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A48377
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A sermon preached at Whitehal upon the 29th day of May, 1670 being the day of His Majesties birth and happy restoration / by John Lake ...
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Lake, John, 1624-1689.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing L197; ESTC R8143
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18,867
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54
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A SERMON PREACHED AT WHITEHAL UPON The 29th day of May. 1670. Being the day of HIS MAJESTIES BIRTH AND HAPPY RESTORATION By JOHN LAKE D. D. Late Rector of S. Botolphs without Bishopsgate London Published by His Majesties Command SAVOY Printed by Tho. Newcomb for William Grantham at the sign of the Bear in S. Paul's Church-yard 1670. PSAL. II. 6. Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion UPon an Exaltation Time here is an Exaltation Text. The Text relateth to one person the Time to another But Kings both Gods own Kings both both resisted and rejected of Men yet both set by God upon his holy Hill of Sion This King taken literally no doubt was King David both the Author and subject matter of this Psalm Taken mystically it is Christ the King of Saints whose Father as David was according to the Flesh so he was a Figure of him in his Kingdom Analogically and in just proportion of Reason it extendeth to all other Kings duly constituted at least such as serve and worship the true God and submit their Scepter to that of Christ All Christian Kings this King compriseth then but some more especially such as have a more direct correspondence with David in the like occurrences and events Upon this peculiar accompt cometh in our King above most Kings that have been in the World since Davids time Set up and set up in the same manner by the same means or rather by the same immediate Hand of Providence that David was Never might God have said with greater emphasis or more apt signification Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion And as the Text suteth the Person of our King so at this time more particularly Upon this very day he was born to the hopes and expectations of Three Kingdoms and upon this same day by a strange concurrence of Providences he was brought back after a long and tedious banishment to the possession and enjoyment of them Well therefore may this Time challenge an interest a double interest in the Text. This is the day which the Lord hath made which he hath twice made twice made memorable Together with the Regem Constitui of the Text Yet have I set my King c. Herein meets the Hodie genui of the next Verse Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee There is a somewhat strange expression Psal CX 3. The dew of thy birth is of the Womb of the Morning yet it findeth fit allusion here The birth of our King this day had a fruitful dew in it which hath made it teem with Mercies and Blessings to himself and in him to us His Kingdom was calculated in his Nativity and both his Person and Office have one date To set all this the better off and to set forth the honor of God and his King more in it and by it we have in the words these considerables I. The Person exalting in the Pronouns I and My. It is Ego Rex meus I and my King whereby as Kings acquire a just power so God a just propriety in them and by a peculiar title and interest they become his II. The Exaltation it self Have set i. e. Have ordained consecrated constituted not onely appointed and anointed him to the Kingdom but set and settled him in it Which maketh the Exaltation full and compleat III. The State of Exaltation and this like the Author of it most high and honorable even that of a King Then which God could finde nothing greater or better to grace David his servant or yet Christ his own Son with IV. The Seat of his Kingdm and that sutable and answerable to the State of Exaltation Even Gods holy Hill of Sion This as it relateth to David is to be taken literally for an Hill of that name on the North-side of Jerusalem which David having won out of the hands of the Jebusites who till his time held a strong Garrison upon it made the Seat of his Kingdom and erected his Royal Palace there As relating to Christ it is to be taken Figuratively for the Gospel Church and so it is set in opposition to Mount Sinai which typed out the Church under the administration of the Law As it may and doth relate to all Christian Kings and our King more especially it is to be taken Morally And so it denoteth 1 Their Soveraignty being an Hill 2 The Sacredness of their Person and Office being an holy Hill 3 Their Supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil being Gods own holy Hill of Sion V. Here is the irresistible power of God in all this who notwithstanding all the Consultations and Combinations of Men to the contrary still carrieth on his counsel to perfection and yet sets his King upon his holy Hill of Sion Of these in their order and that under a threefold aspect First As they relate immediately to David and his advancement to the Kingdom Secondly As they are applicable to other Kings by parity of Reason Thirdly As in respect of peculiar resemblance they concern our King and were this day accomplished in him For their mystical reference to Christ I wave as the work of another day viz. the day of Christ his Resurrection not this But before I descend to these particulars Let us Pray That God will be merciful unto us and bless us and lift up the Light of his countenance upon us and be merciful unto us That he will take away all iniquity and receive us graciously heal our back-slidings love us freely and crown the miraculous mercy of this day with that of a joyful and blissful eternity And that his way may be known upon earth and his saving health amongst all Nations Pray we for Christs holy Catholick Church for these Churches of Great Britain and Ireland that no weapon which is formed against the Church may prosper that every Tongue which shall rise up in judgment against her God would condemn Pray we herein more especially for our Dread Soveraign Lord Charles the Second by the especial Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith and in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil within these His Majesties Realms and other His Dominions Supream Governor That God who hath set his King upon his holy Hill of Sion would settle Him there where the sons of wickedness and violence may repine at but never reach Him That he would keep Him safe under the shadow of his wings from the pride and malice of Men and from the strife of Tongues That His glory may be great in Gods Salvation and that He may reflect that glory back upon God again by doing Him honor and service till He shall change His corruptible for an incorruptible Crown and His transitory Kingdoms for one that cannot be shaken Pray we for His Royal Consort our Gracious Queen Catherine for the most illustrious Prince James
holy Hill of Sion the place of his publick service and worship Psal cxx 4. whither the Tribes went up the Tribes of the Lord to the Testimony of Israel which speaks their Supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil As nothing so high but the Hill sets them above it So nothing so holy but this Hill of Sion sets them over it Nor would God ever have set his King upon Sion if he must have had nothing to do in sacred matters David well knowing for what end God had set him there streight way fetcheth the Ark and setteth it by him and withal setteth order for the whole service of the Tabernacle and appoints the Priests and Levites and all the rest that attended upon Sacred Ministrations their several dignities courses and offices And all the pious Kings whom God set there after him followed his pattern The Jews had a saying and there was sense and signification in it That the Keys of the Temple were laid every night under Solomons Pillow A prime part of the Kings office and charge being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the care of Religion and matters Divine to see that God and his service suffer no detriment Then they serve God as Kings when they do that service which no other can do for him to establish Religion as a Law and none oppose the Laws provided in that behalf but who are enemies to the Religion too To speak them Keepers of both Tables the Commandment concerning them is set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the confines of both as that wherein they concenter and that Kings thus conveniently situated may look to Religion with the one eye as well as to Civil Justice with the other Up to the Temple on the top of Mount Sion as well as to Jerusalem at the bottom of it Optatus accounts it a piece of Donatus his wonted fury and it was no better Optat. lib. 3. no other to cry out Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesiâ What hath the King to do with the Church For he hath much to do in ordering though not in administring in disposing though not dispensing the affairs of it To do what Hezekiah did namely to cause the Priests and Levites to sanctifie Gods House and to fulfil their Office not what Vzziah did to invade and usurp it To see God have his Incense not to burn it himself And that is the third and last step which setteth Kings at their just elevation Gods holy Hill of Sion speaketh their Supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil There is one and but one thing now behinde viz. Fifthly The irresistible power of God in all this who whatever stands in his or their way Yet setteth his Kings upon his holy Hill of Sion Neither their place and power as Kings nor their vertue and merit as good Kings can secure them from the strivings of the people Some unquiet spirits are still ready to cry out Nolumus hunc We will not have this man to reign over us and the most just and moderate Prince is in account a Tyrant to one part or other Moses hath his Korah and Miriam David his Absolom and Sheba Solomon his Adonijah The meekest the religiousest the wisest of Kings some or other consulting to cast him dwon from his Excellency or as another Translation hath it to put him by whom God would exalt Psal lxii 4. The Hill whereon Gods sets his Kings is oft-times so steep and craggy that they are forced like Jonathan and his Armor-bearer to climb up their hands and their feet 1 Sam xiv 13. and when they are up there are Venti Typhonici those violent and turbulent spirits which will not suffer them to rest High as this Hill is it is not above such Winds and Storms Onely the Kingdom of Heaven is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as cannot be shaken Not one upon Earth but hath been shaken all to pieces and yet for all this God setteth up his Kings Mountains of Opposition shall be levelled and laid flat before this Hill What art thou O great Mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a Plain Zech. iv 7. If at any time they are cast down God most-what sets them up again if not in their Person yet in their Posterity and if one line fail eeketh it with another Their glory is great in Gods Salvation Psal xxi 5 7. and through the Mercy of the most High they do not miscarry As opposition riseth against them he enableth them to rise against opposition yea to rise by it till they rise above it And first or last setteth up his Kings upon his holy Hill of Sion Thus I have also run through the words as by parity of Reason they are applicable to other Kings and like a well-set picture they look indifferently upon all of them But though all Kings are interessed yet some have a double portion in them and our Royal Sovereign above the rest in his this days happy Restoration to his Kingdoms A Transaction which was the very Transcript of the Text and the Text may seem a Prophecy of it rather then an History Herein therefore we may and must read it over again else we should be injurious to both and it is as legible in the face of this day as if written with a Sun-beam upon a Wall of Chrystal And First For the Person exalting It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and God as it were out of an Engine Psal lxxxix 20. He that found David his servant found our Dread Sovereign also and found him when all hopes were lost Onely he whose help beginneth where humane help endeth turneth back his captivity as the Rivers in the South and our Occidental Sun when darkness was upon the face of our whole Earth becometh oriental again This is the Lord who hath shewed us light Haec mutatio dexterae excelsi The right hand of the most High hath done this For us in all this we were Sicut somniantes like them that dream if we did so much as dream of it And it is well if Posterity rather admiring then believing a work of such power and wonder think us not to have been in a dream all the while For those enterprizes and attempts which were at any time designed to this end they vanished into air and nothing Either the worst counsels were followed or the best succeeded not God reserving the honor of all to himself And by all means let him have it and the King entirely for his own together with it So his as I will be bold to say no other King in Christendom is none by so immediate right nor by so manifold Names and Titles His in his marvelous preservation his in his gracious sustentation his in his powerful restoration and his still in his merciful protection from the pride and malice of men and from the strife of Tongues Thus fit the words are for the