what our Saviour did when he stood up in the Temple to preach and having read his Text out of this very Prophet he closed his Book and sat down having said no more Then This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears So may I. I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellours as at the beginning c. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears in your Eyes in all your Senses in the midst of our Towns and County After all our Distractions just Fears Apprehensions and Threats of Arbitrary Power Subversion of our Religion Laws Liberties and even Justice it self Behold our Judges as at the first in our respective Counties throughout the Kingdom at a General Assize gone forth to judge the People Behold our Counsellors as at the beginning in the Court to advise our Prince In our Grand Senate both House of Parliament sitting advising and enacting according to our ancient Rights Freedoms and Priviledges Behold our Religion our Church which is our Sion redeemed from Romish Superstitions Behold her Converts Protestant Proselytes and Professors of this Pure Holy Reformed Religion redeemed from all Fears of Rome's bloody Inquisition or France's Dragooning for Conscience sake Behold our Universities and Colledges our Cities and Corporations with their Free-holds Charters and Immunities restored as at the first To Crown all behold a King reigning in Righteousness the Support of our present and Pledge of our future happiness even England's Jotham Warring with the great King of Assyria his Neighbour the grand Enemy of our Religion and Country God grant him also a Jotham's Success to overcome them in Battel and to make them Tributary and that he may ever wax mighty because he prepares his way before the Lord. What remains now but that our Cities shall in a short time become Cities of Righteousness faithful Cities And our Sion which is our Church be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness In Summ then this Vision discovers these four things Of a Church and Nation 's Restauration and Deliverance from the Smart of such Calamities as they felt for the present or feared for the future 1. The Author 2. The Instruments 3. The Order 4. The Nature 1. The Author and Principal Efficient Cause of the Prosperity and Restauration of a sinking Church and Nation is God alone I will restore 2. The Instruments and Essential parts of a People's Restauration are 1 Judges as at the first 2 Counsellours as at the beginning 3. The Order and Method of a People's Prosperity after that For before that Judges and Counsellours are restored a Nation cannot flourish but they first then after that the other follows 4. The Nature and Comprehensiveness of a compleat Restauration it must be in Sacred as well as Civil Rights 1 Civil and Political Prosperity Cities shall flourish and become Cities of Righteousness 2 Sacred and Religious Prosperity The Church and her Proselytes must be saved Sion shall be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness As the result of the whole I infer 5. That whenever a People are thus restored they are highly obliged without murmuring to rejoyce in and to bless that God who is the Author of all for it These five Generals shall bound my present Discourse 1. That God alone is the Principal Efficient Cause of all Mutations of Government whether they tend to the Destruction or Restauration of a Church or Nation He sets up and he pulls down at his pleasure He deliver'd Israel out of Egypt and destroyed the Egyptians in the Red Sea. He rooted out the Canaanites and planted his own People in their Cities He took Saul from the Herd and David from the Flock and seated them on the Throne And he pulled down the High and Mighty Nebuchadnezzar in the midst of all his Glory and turned him to graze with the Beasts of the Field Alexander's and Caesar's may build Alexandria's and Caesarea's like great Babylon for their Honour and Glory when as all the while except the Lord build and keep the City too the Builder and the Watchman take care in vain These may arrogantly think that by their Power Policy and numerous Armies they have founded Empires and Dominions when as he that sits in the Heavens derides the vanity of their thoughts and frequently brings to nought their mighty Designs and many Devices For 't is the Counsel of the Lord that at last shall stand and his Purposes shall come to pass All the Powers on Earth are but as Tools in his hand to work out his good pleasure The mighty Cyrus was but his Shepherd and shall fulfil all his good pleasure saying to Jerusalem Thou shalt be built and to Sion Thy Foundation shall be laid And when his Ends are accomplished their Dominions are determin'd as the great Belshazzar's was by his Hand-writing MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN Thy Kingdom is weighed numbred and finished and being found wanting is divided and distributed Thus he made Zerzes with his 2500000 Zenacharib and Siserah with Hosts as numerous as the Sands by the Sea to return with shame and dishonour and sent the great Bajazet about the World in a Cage for a show And again gave glorious Victories to a single Sampson with a Jaw-bone of an Ass To David with a Sling and a Stone To Gideon with the noise of Pitchers Rams-horns and but 300 Men. It is He that makes a fruitful Land to become a barren Wilderness and depopulates Cities by the Sword Famine and Pestilence And 't is the same hand that made the Wound that applies the Remedy cures all our Diseases and makes the noise of the Drum and Trumpet to cease and restores Peace in all our borders For as Clay in the hands of the Potter so are all Nations in his And 't is no more but for him to speak the word and they are made or utterly undone He can destroy or save as he pleases either by or without means but his usual methods are by Instruments and second Causes as here in my Text by restoring Judges and Counsellors who are both Instruments and Essential parts of a Nations Restoration 2. Which is the 2d thing in order to be discoursed of viz. That the Restoration of Primitive Judges and Counsellors are both the necessary and essential parts as well as instrumental Causes of a Peoples Restoration And here my first enquiry ought to be Who and what those Judges and Counsellors were at first 1. Neg. It is not Judges in general no matter who or what they are provided they are but Judges for of these we never wanted such as they were but they must be such as were at first For there are a sort who are so far from being a blessing that they are the greatest Scourge and Plague as can befall a Nation There are a sort of High Commission Judges there are Arbitrary Dispensing Judges there are Judges who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the common Good humane Society and Interest that they cannot ordinarily be omitted without rendring our Cities and Country Colonies of Caniblas Wildernesses for the Owl and Satyr to dance in Desarts fill'd with Lions and Tigers to prey upon and devour each other No Civis or Civitas can without divesting themselves of their Names and very Essence Interest Sence and Reason be so degenerate as frequently to protect these from the hands of Justice without being devour'd themselves And therefore against common notorious Malefactors the most Barbarous Nations have enacted Laws And the most unjust Judges must and do ordinarily give Sentence So that for a judge to do common Acts of Justice as he cannot avoid does not denominate him a Primitive Judge nor a City restored or righteous But these Names are obtain'd when Justice is universally administred without the least exception as to any one individual Act Time Place or Person whatsoever For by One unjust Act the Judg has lost his Name and is undone for ever Thus in that one piece of Injustice contrived and managed between Ahab the King Jezehel the Queen and their corrupt Judges against the Life and Freehold of Naboth to seize both under the specious pretence of a legal Trial the Judg of Judges thunders out a dreadful Sentence Hast thou killed and taken possession in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood even thine O Ahab and I will rent the kingdom from thy posterity and cut off from thy house every one that pisses against the wall And as for the Queen Dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel i. e. The Wall that enclosed Naboth ' s Vineyard For one Barbarity committed by the Citizens of Gibeah and connived at by their Judges their City was burnt with Fire their Citizens slain with the Sword and 25000 Benjamites Men of Valour cut off For one Wickedness committed by two of their Nobles Zimry and Cosby not punished by the Judges God cut off 24000 by the Plague and would not be pacified until Justice was done on them both by Phineas Eli for the most part a Righteous Judg yet forgetting his Integrity and Duty as such but in one act out of a Fatherly fondness in not punishing the wickedness of his Children God threatned to judg his House for ever and to do such a thing upon it in Israel as would make the ears of them that heard it to tingle and that this his iniquity shall not re purged by sacrifice or by offering Now if for one unjust unpunished Wickedness committed by the Citizens of Gibeah For one suspence of Justice on the Nobles Zimry and Cosby For one partial fond neglect in the good old Judg Eli For the unjust seizure of but one Naboth's Freehold or Vineyard in the whole Reign of Ahab For the shedding of but one innocent Vriah's Blood in the whole Reign of David Themselves their Families their Cities and People were made Monuments of Divine Justice what can we expect the dreadful fatal Consequences should be of such variety of repeated acts of injustice in one Reign Between High-Commission Judges who bidding defiance to all Law and Conscience too can boldly dare to seize more than 40 Naboth's Vineyards or Freeholds in a Morning and dispensing Judges who can encourage Witnesses help Pact Juries and by for ever to be abominated wicked Innuendo's infer what Evidence they please to shed the Innocent Blood of Russels Sidneys or Cornishes or whomsoever else they have a design to murder and commit the greatest of Robberies in the Face of the Sun on Cities and Towns in violent wresting from them their Immunities and Charters on the Estates of the Nobility and Commons by unreasonable illegal exorbitant ruining Fines and commit the most unheard-of execrable Barbarities on the Persons of others by inhumane merciless torturing and slavish punishments ever abhorr'd by the compassionate Genius of the English foreign to their Laws and Anteslavish Constitution of their Government destructive to their Birthright and Freedom and undigestable to their generous Tempers who can easily submit to due and regular Chastisements but being unaccustom'd to over-heavy slavish Burdens can't endure Rehoboam's lashing with Scorpions Tho there were some who either out of Interest or through ignorant indiscreet and intemperate Zeal were ever pressing for an absolute Obedience without reserve no not for Religion or God himself tho without any other effect on the People than to render both themselves and their Arguments equally ridiculous and despicable and prompt them almost to throw off that Obedience which was really due because they contended for one which was most absurd For whilst they mounted and stretched the Doctrine of Passive Obedidience as high as that of the Bow-string they sunk Christianity as low as Mahometanism and yet even these will not always submit themselves to this their own Doctrine as is manifest by their last Years deposing their Legitimate Grand Signior And these very Men amongst us have also hereby dashed their Prince from that Precipice on which they vainly pretended to mount him and brought both our Church and Nation into such a desperate forlorn Condition that a clear Stage was offer'd for Rome and the Jesuits once more to play a Prize for Three famous Kingdoms as Booty for St. Peter's Patrimony or the Virgin 's Dowry as they say England is which being a small branch of their Revenue might do well to buy Tackle Hooks and Lines for the Fisherman at Rome to angle for more Kingdoms or Pins to dress the Lady at Loretto so amiably as to to allure more Rivals In these Circumstances was it not a Miracle of Mercy and Goodness that prevented our being as Admah and Zeboim our Land a Desolation and our Cities a heap because we were already become as Babylon a habitation of Devils and a Cage of unclean Birds and so might have been properly denominated a treacherous Harlot rather than by such a Restoration as this now vouchsafed us of Judges and Counsellors as at first gone forth to settle our Foundations so long out of Course to cleanse both Bench and Court and all our Borders from all their Impurities and Injustice to help up our Laws again to trample on their Dispensers to take care that Punishments and Rewards may run in their proper Channel the Life and Soul of Government And the Publick Administration of Affairs in such Hands as will never rob Caesar of his due nor his Subjects of all that is dear to them Whereby we have a fair prospect and grounded hopes that our Cities in a short time will become and may really be called Cities of Righteousness Faithful Cities 2. I come now to consider what influence the Restoration of Primitive Judges and Counsellors have on our Religious Concerns for they conduce not only to the prosperity of Jerusalem the City but also of Sion the Church For cum factum fuerit in eâ
began to want they repined and wish'd they had died in Egypt When reliev'd and fed with Quails and Manna Angels Food they loath'd it and long'd for the Offals of Egypt When the Army of Israel was defied by Goliah they cry for help God sends them David to deliver them but they despise the Stripling Before he fought the Champion Saul will give him his Daughter or any thing if he conquer When he had destroy'd him and saved both the King and his Kingdom he throws his Javelin at him to kill him Thus when lately Rome threatned our Church with Idolatry France our Nation with Slavery A corrupt pack'd Bench ready to decree it An Army encamp'd ready to enforce it A Prince resolute enough to attempt it Then all as fill'd with Discontent and sunk in Despair murmur out their Complaints That their Religion is lost their Laws dispens'd with and gone the Government Arbitrary the Nation ruined and themselves all undone and cry out Help Lord or else we perish God heard and sent his Angel and deliver'd us and we are restor'd as at the first and in the beginning in so transcendent a manner far beyond what in Reason we could wish or hope for without Effusion of Blood or Devastation of our Cities that all must say It was the Lord's doing and it is wonderful in our Eyes And we being thus deliver'd what is the meaning of all these Lowings and Bleatings in our Ears Discontents and Murmurings as tho' we design'd to confront Heaven stubbornly to rebel against Providence charge the most High with Injustice and dare his Vengeance 'T is just as if when God sent Samuel to tell Saul that for his ill Government He had this day rent the Kingdom of Israel from him and given it to David his Son-in-law that was more righteous than himself by whose hands He was resolv'd to save his People and they had again replied We will not be saved after this manner by God's deposing the Father and setting up his Son Save us by Saul in our own way as best agrees with our Humours or save us not at all How must this have provoked the holy One of Israel to have destroy'd until he had made an end and their Land a Desolation Yet such as these may be found amongst us as Fighters against God. For 1. There are some Repiners who biass'd by a Corrupt Religion bear no good Will to our Sion For they know if the Ark of God be restor'd and set up their Dagon must be removed and thrown down 2. There are others repine because our common Restauration is not their private Interest as those that made Silver-Shrines for Diana and by that Craft get their Wealth may not be wondred at in being so zealous to support her Temple The ground of that grand Uproar at Ephesus and it may be the true Reason of our present Discontents at home Tho' 't is Conscience and Sacrifice with Saul that are the pretended Reasons of their murmuring Disobedience yet these will no more justifie their Rebellions against God's Providential Acts and Deliverances than Saul's did Nor render their Crimes better than his even as the Sin of Witchcraft because the Christian Religion being a Doctrine of Submission and Obedience to the Powers that are doth not involve the Consciences of private Christians about the Title of Princes but only assure them that the Powers that are they are of God and therefore must be obeyed Neither can their Pretensions with the Jews of being bound under an Oath to kill Paul murther their Religion Laws and Country or stand by one that will which is all one justify them in so villanous an Act or give them the least Merit or Reputation by their refusal to renounce such Obligations and to promise Faith Obedience and Assistance to that Glorious Instrument sent by God to save us And is therefore just ground to conclude what their Designs are and Reason for the Government to reject them not only as useless but pernicious and dangerous ne pars sincera trahatur But in truth I rather believe all to proceed from Caution and Interest than Conscience Things may be of doubtful Issue not being yet fully decided and by a bare Suspension they undergo no greater loss for the present than what the Hearts of some could wish for to turn their Charges into sine Cures And having yet time enough to prevent any loss by a deprivation for the future in hopes before that time all may settle and they enabled to make the wiser Choice and effectually secure their Interest let the Issue be what it will. But if there be any that can at last for sake all upon so gross a mistake I will towards such exercise the Charity due to weaker Brethren and hope the best But to lay aside the gilded Pretensions of some the blinded Passions and corrupt private Interests of others as no Guides for us to walk by it will become us in Duty with all humble and grateful Acknowledgment Hearts full of Joy and Mouths filled with Hosanna's to ascribe the Praise the Honour and Glory of all to that God by whose right Hand we have been hitherto preserv'd and restor'd both in Church and State lest that by murmuring on their Doom become ours who after all their miraculous Deliverances out of the Hands of their Enemies were sentenc'd at last to die in the Wilderness there to perish and never enter into his Rest I come now to apply the whole and conclude Having hitherto endeavour'd to parallel our present Restauration and to shew the Influence Primitive Judges and Counsellours may have on it As also to characterise limn and present you with their Pictures Now Sir 't is your part if as I hope you are such a one to shew us the Substance of this Shadow the very Life it self You are come forth in this the time of our universal Restauration the Eyes of the People are upon You they hope for and expect better and greater things Disappoint them not so as that when they look for Judgment behold Iniquity for Righteousness but behold Oppression Let it be no longer proverbially said Visimâ— Câ—lâ—stum terraâ— Astrea reliquit That Justice is fallen asleep or hath forsaken our Country Jericho was a pleasant Scituation but the Waters we read were naught and bitter England is such another Scituation let every one of you be as another Elishah to sweeten and meliorate our Waters so that our Rivers may be as Streams of Righteousness and Judgment running down You have heard the dismal fatal Consequences of but one Act of Injustice in a Judg's Life Be then universally Righteous lest you provoke a greater than He who swore by the Rivers and said Qui Fulmâ—n Qui vos habeóque regâ—quâ— Perdendum est mortale Genus I will rend the World in sunder and ruine Mortals Wherefore put on Zeal as a Cloak and Righteousness as a Breast-plate quit your selves like more than Men like Gods whose Name you bear and whom you personate Be holy as he is holy be just as he is just Loose the bonds of Wickedness undo the heavy Burthens let the Oppressed go free Hold not the Sword in vain Be a Terrour to evil repining invidious Murmurers at our Prosperity Such as could say Aha so would we have it when our Jerusalem was like to have lain in the Dust that at length all the Wicked may be asham'd and confounded but the Righteous may lift up their Heads and rejoice Surgat Gens Aurca Begin the Golden Age again Thus shall you build up the old waste places for the present and raise them for many Generations to come Thus shall you make an Atonement for our Land the Inheritance of the Lord that his Wrath may be turned away Thus if your Righteousness go before you the Glory of the Lord shall be your Rearward Thus if you come up to the Primitive Patern set before you your selves will become as Originals to all who in After-Ages shall survive you Thus you will make our Cities not only be called but really become Cities of Righteousness Faithful Cities Thus you will be the happy Instruments to redeem our Sion our Church of England with Judgment and all her Converts with Righteousness Since ye know these things happy shall ye be if ye do them FINIS 2 Chron. 24. 17 18 Jos lib. â— c. 8. 2 Chron. 25. 2 3. 2 Chron. 25. 14. Jos lib. 9. c. 10. 2 Chron. 25. 27. Allâ—n pag. 163. Brough Chron. Hen. Clap. pag. 84. 2 Chron. 25. 4 5. 2 Chron. 26. 18. 19. Jo 〈…〉 2 Kings 14. 5. Jos lib. 9. c. 11. Allen. pag. 117. Lib 9. cap. 11. 2 Chron. 27. 5 6. Luke 4. 19. Dan. 4. 32. Psal 127. 1 2. Prov. 19. 21. Isaiah 44. 28. Dan. 5. 25 26 27. Jer. 18. 6 7 8. Luk. 18. 2. Seld. dejur li. 7. c. 6. de Syned lib. 1. c. 15. Dr. Iones de Jud. p. 27. Seld de Syned lib. 1. c. 15. Exod. 13. 7. Exod. 18. 19. Judg. 2. 16 Exod. 18. 13. Exod. 18. 25 26. Psal 2 Chron. 19. 5. Exod. 23. 2 3. 5 6. 7. Exod. 18. 19. 2 Sam. 17. 14. 1 Kings 1. 12. 1 Kings 12. 6. Exod. 18. 25 26. Alliborn at Reading foretold that in a short time they would hear their Minister preaching up the King's Right to dispence with Laws For. pag. 129. Gen. 14. 39. 2 Chron. 24. 1. 17. Jos lib. 9. cap. 8. 2 Chron. 22. 3 4. 1 Kings 12. 1 1. 1 Kings 12. 16. 1 Kings 12. 18 19. Rev. 7. 5. 8. 2. Isai 1. 10. 1 Kings 21 19. Numb 25 8 14 15. 1 Sam. 3. 13. 11. 12. Apoc. Cal. Paâ—â—p Prov. 14. 24. 1 Kings 18. 28. Pot. Maâ— pag. 97. Sir Sam. Mor. Embass Psal 72. 2 3 4. Luke 2. 9. Chi. Hist P. 253. Hebraiâ—â— puer injungit Divum do minatur ergo tacens c.
Dr. Carswell THE Gentlemen of the Grand-Jury for this County are all come to give you their hearty Thanks for your Sermon and do request you would be pleas'd to Print it Abington Assis for Berks Aug. 6. 1689. Humphrey Forester Bar. Foreman England's Restoration PARALLEL'D IN JUDAH's OR THE Primitive Judge and Counsellor IN A SERMON BEFORE THE Honourable Judge at Abington Assizes for the County of Berks Aug. 6. 1689. By FRANCIS CARSWELL D. D. The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Awnsham Churchill at the Sign of the Black Swan near Amen-Corner 1689. To the Right Worshipful James Paul Esq High Sheriff of the County of Berks Sir Humphrey Forester Bar and the rest of the Knights Baronets and Gentlemen of the Grand Jury for the said County SIR YOVR Integrity Conduct and Zeal for the Honour and Interest of your Country the due Administration of her Affairs Engrandizing her Publick Assemblies and Courts of Judicature hath been evidenc'd by your Care in singling out and returning for the Grand-Inquest Gentlemen for Quality Estates Integrity and Parts the most Eminent Berks can boast of Remark'd on as a fit President to be followed and best Expedient to prevent for the future such kind of persidious Addresses as were of late wont to be hatched at the Assizes by Men of as desperate Faith as Fortunes and sent from thence to the Court to flatter and deceive their Prince with their own Senses instead of his Peoples betray their Religion and Country in hopes by those sordid Crafts to raise themselves on the Ruins of both A second Lustre beamed on this our Restoration-Assize was the appearance of so many Noble Lords as also other Persons of Quality who as abhorring or ashamed of late Lycaonick Pranks had for some time with Astrea withdrawn or hid themselves but now appear again with joy to welcome her Return My Part being in the Temple to publish and amplifie our great Deliverances and cry Hosannah to their Author I was in hopes when my Breath and Glass were both out my Task had been done too until surpriz'd by your joint repeated Requests I found my self run on this Dilemma either to bid you Defiance and proclaim my Rudeness to all the World by a churlish Denial or my Weakness in granting your Request which latter part I have chosen to let you see what a high Valae I set on your Merit and Friendship whilst I am thus content to expose and so renounce my self to serve your Commands and therefore factum defendite vestrum you have herein your Request Now I pray God and you Gentlemen to grant me mine viz. That Berks and her Gentry may ever do worthily and faithfully serve their God their Prince Religion and Country be Famous and flourish which is and shall be the Prayer of Gentlemen Your Faithful Orator and Servant in Christ Fran. Carswell Isaiah I. 26 27. And I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning after thou shalt be called The City of righteousness The faithful City Sion shall be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness THESE Words are part of that Vision we read of ver 1. which Isaiah saw in the Reigns of Vzziah and Jotham concerning Judah and Jerusalem that is the City or Nation and their Inhabitants The fulfilling whereof Piscator Menopius and Lyra refer to the restauration of their Temple and Nation in their Sacred and Civil Rites as well as ancient Government both in Church and State after their return from their Babylonish Captivity which was about 240 years yet to come And this sence is favoured by the Septuagints rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the Syriack and Arabick Versions Salvabitur Captivitas ejus But Forerius and others look 500 years beyond this time and refer the fulfilling of this Vision to the flourishing and happy Condition of the Christian Church and State as both in After-Ages should be restored and fixed by Christ himself their hoped for Messiah who they believed when he came would restore all things and sit upon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order and establish it with Judgment and with Justice from thenceforth and for ever So that under his Reign the Righteous should flourish Sion should be redeemed Judges Counsellors and all things be restored as at the first 1. Now if we understand these words in the first sense of their Restoration after their return from Babylon the time was so remote they could administer no more of comfort to the Jews than it would to us if in the midst of dismal Distractions one should prophesie That 300 years hence our Nation should flourish or at the Day of Judgment all should be restored 2. If we understand them in the second of the Restoration by Christ under the Gospel that could not concern the present State of the Jews at all but the future of the Gentiles Besides this time being more remote would have been less of support under their pressing Calamities Neither in truth was their Temple Nation Government or ancient Governours then restored but rather quite dissolved and broken in pieces by the conquering Romans and themselves thenceforth enslaved and as an accursed People scattered upon the face of the Earth to this very day for when Shilo came the Scepter departed from Judah Therefore I intend to consider and remark upon these words as Apoc. 1. 3. a Revelation of things that were at hand and speedily to come to pass As a Message sent to Judah in the latter end of Vzziah's Reign and fulfilled about Three Years after in the beginning of Jotham's which will appear if we consider the present juncture of Affairs and Calamities the Jewish Church and Nation then laboured under and how occasioned which was as follows Joash the present King's Grand-Father being an Excellent and Religious Prince in the beginning of his Reign but after the Death of Jehoiadah following the wicked Counsel of his cringing Favourites he forsook the true Established Worship and turned Idolater which thing so highly provoked God that he gave him up in Battel into the hands of his Enemies and at last his own Subjects slew him Amaziah his Son succeeding in the Throne one of the first things he did was to try and execute those Regicides who had murthered the King his Father And farther we read of him that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart that is he outwardly for a long time still professed and pretended to protect the true Worship and Worshippers of God as then professed amongst the Jews which thing was right in God's sight but not with a perfect heart for his heart was after the Gods of Mount Seir and privately he burnt incense to them But knowing the Hatred his Subjects bore to that Idolatrous Religion he durst not openly enjoyn it them However we find when his Subjects began to discover his
former dissembling his Religion and fearing he had designs and would in time attempt to introduce Innovations into the Temple of God they plotted and conspired against him and so at last made him away too Thus these two Princes grasping at an absolute and arbitrary power or to make themselves like to the great King of Assyria their Neighbour as the most proper Expedient endeavoured first to introduce his Idolatrous Worship It being the Nature of all False and Idolatrous Religions which come from the Devil to make all Monarchs like himself their Author Arbitrary Tyrants And all their Subjects like those in his Kingdom of Darkness Miserable Slaves But the Nature of the true Religion which comes from God is to render all her Kings being his anointed like himself Indulgent Fathers And all her Subjects like those in his Kingdom of Glory Children and Free-born By these Methods I say they made a miserable Exit losing both their Lives and Kingdoms too For that like the Romans who being abused by Tarquinius Superbus their last King would never after endure the Name of another So here the States of Iudah their King being destroyed seized the Government and turned themselves into a Commonwealth for about 11 or 12 years But after that time they unanimously restore Vzziah their last King's Son to the Throne in hopes that his Predecessor's Misfortunes in attempting to alter or corrupt the Established True Worship might prove a fair warning to him And this King in the beginning of his Reign God always prospered in Battel and delivered his Enemies that rebelled against him into his hands The Philistines the men of Ashdod and Gath. And his Name spread amongst the Neighbour-Princes he built Forts and raised a mighty Army he invented and proivded all manner of warlike Magazins and Engines Shields Spears Helmets Habergions Bows and Slings and God marvellously helped him till he was strong 2 Chron. 26. 13 14. But now in the midst of all this Grandeur warlike provision and mighty Army he seems to forget his Kingly Office and nothing will satisfie him but he must turn Priest and offer up Sacrifice And instead of employing all these warlike preparations against the common Enemy in defence of his Subjects their Laws Liberties Countrey and Religion it now appears he only designed to secure himself in such a Power as his Predecessors wanted that might enable him to go through in the Corrupting that Worship of God about which they had failed And in order to it at last he picks a quarrel with Azariah the High Priest who with other Priests assisting opposed the King in his attempts But presently hereupon in the heighth of all this greatness and glory it follows that his mighty Army answers none of his ends but turned to his shame and roproach His Spirit and Courage sinks in the midst of his Forces and himself between being thrust or affrighted out of his Kingdom run away and left it as we read 2 Chron. 26. 20. He made haste to be gone living after about four years and at last died with grief and discontent and was buried in his Garden Hereupon the States of Judah convened and their King having thus left them for the present juncture they set Jotham the King's Son over the king's house to administer the government and finding him an Excellent Prince in a short time after they advance him to the Throne during the Life of his Father Thus by the Male-administration of Three succeeding Princes and their several attempts to introduce an Arbitrary Power and an Idolatrous Worship The Foundations of the Jewish Church and State had been miserably shaken and almost dissolved so that it was hard for the most discerning amongst them to determine whether the Worship of the true God or that of Baal was like to prevail Which so much perplex'd the anxious thoughts of such Ely's whose hearts trembled for fear of the Ark of God. And so highly dissatisfied those who were well affected to the peace and prosperity of their Countrey that what between the Concernment and Zeal of some for their Religion the Discontents of others for their distressed tottering State and Government a general Neutrality and Supiness possessed most as careless of the issue the support of the Government or who govern'd concluding it could not be worse Their Country and Religion lay bleeding as Isaiah 1. 5 to 23. Their head is sick their heart faint their country was desolate their cities burnt with fire their land strangers devoured in their presence Sion was left as a cottage as a besieged city the faithful city Ierusalem is become a harlot she that was full of judgment and righteousness lodged in her is filled with malefactors their king and princes make wicked counsellors their companions their judges are made for oppression they judge not the fatherless nor house of the widow but they love gifts and follow after rewards And in the midst of these Distractions and Convulsions both of Church and State unless the Lord of Hosts had compassion on them they must have been as Sodom and Gomorrah but in the mount of the Lord is God seen He arises and resolves to rescue his people out of the jaws of so imminent destruction and tho all looks desperate yet to prevent their despondency he sends Isaiah in this comfortable Message and commands him to prophesie and tell them that notwithstanding all their present fears and confusions yet the time was just come That I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning after thou shalt be called The city of righteousness The faithful city Sion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness Which Prophecy seems to be made good in the very next Prince's Reign who was Jotham of whom Josephus writes Huic Regi nulla virtus defuit erga Deum pro justo erga homines reipublicae studioso quicquid enim instauratione opus habebat diligenter sarciendum curavit in tantúmque Regnum auxit ut tam domi felix esset quà m foris formidabilis That he was a most Excellent Prince deficient in no Virtue but devout towards God just towards Man and willingly employ'd himself to redress all that was amiss both in Church and State. He fortified his Kingdom and made War upon the great King of Ammon his Neighbour and all the Enemies of their Religion and Nation round about and overcame them in Battel and made them Tributary to him being happy amongst his Subjects at home and formidable to his Enemies abroad ever waxing mighty because he prepared his way before the Lord. Now since the Apostle tells us No Scripture is of private interpretation this Prophecy may concern us of England as well as Judah and Jerusalem Their Case seems to be our President we have copied after And our Circumstances their Parallel Both are so obvious that there needs no Application or more to be said than
Judicium redimetur Sion When Judgment shall be administer'd in her Sion shall be redeemed Or as the Arabick Version Post Judicium salvabitur Sion After Judgmen texecuted Sion shall be saved So that 't is plain there must be Judges restored before Judgment and that Judgment must be executed before Sion can be redeemed And 't is repugnant to Sense and Reason as well as Religion that since not a Nation much less a Church can be restor'd and flourish but by executing Judgment in Righteousness because sin and injustice are the dishonour and shame of a People Every unjust Act is a blow at the Root and high affront to the true Religion which was planted in Righteousness and must be built up in Judgment Rapines Perjuries Violence and Injustice are proper Materials for the building up of Babel the Synagogue of Satan not of Sion the Temple of God. Truth and Falshood Good and Evil Light and Darkness Righteousness and Injustice will never Cement but like contrary Qualities they 'l dissolve or blow up the whole Fabrick We may as easily bring together in a Building the North-Pole and the South and raise it up by heaping on Banrels of Gunpowder intermix'd with flaming Fire-brands instead of Bricks and cement it with Pitch and Sulphur for Mortan False Religions I know are founded and propagated on Maxims and Practices of Injustice and barbarous Cruelties Thus the Worshippers of Baal are bound to launce themselves with knives The Worshippers of Moloch must make their Sons pass through the Fire for Burnt-Offerings to him The Americans sacrifice Men to their Viracoca And most of the Islanders in the Bay of Mexico did both eat and sacrifice Men to their Idols And at this day Mahomet's Alcoran instructs his Votaries by Fire and Sword Devastation of Cities and Kingdoms with all manner of inhumane Barbarities to force Men to embrace his impious execrable Religion But above all the Romish in these things seem to exceed Their Purgatory Penances Whippings Fastings Pilgrimages Watchings with multitudes of other childish senseless unwarrantable Fopperies of the Devil's invention to plague or imploy their Votaries about tho intolerable in themselves yet are as nothing when compared with their bloody Inquisition their Heretick-burning Doctrines and bloody Massacres As of Scores of Thousands at Rochel and in Ireland in the Vallies of Piedmont and England too as well as other places in the Ages just past Their yesterdays brutish Cruelties in Savoy and in Franoe by Sword by Fire by Tortures by Imprisonment by Banishment by Dragooning Men out of their Houses Lands Estates Country and Lives too And he knows little of Rome that doth not know that Death and She are like in this that one spares no Man Living and the other no Heretick breathing as she calls the best of Christians A Religion so diametrically opposite to the true that 't is the very reverse of all that the holy Jesus instituted taught or practised of whom it was prophesied that he should judge the People with Righteousness and the Poor with equity and break in pieces the Rod of the Oppressors so that the Mountains should bring Peace and the little Hills Righteousness Which was fulfilled when he came For the Angels celebrating his Birth proclaimed Perce on Earth and good Will towards Men. And after he himself declar'd his Burthen to be light his Yoke easie That he came not to destroy but to save Mens lives by destroying the works of Darkness and bringing in a holy spiritual Worship of the one only living and true God to the utter extirpation of all Idolatry and final destruction of all their Apollo's and Jupiter's Temples and silencing their Oracles and from thenceforth to establish a more entire union between Man and Man founded in Innocence Charity Mercy and Justice So that it plainly appears from the Nature Principles Doctrine and Practices of true Religion and false being so contradictory to each other that the proper Methods and Instruments for the building up of the one are and must be destructive to the oother and that the true being founded on principles of Truth Righteousness and Judgment the Restoration of such Judges as duly execute these must influence and conduce to the prosperity of the true Church for Sion must be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness As the Result of the whole I descend to my Fourth and last Inference 4. Since both Church and State reap so great Advantages by the Restoration of primitive Judges and Counsellors a People are highly obliged when thus restor'd without Murmuring to bless God for both And our Nation being thus restor'd from such forlorn Circumstances as we were lately in a Man would think there was no room left for Murmur or Scruple about this our blessed Restoration urged by Necessity carried on by Miracle and perfected by the Universal Consent of all that love God their Religion and Country Wherefore Justice Equity and Gratitude calls upon us to give the Glory Honour and Praise to that God who is the primary Author of all and next under him to acknowledg that glorious Instrument in his Hand by which he hath wrought for us so great Salvation and teach us a ready submission to one who under God hath snatched us out of the Jaws of so great Destruction and put us into the actual possession of our Laws Liberties Religion and Properties and all that was dear to us in this World and we hope may make us happy in the next and still weilds the Sword to support and defend us in the enjoyment of all that he has thus acquir'd for us Is it now possible that from Dan to Beersheba from Berwick to the Mount there should be found amongst us one Tobias or Sanballat who when they heard that the Walls of Jerusalem were to be made up and the House of the Lord to be repair'd should conspire to hinder and repine at it O my God saith Nehemiah think thou upon Tobias and Sanballat Had the greatest Deliverance which ever God vouchsafed to Mortals wanted such it would have been too strange to have been believ'd now O horrendum infandum Nefas But as there are a sort of Men that no Man nor themselves know what they would have or what to make of so not Heaven what to do with how to satisfy or humour If they are distress'd they groan complain and cry for Deliverance But when deliver'd they clamour at the Method Manner or Means That God deliver'd them in his own way not in theirs Thus Naaman is angry at the Means of his Cure why God would not make the Waters of Damascus as effectual as those of Jordan Dathan Abiram and Corah quarrel with the Instruments of their Deliverance Moses and Aaron why they must be the Men rather than others When Israel was in Egypt they groan'd under their slavish Burthens When deliver'd ungratefully said Would to God we had not come up thence When they