they know not the secret Practices of Men who love Golden Days who are Buyers and Sellers of Places of Trust and who are so false in their Dealings that their Bribers cannot have their Bargains All Men of Understanding and Business observe and talk of these things where they may There are Caterpillars and Locusts so thick in our Air that they darken the Glory of our Light and leave an ill Savour behind them But though our Lights are not perfect Lights and omniscient yet let us adore and praise the Lord for giving them so much of all Royal Qualifications and for giving them to us to be a Light as it is this day And there are two Blessings of singular Consideration to us as a matter of Praise that they are so and a matter of Prayer that they may continue so 1. Each one is a Light to Israel And 2. Both are united in one Light 3. And both are ours 1. That our King is a great Light and so was from the morning of his appearance in the World He is a Lamp in the illustrious House of Orange See Bishop Burnet's Letter from Nimiguen whose here ick Poogenitors embraced professed and maintained the Light of the glorious Gospel shining forth in the Reformation and none of them were ashamed or afraid to own it It is glorious to be a Light from his early appearance to be a Prince Had he been a Wo to the Land by being a Child or Debauched or Cowardly Fear and Interest and Example had spoil'd him from ever being a Light to any Nation He knew his Religion and kept it when to change Religions was so much in fashion He knew his temporal Rights and Interest and recovered them and hath sacrificed them as he did himself to the Interest of the Protestant Churches whose declining and almost-ruined State would have made many Princes afraid to put forth a hand to preserve them And his appearance for the almost-ruined falling Reformed Churches was so much the more admirable when there was no Queen Elizabeth on the Throne of England to second and assist him and them and a devouring Prince breathing out Destruction and Slaughter so near him a Prince that is called Great truly so from the great Miseries he hath brought even upon his own Kingdom to make all others so that by the Judgment of God fall into his Hand Yet the poverty and weakness of Protestant Churches and the Mightiness of a King who is like Hell and the Grave and the Assistance and Opportunities he had to perfect his Work from England could not make our Light mussie himself in a Cloud and sometimes look out to the Waters of a Floâ—d drowning the World in Miseries and breaking the Ark of the Protestant Churches in pieces and himself at ease making all dishonourable Conditions to save himself from Labour and Hazard O what cause have we to adore the al-wise Providence and Grace of God that wrought Truth upon his Heart inspired his Head with great Thoughts and his great Soul with the most vigorous Spirit of Fortitude and Zeal admirably tempered with Calmness and Peaceableness and after he had been exercised and given great proofs of his Royal Accomplishments to give such a Prince to us at that time one of the unhappiest People in the World and next door to our being the most miserable If his Enemies had but a serious desire of being happy they would choose to be his Subjects and if his Subjects had but wisdom and grace to acknowledg that Goodness Mercy and Power of God who set him over us with as clear a manifestation of Mercy to us as of Justice in making the Throne vacant for him they would never hang off and suspend the Acts of their most chearful Obedience to embolden our Enemies to attempt what we pray they may never perform He is a King rarely prepared and accomplished for Peace or War by his Sword to force to make it and by his Wisdom and Justice to keep it In him there is an immediate Passage from the Fountain of Light and those Rays which are scattered in other great Men are united in him He is a Light to deliver and save from Destruction a Deliverer is a sweeter Name than a Conqueror To be a Saviour is to be like God not in Power only to save but in Mercy and Goodness a Name that is to be a Memorial to admonish a People of past Miseries and restored Mercies and obliges a People to Gratitude and Obedience And according to thy manifold Mercies thou gavest them Saviours Nehem. 9.27 who saved them out of the Hand of their Enemies Other Nations have had but one Light commonly in an Age but God hath bestowed upon us two at once as knowing our need of more than one and to shew these Nations plainly that he hath not at all dealt with us after our Sins for then our present Day and noonday-Noonday-Light had been as dark as the darkest Mist terrifying Tempest darker than the darkest Night even as dark as Hell The Creator of the World made two great Lights the one to rule by Day the other by Night but both our Lights appeared and shone upon us out of a Chaos of confused Matter in the Nation which were not like the Epicurean Atoms the matter of the World which affecting one another at first meeting made a Marriage and begat a World of Creatures no in our Chaos there was so much of Hatred and Disaffection so much of mutual Fear and Suspition that we had fallen one upon another as Men in their Drink and Madness sight in the dark We are more and better united tho alas far from being all of one piece as a Staff of Beauty in their Majesties Hands than we should have been unless common Suffering had made us more one by the approach of our Light the Peace and the Union we have by the means of our supreme Rulers But as God hath made nothing in vain so he hath not given us two Lights at once but because one cannot be abroad and at home at once God hath wonderfully provided for us he hath taught us by experience that two are better than one Let no Man affirm that a Woman may not be born for Civil Rule and Government we have been happy now two years in the Queen's Government and happier we had been if all Men had done their Parts in Counsels and Arms as she did by unwearied Diligence Courage and Patience That the Queen should be a Light also and sit to rule the Day of our Mercies is indeed no less than a Wonder she is a Light were she not a Queen but she is a Queen and therefore the greater Light She is an illustrious Light for Knowledg in the Truth not in the Notion and Argument in opposition to Error but in the Practice wherein the Power lieth She is a Light for Wisdom piercing into the Mysteries of State and the difficult parts of her
with him and fought against the Philistines and David waxed faint And Ishbi-benob which was of the Sons of the Giant the weight of whose Spear weighed three hundred Shekels of Brass in weight he being girded with a new Sword thought to have slain David But Abishai the Son of Zeruiah succoured him and smote the Philistine and killed him Then the Men of David sware unto him saying Thou shalt go no more out with us to battel that thou quench not the Light of Israel THese words are a very remarkable plece of Story which is compleat in it self and therefore I need not look upon what goes before it in this Chapter I crave your earnest attention to the Matter I intend to handle for your Instruction this part of the Day and have but patience till I come to the Application then I hope you will see that what I shall deliver to you will be very suitable to the Work and Duty of this Day and not only so but will direct you what to do every Day till God shall turn our Fasts into Thanksgivings The true Reason of my chusing this Text and that upon this Solemn Day which requires an extraordinary seriousness with the Application of the whole strength of our Hearts and exercise of every Grace is not at all to flatter much less to idolize our King and Queen which would be the worst of Services to them and to our selves by provoking God to quench the Light of Israel but really to shew you as plainly and as convincingly as I can how deeply our Hearts should be affected with our own Condition how earnest we should be with God to preserve our Supreme Governours and especially our King in the Labours and Dangers of this War and how we should behave our selves under all those Circumstances under which the Sovereign and over-ruling Providence of the infinitely Wife and Almighty God hath subjected us And I was moved to these Considerations which I shall commend to you by the great Thoughts of Heart which possess many honest religious and tender Persons Why say they will our King hazard his Person in this War who is in danger not only from the Craft and Malice of the open Enemy in the Field but Treachery even in his Camp Why will the Parliament and the Kingdom let him What will become of us if we should be so unhappy as to lose Him in this unsettled and distracted State when there are so many secret Discontents and such open Talk Beloved we cannot be too much concerned for the Safety of their Sacred Persons the Peace of these Kingdoms and the Preservation of our Religion both at Home and Abroad The Glory of God the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus and the Salvation of our Souls by the Means of Grace are as much concerned in the Success of this War as ever at any time to any People This War is not a War for outward Peace and Liberty nor for Glory and Renown for Riches and Trade or any other temporal End or Interest only but for the true Interest of the Kingdom of God among us and of the Protestant People of God in all Nations where they are or soon will be in danger if God doth not shew himself to be on our Side There are many Interests of many Princes and People in this one Bottom and all united in one King and submitted to his Conduct under God If these should be divided we should be weakned and fail but if he should miscarry we must needs sink for a time and many Countries suffer Shipwrack and then not only the Estates Liberties Properties Bodies and Lives but precious Souls and the Ark of God would fall into the Power of the Cruel The Philistines would soon over-run our Land and they who seem to wish for their coming would feel the Miseries of their coming as soon as they who fast and pray with all sincerity to keep them out and be less able to endure them If the Light of our Israel should be quenched O how tempestuous would it be round about What a Day would it be of Gloominess and thick Darkness O far be it from those who desire that Evil Day ever to see it come may they all go to their Graves in peace before that Inundation of Woes and Miseries break down our Banks 'T is true we have more to lose now at once than ever our Forefathers had and therefore when we consider our Sins we have more cause to fear than ever But let this comfort and encourage us to offer up strong Prayers and Cries to the God of Heaven to God our Saviour that the Glory of God's Truth Mercy and Grace being so specially and imminently concerned in this War that his Wisdom and Power will the more sincerely appear for the preservation of Israel and the Light of Israel Call up Faith and Hope to put forth all their strength into those Prayers which go not out of feigned Lips O for a strong Faith at the head of our Godly Sorrows and Humiliation for Sin this Day O for the Assistance of the mighty Spirit of Prayer and Supplication to send up yea to carry our fervent Prayers to Heaven Is the Spirit of God departed from his praying wrestling Jacobs in England and gone to our Enemies Hearts Is God is the Ark of God in their Camp Hath not God prepared his Arrows against the Persecutors What inhumane Persecutions are the greatest of them guilty of But as my Thoughts run on this String of Hope I am checked by the sight of the great and many Sins of these Kingdoms for which God might bring us under the Sword of our Enemies and even deliver up the Ark the Church into their hands O that every Congregation were weeping and mourning before the Lord this Day and casting away our Iniquities O that this Day were a Day of confessing and forsaking those Sins for which God might justly hide his Face from us O that we were exercising of Revenge upon our selves for all our Abominations O that we were sighing and crying for all the Abominations done in the midst of our Jerusalem and that all in their Places would become zealous for the Glory of God resolving every one to mortify his own Sins disarming the Traitors against God Church and State in his own Heart and setting themselves against Sin in others that God may be reconciled to us and intreated for the Kingdom But yet as bad as we are are we not God's People Are there not some Fifties among us for whose sake God will spare us But not to insist upon such Arguments for Hope let us build upon one it is a strong and a standing Argument by inverting the Word of God and humbly turning it upon him Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O House of Israel but for my holy Name 's sake Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded
King 1 Sam. 16.1 as he told Samuel and he whom God provided in Mercy was a Light to Israel God's Favour did shine upon Israel through David their King God hath as full a right to reject a King in our days as ever he had and to provide a King and that King whom God provides a wise People will highly esteem and God may justly be displeased at those who are not pleased with what God provides Do not they forget God's unlimited Soveraignty over all the Kingdoms of the World who assert the absolute Power of Kings in their own Dominions to set up and cast down without respect to Justice or Mercy But the God of the whole Earth hath in Justice driven away one and brought in another Greatest Mercy and shall we murmur at our Mercy 2. That as a good King is an eminent shining publick Blessing like the Light of the Sun so it is the duty and wisdom of a People to esteem and honour him as the great Gift of God So the Men of Israel did behold David as the Light of Israel they knew what a publick Benefit they received from him they remembred the evil Days of Saul 2 Sam. 1.19 c. out of which David in his Lamentation for him pick'd the best in comparison of which the Days of David were like Light compared to Darkness and Tempest But when a People shall be weary of Light or murmur against it or be dissatisfied with it and shall wish for Darkness Hail and Thunder Blasting and Mildew they sin against their Temporal State as they do against their Spiritual by loving Darkness rather than Light and without any fanciful Allusion but in real Truth they hate the Light because their Deeds are evil and lest they should be reproved and be obliged to be reformed 3. The Happiness of a Kingdom doth much depend upon the Life and Preservation of a good King Lest thou quench the Light of Israel not only the Light and Glory of his own Family and the House of David but the Light of Israel that the Light of Israel and not of Judah or Bethlehem only or any part of Israel but all Israel Their Light of Prosperity Peace and Glory was bound up in the Bundle of his Life 4. A People that are sensible of their Happiness and the Benefit of the Preservation of a good King will do all they can to preserve it The Men of Israel were sensible of the Advantage and Blessing of a good King and foresaw the loss that would befal them by his Death They valued him highly and yet really below his worth when they said 2 Sam. 18.3 4. He was worth ten thousand of them it had been a greater loss to have lost David than ten thousand of the People They value him according to his Worth when they admire and honour him as the very Light of Israel and therefore they do with all humility and earnestness oblige him to keep out of the reach of the Enemies Sword they will fight if he will keep himself safe at Home we will go out to Battel but thou shalt not go with us 5. Yet observe the reach of the Argument and Reason That thou quench not the Light of Israel A good King being a great and publick Blessing to his Kingdom should not expose himself to unnecessary Dangers but take care to preserve himself for the Kingdom 's sake and Benefit A clear Evidence that good Kings are not their own but their Kingdom 's The Argument is drawn from his own Safety and Danger and from their loyal Affection to him but the Argument reacheth further to the common and publick Danger if he hazard himself and the common and publick Benefit of Israel of the whole Kingdom that thou quench not thine own Light but ours also The Light of a King is for the Kingdom 's Good 6. A King is and a good King will reckon himself to be as much for his People the Publick and Universal Good as the People can be for him Here they intimate that they will go to Battel when there is cause and more they cannot venture more they cannot do than serve the King with their Estates and Lives but then if he be as the Light of Israel he should take care of himself with respect to them and their Benefit His Light is their Light and he should be as careful of theirs as of his own When it is well with the one it is well with the other 7. Yet again mark the words they do not say That the Light of Israel be not quenched but That thou quench not the Light of Israel This Reason grows out of the Sides of the former that a King receiving his Authority and Gifts from God under God for his Peoples Profit and Welfare should imploy all his Abilities for their Prosperity he should communicate and send forth all his Abilities and Powers as the Sun diffuseth his Influences upon inferior Bodies to make his People happy in him So on the contrary he should be exceeding tender of doing any thing that should be to their detriment and especially that he by going to Battel should die that he quench not their Light it would be his own Act that would be fatal to himself and them 4thly The last Particular in the Verse is the King's Acquiescence and tacit Concession and Permission of their Oath taken out of sincere Loyalty and Affection to the King's Preservation and their own in him In God's Kingdom and in a godly King's Reign the People might lawfully and without rebuke loyally admonish the King of the common Danger and more than petition even swear that he should not go forth to Battel that the Light of Israel be not quenched David was a Wise Holy Religious and Heroick Prince a King of long Experience and great Valour it was hard for him to refrain from a Battel altho he fainted But doth the Publick Happiness Glory and Prosperity depend upon it Doth it so much concern the Publick Do the Men of Israel remonstrate intreat and swear also then he takes himself to be obliged to condescend and acquiesce I am perswaded this Doctrine was true in those ancient and purest Times This was not a Surprize upon David or a Thing inconsiderately condescended to but what he yielded to once before in Absalom's Rebellion After that David had commanded and ordered his Army into three Bodies under three Generals and given them Orders he declared he would go forth with them 2 Sam. 18.3 4. And the King said unto the People I will surely go forth with you my self also But the People answered Thou shalt not go forth for if we flee away they will not care for us neither if half of us die will they care for us but thou art worth ten thousand of us therefore it is better that thou succour us out of the City And the King said unto them What seemeth you best I will do Here was
put out and the Spark of his Fire shall not shine The Light shall be dark in his Tabernacle and his Candle shall be put out with him Job 18.5 6. i. e. his Honour and Glory shall be put out his Prosperity shall fade away and die 2. A good King is a good sign that God will not destroy the Kingdom 2 Kings 8.19 Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his Servant's sake as he promised him to give him always a Light and to his Children therefore God would not destroy Judah because he had promised David to give him a Light that is a Successor in his Throne to give Light to his People therefore the giving of that Light was a Preservation to Judah from Destruction When God was provoked by Solomon who threatned him for his Idolatry and Breach of Covenant to rend the Kingdom from him and give it unto his Servant he was pleased to add Howbeit I will not do it in thy Days for David thy Father's sake but I will rend it out of the Hand of thy Son He would not for David's sake to whom God promised a Lampalways 1 Kings 15.4 Nevertheless for David 's sake did the Lord his God give him a Lamp in Jerusalem to set up his Son and to establish Jerusalem 3. A good King is Light to a Kingdom as he is a cause of Joy and Gladness to a Kingdom A bad King may cause carnal and profane Joy to the Wicked but then he is the Cause and Grief and Trouble to them that fear God We are not to call that Light which makes the Wicked to rejoice in their Wickedness and to glory in their Shame but then we have a Light when the Righteous rejoice Whon the Righteous are in Authority the People rejoice but when the Wicked beareth Rule the People mourn Prov. 29.2 Light is borrowed to express Joy and Gladness Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the upright in Heart Psal 97.11 Then had the Jews Light and Gladness and Joy and Honour Esther 8.16 What a Constellation of Blessings what Clusters of Mercies and all in the Flower arise and spring up in a Land when such a Light is set up in the Firmament of a Kingdom in the Orb of Soveraignty 4. A good King is the Light and Glory of a Kingdom the Light of a People when he doth restore set up resorm and maintain Religion in his Kingdom such a King was David such a Blessing was he to Israel When the Ark of God was taken the miserable sorrowful Wife of Phineas called her Child's Name Ichabod because the Glory was departed from Israel and she said The Glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken 1 Sam. 4.21 22. Surely Salvation is nigh them that fear him that Glory may dwell in our Land Psal 85.9 Christ is called A Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of his People Israel Luke 2.32 Therefore then it is that Glory dwells in the Land when the Glory of Christ shines in his Worship Ordinances and People The Glory and Liberty of the Gospel in its Ministry Ordinances and Profession of its Truth and Beauty of Holiness doth exalt a Nation advanceth it in great Honour and then Glory doth not come as a Traveller to see a Country or a wayfaring Man that tarrieth for a Night but dwelleth in a Land when Religion pure and undesiled is entertained with Reverence and Honour in the King's Court in the Houses of Nobles and hath a free Passage throughout a Nation and is delivered from unreasonable Men A religious King is then the Light of Israel when the Lights of the World are set up kept burning brought from under Bushels and set upon the Table when good Men may be as good as they will and the wicked may not be as vile and bad as they would be 5. A good King is a Light to a Kingdom when he reigns in Righteousness David's Prayer for Solomon was Psal 72.2 Give the King thy Judgments and thy Righteousness to the King's Son This was his Prayer for him who was a Lamp which God promised to raise up in his place and when a King doth reign in Righteousness then he imitates and represents the Sun of Righteousnes Christ Jesus the King the Scepter of whose Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 2 Sam. 23.3 4. who ariseth with healing in his Wings The God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake to me He that ruleth over Men must be just ruling in the fear of God Now mark what a just King a religious King that ruleth in the Fear of the Lord shall be And he shall be as the Light of the Morning when the Sun riseth even a Morning without Clouds as the tender Grass springeth out of the Earth by clear shining after Rain i. e. he shall be a great Blessing a great Comfort and Cause of rejoicing to the People of God A King that reigns in Righteousness may yet further be compared to the Light as he doth by himself by his righteous Laws declare and enact what is just and right that by the Light of his Laws People may see the Light of the Rule and the Path of Righteousness that by his wise learned and upright Judges not to serve the Designs Will and sinful Pleasure of the King with a Commission during Pleasure to take away the Lives of innocent Men to countenance false Witnesses perplex or threaten the True disannul Charters and the like Righteousness may run down like a mighty stream When these do distribute Justice between the King and his People and Subject and Subject when the Righteous will not be sold for a pair of Shoes when Righteousness is administred without Partiality then the King will find the Benefit and Comfort of his own Light for Righteousness and Judgment will be the Stability or Establishment of his Throne For by Righteousness the Throne is established Prov. 16.12 6. The King is a Light to Israel as David was for the Security and Protection received from him The Sun and Shield are well joined for the Comfort and Protection of God's People Psal 84.11 The Shields of the Earth belong unto the Lord Psal 47.7 Kings and Magistrates are those Shields and they are Nursing-Fathers and Nursing-Mothers they are like a Pillar of Fire for the Direction and Protection of Israel Hezekiah in the Type of Jesus Christ was foretold that he should be a King to reign in Righteousness and the Princes under him should rule in Judgment when it was so it followeth that he should be a hiding-place from the Wind and a Covert from the Tempest a hiding-place and Covert from the Wind and Tempest raised by the Devil and his Angels to trouble and unsettle the Nation 's Peace and Order and to keep off the Wind and Tempest Persecution and Tribulation which blow and beat upon the Church of God such a Light was David to Israel A Man
may follow his Trade travel and be commonly very safe if he walk by Day for Day-light is a Defence unto him In these Instances you have heard the Benefit of a good King as he is the Light of a Kingdom Now hearken a little further and you shall see what cause a People have to honour and study the Happiness of such a King and their own in him 1. As the Light is immediately from God so is a holy religious wise and valiant King as David was a peculiar Creature of that glorious Maker and not a meer humane Creature as all that are constituted by Men and a peculiar Blessing and Treasure to a People that Fitness for Government which is in him the placing of him in his Throne the removing of him from one part of his Sphere to another is a Remove made by the special Providence of God God alone doth make the Light prepares and qualifies a King for Government and the more of Providence appears the greater is the Mercy to a People 2. As the Light is above the Earth for the benefit of things below him so is a King placed in a Degree of Sublimity above his Israel but altogether for Israel's Good A King is above but for his Subjects And as the Light of Heaven is placed in Heaven for the good of Creatures underneath so are Kings placed by God in high Places that their Vertues may descend upon their Inferiors 3. As the Light shines from above and sends and spreads forth its Powers and Influences afar off to all the Corners of the Earth so a good King doth not restrain but takes Pleasure in communicating his Goodness to all the parts of his Dominions He hath his Vehicles Means and Instruments to convey the Stores of Gifts and Abilities for Good which God hath enriched him with All People that do not forfeit should be the better for him and so all his Subjects should know how much the better they are for him the Riches of a King's Abilities are beyond all the Riches we entrust him with for our Peace and Safety 4. But notwithstanding these great Advantages the King had of doing Good and the People received from his diffusive Goodness yet he is liable to Mortality the Light of Israel may be quench'd he is a Light but such a Light as may be put out and quenched As Israel was so all People should be sensible of the publick Blessing and Good received from a King who is as the Light of Israel and should be much concerned and zealous for his Preservation as their own 1. You cannot but feel by reading the Words the true sense which the Men of Israel had of their Happiness in David he was a great Light to them communicating and streaming down the Effects of his Light upon them They remembred the Night out of which they came the Trouble and Confusion the Dangers and Injuries the Dishonours and Confusions which kept them in fears so long they considered the happy change in Affairs what a new Face the Light had given and not a Face of Affairs only but a strong Constitution of the Body of Israel and they foresaw what a Night would follow upon his Fall 2. They were much concerned and zealous for his Preservation he had escaped the Dangers of many Battels and so might do again his Strength failed but he was able for Conduct he was near to be slain by a resolute masty desperate Giant who thought to kill him but he was succoured seasonably and with Success and if ever hâ— should come out to Battel again they would all be ready to defend his Person Why might not he as long as he was able to endure the Fatigue with any Spirit go out to Battel Would not his Conduct and his Presence direct and animate them and so further the War towards a prosperous Issue None of these Suggestions nor many more could abate their Care nothing but this to keep himself safe in Jerusalem the City of the Lord of Hosts 3. They were so much concerned and so zealous for his Preservation as if all Israel should fall with him if he should fall in Battel That thou quench not the Light of Israel as if all the Light of Israel did shine from him and were all of it comprehended in him as the Lamp that gave Light to all the Branches As if the Sun should be put out the Moon and Stars would be extinguished If the Pillars of a State or Kingdom fall the Kingdom must needs come down and fall to Ruin and Confusion but if the Supporter of these Pillars fall the Pillars must fall and all that stand upon them and are supported by them Now said David The Earth and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it Psal 75.3 The Earth that is Judea and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved are unlinked the Land lieth waste and like a Wilderness and the Inhabitants thereof are unbound and untied they are jealous and afraid of one another being dissolved into Factions and Parties some Pillars there are Psal 11.3 and I bear them up If the Foundations be destroyed if Towns Magistrates and Government and Order be destroyed what shall the Righteous do they shall be made a Prey What can we that are but few in Number and weak in Power do What can we do if the Foundations be destroyed till the Foundations of Religion Righteousness and Peace are laid Blessed David was like the Light in Heaven on high and like the Foundation beneath that bears up the Pillars which bear the House If the Light be quenched there follows Darkness and all the Confusions and Miseries of Darkness if the Foundations be dissolved what but Ruine Wo then to the Land if its Light and Glory pass away as of Necessity it will if thou put out the Light of Israel All stands and all falls together for if David be the Foundation and Israel the House if the Foundation fall the House will tumble and of a well-ordered Fabrick it will tumble into Heaps David and Israel the Glory of all Lands are but one united Light and he is the Sun in the Firmament if he be quenched our Glory will depart Thus were they concerned for themselves in David their King And how could any People in the World express more care and zeal towards him than they did in so few words 1. They unanimously consent to prevail with him to keep himself as choicely as might be as you would keep in a Lamp or Light growing low in the Socket of expiring Age. 2. They swear to him that he shall not go out to Battel 3. They tell him there will be no need of his going for they will go to Battel as willingly as if he were with them 4. Surely David who had been their Light would not be accessary to or guilty of so great a Mischief as to put out their Light they presume upon it that he would
not do such an Act Would he be such an Enemy unto them now as to turn their Day into Night Surely no therefore they oblige him not to expose himself for if Evil should befal him Evil would befal them and they should impute it to him it would be the worst of Acts and it would be his own he felt the Zeal of a loyal People which melted him into a compliance with their Desires APPLICATION Vse 1. This is not a Day to dissemble nor slatter God nor Man I shall speak nothing in the Use but according to the Truth in the Doctrines raised from this Text I shall speak because I do believe and nothing but what I believe I speak my Judgment and my Conscience and therefore I will speak freely and boldly I would not be deceived nor misinformed my self nor would I mislead you into any Error nor now forbear to instruct you in Duty in a great Duty in a needful time Was David a Light to Israel Did Israel account him so Were they tender of him Were they concerned and zealous for him as the greatest Blessing of their Age and Nation O what cause have we to bless God for that singular Blessing God hath bestowed upon us of these Nations in our King and Queen who are both but one great resplendent Light of our Israel Give me leave to speak freely for your Profit and Information 1. As they are both Lights 2. As they are both joined in one Light 3. As they are both our Light the Light of Israel 1. As they are both Light and as they are both one Light one in concord of Judgment and Affection one in consort of Government Are they not both Light by Illumination in the same Faith and Religion Are they not Light for Wisdom and Knowledg able to direct and order the great and manifold Affairs of Government both Military and Civil Are they not Light by the conspicuity of their eminent Qualities and Example Are they not Light diffusing the blessed Influences of their Royal Goodness and Authority to all the Corners of their Dominions Who but obstinate Rebels or sullen Male-contents will not acknowledg this And was more Clemency ever shewed towards open Rebels or offered and declared to Murmurers than by our gracious King and Queen Let disaffected Persons speak like Men of Sense and Reason much more like Men of Conscience and they must by speaking Truth reprove their own Murmuring and Discontents Are they not Lights who have set up Stars and Angels burning Lights in the Church and restored them to light who for many years were under Clouds and the lowring Aspect of the Rulers of the Kingdom and given them liberty to take their several Candlesticks to give out their Light and spend their Oil Is it not by their Light that Popish and Antichristian Darkness and thick Darkness is fled away or constrained to keep up close not in Holes and Caverns of the Earth nor into Prisons and Dungeons indeed but into Coverts and Shelters How is Westminster-Hall enlightned by learned and able Judges excellent in opening and deciding Cases and Controversies clearing and summing up Evidences pronouncing righteous Judgment even to the conviction of the obstinate and deeply-engaged Enemies of our Peace Mr. Ashton in his Trial. that their Proceedings were fair and equal What Iniquity was to be found in the Seats of Judgment before is yet felt by all Conditions in the Land and above all by the best of Men What a Set was there of Judges Juries and Evidences for the Designs of Kings What Discoveries have been made of the Secrets Plots and Contrivances hatch'd in Cabals and hidden Counsels of our Confederate Enemies for the Ruin of Church and State by the appearing of this great Light By this Light we see the Pathes of our Destroyers and the stupendious Providences of God in countermining their pernicious Endeavours By this Light we know where we were bought and sold and whither some of us were gone and others going The Apostle speaks of the nature and benefit of Light Whatsoever maketh manifest is Light Ephes 5.15 It is from this Light we have such full discoveries of the secret Counsels of Conspirators and by this Light we have the things that belong to our Peace laid open to our Election and the way of Peace pointed out if we have but Wisdom and Hearts to walk therein What a Light and Joy did their Ascent into the Throne God making them way to it bring to the Oppressed in these Kingdoms and to our persecuted Brethren from abroad It was the springing of their Light that gave cause to the Reformed Churches to sing The Winter is past or passing away that the Rain is over and gone O what a cold Winter was it in Ireland and France and the Valleys in Scotland and to them who by a Christian Sympathy felt their Cold How hungry and cold naked and miserable were our persecuted Brethren that were driven from their Houses stripp'd naked without as much as the shortest or thinnest covering of their Nakedness cruel Impudence of the most inhumane degenerate part of Mankind worse than Brutes as bad as Devils could make them or desire them to be See the History of the Persecution in France Savoy and Orange And Mous Jurieu's Letters How miserable a Sight was it to see Death sit upon their Faces and worse than Death about them their worse than barbarous Heathenish Enemies How miserable was their Bondage under them worse than Egypt for in Egypt the People of God had Flesh-pots and Onions such as the Earth did yield such they did eat But these persecuted Fellow-members of the same Body had scarce Morsels of Bread knodden with dirty Water Dirt and Gravel to keep them from utter starving when not any of this impenitent stupid carnal Generation who live after the Flesh and mind the things of the Flesh felt the Cold the Nakedness and pinching Bitterness of that Winter Our Protestant Brethren of France Savoy Ireland and Scotland do rejoice in this Light to feel so much of the Winter past over as they have done and to see so much of the Rain the Tribulation that beats upon the House and tries whether it be built on the Rock or the Sand blown over and gone It is because of this Light that the Flowers appear on the Earth the time of the Singing of Birds is come and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land Cantic 2.11 12. O that the blindest and perversest among us had Eyes to see this great Light that now shines upon our Land 'T is true indeed our Lights come short of Omniscience all things are not naked and bare unto them they cannot see in secret and know not what is in Man as our Saviour did when he did not commit himself to them who came in unto him They are as far from Infallibility as they are from Popery the Darkness and the Light are not alike to them
Office She is made for the Rule of a Palace for the Retirement of a Closet for exemplary Reverence in the Worship and House of God She is a glorious Beam of Majesty in her Person she shines as she moves she is made for a Throne and long may she sit upon it She is a diffusive Light as she is a joint Cause of the true Light of the Gospel and the Laws of Holiness and Righteousness All People may be as holy and as righteous as they can desire and if they are not it is their own fault they have no Discouragement but Encouragement from above She is a great Light See her gracious Answ to the Address of the Dissenting Ministers even to a Zeal in her own Way and is to be an Example of Moderation towards others Her Light shines before Men that others seeing her good Works may glorify God Thus each one is a singular Light But yet further what is the greater Mercy 2. They both make one Light Through God's infinite Mercy to themselves and us that they are so much one they are one Blood one Flesh and what is more of one Heart and one Soul What a Light are both in one to their whole Dominion to all their Subjects It is a vulgar but a great Observation When had we a King and Queen of one Religion and both of ours We have known the lamentable effects and issues of contrary Religions and of one and the same Religion in our former Kings and Queens The Light of the one never did convince or convert the other of Darkness The Articles of Marriage between Pr. Charles the Infanta and the Queen the Daughter of France nay the Light was so bound sometimes as not to endeavour to work upon the Darkness but the Night had power to tempt the Light and then was one Hour and Power of Darkness and from that time to this most blessed Conjunction of both our Lights in one the Darkness overcame the true Light O the Calamities and Confusions Convulsions and Breaches which followed after the prevailing Power of Darkness The Darkness brought forth Thunder and Lightning and rained Blood it brought forth Wars and Fires it cooled the zeal of many and made the Nation too hot for others O what Matter is this for a Fast to make Prayers and Supplications to deprecate those great Evils And the noisom Vapours of that Darkness make us a sickly diseased People to this time O that the diseased distempered People of these Nations would come to our Light O that God would prosper our Light to bring us to a better Constitution and State of a Body united and compacted together Do not we see the excellency of our Light in respect of Union Do not both walk in the same Spirit O what a Mercy is that to us and to other Nations confederate with us By this we have a Concord in Counsels we are delivered from the Plague of Jesuitical Agitators and Satanical Dividers Court-Faction have no countenance nor Whisperers secret Audience and innumerable other Mischiefs are prevented for now the Devil hath less to do in Court and hath fewer Pupils to instruct in mischievous Arts and Practices between King and Queen Court and Court The dividing of the King and Queen in Interests in Affection according to that Interest the dividing of Counsels to promote those different Interests and these to be managed by contrary Factions and Parties and for these to love the one and hate the other should be as dreadful as if the Stars divided the Heavens into two Fields and sought one against another This is one of the Mercies of this great Revolution that our Lights are so intirely one and that the Constitution of the Government is made so strong that our Dividers cannot divide but they must break and dissolve many would have it otherwise but God wrought such a Temper in the Spirit of the Queen as to submit the Precedence given her by Nature for the publick Benefit And that the Memories of both be blessed for ever and whatever Breaches remain unhealed among a sinful People many of whom know not the things of their own Peace O Lord shine into the Hearts of these two great Lights that they may reign as one 3. And yet the Matter grows higher still These two illustrious Lamps made one Light are both the Light of Israel The Light of David's Life as I noted before was the Light of Israel David was to Israel as Israel was to himself and Israel was to David as David was to himself The Light of David was their Light That thou quench not the Light of Israel So is our David ours And without flattery which I abhor especially on a solemn Day of Confession and Humiliation but to convince you of your Mercy and Duty I speak to you these Words of Truth and Soberness What clearer Evidence can any People have whose Reasons are not perverted against Sense to be in the untoward Party of Murmurers and Complainers than our David hath given us of his appearance coming forth and goings on but for Israel for our Israel and for the scattered Tribes of Israel scattered by Persecutors into many Nations What hath he done in all he hath done for himself What hath he not done that could be done for us Obj. O but Murmurers and Papists and their old dear Friends say He sought the Throne and is come unto it by Vsurpation Ans This is such an Imagination as could never enter into the Heart of Man that believes a Providence and that all the Actions of Princes as well as other Men are subject to it and that Kings and Princes cannot do and have what they will How many apparent Hazards by Sea and Land did he necessarily foresee and every step might present him with Death which was enough to quench the Spark of Ambition and deter him from an Usurpation It would have been the most irrational Project that could ever come into a wise Man's Head and visibly improbable if not impossible as I would undertake to demonstrate if time would give leave God sent him in as a Deliverer of Israel in England Scotland Ireland and so he was acknowledged even by them who will not swear Fidelity to him now their only King by Law and Right But if I might ask those Men these few Questions what could they say 1. What hath he asked for himself what hath he employed for or spent upon himself since his happy Arrival Hath he got half what one half Year's Revenue by Hearths would have brought him in Was there ever a Free-holder in the Kingdom before he restored them Nay to silence some of these Male-contents Do not they some of them to discourage the Nation and encourage Enemies give out that he will not be able to manage the War for want of Money and for the vast Debt that is upon the Nation So then this was a hopeful Project to invade the Throne to want
some one Parliament as we have had We thankfully acknowledg the Settlement of their Royal Majesties in the Throne and the Succession of the Crown and the Liberties of the People We gratefully acknowledg the Wisdom and Clemency of God in their Majesties choice of great Men of Temper for the Candle-sticks of their Sees We hope these will not think their Eyes so full of sight as to use others as if they had none but must resign their Consciences to their Conduct and drive them by force if they will not follow We hope and pray that as one Light hath brought forth more so all these Lights will find out and shew us the true Path of Church-Peace and Concord Let us hope that that Observation may not be a Proverb any more in Israel That Bishops always hindred the Progress of the Reformation As God made way for their Majesties Coming to the Throne of the Kingdom by a Vacancy so he hath made way for their coming to their Thrones in their Churches How many Vacancies hath God made by Death and how many Vacancies have others made by themselves And will they do nothing for God more than they who have always done too little one way and too much another Enough hath been said and written to file off the Asperity and Roughness of the temper of their Predecessors and every Succession exceeded the former in Impositions for which they pleaded Obedience more from the Supremacy of our Kings and Obedience to the Laws than the Nature of the things themselves or their Expediency but we have seen gracious Offers from our supream Governours at a temper therefore we fear no Obstruction from them and they have seen who they were that opposed it and have retarded it and know how they stand affected And surely now once again we may hope that they will not love their Enemies and hate their Friends God hath made way for it and the best in the Nation expect it Walk in the Light while you have the Light said Christ take the Opportunity while you have it In our Prayers for our Monthly-Fasts we do acknowledg there are Dregs in the Reformed Churches which we pray God to purge away Are not we one of those Reformed Churches and are these Dregs only in Foreign Churches and none in ours O see them and purge them out while we have Light to help us 5. Are our Lights but Lamps that may be quenched or if not quenched by Violence will go out of Course then this is one reason of the Mutability of the best State of a Kingdom and therefore good Kings do mightily oblige their Subjects and Posterity also When they spend their Days and Abilities in a holy religious righteous active and diligent course of Government when they lay out themselves continually from a Principle of sincere Love to God and his Glory and their Peoples Happiness for they know not how soon their Light may be quenched and then they are for ever laid aside and can do no good to themselves nor their Subjects 6. May our Lights be quenched O then when Kings prepare for War and Battel how piously should they prepare for Death and bless God for Life when they come off with it They who carry their Lives in their Hands who fear not the Face of an Enemy not of an Ishbi-benob should therefore fear God who can kill the Body and the Soul and cast both into Hell O fear him It will be an everlasting Shame and Dishonour to fall under the Power of Death as an Enemy to God When they carry the Weapons of War how careful should they be to put on the whole Armour of God! What wise King will ingage in a War and make no Preparation for it that designs not to conquer What inexcusable Rashness and Madness is it for a King that is wise and valiant in the Eyes of Man to be unprovided for the last Enemy True he shall be destroyed but by whom Christ and he who doth savingly believe in him And Death destroys all that are not the living Members of Christ that are not saved by Grace and with what Shame and Contempt shall they rise out of their Graves which vain Men call a Bed of Honour though they come to it by dishonouring God that died in their Sin and not in Christ or in the Faith as Abraham and the Patriarchs did Heb. 11.13 c. 7. May the Lamps of Israel be quenched O then as truly as we love and honour them let us not idolize them nor think of them above what we ought to think Cursed is the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm and whose Heart departeth from the Lord i. e. by trusting in Man and making the Flesh his Arm that is his Confidence and Strength Jer. 17.5 This is the way to bring a Curse upon our selves and Death upon the Arm we trust upon It was a Presage of an approaching Death to that great Deliverer that died in his Glory Gustavus King of Sweden he thought God would e're long take him away because the People did over-value and deify him I beseech you let us pray and study for a true Christian Temper of Spirit towards the Lord of Hosts our King and the Cause of God 1. Let us assuredly look upon our King as a great Instrument in the Hand of the Lord of Hosts 2. The number of his Years are with God 3. His Work is measured out to him by God 4. Our Light sprang out of great Obscurity and from very small Beginnings See Bishop Burnet's Lett. from Nimiguen it was a great sign of following Successes and that he was singled out for great Actions when he was not afraid to encounter the most potent King of his Age growing greater daily by Successes and in his full Strength when the Condition of the States was desperate and irrecoverable if the then young Prince of Orange had but despaired also but even then he gave a check to that overgrowing Oppressor and is by the great Power of God being with him grown to be formidable to him and may the Sound of his Name by the Terror of the Almighty make his Sleep to depart from him and his Heart tremble when he thinks and consulteth what to do 5. What would we have God to do for us that he hath not done or is not ready to do Some considering true hearted wise Observers have faithfully declared what they thought to be the cause of many Miscarriages in England and Ireland by Sea and Land and in particular since our Monthly-Fasts were laid down and intermitted God hath not gone on to do us good though he hath not utterly departed from us But though our Sins have with-held good things from us we are in a better State both at home and abroad than we were when God sent us a Deliverer There is a Generation among us who have cast off the Fear of God a profane carnal sensual debauched Multitude that