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A33293
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A sermon preached to a country auditory upon the eleventh of November being the day appointed for a solemn Thanksgiving for a late victory at sea, and His Majesty's safe return out of Flanders / by Samuel Clerke ...
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Clark, Samuel, 1626-1701.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing C4497; ESTC R39372
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17,355
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33
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A SERMON PREACHED TO A Country Auditory Upon the Eleventh of November Being the DAY Appointed for a Solemn Thanksgiving For a Late VICTORY by SEA And His MAJESTY's Safe Return OUT OF FLANDERS By SAMVEL CLERKE B. D. LONDON Printed for W. Crooke And Sold by R. Taylor 1693. To the Right Honourable JOHN Lord CUTTS BARON of GOWREN My Lord TO whom could a Discourse of this nature I mean A Thanksgiving Sermon for the happy Deliverance of our Royal David from the hurtful Sword be more fitly Dedicated than to your Honour who so deeply shared in the Danger with His Majesty Accept of it Noble Sir not for its own Worth but as a Specimen of the Author's Sense of Your's and his Obligations to You. You by that of Vertue are arrived at the Temple of Honour Sir I beseech Almighty God that You may be ever in the Ascendent and that no malign Aspect may intervene at least to sully much less Eclipse Your Splendor till this Mortal shall have put on Immortality and You your Self become a Fixed Star in Heaven where is no Vicissitude or Alteration Thus Prayeth Your Honour 's most humble and Faithful Servant SAM CLERKE PSALM CXLIV Verses ix x. I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon a Psaltery and an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee It is he that giveth Salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his Servant from the hurtful Sword HAving but heard these Words read there is scarce any One of so shallow a Capacity but may conceive them pertinent and suting well with the Time and Occasion of this our present Meeting For is here not mention made of Kings the Salvation of Kings nay of one above the rest David in great Danger yet delivered and that from the Sword too All very pertinent and congruous God had many times and often delivered David but he insists here chiefly on that one that both to us is proper and peculiar the hurtful Sword Now with me I beseech you dear Christians Behold our KING a Pious and Protestant Prince the Servant of God Jealous for the Lord of Hosts Zealous for his Church and People like the Royal Eagle throwing Himself between Them and Danger Behold Him by God delivered wonderfully delivered from the Death-threatning Cannon and the hurtful Sword And so the Words read are no other than a Comment upon the Day at once pointing out to us both our Happiness and our Duty Our Happiness in the Preservation of His Majesty our Duty in returning God Thanks for it which to encourage us also unto we have a Royal President before us who upon the very same account even God's Salvation and Deliverance snatches up his Psaltery tunes his Strings promises a New Song I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon a Psaltery and an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee See here the Subject-matter of this Song a Song of thanksgiving Of Thanksgiving For what What Mercy what Favour is the holy man so thankful for It was no other than the King's Safety Because God the Preserver of Kings had here delivered his Servant David from the hurtful Sword He therefore resolves upon a new Song of Praise and Thanksgiving This is the Substance of my Text And as of what was then with great Joy sung by Israel so of what this Day we are called to Upon the receipt of any new Mercy God shall not load David with his Mercies but the Heavens shall Resound with his grateful Praises and Acknowledgments I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee He it is that giveth Salvation unto Kings who delivereth his Servant David from the hurtful Sword In which Words we have these Considerables 1. Here is Salvation given a Deliverance wrought 2. To or for whom To Kings in general to David in particular 3. By whom viz. by God 4. Here is the Return made by David both in behalf of himself and others I will sing c. Take the Whole summ'd up in two Theorems or Doctrinal Propositions 1. All Kings and under God's immediate Care and Protection but above all good Ones Or rather thus God giveth Salvation unto Kings in general but his Servants such as David was he delivereth in an especial manner He it is that giveth Salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his Servant from the hurtful Sword 2. Those that are thus delivered by him should praise God and be thankful to him I will sing a new Song unto thee O God upon a Psaltery and an Instrument of ten Strings will I sing praises unto thee In the discussing of which for my more methodical proceeding I shall speak to these severals 1. That God giveth Salvation to Kings in general with the Reasons why and manner how he effects it I shall descend 2ly to Particulars and make it good in David the Servant of God in my Text. 3ly In our Royal David King William in the Day 4ly I shall speak briefly to my Second Proposition And lastly I shall close up all with a seasonable Application To clear the Thesis That God giveth Salvation to Kings in general I shall proceed by a Threefold Gradation 1. Shewing That God giveth Salvation 2ly That he giveth Salvation unto Men above other Creatures And 3ly To Kings above other Men. 1. To give Salvation is so congruous to the Divine Nature that God claims it to himself as his Native Property and Peculiar Isa 43.11 I even I am the Lord and besides â—e there is no Saviour I even I am the Lord This redoubled I is emphatical and exclusive And besides me there is no Saviour They are but gross Idolaters that put their trust in Man Or with the deluded Papists set up for Saviours the Saints departed It is worth our Note what Ferdinand King of Arragon sending his Son against the Florentines spake to him Victoria mihi crede non hominum disciplinis nec industria comparatur sed Dei Optimi Maximi benignitate arbitrio Believe me Son Victories are not gotten by Art or Industry but given of God If we look into the Prophecy of Jonah what we meet with Chap. 2.9 may be said to be the Argument of the whole Book and might have concluded every Chapter therein viz That Salvation is of the Lord. The Mariners saith the R. R d. Bishop King in his Lectures on that Prophet might have written upon their Ship instead of Castor and Pollux Or the like Device Salvation is the Lord's The Ninivites might have written upon their Gates Salvation is the Lord's And whole Mankind whose Cause is pitied and pleaded by God against the hardness of Jonah's Heart might have written in the Palms of their Hands Salvation is the Lord's It is the Argument of both the Testaments the Staff and Supportation of Heaven and Earth They would both sink and all the Joynts be severed if the
Salvation of the Lord be not The Birds of the Air sing no other Note the Beasts in the Field give no other Voice than Salvation is the Lord's Which leads me to the Second Gradation He is the Saviour and that so great is his Pity and Compassion both of Man and Beast Psal 36.6 the Beast as well as Man but Man before or rather above the Beast Now that Man is more in the Eye or Care of Divine Providence than the Brutes is clear in this That the very Brutes are made for Man and much more the Creatures below them For Man doth the Day break and the Sun shine and the Rain fall and the Waters flow and the Grass grow and all the Herbs of the Field spring up and flourish after their several kinds For him are the Fields crowned with Corn and the Vallies laden with Grass For Him are the Hills lifted up and the Cattel made that feed upon the Hills For the feeding of him do the Herds feed and for his sake are the Flocks themselves clothed with Wooll for him doth the Horse were his hoof and the Oxe yield his neck unto the yoke and before him doth the Camel kneel to receive the burthen upon his back Now since God made man the end of other creatures and them a mean to his content and preservation and since the end is always valued more then the mean is we must needs conclude that God is more concern'd for man for whom all things were made then those very things which were made for him Hence that of St. Paul's double Expostulation 1 Cor. 9.9 10. Doth God take care for Oxen Gr saith he it altogether for our sake For our Sakes no doubt this is written That he that Ploweth should plow in hope he that Thresheth in hope should be Partaker of his hope As much as to say the Care of Beasts is not to be taken before that of Men We are God's chief Care wherefore Job gives God this Title as peculiar to him Job 7.20 I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou Preserver of men He it is that Giveth Salvation unto men But 3ly To Kings chiefly above the rest of Men μάλιςα διοâ—Ï€ÏεÏÎων βασιλÎων as the Poet not impertinently Above all the Race of Mankind Kings go nearest the Heart of God and are his prime Care Great deliverance giveth he unto them Psa 18. ult He is their Tower of Salvation saith Samuel and Psal 28.8 The Lord is their strength and he is the saving strength of his Anointed In all Things God is wonderful but of all in the Preservation of crowned heads in none more in none equal thereunto What can be more evident now than that God giveth Salvation unto Kings To Kings I say in general for of Kings as they are God's Servants I shall speak more at large in its proper place He giveth Salvation what Salvation giveth Be it of whatsoever kind it will it is from him whether it be that of the physician a sound and healthy body against Diseases as they are mortal men For as it was pointed out to us by Daniel's Image Dan. 2.33 whose Leggs were of Iron his feet part of clay and part of Iron Thus Kings are the Peopl's Treasures but yet treasures in earthen Vessels they have need therefore of God's help and salvation 'T is true if we should understand it in this sense this God gives but this is not the genuine meaning of the place For this salvation here spoken of is from the Sword not from sickness from evil Manners nor ill humours from external Force not internal Dyscrasie God gives Salvation this salvation gives he unto Kings and to Kings above others I might argue à fortiori If God takes care of that which is less worthy and becoming his care much more will he do so of that which is more worth Therefore since even the beasts and other inferiour creatures are cared for by God much more must Men the highest of creatures in the world and Kings the highest of Men be under the same Watch. It is he that giveth Salvation unto Kings Here it may not be amiss to enquire a little into the Reasons of this God's Care and Protection of Kings and examine what probably may be the Causes why God is pleased to give Salvation to them above all others The Reasons I shall offer are Three The First taken from God The Second from Kings themselves The Third from the People 1. God giveth Salvation unto Kings because by him they are raised up and dignified By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice Prov. 8.15 And as representing him they are called Gods Psal 82.6 I have said Ye are Gods I have said it who then dare gain-say it Ye are Gods that is in God's stead set in his Room invested with his Power and Authority his Vicegerents his Representatives his chief Ministers Does not St. Paul speaking of the Supream Magistrate tell us That he is the Minister of God Rom. 3.4 We are not capable of immediate Converse with God therefore he Rules us by Men like our selves he Governs Men by Man and so puts Man into his own Place There is hereupon a necessity of God's Protecting them as his Delegates Among Foreigners such as the Ambassadors of Kings as also their Representatives at home those that Impower them and whom they Represent are careful of their Preservation and to vindicate them from Contempt the Honour of the Ambassador is the Honour of him that sends him and the Disgrace of the Representative redounds to him whose Representative he is our David himself when his Embassadors were ill used whom he sent to the King of Ammon after his Fathers Death he took it as done to himself 2 Sam. 10.4 He thence severely revenged the Injury as his own Cap. 4. The great God of Heaven does he not the 〈◊〉 same His Honour cannot be intire and full unless theirs be so who are his Substitutes for his Honours sake he will procure their Salvation By him they are Ordain'd by 〈…〉 what they are Rom. 13.2 Hitherto is to be 〈◊〉 whatever belongeth to God as he is interested for them being their Founder and Preserver their Preserver so far forth that they be not Wronged and their Revenâ—â—â— if they be so 〈◊〉 Therefore God giveth Salvation unto Kings and taketh care of Princes above all others because they are exposed to greater Dangers than other Men. Certainly they must needs be in greater Danger in that the Devil that envious one maligns them most he aims at their Destruction above all others and no better can be expected from him whose Name in the Hebrew is Abaddon in the Greek Apollyon and in our English Destroyer a name diametrically opposite to that of God who is the Preserver and of the Holy Jesus his Son who is a Saviour that 's the import of his Name Matth. 1.21 For he shall save his people from their sins To destroy all is the