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A43456 A sermon preached before the Right Honorable Lord Mayor and aldermen of the city of London at Guild-Hall Chappel, on January 30th, 1677/78 by Henry Hesketh. Hesketh, Henry, 1637?-1710. 1678 (1678) Wing H1615; ESTC R10690 24,525 53

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of God by whom Kings Reign and who confers such blessings on men by their Ministry yet it shews clearly what a great sense they had of these benefits And this hath been done not only amongst the rude and barbarous Nations but the most polished and refined even by the wise and grave Romans themselves Now these benefits of enjoying Kings will be of use to give us the just measures of our danger when we loose them I have seldom seen a tall Cedar fall but the subjacent Plants have been bruised by it and the whole Vicinage hath been shaken and smarted under the effects of it And if the welfare of the people do not always suffer yet it is always greatly endangered when these changes come Besides God hath told us in his holy Word that he often takes away Kings in his wrath and that their death as it is the Index of a great displeasure so it is often the Prologue to many tragical miseries And we shall find the like intimations commonly in his providence for he seldom calls Kings to these Chambers of darkness but himself hangs up Tapers to light them thither Shaggy Comets usually preceed the Funerals of Kings and as they are always startling and amasing Monitors so they are almost always portentous unless it be when the prayers and tears and repentance of men interpose and obstruct their malevolent influence From all which things I suppose it sufficiently intimated what great reason there is that the people should lament the fall of their Kings and the children of Judah be taught the use of the bow But that 's not all it is not enough that the present Generation do thus but that succeeding ones also entertain the same sense of these things for so David here doth not only cause the present Generation to be taught the use of the bow but he causeth it to be recorded also for the notice and imitation of posterity behold it is written in the book of Jasher which 3. Is the third and last general Observable in the understanding of which there can be no other difficulty but only what we are to conceive this Book of Jasher to be That it is not the Bereshith the Book of Genesis which the Jews call the Book of the just men because it relates the lives of Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob those real just men is so ridiculously plain that it is confutation enough to repeat it The Learned Masius I remember in his Notes upon Joshua the 10. v. 13. where there is also mention of this Book only mentions this exposition of some Rabbies on purpose to expose it and let the World see what pitiful interpreters of Scripture they sometimes are And if we consider how they make out this sense we shall see their trifling plainer For this they say is written in that Book of the Just Ones because in the Blessing of Jacob to Judah it is said his hand should be or his Bow say they upon the neck of his enemies but besides the force of explaining Hand by the Bow the impertinency of it if it were so is very evident for what relation is there between that Blessing and this Curse or Misery because the bow of Judah should prevail at last over his enemies therefore Saul shall fall by the bow of the Philistins But I stay too long upon such triflings Josephus gives Learned Men a good ground to interpret otherwise i. e. of a Record that was deposited and kept in the Temple wherein several things of extraordinary moment were recorded for the notice of Posterity But that which will yet bring the matter nearer is the observation of Learned Men that nothing but metrical Composures or Songs upon these extraordinary occasions were recorded herein Some of the Ancient Jews have reckon'd up ten of these Songs which it is probable were recorded in this Book before the time of Samuel Such was that of Moses and the Children of Israel at the Red Sea and of Moses before his death that of Joshua when the Sun stood still to give perfection to the overthrow of the Five Kings which is expresly said herein to be recorded and such was that of Deborah and Baruch at the discomfiture of Sisera c. it is not material whether we know them all or not And to these doubtless in process of time were added others and particularly this Epicedium at the death of Saul And then I had just reason to say that this was not recorded only for the Notice but the Imitation and use also of Posterity for these Songs being thus recorded in a book kept only in the Temple with directions how they were to be sung for that all learned men add too is clear evidence that they were ordered at some stated times to be sung and taken into the Common Service That this book is now lost is no great wonder so is the Temple it self and so is the book of Nathan the Seer and so is the book of the large Chronicles of the Kings of Judah all which we know assuredly were written and extant a considerable time among the Jews So that I am now clear of this obstruction and the sense is plain this book of Jasher was a book in which David recorded this Lamentation with directions how it was to be sung by Posterity And indeed this is not done without good reason for there are some great ends both of Prudence and Religion served by it 1. Of Prudence for there will be few methods by which a deeper sense of this great Judgment will be impressed upon men then by thus appointing the memory of it to be attended with tears and a Solemn Mourning for as all men believe that men are not apt to mourn for nothing so when they shall see wise and good men commending things to be lamented not only by the present Generation that feels them but transmit the same sad Memory of them to Posterity they must needs apprehend them not to be any common or trivial evils but very great and mightily concerning And what excellent ends of Prudence and Government may be served by this only thing i. e. begetting a through sense in mens minds of the great misery of loosing Kings is easie for any presently to observe For this will most effectually endear the blessing of having Kings and teach men highly to esteem and value it and he that doth thus cannot possibly be either disobedient to their Government or trayterous against their Power and Person 2. But then the ends of Religion in this are greater and more worthy of consideration For if we suppose this loss of a King barely as a great evil without any respect to the peoples sins that might have occasioned it Why then by commending it thus to the Lamentation of Posterity men may learn both to be more fearful of such an evil and more awful of that divine wrath that doth inflict it and more earnest in their prayers that
no but to congratulate it rather and I take the so religious observation of this day to be a standing evidence of it And I can no way question but such wise men that have signalized themselves by their prudent Government of this City and preserving Order in it to such measures that no such City in Europe can boast the like and have received just marks of honor for it from a King that can never fail to reward Merit do very well understand their own duty and know how to demean themselves accordingly and will never sully the glory of these actions and the honour gotten by them by any thing unworthy of either It is justly to be hoped that as the late fire hath truly refined this City it rising up in a splendor much greater than was before so that it hath melted down all faeces and dregs of undutifulness that were formerly in the hearts of any of its Inhabitants And that as Justice seems written on your Gates so Lonalty will be the Imbellishments of your Palaces And I am the more confident in my hopes of these things because all considering men will clearly see these three great things to depend upon it and be secured by it 1. The honour and safety of the King 2. The honour and welfare of this City 3. The welfare and quietness of the whole Kingdom all these next to God's blessing will be secured by the Loyalty of this Capital City 1. The honour and safety of the King for as the honour of a King is in the multitude of his Subjects so his safety consists in the love and affection and loyalty of these Subjects and the greater the number of Subjects that are embodied is the more conducive to his safety is the love of them since they can always be more ready as well as able to yield him assistance and to strike despair into any that would attempt against him 2. The honour and welfare of this City it self he that will search into the causes of the decay or ruine of Royal Cities will soon find their separating from their King to be one great one I cannot multiply instances because I have not time of this I shall only beg you to call to your remembrance an instance in our next Kingdom of France it will be hard for any man without tears to read the misery of that City not very long ago but the cause is obvious it was being separated from their King by the Faction of the House of Guise and by the bewitching charms of a Holy League if you will recollect your own miseries in the late times which I have seen some of you weep for you will be able to ascribe it to the same cause effected also by the same means viz. the enchanting Sorcery of a Solemn Covenant Honourable and Beloved this is a great truth the safety of the King depends upon the welfare of this City and the welfare of this City depends upon the safety of the King And if men would look into the truth of things they would soon perceive that their interests are complicated and indeed the same The safety of all Bodies next ever to God's blessing consists in the firm cohesion of its parts And it is true in experience as well as speculation And who ever will trace either the ruine of the King or subsequent misery of this City to their first Origins will soon find the Artifice of some men in separating them from each other effected both And you may see the same things plainly still for these men that design now the same things again do pursue them still by the same method it is here that they first spread their Nets and place their Engins and their disappointment here will cause despair and unsuccesfulness ever to attend their mis-chievous devices And therefore my assurance that I speak to wise men gives me assurance also of their great care still to disappoint these men For as Solomon saith Surely in vain the Net is spread in the sight of any Bird So say I if we permit the same men by the same methods to trapan us again into the same crimes and make us serve to the same evil purposes again we then make our ruine our own guilt as well as our misery and must perish as unpitied fools for ever But God I hope hath reserved us to better purposes and will give us grace to pursue wiser Counsels A few days past have given good hopes that the Genius of the English Nation is recovering it self and your hearty compliance with those great and I hope wise Counsels will be mighty contributive in order to giving effect to these hopes 3. But the effects of your Loyalty will not be confined in so narrow a room but will be extended to the benefit also of all the Kingdom It is you that stamp the practice of all the Nation by your carriage they take their measures and make your Actions their Presidents So that you 'll not only save your selves by your signal Loyalty but you 'll be influential also in saving the many thousands of Israel The seeds of Loyalty sown in this plot of ground will quickly spring up into a Tree whose branches will extend to the distant shores which together with the Royal Cedar will make a Shadow under which your selves and all the Nation may sit safely and sing praises to God chearfully and be happy in the Contemplation of your great Bliss And now I have done but that methinks I see something in the countenances of this Audience which incourageth me not only to beg that you would but prophecy also that you will exercise your selves in these Tacticks sing this Lamentation with such hearty accents of pious sorrow as may reach even to the Throne of God and be accepted by him and prevail with him for pardon of the guilt of the death of the Father and a Blessing to descend upon the head of the Son and that God will graciously please to add those years to the life of this which he was pleased to suffer to be substracted from the life of the other That we will all learn to shoot skilfully in this Bow such Arrows as shall be sharp in the experience as well as midst of the Kings and our Enemies That as English Archers have been renown'd for their Chivalry in earth so they may ever be blessed for their Loyalty in Heaven That all our names may be recorded in the Book of Jasher and be found written in that Book of the Upright and Just Ones at the last day and our portions of Bliss be eternal with theirs in Heaven for ever more Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for Christ Jesus his sake To whom c.