in the first of Chro. ch 26. So far was David from conceiving that sacred Orders were a super-sedeas to all civill prudence and that he might not lawfully make use of the abilities of any of his Subjects of what sort soever as Councellours Iudges Officers or what else he pleased 41. Thus David did and thus our David hath done also He made it his first act to close the breaches in this Church both in Doctrine and Discipline and to restore the antient government of Bishops according to Gods words and the primitive practice He takes care that Divine service be officiated with as much solemnity as in the best and happiest times of his predecessors adorns his Chappel in a costly and magnificent manner gathereth together the best voices in his whole dominions and intermingleth them with Musical Instruments which seem to carry a resemblance to that heavenly Harmony which some ascribe unto the Spheres A form of service highly magnyfied by the primitive Christian and such as gained exceedingly upon mens affections St. Austin when an Heathen or at best a Manichâ—e found two temptations to invite him to the Christian Churches that is to say to hear the eloquence of St. Ambrose when he was in the Pulpit and the Hâ—rmonious Melody which was made in the Quire And it is hard to say which of the two prevailed most towards his Conversion The musick of the Church so mollified his stony heart that it drew tears from his eys ut flevi ad cantus Ecclesiae tuae and thereby made him apter for all such impressions of the Holy Spirit as afterwards advanced him highly in the favour both of God and Men Retained on this account as he after tells us in all the Churches of those times both Greek and Latin Ut per oblectamenta aurium in firmior assurgat animus in pietatis affectum because it did compose mens thoughts and calm their passions and fit them to the serious and the grave performance of religious Offices Which makes it seem the greater wonder that any man preferred and dignified in the Church of England should in a Sermon preached and printed and exposed to sale compare the heavenly musick in Cathedral Churches to that confused medley of the Flute the Sackbut and the Harp the Psaltery the Cornet and the Dulcimer which played before the Golden Image advanced by Nebucadnezzar in the fields of Babylon But he hath-long since smarted for his folly and so let him go 42. Our English David stays not here but looks upon the services and the sufferings of the Regular Clergy some of which he restoreth to their former fortunes and raises others unto greater then they had before All the Episcopal Sees but one are filled with Learned and Religious Prelates of whom the tongue of envy hatred malice and uncharitableness can speak no reproach And as the Sees are filled with Learned and Religious Prelates so is it to be hoped that by the Piety of these times those Prelates shall be re-established in those Powers and Priviledges which the Iniquity of the last Times hath taken from them Without which they must pass for Cyphers in the Church-Arithmetick disabled from proceeding in the work of God of less esteem amongst their friends and a scorn to their adversaries The State was never better served then when the Messengers of Peace were the Ministers of it when Kings asked Counsel of the Priests and that the Priests were Counsellors Officers and Judges in their several times Which David must needs know as well as any being a Prince replenished with the Spirit of God or else he had not called them to those imployments which the Scripture speaks of 43. Thus hath the King performed his duty we must next do ours and pay our thankfulness to God on the knees of our hearts for the advancement of our David to the Throne of his Fathers and thereby giving us such a fair and blessed Sun-shine after a long Egyptian darkness and so miraculous a calm upon the back of that most dreadful intermixture of Thunder and Lightning the roaring of the Cannons and the burning of Towns which was never equalled in this Nation Which as it ought to be our duty to the last day of our lives so more particularly of this day which by the Piety of the State hath been set apart for the Celebration for the commemorating of that kindness that marvellous great kindness which he hath shewed to us and to his Anointed in the chief City of our Nation the abstract or Epitomie of the whole as before was said Such Festivals as these come not within the censure of our nicer spirits Those which have quarrelled at the rest the Festivals of Christ and his Apostles and his Virgin Mother do yet allow of Feriae repentinae ex re nata institutae as they please to phrase it Such as are instituted and ordained upon new Emergencies If any thing displease them in it it is the setling of it by a Law to be made perpetual to be a day of Thankfulness and Commemoration to succeeding Ages Which being the adding of a new to the ancient Festivals may spur on those which are in eminent place and power to rejoyn the old Festivals to the new and cause them both to be observed with such Christian Piety that all men laying aside their Trades and profane Imployments may diligently repair to their Parish Churches to set forth God's most worthy praise to hear his most holy Word and to ask those things which be requisite and necessary both for the body and the Soul according to the Laws and Statutes in that case provided But as for this particular day it is to be observed as our Feast of Purim in memory of our deliverance from the hands of Haman and Haman's being hanged upon the Gallouse of his own preparing together with his ten sons mark the number well all executed by the Common Hang-man on the same account A day of praising God in our Publique Churches of Feasting and Rejoycing in our private Houses of Joy and Triumphs in our Streets A day to be observed with all due Solemnity as being the Birth-day of the King and the Kingdom too 44. And so it cannot choose but do if we look back upon the miseries of the former Tyranny as well in our Spiritual Concernments as our Civil Rights And then reflect upon this Day as it was celebrated by all sorts of People at the King's Reduction And first if we take notice of the miseries of the times preceding in reference to Spiritual matters we may observe our Publique Liturgie disgraced and at last discharged to make way for the rash seditious and inconsiderate evaporations of those turbulent spirits whose very Prayers in fine were turned into Sin The Pulpits every where left open to all sorts of Mechanicks and either no Priests made at all or none but such as were of Ieroboam's making Priests of the lowest of the People abhorring
A SERMON Preached in the Collegiate Church OF 〈◊〉 PETER in WESTMINSTER On Wednesday May 29 th 1661. Being the Anniversary of his Majesties most joyful Restitution to the Crown of England By PETER HEYLYN D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty and one of the Prebendaries of that Church 2 Sam. 19. 14. And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah even as the heart of one man so that they sent this word unto the King Return thou and all thy servants August de Civit. Dei lib. 1. cap. 7. â—â—squis non videt caecus quisquis videt nec laudat ingratus quisquis laudanti reluctatur insanus est LONDON â—â—inted by E. C. for A. Seile over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet M.DC.LXI To the READER THis Sermon gods not to the Press for want of Hearers for seldom hath been seen a more numerous Auditory then was assembled in this Church at the Preaching of it Nor doth it go into the world to seek for Readers who should not be sollicited to the losse both of time and patience if nothing more than ordinary did present it to them and perhaps not that Some Guests are commonly best pleased when they are least courted and think themselves most welcome when they are not looked for And yet the Master of the feast in our Saviours Parable when the invited Guests neglected or refused to come sent forth his Servants into all the streets and lanes of the City to bring in all that could be found whether good or bad till he had filled his Table and made up his company And 't was a wedding dinner too which our Saviour speaks of A feast prepared for celebrating the most joyful Marriage betwixt Christ and his Church or as this was betwixt a Mighty Prince and a loving People But so it is in all great Meetings of this nature that many come not to the feast though they are expected and many come not time enough to enter when the Bridegrome doth some cannot reach to that which is set before them and others have received no invitation to attend the Nuptials Who notwithstanding would not easily be contented with the fragments of it though they should possibly amount to as many baskets full as the first provision And therefore that the honest desires of some and even the curiosity of others may not rest unsatisfied it is now served in cold but whole with grace before it and grace after it lest otherwise there might be some defect in the entertainment Nothing remains but that the Guests fall to and much good may it do them Westminster Iune 8 1661. PSALM XXXI ver 21. Versio Septuagint Interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Versio Vulgaris Benedictus Dominus quoniam mirificavit misericordiam suam mihi in Civitate munita Versio Sancti Hieron Benedictus Dominus quoniam mirabilem fecit misericordiam suam mihi in Civitate munita Versio Tremelii Benedictus sit Iehova quia mirificam reddit benignitatem suam erga me ut in Civitate munita collocans me The Old English Translation Thanks be to the Lord for he hath shewed me marvellous great kindness in a strong City The New English Translation Blessed be the Lord for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong City A SERMON Preached at the Collegiate Church OF St PETER in WESTMINSTER On Wednesday May 29 th 1661. PSALM XXXI 21. Blessed be the Lord for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong City 1. SERMO opportunus est optimus It is affirmed by Solomon amongst his Proverbs that a word spoken in due season is like to apples of gold in pictures of silver that is to say as pleasing to the ear and understanding of judicious men as Jewels made like apples of gold in nets of silver are in the eyes of curious and magnificent persons And of this nature is the Text now read unto you accommodated to the time to the present Solemnity A Text of Thankfulness and a Time of Thankfulness A Time of great deliverance and a Text of great deliverance And as the Text such also is the Psalm out of which it is taken A Psalm of Consolation and a Text of Comfort a Psalm of Confidence and a Text of Confidence A Psalm of Confidence In te Domine speravi In thee O Lord do I put my trust so it begins A Psalm of Consolation Viriliter agite Be of good courage and you shall be strengthned in the Lord with which words it ends From the beginning to the end it speaks Gods infinite mercies unto his Anointed and in him to us As for the form it is like many of the rest Plaints mixt with Prayers things present mingled with things past the sad remembrance of his former troubles indeared and sweetned by the consideration of some marvellous mercies which God had shewed unto him after all his troubles But what this kindness was how great how marvellous how David blessed the name of God for so great a mercy and what we are to do upon the sense and apprehension of the like felicity we shall the better see if you shall please to joyn with me in humble and hearty Prayer to Almighty God c. Our Father which art in Heaven c. 2. Victori Psalmus David The Title of this Psalm as St. Hierom reads it makes it to be composed in memory of some great deliverance which God the giver of all victory had marvellously wrought for his servant David But what particular deliverance it was which is herein celebrated hath been made a question Lyra a natural Iew by birth affirmes upon the credit and authority of Rabbi Solomon that David framed this Psalm existens in persecutione Saulis when he was under those calamities which were forced upon him by the house of Saul or rather On the sense and remembrance of them as from the composition of the Psalm may be easily gathered Theodoret an old Greek writer thinks rather that it was composed by the Royal Pen-man Cum ab Absolome persecutionem pateretur when he was outed of his Kingdom by the arts of Absalom Which difference how great so ever it appears may be soon agreed For even the Treason of Achitophel and the Rebellion of Absolom were cherished and fomented by some Grandees of the house of Saul as we may be clearly evidenced by some passages of the Sacred Story in which it is affirmed that Shimei who threw stones at him and reviled him for a man of bloud when he was forced to quit Hierusalem to the party of Absolom was of the family or kindred of the house of Saul And Sheba who revived the War and blew the Trumpet of Sedition when all the people were returning to their old obedience is plainly said to be a man of the Tribe of Benjamin which was Sauls own Tribe and generally believed to be of Sauls kindred also who could not easily lay aside their hopes of the Crown of
Idols made a colour for committing Sacriledge such Sacriledges too as seldom or never had been heard of amongst the Gentiles Pictures and Images in Church-windows retained for Ornaments till this day in the Lutheran Churches defaced on purpose for the ostentation of a swifter Zeal than could keep company with Knowledge But in the mean time such a worshipping of Imaginations advanced and countenanced as seemed no less destructive to all Christian Piety than the worship of Images and in a word all the exploded Heresies of the elder times revived and justified without reproach to them that did it to the displeasure of Almighty God the dishonour of the Church the grief of all good men and the shame of the Nation Nor did we speed much better in our Civil Rights in reference to that liberty and property which seems peculiar in a manner to the English Subjects Quocunque aspiceres luctus gemitus que sonabant in the Poets language No news in any of our Streets but that of leading men into fresh captivity nor Musick to be heard in our private Houses but the sighs groans and cries of afflicted people who either suffered in themselves or their friends and kindred Our persons haled unto the prisons and our heads to the block our children born to bondage and brought up to servitude our goods taken from us and exposed to sale all our Lands either held in villenage or which was worse ad voluntatem Domini during the will and pleasure only of our mighty Landlords Such a confusion in the City such spoils and rapines in the Countrey and such oppressions in all places under their command that greater miseries never fell upon God's own people in those wretched times in which there was no King in Israel 46. To put an end to which misfortunes God brings the King unto his Throne as upon this day and brings him to his Throne after such a manner as makes it seem all-miracle in the eyes of Christendom When first like Noah's Dove in the book of Genesis he left the Ark of his retreat and preservation that he might trie whether the waters were asswaged from the face of the earth he found no resting place for the soles of his feet but when he took his second flight and came next amongst us and brought an Olive leaf in his mouth to be a Pledge of Peace and Reconciliation betwixt him and his people he made his coming most agreeable to those very men who before most feared it A coming so agreeable to all sorts of people that never King was entertained with more signs of joy or welcomed with a greater concourse of his faithful Subjects all of them with Te Deum in their mouths and the Magnificat in their hearts old women being as busie at their Benedicite's in their dark retreats as Children were at Hosanna's in the wayes and fields The mountains skippe like Raws and the little hils like young Sheep as he passed along the Trees bowed down their heads to salute their King and the glad earth rejoyced to become his footstool But when he came within the view of the Royal City Good God! what infinite throngs of people did run out to see him With what a gallant equipage did the Nobility and Gentry set forth to meet him Never did England see it self so glorious as upon that day nor old Rome so magnificent in her stateliest Triumphs as our great City then appeared in the eyes of those who flocked from all parts of the Kingdom in such infinite numbers that London could no more be called the abstract or epitome of the Realm of England but the Realm it self 47. Incouraged with which general Welcome he hath received here here in this Church he hath received his last Anoynting to the great joy of all his true and faithful Subjects who once again repaired to our Capital City but in greater multitudes that by their quality numbers and external Gallantry they might express their good affections and add some new Lustre to the accustomed Pomp and Splendour of the Coronation The Pomp and Splendour of which day is not to be described by a readier pen than I am able to pretend to nor to be equalled by any other in the times preceding but only by the glorious day of the Kings Reduction of which we may affirm with the Court Historian though with no such flattery Laâ—itiam illius diei consursum totius civitatis 〈◊〉 pene inferentiâ—m coelo mâ—â—is c. What pen is able to express the Triumphs of those two great dayes when all the bravery of the Nation seemed to be powred into the City and the whole City emptied into some few streets the windows in those streets to be glased with eyes the houses in a maner to be tyled with men and all the people in the streets the windowes and the house tops also ingeminating and regeminating this most joyful acclamation God save the King 48. For which great mercies and the rest of this glorious day let us sing our Benedictus also to the Lord our God Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the house of his servant David To which Immortal and Invisible God the Almighty Father and to the Honorable true and only Son the Lamb that sits upon the Throne and to the Holy Ghost the Comforter Let us ascribe as we are bound all Majesty Might Praise Power and Glory from this time forth for ever more And let all the people say Amen THE END a Prov. 15. 23 2 Sam. 20. 1. 2 Sam. 16. 5. 1 Sam. 16. 13. 1 Sam. 17. 24. 1 Sam. 28. 28. 1 Sam. 18. 27. 1 Sam. 18. 1 Sam. 19. 1 Sam. 19. 1. 1 Sam. 20. 33. 1 Sam. 21. 6 9. 1 Sam. 22. 18 c. 1 1 Sam. 21. 10. 1 Sam. 22. 3. 1 Sam. 23. 1 Sam. 23. 20. 1 Sam. 25. 11. 1 Sam. 22. 1. 1 Sam. 27. 2. 1 Sam. 22. 2. 1 Sam. 29. 8. 1 Sam. 27. 2. 1 Sam. 27. 6. 1 Chr. 12. 1 c. 1 Chr. 12. 22. 2 Sam. 2. 1 4. 1 Sam. 14. 50. 2 Sam. 2. 8 9. 2 Sam. 3. 8. 2 Sam. 4. 2. Antiq. Iud. lib. 7. cap. 2. August in Confes lib. 8. cap. 2. 1 Sam. 23 6. ☞ Muscul. in Psal. 31. Psal. 127. 1. Origen in Rom cap. 9. Horat. Aâ—iq Iud ic 〈◊〉 7. chap 3. loseph de â—ello Iud. lib. 7. c. 17. Id. ibid. Athanas. in Epist ad Mar. in Tom. 3. Virgil. Aencid 1 King 18. 44. Tacit. Hist li. 2. Vellei 〈◊〉 Hist. l. 2. Antiq. Iudaic. lib. 7. chap. 10. Aug Conf. lib. 10. ch 23. Id. ibid. Dan. 3. 5.