is a happy Blessing to all the Nation at once and therefore we had need pray heartily to God to save him who doth defend us all Well might the people tell King David 2 Sam. 18.3 Thou art worth Ten Thousand of us because in his peace they should have peace The safety of a good King is a publick Blessing the happiness of a Kingdom is twisted with the Welfare of such a Prince the Kingdom as it were living and breathing in him 〈…〉 King Josiah's fall proved the utter Destruction and Downfall of the people themselves whilst he liv'd he was the fountain of their Liberty and Security insomuch that they promised to themselves a lasting security in his life of whom we said 〈…〉 20. Under the shadow of his Wings we shall live among the Heathen But how close did their Ruine and Destruction follow the loss of that exemplary and pious Prince * When the noble Epaminondas the Theban fell Thebes it self fell with him What Great Things then has God done for us in watching over our King night and day in preserving him at his Up-rising and Down-lying and compassing his paths God has suffered no Policy no Secresy to circumvent him no Treachery to take him off no Snares to catch him not to fall into that Pit that was digg'd for him nor no Weapon form'd against him to prosper he has stood by him in the day of Danger given his Angels charge over him and brought him off with Victory and good success As to the instrumental Cause of that Victory we this day celebrate much may be ascrib'd to the wise conduct of our Lord the King He has done Great Things for us Such Great things as may challenge any Prince in the world to shew the like wrought for any People or Nation 'T is true indeed the Author of all our Victories and Deliverances we must own and acknowledge to be God to him principally we must give the Glory and Honour and praise him but when it will be found among the Files of Records that next under God our King did these Great things for us how will his Memory be had in Everlasting Remembrance How will the Ages to come tell of him How bravely big will his Name look in Story And how will his famous and noble Atchievements be commended by admiring Posterity These will intitle him a Isai 49.23 Nursing Father of the Church a Defender of the Faith and a Restorer of our Religion Laws and Liberties Jud. 8.22 Come thou and rule over us said the people to Gideon for thou hast delivered us from the hands of our Enemies 1 K. 1.25 God save the King was an usual Form of Prayer in Adonijah's time And when Joash was made King They clapt their hands used the same form of Salutation 2 K. 11.12 God save the King 1 Tim. 2.1.2 I exhort you saith St. Paul to make prayers for Kings That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty And in the succeeding Ages of Christianity I find the Christians were highly sollicitous about the safety of their Princes Nor was this the temper of a Christian Spirit onely but of Heathens and Infidels for it was a Decree made by Darius King of Persia Ezra 6.10 that all the Elders of the Jews shu'd be furnish'd with young Bullocks or Rams or Lambs Wheat Salt Wine and Oil that they may have to offer sweet Odours unto the God of Heaven and pray for the King's Life The fall of a King shakes the whole Kingdom there is a Sympathy between the Head and the Members when the Breath of our Nostrils is taken from us needs must the Body faint and languish expire in gasping Agonies when the Royal Oak is cut down we are bereav'd of all the benefits of its shelter and the birds of Prey will soon snatch away the Chickens when there is no Hen to gather them under her wings Wherefore if we love our Country if we have any regard to the Welfare of our selves if we tender the interest of the Protestant Religion of our Temporal Rights and the Common Good we must from the bottom of our hearts pray for our King's prosperity wish him long life and health and earnestly desire his welfare and safety because in his peace we shall have peace Dan. 3.9 O King live for ever Thirdly The Lord hath done Great Things for us as to the preservation of our selves what might have been befallen us we know not the fate of things look'd once very black upon us those Barbarities Massacres Prosecutions with Fire and Faggot and shedding of Blood that is proper to Popery and those inflicted upon Protestants for refusing to comply with Superstition and Idolatry may open our Eyes and let us see what we might have expected from the Romish Faction Our own Nation knows it by sad experience that in the Reign of Queen Mary many pious and good people were burnt at a Stake for their denying to subscribe to their wicked and false Doctrines Surely our Malecontents and Murmurers do not know the Principles or Spirit of Popery they must be ignorant in the Case of Henry the third of France who was stabb'd and the bloody Art applauded by the Pope himself for not purging his Country from the Corruption of Heresy being admonished so to do The Church of Rome is guilty in this respect in looking upon us Protestants as so many Hereticks and what work her Sons had ' ere this Day been employ'd in if our late Revolution had not hapned we may very well guess Thanks be to God for That and all his other Mercies to us and let it ever be recorded for the praise of his present Majesty who next under God deliver'd us from Tyranny and Popish Cruelty Thirdly I proceed to shew what our duty is in return to the Almighty for doing so great things for us for if the fore part of the Text belongs to God the latter I am sure belongs to us If the Lord hath done Great things for us then we are to rejoyce and this Day is set apart for it Now that our rejoycing this day may be pleasing to God it must first begin at the Church there it must first shew it self be first seen and heard there thither we must go in and in the Congregation give thanks unto the Lord for the Great things he hath done for us we must first be joyful in the House of Prayer and our joy must exert it self first after a Godly manner Hos 〈…〉 We read of some who kept their King's Day with flagons of Wine and by drinking to that excess till they were sick They made the King glad with their wickedness v. 3. Such Riot and Excess was used upon that festivall Day that as the Prophet Malachy speaks of some others There came nothing of their feasts but dung All they did was they sat down to eat and
shame that hated us In God we boast all the Day long and praise his Name for ever Psal 33.16 There is no King sav'd by the multitude of his Host a mighty Man is not delivered by much strength Psal 127.2 Except the Lord keep the City the Watchman waketh but in vain Eccles 9.11 The Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the strong 1 Sam. 2.9 In his own might shall no Man be strong The Eyes of King Jehosaphat and of all Judah were in their great exigency and necessity chiefly and principally upon God for though his Army was great and numerous yet when the Children of Moab Ammon and Mount Seir came against him he proclaimed a Fast and cried unto the Lord 2 Chron. 20.12 O our God we have no strength in us to stand before this great Multitude that cometh against us neither do we know what to do but our Eyes are upon Thee Though Asa had an Army consisting of no less than Five Hundred and Fourscore Thousand Men all of them Men of Valour yet he look'd upon them as no prop for Trust as nothing without God and therefore cry'd unto the Lord his God and said 2 Chron. 14.8.11 Lord it is nothing with Thee to help with many or with no power help us O Lord our God for we rest in Thee and in thy Name are we come against this multitude O Lord thou art our God let not Man prevail against Thee When David was in the Wilderness of Ziph Saul sought him every day But what was the reason that he found him not 1 Sam. 23.14 The Lord delivered him not into his hands Nihil sine Deo God is all in all He is our Sun and Shield our strong Rock and Tower of Defence and mighty Deliverer Holy David ascribes all his Deliverances to the light of his Countenance and the saving strength of his right hand 'T is He that gives Victory unto Kings Prov. 21.1 The King's Heart and his Breath and all his ways are in his hand Jud. 7. the Sword of the Lord and Gideon is spoken of as but one two-handed Sword 'T is Gideon that strikes and 't is the Lord that gives the Blessing Psal 118.8,9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any Confidence in Man it is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in Princes Psal 20.7 some put their trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God When Doeg the Edomite regarded not God nor sought to strengthen himself by his favour David prophesied his destruction Psal 52. God shall destroy them for ever he shall take thee away pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place and root thee out of the Land of the Living Loe this is the Man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his Riches and strengthned himself in his Wickedness When that proud King Nebuchadnezzar was shaking his Plumes and triumphing in the great Babel of his own building Dan. 4. Is not this Great Babel that I have built for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty As he was thus vaunting and magnifying himself God drove him from Men and turn'd him to grass among the Beasts When Sennacherib had encamped against Jerusalem and was attributing his Success to his own Strength and Wisdom see how God dealt with him 2 K. 19.28 He put a hook into his Nose and a bridle into his lips and turn'd him back the same way he came And when Herod took that glory to himself which was due to God Acts 2.23 The Angel of the Lord smote him and he was eaten up of Worms And 't is to be hoped that God has put a stop to the bloody rage and nip'd the proud insolent and ambitious Designs of the French King who by treachery and policy had set great projects on foot to overthrow our Religion and bring us under his slavish and tyrannical yoak Exod. 13.21 It was not Moses but God that brought the Children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt neither was it our own Arm and Strength that reduced the Town and Castle of Namur but God's Arm Power and Goodness going along with the Forces of his Majesty and his Allies that preserved our King and gave us the Victory for which we this day rejoyce Psal 62.8 Trust in Him at all times ye people God is a refuge But Secondly I proceed to shew what some of those Great Things are which the Lord hath done for us already and I hope they will pass for Great Things whether some Men will or no. And First The Lord hath done great Things for us in raising us up a Deliverer in the day of our distress God has given us a King who has delivered us from Popery and Slavery who secures our Rights and Liberties who has protected us from bloody and barbarous Enemies and makes choice of fit able and faithful Governours both for Church and State The divine Providence in raising him up raised up One that has defended our Religion brought back our ancient Laws and Liberties and given a check to the Arms of that once potent and formidable Prince the French King A Deliverer that has neither spared his Person or his Pains to do us good who has made our Cause his own even when we were falling as a prey into our Enemies teeth We would do well to call to mind the woful state we were in before his Majesty landed and then we may discern what Great Things God has done for us in sending him to us He that considers the tottering Condition both Church and State were in how the Government we liv'd under was growing to be Arbitrary and a superstitious way of Worship ready to be set up and Established among us He that considers these things cannot without a wonderful infatuation but must see God has done Great Things for us in raising us up a Deliverer who has protected our holy Religion and stood in the gap to hinder the way of the Destroyer who had pluck'd down our Hedge and Fence But Secondly The Lord hath done great Things for us in vouchfafing a particular protection unto this Deliverer in the day of danger Run over his life and see the miraculous Trains of Providence interposing for him He has been the Darling of Heaven and the special Object of Almighty God's singular care insomuch that no Prince in the World hath had such signal Testimonies of the Kindnesses of Heaven when some fell at his right hand and some at his left the Divine Providence covered his head and the Almighty hid him under the shadow of his wings In his safety we are safe his Health and Wealth is our Concern his Preservation is of universal Concernment to Religion and the Laws to Church and State and 't
drink and rose up to play but with none of these was God pleased Religion must this day be first observ'd It is not enough that in our Feasts this day we drink the King's Health clap our hands and cry God save the King but we must first regard the work of the Lord and consider the Operation of his hands It is not Enough that with the Harp and the Violl the Timbrel and the Pipe we give Thanks out of Custom but we must first go into the House of the Lord and there pour out our souls in Thankfulness to God in a thankful Remembrance and then after we have done here we may lawfully go and rejoyce in our houses so long as Temperance is observ'd and all manner of Riot and Excess laid aside It was God's command under the Law that upon their rejoycing for his removal of any Plague the Trumpets shu'd blow And shall we whom God by this happy day calleth us to rejoycing by a great Victory and the preservation of his Majesty's Person shall we whom God hath called to joy hang down our heads like a Bull-rush droop and slight the Office of the Day When the Graecians were set at Liberty by Flaminius Plutarch tels us they cry'd out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saviour Saviour with such a Sound that the Birds in the Air which flew over their heads fell astonish'd to the ground And shall we be so little affected with our good Success and Deliverances No let our Ears be chearfully open to the ringing of Bells and to the noise of Musical Instruments Our Hosannah's this day shall be heard in the highest for This is a Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it What Nehemiah said unto the People upon hearing the law read I say unto you Neh. 8.10 Go and Eat of the Fat and drink the Sweet and send Portions unto them for whom none is prepared for this is a joyfull Day indeed be yee not sorry therefore for the Joy of the Lord is your strength I come Lastly To consider what Improvement we are to make of the whole And First If we would strengthen that which God hath already wrought for us and carry on and perfect his marvellous Works towards us we must be followers of that which is good and live so that God may take delight in us bless us with the continuance of his Blessings and may have no occasion given him to repent him of the Mercies shewn to us Whilst we are under such a gracious and benign iufluence of Heaven we must take care that we do not by our Sins make such a separation between it and us as may provoke God to throw off his care of us and withdraw his helping hand from us What 's to be done then to procure a continuance of those Great Things he hath done for us already Even this to come to Repentance and that 's the way to carry them on to perfection O let his mercy and goodness lead us all to Repentance May his wonderful Deliverances oblige us all to love and fear him and may his many and great preservations of our King endear our Righteousness and excite our Obedience to him and then the Deliverances we have had will be a pledge of more This would heap Palms and Laurels upon our Cause and bring us off Conquerors for the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him He takes pleasure in such and it shall go well with them Evil-doers and Transgressors shall be cut off and rooted out but those who trust in the Lord and do good shall by so doing dwell in the Land and verily they shall be fed Jer. 7.23 Obey my voice said God to the Jews and I will be your God and yee shall be my People and walk yee in all the Ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you And he tells the Israelites that Exod. 19.5 if they would obey his Voice indeed and keep his Covenant that then they should be a peculiar Treasure unto him above all People Even an Heathen Poet made this Observation to the Romans Horat. Diis te minorem quod geris imperas That their Success was owing to their piety and their Obedience to the Gods made them Rulers and Commanders And therefore may we all be so wise as to say as the people did to Joshua Jos 24.24 The Lord our God will we serve and his Voice will we Obey Thirdly We have had Great things done for us and therefore in order to have God still on our side it is a Duty incumbent upon us to be thankful for them There are some Men of so unhappy a Temper as to forfeit the Advantages of them if God would have taken it at their hands that with the ungrateful Israelites are in love with the flesh-pots of Egypt and would return back into that Land Strange perverseness and blindness That the Israelites would not know when they were well used but instead of shewing their gratitude under-valued the vouchfafements of Heaven's favour as if the very reason of their quarrelling Gods goodness was none other but this that it infinitely surpassed all their deservings I wish some among us did not too near resemble these ungrateful Israelites but I shall not blow the coals a just amazement to see those Miracles of Mercy flung up and that some men should go about to make those blessings God has bestow'd upon us for our good an occasion of falling fills me with dread horrour of the judgments of God which may well fall upon the Land For if Mercies cannot prevail with us what can we expect but the next scent should be Judgments If Men will kick and spurn against Heaven and throw themselves back into that or a worse condition then they have yet been in 't is not to be expected that God will work new miracles every day for them If Rev. 22.11 He that is filthy will be filthy still he must expect Ephraim's doom Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned unto Idols let him alone let him follow the Counsels of his own heart and be filled with his own Devises Jer. 51.9 We would have healed Babilon and she would not be healed forsake her We would have healed Babilon There is Mercy and Goodness on Gods part but she would not be healed there is a Despising of his goodness on her part and then follows desertion on God's part forsake her Psal 81.11,12 My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me so I gave them up unto their own Hearts lusts and they walked in their own Counsels v. 13,14 Oh that my People had harkned unto me and Israel had walked in my Ways I would soon have humbled their Enemies and turned my hand against their Adversaries 2 Thess 2.10.11 Because they received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong Delusions to believe a Lie For how just is it with God to lift up his hand against a people and overthrow them as he did the unthankfull Israelites for not keeping in mind the Deliverances he had granted them We are an happy people if we did but know it Sufficiently happy if some were not so foolishly industrious to make themselves unhappy We are not involv'd in Blood and Confusion as our Neighbouring Countries are We live in peace and plenty whilst in the mean time other Nations are frighted with the sound of Trumpets the Beating of Drums the neighing of Horses the roaring of Cannon the howling of Women and the schrikeing of Children exposed to the rage and fury of merciless Souldiers We build and plant beautifie and adorn our Houses and Habitations whilst others are burnt down battered about their Ears and lie in ruine and desolation We have plenty whilst others are in want We sowe in Peace and reap in peace whilst other Men's labours are enjoyed by Strangers and Enemies Such Blessings as these cry aloud to us to be thankful to Heaven O that we were wise that we would consider this and praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare the Wonder that he hath done for us Thirdly The Lord hath done Great Things for us in raising up our King to be the happy Instrument of our Deliverance and therefore next being thankful to God we are under an high Obligation to be Loyal and Obedient to his Majesty and to study the things that make for his Honour and Glory as he has done those that make for our Peace and Safety And for this no Charges ought to be spar'd no Power from France feared otherwise this opportunity of making our selves under him happy will one day rise up in Judgment and condemn us May it please a gracious God who hath done Great Things for us already to continue his Mercies to us And may we considering the Dangers we have been in quicken our Zeal shew Vigour in the Cause of our Religion and the present Government And may it please God to move the hearts of such as are in Authority to be active and diligent in their Duty that so those Deliverances may be strengthned which God hath wrought for us Crown our King O Lord with Honour and Success here and with an everlasting Crown of Glory in Heaven hereafter Amen FINIS
A SERMON Preach'd at All-Hallows IN New Castle upon Tyne ON THE 22 d. of September 1695. Being the Day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the Taking the Town and Castle of Namur and for protecting his Majesty's Sacred Person By Tho. Knaggs M. A. and Chaplain to the Right Honourable Ford Earl of Tankerville LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1695. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FORD Earl of Tankerville Viscount Glendale Baron of Werk and one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council My LORD AS soon as I yielded to the publication of this Sermon I resolved to commit it to your Lordships Patronage The high Esteem together with an earnest desire publickly to shew my gratitude I have of your Loyalty to the King your hearty Zeal and Fervor for the Protestant Interest your dexterity in the management of publick Business your Sage and Eloquent way of Speech and those many other high Accomplishments and extraordinary Endowments you are abundantly rich in will I hope excuse the boldness of this Dedication and obtain pardon for prefixing your Great Name to so slender a Discourse My LORD Your Lordship has improved the Honour you were born to and advanced your Noble and Ancient Family by standing fast to your Religion and supporting our Laws and Liberties when Popery and an Arbitrary Power were coming in to be triumphant among us May your Lordship live long to be an Ornament to your Country and a Blessing to the Publick is and shall be the daily prayer of My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and most obedient Servant and Chaplain THO. KNAGGS PSAL. 126.3 The Lord hath done great Things for us already whereof we rejoice WHO was the Composer of this Psalm I shall not curiously or nicely search into seeing 't is universally believ'd to be a joyful and chearful Hymn made by Ezra or some good Man at the Jews return out of Captivity who had been kept a long time in Bondage in a strange Country among Infidels and Idolaters When the People saw so wonderful a Change all on a suddain wrought for them and Liberty granted to return into their own Country they were so amaz'd and transported with the Deliverance that they could scarce believe it to be true and look'd upon it only as a Dream which vanisheth and comes to nothing v. 1. When the Lord turn'd again the Captivity of Sion we were like them that dream But awaking and seeing their Deliverance to be real v. 2. their Mouth was fill'd with Laughter and their Tongue with Singing crying out with joy and triumph The Lord hath done great Things for us already whereof we rejoice I shall take the liberty and that without any violence to the Words to apply them to the happy Occasion of this Day In which you may observe First A joyful Acknowledgment made to God that he hath done great Things for us Secondly I will shew what some of these great Things are Thirdly What our Duty is in return to the Almighty for doing so great Things for us Lastly What Improvement we are to make of the whole And First A joyful Acknowledgment made to God that he hath done great Things for us The rich Man makes his Wealth his strong City Joh. 31.24 He saith unto Gold thou art my Hope and unto the Wedge of Gold thou art my Confidence Pro. 11,28 but he that trusteth in his Riches shall fall The worldly wise Man that thinks to save himself by his own policy let him remember that God many times infatuates the Wisdom of the Wise and brings their Counsels to nought the mighty Man that trusteth in his Arm of Flesh and puts his Confidence in the multitude of his Chariots and Horsemen Isal 31.1 That goes down into Egypt for help and looks not unto the Holy One of Israel and seeks not unto the Lord. Let him consider v. 3. that the Egyptians are Men and not Gods and their Horses Flesh and not Spirit and when the Lord shall stretch out his hand both the Helper and he that is Holpen shall fall and they shall altogether fail It was the saying of One when he was falling into the Enemies hand My Kingdom for an Horse but Psal 33.17 an Horse is counted but a vain thing to save a Man neither shall he deliver any by his great strength We know that if we Isai 30.2 v. 3. trust in the shadow of Egypt and strengthen our selves with the strength of Pharoah v. 3. the end of that Trust and Strength will be our Shame and Confusion Jer. 17.5 Cursed be the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm. Armies and Navies Guards and Forts Bombs and Cannon Artillery and Ammunition are useless and unserviceable without God and the Success in the day of Battle must be attributed principally to his Blessing The divine Providence is our greatest safety and security both at Sea and Land God must be consulted first about the event of things his aid and help must be chiefly ask'd and our confidence when we go against our Enemies must be wholly in him This is to build our House with the wise Man upon a Rock and therefore Matth. 7. when the Rain descends the Floods come and the Winds blow and beat upon that House it falls not because it is founded upon a Rock Unless God fights our Battles Egypt and her Chariots and Horsemen are but sandy Foundations and not to be trusted in God has been pleased to do great Things for us his gracious Providence never appear'd brighter in any Cause than in our Deliverances we acknowledge them to be his handy Work his gracious care over us and whoever will give himself the trouble seriously to look back and reflect upon the Administration of Affairs since our happy Revolution must needs see that the Providence of God has concern'd himself interpos'd his Almighty Power and Wisdom and had an hand in all our Successes and Advantages They that will not believe this I dare be bold to say they believe no God no Providence at all or at least are angry at Heaven because it will not smile upon their Cause nor favour what they unreasonably would have uppermost God has heard our Prayers and answered them we call'd upon him in the Day of trouble and he has done far more exceeding abundantly than we could think his Almighty Arm has saved us the Lord himself has been on our side he has been with our Forces in their passing through the Waters and in walking through the Fire The Victories we have got already are standing Monuments of his truth and of the Lord's goodness to us Psal 44.5,6,7,8 Through him have we overthrown our Enemies and through his Name have we troden them under that rose up against us We did not trust in our Bow neither did our Sword save us but the Lord saved us from our Enemies and has put them to