that we may so reioyce in all Gods benefits and ordinances so vse them with ioy that he may be praised for them VVhich he also graunt vnto vs for Iesus Christ his sake Amen The seuenteenth Sermon vpon the fifth verse That we may reioyce in thy saluation c. WE must consider who they be that speake thus and of whom they speake it they are the subiects that thus speake of their king and they say that they will reioyce when God shall saue him so they speake not of themselues but of him Such then is and ought to be the vnity of the prince and the people as of the members of the bodie and of the head that they acknowledge the safegard of the king to be sufficient cause of their ioy VVe must then thus pray for the life and honour of our liege lord and Soueraine king The welfare of the king is the peoples â—â—y not as one a loofe off from vs with whom we haue nothing to doe nor he with vs and whose estate doth nothing concerne vs at all but as one in whose life is our preseruation and whose honour is our aduancement in whose decay is our losse and in whose ouerthrow is our vtter ruine Therefore as wee must thinke that we should haue great cause to be sorrie if any thing did befall his royall person otherwise than well so that in his preseruation and prosperitie we haue alwayes cause to reioyce Rom. 13.4 For we know as the Apostle saith that kings and princes are ministers of God for our wealth that is they are called of God vnto those high places not for themselues but for the good of the people therfore in their saluation we must reioyce for it is ioyned with our owne wealth And Saint Paule vnto Timothie sheweth this point more fully 1. Tim. 2.3 when he saith That vnder them we lead a peaceable and quiet life with all honesty and godlinesse This benefit then we get by them when they be good we liue by their good gouernment peaceably honestly and godlily which are three great benefits and without the which our life were no life therefore we must pray for them In this respect they ought to pray for his life that by them we might inioy these great benefits and so reioyce in his preseruation by whose meanes we doe inioy them For if the prince miscarie any waies we are in danger to leese all our wealth yea peace and all honest and godly liuing For if there were no king at all we may easily see in what lamentable estate we should be when as it is sayd in the time of the Iudges Judg. 21.25 In those dayes there was no king in Israel but euery man did that which was good in his eyes Thus would it be with vs and with all people euery man would do that that seemed good in his owne eyes and then what confusion and disorder would there be in the world what peace what godlinesse or what honestie could there be among men And this is not once but three times at the least set downe in that booke in the beginning middest and endding of two notable and famous stories which shew what kind of life was then amongst them euen such as was neither peaceable and quiet nor honest nor godly The one is of the Leuits concubine abused and oppessed euen vnto death the other is of that idolatrie which began in the house of Micah and so did spread it selfe ouer the whole tribe of Dan and of the rest besides that the Leuites and ministers of God were neglected then and not sufficiently prouided for in the narration of which this is often interlaced as a graue sentence shewing the cause of all that disorder In those dayes there was no king or supreame gouernour in Israel and so euery man did that which was good in his owne eyes as if it had beene sayd Surely if they had had any good gouernour among them and namely one chiefe to ouersee and rule the rest these abuses had neuer broken out or if they had they should neuer haue growen to such an head Besides this where there is a continuall succession of kings yet euen in the change of them to death without a speciall grace and blessing of God there is great daunger of chaunge in the state of the people Therefore all people had need to pray for the life health preseruation of their kings that so themselues might reioyce as they doe here And for proofe of this we may easily conceiue how the people of Israel did flourish and abound in all things in the dayes of king Solomon by that which is written of them he was a peaceable prince and so the people had peace and wealth 1. King 4.25 10.27 For euery man did sit quietly vnder his vine and vnder his figge tree and none did raise them vp and in his dayes siluer was as plentifull as the stones in the street and Cedar in as great abundance as the wild figge trees which grow abundantly in the plaine and such almost was our case all the dayes of our renowned and worthie Queene Elizabeth for wee had peace and wealth with the Gospell also in great abundance But when Salomon died For in the death of the prince there is great feare of alteration to the state what great alteration was there in the kingdome of Israel when his sonne Rehoboham refused the auntient counsellors of his father and chose new in their roome like to himselfe whereupon there grew a faction and diuision first among the nobles and then among the rest of the people so that ten parts of his people fell cleane away from him from God too euen to idolatrie and to the golden calues in Dan and Bethel so that there was much warre betweene them and bloodshed among them Now when all this fell out how did they see by experience that they had cause before to pray for the life of Salomon their king as the chiefe and onely cause of their welfare and ioy So we in like manner had great cause in this respect to pray for the life of our Queene as we did to preserue her both against forraine inuasions intended and also secret treasons and practises at home for in her life we had great cause of ioy And in all deliuerances of her from danger which were many and great wee had cause still to reioyce and so in her long life we did enioy the fruit of our prayers for we did so much the more and longer reioyce in her and in all benefits which wee enioyed by her and we had iust cause to feare that in her death we should haue had more cause of sorrow than by the grace and mercie of God we had But now we would be loath to haue any more changes on the sudden and therefore we are to pray earnestly vnto God for this our Soueraigne King Iames by the grace of
God king of England Scotland Fraunce and Ireland defendor of the true auntient Catholicke and Apostolicke faith and in all causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Ciuill and ouer all persons within these his realmes and dominions next and immediatly vnder Christ Iesus supreme gouernour and iugde we are to pray for his life and for the life of the Queene the Prince and all their noble and worthy ofspring and for his maiesties person that God would saue him from his enemies as we see that he hath not wanted some in this short time of his raigne that we might still reioyce And we must be thus persuaded that his saluation shall be still our ioy as this people doth thus here thinke of Dauid their king Therefore as we desire the continuance of our ioy and comfort so let vs still pray for the preseruation of his most excellent maiestie the meanes and cause of it For that which is sayd of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is true of all good kings and namely of our soueraigne Lord King Iames most of all Dan. 4.9 What benefits we inioy vnder his Maiesties gouernment He was like a goodly great tree whose bowes were faire and the fruit thereof much and it was meat for all it made a shadow vnder it for the beasts of the field and the foules of the heauen dwelt in the branches thereof and all flesh fed of it So doe we vnder his gratious gouernment inioy defence and protection from all enemies iniuries and wrongs and it is as a shadow to vs against the scorching heat of the sunne and by his meanes we peaceably inioy the vse of all that we haue both for meat and drinke and all things needfull for the preseruation of this life and so we as it were feed of his fruit Therefore we had need still to pray for his preseruation not onely that all these great benefits might be continued but that we might still reioyce in them as now we doe and let vs be persuaded that as long as God shall preserue him out of the handes of his enemies and prolong his life so long shall we haue cause to reioyce VVhat shall we thinke then of them that haue sought not the preseruation but the vtter ruine and finall ouerthrow of their naturall princes kings and Queenes as wee haue had too great experience of it in this land both in the dayes of our late good Queene Elizabeth especially and also in this short time of our now worthy king Iames we must needs iudge of them not onely as traitours to their persons but as common enemies to all the people of this land in that they haue sought to bereaue vs and them of the chiefest cause of our ioy Traytors are enemies to the common ioy and so to cast vs into vntimely sorrow For as there was great lamentation among the Iewes and not without cause 2 Chron. 35.24 25. at the death of that good and godly king Iosiah so that Ieremie the Prophet trembled also and seemed to be the chiefe mourner so had we no lesse cause to lament at the death of our noble vertuous Queene and the ministers of the Gospell most of all and all the vnfained professors of the same and should haue had a great deale more if she had beene traitorously taken away before the full number of her dayes were expired to the great disturbance of the whole Realme according to the desperat and continual attempts of her enemies And so should we now still haue if any such thing should be offered vnto his maiesties person Therefore we must iudge of them as of our greatest enemies who seeke to bring vpon vs a common sorrow before the time But let vs lift vp though not our hands yet our voice against them pray vnto God still to disappoint them of their treasonable deuises and diuellish practises and to preserue our king and all his that so we may still reioyce in their saluation euen for Christ Iesus his sake In thy saluation c. As all subiects principally should by this example learne to pray for their kings and all chiefe gouernours vnder them That God would preserue and blesse them that they might thēselues reioyce because they be worthy instruments of Gods goodnesse vnto them which is the thing that hath bin handled alreadie so all inferiours may here see as in a glasse what minds they should carry to all their superiours those that God hath placed in any roume of what kind so euer they be that they should bee persuaded that in their preseruation and welfare consisteth their owne ioy and comfort All inferiors should count the welfare of their superiors their own ioy and that they cannot miscarrie or any ill befall them but themselues must needs be sorrowfull and in that respect pray for them continually be they neuer so meane As with this mind persuasion the people should pray for their minister's and teachers who watch for their soules Heb. 13.17 and for the saluation of them as the holy Apostle saith For it is true that Christ saith of them and was found most true in his owne person That when the shepheard is smitten Matth. 26.31 the sheepe will be scattered that is when God taketh them away who are their guiders the people are in daunger to fall into all kind of error heresie and sinne and to be distracted scattered among themselues not onely in iudgement but in affection besides they may want the comfort of Gods word and of their praiers So should all children be affected to their naturall parents fathers mothers and also seruants to their masters and gouernours That seeing God hath placed them ouer them for their good and they inioy so many great benefis in their houses and by their meanes and so haue so many causes of reioycing from them by them they should pray for their liues health and welfare that they may reioyce there still for they shall haue their part in it and it shall bee the better for them And they must thinke before hand that whē God takes them away they shall haue great cause of sorrow And their death or hurt their sorrow as we see how greatly Ioseph lamented for his fathers death who when he gaue vp the ghost Gen. 50.1 Vers 11. His sonne fell vpon his fathers face wept so he cōtinued mourning for him a long time at his buriall there was such great mourning for him that the place had the name of it And Esau the sonne of Izack though he was a wicked disobedient child as appeareth in his storie Heb 12.16 yea a prophane person as the holy Ghost calleth him yet he had so much grace in him as we say that hee thinketh of his fathers death before hand as of a time of sorrow and mourning and so speaketh of it Gene. 27.41 saying The dayes of mourning for my father will come shortly
denie but that this dutie of prayer for him is greatly neglected of many for how few doe vse to pray for him at home in their houses And bind themselues to it as a matter of dutie and at Church also they pray not for him as for themselues But the Apostle Paul chargeth Timothy a Minister of the Gospell to practise and to teach this I exhort saith he that supplications 1. Tim. 2.1 prayers intercessions and giuing of thankes be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authoritie that we may leade a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie First of all pray for all sorts rich and poore bond and free next for those of whom there might bee some question then as for Kings and gouernours because they were enemies to the Church and people of God So then if we had the most wicked King and cruel tyrant set ouer vs as some haue in these daies and our forefathers haue had in the daies of superstition and Poperie yet wee ought all to pray for them for though they were nought themselues yet the gouernment is good and of the Lord much more then should we doe for those that are good What great reason there is of it as for our King he being a professor of the Gospel which is rare among Princes in these daies and after the purest manner and truly called the Defender of the true ancient Catholike and Apostolike faith A great learned man also able to iudge of things himselfe and more learned than any Prince that we know of being brought vp of a childe in learning vnder most excellent schoolemasters and tutors his learned bookes also doe sufficiently testifie of his great learning both in the tongues the Artes and in the word of God He is one of great gouernment in himselfe both for apparell and for diet lowly minded and not ambitiously puft vp with the accesse of so great kingdomes and for his wisedome he hath been long exercised in gouernment and in gouerning of a troublesome kingdome A man of great courage for the warres and of policie for peace and in a word the mirrour of the world What cause then haue we to pray for him And that we might doe it What great benefits we enioy vnder the gouernment of our King let vs remember how the Apostle telleth vs of the benefits that wee receiue by our Kings and to what end their gouernment is appointed namely not for themselues but for their subiects that they by their meanes might liue peaceably honestly and godlily which are three great cōmodities and comforts of this life and without which our life were not life And first for peace nothing is more to bee desired than that for if we had all that we haue and a great deale more and yet were subiect to warres abroad or forren inuasions or to robbers and theeues at home it would doe vs little good And yet this peace without godlinesse is nothing worth as if wee had not the meanes of our saluation and might not thus come to the Church to serue God according to his word and to leade our liues thereafter And if we had these yet if there should bee no honestie among men nor any true dealing one with another so that one man might not trust another but there were lying deceiuing oppression and such like without controulment Now all these benefits of peace honestie and godlinesse we haue by the meanes of our King especially wee may looke for them vnder his gouernment 1. As to liue peaceably For as for forren enemies and inuasions which in former times wee haue been in feare of he is in league with all Christian Princes round about him so that we shall not need to feare them and as for tumultuous and disordred persons at home the lawes are still in force to suppresse them and it is like that new shal be made if there be any cause and though some doe breake out in hope of the Kings pardon yet for the time present the lawes will take hold of them and how farre his gracious pardon will extend they know not we may be sure that all such shall be exempted who doe euill before hand in hope of it 2. Godlily And we hope to liue godlily vnder him for we doubt not but that the Gospel shall be continued and wee hope that the estate of it shall be bettered and though the Papists seeke for a toleration of their superstition and comfort themselues with false promises that way yet we hope that their eyes shall fall out with looking for it in vaine for seeing that hee hath kept it out of Scotland all this while when he was of lesser power there is no likelihood that he should now yeeld vnto them when he is of greater power and more able to keepe vnder the whole route of them But the more obstinately that they seeke for it the more earnestly had we need to pray to God for the King to bee zealous against them 3. Honestly Lastly we hope to liue honestly vnder him for he seeketh alreadie the good of all his subiects as appeareth by his proclamations wherein he hath giuen all men that are any way oppressed to complaine of their griefes yea though it bee against them that are in authoritie with good hope of finding reliefe he hath also put downe the Monopolies and such like kinde of abuses because they stood not with the common profit of his people and this he hath done though his Maiestie was interressed in some of them and some vnder the colour and pretence of that hoped stil to retaine them Therefore when we haue and looke still to enioy such great benefits by his most gracious gouernment what great cause haue wee to pray for him What cause we haue to pray for the life of our King And the greater that these benefits be the more cause haue we to pray for his life by whom next vnder God we looke to haue them continued For if he should miscarrie which God of his great mercie keepe from vs then all these great blessings might goe away with him at once For though by the grace of God he hath issue of his owne bodie lawfully begotten in holy Matrimony who shal sit in the throne of the kingdome after him yet they are all yong and it is no great blessing but rather a punishment to haue children raigne ouer vs Jsai 3.4 as the Prophet saith For besides many great wants that would be found in them the Nobles and Peeres of the land and such great men could not so well bee kept in order some of them when there were none to complaine of them if they should offend a Lord Protector or Viceroy carieth not the maiestie of a King in the hearts of men The forraine enemies would be more bold against a childe than against a man both of wisedom and courage yea there would be more
our gouernours that for certaine causes best knowne vnto themselues which it is not meete for vs to inquire into it was not lawfull for any of the common sort to haue discourses of the heire apparant and so few of them thought of him that we haue now or of any other But this is most of all to be wondred at And for his peaceable entrance that he came to the kingdome so peaceably and with so great approbation of all sorts of men and trauelled through the length of the whole land almost euen at the first for meaner men haue not come to their inheritances and taken vp the possession of them so quietly For truly by the grace of God to his praise bee it spoken there is no more alteration in the land in any estate or in priuate mens condition for the most part than if the Queene were still aliue And this benefit is the greater because we feared the contrarie and none could haue looked for after her death such times as we haue now And if there be any change at all And that in this short time since his comming things are bettered it is from worse to better so that since his comming many things are better in the Church commonwealth For by the gracious proclamations of his Maiestie many abuses of Playes and Interludes with Bearebaitings and Bulbaitings vpon the Sabbath day are put downe with Monopolies and ingrossings of wares into the hands of a few men many worthy men are aduanced to greater honour and worship the Papists in lesse hope of any toleration for their Popish idolatrie than before And vnto all these benefits this is none of the least And all things very cheape that God hath added this plentie of all things euen at this time whereby victuals and other things are resonable cheape least by scarcitie there might be occasion of dislike Therefore in respect of them all let vs be thankfull vnto God and yet againe let vs consider that all these come not without some punishment as this plague which is so scattered in many parts of this land especially the chief cities wherein wee must also acknowledge the great mercie of God But we are fallen into Gods hand by reason of the plague that wee haue escaped that which wee had deserued and had most cause to feare euen to fall into the hands of our enemies that they might make a pray of vs and of al that wee haue which Dauid accounted a great mercie and chose it when both of them were offered vnto him saying Let vs fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hands of men 2. Sam. 24 14. therfore let vs be thankfull vnto God for this mercie also and so ioyning thanksgiuing vnto prayer for these causes that wee haue heard let vs pray vnto God for the preseruation and honour of our Lord and King Iames whom the Lord at this time with so many great benefits hath sent vnto vs and let vs take these words of the Psalme into our mouthes from which I haue a little vpon this occasion that you haue heard of digressed and say The Lord heare thee in the day of trouble c. The Lord heare thee These are the words of the prayer of the people for Dauid their King but as Ioab taught the woman of Tekoah what she should say to the King Chap. 14.19 and did put those words into her mouth which she spake before him so Dauid made this prayer for them and taught them what they should say vnto God in his owne behalfe and did as it were put these words into their mouthes when they should come before him And so hee not onely as a King taught his subiects what dutie they did owe vnto him but as a Prophet also speaking by the inspiration of the spirit of God 2. Pet. 1.21 as other holy men that wrote the Scriptures informeth the Church of God what duties they owe to him and to their superiours Dauid teacheth the people their dutie to himselfe So that he doth not in teaching them this duty of prayer for him ambitiously seeke himselfe and stand vpon his own prerogatiue to say Oh I am your King you ought to pray for me and to doe so and so but he knew it to bee his owne dutie to informe them that were committed vnto his charge in all duties to God and men euen to himselfe and therefore doth thus discharge it knowing also that in his owne safetie did consist their welfare and therefore in praying for him which hee taught them to doe they should benefit themselues So may and ought all superiours do to their inferiours So that by his example it is lawfull for all publike persons in the Church and commonwealth to teach those that are vnder them what duties they should doe to them and to require them at their hands without all suspition of ambition vainglorie or any waies seeking themselues Yea they ought to doe it and no man to finde fault with them for it not only because all superiours must teach their inferiours but also and especially because the inferiours in doing such duties vnto them shall greatly profit themselues Thus may and ought all the Ministers of Gods word in wisedome teach the people and flocke that is committed vnto them As the Minister to their people and flocke what duties they owe not onely to God and other men but euen to themselues and in so doing not to be thought of any ambitious proud c or their doctrine any waies disliked or suspected and to shew vnto them whether for reuerence of their persons to haue thē in singular estimation for their workes sake or for obedience of their doctrine 1. Thess 5.13 Heb. 13.17 to obey it that they may goe on with cheerefulnes or for maintenance or recompence of their labours in worldly things 1. Tim. 5.17 to giue them double honour or in any thing els what they should do vnto them Not only because they be faithfull in Gods house as Moses was Heb. 3.2 and so deliuer vnto them the whole counsell of God Act. 20.27 as Paul did and so teach them all-things and therefore of necessitie there must bee a time for them but also because the people in doing these duties to them they benefit themselues For in preseruing the authoritie of the ministery of the word inuiolable in their consciences and in the consciences of others consisteth the peoples welfare So that as this people was not to except against this prayer when it came to them from Dauid for it came not by the way of intreatie as an indifferent thing but by a princely iniunction or propheticall instruction and so as a necessarie dutie of theirs and therefore they were to thinke that they were bound vnto it and that hee did necessarily require it at their hands and not to make
whether wee aske life health wealth or any outward thing els we must doe it so farre and to that end that God may be glorified in vs by them as the Prophet doth Be beneficiall to thy seruant Psal 119.17 As Dauid and Hezekiah did that I may liue and keepe thy law where he desireth to liue so as by his godly life hee might glorifie God and hee did esteeme of that as of a great benefit So did Dauid pray when he was banished by Absalom he desireth God to spare him and to continue his life that hee might praise him for in death there was no remembrance of him Psal 30.9 saying What profit is there in my blood when I goe downe to the pit Shall the dust giue thankes to thee or shall it declare thy truth And after the same manner did king Hezekiah when he was sicke vnto death also and had receiued the sentence of it against himselfe by the Prophet Isaiah he prayed That God would not take him away in the middest of his dayes for the glorie and praise of his name and this grieued him most that he should be cut off from partaking of Gods goodnesse and praysing him for it in the land of the liuing Isai 38.11 I said I shall not see the Lord euen the Lord in the land of the liuing and afterwards he addeth Vers 18. The graue cannot confesse thee death cannot praise thee they that goe downe to the pit cannot hope for thy truth but the liuing the liuing he shall confesse thee as I doe this day So wee see to what end he desired life euen that he might haue occasion still to prayse God and the Lord heard these prayers of his and added fifteene yeares to his life Let vs then examine our selues to what end we desire all that we doe whether God may be glorified in vs by them or no if we doe then may we be assured that our prayers are according to Gods will he will heare vs so soone as it shall make for his glory As for example if we desire life principally to this end We must examine our hearts to what end we desire euery thing that we may still prayse God and glorifie his name both in our calling and as we be Christians as Dauid and Hezekiah did and whether we desire children that they might be instruments of Gods glory in this world to serue him in the Church or common wealth as Hannah did and whether we desire wealth and credit that we might be the more fit to do good vnto others and to set forth the prayse of God by our almes and good deeds as Iob Iob. 31.16 Act. 9.36 and Dorcas did and to be short all other gifts of bodie to this end especially as Solomon did aske wisedome for that cause and Queene Hester did put on her royall apparrell Hest. 5.1 and drest vp her selfe well that so in the presence of the king she might find fauour in dealing for the Church of God then may we be bould with great comfort to commend them to God for in them wee seeke not our selues but his glory which is most deare to himself also But for the most part men in all things seeke themselues onely or principally and so haue them not as they desire Therefore if we lacke any thing that we haue desired and prayed for consider whether we did seeke Gods glory in it or our owne benefit if we had respect to our selues then no maruaile if we did want it that we might learne to reforme our desires For though God giueth vnto men that seeke only themselues as he doth to the wicked yea vnto the bruit beasts because he is goodnesse it selfe and would hereby draw all men vnto him yet how much more would he doe it if men did seeke his glory therein For though a master will giue his seruant that which is for his owne profit onely yet he will graunt him that suit especially which shall make for the credit of his master and whereby he may doe him the better seruice most of all when he seeth that he seeketh for it in that respect principally so will the Lord deale with all his faithful seruants much more giue them I say that sometimes wherein they respect themselues onely but most of all that whereby they desire to be furthered in his seruice and to glorifie his name a great deale more That we may reioyce in thy saluation c. As he hath in these words noted what was the end of their desires beforehand so also what should be the fruit of them afterwards and what they would doe for them namely Reioyce in this great benefit bestowed vpon them and prayse his name for it And this should be the fruit of all Gods benefits vpon vs The fruit of all Gods benefits in vs should be the prayse of his name both publike and priuat that as he by them offereth vs occasion of praising him so wee should doe it for them as wee see in the next Psalme this people do according to that that they professe here And truely then doe we rightly profit by all Gods benefits when we giue him that prayse for them that is due vnto him and when we so vse them and speake of them as God the authour of them may be honoured For to this end God giueth all and this is all that we can doe for all To prayse him in heart word and life therefore if we doe not this all is lost vpon vs. And euery one as he receiueth more from God so is he bound to this the more to sing of them to God that is to praise his name for them And to set vp their banners in his name that is to set forth his glory So that the poorest that is is bound vnto it for their life health food and rayment c. other common benefits that they inioy for whē they haue least they haue more than they haue deserued But the rich are bound vnto it a great deale more by how much they goe beyond others in Gods benefits for he did owe them nothing and he might haue made them like others yea and he can so do when he will Daniel 4.30 as he dealt with Nebuchadnezzar whom of a proud king he made a vile beast And this is so proper vnto all the benefits of God that where he speaketh of many of them he beginneth and endeth the Psalme thus My soule prayse thou the Lord. And in another Psal 103. Psal 40 3. speaking of a new benefit that God had bestowed on him he saith Thou hast put a new song of prayse into my mouth shewing what we should doe when God blesseth vs for euery benefit giue him new praises And in another Psalme praying for the forgiuenesse of his sinne he saith Open thou my lips O Lord Psal 51.15 and my mouth shall shew foorth thy prayse as if he had sayd If God shall
God had deliuered him from great dangers and would doe so still 2. Cor. 1.8 so that they would pray earnestly for him Brethren saith he we would not haue you ignorant of our affliction which came vnto vs in Asia how we were pressed out of measure passing strength so that we altogether doubted euen of life Yea we receiued the sentence of death in our selues because wee should not trust in our selues but in God who raiseth the dead Who deliuered vs from so great a death and doth deliuer vs in whom we trust that yet hereafter he will deliuer vs so that yee labour together in prayer for vs. Thus he beleeued that hee might get great good by the earnest prayers of others and therefore doth desire them Great things may be obtained when many pray together euen to bee deliuered by the power of them from many great dangers And it may bee if wee haue marked the experience of our selues and others that we may well remember what great deliuerances haue been graunted when others haue laboured in prayers for vs or wee for them if not wee may see it by the grace of God in time to come But very few account prayer such a labour or striuing as it is and so go to it coldly and trust to their own strength and so obtaine nothing Pauls hope was in this that others should striue with him in prayer so we might haue greater hope if wee sought for helpe at the prayers of others and did not trust to our owne too much If thus in all matters of moment we desire the prayers of others according to our neede it will come to passe What comfort we may haue when we haue desired the prayers of others that wee should not want the fruite of them seeing the Lord hath promised to heare them but howsoeuer things fall out with vs we shal haue this comfort of a good conscience that we haue neglected no means that God hath appointed for our good But if wee bee carelesse of the prayers of others and so doe not seeke for them besides that it may come to passe that wee shall faile of our purpose through our owne default as when one striueth alone he cannot ouercome because he hath none to ioyne with him or at least hee shall not obtaine it so soone as otherwise hee might as when one is about a thing alone hee is the longer a doing it we shall haue the lesse comfort or more griefe because we neglected some meanes that might haue done vs good We must then be perswaded that the prayers of others may doe vs good and that wee neede them and so accordingly desire them In the daies of ignorance and superstition men gaue much to haue a continuall Masse for them that is In Poperie they maintained others to pray for them to pray for their soules and there were Beadmen also as they called them appointed for that purpose to pray for the liuing and for the dead and were maintained by the goods of the Church to that end which prayers of theirs because they were in an vnknowne tongue and so without vnderstanding and also not according to the word of God and so without faith could doe them no good yet this truth they aimed at though in darknes and as blind men that the prayers of others were so auaileable for them that euen in that respect onely they gaue much yeerely vnto those that should pray for them And truly if they had prayed aright they might by their prayers haue giuen more than they receiued for they might haue obtained great things of the Lord for them But here was another great abuse of that time in these prayers also that they hauing others thus to pray for them they rested in that and so neglected their owne prayers the more and thought that they might doe it with the lesse danger for they had others that prayed for them continually and so that that was wanting in themselues was supplied by others Dauid was of another minde for heere by his practise we haue an example of one that so desireth the prayers of others as that hee purposeth not to neglect prayer himselfe or to vse it any whit the lesse for that but to vse it rather the more willing them to pray God to heare his prayers so that if he did not pray himselfe their prayers should do him no good but it should be al one with him as if one should desire a man to set his hand to a blank and so he should preferre that as a supplication for him to the Prince So we are to desire others to pray for vs but in the meane season we must not neglect to pray for our selues Obiection But it may seeme superfluous and more then needed that Dauid should thus desire the prayers of the people for they were his subiects and therefore as in that respect they did owe other duties vnto him so this of praier most of all according to the exhortation of the Apostle who willeth 1. Tim. 2.1.2 that supplications prayers intercessions and giuing of thankes be made for all men and namely for Kings and for all that are in authoritie therfore it is like that they would not neglect it though he had not admonished them of it Besides it was a publike cause that hee dealt in euen against the open enemies of the whole realme against whom he went to warre and so it concerned them as well as himselfe for the enemies came not against his person onely but against them all and so they could not forget him their King vnlesse they forgat themselues Answere Yet because he knew that men naturally are forgetfull and so if they were not put in minde of it they might either wholy neglect it or not doe it so throughly as they should hee put them in minde to pray for himselfe and giueth them a forme of it and so telleth them what they should say This should moue vs to put our dearest friends in minde of vs and call vpon them to pray for vs Our dearest friends had neede to be put in mind to pray for vs. yea when they know our estate best and what great neede wee haue of the prayers of others for they may forget vs sometimes though they wish vs well And as through forgetfulnes they may neglect other duties which yet they are willing generally to performe as not to visite vs to send to vs to write to vs as often as they should and wee looke for at their hands so much more not to pray for vs for many times they that doe the former in great measure neglect this wholy or in a great part Wee finde by experience that many times yea when wee are spoken to of our friends wee remember not all but forget many things why should we not think then that others may forget vs if they be not put in minde Parents are bound to pray for their children and they should
rebellions attempted at home Therefore wee haue great cause to pray for the life of our King and the rather for that wee see how his life hath been desperatly sought by diuers as appeareth by the confession of some who are in prison at the least for suspition of treason Now if they begin thus malitiously and impudently so soone what will they not dare to doe hereafter if God and good lawes doe not suppresse them And truly by this experience that we haue that euill things thus determined in secret are wonderfully disclosed and brought to light before hand and the malefactors apprehended and taken we may see the fruit of our former prayers for his Maiestie and that should incourage vs with good hope to pray for him still Nay we haue longer experience of the fruite of our prayers for our Princes in the time of good Queen Elizabeth whose life was so often sought and so desperatly that she might truly say with the Psalmist They haue often times afflicted mee from my youth Psal 129.2 but they could not preuaile against me for she went to her graue with peace full of daies threescore and nine which is a great age for a Prince when she had happily and peaceably raigned fiue and fortie yeeres Let vs labour then as much as in vs lieth to draw out by our prayers the life of our most gracious Soueraigne as an euen thred to the full for as the Lord God hath ordained the thing so also the meanes which we for our part must not neglect And let vs pray not onely for his royall person but also for his gouernment that vnder him wee may leade a quiet and a peaceable life in al godlinesse and honestie 1. Tim. 2.2 as the Apostle speaketh vnto Timothy and namely that at the next Parliament good lawes may be made for the reformation of all things that are amisse in the Church common-wealth This sermon fell out vpon that day which caused this digression And seeing that we are commanded to keepe the memory of this day with publike thanksgiuing for a famous and memorable deliuerance bestowed vpon his Maiestie in his Realme of Scotland from the treasonable conspiracie of the Earle of Gowry and his complices of whom in that respect we may say as it is in the Psalme If the Lord had not been on his side Psal 124.2 3 4 c. when men rose vp against him they had then swallowed him vp quick when their wrath was kindled against him then the water had drowned him and the streames had gone ouer his soule But praised be the Lord which hath not giuen him as a pray vnto their teeth his soule is escaped out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and he is deliuered it falleth out not vnfitly with the argument that out of this text we haue in hand For as Dauid in this Psalme teacheth the people to pray for him and in the next to giue thankes so it is our bound dutie not onely to pray to God for him but to giue thankes for him as the Apostle also speaking of the duties of the people to their kings which he exhorteth Timothy to teach and to practise ioyneth these two together saying I exhort that supplications prayers intercessions 1. Tim. 2.1 and giuing of thankes be made for Kings and for all that are in authoritie And there is great reason that wee should thus doe What cause we haue to giue thankes to God for our King for if wee ought to bee thankfull vnto God for other common benefits as peace libertie the Gospell and such like then also for him by whom wee hold them Therefore among other benefits let vs continually remember this and see how wee faile therein and in our thanksgiuing remember other priuate benefits and not this great one or not so much as we should And though we must needes confesse that we haue great cause to be sorie for the death of our late Queene Elizabeth by whose wise gouernment we inioyed so many great benefits that we might much more truly say of her than Dauid did of Saul in his lamentation 2. Sam. 1.24 that she cloathed vs in skarlet with pleasures and hanged ornaments of gold vpon our apparel yet we must see and confesse to the praise of God as the truth is that we haue great cause to reioice that the Lord hath prouided one to succeed in her roome when her time was expired that it might not bee said of vs as it was of the Iewes in the daies of the Iudges Iudg. 18.1 that there was then no King in Israel and so we should haue bin as sheepe without a shepheard scattered here and there as it is said of the Israelites when King Ahab was slaine in the battell These haue no master let them returne euery man to his house in peace 2. Chron. 18.16 Then haue we much more cause to be thankfull that God hath raised vp him for vs In respect that he is right heire to the Crowne euen the right heire to the Crowne both by father and mother they two being the lawfull grand-children of the Ladie Margarite sometimes Queene of Scots by mariage and eldest daughter to King Henry the seuenth where if the Nobilitie had set vp some other of the bloud royall further off there must needes haue been great ciuill warres to the spilling of many thousand English mens blood and some of them should haue died in an ill cause ignorantly or against their wils as when the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster were a long time diuided in this land And then also some forrainer might easily by their owne power and by the helpe of the Papists and other mutinous and malecontented persons haue soon set footing into this Isle which would not so easily haue been driuen out againe And besides all this wee haue great cause to bee thankfull And so rarely qualited for the kingdome that he being the right heire is so wonderfully qualited for the kingdome that as the Queene lately deceased was a rare woman fit for the Crowne by election if not by inheritance so he a very rare man for all parts of soule and bodie and that the Lord did so fit him for this place and then sent him vnto vs that he came not as Saul in Gods wrath who was a cruell tyrant but as Dauid in Gods mercie to feede his people in Iacob Psal 78.71 and his inheritance in Israel And for his royall posteritie Act. 13.36 And this is no small benefit that he hath a royall posteritie to succeed in the throne of the kingdom least when he should haue serued his time by the counsel of God and so fall asleepe and be laid with his fathers we should be in a new feare And what should we say of this that he came to the Crowne so vnlooked for For though it was his inheritance yet such was the wisedome of
prayer euen that it is an inward desire of the heart vnto God for some thing which he that is the onely searcher of the heart knoweth and so is able to satisfie VVhich is so to be vnderstood not that we should vse no words at all in prayer for they are sometimes necessarie as not only when many pray together that one should speake out aloud that the rest might heare and say Amen but euen many times when we pray alone by our selues that by our speech our minds might be stirred vp and also kept vpon that that wee speake But euen then the substance of our prayer is in the desire of the heart and our words are but signes to testifie and declare the same Though words be vsed yet the desire of the hart is the chiefest so that there can be no true prayer at all without the desire of the heart but there may be very effectuall prayer without words and when in prayer both doth concurre words and desires God respecteth this later more than the former and the desires of our hearts doe crie lowder in the eares of the Lord of hoasts than all the words that we can vse be they neuer so many and so vehement And though desires without words are effectuall yet words without the desire of the heart is nothing worth and therefore Dauid though he vsed both yet here nameth this onely and after when he giueth thankes to God for hearing of his prayers though hee nameth both yet hee placeth this first Psal 21.2 as the chiefe saying Thou hast giuen him his hearts desire and hast not denied him the request of his lips Therefore when we pray let vs prepare our hearts that they may be full of holy desires and in prayer let vs hold out in them and not suffer them to fall for when they decay and die then doe we cease praying though our lips mooue still neuer so fast And so all they that pray in a strange tongue and know not what they say as is the manner of the Papists and so cannot possibly haue any desire in their heart of that that they speake doe not pray at all And therefore though they boast greatly of prayer and say that they did continually pray because they had their beads about them Without which words are not regarded and their lips were going yet in truth there was not neither could there be any prayer at all among them And besides all they in our daies who in the time of prayer haue their minds otherwise occupied than about that that is prayed for though they kneele downe lift vp their eyes and hands and say Amen with the rest do not pray one whit but are as farre from praying as can be though they seeme vnto others to pray very deuoutly Therefore when we come hether to the house of prayer to pray together and one of vs for another they and they only haue the benefit of common prayer who haue their minds attent vpon that that is said and desire from their heart the same thing with the rest For here we pray to God that he would giue to euery one according to his desire if then either they be asleepe or talking or gazing about or otherwise busie then we pray that God would giue them nothing for they desire nothing And hereunto agreeth that which the virgine Marie saith in her song He hath filled the hungry with good things Luk. 1.53 and sent away the rich emptie VVhere she confesseth that those who desire good things of God earnestly as the hungry and thirstie desire meat and drinke those he filleth and bestoweth plentifully vpon them vnto their contentment but they that are rich and full as it were in their owne opinion and so desire nothing of God as they should they receiue nothing but are sent away as emptie as they come And this is so certaine that in prayer God looketh into the heart wholly that it that be mooued to desire earnestly though we speake not a word it is sufficient he knoweth well ynough what we pray for and will graunt it as soone as though we had vsed all the words that might be to persuade For thus it is said of Hannah when she prayed in the temple because she was barren She spake in her heart her lips did mooue only 1. Sam. 1.13 but her voice was not heard and when Hely thought that she had beene drunken because he saw her lips mooue but heard no voice God heareth the desire of the heart whē there are no wordes and told her of it saying How long wilt thou be drunken she answered and said Nay my lord but I am a woman troubled in spirit and haue poured out my soule before the Lord. Then he praied vnto God for her that he would graunt her this petition that she had made in her heart without words and the Lord did so and gaue her a manchild which she prayed for as her selfe doth afterwards confesse Thus we see that God heareth the desire of the heart when there are no words as on the contrarie he careth not for all the words that can be vsed without this desire After this manner also did Nehemiah pray and was heard for when he was waiting at the Kings table for he was his butler by reason of the ill newes which he heard of the Church of God a little before it was perceiued that his countenance was more sad than it was wont to be in former times and the king asked him the cause of it seeing that he was not sicke and said certainely it was nothing else but sorrow of heart Nehem. 2.1 Then Nehemiah told him the cause of it and the king most gratiously bad him require what he would and so he desired of him as it is set downe there But first of all it is said Verse 4. That he prayed to the God of heauen which must needs be thus vnderstood that he did stoutly lift vp his mind vnto God according as the time and place did then require and desired him to blesse him and to mooue the heart of the king to be fauourable towards him for it was not fit for him then to haue kneeled downe and to haue spoken aloud and so haue made a long prayer when the king was at meat and so he offered vp the desire of his heart vnto God though he spake nothing and God graunted it And this is so vndoubtedly true that God in prayer looketh to the desire of the heart Rom. 8.26 that it is said That when we know not what to pray as we ought the spirit of God it selfe maketh request for vs with sighes that cannot be expressed and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the meaning of the spirit for hee maketh request for the Saints according to the will of God So that when we for paine of bodie or griefe of mind cannot speake one word aright then the very sighes and
and people to rule than he and so his kingdome much bigger yet that was the cause of the ouerthrow and vtter ruine almost of his house For to say nothing of this how Edom presently rebelled and fell away from him and made a king ouer them Vers 8. nor how Iehoram fell into idolatrie after the manner of the kings of Israel and compelled the people thereunto Otherwise they may fall out to a clean contrary end for which he came to a miserable end being sicke of sore diseases so that his guts fell out at the end of two yeares all his children afterwards were slaine by the Aramites sauing the youngest whom they made king in his fathers roome and this man Ahaziah was slaine by Iehu Chap. 22.7 and it is said that his destruction came of God in that he went to Ioram his fathers brother by mariage being the sonne of Ahab for when he was come to him he went foorth with Iehoram against Iehu the sonne of Nimshi whom the Lord had annointed to destroy the house of Ahab And so doth it fall out with many in this kind euen in our daies when they doe not commend their purposes to God in prayer to direct them and blesse them as Iehoshaphat though a good man yet in this action had not his direction from God neither is it set downe in the text that he sought it of him But it fell out well in the marriage of Izaak But it succeeded more happily with Abraham who when he sent his seruant to prouide a wife for his sonne Izaack as he did direct him in the right way and assured him of good successe by the promise of God Gen. 24 7. saying That he would send his Angell before him so this man his seruant prayed vnto God that he would prosper him Verse 42. O Lord God of my master Abraham if thou now prosper my iourney which I goe c. And Izaack also for whom this marriage was sought did not neglect to pray vnto God for good successe and to fulfill his fathers good purpose towards him Verse 63. for it is said that whiles his fathers seruant was in his iourney he went out to pray in the field toward the euening and so God did heare all their prayers and gaue good successe to this purpose of mariage So is it in all matters for the world So is it for matters of the world a man thinketh to enrich himselfe and therefore he mindeth to buy sell or to take a farme or to deale in marchandise c. and euen the same things turne to his vtter decay and by that meanes they find it to be true Psal 127.2 That it is in vaine to rise vp early and to goe to bed late and to fare hardly for either in them they shall not prosper or els there shall come some great losse that shall hinder them that they might learne by experience to commend all their purposes to God in prayer Therefore whatsoeuer good we purpose either for our selues or for our children or for our friends let vs pray heartely vnto God to fulfill them els we may purpose one thing and God by the same meanes that we vse shall bring to passe another And how God can alter mens purposes we see it in the example of Iacob God can alter all mens purposes Gen. 37.14 and of his children He sent his sonne Ioseph into the fields to his brethren who were there keeping of his sheepe with this errand Goe see whether it be well with thy brethren and how the flockes prosper and bring me word againe Thus we see what he purposed in sending him forth But when he came among them they sold him into another countrey and sent his coat home to his father dipped in blood as though he had been slaine with some wild beast so Iacob was disappointed of his purpose And so were the brethren of Ioseph also for first of all they sought to kill him and after they sold him for a seruant that he might neuer be aboue them according to that which God had shewed him in dreames but by this meanes he came into Aegypt and there in processe of time he was made ruler of the whole land and in the time of famine his brethren came thither to buy corne bowed before him did him great reuerence when they knew it not and so Gods purpose was established and not theirs who had sent him thither beforehand for their preseruation Chap. 48.5 as himselfe afterwards doth confesse vnto them The like may be said of our owne iournies As when they purpose any iournie A man shall purpose such a thing to goe to such a place at such a time and either things shall so fall out from day to day that he shall not compasse it and so it shall still be deferred against his will or els when he doth go things shall fall out otherwise with him than he thought and so he shall goe to another end than he purposed at the first And this the Apostle Paule by good obseruation confesseth of himselfe Rom. 1.10 That he had a long time purposed to come to Rome that he might preach the Gospell there to them as he had done vnto others yet he was put off from the execution of this purpose many yeares and at the last he commeth thither but after another manner and not as he looked for for he was sent thither as a prisoner and was caried by force he being compelled beforehand by the malice of the Iewes who sought to kill him secretly Act. 23.12 and fortie men had bound themselues with an oath to doe it to appeale vnto Caesar the Emperour of Rome Let vs therefore submit all our purposes to the will of God Thus he had not his purpose in his iourney when and as he would Therefore let vs submit all our purposes vnto the will of God and desire him to haue them fulfilled so farre forth as it pleaseth him as Paule did praying that at one time or other he might haue a prosperous iourny by the will of God to come vnto them and when we see that it is not his will as Paule sayth Rom. 1.13 he was hetherto letted let vs be contented to stay at home and to be crossed in our purposes And yet if our desires be good let vs continue in them and pray as he did that at one time or other we might haue a prosperous iourney by the will of God And let vs not be so obstinatly set vpon any thing as the manner of some is that we should be restlesse when we haue not our mind and purpose in euery thing for then if we be headstrong as the Lord can hinder vs whether we will or no so if we will needs doe according to our owne purpose we shall find that all things shall not fall out as we looked for And this we see plainely in
the example of Balaam the sorcerer who would needs goe at the request of Baalack king of Moab Else he can crosse and punish vs in them in hope of great gaine and preferment that was promised vnto him to curse the Israelits and so to root them out by his inchantments The Lord did sufficiently shew him by the course of his prouidence and ill successe that he had in the way that it was not his will that he should goe Num. 23.7 8. yet he would needs goe on But when he came there he was driuen to doe cleane contrarie to his purpose euen to blesse them though he sought diuers times and set his diuinations to curse them wherupon the king of Moab was greatly angry with him and it is most like that he lost his reward and so he was disappointed of his purpose in this iourney where he was not contented to be ordered by the Lord but would go as it were against his will And in his returne home he was slaine in battell by the Israelites Num. 31.8 Thus when he thought that he had had his purpose then did he most of all misse of it because God did not fulfill it Therefore when we purpose any thing and haue taken counsell for it and haue also very good meanes to bring it to passe let vs pray vnto God that if it be his holy will he would fulfill it And in matters of great moment let vs not content our selues with our owne prayers but desire others to pray to God for vs as Dauid did here desire the people thus to pray to God for him The Lord graunt thee according to thine heart and fulfill all thy purpose so may we speed well of our purposes as he did And when we haue purposed so and so and it hath fallen out otherwise not according to our purpose as in many things often it doth and they that are wise to obserue things shall soone perceiue it it is to teach vs to depend vpon Gods prouidence who onely bringeth all things to passe according to his owne decree and let vs make that good vse of it That when we see how in disappointing vs of our purposes the Lord hath sometimes prouided better for vs than we had purposed our selues How we shold profit when we are disappointed of our purposes we might be thankefull vnto him and learne thereby in all things to depend vpon him who hath so greatly shewed his care ouer vs and not to trust too much to our selues As we must needs confesse that in many things the Lord hath thus dealt with vs. But if things fall out worse with vs than we had purposed as sometimes also it doth we see how God can hinder vs of our best purposes that so we may alwaies in them pray vnto him that he would blesse them And let vs for all our life past and for all things that haue befallen vs in the same acknowledge and confesse as the truth is to the glorie of God our own cōfort That whatsoeuer good we haue purposed for our owne benefit or the welfare of others and it hath so come to passe that it was God only that did fulfill them And whē they be fulfilled whatsoeuer the meanes were for both they and the successe of them were of him and so let vs be thankefull vnto him for the same And let vs not ascribe them either to our good fortune and chance as though things fell out vncertainely we know not how neither to our owne wit and policie to our own strength and power as though we were sufficient in our selues as many are too ready to say I may thanke my good fortune for such a thing or I may thanke my selfe for it or my wit or my hands for this that I haue but let vs thanke God who onely bringeth to passe the purposes of all men So shall we for the time to come learne to depend vpon him for our selues and for all ours beyond that that we can see when as we remember how for the time past he hath prouided better for vs than we had purposed or could haue done for our selues VVhereas when it is otherwise God looseth his praise and we the fruit of his fatherly dealing and mercifull prouidence towards vs. And this is that that we haue to obserue out of the fourth verse The fifteenth Sermon vpon the fifth verse That we may reioyce in thy saluation and set vp our banners in the name of our God when the Lord shall performe all thy petitions HEre the first part of the praier is continued and ended The meaning of the fifth verse I meane the petitions which the people make for the king where they shew why and wherefore they are so desirous that God would thus heare and defend him namely that so not only he but all they euen the whole Church of God might reioyce in that saluation that God should bestow vpon him For they spake before of the king and for him they did pray and so this word thy is to be referred vnto him and they meane that defence and safegard that God should bestow vpon him and his armie VVherein they were taught to acknowledge themselues to haue a part in the affaires of the king were they prosperous or vnprosperous as all subiects must thus thinke of their kings and princes This word reioyce others doe translate sing of thy saluation which is all one in sence sauing that the one is the cause and the other is the effect For ioy often causeth singing and singing commonly argueth ioy as the Apostle saith Is any among you merrie Iam 5.13 let him sing VVhat then would they sing of the saluation and defence of their king and so they meane that they would praise God for it And thus the end of their prayer is the glory of God that they reciuing so great a benefit from him in the person of their king might be so affected with ioy that they might sing forth publikely the prayse of God for it as afterwards they did And this they expresse more fully in the next words when as they say And set vp our banners in the name of our God c. that is That we thus hauing the victory and triumphing ouer our enemies might as conquerors not onely inwardly reioyce but outwardly declare it not to our owne prayse or the prayse of our king so much but to the glory of the name of our God VVhen he shall fulfill all thy petitions as it followeth in the text namely of the king for whom they pray So that here still they pray God to graunt all his petitions but they bring this as a reason to moue him thereunto or to confirrme their owne faith that he will so doe That they might haue cause to praise the name of God And so they shew before hand what they mind to doe when God shall thus blesse the king and his people namely they will
there was great sorrow among the Iewes and fasting and weeping and mourning and many lay in sackcloth and ashes but they all prayed vnto God and he deliuered them and saued them from their enemies Chap. 9.17 and turned the dayes of famine into the daies of feasting and ioy So let vs giue our selues vnto continuall prayer that the Lord may be entreated of vs at the last and so in his appointed time it may come to passe that whereas many of the chiefe cities and townes amongst vs haue beene a long time in great perplexitie by reason of this grieuous pestilence and contagious mortalititie and in all places of this realme besides whither tidings of their estate hath and doth weekely come they haue been in sorrow and great heauinesse and in weeping and mourning and fasting now there may be cause of reioysing and praysing God and these dayes of sorrow and fasting may bee turned into the dayes of great ioy and feasting That so we may as this people wish for themselues here reioyce when he shall fulfill all our petitions VVhich the Lord of his infinit mercie graunt for Iesus Christs sake Amen The sixteenth Sermon vpon the fifth verse That we may reioyce in thy saluation c. AS they bring this for a reason in their prayer to mooue the Lord to bestow vpon them this benefit so here they professe that if hee will vouchsafe so to doe they would reioyce indeed and bee glad and as they should haue cause From whence wee may learne how we ought to be affected with the common benefits of our time We ought to reioyce in the common benefits of our time as here they speake of publicke blessing namely victorie ouer their enemies and so of common peace and tranquilitie that should follow namely that we should take them from God as matter of great ioy And as when there is any common affliction and plague in the land of what kind soeuer wee should be affected with it and be sorrowfull for it and not haue that stoninesse and hardnesse of heart that is in too many whereby it should come to passe that wee should make light of such things and not be mooued with them as we ought So we should be touched with the consideration of the common benefits to reioice in them because we haue our part in them and the greater that those benefits be the more should we reioyce in them and the more should be our ioy for them or else we cannot be so thankefull vnto God for them as we ought VVee should not then be so carelesse that we should not marke the common benefits of our time nor so blockish and hard hearted that in marking of them we should not reioyce in them For we see that the seruants of God in their seuerall ages and times haue not onely greatly reioyced in the common benefits of the Church and Commonwealth wherein they haue had their part with the rest of their brethren but they haue openly professed it to the glorie of God and the good example of others As when they returned from the captiuitie of Babylon where they had beene long not onely in a strange countrey but vnder idolaters now when they come home and haue the freedome of their conscience in Gods seruice and that in their own countrey they were not onely filled with ioy but they speak of it among themselues to their mutuall comfort and as when they went out they wept and were touched with the common miserie of that time and put away all tokens of ioy from them Psal 137.2 For by the waters of Babylon they hanged their harpes vpon the willowes and said that they would not sing the Lords song in a strange land so in their returne they speake otherwise of themselues for as the benefit was so great and so vnlooked for of many Psal 126.1 That when the Lord brought againe the captiuitie of Sion they were like them that dreame so their ioy was so great that they say Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with ioy and they say The Lord hath done great things for vs whereof we reioyce The Lord hath vouchsafed vs and our forefathers the like mercie in deliuering vs long ago from the tyrannie of the Pope As that we are deliuered frō poperie and of his idolatrie and giuen vs this freedome of the gospell in our owne countrey we must so consider of it That as those holy men that wanted it so prayed for it that they might reioyce as this people doth here for another benefit so now we that haue it might reioyce in it indeed and not to be so sencelesse and void of feeling as many are not at all or very little to be mooued with so great cause of ioy The like may be said of all other common benefits whatsoeuer as when Salomon was appointed to be king in his father Dauids roome and this was done with the common consent of all the nobles and chiefe men of the realme it is said they gaue thankes vnto God and were exceedingly glad 1. Chron. 29.20 For Dauid said vnto them Now blesse the Lord your God and all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers and bowed down their heads and worshipped the Lord and the king And they did eat and drinke before the Lord the same day with great ioy and they made Salomon the sonne of Dauid king the second time So this great benefit to haue one good prince to succeed another peaceably And then wee haue one good prince to succeed another was vnto them matters of great ioy In which respect we haue no lesse cause to reioyce than they that after the death of our late Soueraigne Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie by whom we did enioy many great benefits who did restore religion and tooke order for the seruice seruants of the Lord as Dauid did we haue one in Gods great mercie to succeed that maintaineth the Gospell and that he is peaceably come to the Crowne as Salomon was then so that neither we are fallen into the hands of our enemies nor giuen vp vnto Popish idolatrie as both of them were greatly feared But as this benefit was greatly desired of many before and they thought that then they would reioice and otherwise they could not so we that enioy it must reioyce in it and so consider of the greatnesse of it that our hearts may be made glad with it and that wee may eat and drinke before the Lord and vse other of his benefits as in his presence with great ioy So is it said afterwards in the dayes of this Salomon when he had builded and made an end of the temple of the Lord and had with solemne prayers and sacrifices dedicated it vnto his seruice all the people of the land that came vp to Ierusalem to the dedication of that house when all things were finished The king sent away into their tents
wherewith they are kept from cold when others goe halfe naked quake for cold their food in aboundance and of the best both for necessitie and delight when others are pinched with hunger haue but bread and drinke and not ynough of that who themselues and their children do eat by measure and by weight to draw out their food at length their soft and warme lodging when others lie hard and cold and scarcely can be warme all night These and many things els can put them in mind from day to night and from night to day what great cause they haue to reioyce aboue many others Let them then in the name of God so consider of them that they may reioyce for God hath giuen them to them to that end as Salomon saith in the booke of the Preacher Eccle. 2.24 That this is the fruit of all that a man can haue of all that he hath to eat and to drinke and to reioyce in the blessings of God and yet that also is the gift of God as he confesseth there Therefore they aboue all others must confesse that God hath giuen them great cause of ioy and nothing can so befall them vnlesse God take all away from them as hee did from Iob but they must needs acknowledge that still they haue cause to reioice So that it is not onely lawfull for them in and for these to reioice but it is necessarie that they should doe so and it is required at their hands insomuch that if they were so blind that they would not confesse that they had great cause of ioy all men would by the benefits which they enioy in great number witnesse against them and if they were so froward that they would not reioice all men would condemne them for it And thus we see that all sorts in respect of Gods benefits which he hath bestowed vpon them haue cause to reioice The prayse of God must be the fruit of our ioy But what is to be done in this ioy and for all these causes of ioy it followeth in the next words of the text on this wise And set vp our banners in the name of our God that is praise God for them for we see here how they are ioyned together That we may reioice in thy saluation and set vp our banners in the name of the Lord our God So they say that this should be the fruit of their ioy they would praise God in it for the cause of it And this ought to be the fruit of true ioy in all men and for all things For as all good and godly sorrow should driue vs vnto prayer that God might turne that away from vs or remooue it for which we doe sorrow so on the contrarie all true and godly ioy should driue vs to thankesgiuing for that which is the cause of our ioy And as herein godly and wordly sorrow differ that the one many times driueth to despaire or causeth sicknesse and so death in the end 2. Cor. 7.10 the other causeth repentance neuer to bee repented of and so prayer to God for the forgiuenesse of our sinnes which haue iustly brought vpon vs that cause of sorrow So on the other side herein godly ioy differeth from worldly ioy the one maketh a man secure and to forget God and to rest in himselfe and sometimes to be prophane and to keep no measure in things but to abuse that that he hath but the other inlargeth the heart to praise God and maketh him to goe out of the things themselues the causes of his ioy vnto God the author of them And thus doth the Apostle very excellently by these fruits note out vnto vs true sorrow Iam. 5.13 and true ioy when he saith Is any among you afflicted let him pray Is any merrie let him sing where hee maketh prayer the fruit of sorrow in affliction and thankesgiuing the fruit of ioy in Gods benefits And S. Paule doth shew vs at large the difference betweene the worldly ioy of the wicked and the godly ioy of the righteous when he sayth to the Ephesians Ephe. 5.18 Be not drunke with wine wherein is excesse but be fulfilled with the spirit speaking vnto your selues in Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing and making melodie to the Lord in your hearts And therein true ioy differeth from all worldly ioy giuing thankes alwaies for all things vnto God euen the father in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ wherein one kind as in feasting which is lawfull and common to the good and bad and which is an honest means to make men merry and glad hee sheweth the diuersitie of the mirth of the one and of the other The men of this world they exceed and fall into the abuse of Gods creatures sometimes till they be drunken or haue surfeited and so also giue themselues vnto that mirth which is excessiue and immoderat and sometimes yea commonly ioyned with prophane scoffing or some wickednesse The children of God vsing his creatures soberly and in his presence euen at their feasts doe thereby prouoke one another to prayse God and make themselues merry in God and as in his sight VVee see then what should be the fruit of our ioy in Gods benefits namely the prayse of God and to what end also hee giueth to vs so many things wherein we may reioyce euen that he might haue the whole glorie and prayse of them So that whether we be poore or we be rich haue we more or haue we lesse to reioyce in this must be the fruit of all that we praise God for such things as make vs to reioyce And so as there is none in the world but hee hath some cause of ioy so the Lord looketh for continuall prayse at the hands of vs all but as many haue more cause to reioyce than others Thus all haue cause to praise God by reason of the manifold blessings which they enioy aboue them so he looketh for more prayse and thankes at their hands than of others as there is good cause For to whom much is giuen of them much shall be required VVhich if they doe not labour to performe and profit by Gods benefits and by their ioy in them to that end it may come to passe that the wicked may haue as much ioy in the things that they possesse as themselues yea the very vnreasonable creatures and the brute beasts in their kind for if our ioy end not in the prayse of God what are we better for it than they Therefore it is not ynough for a man to say I liue merrily and at my hearts ease I haue many causes of ioy I am void of sorrow and griefe I haue nothing that doth trouble me but am in continuall mirth it is not ynough I say to be in this estate and thus to boast and say but we must labour to be thankefull vnto God for it who is the cause of it let our ioy in these
things lead vs vnto him then shall it appeare in truth that our ioy is not so much carnall as spirituall not altogether worldly but heauenly Thus haue the seruants of God behaued themselues in time past in the midst of their ioy as that good king Iehoshaphat and his people when God gaue them victorie ouer their enemies according to their prayer euen ouer that great hoast of the Ammonites and the Moabites and those of mount Seir of whom it is thus written 2 Chron. 20 25. That they destroyed one another So that when Iudah came to Mizpeh in the wildernesse they looked vnto the multitude The godly haue ended their greatest ioy with thāksgiuing and behold the carkasses were fallen on the earth and none escaped and when Iehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoile of them they found among them in abundance both of substance and also of bodies laden with pretious iewels which they tooke for themselues till they could cary no longer for they were three dayes in gathering of the spoile for it was much Then euery man of Iudah and Ierusalem returned with Iehoshaphat their head to goe againe to Ierusalem with ioy for the Lord had made them to reioyce ouer their enemies Thus they reioyced greatly as they had cause both for the victory and for the spoile but what followed vpon that the praise of God for it is said in the verse going before That in the fourth day they assembled themselues in the valley of Berachah for there they blessed the Lord therefore they called the name of the place the valley of Berachah that is of blessing or praysing of God vnto this day So that as their ioy was great so was their thankesgiuing and praise to God great and famous so that the place had the name of it And they did not tarrie vntill they came home to Ierusalem to giue thankes there which yet it is most like that afterwards they did but euen in that place where God gaue them cause of ioy and whilest that lasted that they might doe it the better So we see that they practised that which is spoken of here they so reioyced in the saluation that God gaue to the king and to all the people that they did set vp their banners in his name when he had fulfilled their petitions which they had made vnto him before So must we also in all feares that we be in when God shall deliuer vs out of them as he did these and so giue vs cause to reioyce we must prayse his name for it as they did As for example when it shall please God to put an end euery where vnto this great mortalitie of the pestilence that hath a long time beene in many places of this land and is still then all shall haue cause to reioyce So must we do when God shall make vs glad by taking away this plague But as we meet now from weeke to weeke and from day to day to pray to God for it so must wee then meet againe in the valley of Berachah to prayse him for it that is we must publickely and often meet to giue thankes vnto him and to set vp our banners in his name that hath so gratiously fulfilled our petitions And in the meane season looke in how many feares we haue beene in either of that or of any other thing and haue escaped it and so now we are glad we must yeeld so many prayses vnto God for the same That vertuous woman Hannah when she had by prayer obtained the benefit of a sonne she greatly reioyced as she had cause and as she confesseth her selfe saying My soule reioyceth in the Lord my horne is exalted in the Lord 1. Sam. 2.1 c. Before that she was sad and wept and could not eat her meat nor hide her griefe because her barrennesse was reprochfull vnto her but now she reioyceth and in this ioy looketh vp to God and prayseth him saying Mine heart reioyceth in the Lord and she maketh a song of thankesgiuing vnto God as appeareth by the wordes following So must we doe in all the benefits that God bestoweth vpon vs I meane not only reioyce in them as naturall men but prayse God for them as spirituall that so our ioy might be such as it should Let vs then consider in the feare of God how many times we haue reioyced and that with exceeding great ioy when God hath had no praise nor thanks from vs at all know assuredly that that ioy hath not bin rightly ordered for God doth make vs reioice not for our selues alone but for himselfe also yea principally that he might be praysed for it Therefore we must be carefull that these two goe together alwayes namely our owne reioycing and the prayse of God As the blessed virgin Marie doth ioyne them together in her song Luke 1.56 My soule magnifieth the Lord and my spirit reioyceth in God my Sauiour where she ioyneth her owne ioy with the praise of God and maketh the one the cause of the other So that whether wee ioy in the common benefits of our time wee must prayse God for them as Iehoshaphat and his people did or wee reioyce in our priuat benefits as Hannah and Marie did we must prayse God for them so shall our ioy be not onely comfortable to our selues Our ioy and Gods prayse should goe together but acceptable vnto God and profitable vnto others when as the more benefits that we haue the more we reioyce and the more we reioyce the more thankefull are we to God for the same VVe doe not therefore find fault with myrth we forbid not men to be merry be it farre from vs that we should be so Stoicall seuere nay we exhort all men to it and shew that they ought when God giueth them cause only that kind of myrth is condemned in the Scripture which tendeth to the dishonour of God or when they fall into excesse or they cannot be merry but they will be mad also as we say so that they throw firebrands and deadly things and say Prou. 26.19 They are but in sport as Solomon speaketh of them or that kind of myrth wherein God hath no prayse at all which is the best kind of myrth that the wicked and men of this world haue VVe allow of that wherein God is praysed and of that onely for though we be not bound in all our myrth to sing Psalmes neither indeed can we yet after all our myrth both for it and for all causes of it we should giue thankes vnto God But many are so farre from this that they reioyce in such things for which they cannot prayse God yea for such which it is shame once to name whom we leaue vnto God that he may giue them better minds others though they haue cause of honest and lawfull ioy yet they forget to be thankefull for it for whom let vs pray also and for our selues
God when they are so qualited for them as he hath required in his word and when they came to them by such lawfull choise as he hath appointed That so euery one doing that which God requireth of them in the same they might as any trouble shall come vpon them or any difficultie shall befall them they might I say with comfort and in faith pray that God would heare and helpe them they being his anointed that is come to those places by his appointment Euen vnto the meanest calling as of being a seruant And this as it is requisit in euery calling or state of life that one is in euen vnto the meanest to be persuaded That they are placed in them by God so there is great comfort therein whatsoeuer shall befall them in the same As the Apostle speaketh of the calling of a seruant 1. Cor. 7.17 and of being called vnto the estate of marriage and saith of them and of all others generally That as God hath distributed to euery man and as the Lord hath called euery one so let him walke and so ordaine I in all Churches VVhere he warneth euery man generally to liue with a contented mind in the Lord what state or condition of life so euer he be in and therfore he telleth him that it is that trade of life which God hath distributed vnto them which he hath called them vnto So that a seruant must be persuaded Ephe. 6.6 that God hath called him to that place and therefore as he must make conscience of doing faithfull seruice not to the eye as men pleasers but as the seruants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will seruing the Lord and not men as he writeth to the Ephesians So also from this persuasion of his calling hee may pray vnto God to defend him against all wrongs Vers 8. and to assist him in all things euen as Saint Paule in the same place biddeth to that end know That whatsoeuer good thing any man doth the same shall he receiue of the Lord whether he be bond or free So that seruants being persuaded of the lawfulnesse of their calling and of their owne fidelitie in the same may pray to God to reward them for their good seruice and to defend them in a good cause against any abuses that their master shall offer vnto them And so for the other estate of life And of being called to the state of marriage that he speaketh of there if any be called vnto mariage they must not onely be persuaded of the lawfulnesse of it and that God hath called them vnto it but also that he hath ioyned them together this man to this woman as Eue in paradise was ioyned to Adam by the immediat hand of God and so that they came not together by fortune or chance or by the will and consent of their friends or by their own choice only but by God that their marriage was first made in heauen before it was solemnised vpon earth and therfore that they are in that place that God hath called them vnto Then may they with comfort pray for all such gifts as are needfull for those places as in doing of their duties that the Lord would preserue them from all crosses that might befall them and assist them in them and generally that he would heare their prayers and send them helpe from heauen as the people doe here And to conclude this point In all actions of our life we ought to be persuaded that God hath called vs vnto them we must all of vs be persuaded in the whole course of our liues that whatso-we doe we haue a calling to it from God and so therein we are his anointed that is appointed of God for it VVhich we shall ordinarily know by this that the thing it selfe is good in it owne nature and agreeable to the word of God and commanded there and then that by vertue of our places that we be in God requireth them of vs and that that time and place doth also require them for all things are not required of all men alike nor at all times and in all places Then hauing this persuasion from the word of God though they be dangerous and full of trouble and such as might discourage vs we may confidently pray vnto God to assist vs and defend vs therein and to helpe vs in all affliction that shall befall vs for the same And thus Dauid here being a king was to defend his subiects and therefore their enemies comming against them to battell he goeth forth and aduentureth himselfe to the warre and thus prayeth vnto God and willeth the people to pray for him in this good action whereunto he was lawfully called and God did heare their prayers and gaue them good successe In like manner that famous and worthy Queene Hester after that Mordecai had sent vnto her the copie of the kings letter that was sent abroad by postes for the rooting out of the Iewes in one day and willed her to goe in to the king and make request for the life of her people at the first she like a fearefull woman drew backe and excused her selfe saying All the kings seruants and all the people of the prouinces know Hester 4.11 that whosoeuer man or woman Then may we haue bouldnesse in them though they be neuer so dangerous that commeth to the king into the inner court which is not called there is a law of his that he shall die except to him whom the king holdeth out the golden rod that he may liue now I haue not beene called to come to the king these thirtie dayes Then Mordecai sent her word againe that she must not thinke to escape in the kings house more than all the Iewes but if she did hould her peace at this time deliuerance should appeare to the Iewes out of another place but she and her fathers house should perish and who knew whether she was come to the kingdome for such a time Thus when he had persuaded her by good reason that God did require it at her hands and that she was raysed vp out of a meane place to such an high dignitie by the Lord for such a purpose and that God would require it at her hands if she failed in it shee aduentureth her selfe though it was very dangerous with this resolution that seeing God had called her vnto it he would defend her in it but howsoeuer it should fall out shee would commit her selfe in this cause to his blessed prouidence contented to be ordered by his will I will goe in to the king which is not according to the law and if I perish I perish But in the meane season hauing this faith in this action she prayeth to God to assist her to guide her to direct her and to blesse her and willeth all the people to doe so likewise saying Goe Verse 16. and assemble all the Iewes that