ASERMON preached at WestminsterAbbey, on the Fifth of November,

Wherefore ye must needs be Subject, not only for Wrath, but alfo for Conscience fake.

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HIS Chapter is the great and noted Repository of the most absolute and binding Precepts of Allegiance, and seems so fitted to this Argument, that it ought to be always preached upon, as long as there is either such a thing as Obedience to be enjoined, or such a thing as Rebellion to be condemned.

In the Words that I have pitch'd upon, 1. A Duty enjoined, Ye must needs be subject.

2. The Ground or Motive of that Duty; for Conscience fake.

For the first of these. Since Men are apt to draw Arguments for or against Obedience from the Qualifications of the Persons concerned in it, we will confider here,

:

1. The Persons, who are commanded to be fubject.

2. The Person, to whom they are commanded this Subjection.

1. For the Persons commanded to be fubject, they were Believers, the Faithful, those who were the Church of God in Rome, as we see in Chap. i. 7. Beloved of God called to be Saints. Neither were they Saints only, but Saints of the first Rank and Magnitude, Heroes in the Faith, Verse 8. Your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole World. Their Faith made Rome no less the Metropolis of Christianity, than of the World. The Roman Faith and Fortitude equally spread their Fame. And as the Pagan Romans overcame the World by their Fortitude, so did the Christians by

their Faith.

i

But for the modern Roman Saints, it is their Powder not their Faith, that has made such a Report in the World; a Race much different from their Primitive Ancestors, whofe

Piety could not cancel their Loyalty. No Religion could fanctify Treason; Christian Liberty was compatible with the strictest Allegiance; they knew no such way as to put the Sceptre into Christ's Hand, by pulling it out from their Prince's.

2. In the next place; the Person, to whom they were commanded to be subject, was Nero; a Person so prodigiously brutish, that whether we consider him as a Man, or as a Governor, we shall find him a Nero, that is, a Monster, in both respects.

- And first, if we confider his Person; he was such a Mass of Filth and Impiety, fuch an Oglio of all ill Qualities, that he stands the Wonder and the Disgrace of Mankind. For, to pass over his monstrous Obscenity, he poifoned Britannicus for having a better Voice; he murdered his Tutor Seneca; he kick'd his Wife big with Child to death; he killed his Mother, and ript her up in Sport, to see the Place where he lay : So impious, that he would adore the Statues of his Gods one Day, and piss upon them another. But then, take him as an Emperor, and he was the very'st Tyrant and Blood-fucker, the most unjust Governor that ever the World saw: One, who had proceeded to that Enormity, that the very Army, the only Prop of his Tyranny, deferted him; and the Senate fentenced him

to

to be ignominiously drawn upon a Hurdle, and whipt to death.

He was one, who had united in himself the most different and unsociable Qualities, namely, to be ridiculous, and to be terrible; for what more ridiculous than a fiddling Emperor, and more terrible than a bloody Tyrant? In short, he was the Plague of the World, the Stain of Majesty, and the very Blush of Nature. One, who seemed to be sent and prepared by Providence, to give the World an Experiment, quid fumma Vitia in summa Fortuná possint; and by a new way of Confirmation, to feal to the Truth of Christianity, by his Hatred of it.

And yet after all this, the believing Romans are commanded Subjection even to this Nero, the best of Saints to the worst of Men: And indeed it was this, that gave a Value to their Obedience; for to be loyal to a just, gentle, and vertuous Prince, is rather Privilege than Patience. But the Reason of the whole Matter is stated in these Words, Verse 1. The Powers that are, are ordained of God. Obedience to the Magistrate is Obedience to God at the fecond hand; and as a Man cannot be fo wicked, so degenerate, but that still he is a Man by God's Creation; so neither can the Magistrate be so vile, and unjust, but that still he is an Officer by God's Institution. And it VOL. V.

P

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is no small Part of the Divine Prerogative, to be able to command Homage to the worst of Kings, as the Majesty of a Prince is never more apparent, than in his Subjects Submiffion to an unworthy Deputy or Lieutenant. The Baseness of the Metal is warranted by the Superscription, the Office hallows the Person; neither is there any reason, that the Vileness of one should disannull the Dignity of the other; forasmuch as he is made wicked by himself or the Devil, but he is stampt a Magistrate by God. We are therefore to overlook all Impieties and Defects, which cannot invalidate the Function. Though Nero deferves worthily to be abhorred, yet still the Emperor is, and ought to be sacred. And thus much for the Duty, and the Persons to whom it relates. Te must needs be subject.

2. I come now to the second Part, viz. the Ground or Motive upon which this Duty is enforced; Ye must needs be subject for ConScience fake. A strange Argument, I must confefs, if we were to transcribe Christianity from the Practice of modern Christians, with whom it would proceed thus rather; ye muft needs shake off all Government, and rebell for Confcience Sake. No such Instrument to carry on a refined, and well-woven Rebellion, as a Tender Conscience, and a sturdy Heart. He who rebells confcientiously, rebells heartily; fuch