4 Chäp.2 'Of Honouring Superiours ingeneral. Com, 5. Thereare three words in Greek to exprefs this Authority. Tim.,2. 2. r. +aárto, o, Excellency arifing from force gift whichone hath above another. Rom. 13. r. 2. REnerfa, Power. a Tim. 3. t. 3 APXñ, Principality. There is an affinity between there three, and an Order whereby they do follow uponone another. For the firft, God givesaman forcegift, wherebyhe is excel'eni. above others, then he gives him Power and Authority, the Sword ; and lafly force particular place of Government, wherein to exercife his Gift, andto ufe his Power; and in this order we mutt obferve,that though the two !at} cannot be fevered,at lean potentially or in theHabit ; for where God gives to any Power, he afhgns him a place where to ufe it , ( though fometimes he cannot actually exercife it, being kindred by Rebels or üfurpers ; ) yet the former, viz. trmtovi, Excellency , may be without the other two : God gives Gifts and Excellency to Come men,whohave no Power or Principality confer'd on them, to the end that theremay be choice, as in eletive Kingdoms ; and that thofe who have maximam izr'spoVir, the moll excel- lent gifts, may becalled up to exercife their gifts, and withal,that by their gifts they may do good in private, though they be not called to any publickplace of Govern- ment, as when it pleafes God for the fins ofa people to curie the Government to them. r. In this order, the Government is,fitf,that ofpater naturalis,the natural Father, in aFamily, where he exercifes a threefold Government,over the Wife,Children,and Servants: ofthe two firtt it is plain,becaufehe is paterfamilias, the Father ofthe Fa- mily,and they are parts of andof the Servants likewife by the fame reafon : where- upon Naaman's Servants calledhira by the name ofFather,Father, ifthe Prophet had 2Kings 5 13. commanded thee a greatthing, &c. 2. Ifwe go out of the Family, we come inpatriam; There we (hall find an Ho- 2 sain.ao. 19. nour due to our Countrey, and people among whom we were born and brought up. Therefore the Woman ofAbel tells foab,` that the City wherein the dwelt badbeen Gcn. 23. 7. a inother in Ifrael: and we fee that Abraham honoured the people where he lived, for heflood up, andbowedhimfelf before thepeople of the Land ofthe Hittites. Thus thepeople ofthe Countrey are to be honoured. Now this Power which reticles in the Fathers of Ceveral Families, where it comes to be united inone, He becomes a Monarchor King, whom Saint Peter calls xvfo'ty dv,3egoorfvav,ahumane creature; not becaufe thePower and Authority is fròmmen,for though fometimes they choofe the perfon, yet iris God that confers thePower; and though men by natural light are led to this Government,yet it is God that gives this light to diredt them ; but to difinguith it from that other Power, the fpiritual Go- vernment exercifed by the Fathers ofour Souls, which is, 0duxríçee, Godscreature, in a morefpecial manner : for though both temporal and fpiritual Authority are from God,yet this latter is more immediately & purely divine than the other ; and there- fore the other is called wrier;áv Se9oafvu, a humane creature, comparatively in refpet`.f ofthis, which is Gods creature, or a divine Ordinancedepending meetly upon divine Inttitution, and therefore is this to be honoured in raped of this fpiritual Father- bood : and this appears by the contrary in the words of our Saviour, when he faith, fpeaking againf the contempt ofhis Meffengers and Servants, a ássro', 61.4 14 s`tcé Luke o. to. de rei,á r1 rissai v dlsrs ra, 'aocsíAuvrtt tri, hethat defpifethyou, defpifetb me, or as the word properly imports, hethat will abrogate, difannul, or abolifh andmake void, that which Ihave ordainedand enatïed, hefeeks toabrogate and difannul me ; which words imply that this Calling is fpecially ordained,and madeby Chrif,and that to go about to abrogate and difannulhis Ordinance herein,is to abrogate Chrift's ownOffice and Funckion. This Divine Creature then, or this Office & Dignity of Gods immediatemaking, as it hath receivedFatherhood fromGod,fo there is a fpecial honour due to it:Thotsgh Cor.4. 15. you have a thonfand in(lrufior: in Chei/t,yet have ye notmany Fathers, for inChriff fefus Ihavebegotten you through theGofpel. We fee the Apottle takes to himfelfthe Title fudges 17. to. ofFather ; yea the very Idolaterscounted theirPriefls, Fathers, as appears by Micah ofMount Ephraim, who fail to the Levite, Dwell with 'ne, andbe to me a Fatherand a Peie,'(l. And becaufe to this Ordinance of God, there is another Calling fubordinate, To govern
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