and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be unto our God and unto the Lamb for Ever Ever Amen Though it be best that in secret Prayer each use his own words yet for the help of those who are less Exercised Here are two short Prayers a small charge to memory A short Morning Prayer in secret O God my Health my Life my Happiness and Portion for ever I most humbly adore and worship thine unseen but all-seeing Majesty blessing thee that thy good hand has raised me this morning again to cast my self at thy footstool Thou O Lord art Gracious and Holy and Blessed but I am vile and abominable and deserve to be most miserable as being very corrupt by nature and having a heart further depraved by a multitude of sins most truly mine own more in number than I can recâ—unt and of more grievous guilt than I am able to set forth yet what is my only support not exceeding thy mercy in Christ Jesus my Saviour In his name I come unto thee and forasmuch as I desire to turn from all my sins both at present and for the future and to go mourning all my days for what I cannot now recall I most earnestly beseech thy pardon through my Saviour's bloud and thy Spirit both to purge out of my heart all the old leaven of naughtiness and to replenish it with the Belief Love and Fear of thee my God Grant O Lord I may ever cleave unto thee and follow hard after thee and in the end obtain everlasting life with thee Keep me this day watchful against mine iniquities the sins which easily beset me Lead me in the way that is good Defend me from all Evil and supply all my wants as thou seest best for me Hear me also for thy Holy Church Universal for Ours in Particular for our Gracious King and Queen for all in Authority under them for all the Ministers of thy Church for the whole body of the People for my Friends and Benefactors for my Relations and Kindred * Here you mention aâ—y of your nearest relations or friends especially for c. for all who are distressed †Here any who have desired your Prayers O thou great All-sufficient God be thou a shield and succour to us all And in the Unity of thy Church guide me and all thine by thy Counsel until thou shalt bring us to thy Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Our Father c. A Short Prayer for Evening in secret O Father of Lights with whom is no Darkness from whom nothing is hid and who never slumberest nor sleepest I frail creature to whose support thou hast made sleep necessary being now about to go to my rest humbly fall down before thee and with soul body worshipping thee desire to close this day with thee and in thy peace and fear Thy good hand has carried me through the business and Dangers of the day and blessed be thy Holy name thy Fatherly care and Loving kindness for it Thou O Lord art never wanting unto me but I am ever wanting to thy Grace and my self How many have been this Here you ought to make particular râ—flexions and may mention any miscarriage day the errors of my ways ** How have I come short of my duty In ** yea done contrary to it I do O God from my soul bewail all Now look graciously I beseech thee upon me in thy Son Christ Jesus In him O Lord hear O Lord forgive and cause thy face to shine upon thy servant Lay me to rest sprinkled with the bloud of my Saviour in Holy peace and in the comfortable hopes of a Blessed Resurrection at the last day Make my sleep this night sweet and pure and when I awake let me be still with thee Ravish my soul with thy love and enlarge my heart in longing desires after thee and serious delight in the thoughts of thee and the blessed company of Heaven Prepare me for my long sleep and keep me ever watchful every fit and willing to leave this world and desirous to be with thee Gather together O Lord all thy Church and till the fulness thereof shall be come in Purge quiet and defend all parts of it Let thine Eyes be ever open for good on this part of it into which thou hast hast cast thy servant and especially on them who under thee are the Defenders of it our Gracious King and Queen Keep Guide and Govern them and all who in Church or State Govern under them Make all thy Ministers able faithful and succesful Bless and reward all my Friends Pardon and turn mine Enemies Help the Helpless Receive into thy Protection this night me and all my Relations c. * Preserve us all Good Lord to thy Heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Our Father which c. A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL Before the QUEEN On The Fourth Sunday in Lent March 22. 1690. REFLECTING On the late Sufferings and Deliverance of the Protestants in the City and County of CORKE Published for the sake of those concerned in it who could not hear it yet may edify by it By EDWARD Lord Bishop of CORKE and ROSSE CORK Printed by John Brent for David Jones Bookseller and are to be sold at his Shop in Cork 1691. A SERMON c. The Text. Psalm Lxxvi 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain THE most both of ancient and modern Authorities date this Psalm in good Hezekiah's days at least on the occasion of that nights deliverance when the Angel of the Lord fell in upon the Assyrian Camp and slew of them one hundred and fourscore and five thousand When with such a mighty hand and out-stretched arm God rescued his people some from slavery some from death all from the power and dread of their enemies then was it eminently that in Judah was God known and his name was great in Israel Then did it appear more gloriously that in Salem was his tabâ—rnacle and his dwelling place in Sion For there brake he the arrows of the bow the shield and the sword and the battel v. 1 2 3. Then the stout-hâ—arted wâ—re spoyâ—â—d they slept their sleep the sleep of nature and of death together and nonâ—â—f the men of might found their hands v 5 Then did God arise to judgment to save all the meek of the earth v. 9. Or rather as the original no less naturally bears to save all the poor of the land Which Salvation the sacred Author having thus loftily and sweetly sung adds for a close as in an Ecstatick Acclamation this Divine Aphorism verified not only by that single instance but by the experience of all ages Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain I know a certain Church allows not Hallelujahs in Lent but the redeemed of the Lord whom he hath delivered from the hand of the
enemy and gathered them out of the land of bondage of Terrors and Ravage must be excused if they think not any time unmeet for them to proproclaim The Lord hath done great things for them The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad He changeth times he changeth events at pleasure and when even the wrath of man praises him how may Gratitude be ever silent Wrath properly denotes the heat of Anger so the Origin of the Hebrew word for it in the Text directs us to take it the fiâ—rceness of man says our old translation well enough O! si sic omnia But not fierceness alone without a mixture and connotation of Pride the common adjunct of wrath both in Nature and scripture Proud wrath Prov. xxi 24. And we have heard the Pride of Moab I know his wrath saith the Lord Jer. xlviii 19 20. Yet are we not for reasons which will appear anon to interpret wrath here only of the inward how ever compound affection but to comprise also under this name all its tendencies and effects all the Disturbances Tumults Oppressions Cruelties Destructions and Desolations it operates to or produces For all these as we shall see each in their way do or shall praise God That indeed touching wrath thus taken it should be said as in the later member of the Text God will restrain it all will acknowledge reasonable to admit But that wrath in such a latitude should praise God is next to impossible to conceive especially when St. James has told us The wrath of man worketh not the righteousnâ—ss Jam. 1. 20. of God We must therefore distinctly consider each branch of the Text. And first The wrath of man shall praise thee Shall may be referred to a double period To the time future in this world or to the day of judgmâ—nt in the next and touching the praise of God by the wrath of man both or either reference will be found most illustriously true 1st Even in the present World the Wrath Furies Insolence Oppressions and all the violence of men shall praise God not indeed by mans intention so 't is sure what St. James says The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God but by God's over-ruling providence by an all-wise and unseen management A threefold act of Providence as to such things as the wrath of man that is even as to moral evils is ordinarily asserted to God by Divines He permits limits and directs 1st To begin with the lowest degree of praise which God reaps from the wrath of man He permits it for otherwise it could not be And he permits it upon most holy and wise counsel None indeed can deny God's absolute Dominion and soveraignty over all his creatures He may do with them and every of them what he will and who shall say unto him what doest thou But it must be together acknowledged that in the Government of world and especially of men God makes as little use of this soveraign Dominion as ever did any who pretended to soveraignty What to Man Law is that to God is his Infinite Wisdom and what ever he does he does for most excellent reasons in the wisest sort and for the best ends He rather wills what he does because it is good than does any thing because he absolutely wills it so that I dare not say Arbitrary Government that is absolute Will for a Law has any precedent even in the Empire of the most High Having therefore in the Creation made free Agents his wisdom did not see it fit to seem so far inconsistent with himself as by his Providence ever to tye them up He can Regulate their Attempts and Govern their Actions in other ways and he 'll shew it so one day In the mean while he 'll not Enslave his Subjects for his Glory He leaves them in the hand of their own counsel gives them indeed most excellent Laws and those enforced by most proper sanctions of the highest Rewards and Punishments He is not wanting with the sweet breathing and preventions of his spirit or assistances of his grace but after all he precludes not men from their natural liberty He is ever constant to himself the same in providence as in creation the holy immutable God without variation or shadow of change The wrath of man still may break forth and it praises God in that it is Permitted But much more 2. in that it is Limited and even in every particular instance most particularly Men do indeed commonly what they will but most times not so much mischief as they would Hitherto shalt thou go and here shall thy proud waves be stopt The whole design against innocent Joseph which his envious brethrens wrath had laid consisted of divers parts Let us slay him say they Gen. xxxvii 20. and cast him into some pit and we will say some evil beast has devoured him and then we shall see what will become of his dreams In other terms they would destroy him make away his body palliate their villany by a lye secure to themselves by that means impunity and in fine defeat God's counsels But Reuben interposes and they slay him not only they cast him into a pit and God provides the pit should have no water in it Reuben's interposition no doubt was no less from God than the pits emptiness and both particulars instances of God's Limiting hand To take another instance The Devil had malice enough to have destroyed Job and all that belong'd to him yet one while he may destroy Job's goods houses stock and family but not touch his person anon may touch his bone and flesh but not his life Job I and II. In these cases neither men nor devils went as far as their inclination or malice led Yet again sometimes the wrath of man is permitted to vent all its Venim only the External Agents or Instruments are tied up The three young Jewish Nobles are bound and cast unto the burning fiery furnace but the fire fastens only upon their bonds so that they are at liberty to walk to stretch their limbs at ease expatiate in the flames not so much as an hair on their head is singed nor their coats changed nor the smell of fire had passed on them Dan. III. 27. Daniel himself is thrown unto the hungry Lions but the Lions mouths are stopped Not only the Wrath of Man then but the Appetites of fiercest Beasts and even Malice of Devils as well as of Men has its fixed pillars and more than adamantine chains and posts and by these its bounds praises that is gives occasion to the praise of him who there fixed its Neplus ultra In a word the wrath of man praises God in that it stops though on force To God's limitting or setting bounds to the wrath of man doth belong his Baffling it and at such critical instants as he sees meet defeating the poor angry worms This is rather here to be taken notice of because it
Theatre of the world and of all ages shall be opened and the particular scenes of each Tragedy that from the beginning has been acting and acted in the several spots upon Earth shall be displaid then will it appear that All the Furies and Bravo's nay All the Sagâ—s too of the world have all along even in their bloudiest outrages as well as most composed consultations in their gravest as well as in their boldest enterprises and transactions busied themselves only like a company of blind madmen doing they knew not what sometimes pleasing sometimes tormenting themselves in the extravagant swinge of their own humours or lusts but in the mean whilâ— moving in a most regular though to them unseen course and method All order'd by the wisest counsel and over â—uled by the sweetest though Almighty hand Nothing in humane Action forc'd nothing unnatural as to God's part who will then appear let mens intrigues and plots have been what they could never to have been at a loss either for counsel power or instruments to work his own will but on the contrary so to have predisposed and connected all events that to his designs all have been directly subservient and cooperative however to humane eyes they have seemed to run counter Only with this difference some having comply'd with his grace have in the strength thereof served his purpose out of choice others having resisted his grace have notwithstanding their own malice served his purpose against their will The one therefore will be graciously rewarded the other justly punished but as to both the Event in all will appear to have praised him For where in his infinite wisdom he saw not good to order the wrath of man to his praise it will be manifest that the remainder of wrath he did restrain which is the second member of the verse and of which briefly The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain CHEMOTH Wrath in the plural number seems to be put in opposition to CHAMATH the single wraâ—h of man in the former part of the verse to shew there is more wrath which God is to restrain than meerly that of man There is also more pride which needs alike restraint namely that of the first Lucifer who sinn'd and as is thought fell by aspiring to ascend and to be like the most High There are finally that I may add that beyond my Text other counsels also as well as other wrath and pride besides humane which God confounds There is a wisdom that descendeth not from above no nor grows on earth but is devillish Jam. III. 15. And both wrath pride and wisdom of Devils as well as men shall God restrain when he pleases not to turn them to his praise Let there then be Hellish plots yet our God shall confound them I am not ignorant there is another sense of the word which we render restrain viz. he shall gird himself whether with the remainder of the wraths of Enemies as with spoils when he has defeated what thereof he lists or with wrath of his own against his Enemies I may not stand to discuss I have thought fit to keep to our own translation Waving therefore these interpretations I shall only in two words consider How God restrains the remainder of wrath which he does not see fit shall praise him 1st He sometimes happily restrains it by changing perhaps throughly converting the angry or furious heart For even the hearts of Kings and much more of meaner personages are in the hands of the Lord and as rivers of water he turneth Prov. xxi 1. them whither he pleases He changes I say the angry heart either 1st By Abating its furies and inducing a calm and sweet temper Thus God restrain'd the remainder of Esau's wrath to his brother Jacob. Esau had said in his heart perhaps sworn for he was prophane enough to do so the days of mourning for my father are at hand then will I stay my brother Jacob. Gen. XXVII 14. And he came to meet his brother Jacob an unarm'd shepherd with wives and children and flocks he came to meet I say this his naked brother and four hundred men with him all no doubt in warlike array and he breathing his former fierce intentions But God sweetens him To pass by many little particulars of the story When they are in sight of one another God puts into Jacob's heart to bow himself to the ground seven times until he came near unto his brother Ch. XXXIII 3. 4. And Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept O that all quarrels between brethren that is at large between private Christians might thus end thus praise God! Or 2. Sometimes God of his infinite grace lays a train uses means to convert and turn to himself the hearts of his his servants enemies Thus it was with them who were sent by the spiteful Pharisees to apprehend our Lord Jesus not without some grains of malice undoubtedly of their own otherwise they would John VII never have gone on such an Errand Now God had so order'd it that at the moment these Officers found Jesus he was preaching in the temple and their curiosity moved them to attend and hear a little before they take him perhaps that they might catch whereof to accuse him But the effect of what they heard is their hearts are touched they are taken themselves they return to their principals Never man spake like this man May God daily more and more thus restrain wrath But we must remember in this sort God uses to restrain only the wrath of men and but of some men too for Devils are incorrigibly malicious and so are too many of their agents Both these therefore are not convertible Wherefore as to their wrath Secondly God more forcibly perhaps dreadfully restrains it by plain tying them up or destroying them As to tying up the Devil at God's pleasure besides the forementioned case of Job whom Satan could not touch until and no farther than God would permit the twentieth of the Revelations when we have stript it of all mystery or prophesy in it is a most positive and indefeasible proof v. 1. I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand Here is as I may say all the circumstantiative pomp and deviseables for the fastest confinement A mighty Angel for an officer a great chain to bind Satan with a dungeon the bottomless pitt into which he is to be cast here in too he is to be shut then for the dungeon when shut there is a key and after all according to the manner of the Easterlings a seal to be set upon it and none can loose him save he that bound him Stricter restraint cannot be described Thus as to the wrath of the Devil And as to incorrigible men such an one proved Sennacherib the person so much concern'd in the subject of this Psalm
the remainder of whose story let us consider in a word He lost an army of one hundred fourscore and five thousand in one night and that by the stroke of an Angel by a dreadful pestilence perhaps as some like expressions in scripture seem to explain it and he was preserved no doubt to the same end to which such another was recovered from the like stroke namely that God might shew in him his power and that Exod. IX 16. his name might be dâ—clared throughout all the Earth His wrath should together otherwise praise God and in the end be restrain'd Immediately upon the loss of his army he fled out of Judea to his own Countrey and dwelt at Nineveh viz. the Metropolis of Assyria where he fell again to his old practice and in his wrath slew many of the Jewish Captives and as the manner of such Tyrants is would have exercised further rage upon the dead bodies of the Hereticks for no better undoubtedly he accounted them had not Tobit buried them privily so that they Tobit I. 18. could not be found when sought for by the King This his furious carier God stops but how And it came to pass as he was Isai XXXVII 38. worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Armenia and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead So may all thine Enemies perish O Lord and the wrath of Devils and incorrigible men be restrain'd I have thus as briefly as I could dispatched both parts of my Text. I crave leave to conclude by urging in a few words some such practice as this discourse is apt to perswade And First Inasmuch as the wrath of man does even here praise God namely by his providential over-ruling it and its Events Let us study and observe this his no less wondrous than gracious management of the world Let not so many instances of God's most Holy and Wise providence pass us without regard as daily do It is certainly one main part of pure Religion to attend and much meditate on the providence of God which is not less fruitful of wonders than his Creation And it is as much our interest as our duty to do so Whosoever is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving Ps evil ult kindness of the Lord. Providence is a book legible to all even the illiterate if they will but think and in some sense too super-adding to scripture it self In the book of holy scripture indeed we read the goodness and grace of God to mankind in general In the book of providence his mercies to us in particular It deserves therefore to be read that is observed And in our observation of God's loving kindness to us and to his Church let us not forget particularly to note wherein as to our selves God makes the wrath of man to praise him wherein for us he has brought Good out of Evll. A sword that by the same stroke can wound and heal is wonderful indeed But such is the wrath of man when God takes it in hand and such perhaps most of us have found it if we would but duly reflect on what has befaln us I may fay were we careful to observe all we should certainly admire love and adore our God in the severest dealings we can meet with or have met with from men Secondly Inasmuch as the wrath of man shall praise God or be restrain'd let us constantly maintain a comfortable Affiance and Dependance on God in all conditions whatsoever and that whether as to the course of publick affairs or of our own private concerns Let us still trust God bear up in the worst junctures with courage and cheerfulness with faith and patience In well-doing committing all to him as to a wise Creator and no less wise and vigilant a Governour 1st As to publick affairs Let it content us that God governs the world It may perhaps seem unto us that he at least oftentimes uses but strange instruments to govern it withal such I may say as none can govern with but himself Stultitiâ hominum Deus regit mundum has been said by a wise man and the consideration thereof should humble haughty wisdom If that be doubtful 't is sure The wrath of man shall praise thee This is as proper to bring down proud wrath Folly and Fury are indeed strange expedients to govern by But when an all wise and almighty hand takes the folly and fury of man to task we need not fear the general management or issue Many clouds arise in the heavens and are dispell'd either by winds bred in their own bowels or we know not how or at another time peradventure descend in clam and gentle showers upon the parched earth a welcome refreshment to man and beast Many storms fall one while upon the vast Ocean another while on Forrests and howling Deserts still only where God directs them So is it in publick Dangers The same almighty hand has a thousand ways to dissipate them or divert them from his Church And he surely will if we prove capable of such mercy The wrath of man shall praise him and praise him it cannot except all things succeed to his glory and the good of the faithful either in this world or a better Wherefore be of good cheer as to the publick And 2. as to Our pâ—rvate concerns If in the course of Divine Providence there were anything perfectly accidental give me leave to say the Faithful have more chances for their private security than the circumstances of publick bodies admit The Church still as Israel in the wilderness has a large mixt multitude in it and though the present Jews impute to those numerous wicked In-mates more of their forefathers transgressions in that age than justly they may yet in our Israel we may reasonably hope the most provoking share of publick guilt does not arise from the sincere part of the Church that is from persons who serve their God in spirit and truth and who tremble at his word of whom only at present we speak These therefore may justly hope if the storm should fall here it may blow over them or they may find shelter They may apply to themselves such comforts as these Ps XXVII 5. In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me upon a rook Again Ps XCI 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be thy shield and buckler And perhaps many of us have found these things made good to us Isai XLIX 2. In the shadow of his hand hath he hid us However whether we have found it or no. 2 Chron. VI. 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro thorowout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him And those eyes purify as well as preserve cherish and provide succour for the frailties of the mind as well as of the outward man Let the consideration hereof therefore cheer us as to our own both Temporal and Spiritual concerns The wrath of man shall praise God either by our preservation or betterment or both Lastly inasmuch as all the praise which God gets by the wrath of men is generally Against their will and meerly forc'd by his almighty wisdom and power let not us who avow our selves servants and have the honour to be called the sons of the most high put our gracious Lord and Father to this force It is enough for Rebels to praise him by their wrath and against their will Sons should praise him out of choice with cheerful willing minds in a spirit of Divine Love Gratitude and Meekness Of Peace Sweetness and Charity Of Holiness Duty and study of all well-doing In a word God has been universally beneficent to us of these Nations beyond what we could possibly hope for Let not us repay him in ingratitude looseness and negligence Let our praises be to our power as Universal as his Beneficence beginning first In our hearts by an universal devotedness to our Duty and by all Diligence therein and particularly by what is most contrary to wrath universal Charity No man is thankful to God or praises him at all any otherwise than forcibly who indulges a wrathful bitter or uncharitable spirit towards any man living From our hearts let our praises proceed into Actions by grateful returns Doing good unto others and as far as we are able unto all Even as God has both been and done good unto us And if the praises of God be thus in our Hearts Actions they will be ever and anon in our Mouths too we shall even with our voices in some sort exalt the God of our mercies And may the Causes of God's praises ever continue to us all and particularly to Your Sacred Majesty for whom we poor Protestants of Ireland above all men must both pray and praise May the praises of God I say be ever in your Majesty's mouth and a two-edged sword in your hand Not so much to execute Vengeance as to Conquer And by Conquering to give Peace and together Laws for an happy Settlement and for reforming what is amiss in these distracted Churches and Kingdoms May all late and present wrath of men amongst us thus praise God and such remainders as will not may he restrain Amen Amen FINIS