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A33293
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A sermon preached to a country auditory upon the eleventh of November being the day appointed for a solemn Thanksgiving for a late victory at sea, and His Majesty's safe return out of Flanders / by Samuel Clerke ...
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Clark, Samuel, 1626-1701.
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1693
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Wing C4497; ESTC R39372
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17,355
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33
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danger he was in danger so great that we can attribute it to nothing else but God's Care and Protection that he hath outliv'd it How was His Majesty wrapt over and over in the Snares of Death yet hath he broken the Snares and is escaped It is plain to all unbiass'd and considering men that never did a Nation enjoy more by a King than ours have done by this we have Never were People more happy than we might be under him if we please and were not the fault â—ur own Never was it more remarkably true that the Powers that are over us are set over us by God than in our Case His Majesty's coming in and Establishment here beâ—â—g a Miracle in the sight of all the World And I wish it â—ould not be said as truly too that never was a Prince exposâ— to more dangers and troubles than he has been Should we recollect the past Passages of his Life and soberly make remarks upon the same I do not well know whether we should more admire his Fate and wonder to see so many dangers and adversities should encounter to spend their spight against one man or that Providence and Care of Almighty God that hath still brought him through These Providences and Cares have been freshly instanced very lately in a Deliverance from a Conspiracy abroad hatched by a sort of men that nothing can oblige no kindnesses no endearments no not Religion it self the tranquill enjoyment of the true Protestant Religion Oh the barbarous intendments of the worst of Men Abhorrent in any but above any in our Clime Religious Plots Protestant Treasons oh Hellish Contradictions But can they deny what is obvious to all The King's hazards in Battel wherein not one but often he hath expos'd himself to the utmost dangers thereby greatly encouraging his friends and striking a dread and terrour into his enemies who never yet had the courage to withstand him Not to tell you of His Majesty's danger at the Boyne where a Cannon Bullet brusht upon his Shoulder it was no less than a Miracle that it did but brush him importing Heavens Care of him and that he was dear to God in his Preservation But perchance some may think this too foreign at least too antique and old I shall therefore produce a fresher Instance and that within the compass of this Days Thanksgiving being in Flanders from whence our Royal Sovereign not long since return'd an Instance no less miraculous thaâ— the former when another Cannon Bullet seeming to do him Homage kiss'd the place where he just before sat but yet came not there till he himself had quitted it which was not above a Minute An astonishing Deliverance The late Naval Victory can that be oppugn'd deny'd by any and was not the Hand of God in it It is as clear as the Sun in its Noon-Day Lustre that the Wind fought against the Enemy as the Stars once against Sisera The Wind hindred the French approaching us and gave us an opportunity of coming up to them which was no sooner done but God blessed His Majesty's Forces with that Success which usually attends his Royal Person than whom never any more signally delivered It is no new thing to hear of our Royal David and his troubles his reiterated troubles and dangers nor blessed be God for it to hear of his Deliverances also his repeated Deliverances The one runs parallel with the other litterally making that of our Psalmist good Psalm 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of all The truth is the Life of our King William the Third hath been a continual Scene of Providence and Danger even from the Cradle an Instance hardly to be seconded of God's great and special Care not rarely attending the Persons of those Princes to whom Religion and his Honour is dear 〈◊〉 I am perswaded they be to this our Sovereign A Prince 〈◊〉 Pious as Valiant and as forward to Praise God his Saviour as he is ready to deliver him which brings me to my 2d Proposition That those that are delivered should praise God and be thankful to him 1. Common Morality doth inform every common capacity of this common Principle in Divinity We must be thankful unto them who have been bountiful unto us Whereupon Alexander who exceeded all in Bounty and Caesar who exceeded all in Patience yet it was observed that the â—â—e did never give to and the other never forgive an ungrateful person Yea the very Heathen in their moral Favours feigned Ixion because he had been unthankful to Jupiter who saved his Life to be tortured and tormented on a Wheel crying τὸν á¼Ï…εÏγÎτην ἀγαυαῖς ἀμοιβαῖς á¼Ï€Î¿Î¹Ï‡Î¿Î¼Îνους τίμεσθαι Oh remember to be grateful to your Benefactors Si ingratum dixeris omnia dixeris saith the Learned Seneca but a Pagan Him that thou callest ungrateful thou callest all to nought And Socrates another Learned Heathen did see and say ἀκαÏιστίαν ἀδικίαν εῖ̔ναι that Vnthankfulness is a gross act of Injustice nay Injustice against God saith holy David as depriving him of that quit-rent due to him the great Lord of the Universe so Psalm 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will hear you and thou shalt praise me 2. Nature doth teach us this Lesson of Grace for naturally every effect must be brought back to his cause Now God is the cause of all things and persons and the preserver of them too therefore whatsoever we have and whatsoever we are must be ascribed to God Hence is that challenge of St. August Confess 4.4 Quis Laudes tuas enumeret unus quas in se uno expertus est What Man alive is able to praise God for his Goodness which he alone hath received in his own Person certainly we should be all Bankrupts if we were called upon for this one Debt Since now the very Heathens press this duty warmly and since there is a generous gratitude in Nature what else means that of Israel's sweet Singer Psalm 19.1 The heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work How much more does gratitude become God's Children Honour is due there is none but will grant it to the Creator from the creature and who so tender of this his honour as his Children and Servants Now what course take they for it How do they give it him Who so offereth me Praise and thanksgiving saith God he honoureth me Psalm 50.23 The Property of God is benefacere and the property of Man is benedicere God doth bless Man with his benefits and Man doth bless God for them I need not tell you that the Heathen after they had escaped shipwrack hung up their Votivas Tabulas to Neptune and after Victory besides Supplications they did put Garlands upon the Images of their Gods and left the chief spoils taken in War in the Temple of Mars I need not tell you that the Jews by the Command ment of God reserved a golden pot of that
A SERMON PREACHED TO A Country Auditory Upon the Eleventh of November Being the DAY Appointed for a Solemn Thanksgiving For a Late VICTORY by SEA And His MAJESTY's Safe Return OUT OF FLANDERS By SAMVEL CLERKE B. D. LONDON Printed for W. Crooke And Sold by R. Taylor 1693. To the Right Honourable JOHN Lord CUTTS BARON of GOWREN My Lord TO whom could a Discourse of this nature I mean A Thanksgiving Sermon for the happy Deliverance of our Royal David from the hurtful Sword be more fitly Dedicated than to your Honour who so deeply shared in the Danger with His Majesty Accept of it Noble Sir not for its own Worth but as a Specimen of the Author's Sense of Your's and his Obligations to You. You by that of Vertue are arrived at the Temple of Honour Sir I beseech Almighty God that You may be ever in the Ascendent and that no malign Aspect may intervene at least to sully much less Eclipse Your Splendor till this Mortal shall have put on Immortality and You your Self become a Fixed Star in Heaven where is no Vicissitude or Alteration Thus Prayeth Your Honour 's most humble and Faithful Servant SAM CLERKE PSALM CXLIV Verses ix x. I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon a Psaltery and an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee It is he that giveth Salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his Servant from the hurtful Sword HAving but heard these Words read there is scarce any One of so shallow a Capacity but may conceive them pertinent and suting well with the Time and Occasion of this our present Meeting For is here not mention made of Kings the Salvation of Kings nay of one above the rest David in great Danger yet delivered and that from the Sword too All very pertinent and congruous God had many times and often delivered David but he insists here chiefly on that one that both to us is proper and peculiar the hurtful Sword Now with me I beseech you dear Christians Behold our KING a Pious and Protestant Prince the Servant of God Jealous for the Lord of Hosts Zealous for his Church and People like the Royal Eagle throwing Himself between Them and Danger Behold Him by God delivered wonderfully delivered from the Death-threatning Cannon and the hurtful Sword And so the Words read are no other than a Comment upon the Day at once pointing out to us both our Happiness and our Duty Our Happiness in the Preservation of His Majesty our Duty in returning God Thanks for it which to encourage us also unto we have a Royal President before us who upon the very same account even God's Salvation and Deliverance snatches up his Psaltery tunes his Strings promises a New Song I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon a Psaltery and an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee See here the Subject-matter of this Song a Song of thanksgiving Of Thanksgiving For what What Mercy what Favour is the holy man so thankful for It was no other than the King's Safety Because God the Preserver of Kings had here delivered his Servant David from the hurtful Sword He therefore resolves upon a new Song of Praise and Thanksgiving This is the Substance of my Text And as of what was then with great Joy sung by Israel so of what this Day we are called to Upon the receipt of any new Mercy God shall not load David with his Mercies but the Heavens shall Resound with his grateful Praises and Acknowledgments I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee He it is that giveth Salvation unto Kings who delivereth his Servant David from the hurtful Sword In which Words we have these Considerables 1. Here is Salvation given a Deliverance wrought 2. To or for whom To Kings in general to David in particular 3. By whom viz. by God 4. Here is the Return made by David both in behalf of himself and others I will sing c. Take the Whole summ'd up in two Theorems or Doctrinal Propositions 1. All Kings and under God's immediate Care and Protection but above all good Ones Or rather thus God giveth Salvation unto Kings in general but his Servants such as David was he delivereth in an especial manner He it is that giveth Salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his Servant from the hurtful Sword 2. Those that are thus delivered by him should praise God and be thankful to him I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon a Psaltery and an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee In the discussing of which for my more methodical proceeding I shall speak to these severals 1. That God giveth Salvation to Kings in general with the Reasons why and manner how he effects it I shall descend 2ly to Particulars and make it good in David the Servant of God in my Text. 3ly In our Royal David King William in the Day 4ly I shall speak briefly to my Second Proposition And lastly I shall close up all with a seasonable Application To clear the Thesis That God giveth Salvation to Kings in general I shall proceed by a Threefold Gradation 1. Shewing That God giveth Salvation 2ly That he giveth Salvation unto Men above other Creatures And 3ly To Kings above other Men. 1. To give Salvation is so congruous to the Divine Nature that God claims it to himself as his Native Property and Peculiar Isa 43.11 I even I am the Lord and besides â—e there is no Saviour I even I am the Lord This redoubled I is emphatical and exclusive And besides me there is no Saviour They are but gross Idolaters that put their trust in Man Or with the deluded Papists set up for Saviours the Saints departed It is worth our Note what Ferdinand King of Arragon sending his Son against the Florentines spake to him Victoria mihi crede non hominum disciplinis nec industria comparatur sed Dei Optimi Maximi benignitate arbitrio Believe me Son Victories are not gotten by Art or Industry but given of God If we look into the Prophecy of Jonah what we meet with Chap. 2.9 may be said to be the Argument of the whole Book and might have concluded every Chapter therein viz That Salvation is of the Lord. The Mariners saith the R. R d. Bishop King in his Lectures on that Prophet might have written upon their Ship instead of Castor and Pollux Or the like Device Salvation is the Lord's The Ninivites might have written upon their Gates Salvation is the Lord's And whole Mankind whose Cause is pitied and pleaded by God against the hardness of Jonah's Heart might have written in the Palms of their Hands Salvation is the Lord's It is the Argument of both the Testaments the Staff and Supportation of Heaven and Earth They would both sink and all the Joynts be severed if the