People You have strengthned our hands here and the hands of others elsewhere who had been engaged in this cause with you you have in your forward and prudent zeal stirred up Emulation I will not say envy in others to the quickning and hasting this work to that perfection in which we see it at this day And from you and by your appointment have we the day it self and therein this present opportunity for blessing the Lord and rejoycing before him in the great things by him thus done for his People Where therefore hereafter mention shall be made of this general convention of Ireland let this also be remembred concerning you to your lasting praise in after Generations And let all of us together as we have common cause joyn in one in the praises of the Lord from whom alone is all this good this day derived to us it is a day which the Lord himself hath made for us let us Rejoyce and be glad in it 3. But more especially and above all this day of the Lord Jesus our Lord and our King the day of his Glory is withall joy to be of his people remembred for evermore The glory of Jesus Christ is the foundation of all our comforts in his humble condition and sufferings he merited Redemption and happinesse for us he purchased it for us in his blood but the Application of all and our reall possession of that our happinesse is from him exalted he is in his Kingly office the Saviour as in his Priesthood and from him as our King and not otherwise have we what as a Priest he had prepared for us The God of our Fathers said the Apostles raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of Sins Acts 5. 30 31. The first coming in of a Prince into his power is with grace and an act of oblivion So in Christ our Prince thus exalted is now generall pardon held out and given and from him as so is repentance of forgivnesse of Sins to be expected In this is the foundation as was said of our joy and rejoycing for ever We declare unto you saith the Apostle Glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their Children in that he hath raised up Jesus again Be it known unto you therefore Men and Brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgivness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses Acts 13. 32. 33. 38. Thus of Christs day and of our duty of praise in it And thus of the second part of our work in this day that duty of praise expected from us 3. The last is prayer prayer as praise is part of the work of this day Thanksgiving makes way for Petition and prayer Improveth praise as here Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord v. 25 26. Where we find 1. The Kings prayer for the People as Solomon prayed for the People 1 Kings 8. 12. c. So doth David here Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity Kings ought to pray for their People 2. Here also ye People pray for the King and bless him in the name of the Lord Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord v. 26. It is our duty to pray for the King I exhort saith the Apostle That first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour 1 Tim. 2. 1 2 3. It is you see an Exhortation earnestly pressed and that first of all and as good and acceptable in the sight of God and what he expects from us in dnty and what will be well pleasing him and what he will return to us to our good he thereby giving us to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty I am perswaded that the contrary the not praying for the King but against him and the not blessing him but cursing rather hath been in a great measure the ground of our unquiet and troublesome dayes hitherto wherein also hath been so little of Godlinesse although nothing more pretended and so little even of very common honesty amongst professors as in these our dayes Let therefore the exhortation of the Apostle prevail withus for the practice of this duty in our dayly prayers for his Majesty That the Lord would blesse him and make him a blessing unto his People as here Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Thus was Jesus Christ received by his People when he entred Jerusalem Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Math. 21. 8 9 15. Then did Christ enter Jerusalem as a King which is implied in his being called the Son of David It being also expresly said that this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Propbet saying Tell ye the Daughter of Sion Behold thy King cometh to thee meek and sitting upon an Ass and a Colt the foal of an ass as it is on that occasion observed by the Evangelist Mat. 21. 4. 5. And where it is in St. Mathew blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord it is thus in S. Luke blessed is the King that cometh in hte name of the Lord Luke 19. 38. And here is to be noted that where it is said in the text Save now O Lord c. That the word Save is in the Original the same with that Hosanna that Acclamations of the People concerning Christ as if said God save the King It is also to be observed that as Jesus Christ was in his first coming received with the Acclamations of the people in those words Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord So shall he be again received even with t he same words his second coming Then he shall withall joy be welcomed and that saidof him blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord You find this in our Lords own words speaking of his then leaving the World and of his second coming Ye shall not saith he see me henceforth till ye shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord That till ye shall say blessed c. as in St. Mathew is thus rendered by St. Luke untill the time come when ye shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Luke 13. 35. 3. Here are also prayers for the Church and its prosperity v. 25. Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosâ—eâ—ity Jesus Christ our King needs not our prayers He is in his glory above our prayers although Princes in their greatest glory have need of them Concerning them we may and ought to say save now I beseech thee O Lord But although Christ needs not as I said our prayers yet doth his Church his Kingdom want them and he himself commands our prayers for it Thy Kingdom come is one of those petitions which he hath put into our Mouths for his Church Math. 6. 10. This is required of us for his Church in generall and particularly for Jerusalem That the Lord would build up his Church and enlarge his Kingdom in the calling of that his people Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Peace within thy walls prosperity within thy Pallaces for my Brethren and companions sake I will now say peace be within thee because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thygood Psal. 122. 6. 7. 8. 9. And such a praying frame of Spirit hath the Lord promised to give unto his concerning that his People I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth Is 62. 6 7. I much fear we are wanting in this duty let it not be so say concerning Jerusalem as here Save now I beseecb thee O Lord O Lord I beseech the send now prosperity Let our prayers also be for the suffering Churches in other Countreys God hath made this day to be to us a day of praise and rejoycing Blessed be his name but it may be a day of sadnesse with others elswhere Let us be sensible of their condition as of our own and in our rejoycing be mindfull of their sorrow Say of them Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech the send now prosperity As for the Church at home and among our selves in these Kingdoms Let our prayers be for them also We see already in the work of the day the happiness of the State and we have hope of the happinesse of our Church also under his Majesty whose piety hath been so eminently evidenced to the comfort and satisfaction of his people We well know that much of the evil in the State hath broaken in upon and proceeded from sad divisions and factions in the Church Our happinesse in the State will be in union in the Church and in the Lords making up the breaches there in That will be our peace and not otherwise And now even now is the very time even the very time for our prayers herein Therefore for our common happiness in Church and State in King and People let it be part of our work in this our day of rejoycing to be instant also in this duty of prayer and again and again to say Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord FINIS Doct. 2. Doct. Doct.
to David and as to Christ and as to our selves in the application that the Lord doth make a day wherein he will do and give good unto his People 2. I now proceed to the next point herein observable Our work in this day We will rejoyce and be glad in it The point being this That those dayes by the Lord made and Given to his People are to be observed and improved by them I will not spend time in proving it it needs it not nor will the time permit it I shall rather speak to the manner and practice of our duty herein and herein I shall confine my self to the Text and to what therein we are directed Where we find three things proposed to us in way of duty in this particular 1. That we take notice of the Lords work what it is that he doth for us So here v. 24. This is the day 2. That we take notice of Gods work so done for us with thankfulness We will rejoyce and be glad in it 3. That we farther improve such the Lords mercies to us by Prayer Save now I beseech thee O Lord c. v. 25. 1. That we are to take notice of Gods work for his People here is a day for it and that day particularly pointed at This is the day c. as to the manner of it 1. This is by taking notice of Gods work in particulars not in the gross or bulk of them only A particular Enumeration and confession of Sins becomes a day of Humiliation so are mercies to be particularly remembred in a day of praise Psal. 111. 2. Ps. 103 1 to 6. 2. We are not in this not to pass over the works of God lightly but to insist on them in serious meditation and in speaking of them again and again as here v. 15. 16. but this I shall not dwell upon longer at present 2. The next part of our duty is our observing Gods works of good to us and that with thankfulness This is the day c. We will rejoyce and be glad in it Our rejoycing must be in the Lord and that cannot be but in a thankfull acknowledgment of his mercies to the praise of his name where therefore it is said we will rejoyce in it v. 24. it is after with praises unto God v. 27. 28 29. Let us see the practice and ground of this duty by what may be observed of it in Davids day 2. By what we find of the Lords goodness to us in this our day And 3. the ground of our joy and rejoycing in this day also of our Lord Jesus Christ 1. As this day referrs to David his day required such thankfull acknowledgment from him and from his People You have heard what the Lord has done for David and in him for his People such mercies required sutable acknowledgments See himself in the duty I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and become my Salvation v. 21. Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God and I will exalt thee v. 28. He stirreth up others also in it O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever v. 1. 29. and thereunto he calls all the People Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever v. 2. And the Priests Let the House of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth for ever v. 3. God is the Lord who hath shewed us light bind the Sacrifice with cords even unto the Horns of the Altar v. 27. And all this is done in a publick manner even in the Church the publick place for Gods worship Open to me the Gates of righteousness I will go into them and I will praise the Lord this is the gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter v. 19. 20. publick mercies must have publick acknowledgments as you have seen in Davids day 2. Our day also this which now we celebrate commands the like performances from us our duty of praises to our God I am sure no people under the Sun have more cause for it then have we in these three Kingdoms after so many and so great and such continued confusions to be thus as at present setled in peace under his sacred Majesty This surely is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes it is a day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it Nor is the Lord to be praised in his works alone but in those also whom he makes his Instruments in those his works the Lord alloweth them their praise in this yet so as in reference to him in whose hands they are instruments and that those praises be not lodg'd with them but that they passe from and through them unto him who employed and fitted them for the work and carried them on in it 1. Let me therefore to the glory of God and to the praise of his great name this Day speak unto those in the first place who have been chief in this work I confine my self herein at present to what is within our selves in this Kingdom only unto you the heads and leaders of the People I shall say only as in Deborahs tryumphant song of praise My heart is toward the Governors of Israel that offred themselves willingly among the People bless ye the Lord Judg. 5. 9. You have herein your praise and we have cause to bless you for what have been by you done for us but bless ye the Lord Let your praises be returned from you to him by whom you have been so stirred up and owned in this great work 2. To you of the Army Officers and Souldiers is your praise also I may say of you as was said of Zebulun and Naphtali in the before mentioned song of Deborah Zebulun and Naphtali were a People that Jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field Jud. 5. 18. Blessed be God that it did not come among you unto that of death or to the least drop of blood of any of you It is a Miracle that it was so yet did you put your lives in your hands in this great cause and they were by you Jeoparded nor would you have drawn back from the utmost of dangers had it been necessary 3. As to you of this City both you in the chief Government and others you have your praise also and that very eminently as you have been even above others eminent in the work of this day in which also you continue even unto this very day 4. Nor ought you of the general Convention of Ireland to be forgotten but to be remembered with the first for you have in a time of trouble and great distractions risen from your severall places and set your selves here for the quiet and settlement of this Kingdom The happy fruits whereof we this day gather by you have our publick wants been supplied in a time of pressing necessities to the great refreshment of the
his distresses in that kind of which I need not speak nor make farther application That not withstanding such his sufferings yet was not David forsaken for first even then when at lowest he had the hearts of many who followed him in all his troubles so as that even then he was not altogether inconsiderable 1. Chr. 12. 1 to the 23. but after when the Lord had indeed prepared the hearts of his People and that they were generally bowed to him how great then was the confluence to him from all parts of his Kingdom and that when he was yet at a great distance and farr off they then inviting and pressing his return to his own Country and people 1. Chr. 12. 23. to the end I know not why in this parallel I should omit the Circumstance of time when David made this his entrance in to his power It was long after his having been anointed King by Samuel he had at first his right of title to the Government but had not untill now possession of it And his right considered he might in his very first entrance have written the 12th year of his Reign supposing him to have been about 18. when he was anointed by Samuel as some have it although that others whom I reverence add more to his years but as to Davids age when he was actually brought in it is clear that he was then about Thirty years old 2. Sam. 5 4. An age that carrieth in it an Omen for good for so was Josetph when he stood before Pharoah and was made Governour of Egypt Gen. 41. 46. And of Jesus Christ also it is said that he began to be about thirty years of age when he did first put himself forth into the World in his baptisme Luke 3. 23. Nor have we reason to debarr our selves of our hopes of his Majesty among those he beginning to be now about 30. years of age the 29th of this Month giving the entrance thereunto as doth this Month to his happy Government over us That I may proceed in this parallel Davids return to his People was with generall acclamations Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord So here v. 26. taking this in the letter to be of David such a Prince could not but be a blessing to his People so as they had good cause to bless him and God for him He came to them in the name of the Lord Saul did not so come to them he came not with a blessing to the People his reign was with confusion and with blood even of the very high Priest himself also of other the Priests cruelly murdered by him on a charge of complyance with David 1. Sam. 22. 9. to the end no wonder therefore if it should be said of Saul whether personally intended of him or of some such other That God gave him to be a King in his anger and took him away in his wrath Hos. 13. 11. Which Scripture some have enlarged against Kings in general and against Kingly Government as if that had been a form of Government not from God whereas David was a King given by God He came in the name of the Lord and was given a blessing unto his People God chose David his Servant and took him from the Sheep folds from following of the ewes great with young He brought him to feed Jacob his People and Israel his inheritance So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skilfullness of his hands Psalm 78. 70. 71. 72. A good King is given in mercy and there is wrath to that People from whom he is kept or removed As on the contrary it is the mercy of that People from whom such a Prince as Saul is removed and to whom a David is given whereunto that spoken in another case may be applied Thou profane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end Thus saith the Lord God remove the Diadem and take off the crown this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high I will overturn overturn overturn it and it shall be no more untill he come whose it is and I will give it him Ezek. 21. 25 26 27. And great cause had the People to hope well of David and to promise themselves a blessing in him as coming to them in the name of the Lord considering 1. In what might have been observed of his great piety and constant holding on in the truth of his profession Notwithstanding many Temptations This is to our case this day very eminently and give me leave to change the person a little from David to his sacred Majesty our Soveraign on whom we look in all this more especially Might not his sufferings have been in this his Temptation Many have fallen therein Or might not hopes of being restored to his Kingdoms by those abroad have wrought him to a compliance nothing being then from his own at home hopefully visible towards his return Or was there not danger in the very abiding among and converse with Idolaters which was necessarily enforced besides strong endeavours purposely used to withdraw him from the truth of his profession How greivous this was to David above any thing beside of all his sufferings we may remember and that there was nothing whereof he so complained as of this very thing cursed be they saith he before the Lord For they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying go serve other Gods 1. Sam. 26. 19. The driuing him into those streights was as to the Temptation to say go serve other Gods But David did not so and his Majesties return is with the same Spirit he was not overcome but confirmed in the truth by what he had suffred 2ly Those Davids suffrings were a better fitting him for Government It was an inducement to the People for receiving Henry the 4th of France with hopes of much good by him in that he was a Prince of great sufferings So doth God by sufferings fit his for great things and for good to themselves and others Thus was David kept back many years from what he had been appointed unto So Joseph Psalm 105. 17 18 19 20 21 22. So Jesus Christ also he was made perfect through suffrings Heb. 2. 10. So also Gods Children for whom a Kingdom is preserved they are to be thereunto fitted and perfected for it by sufferings Nor was the hopes of the People disappointed in what they might expect of happiness in Daâ—â—ds Government for a Prince he was of rich endowments and in the very entrance of his Government they had experience of his clemency Clemency is a Princely qualification Davids sufferings and personall injuries were by him soon forgiven and forgotten and all passed over as it were by generall Act of Oblivion and that given by him not demanded of him Thus was it to the generality of his People who