israel, as it is with us. God hath not left a people liberty to carve out the model of their own authority, and take it up, or cast it off as their own reason or passion shall dictate to them. [...], as Plutarch speaks, meddle not with them; the duty of Allegiance to Supreme powers is not that which hangs upon the unfixed and wavering principles of humane choice: for so there should be as many sorts of Kings, as Israel had of gods, and as many sorts of Governments, as distemper'd brains could fancie to themselves. The title of Ieroboam was not the better for the unanimous consent of the ten Tribes in that revolt. You inherit as much reason to preserve your Princes, as you do by descent to possess your Patrimonies. And therefore, thirdly, I will restore thee Princes such as are thine by designation from God; whether accepted or not accepted by thee, yet if they come with a mission and unction from God in the active and approbative influx of his will, this is a mercy for thee; not he whom the people shall chuse (for the people chose Absalom, and outed David; chose Ieroboam, and rejected the son of Solomon) but he whom God shall chuse. And lastly, I will restore thee Princes that shall be thine, as being such as seek not thine but thee, such as do possess that honour, splendor, power and greatness not for themselves but for thee: such as seek thy good and not their own greatness, thy profit and not their own praise. And surely this is a blessing to purpose; and then indeed thy Princes may be called thine, when their Magistratical interest is wholly for peoples benefit and advantage.

3. The last Branch of the mercy, I will restore thy Judges as at the first, and thy Magistracy as at the beginning. This is the upshot of all. The Question is, to what time the Prophet relates in those expressions, at the first, and at the beginning. It [Page] may refer either to that time when Israel began to be a distinct people from the rest of the Nations, and grown up to be a considerable body, having overgrown the notion of a Family, or a Colony only; and that was when God fetched them out of Egypt, and set them under the Government of Moses and Ioshua after him; or when Israel began to be a distinct Kingdom, in the time of David and Solomon. It is not much material which of these ways you understand it: because I conceive the design of the words herein is not so much to point out some exact platform of the kind and sort of Magistracy, as it is to hold forth, 1. The Qualification of the persons that God doth promise shall weild the Scepter of Authority: they shall be such as Moses and Ioshua, and David, and Solomon. 2. The right of such persons to possess the Crown; having a respect to that captivity in which the people for seventy years shoul lie under the Tyranny of usurped powers. And so the whole of this promise is, When I have by afflicting thee purged away the dross of thy sin, then I will restore the settlement of Authority in its rightful hands, to whom by the institution and appointment of God it appertains; and thy Princes shall be such as was Moses and Ioshua, and my servant David. And then this promise had its full accomplishment in the Government of Ezra, Ioshua, Zerubbabel, and others, though not in that fullnesse of outward pomp and glory as before. And so much for the second part of the Text.

3. Lastly, The words set before you that influence of this mercy upon the people, upon the account whereof it is a mercy of so great and precious value. Afterwards thou shalt be called [...]. 70. Civita [...] veritatis, urbs fideles▪ Chald. a City of righteousness, the faithful City. In these last words is considerable: First, What shall be the effect of that Government so restored by God. It shall have this influence upon the people, that, 1. They shall become a City of righteousness and faithfulnesse: A City or People in which dwells righteousnesse, justice, to men, holinesse to God, truth and faithfulnesse; the very face and countenance of such a Government shall cause errour, wickednesse, prophanesse, falsenesse and deceitfulness to wither away, what rooting soever it have got in this interregna, in this time of the destruction or usurpation of [Page] Authority. And 2. they shall not only so become, but so be called, they shall be taken notice of as a people eminent and famous, and remarkable for justice, truth and holinesse, and all this by the influence of such a restored Magistracy. And then secondly, the words import, this to be as the effect and [...]ssue of this deliverance (as appears in that expression afterwarde, when this comes to passe) so also the crown and glory, and perfection of it; This is that in which thou shalt receive the greatest good by [...] of thy lawful Princes, that their Authority shall be influential and successful to make thee become, and be called, The City of righteousnesse. The whole of these words being thus opened, I shall set before you out of that abundance which the Text affords, onely three Considerations p [...]tinent and proper to the occasion of this Thanksgiving, and such as will comprehend in them the main importance of the Text.

It is a choice and singular mercy to any Kingdom, Nation orObserv. 1. People, when (especially after a breach made upon it) God doth restore to them such a Government and Authority as was that of Moses, Ioshua, David and Solomon to his people Israel.

The work of this day is to triumph in the Lord and his goodness upon this very reason; God his restoring our Judges as at the first, and our Counsellors as at the beginning. And therefore I shall but cast in these Considerations as to the truth of this Observation, each of which carries light enough to evidence the Point, but all together do shine with such beams of demonstration, as may not only convince the judgment, but even sets the heart in flames of affection, transported with an holy joy; when blessed by God with such a deliverance, and at such a time. Consider therefore,

1. If God do restore to a people such a Government as was that of Moses, Ioshua, David and Solomon, then they have [a Government] and Authority settled over them. They do not lie common each to other, to become the Arbitrary preys of power and violence. I know this Consideration comes not fully up to what may be expected to be spoken; yet it's a blessing of no small concernment for a people to have a Government fixed over them. What the Apostle Paul speaks of the [Page] Gospel, however in the Ministry of evil principled or unduly officed men, Phil. 1. 18. However Christ is preached; the same I may translate to this case: however the undue administration or fixation of Civil Powers may sadden the hearts of the people of God, yet in that condition it is some allay, that however Magistracy is kept up, and the reins are not left in the neck of the unruly multitude. When the Author of the Book of Iudges (whom some would suppose to be Samuel, other Hezekiah, and other Ezra, &c.) would set forth the sad estate of Israel, theVide Sixt. Senens. expression is considerable, Iudg 21. 25. In those days there was no King in Israel. I do not suppose that text or the other in that Book, where the same thing is expressed, to point at the want of a regal form of Magistracy, (for neither in those days nor in any former days till after, had there been any such constitution with that people) but to signifie those intervals and interregna that fell out betwixt the times of their Judges, when there was no Magistracy at all. And in those days, when there was no King, there was no peace, there was no justice, there was no religion in a sort, but every man did what was right in his own eyes. Consul [...] but a little the cases therein expressed, to which your Marginal Notes and Quotations upon that Text have reference. Judg. 17. 5. In those days there was no King in Israel: and what then? the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an Ephod, and consecrated one of his sons to be his Priest; people set up their worship as pleased the liberty of a perverted judgment and erronious Conscience. Judg. 18. 1. There was no King in Israel; and what then? the Danites take the boldness to make rapes upon their Brethren, and to cut out an inheritance by the length of their swords. Judg. 19. 1. There was no King in Israel; and what followed? the men of Gibeah do force the Levites Concubine, and most shamefully abuse her even unto death, and justifie the action, with the concurrence of all the Tribe of Benjamin in the defence of that horrid wickedness. These are fruits, but not the tenth part of the fruits of Anarchy and confusion; when God threatens the pouring out of his wrath upon Israel, he tells them in Hos. 3. 4. they shall abide many days without a King, and without a Priest, and without an Ephod; which some apply to the time of the captivity, [Page] others to the days of Antiochus, and some to this present state of that people since the time of Christ. It is indeed observed by Tertullian as the misery of that people, Dispersi palabundi, coeli & soli qui exterres vagantur per orbem, sine homine sine Deo rege, without either God or man to be their King. And however Rabbi Benjamin in his Itinerary lately have attempted to publish their places of abode and formes of Government; yet the world knows, that the Scepter is departed from that people, and that they live under the powers and pleasures of others, subjected to the Laws to which their wandring estate upon the earth doth bring them in several States, Principalities and Kingdoms. Seneca calls Government the very vital spirits of a Commonwealth, ipsa nihil per se futura nisi onus & praeda, si mens imperii subtrahatur; she her self would be nothing else but a burden to her self, and a prey to others, if once she had expired the soul of Government. And therefore the restitution hereof is a choice and singular mercy to any Kingdom. But more,

2. If God do restore a Kingdom to such a Government as that of Moses, Ioshua, David and Solomon, then they are restored to a legal, rightful and just Government and Authority. Those persons were just and lawful Princes, such as came to the Scepter by a warrant from God. I need not stand upon the proof of that; They were not such as mounted the Throne by wickedness and force, nor compassed the Crown by falshood or flattery; they did not pawn their Consciences, and stain their reputation, as Tertullian speaks of some in his time, propter unius Lib. de Poenit. anni volaticum gaudium, for the fleeting glory of a short time; but they were sent of God. Nor shall I need to open by what ways, and upon what foundations Magistracy comes to be rightfully and with justice settled in any person. He that would have satisfaction in that point, I shall desire him but to do his own understanding that right as to consult and ponder that renowned and elaborate Tractate of our reverend Neighbour,Since the preaching of this he is fallen asleep in Iesus, and gone to his rest; a person of the sad impression upon all good men; of whose loss, I shall only say as August of Cyprian's, Quos asflixerat sollicitudo certaminis, hos consol [...] ta est corona victoris. Mr. Edward Gee, about usurped powers, Printed and Published in the worst of times, with no lesse boldnesse of his blessed [Page] soul for God and the vindication of his people, then it was pen'd with laboriousnesse, judgment and depth of solid reason. But that which I shall set before you, is the unvaluable blessings of a Magistracy sent, approved, and warranted, and justified by God himself. To clear up this, let me set before you but a little of what I might say as to the evil of usurpation upon Authority.

First, Usurpers in Magistracy usually fall most foul upon God and the interest of Religion, either imposing and enforcing corrupt and wicked innovations upon the people, or else supporting a wretched toleration of a boundlesse liberty. See for this the practice of Ieroboam (for I speak of such Kingdoms and Principalities as have the knowledge and worship of the true God, or Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.) No sooner was he setled in that Throne which of right belonged to the Son of Solomon, but the whole course of sacred worship is changed, and golden Calves set up at Bethel in stead of God; and this thing became a sin to Israel that was inexpiable. And indeed usurpation contracts upon its self a sort of necessity of this wickednesse. It is one of the Rules and Principles of Machiavil, Mach. disput. cap. 26. about persons that invade the regal power, In id unice intendat oportet ut sicut ipse novus princeps est, it a in suo principatu innovet omnia; that they be sure of this, to bring an innovation of all things else, together with the mutation and change of Government. What such powers and persons do observe, may tend to gratifie and please the people, or at least the most active, stirring and tumultuous part of it (for such usually is that part which is the most corruptly principled) or may lay the greatest foundations for their own possession of their unjust Authority; this is that Pole-Star by which Usurpation steers its course. And therefore wo unto thee, thou sacred and blessed interest of truth and true Religion, when such disseisures are made of lawful Powers, who need not the assistance of such cursed contrivances, Machiavilian plots, and debauched Consciences to support them. And no marvel if usurpation be at least the fountain of a boundless toleration, since erronious spirits, though the most hateful enemies to a just Authority, yet are the fastest friends and fittest Instruments for arbitrary Powers, [Page] as being principled to own or approve any Authority only as it is fitted to countenance and support their way; being not of that antient Christian spirit (of which Tertullian speaks) of fidelity to Princes never so opposite to Christianity.

Secondly, Usurpation in Magistracy brings a snare upon the People as to their obedience and subjection. Alas! what woful troubles, what scruples to Conscience, what wracking and tentering of invention and understanding, to finde out nice and subtle distinctions and evasions, doth this produce? for although the imposition and command of sinful and unlawful things be possible to the most approved and sacred powers, yet it is generally an inseparable adjunct of any ones violent intrusion into Supremacy, as might be proved at large both in profane and sacred story, and might be demonstrated from the very interest of usurpation. Upon this ground, how many both Priests and People were forced either to quit their Conscience, or to quit their house and home and all they had, you may read in the case of Ieroboam, in 2 Chron. 11. 16. And upon this ground, in the imposition of Engagements, Oaths, Fasts and Thanksgivings, some in this Congregation what they have suffered know abundantly. But besides all this, there lies no small difficulty upon the People of God, as to obedience of unlawful Powers in even lawful things: what conflicts of the soul betwixt the goodness and necessity of the action, on the one hand, inducing and perswading to the acting of it; and betwixt the illegality of the Power that commands it, on the other hand, and the unwillingness of any sober spirit to do even good it self to the strengthening of the hands and claim of violence! for my part, I shall wish we may rather never have occasion to be put to experience and try, then any more to be exercised under such temptations. But such is the fate and state of usurped Powers as to the case of people.

Thirdly, Usurpation in Magistracy deprives a people of the liberty and opportunity of discharging their real, and their confessed duty to their lawful Prince and Soveraign. Surely Christians, this is no small affliction. Princes and legal Powers when under bondage, banishment or other separation from their people, may look with a troubled eye upon them; but alas, [Page] the people themselves do feel no less affliction and smart in that divorce then they. It is as irksome to a Christian people to be forced from their lawful Powers, as it is for them to be forced from their people. I know no interest that hath deeper impression upon the Conscience and Spirit of the People of God, under and below their devotion to God himself, and the happiness of their precious souls, then their reverence and obedience, affection and fidelity to the majesty of their Prince. And however the misunderstandings or other fatal providences betwixt them and their lawful Princes, may sometimes by the righteous judgment of God, as it hath lately been with us, produce the distance of each from other; yet when the honest and rational ends of men have been abused to the injury and wrong of the Supreme Authority, it is not unobserved by every common understanding, how much those rapes and violences have sat upon the spirits of the godly in this Land, to their deep affliction and grief, and the producing of those fervent, frequent Fasts and Prayers which have been answer'd from heaven, as we now see. Whilest a People therefore have so much of grace, godliness and fidelity left as not to prostitute themselves to the lust of usurpation, and not to take a present suspension of their political husbands power and presence for a dissolution of their matrimonial bond, and liberty to admit Invaders into that Virgin undefiled Bed (which is a more gross Adultery then that of a Wife from her Husband, unless endured by force and ravishment) I say, whilst this is so, what can we imagine of such a People, in such dismal violent separations, but that they sit solitary as a Widow that hath none to comfort her? When it shall be Treason, Death, Destruction, what not? so much as to Preach or Pray for their natural Lords, nay, to mention their very Names with any mark of honour, respect or reverence.

Fourthly, Usurpation in Magistracy commonly proves the extirpation of the Ministry, in Christian States and Kingdoms, amongst a People that worship the true God. This is visible enough under the Tyranny of Ieroboam, 2 Chron. 11. 14. wherein the Levites either left their possessions or lost their integrity, and flock'd in such numbers to Ierusalem from all their Cities. [Page] I know it is possible for the Ministers of Christ to lie under deep affliction, even under lawful Powers; and although we are active and laborious to promote the resettlement of his sacred Majesty, a thing of so indisputable an obligation upon us all, yet we are not without the pre-conception and foresight of the evil use which evil men may make of this deliverance, to vassallize and persecute the dearest of the Truths, Ordinances and Interests, and Ministers of Jesus Christ. Yet in usurped Powers there lies a kind of fatal necessity of persecution against such. For besides that obligation which lies upon usurped Powers to serve the satisfactions of such a Clergy as have been the Stirr [...]p to help them to mount the Saddle of Authority; the very truth of God, which is and ought to be in the mouth of his faithful Prophets, that (be sure) never speaks good of or to either wicked or usurping Princes, is a continual torture and vexation to their spirits, a continual dissettlement and disquiet to their Power. I know the intermeddling of us with matters of State hath been mightily cried against, as a thing out of the Commission of the Ministers of the Gospel; as if we were not as well to Preach against the sins of great as small, of Powers as of the People under them. When Ieroboam had set up his Idols, the Prophet (and he was sent of God) cried out to his face against his Idols and Idolatry, Oh Altar, Altar, 1 King. 13. Although it was the grief of Ahab, yet it was the grace of Elijah in a right sense, that he was the man that troubled Israel, that set his face and sharpned his Ministry against the wickedness of that Idolatrous Usurper. When the Prophet Amos speaks the truth of God against the house of Ieroboam, the Land cannot bear his words; and if he will Prophecie any more, he must flee to the Land of Iudah, where his lawful and natural Prince was, but no more in Bethel, for it was the Chappel, House and Kingdom of the Usurper, Amos 7. 10, 12. The truth is, if the Ministers of the Gospel do as they ought to do, publish freely the mind of God against the horrid encroachments are made upon Magistracy by force and violence, or if they have not a freedom to take all such Engagements, Oaths and Promises as are imposed upon them to the renouncing of the just Authority of their legal Princes, the very interest of usurpation is bound [Page] up and concerned in the extirpation of such; and of this my self and many others have had too sad and ample experience. Certainly never did Nation know more fearful vexations, more scornful contempts, more treasonable charges against, more horrid abuses, more universal dislocations of the most godly Ministers, and more Magisterial Lordings over them in the work of their callings, then we have done, since the fatal blow was given in 164 [...] to our sacred and Supreme Authority. I know these are unwelcome and unpleasing things to insist upon; and therefore I shall trouble you with no more then this: Lastly, Usurpation shall not prosper; Kingdoms and Principalities bottom'd upon bloud, rapine and injustice shall shortly expire themselves, and have the hand of vengeance against them, be they never so strong, potent and magnificent. It was not long before every man that pissed against the wall was cut off from the race of Ieroboam, 1 King. 14. 10. 1 King. 15. 29. Baasha left not any of his house that breathed; Nor had Baasha's posterity any long possession of the Crown, 1 King. 16. 10. for Zimri a Captain of his Army smote and slew him. And had Zimri peace who slew his Master? 2 King. 9. 31. or had the Family of Iehu any durable possession of that Crown which they unjustly as to themselves, although justly as to God took off from the head of Ahab? No, Usurpers have ever this fate attending their Principality, that by their own justification of force upon their lawful Soveraigns, they have left that example of liberty to men, that in no long time proves the cut-throat and destruction of their own Authority; and that principle and power which dispossessed the rightful, proves as effectual to dispossess the wrongful and invading Magistracy. How fully hath this been evidenced in our times, and days, may be fully seen by the practices and declarations of some persons whom I forbear. You may say, The non-prospering of usurpation is good: Better so by much, then to have it fix and settle. True, and so say I also, as I marked before. Such fleeting of the Scepter when placed illegally, is the most hopeful way of its fixation in its natural basis; And therefore I would advise discomposed States to keep on foot such a variation of Authority as to forme, or persons, as the best way of issuing the dissettlement in a retrogradation [Page] to the peoples common interest and satisfaction. But yet such grand mutations are not without their sad and severe impressions upon the peoples good, peace and quietness. And therefore when God shall restore to a people their rightful Power and Authority, and free them from these inseparable evils of usu [...]pation, this is a mercy of no small obligation and advantage.

3. If God do restore to a people such a Government as that of Moses, Ioshua, David, and Solomon, then they have Government vested in the hands of them who are good and holy, and such as the Lord delighteth in. Such Persons, and Princes of such blessed tempers, may well be (as was said of Titus) Deliciae humani generis, The Darlings and Delights of all the People. I shall not largely run over the Story of those Authorities; but shall set before you some remarkable things of them. 1. They were such as ruled in righteousness. David would not have the floor of Araunah, No, not to build an Altar on to the Lord. unless he might pay him the value of it, 2 Sam. 24. 24. Of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen, 1 King. 9. 22. but preserved them in the possession of those rights which God had given them, Lev. 25. 39. and such was the administration of his power, that the whole earth sought unto him to hear his wisdom, 1 King. 10. 24. To enumerate the particular acts of righteousness in these Princes, would be too long, the sacred story affords you abundant satisfaction. True it is, the best of Saints have a spot in their Chronicle, and the best of Kings are liable to have their [...], some rash and inconsiderate actions, to let them and those that dei [...]ie them know they are but men. Such were those two acts of David about Urijah, and the other about Mephibosheth, in an evil advised, misconceiving of his loyalty, because he went not with him in his departing from Ierusalem, although he had more affection to his King then Ziba that wretchedly misreported him to get his estate. But the general administration of their powers was such, that the rights of people had a sweet encrease, and peaceable growth under the shadow of their wings, and the blessed influences of their Authorities. 2. They were such as ruled in mercy. Medean [...]ur morbis non indigenentur [...]grotis, saith Masius in his observations [Page] upon Ioshua's speech to Achan: and Tacitus tells us, a good Prince non poenâ semper, sed saepius poenitentia contentus esse debet, should take more satisfaction in the penitency then the punishment of transgressors; and with Antoninus Pius, conclude it more his honour to save one Citizen then to destroy a thousand enemies. It is the saying of Seneca, Principi non minus turpia multa supplicia, quam medi eo multa funera: and besides the natural beauty of clemency and mercy in Supreme Authorities, all Politicks inform us it is no less the pleasure of the people,Claudian, ad Honor. then it is the preservation of the Prince. Non sic excutiae nec circumstantia tela quam tutatur amor. What a remarkable president of this was that blessed David, 2 Sam. 19. 22. when he looked upon the sons of Zerviah as his enemies for counselling him to destroy that Shimei who had cursed him in the day of his flight? and raised up Amasa who was General of the host of Absalom his rebellious son, to be Captain of his own Army continually in the room of Ioab, 2 Sam. 19. 13. by which carriages he bowed the heart of all the men of Iudah to him as one man, so that they sent word to the King, Return thou and all thy servants. This is a president worth the deepest consideration of such Kings who have been forced from their Throne as David was. Ignoscere pulchrum est jam misero poenaeque satis vidisse precantem: and so it comes to pass as is the observation of Bias, [...], fear not more their Prince, then they are solicitous for his good, and afraid of evil to befal him. 3. They were such as preferred the peoples good above their own, their Subjects were more dear unto them then their Scepter, their Kingdom then their Crown. When Ioshua divided the Land for the inheritance of the people, it is remarkable he kept not a foot of it for himself, nor had he any but what the children of Israel gave him, Ioshua 19. 49. And when they put him, asNon ante rebus suis privatis consultum eupivit, quam publicarum procurationem prorsus absolisset. Mas. Masius judges, by the advice of Eleazar the High Priest to ask for himself, he fixed upon a very mean and contemptible place, so mean that St. Hierom speaks in his Epitaph of Parlea, that she was amazed when she came to the Tomb of Joshua, quod ipse possessionum omnium distributor montana sibi & aspera loca delegisset, had ask'd for himself such a mountainous and mean possession in comparison of that of others. No less remarkable is that [Page] of David, 2 Sam. 24. 17. Let thy hand be against me and against the house of my fathers; but as for these sheep, what have they done? and Moses, Exod. 32. 32. who would rather wish to be blotted out of the book of God, then that his wrath should break out against the people. Such Princes are indeed not princeps but patres, the Fathers of their Countries, and do exercise as Seneca calls it, potestatem patriam. But further, 4. They were such as were zealous for God and godliness, set and sharpned the edge of their royal sword against sin and wickedness. How passionately zealous in the cause of God was Moses, when he sees the Idolatry of the people? how earnest in his adjuring and exhorting the people to stick fast to their Religion before he went up to Neb [...] to dye there? Ioshua could not [...] till first he had engaged the people to God in a sole [...] Covenant. Josh. 24. David he fetched up the Ark of the Lord to Ierusalem, and bought a place for the future Temple of it, and Solomon he built it an House. Quis mente sobrius regibus dicat, saith St. Aug. Nolite curare in regno vestro à quo tueatur vel oppugnetur ecclesia domini vestri? quis velit esse religiosus vel sacrilegus? This is the glory and excellency of Princes, that as they are Gods, and Gods Vicegerents upon earth; so nothing should be more sacred to them then the interest of truth, and power of godliness; and what mercy greater can befal a people then such a Magistracy? For if the delirium regis, the miscarriage of the Prince do cause such punishments on the whole body; if the excellency and glory of any Government lie in the serviceableness thereof to promote and honour truth and godliness, to discountenance and discourage errour and prophaness; if (as generally it is) an holy Prince makes an happy people: how great then is this mercy, when God shall restore thee such Judges as at the first, and such Counsellors as at the beginning? But to conclude, 5. They were such, as what they were, the same they continued to be till the end of their race, till death it self made their sacred heads to stoop to its impartial stroke. Indeed in the latter days of Solomon, there arose some cloud upon the splendor of his former Government, occasion'd by the influence of his Idolatrous Wives upon him, so hazardous a thing it is for Kings to marry the Daughters of a strange god; but yet [Page] he recovered himself from that declination, and rose up to as great an altitude of holiness and zeal for God as ever formerly, when his own experience had enabled him to pen the Book of Ecclesiastes. Moses, and Ioshua, and David, their care of their people lived till they died; and what they were at first, they were till the very last in their personal graces and profitable Government. It is usual for Kings to begin their Dominion with more acceptance then to continue it; Mitissima sors est Luc. regnorum sub rege novo. That, Quinque unium Neronis, is famousMalorum blandientium virus est occultum, & arridentis nequitiae facies quidem laet [...], sed calamitatis abstrusae illecebrosa fallacia. Cypr. in that story of the Roman Caesars; for so long, none so good; for ever after, none so vile and wicked. True it is, that greatness is a sad temptation to put the best of men upon exorbitances; Aeneas Sylvius in the Council at Basil contended stifly against the Pope; when he got that Chair himself, he was no more Aeneas Sylvius. I shall not need to lay open the disadvantages of vertue that fall upon Princes when peaceably setled in the Throne: the Lord I hope will give us to see the piety and integrity, the moderation and clemency, the unalterable zeal to the Protestant cause, the fixed detestation of debauchery and prophaness, the right understanding and apprehension of the principles and deportments of honest men (however now aspersed) all these, and more then these precious pearls in the Imperial Crown of his sacred Majesty, shall yet keep their orient lustre and unspotted brightness, notwithstanding what attempts may be made by temptation to eclipse them, or shadow off their vital influence from the people. Such Princes were these, who were the older, better; the longer they lived, the more deeply did they love their people, and the more dearly were they loved by them, and went to their graves with common lamentation.

4. I might add, if God do restore to a people such a Government, then their Government is vested in the hands of such as have parts and abilities from God for the fitting of them to manage their Authority. God had put of the spirit of Government upon Moses and Ioshua, and David, and the whole earth came to hear the Wisdom of Solomon. He himself that had had the experience of what was necessary for the Ruler of such a people, cries out, Eccles. 10. 16. Wo unto thee, O land, when thy [Page] King is a child, viz. for Wisdom, Soberness, Judgment and Understanding; and to the same purpose is Isa. 3. 4, 5. But I shall conclude this with this Observation: As the giving to a people of such a Government is a blessing, so the restoring of it is much more; for so the Text speaks, I will restore, or I will cause to return, as the word imports, thy Judges as at the first, &c. I have touched at some inconveniences of the force that may fall out upon legal, gracious, rightful Authorities; And what woful effects do attend such violences and usurpations; and therefore shall add no more. But in such a day as this, when God doth not only give, but restore, and cause to return, a separated Husband to the bosom of his disconsolate Wife, a banished Father to the arms of his long-lamenting Children: but, I say, in such a day, and such a day is this, Oh! how obliging is that Deliverance; how full and fat, and fruitful a Mercy is this? I will restore thy Judges as at the first, &c. And so much shall serve for that Observation.

The excellency and the choicest chiefest blessing of AuthorityObserv. 2. is, when it hath an influence upon such persons as live under it, to make them eminent for righteousness and holiness.

This is that which the Text sets down, as the chiefest Ornament of the Imperial Diadem, the Crown and Glory of Princes, and that which procureth the greatest good and benefit of the people. Afterwards thou shalt be called, The City of righteousness, the faithful City. I shall hasten to a conclusion, and therefore shall set before you onely these three Demonstrations of this Principle. I know upon what foundations the most of men do build up their joys, in the restitution of Authority; some upon the outward pomp and grandeur of such Kingdoms, some upon the hopes of raising themselves and their Estates and Fortunes by them, some upon the perswasion of the harmony is betwixt their Princes and them in matters of judgment, and the advantage thereby to promote and impose their principles about Religion and the things of God; too many whose triumphing is bottom'd not so much upon the righteous establishment of the Throne, as upon their own bewitching dreams and pleasant fancies of revenge, and of opportunities thereby to pour out their wrath upon the people of their hatred (such injury dare [Page] wickedness do to sacred Powers, as thus to imagine it to furnish their lusts with strength and opportunity; such an horrid aspersion dare men, some unhappy men, cast upon the glorious Scepter of Majesty.) And they are not few who this day are therefore blessing God because the Iron-rod of Usurpation is shiver'd to pieces, and the Scepter is restored to its rightful Tribe; whatever shall be the issue, Yet thus it should be, thus the Lord would have it be. Yet Christians, let me add that this, this is that topmost branch of the glory of Princes, when they are Instrumental to make their people a City that is eminent for righteousness, truth and holiness. That I may shut up your understandings under the conviction of this truth, take but these Demonstrations of it.

1. That is the Glory and Crown of Magistracy, which in the attainment of it, is the principal end of its institution by God. The suitableness of things to the cause and reason of their beings, and when they are effectual to the production of the work, for which and for nothing else they were created, appointed or raised up by God, this is the glory, this the beauty of them. The institution of the Ministry of the Gospel, is in order to the begetting of faith, Rom. 10. is for the perfecting of the Saints, and the building up of Christs body, Ephes. 4. and therefore the Apostle concludes that the influence of his Apostleship upon the Thessalonians suitable to this reason for which he was sent by God, this was his glory and his crown of joy, 1 Thes. 2. 20. True it is that the choicest Instruments are not always bless'd with the real production of that which is the end of their ordination and appointment; the Prophet Isaiah complains, that he had laboured in vain, and spent his strength for nought: but where there is a disposition, frame and spirit in such persons suitable to the end of their institution, a labouring and wrastling for the effecting thereof, so that the frustration ariseth not from the carelesness, unsuitableness, indisposition of the persons imployed in such an office, but from the wilfulness, unflexibleness, hardness of the object, there and in such a case, though Israel be not gather'd, yet such persons in the eyes of God are glorious, Isa. 49. 5. As thus it is in the case of Ecclesiastical, so also in that of Civil Powers and Ordinances. While [Page] men are so taken up in the consideration of Magistracy, I would wish them to ponder, for what end and reason it was that ever such an Ordinance or thing was appointed by God. And let me freely speak it, this in the Text was the end thereof, That the societies of men might have truth and justice, righteousness and holiness running down as a mighty stream in the midst of them. When God raised up Moses, what was his work but this? Numb. 11. 12. Carry my people, this people of the Lord in thy bosom, as the Father doth the sucking-child. Rom. 13. He is the Minister of God to thee for good, to be a terrour to evil doers, but a praise to them that do well. Isa. 49. 22. Thy Kings sometimes shall be, and ever should be thy Nursing-Fathers, and Queens thy Nursing-Mothers. This was the glory of Constantine in Lactantius, Thou art he, saith he, qui prim [...] Romanorum principum repudiatis erroribus majestatem dei veri & singularis & cognovisti & honor [...]sti. Princes are not raised up to serve themselves, or live in the Pomp and Pleasure of this life, much less to serve the lusts of their people, and patronize the Atheism and Irreligion or false Religions of their Subjects. It is a most cursed reflection upon the honour of our Soveraign, that the practice of so many men takes now the liberty to break out in such a violent stream and torrent of prophaness, that men begin to be daring and bold in their Oaths, and Drunkenness, their May-Pole horrid and Heathenish Idolatries, their prophanation of Sabbaths and contempt of Ordinances; that Popery and the grandest Factors for that interest do lift up their heads with so much imperiousness, as if the restoring of our Government to its proper Chanel would be the justification or allowance of these or any of these impieties. Alas, Christians, Curse not the King, no not in your thoughts; do not apprehend things so injurious and reflecting upon his sacred Crown and Dignity. The end of his Royal Power is the punishing, suppressing, restraining of all such Cursers, Swearers, Drunkards, Sabbath-breakes, the lifting up of the happiness and peace of the holy and righteous, and peaceable in the Land, whom you despise, scorn, reproach and trample under your feet. And therefore the Lord forgive those of you that talk most of your affection to his sacred Majesty, and yet do thus conceive [Page] and represent him by your practise, to the blackest staining of that Princely honour and esteem, which should be sacred amongst all people. To propagate, preserve and prosper righteousness truth and holiness in their Dominions, this is the end of Magistracy, this is the beauty, the most orient perfection in the Imperial Diadem: and upon this foundation it is that the glory of Constantine, Iustinian, and other Christian Princes hath been raised up to such a lasting fabrick, as stands still to this day undefaced in their sacred Monuments. When Iob a person and Prince of great Authority gives an account of the right administration of his power, Iob 29. he tells us, he delivered the poor that cryed, the fatherless and him that had no helper; the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widows heart to sing for joy; he was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame; he brake th [...] jaws of the wicked, and pluck'd the prey out of his teeth. And thus, and by this means his glory was fresh upon him. How blessed a thing is it thus, when it may be truly spoken of our Supreme Authority, as it is by Pontius Diaconus concerning Cyprian in the management of his Ecclesiastical power, Nulla vidua reversa est sinu vacuo, nullus indigens lumine non illo comite directus est, nullus nudus auxilio de potentioris manu non illo tutore protectus est! for to this end hath God raised them up, and set them as the Sun in their respective Worlds, to communicate to truth and holiness, justice, and whatsoever hath a Moral or Theological excellency and goodness in it; the whole emanations of their light and influences.

The Author of the Records of the life of St. Cyprian, tells us that he that at that time was to be Bishop of Carthage, had need to be such an one, Qui doceret poenitentiam lapsos, veritatem haereticos, unitatem schismaticos; and therefore concludes upon the fixing of him in that imployment, benè, benè tunc & verè spiritualiter contigit quod vir tam necessarius tam bonis rebus [...] martyrio delatus est: Happy was that providence that saved such an hopeful person, fitted for such a necessary, holy work. I may truly say, That that sacred person whom God hath re-invested in the Throne of these Kingdoms, had need be such an one, and more then such, as having not onely a collapsed, and disjoynted, and disordered Church, but divided and disparted [Page] State to set in order; and therefore need to be such an one as Cyprian was, Ingenii spiritualiter temperati qui inter resultantes collidentium fluctus iter medium librato limite gubernaret. I remember Iustinian the Emperour in one of his Letters to Mennas Patriarch of Constantinople, tells him that the end of his Office as Imperator was this, [...]; to keep the faith of Christ from being perverted, and the friends of Christ (for in those elder times the name of the Church was not appropriated to the Clergy) from being persecuted; and he adds, [...], made it our principal care, [...]. For which cause onely we are satisfied, we are both put and prospered in the possession of this Throne. This then being the end, the pursuit hereof is the excellency of all Power and Principality.

2. That is the Glory and Crown of Magistracy, which is, and tendeth to the greatest happiness of the people that live under their Government and Authority. He is the Minister of God to thee for good, [...]. Rom. 13. 4. It is not unsuitable for Christian ears that saying of Metellus Numidicus a Roman Censor; Dii immortales plurimum possunt, sed non plus velle nobis debent quam parentes; the gods may do more, but they should not desire more good and profit to their people then their Princes should. And it was no small part of the reason of the deifications of many of the Heathens gods, that they had contributed some remarkable benefit to their people. The Jews themselves will mourn if a Ruler dye or be afflicted that loved their Nation, and built them a Synagogue. The Sun it self is more glorious, not so much by that light it hath, but gives, and communicates to this dark be-nighted Globe in which we live. It is no unusual thing for the fondest people to deal with their Magistrates as the Frogs in the Fable with their King, when they prove or by prejudicate vulgar opinion come to be mistaken, as unprofitable, or destructive to common benefit. I would not have the people to be the Censors of the manners or deportment of their Princes, so as to suck in the apprehensions of the discharge of their allegiance upon the supposed inconsistency of their Authority with common good: but [Page] however it hence is manifest that the glory of their motion in that Orb of Supremacy in which they are fixed by God, depends upon their beneficial communications to the real welfare and happiness of those that are concerned in the fatal effects of their Conjunctions, Aspects or Eclipses. Let me add then, that your greatest benefit you can reap by any Authority over you, is this in the Text, when by the influence of that Power you become a City of righteousness, holiness and truth, having thereby the free distribution of justice amongst all, and the full establishment of Truth in Doctrine, Purity in Worship, and an encouraged justified holiness in all that profess the name of God. Alas! the good that you should have by Magistracy, doth not lie in the enjoyment of liberty to serve your lusts, and the profane principles of a graceless spirit, to set up the Idols and Errours of your own hearts, and to enforce your will-worship or superstition upon the Consciences of others; but it lies in the enforcing of duty, holiness, righteousness and reformation, and the perpetual discouragement of whatsoever intrencheth upon the interest and propagation of grace and truth, as it is in Jesus Christ. He doth you most good, that makes you most good; most Holy, Orthodox, Sincere, living up to the fulness of your light; and putting a soul into your Worship and Profession by the Spirit and Power of Godliness. I am not unsensible upon what foundations many thousands of persons do bottom their joy in the deliverance of this day. I wish their joy were grea [...]; but their grounds were better; and that as their gladness is bottom'd on the expectations and hopes of some future good, so that that good were somewhat of more Divine extraction and real excellency then what is in the eye of most of men. Oh! what if we shall have a King, and yet fear not the Lord? what then should a King do to us? what if we shall have no more Wars with men, and yet still have the most fatal Wars with God? what if we shall lie under less of suffering, and yet live under more of sin? what if we shall have better Laws, but worser Lives? what if our Liberties. and Estates, and we shall meet again, and yet Christ and our souls shall part for ever and never meet more? what if we shall have plenty, but no piety? a lawful, merciful, gracious King to Rule the outward [Page] man, but a bloud-thirsty implacable Tyrant the Devil to hurry the souls of men to destruction? Oh! Christians think of it. There are too many who scandalize our Government, and cast dirt upon the royal Scepter, in promising to themselves, I know not what, licentiousness without a Curb, revenge without a Law, destruction of others without distinction, Popery without a penalty, and what they please to impose upon the Worship and Worshippers of Jesus Christ without a Scripture. Should it be so (which God forbid the thoughts of should enter into my heart) yet were this a good for thee? and that good which God hath raised up his Anointed ones to accomplish for thee? Oh! let it not enter into your thoughts, lest the very Birds of the Air do tell the matter. Thus poyson were better for the body then suitable nourishment, and liberty safer then restraint to him who through phrenzies or other strong distemper hunts after nothing more then opportunity to destroy himself. I know indeed there are many blessed fruits which these Kingdoms may joyfully, and warrantably, and with much confidence expect to be the product of this blessed restitution of his sacred Majesty. Such as are the vindication of this Church and Kingdoms honour, the wiping off the aspersion, and rouling away the reproach of disloyalty from too many upon whom it is too familiary but most unjustly cast, the settlement of our peace, and the prosperous future state of all: but let me say of this, If God shall (as we hope and pray he will) by the influence of the Kings Authority sentence the reproachers of his ways and people into everlasting silence, muzzle the mouth of blasphemous swearers, rout the societies of abominable drunkards into corners that they dare not see the Sun, clear the streets, and empty the houses from the provoking crew of Sabbath-breakers, and set up with encouragement the Worship of the Gospel, the practise of holiness in all orders of men, pray let me say of this, as David of Goliahs sword, There is none like that; other things do well, but this excels them all. For however distastful these things may be, and cross to the grain of many, too many with us, yet this would be the greatest mercy to your souls, your eternal precious souls, ten thousand to one to be shipwrack'd and lost if left to the boundless [Page] liberty of your own hearts; and this would be the greatest mercy even to your outward estate. For what hopes of any blessing from above, where settlement and prosperity is abused? where that deliverance which should be the grave, is made but the womb and birth of that wickedness, Idolatry and unreformedness, that doth and will keep up the controversie with God without composure. Hence it hath so often come to pass, that people who have not become holy by being made externally happy in such eminent ways of deliverance as this, have so often seen the speedy eclipse of the brightest Sun of their own prosperity. Certainly if the toleration of Prophaness and Heresie and Idolatry in the Church, be crudelis misericordia, a thing that carries in it more of cruelty then of charity to the souls of men; and if the drawing of the sword of Ecclesiastical power in the hands of the Ministers of the Gospel against the growing corruptions of their Flock, be an act of the greatest mercy, as appears 1 Cor. 5. the same will hold in its proportion in Civil Powers; of whom let me shut up this, and say, They are then the farthest off from doing unjusty, when they make us the furthest off from doing wickedly; they have then been truly Fathers of their Country, when they have made their people at least professedly children of their God; they have then done their Subjects the greatest good, when they have put a stop to sin which is their greatest evil; they are then most like Gods, when by their power the people are less like Devils: they may save souls by the loss of sensuality, save life by the loss of unbounded liberty, save the truth by the casting over-board the sinking weight of humane innovations, save the Church by the necessary allay into some common mediocrity of inconsistent parties and principles, and entail happiness upon the Throne by setting up holiness and truth in all their people. What Cyprian writes to the Confessors, shall close up this, for us in our lower, or Princes in their greater elevations, Ea concedere quae in perniciem populi vertant est decipere; nec erigitur sic lapsus sed per offensam dei magis impellitur ad ruinam.

3. Lastly, That is the excellency and glory of Magistracy which tends most to their own eternal blessedness and acceptation [Page] with God. We should judge that to be the Crown of Princes here, which shall be their Crown at the great day of the appearing of Jesus Christ. The eminent grace of the Thessalonians, their purity and constancy in the faith, the Apostle calls 1 Thes. 2. 19. his hope and the Crown of his triumphing before the face of Jesus Christ at the day of his coming: and even an Heathen himself could say, Consulere patriae, parcere afflictis, for â caede abstinere, dare orbis quietem, sacule pacem suo, hac summa virtus, petitur hâc coelum viâ; this is the way to everlasting rest, for Royalty. Oh! what account could Ieroboam give of his Idolatry, Ahab of his cruelty, Gallio of his indifferency, the Arrian Emperours of their Heresie, Nero of his inhumanity, Iulian of his Apostacy, when they stand before theExercitus ducere, aliena vastare, urbes delere, oppida excidere, liberos populos aut trucidare aut subjicere servituri. Lact. lib. 1. de falsà relig. judgment-seat of God, the King of Princes? how would then those things which Lactantius observes made the corrupt and sinful world to repute them as gods, then confine them for ever to the society of Devils? Give me that which God will own, which the King of Kings delights to honour, when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, and according to the real goodness of their ways every man shall have praise of God. Those things cannot be the desirable things of Government which prove to be the damning and defiling things of Governours at that day; nor can that be other then the perfection of it now, which then proves to be the approbation of it with God. Judge you therefore within your selves wherein the choicest beauty and greatest blessing of Authority lies, whether in suffering their Dominions to be an habitation of Devils, a Cage of every unclean Bird, to be Magna latrocinia, the stages of prophaness and impiety, the Nurseries of Heresie, Superstition and Popery, the grief of Saints, and the provocation of God; or in causing them so far as the influence of their sacred power can extend, to become the Cities of righteousness, truth and holiness. This, this is that which shall have its euge at the last, and be crowned with the royal approbation of God himself, when all other their works shall be burnt up as dross, hay, straw and stubble.

I have done with that, and shall have done all when I have spoke a word of this last Observation, viz.

[Page]To have our Judges restored as at the first, and our CounsellorsObserv▪ 3 [...] ▪ as at the beginning, our Authority such as shall be [...] to make us a City of faithfulness, truth and righteousness, [...] are mercies which it is the method of God to give a [...], when by his p [...]ging away the dross of their iniq [...]y [...] are prepared and fitted for it. I will purely purge away thy dross, and take away thy tin; and then I will restore thy Judges as at the first. I shall not further insist upon this, but [...]hut up all with a few words of Application of these things.

1. Oh! bless then the Lord, for the hopes of such a [...] restored to us this day, as was that of Moses, I Iosh [...], [...] and David; Authority vested and re-estated in [...]he hands of its rightful Subject; Usurpation which for these twelve year [...] past without dispute hath invaded the Throne, broken and [...]hiver'd into pieces in a moment, and the [...] head of him l [...]d up by God, whose known [...]eportment under his de [...]pest [...]yals, and whose [...] report and fa [...] [...] him to us as another Titus, d [...]icia humani generi [...] ▪ another C [...]sar, of whom Cicero said, Oblivis [...]i nihil solet nisi injur [...] ▪ and as another [...], whose zeal for the truth, and strenuous interposings of his Authority for the peace and settlement of the discompo [...]d Church ma [...]e [...] the Mir [...]our of Monarch [...], the Pat [...]n [...] the glory of Christian Princes to this day. Such [...]n one report and relation tells us he is, Religion teacheth us to believe and pray that he may be to this people; however, [...] those pregnant presages of future good to all that are de [...]le enough from divers things, [...] not now enumerate, yet we have the unquestionable [...]oundation of his rightful title to these Dominions▪ that may raise up our triumphings to the greatest pitch, and wind up our hearts i [...] thanksgivings to the highest elevation. Bless thou the Lord, Oh! my soul, and all that is within [...]hee bl [...] his holy Name▪ I [...] not unsensible how many [...] others, whose lot it was in [...] of the [...] distr [...]ctions to judge it their duty to [...] Parliament, as if this desired blessed day were the [...] hearts, and [...] with their principles. [...], The Lord comes with [...]en thousand of [...]is [...] judgment upon them that are ungodly. But if [Page] the constant profession of their judgment in point of allegiance even in the saddest times, their Sufferings and Sequestrations for non-compliance with those Anti-monarchical Engagements which overspread so great a part of the Nation pretending to greater loyalty, if their volleys of prayers and flouds of tears for the settlement of the Kingdoms upon their own Basis, if their unwearied activity till the Nation were (as now it is) purged from the guilt and freed from the yoke of Usurpation; nay, if the bloud of divers of them spilt in the justification of that part of their Covenant which relates to the interest of his sacred Majesty: I say, If all these may evidence the reality of their joy at this deliverance, I know not what can be defective; and a more assured testimony of their cordial joy, then all those practices of debauchery in which too many have the hard fate to be involved. But I forbear to harp any more upon that string; the Lord in his mercy bury those distinctions and animosities among the people, which in their continuation have too ominous an aspect upon the settlement and tranquillity of the Kingdom. But Christians, do you bless the Lord in and for the mercy of this day. Bless him that God hath restored us such a Magistracy whose endowments and qualifications for the regal Office and Imployment carry such a bright and glorious beam of hope to all; such a Prince as by his publick Declaration hath held forth such unalterable resolutions of preserving and supporting the Protestant cause, of burying the exorbirancies of our times in everlasting oblivion, and of satisfactory care to the Consciences of good men that they be not tyrannized over by unscriptural impositions▪ and however God shall issue the results of this mutation, yet bless the Lord, that Authority is returned to its natural centre, the scandals upon Covenanters wiped off, and the most necessary part of righteousness done to the breath of our nostrils, who is worth ten thousand of us, in that restauration of him which the Saints pray'd for, the World expected, the very Angels themselves approve, and the God of Gods with many pier [...]ing c [...]ies and calls required from us. I hope there is no sufficient reason to suspect any diminution to come hereby to the interest of the Protestant cause, and the saving truths of the Gospel; we are not without much ground to hope that the intended and Coven [...]nted Reformation of the Church, shall hereby attain [Page] some [...]ther advance to its full accomplishment; and that so it may, we shall with all subjection supplicate at his royal feet. If in other things of temporal importance this mutation shall bring any impairing or loss, yet I shall say, as Mephibosheth when abused by Ziba, No matter, forasmuch as my Lord the King is returned home in peace to his own house.

2. Be exhorted to pray for your Superior Powers; that forasmuch as their glory lies in the grace and goodness of their people, God would bless them with being effectually instrumental that this Nation may become a City of righteousness, a faithful people. This is the flower of their Crown, and you may be useful to the adorning of the Imperial Diadem with it; not only by your practice, that it may be said and observed by all, that since his royal Majesty sat upon his Throne, iniquity and sin wither'd and perished, blush'd and was ashamed in all his people, and that the prophaness of your spirits could not breath and live in the purer air of his pious princely Government; but also by your prayers, that God would under the impressions of his Soveraignty keep his Saints from being persecuted, his Sabbaths from being prophaned, his Ministers from being despised or impoverished, men now pretending to be Ministers, but such whose right eye is utterly darkned, of desperate life and despicable knowledge, from being advanced, his Worship from being corrupted, his Ordinances from being defiled, his Sacraments from being disorderly administred, his Name from being blasphemed, the Antichristian state and apostacy from being encouraged, profession from being scorned, and the liberty of communion with God and his people from being abridged or invaded; and in stead thereof, that God would lay up his precious truths, Ordinances and People in the most intimate shades of the love and protection, advancement and encouragement of his royal Majesty; and so shall this and after-generations call him blessed.

3. Lastly, As we expect the full accumulation of these blessings upon us, Oh! let your dross be purely purged; cease not till the way to these royal priviledges be fully prepared by the purging away of that filth from the daughter of Zion, which as hitherto it hath debarr'd us from that mercy we now enjoy, so if still not purged thoroughly, may render even this blessing, but as the shell and shadow of a deliverance, destitute of that which is [Page] the soul, and marrow, and fatness of it. I might tell you [...] dross is yet unpurged, what rust lies upon the face of [...] Church and Kingdom; but I conclude, Oh! as you have a [...] spect to the future honour and excellency of your Pri [...] and to the happinesse of this whole body, purge away [...] dross of wickedness from your lives, of Atheism and Irrelig [...] from your own persons and practices; purge away the dross [...] erroniousness, instability and Pyrrhenian fluctuations from yo [...] heads; purge away the dross of violence, extortion, [...]apine a [...] injustice from your hands; purge away the dross of will worship, innovations, superstitions and traditions of men, which [...] not of God, from your Assemblies; purge away the dross [...] your places too) of blind, and ignorant, and prophane Administrators of holy things, that they may neither creep in, no [...] ke [...] in, to the defilement of the sacred Ministerial Office; purg [...] way the dross and dregs of that bitter cup of animosities, [...] rences & hatred, of which the Nation hath drunk so deeply, [...] all your spirits, expressions, deportments; purge away the dro [...] of an empty profession of God, and zeal to the trifles and fring [...] of external forms and worship without the power and life [...] godliness; And lastly, purge away the dross of any root of [...] terness against or contradiction to the sacred interest of law [...] Princes, which spirit hath eaten as a Gangrene to the reproa [...] of our Religion, and advantage of the Popish cause: in [...] Oh! let every National, Personal sin, every sin and crook [...] path in Church or State be discovered and discarded. And [...] when these things, which are the wall of separation betwi [...] people, and the refreshing beneficial beams of their Supre [...] Authority, are withdrawn, we may with confidence hope [...] as our Judges are restored, so they shall be as at the first, [...] our Counsellors as at the beginning, and afterwards we shall [...] called, A City of righteousness, a faithful City.

Which God, of his dear love wherewith he hath love [...] [...] out of the bowels of his mercy, Grant unto this [...] serving Generation. Amen.

FINIS.

§

§

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Noah's Dove With Her Olive-Branch: OR, The happy Tidings of the Abatement of the FLOOD of ENGLAND's CIVIL DISCORDS. As it was delivered in a SERMON

Preached at Preston in the County-Palatine of Lancaster, on the 24th of May, 1660.

Being the Publick Day of Thanksgiving for the Restoring of His Sacred and most Excellent MAJESTY, CHARLES THE SECOND.

By William Cole, Batchelor of Divinity, and Minister of the Gospel there.

Imaginem Caesaris Caesari redde quae in nummo est, imaginem Dei Deo quae in in homine est.

Tertul. de Idololatr.

LONDON: Printed by Iames Cottrel, for Nathanael Webb, at the Kings Head in St. Paul's Church-yard. 1661.

To the Right Faithful, and Truly Honourable, Patriot of his Country, Lover of his Prince, and Servant of his GOD, Sir George Booth, BARONET.

[Page]

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Most Worthy Sir,

IT was the Expression of Varius Geminus concerning Caesar, That whosoever durst speak to him, Ejus videatur ignorare, magnitudinem; he that durst not, singularem ejus nesciat humanitatem. Upon this Consideration, as to your self, there hath been some suspense whether I should adventure these unpolished Meditations upon your Perusall and Protection, whilst on the one hand that exemplary humility and humanity with which God hath brightned the rest of your Perfections, hath invited me to; on the other hand, the Greatness and Elevation of your State discouraged me from that Enterprize. Yet so fixed and [Page] prevailing, at the last, do the considerations of your Nobleness, Ingenuity, and Candor prove, that here they lie at your feet; if not to challenge Approbation from you, yet at least, to pay the Devotion of the Author to your Honourable Name and Person.

Had I sought the vain applause of men, I should not have communicated to the World my own imperfections, of which this Tract cannot but be a Discovery unto all: Nor yet, had I sought my own advantage, should I have suffered these Conceptions to have had a Birth so late and unseasonable, as being indeed born out of due time; being that a more early publication of those Principles herein contained, might have been, perhaps, as effectual to prevent the losses, disappointments, and pre-occupate the credit of whispering reproaches, which I have since undergone, as the supposal and surmise thereof, have been in former years, to procure unto me h [...] small adversity from those present Powers.

But of the thing it self, and the exhibition of it now to publick censure and view, these are the Grounds and Reasons.

Since the preaching hereof, I have, with no little sadness of spirit, observed the impetuous torrent of most unmerciful reproaches, pouring out it self upon many pretious servants of Iesus Christ within this County, and indeed upon the whole Body of them who labour under continued travels of soul, after necessary Reformation in the house of our GOD. And according to the platform used by the Churches Enemies in the primitive Ages of Christianity, so also now the evil will of some persons endeavours to fasten upon us, the black imputations of Disaffection, and Disloyalty, and Dissatisfaction with his Majesties Supremacie according to the Law. Of what consequences such [Page] Disguises by uncharitable Brethren, put upon us without our desert, may be, to the deprivation of us of our Ministerial function, the dispossessing of us from any interest in the Royal Breast of his most Excellent Majesty, and the pre-possessing of the spirit of authority with prejudice against our humble expectations and prayers for such a settlement in the Church as may comport in point of righteousness, with that establishment which now is in our State, your own apprehensions will readily suggest unto you.

I must confess, I could hardly have believed that a Clergy of so famous a Fidelity to their Allegiance, as that of this County hath been, in the worst of times, ever since any observation was possible to them of a designed invasion upon Monarchical Interest, that have so notoriously disavowed the Titles and Triumphs of Usurpation, and so deeply suffered upon that account, should indeed and in earnest be thus misunderstood by any sort of men; but that my self have so lately experienced the revival of that Charge and Calumny, and been prosecuted thereupon, with so much unseasonable and unreasonable fervour, as must necessarily arise either from a real perswasion, or a most inordinate passion.

Sir, It hath been and is my great honour and satisfaction, that I have some considerable acquaintance with those many Orthodox, Godly, and Learned men, whom God hath set up as glorious Lights and Stars in this Northern Hemisphere: and I am bold to say, that what is in this Paper, as to the sacred Interest of our lawful present Power, is the Language, Spirit, Principle, and conscientious Iudgement of them all, and dropt from the same Spirit that ruleth in the hearts of these precious Dispensers of the Gospel. Since these fatal Circumvolutions, many Stars of the greatest magnitude have finished their course; [Page] such as Herle, Hollinworth, Gee, and others; and for the rest of us, I can say with knowledge, as Tertullian speaks of the Christians in his time, Ad Coelum suspicientes expansis manibus precamur pro imperatoribus vitam prolixam, imperium securam, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, Senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, quaecunque hominis & Caesaris vota sunt. And if, by misconception, subordinate Authorities shall yet please to frown upon us, we shall say with him, Hoc agite, boni praesides, extorquete animam supplicantem pro imperatore.

Sir, Let me adde, They are not few, nor small afflictions and losses which my self, and some others, have undergone now very lately, upon the account of our objected Non-conformity, and our real desires to wait the Royal pleasure of his sacred Majesty in point of Publique Worship; as also our willingness not to anticipate or pre-occupate the publique resolutions of State, by our own private determination of that controversie in our particular practise. We are under good hopes that the Determination of those things (which in their present posture may so easily be made the advantage of serving the particular spleens and passions of men, against many godly, and orthodox, and peaceable in the land) will produce such a Reformation and Moderation as will issue in mutual satisfaction to all of indifferent perswasions.

For my own part, although I do profess my self zealously affected to a common Uniformity, provided it be bottom'd upon such foundations as do not carry in them just cause of dissent or discontent: Yet I cannot but remember what Tertullian speaks, When men do adimere libertatem Religionis, & interdicere optionem Divinitatis; which he there calls Elogium [Page] non Religionis sed Irreligiositatis. I know nothing, in our Ecclesiastical Affairs, but may with comfort and consent draw in the whole Body into a common Mediocrity, if the sober ventilation of controverted things might have place, and the passion, prejudice and opportunities of divided Interests might be exploded.

Sir, You may be a blessed Instrument for this happy composure. But hower it shall be, after all such passages, I publish this, that all men may see, That it was not the confidence of conformity with our Principles, that was the foundation of our asserting of the Royal Interest; that we bottom not our Allegiance upon the comporting of Authority with our Iudgements; that subjection is owned to be our duty, although we should fall under the most diametral opposition of Civil Laws and Sanctions to our Principles in the things of God; that we will give submission to lawful Powers, though we should suffer the deepest affliction by lawful Powers, which yet we hope we shall never see. Subjection to Authority, and subjection to Iesus Christ, are not things of inconsistencie, but where Christian profession is made up more of the dross of self-interest, then of the refined Gold of the Sanctuary.

Sir, I humbly beg your Honours Pardon for this accompt; You are one of the Healers of our Breaches. You are able to take off the Disguise is put upon us, by your own knowledge of our Fidelity, when the work of the Lord had little else to support it but prayers and tears; You may stand as a Mediator in the behalf of the Church, for Peace, and Reformation, and Moderation. That God that honours them that honour him, fill your heart more and more with his blessed Grace & Spirit, Your Soul with Peace, Your Family with Prosperity, Your Life with Comfort, and Your Death with Blessedness; Your Memorial [Page] with the richest Perfumes; Your Example with a Crowd of Followers, who treading in Your steps, may know how to confederate those two Sacred Interests of CAESAR and GOD.

Preston, Octob. 31. 1660.

Your HONOURS most Humble, and most Affectionate SERVANT, W. C.

Information about this book

Title statement

Noah's dove with her olive-branch, or, The happy tidings of the abatement of the flood of England's civil discords as it was delivered in a sermon preached at Preston in the county-palatine of Lancaster on the 24th of May, 1660, being the publick day of thanksgiving for the restoring of His Sacred and Most Excellent Majesty, Charles the Second / by William Cole ...

Cole, William.

Edition statement

1661

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A33727

ID [STC]

Wing C5037

ID [STC]

ESTC R40846

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

19506517

ID [OCLC]

ocm 19506517

ID [VID]

108910

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A33727)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 108910)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1684:1)

Source

— Noah's dove with her olive-branch, or, The happy tidings of the abatement of the flood of England's civil discords as it was delivered in a sermon preached at Preston in the county-palatine of Lancaster on the 24th of May, 1660, being the publick day of thanksgiving for the restoring of His Sacred and Most Excellent Majesty, Charles the Second / by William Cole ..., Cole, William..

Extent

[8], 36, p.

Printed by James Cottrel, For Nathanael Webb ...,. London :: 1661.. (Imperfect: stained, with loss of print.) (Reproduction of original in the Bodleian Library.)

Creation

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