then we are in such a City which neither enemy can force nor want of trade impoverish nor disease infect Deus meus omnia Let God be mine and I am strong enough against all the world against all violence against all practices against all misfortunes I could inlarge my self on this general Topick as to the moral of my Text but that I am to keep my self to the literal sense to the strong City herein meant by the Royal Psalmist 20. And if I keep my self to the literal sense we must inquire what City is here meant by David And we shall finde upon a very short inquiry that it was either Ziglag Hebron or Hierusalem and the last most likely St. Austin and St. Hierome so resolve for certain with whom the Moderns do agree as to that particular all telling us That God declared his marvellous mercies unto David by setling his affairs in Civitate Ierusalem in the strong City of Hierusalem in the Fort of Sion For there he found an end of his former sorrows thither he brought the Ark to that place he removed the Trabernacle and there did he fix his Royal Palace with the Courts of Iustice and thereby drew unto it by degrees all the wealth of the Kingdom and there he reigned in greater glory and renown then any of the Kings and Princes which were round about him 21. Now Cities are accounted strong in two respects first in the strength of situation or of art and next in the multitudes and natural courage of the people and in both these Ierusalem as it flourished in the time of David might worthily be called a strong City as indeed it was Civitas munitissima as my Author hath it For first it was well situated and strongly fortified three Towns in one of them seated on steep Hills and all of them invironed with high Walls strong Bullwarks and unpassable Ditches But none to be compared with the City of Sion which made the Iebusites presume so far upon the strength of the place that in contempt of Davids Forces they mann'd their walls with none but their blind and lame as Iosephus tells us and then sent word whether with greater pride or folly it is hard to say that except he took away the blind and the lame he could not come thither Which was to tell him in effect that those poor wretches were sufficient to make good the Fort against all his Army and therefore must be first removed before he could expect to be Master of it Such confidence saith he they had in their Walls and Trenches that they conceived them able without further help to keep out the Enemy 22. But Walls we see by this example are but simple strengths if there be any want of people or in the people any want of courage to make good the place The honour of a King consists not in the strength of Towns and frequency of Garrisons but in the multitude and courage and good affection of his Subjects Kings are then safest when they trust rather to their Castles of bones then their Castles of stones according to the Aphorism of Sir Henry Savage an old English Souldier Lycurgus also seemed to be of the same opinion when he prohibited the Spartans to immure their City or to use any of the Arts of Fortification And in this sense lerusalem was strong because it was as populous and no less capacious then either Nineveh or Babylon or Eckbatana or any other Cities in the Eastern Countries So populous that at the siege thereof by Titus there perished by the Sword and Famine of all sorts and sexes 1100000. and above as Iosephus telleth us And so prodigiously capacious that once the High-Priest at the request of Cestius a Roman President numbering the people which came thither to observe the Passover found them to be two millions and seven hundred thousand men besides women and children all sound and purified and fitted by the Law for that Sacred Ceremony A number numberless and not indeed to be believed were not Iosephus generally reckoned for a true Historian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the good Father Iustin Martyr hath assured us of him And though these numberings of the people in that mighty City happened long after David's time yet the City after David's time received small inlargements Ten of the Tribes revolting on the death of Solomon and never afterwards returning to the Kings of Iudah 23. As for the courage of the People and Inhabitants of it in the time of David we may conceive it equal at the least if it were not greater then that of their posterity in the times succeeding Which was so eminent that he which reads the Story of their final ruine when besieged by Titus will find the Romans so put to it that they never purchased any City at a dearer rate And hereupon may say in the word of Iustin Et tanta animorum virtus fuit c. That though they had just cause at all times to despair of safety yet for the most part they presumed and came off with safety till God was pleased to give them over for a prey to the Sword of their Enemies 24. And yet there might be somewhat in it which more assured David of his peace and happiness than either the Courage of the people or the Strength of the place which was their good Affection and fidelity to him And this appears plainly by their carriage towards him when he was forced to give way to the Treason of Absolom For when he left them to the power of the Enemy the people followed him in great numbers to express their loyalty and followed him in tears to express their affection So as it cannot be affirmed that either they betrayed or forsook their King but that the King rather in a Royal pity did withdraw from them left otherwise he might have brought some evil on the City as the Text informs us Lay all that hath been said together of the strength of this City and we shall find that David had good reason to extol Gods Name for giving him possession of a place so strong so populous and so replenished with a loyal and couragious people 25. And thus I have run over all the parts of my Text as they declare God's marvellous kindness unto David so that it can be no hard matter to remove the vail and to behold the face of our own affairs the mercies of this day and the glories of it A day in which we solemnize the memory of as great a kindness a kindness as remarkable in respect of the Person as marvellous in its own condition no less peculiar to the Lord as the Author of it and in a place as notable our Principal City our strongest City of descence To which by Gods assistance and your Christian Patience I shall now proceed and then descend unto the duties of the dayes where we shall meet with David's thankfulness and our own to boot
person in the day of Battail but managed all his Wars with Abner Absolom and Sheba by the hand of Ioab Which gave him means and opportunity to provide for himself though all his Forces had been routed and their General taken But our great Master put himself into the head of his Army ventured his life for the Redemption of his people charged and recharged through the thickest of his enemies the first that came into the field and the last that left it and thereby gained the honour though he lost the victory of the day By what miraculous means he was preserved from death in that fatal Overthrow and with what Loyal secrecy conveyed from one place to another is not so clearly and distinctly known as the cause deserves therefore to be wished that it may publickly be declared by his Sacred Majesty that God might have the glory of his own great Mercies and all good men the honour of their brave fidelity In the mean time we may with piety believe that he was either carryed off by God on the wings of Angels so that none could reach him or else inveloped round about with a cloud of darkness so that none could see him Cernere ne quis eum ne quis contingere poss it as Virgil telleth us of Aeneas in the last condition 31. And then again the hand of God was far more visible in his Restitution For was it not a marvellous kindness that God was pleased to preserve a strong party for him which had not been infected with the errors and corruptions which then reigned amongst us that in a time of such a general defection from the rules of the Church so many thousands should be found of all sorts and sexes which had not bowed the knee to Baal nor to the golden Calves of Dan and Bethel nor the more guilded Calves that grazed and bleated upon these mountains of the Lord. And that far more should keep their hearts intire and loyal in those times of danger when they could find no means to signifie it by their tongues and hands And this not only was a kindness and a marvellous kindness but misericordia sua the Lords kindness also most properly to be called the work of God who did both bow their Hearts and advance their Hands and use them both for the facilitating of the Kings Reduction 32. In which conjuncture of affairs a little cloud ariseth from the Northern Sea after the heavens had been shut up for some years together Which though it were no bigger then a mans hand in the first appearance yet brought along with it such abundance of rain as did not only comfort and refresh the afflicted Land but forced our politick Ahabs and their followers too to take their Chariots and make haste away to some other place before the storm should overtake them And certainly this must needs be misericordia sua as well Gods mercy in it self as to be reckoned for a mavellous mercy in the eyes of men For neither the Party was so weak nor the Cause so desperate as to be broken by the coming of so small a power as rather seemed to be a Guard to their Generals person then of sufficient force to oppose that Army before which two great Kings were not able to stand And then it is to be observed that such as draw their Swords upon God's Anointed use commonly to throw away the scabbards also and find no way of doing better but by doing worse Nil medium inter summa praecipitia No middle way for them to walke in but either to bear up like Princes or to die like Traytors But it was otherwise in the case which we have before us God so prevailing on the hearts of the men of war that they became no less ready to receive their King then his own party to invite him And they which first ingaged in the War against him expulsed him hence and voted him uncapable of the Regal Dignity are now as zealous as the best to advance him to it Nay they contended eagerly with the rest of the Subjects as once the men of Israel did with the men of Iudah which of the two should shew most zeal for his Restitution and did not only send word to him that he should return both he and his servants with him but some of them passed over the Flood that they might bring him back unto his Countrey with the greater glory Et certant ipsi secum utrùm contumeliosius eum expulerint an honorabilius revocaverint as in the case of Alcibiades is observed by Iustin. 33. But possibly our Gideon with such a handful of men might not have been of power sufficient to effect the enterprise if our great City had not openly appeared in favour of it and thereby given encouragement to the rest of the Subjects whose hearts stood firm unto the King A treble City of three Towns together but all of them united in one common name as Ierusalem was and no less strong then that in regard on the multitude but stronger in respect of the power and riches of the people of it For here it was in this strong City the principal City of our Nation the abstract or Epitomie of all Britain In Britanniarum compendio as my Author cals it that the design was most advanced though not there contrived And here it was in this strong City that this great miracle of mercy did receive accomplishment by opening both their Gates and Hearts and Hands to receive their Soveraign Let them continue in that obedience to our Lord the King they shal wipe away the memory of their former Errors Nay our Posterity shall behold them with a cheerful gratitude as the restorers and preservers of our common happiness by giving good example to the rest of the Kingdom For certainly the practice of great Cities is exemplary not only in their Morals but their Politicks too According to the motion of the Primum mobile the lower Stars and Planets move in their several Spheres and think it no disgrace to be sometimes retrograde or in their motus trepidationis when the first Orbe begins to be irregular or seems to be left destitute of those Intelligences which are said to move it 34. And therefore it concerns great Towns and populous Cities upon whose actions all mens eyes are fixed and busied to be a pattern of good works of Loyalty and of due obedience to the rest of the people Faction and Opposition to Authority are two dangerous plagues more fatal and destructive to the greatest Empire than the Sword Pestilence or Famine Which if they get into a City or a Town of note Non ibi consistunt ubi caeperunt infect not there alone where they first brake out but as the nature of the Plague is observed to be from thence it springs into the Villages adjoyning and in the end to all the quarters of the Kingdom It cannot be denied but that
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.
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
all those Desarts had entertained the like design but were as happily prevented as the treacherous Keylites Nabal the churl whose flocks had been protected by him from all Thieves and Robbers refused to gratifie him with some part of that superfluity which was provided for his Sheerers And though his Brethren and some few of his next Relations had repaired unto him yet generally his friends and kindred look upon him as a man forlorn whom they could neither privately supply without manifest danger nor openly relieve without certain ruine 7. And yet he was not so deserted but that some companies resorted to him from all parts of the Realm either to mend their own condition or to sweeten his Not altogether men of such desperate fortunes as Nabal the old churl reported and perhaps believed Some of them questionless might be persons no less eminent both for place and quality as for their good affections to him though generally they were as the Scripture telleth us either is debt or discontent or some great distress that is to say such as were either discontented with the Tyranny of the present Government or were indebted to some cruel and unmerciful creditors from whom they could expect no favour and as little Justice or in a word were otherwise distressed upon some suspition that they were wedded to the Interest of the son of Iess The taking of these few Volunteers for a guard to his person is publiquely declared to be the Levying of a War against the King and all the Forces of the Realm must be forthwith armed to suppress those men who were not able to withstand the twelfth part of a Tribe This drives him once again to the Court of Akish where he found better entertainment then he did before because he came accompanyed with a Train of couragious followers from whom the Barbarous King assured himself of no mean assistance in his next Wars against his Neighbours without excepting those of the house of Israel 8. But now the Tide begins to turn and a strong floud of mercies of flow in upon him As there is no deep Valley but neer some high Mountain so neer unto this Vale of Misery was a Hill of Mercy and we shall see him climb the top of it without any great difficulty Akish beholds him as a person so depressed and injured by the power of Saul that no reconciliation could be made between them and thereupon bestows upon him the strong Town of Ziglag to serve for him and his adherents as a City of Refuge to which his party might resort upon all occasions And for his better welcome thither the news of Saul's uncomfortable but unpittied death is swiftly posted to him on the wing of Fame which opened the first passage to him for the Crown of Israel For now there dayly came unto him many men of note and merit whose names are on record in the Book of Chronicles affirmed there to be mighty men experienced in the use of Arms Captains of Hundreds and of Thousands and such as seemed to carry Victory in their very countenances And they came thither in such numbers as they made up a great Host like the Host of God as the Scripture calls it that is to say a puissant and mighty Army fit for the undertaking of the noblest actions By whose incouragement but chiefly at the instigation of the men of Iudah who had repaired to Ziglag amongst the rest he goes up to Hebron the Principal City of that Tribe having first taken Gods direction commission with him There he is cheerfully received and anointed King King only over Iudah his own native Tribe the rest of Israel still adhering to the house of Saul For Abner Captain of Saul's Host and one as neer to him in bloud as in place and power had gained so far upon the Military men that they agreed to set the Crown upon the head of Ishbosheth the eldest of Saul's Sons which survived his Father And this he did not on design to divide the Kingdom to break it into two and set up Scepter against Scepter as Ieroboam and on the death of Solomon but with a purpose to compel the men of Iudah by force of Arms to cast off David to unite themselves to the rest of Israel and all together to be subject to a Prince of the house of Saul A Prince indeed of no great parts affirmed to be a person of a dull and unactive spirit more given to ease and pleasures then to deeds of Arms magis extra vitia quam cum virtutibus in the words of Tacitus but fit enough to bear the Title of a King whilest Abner and the Souldiers managed all affairs as to them seems best 9. This brings new troubles upon David though they held not long A breach is made between the new King and that great Commander Who being impatient of rebuke and netled with some words which escaped his Master resolves upon delivering the whose Kingdom to the hands of David to which end he maintains a Treaty with him and concludes the business But before all things could be setled the Titulary King is murthered by the two sons of Rimmon both of them Captains in his Army both Natives of the Tribe of Benjamin his Fathers Tribe and possibly both of them of some kindred and relation to him This puts an end unto the war the west of Israel seconding the Tribe of Iudah and altogether calling upon David to accept the Government To which end they annoynt him the third time and own him by that Sacred Ceremony for their Soveraign Prince And such as Prince as must have somewhat in him of the Priest and the Prophet also For Rex est mixta persona cum Sacerdote as our Lawyers tels us and capable on that account of the Sacred Unction if some of our Masters of the Ceremonies have not been mistaken But so it was that those of Benjamin could not so easily forget their late pretentions to the Crown of Israel which they had held successively under two great Princes and therefore came not up to Hebron with the rest of the Tribes to confer the Kingdom upon David but to obtain it for themselves as Iosephus telleth us A secret not to be concealed from David a discerning Prince and one that was well studied in his own concernments Who therefore to cut off their hopes and prevent their practises resolves to get into his hands the strong City of Sion Which standing in a corner of the Tribe of Benjamin might serve for a sufficient bridle to hold them in if they should practise any thing against his quiet for the time to come And being afterward inlarged at the charge of David by taking in the City of Salim and building all from Millo inward as the Scripture telleth us he caused it to be called Hierusalem peopled it with such Families as he might confide in and made
it from thenceforth the chief seat of his Royal Residence Never till now was David setled in the Kingdom and now he growes considerable in the eyes of all forain Princes who court him and send presents to him and trie all means imaginable to obtain his favour 10. And thus the Scepter promised to the Tribe of Iudah is put into the hands of David the Son of Iesse one of the chief Princes of that Tribe And all this done at such a time when they had all the reason in the world to fear the contrary The Government having passed through many Tribes from Moses of the race of Levi to Ioshua the Son of Nun of the seed of Ephraim and so from one Tribe to another until it came to Saul of the stock of Benjamin And this may seem to have been done for these reasons chiefly First That the Tribe of Iudah might not claim the Kingdom otherwise then by Gods donation as possibly they might have done if they had entred on the Government upon the death of Moses by any Military Vote or Popular election or in relation to that Primogeniture which was vested in them by the last Will and Testament of their Father Iacob And 2ly It was so done that the people being sensible of the inconveniences of the former Government the miseries which they had indured in the times of Anarchie and the extremities which they had been reduced to in the Reign of Saul might with a greater cheerfulness imbrace a Prince of the Royal Family whom God had so miraculously preserved and commended to them 11. And it may seem to have been kept so long from David for two Reasons also First that he being trained up in the School of experience and hammered on the Anvile of Affliction might be the better qualified for mannaging all affairs of State then if he had been educated in the pride and pleasures of a Princes Court And Secondly it was so disposed of that being to be married to the Realm of Israel he might more passionately long to inâ—oy his Spouse then if she had cast her self into his imbraces at the first making of the Contract And this was done according to the custome of the Iewish Nation who use to place some fitting and convenient interval betwixt the Espousal and the Wedding for which St. Austin gives this reason Ne vilem habeat maritus datam quam non suspiravit sponsus dilatam for fear saith he lest otherwise the Bridegroom might despise her in the first fruition for whom he had not longed with some vehement passion But being longed for and long looked for they are met at last to the full comfort of both parties the pleasure of Almighty God and the joy of the Nation 12. Such was Gods kindness unto David expressed in his marvellous preservation when he was compassed round about with invincible dangers his exaltation to the Throne from keeping sheep to be the Shepherd of his people and therefore not a kindeness a great kindeness only but misericordia mirabilis in St. Hieroms reading a marvellous great kindeness as my Text assures me For what particular is there in all this kindeness which is not marvellous mirabile in oculis nostris as marvellous in our eyes as it was in his And not a marvellous kindeness only but miserecordia mirifica a kindness which wrought wonders as Tremelius reads it What can it else be thought but a singular miracle that God should for so many years preserve this poor fugitive Prince both from the treachery of his friends and the power of his enemies that he should finde more favour in the Land of Moab then he durst hope for in the place of his birth and breeding that men from all parts of the Kingdom should resort unto him when he had neither Town of War to secure their persons nor any stock of money and provisions to maintain their Families That Akish and the men of Gath should lay aside their animosities against him for the death of Goliah and put into his hands a piece of such strength and consequence as might inable him to create unto them a far greater mischief 13. And was it not as great a miracle if it were not greater that Saul should come to such a miserable and calamitous end without ingaging David in a ruinous and destructive War against those men which were designed to be his Subjects That God should so incline the hearts of the men of Iudah as to accept him for their King and thereby to involve themselves in a tedious War when all the rest of the Tribes adhered still to Abner and the Sons of Saul That God was pleased to make to use of any of Davids party for the destruction of Sauls house but acted that great work by Abner and the Sons of 〈◊〉 being the Kings near kinsmen and his chief Commanders That all the Tribes of Israel should unite together to set and Crown upon his head whom they had formerly pursued from one place to another till they had forced him to take Sanctuary in a forain Nation That all this should be done without noyse or trouble more then the noyse of joyful shouts and acclamations and the short trouble of an easie though a martial progress That there should be so few men killed on either side between the death of Saul and the Crowning of David and that God should put into his hands the strong Fort of Sion which neither Saul nor any of the Judges nor Ioshua himself nor Gideon nor Ieptha Duo Fulmina belli the veriest Thunder-bolts of War had before attempted 14. And yet the kindeness was the greater and the more miraculous considering that it was extended to spiritual mercies and not confined to temporal preservations and external benefits For notwithstanding the horrid murther of Abimelech the terrible massacre of so many Priests and the unmerciful sacking of the City of Nob Abiathar the next High-priest and many others doubtless of that Sacred Order joyned themselves unto him Abiathar was too great a person and too well beloved not to bring some attendants with him and who more like to bear him company then the Priests and Levites Not so much out of care to preserve themselves as to do service unto him whom the Lord had chosen By means whereof not only he but all his followers were instructed in the things of God and thereby kept from-being any way infected with those gross Idolatries which were predominant in Moab and the Court of Gath. Than which there could be nothing more conducible to his future advancement or which could more indear him to the Iewish Nation when they came once to be assured that neither flatteries could intice him nor great threats affright him nor hope of promised aid allure him from standing fast to the Religion of his Fathers to the Law of Moses And more then so Abiathar brought along with him the sacred Ephod by which the High-priest used to consult with
God and to enquire his will and pleasure in all difficult cases The want whereof necessitated the unhappy Tyrant to have recourse for counsel to the Witch of Endor as if he had been forced upon that desperate resolution in the antient Poet Flectere si nequeo superos Acheronta movebo that since he could not move the Gods he would trie the Devil 15. Nor was all this a kindeness only or a great kindeness as the old Translation and misericordia mirabilis a marvellous great kindeness in the eyes of all men but it was misericordia sua the Lords own kindeness factum Domini the Lords own doing to which no humane prudence could pretend a title This David understood none better And therefore attributes his safety and deliverance to the Lord alone Ipse sit licèt magna unique cura industria usus as Musculus hath night-well observed though he himself had used all possible industry and care for his own preservation He had his agents and intelligeneers in the Court of Saul to give him notice of the secret purposes of his mortal enemy He entertained Abiathar in a place both of trust and nearness that by his means he might maintain a correspondence with the rest of that Order And when necessity compelled him to ingage in battail he sent out Ioab a man of most undaunted courage to incounter Abner with whom he was competitor for the Palm of victory More providence and care could no man use then David did and yet he calleth it misericordiam Domini only Gods mercy and his marvellous kindeness by which he was preserved in the day of trouble 16. And so indeed it was meerly Gods mercy and his marvellous great kindness by which he was preserved in the dayes of Saul and raised to the Throne of Israel on the death of Ishbosheth For what could David have effected with all his diligence had not God secretly forwarned him of those dangers which were near at hand or what advantage could Abiathars discoveries have procured unto him had not God sent the spirit of infatuation amongst the Princes of Sauls house supplanted their designes and turned their wisdom into foolishness Or what could Ioab with all his valour have atchieved against so many enemies had not God broken them in pieces had not God throwen amongst them such a Ball of discord such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as made them turn their Swords upon one another In which dissention the Royal Nothing is dispatched on his bed of ease and dispossessed at once both of Crown and Life before he had served out his Indentures in the Trade of Government which also must be factum Domini the Lord 's doing only as to the ordering permitting and disposing of it though Abner and the sons of Riâ—mon had their own vile ends For who but God could turn his own Sword upon him and so infatuate the Counsels of his chief Commanders as to contrive the ruines of their nearest kinsman by whose sole power they stood and might have longer stood in all apparent probability in their former greatness 17. Except the Lord doth keep the City saith the Royal Psalmist the watchman watcheth but in vain Except the Lord doth build the house their labour is but lost that build it What then Shall then the Workman play and the Watchman sleep Not so saith Origen â—mpendant ipsi quantum in se est laboris et sollicitudinis c. Let them continue their indevours in the name of God and let the Watchman watch and the Workman labour Though God be all and that our safety is from him and from him alone yet he hath told us that the lazie person shall not eat and the careless person shall not prosper It is the hand of the diligent which maketh rich and he becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand faith the wiseman Solomon God in the ordering and disposing of humane affairs is like the Pilot in a Ship It is the Pilot only which doth steer and guid the Vessel and bringeth it safe into the Haven yet it is expected that every several Mariner do discharge his duty and yield obedience to the whistle of the Boat-swain 18. But on the other side it is not therefore to be thought that we may warrantably intitle either our industry or strength or wisdom to the rights of God The wisdom of the wise saith Paul is it not foolishness with the Lord What Man is there saith David that can save himself by his much strength Yea or by taking thought saith the Son of David can add one cubit to his stature Man purposeth but God disposeth And when we have most spent our spirits and consumed our bodies in the well ordering of our fortunes yet it is all in vain and fruitless and of no effect except the Lord even our own God doth give us his blessing Ascribe we therefore to the Lord the glory of his own exployts and let us not presume to say in any of our prosperous actions that This my own right hand hath done or my wit effected Though David did as much as care and wisdom could perform for his own security yet he refers it all to God and reckons it His mercy only and his marvellous kindeness whereby he was preserved from danger made Master of Hierusalem and setled after all his troubles in so strong a City 19. In a strong City That 's the next In civitate munita In a fenced City saith the Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City walled and ditched about as the Greek Text reads it In civitate robusta firmata A City strong in men and as strongly fortified in St. Hierom's Gloss. Only Tremelius with some notable difference from all men else doth translate it thus Benedictus Dominus Blessed be the Lord for she hath shewed his marvellous kindeness to me in as great a measure ut in civitate munita collocans me as if he had inclosed and kept me safe in a Town of War as if I had been billited and strongly garrison'd in a Fort and City T is true indeed Gods mercy is the surest Hold to which we may commit our safety the strongest Castle of defence to which we may intrust our persons A fortress against all our foes an Antidote against all Plagues a Remedy against all Diseases He that is so defended need no other Arms. Non eget Mauri Iaoulis nec arcu Not shield nor bow nor poysoned arrows Gods mercy is all kinde of weapons to him both for annoyance and defence No armour is so sure of proof but it may be broken nor Town so strong but may be taken nor wals so high and close to keep our contagion Put if Gods mercy doth protect us and his power defend us if we be compassed round about with his deliverance as with a wall we will not be affraid through war and poverty and sickness do conspire against us For we are sure that
we found it to be so in the first revolt but then it must be granted also that the Tide never turned in the lesser Rivers until the Thames had made a stand under London-Bridge The noise of which great miracle as it was no other made all the waters clap their hands and the floods rejoyce and even the Ocean to be proud of so rich a burthen as was committed to its trust by the heavenly Pilot. 35. For now the King prepares for his return to the Royal City not with an Army to besiege it to smite it with the edge of the sword and to root out the Iebusites which were planted in it as David did when he first brought Hierusalem under his command Not so but as a Prince of peace as the Son of David to bring the glad tidings of salvation to all his Subjects to put an end to all the miseries of his People and to restore them to that peace and happiness which they had forfeited by pride and wantonness by disobedience to his Person and distrust to his Promises and in a word by doing more then is to be repeated since it hath been pardoned And to this City came the Tribes to receive their King whether in greater numbers or with greedier eyes or with more joyful hearts it is hard to say Of which I shall speak little now because more anon This was the blessing of the day and this conducts me next to the duties of it which we shall take from David's Doctrine and example Benedictus Dominus Blessed be the Lord. 36. Et quemodo dicit Benedictus Dominus Num illi opus est benedictione nostra What means the Prophet saith St. Hierom by this form of speech Hath the Lord need of us that we should bless him No but we say with Vatablus that it is an Hebraism a garb of speech peculiar to the Hebrew Language the meaning this Dignus est omni laude Dominus The Lord is worthy to be praised His mighty Acts to be preserved in perpetual memory What David's practice was we need make no question or if we did we have sufficient evidence for it in the Book of Psalms Most of which were composed to no other purpose but to extol Gods name and set forth his prayses for all the blessings which he had bestowed upon him in his soul and body Among which last there was none more great more marvellous more fit to be ascribed to the Lord alone then the preserving of his Person the raising of him to his Throne and the establishing of that Throne in so strong a City And therefore Benedictus Dominus Let thanks be given unto the Lord saith our old Translation 37. But more particularly we may behold the thankfulness of David in his Works and Actions We may behold it in his Works if we consult that notable passage of Iosephus where it is said that David being delivered from his Wars and troubles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indited Anthems Psams and Hymnes in the praise of God calling to minde those manifold and great occasions which might induce him to a pious and religious gratitude and more then so he procured many Instruments to be made for God's publick service Organs and Psalteries and Harps and taught the Levites how to praise Gods name upon them saith the same Iosephus not only on the Sabbath but the other Festivals For doing which he had no precept from above or any warrant that we read of but his own authority and that he thought it fit and decent 38. David no question knew as perfectly Gods nature and the true nature of his service as any other man whatsoever he was Yet thought he not that either of them was prophaned or made lesse edifying by the occasion of sweet Musick melodious Harmony Which made him call so often upon all his people not only to set forth Gods praises in their Songs and Hymns but to extol and celebrate his Name with Trumpets and loud sounding Cymbals with Psalteries and Harps Stringed instruments and Organs also and that not in their houses only but in the blessed Sanctuary as appears plainly in the last of the Book of Psal. And he appointed also that the singers and such as played upon the Musical instruments in the performance of this service should be cloathed in white or rather with a linnen vesture over the rest of their garments as it is said expresly in the 1 Chro. ch 15. From whence or from the linnen ephod which was worn by the Priests we have derived the Surplisse now in use amongst us and not from any garment used by the Priests of Isis as some of the preciser sort have most idely fancyed 39. But David was as excellent in paying his thankfulnesse to God in the acts of piety as praising him with songs and hymns and musical Instruments The Ark of God which had been taken by the Philist ms in the time of Eli and kept at Keriath-jearim all the Raign of Saul is now brought back and setled in Hierusalem by the care of David who gave not only order for the doing of it but saw it done and was himself a principal actor in that sacred Ceremony He thought it no way mis-becomming any earthly Majesty to look to all such matters as concerned Religion and appertained unto the service of the most high God Nor is there any thing which makes a King more esteemable in the eies of his subjects then to be active and industrious in the restoring of Gods worship to it's antient purity Ille diis proximus habetur per quem deorum majestas vindicatur are the words of an Heathen yet such as may become the most sober Christian. 40. Follow him yet a little further and we shall see him putting the whole service of God into a better frame and order then it had been formerly To which end he appointed to the priests their several tunes that every man might know the course of his ministration and so distributed and disposed them under several heads that all things might be acted by them without confusion Which Heads or Rulers or chief Captains as the gospel calls them being in number twenty fowr besides the High-priest and his Sagan or the second High-priest twenty six in all make up the just tale of our English Bishops And in regard the Tribe of Levi had remained so faithful to him and done and suffered so much for him in the time of his troubles he is resolved to make a retribution worthy of a Royal spirit Some of them therefore he sets over the treasures of the house of God that is to say such treasures as were dedicated and laied up in the Holy Temple or otherwise offered and designed for Religious uses Others he made officers and Iudges in the Tribes of Israel and that not only in all businesses of the Lord in all sacred matters but in the businesse of the King even in civill concernments as is expressed most plainly
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